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EBT2 film, a convenient quality assurance (QA) tool with high 2D dosimetry resolution, has been widely used in the dosimetry application of radiation therapy with lots of benefits especially its self-development, water equivalent, energy independent and high spatial resolution. However, the higher inhomogeneity between the pixels of EBT2 image, needed to be averaged out according to the traditional method, but it could sacrifice the spatial resolution. To solve this problem, the purpose of this paper is to introduce a Wiener filter (WF) technique applied with a multi-channel (MC) method.

The EBT2 film was calibrated by using the percentage depth dose method combined with the WF technique and a MC method. Then the calculated film doses were compared with the measurement doses by the edge detector with the water phantom.

With high spatial resolution to be 0.2 mm, the results demonstrate that the EBT2 film calibration through both of the WF technique and MC method has higher accuracy (within 2 percent) and lower uncertainty.

A new technique of WF with MC method was presented to calibrate the dosimetry system of EBT2 film. With high spatial resolution (0.2 mm), the studies show that the combination of WF technique with MC method can have high accuracy with low noises to calibrate EBT2 film. This method can also be applied to all the QAs of treatment planning of radiation therapy by using the EBT2 film.

Online retailing changes all retail systems significantly. The growing importance of online sales requires the creation of new fulfillment models. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how retailers develop from separate multi-channel (MC) to integrated omni-channel (OC) fulfillment. OC retailing has an integrated perspective, with seamless interactions between online and bricks-and-mortar channels.

More than 60 internationally active retailers and experts from Germany participated in an exploratory survey. With a response rate of 40 percent the authors achieved the goal to adequately depict the German MC and OC retail market. It is currently the largest empirical study of MC and OC fulfillment.

It is the first study to comprehensively analyze the logistical development options open to retailers for integrated fulfillment. The authors discuss the conceptual development options and formulate propositions for an advanced OC fulfillment approach. OC retailers aim to pool their organizational units for fulfillment via different channels. Retailers with multiple channels develop their warehouse systems toward channel-integrated inventory enabling flexible and demand-driven inventory allocation. Retailers with channel-integrated inventory also organize their picking procedures in one common zone. The higher the outlet density, the more it becomes beneficial for retailers to introduce pick-up services.

The research is based on insights from retailers and experts from companies based in Germany.

The findings provide an insight into designing OC fulfillment and distribution structures. The concepts themselves, archetypes, challenges and development paths are analyzed. Identified logistics levers can be adjusted to pinpoint the steps required to advance integration.

The authors contribute by deriving propositions and a framework for transitioning from basic MC to integrated, extended OC logistics. Because this research area is still comparatively young, the authors take a more comprehensive, exploratory view of OC fulfillment.

Services provided through the internet (e‐services) are typically offered as part of a broader Multi‐Channel (MC) service package, combining these services with services delivered through traditional channels (e.g. phone, physical facilities). Customers of e‐services display heterogeneity in channel use, ranging from customers with a high Degree of Focus on the Internet (DFI) channel (internet‐oriented customers) to customers with a low DFI (low focus on the internet and strong reliance on traditional channels). The purpose of this study is to examine whether a customer's DFI moderates the relationship between e‐service quality (eSQ) and e‐loyalty behavioral intentions in an MC e‐service.

Perceptual and objective data were collected from multiple sources in a major retail MC e‐banking service (survey of online customers, transactional data and customer database).

First, there is high diversity in DFI among e‐service customers; second, a customer's DFI negatively moderates the quality‐loyalty relationship.

The study should be extended to other types of e‐services.

eSQ seems to be a more important driver of e‐loyalty behavioral intentions for low DFI customers than for high DFI (internet‐oriented) customers. Different strategies may need to be employed to drive retention across customers with different levels of DFI. Specifically, driving e‐loyalty among internet‐oriented customers may require complementing eSQ investments with additional retention mechanisms (e.g. building communities or creating switching barriers). DFI should be recognized as a useful and readily available customer segmentation variable for devising loyalty strategies.

The study pioneers the examination of the impact of channel use on the quality‐loyalty relationship. It breaks new ground in proposing DFI as a relevant customer segmentation variable for e‐service research and practice. External validity is enhanced by the use of objective (rather than self‐reported), real‐world data to measure customer channel use.

Companies are currently moving from multi-channel strategies to offer their customers an omni-channel (OC) experience. So far, OC research has been mainly tackled from a sales-based view, with numerous operational challenges to be fully investigated yet. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how companies set the logistics variables in their OC management strategy and the business logistics models currently most adopted.

A two-step methodology was adopted. First, a systematic combining approach with scientific literature review and case studies allowed to derive a framework for classifying the key logistics variables and the related options. The framework was then used to conduct a qualitative survey targeting 92 Italian companies operating in food manufacturing, food retailing and non-food retailing. Collected data were analysed by means of cluster analysis.

Implementing an OC management strategy requires to set 11 logistics variables belonging to four strategic areas: delivery service, distribution setting, fulfilment strategy and returns management. A broad empirical investigation showed the choices made by companies when setting the logistics variables to implement an OC management strategy. Lastly, four business logistics models, differing in terms of both business sector and OC maturity, were discussed.

The proposed framework extends earlier studies by including additional significant logistics variables. The empirical analysis provides new insights on how to re-structure the business logistics model in OC, suggesting channel integration and the coexistence of multiple configurations as main enablers of an OC proposition.

The purpose of this paper is to conduct a structured literature review using advanced bibliometric tools to understand the existing knowledge base, understand the trends in omni-channel (OC) research and identify emerging research topics.

More than 500 articles selected through a keyword combination search from reputed databases of peer-reviewed academic sources from period 2009–19 are analyzed for the purposes of this study. The study first presents an exploratory analysis to determine influential authors, sources and regions, among other key aspects. Second, several network analyses including co-citation and dynamic co-citation network analyses are conducted to identify themes. These allow identifying research clusters and emerging research topics algorithmically. Both centrality and modularity-based clustering are employed. A content analysis of the most influential groups within OC literature for each cluster is included.

The findings of this paper make unique contributions by using advanced tools from network analysis along with the standard bibliometric analysis tools to explore the current status of OC research, identify existing themes and the guidance for potential areas of future research interest in OC.

This research provides a comprehensive view of the range of topics of importance that have been discussed in the literature of OC management. These research trends can serve as a quick guide to researchers and practitioners to improve decision making and also develop strategies.

The paper employs advanced tools for the first time to review the literature of OC retailing. The sophisticated tools include co-citation and dynamic co-citation network analysis.

Given the progressive growth of e-commerce sales and the rising interest in omni-channel (OC) retailing amongst academics and practitioners, the purpose of this paper is to provide an up-to-date literature review on the logistics involved when moving towards OC retailing. Specifically, we have examined the main issues relating to e-fulfilment and distribution, highlighting how the topic has been developed over time, and identifying the most promising research streams for the near future.

A systematic literature review methodology is adopted. The review is based on 58 papers published from 2002 to 2017 in 34 international journals. The papers were analysed and categorised according to their defining characteristics, methodologies adopted and themes addressed.

This paper provides an overview of the main issues relating to e-fulfilment and distribution experienced by companies shifting towards OC, mapped along three dimensions: distribution network design, inventory and capacity management, delivery planning and execution. Despite the growing interest in OC retailing, many key topics are still under-represented, including the evolution of retail distribution networks, assortment planning over multiple channels, the logistics role played by stores in the delivery process and the interplay between different logistics aspects.

The paper offers insights into the main logistics issues in MC and OC retailing, as well as highlights potential fields for further investigation. From a managerial perspective, this paper is useful for retailers adopting an OC approach to guide their future efforts concerning their business logistics model.

In gearbox fault diagnosis, identifying the fault type and severity simultaneously, as well as the compound fault containing multiple faults, is necessary.

To diagnose multiple faults simultaneously, this paper proposes a multichannel and multi-task convolutional neural network (MCMT-CNN) model.

Experiments were conducted on a bearing dataset containing different fault types and severities and a gearbox compound fault dataset. The experimental results show that MCMT-CNN can effectively extract features of different tasks from vibration signals, with a diagnosis accuracy of more than 97%.

Vibration signals at different positions and in different directions are taken as the MC inputs to ensure the integrity of the fault features. Fault labels are established to retain and distinguish the unique features of different tasks. In MCMT-CNN, multiple task branches can connect and share all neurons in the hidden layer, thus enabling multiple tasks to share information.

This paper aims to determine the relationship between dynamic marketing capabilities (DMCs) and the integration of distribution channels of exporting companies from Latin American (LATAM) countries and how this relationship will impact the international development of a company.

This qualitative study uses the explanatory multiple case approach of Yin (2011) to test the research questions, revise existing theories and establish causal relationships from semi-structured interviews that were applied to 15 Peruvian and Colombian companies. To analyze qualitative data and ensure credibility, the authors applied six stages of Sinkovics and Alfoldi’s (2012) methodology. For analysis, computer-based qualitative software was used.

The study reveals the following: a set of specific DMCs that effectively help agro-food companies generate synergy with their intermediaries to launch their first international ventures; a better understanding of how the market orientation as a DMC is, rather than a multi-dimensional organization which mediates other marketing processes; the impact of DMCs in channel integration that changes with respect to agents and distributors. Producers and distributors developed networking, market adaptation and innovation capabilities. At the same time, agents also developed market orientation capabilities to provide relevant product information, manage transactions and fulfill orders without regard to market adaptation capabilities.

Qualitative methodology was applied, limiting the generalization of the findings. The authors also emphasized the initial stages of internationalization without considering other advanced processes that could be useful for larger LATAM companies, which operate in different foreign countries and manage multiple channels. As a result, this study lays the foundation for establishing a model that will enhance a quantitative measurement to support the findings.

This study illustrates specific marketing techniques that are useful to better identify and coordinate intermediaries, especially agents and distributors to ease their internationalization processes. The research also provides a framework for marketing managers to leverage the DMCs developed by the different actors of the distribution channel, as well as, obtaining positive outcomes in communication, information on products and services, transactions and customer service functions. Finally, managers and professionals can find a methodology to evaluate how DMCs can be developed to optimize their internationalization processes through the integration of the main channel functions. This will broaden their vision on the usefulness and scalability of this type of dynamic capabilities in key business processes for the generation and sustainability of competitive advantages.

If producers identify DMCs, they will promote ethical business practices that may reduce their vulnerability and risk with more experienced international intermediaries. This leads to favoring the socio-economic equity of the territories with traditional economies in which they operate.

The study provides a set of DMCs that influence the functions of distribution channels and favors international processes in small and medium enterprises which then offer a better understanding of the definition and applicability of this construct in the agro-food sector in LATAM. This study also gives a structural perspective to determine which functions of the distribution channel should be integrated and how depending on the type of intermediary (agents and distributors).

The purpose of this paper is to examine how attitudes and subjective norms predict channel migration across the three channels based on the theory of reasoned action (TRA).

A self‐administered questionnaire was administered to the participants comprised of staff, faculty, and students from four different universities in the southern and midwestern USA. The survey instrument was administered online and a total of 503 completed surveys were obtained.

TRA was successful in predicting channel‐migration intention in brick‐and‐mortar stores, catalogues, and the internet. Utilitarian beliefs were more relevant in predicting attitude toward channel migration for all three channels. Normative beliefs for bricks‐and‐mortar stores and catalogues were significant in predicting subjective norms, the relationship was negative. Attitude and subjective norms were the predictors of the channel‐migration intention for all three channels.

These findings may not be generalizable to the study population because the sample was restricted to a small area. Additionally, the survey was administered online, which made it difficult to calculate the response rate.

The paper adds insights into the subject by examining channel‐migration behaviour using TRA.