Search Results (5)

This study addresses a pivotal strategic issue in hospitality e-commerce: how hotels can optimize cooperation with heterogeneous online travel agencies (OTAs). Moving beyond the conventional question of whether to cooperate, we investigate the interrelated decisions of which OTA type to partner with (quality-focused vs. price-focused) and which business model to adopt (merchant vs. agency). We develop a game-theoretic model that incorporates key e-commerce factors, including hotel capacity constraints, cross-channel spillover effects, and differential consumer acceptance of OTA types. Our analysis yields a contingent decision framework. We demonstrate that OTA cooperation becomes beneficial only when a hotel’s room capacity exceeds its direct-channel demand. The optimal strategy evolves with capacity: hotels with moderate capacity should partner with a single OTA type—predominantly the quality-focused one—while larger hotels should engage both types to maximize market coverage. In terms of business models, smaller hotels benefit from the risk-shifting merchant model, whereas larger hotels capture higher margins through the agency model. A key finding is the general superiority of a differentiated approach: applying the agency model to quality-focused OTAs and the merchant model to price-focused OTAs. This research provides a structured analytical framework to guide hotel managers in crafting e-commerce platform strategies and offers scholars a foundation for further inquiry into platform competition and contract design in digital marketplaces. Full article

Online travel agencies (OTAs) function as e-commerce platforms that facilitate transactions between accommodation providers and consumers, enabling users to efficiently search for, compare, and book travel and lodging services. As the number of OTAs continues to grow, delivering superior service quality has become essential for increasing customer repurchase intentions. Despite its significance, existing research has primarily focused on factors such as website quality, pricing strategies, brand image, and perceived value as determinants of repurchase intention. However, relatively little attention has been paid to the alignment between online information disclosure and customers’ actual offline experiences. To address this gap, the present study introduces the concept of the information disclosure gap and examines its effects on search cost, customer satisfaction, and trust, as well as the subsequent influence of these variables on repurchase intention. A questionnaire-based survey method was conducted with individuals in Taiwan who had prior experience using OTAs, yielding 365 valid responses. This study offers practical insights and recommendations for both OTAs and accommodation providers aimed at reducing the information disclosure gap and strengthening customer repurchase intention. Full article

Accurate traffic sign recognition is one of the core technologies of intelligent driving systems, which face multiple challenges such as insufficient light and shadow interference at night. In this paper, we improve the YOLOv5 model for small, fuzzy, and partially occluded traffic sign targets at night and propose a high-precision nighttime traffic sign recognition method, “NTS-YOLO”. The method firstly preprocessed the traffic sign dataset by adopting an unsupervised nighttime image enhancement method to improve the image quality under low-light conditions; secondly, it introduced the Convolutional Block Attention Module (CBAM) attentional mechanism, which focuses on the shape of the traffic sign by weighting the channel and spatial features inside the model and color to improve the perception under complex background and uneven illumination conditions; and finally, the Optimal Transport Assignment (OTA) loss function was adopted to optimize the accuracy of predicting the bounding box and thus improve the performance of the model by comparing the difference between two probability distributions, i.e., minimizing the difference. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the method, 154 samples of typical traffic signs containing small targets and fuzzy and partially occluded traffic signs with different lighting conditions at nighttime were collected, and the data samples were subjected to the CBAM, OTA, and a combination of the two methods, respectively, and comparative experiments were conducted with the traditional YOLOv5 algorithm. The experimental results showed that “NTS-YOLO” achieved a significant performance improvement in nighttime traffic sign recognition, with a mean average accuracy improvement of 0.95% for the target detection of traffic signs and 0.17% for instance segmentation. Full article

Mud crab fishing (Scylla serrata) is an important activity contributing to the livelihood of coastal communities in Mozambique. The abundance of this crab and the increase in international companies in the region that exclusively buy crabs and export to the Asian market have caused fisheries to gain local importance in recent years. The present study evaluates the socioeconomic importance of mud crab fishing and the contribution of this activity to the quality of life (QoL) of the local communities along the Bons Sinais Estuary (BSE)—Mozambique. The study was conducted in three fishing villages of the BSE (Mucupia, Carungo, and Inhangulue) to collect information on the economic and sociocultural structure conditions of the local crab families. Field data collection focuses on direct observation and a semi-structured questionnaire divided into four categories/dimensions: fishing activity (FA), family structure (FS), typology of household expenditure (HE), and other activities (OTA). The socioeconomic conditions of fishers’ families were analyzed based on the fishery contribution index (FCI), which comprises different indicators related to FA, HE, and OTA. The monthly fishing revenue ranged from MZN 2.500 (EUR ≈ 35) to MZN 30.000 (EUR ≈ 417), with an average of around MZN 10.796 (EUR ≈ 150) per fisher, slightly exceeding the minimum wage set for public service in Mozambique, which is around MZN 8000 (EUR ≈ 112). The contribution of mud crab fishing is low and is not directly related to enhancement of QoL, meaning that the fishing revenue of mud crabs is barely enough to cover the basic needs of fishers’ families, such as basic services and basic goods. Investments are mainly for transport, including bicycles. The FCI was also low, standing at the alert level (FCI = 0.26–0.50) in all three communities. As the crab market is still growing in the country, it is important that the government, through competent authorities, creates public policies to ensure sustainable exploitation, regulates the selling price of mud crabs according to size, as happens in other countries, and promotes basic services that facilitate the self-development of the fishing communities. Full article

Vehicle emissions have become one of the most prevailing air contamination sources, including nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds, carbon monoxide and particulate matter (PM). Among other air pollutants, PM limits visible sight distance and poses health risks upon inhalation into the human body. This study focused on assessing PM_2.5 concentrations in air at different periods of the day at the highly trafficked grade-separated intersection of Sango-Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria. PM_2.5 readings were taken at three at-grade points around the intersection’s roundabout between 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. for four (4) days using the BR-SMART-126 Portable 4-in-1 air quality monitor. The highest level of PM_2.5 obtained on Day 1 (Monday) and Day 4 (Thursday) was about 45.1% and 38.6%, respectively, lower than that of Day 3 (Wednesday). The highest concentrations of PM_2.5 were recorded between 11:00 and 13:00 and between 16:00 and 18:00 (up to 217 µg/m³) whereas the lowest levels were recorded between 14:00 and 15:00 (as low as 86 µg/m³). The concentration of PM_2.5 at the Sango-Ota intersection is adjudged “very poor” with average hourly concentrations between 97 and 370 µg/m³. Outcomes obtained indicate the need for improved measures to control air quality along major road corridors and at intersections in Ogun State and Nigeria at large. Full article