The impact of COVID-19 on the evolution of online retail: The pandemic as a window of opportunity

Purchasing Under the Influence of Alcohol: The Impact of Hazardous and Harmful Patterns of Alcohol Consumption, Impulsivity, and Compulsive Buying

The current research examined how hazardous and harmful patterns of alcohol consumption, problematic online shopping when drinking alcohol, impulsivity, and compulsive buying were associated with and predicted the frequency of making purchases while under the influence of alcohol. A sample of American adults between the ages of 25 and 64 who reported having at least one drink per week over the past 6 months were surveyed. Regression-based path modeling revealed for those who made online purchases while moderately intoxicated, hazardous and harmful patterns of drinking alcohol and, problematic online shopping when drinking alcohol, predicted the frequency of making purchases while intoxicated. For those who made online purchases while heavily intoxicated, hazardous and harmful patterns of drinking alcohol, impulsivity, problematic online shopping when drinking alcohol, and compulsive buying predicted the frequency of making purchases while intoxicated. We explain our findings by suggesting individuals engage in frequent drunk purchases because they are motivated to alleviate their negative mood states.

Spatiotemporal variations and the ecological risks of microplastics in the watersheds of China: Implying the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic

China is not only the first reported place of the COVID-19 pandemic but also is the biggest microplastic emitter in the world. Nevertheless, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on microplastic pollution in the watersheds of China remains poorly understood. To address this, the present study conducted a data mining and multivariate statistical analysis based on 8898 microplastic samples from 23 Chinese watershed systems before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results showed that the COVID-19 pandemic extensively affected the abundance, colors, shapes, polymer types, and particle sizes of microplastic in Chinese watershed systems. Before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, 77.27 % of the Chinese watershed systems observed increased microplastic abundance. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic itself, natural conditions (such as altitude and weather), and anthropogenic factors (such as civil aviation throughput) are highly intertwined, jointly impacting the microplastic in the watersheds of China. From the perspective of ecological risks, the COVID-19 pandemic was more likely to aggravate the microplastic pollution in the middle and down reaches of the Yangtze River Watersheds. Overall, whether before or during the COVID-19 pandemic, the main watershed systems of China still stayed at a high pollution level, which rang the alarm bell that watershed systems of China had been at serious ecological risk accused of microplastic contamination.

Impact of Warehouse Expansion on Ambient PM2.5 and Elemental Carbon Levels in Southern California's Disadvantaged Communities: A Two-Decade Analysis

Over the past two decades, the surge in warehouse construction near seaports and in economically lower-cost land areas has intensified product transportation and e-commerce activities, particularly affecting air quality and health in nearby socially disadvantaged communities. This study, spanning from 2000 to 2019 in Southern California, investigated the relationship between ambient concentrations of PM2.5 and elemental carbon (EC) and the proliferation of warehouses. Utilizing satellite-driven estimates of annual mean ambient pollution levels at the ZIP code level and linear mixed effect models, positive associations were found between warehouse characteristics such as rentable building area (RBA), number of loading docks (LD), and parking spaces (PS), and increases in PM2.5 and EC concentrations. After adjusting for demographic covariates, an Interquartile Range increase of the RBA, LD, and PS were associated with a 0.16 μg/m³ (95% CI = [0.13, 0.19], p < 0.001), 0.10 μg/m³ (95% CI = [0.08, 0.12], p < 0.001), and 0.21 μg/m³ (95% CI = [0.18, 0.24], p < 0.001) increase in PM2.5, respectively. For EC concentrations, an IQR increase of RBA, LD, and PS were each associated with a 0.021 μg/m³ (95% CI = [0.019, 0.024], p < 0.001), 0.014 μg/m³ (95% CI = [0.012, 0.015], p < 0.001), and 0.021 μg/m³ (95% CI = [0.019, 0.024], p < 0.001) increase. The study also highlighted that disadvantaged populations, including racial/ethnic minorities, individuals with lower education levels, and lower-income earners, were disproportionately affected by higher pollution levels.

The absence of mandatory pregnancy warning labels in online alcohol purchasing contexts

INTRODUCTION

As people increasingly migrate to online shopping platforms, hard-won improvements in requirements for consumer information provision at the point of sale are being eroded. An example is the alcohol pregnancy warning label for packaged alcoholic beverages that has been recently introduced in Australia and New Zealand. The aim of the present study was to assess the extent to which the pregnancy warning was visible at the online point of sale when the requirement became mandatory in August 2023.

METHODS

Data for alcohol products sold on the websites of the two largest alcohol retailers in Australia were web-scraped from 1 to 3 August 2023. The captured data for 8343 alcoholic beverages were inspected to determine whether the pregnancy warning was visible.

RESULTS

Virtually no products (0.1%) had the mandatory warning visible on the main sales page, and only 7% enabled visibility of the warning via optional product image rotation functionality.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS

The almost complete absence of the mandatory pregnancy warnings on the main product pages of major alcohol retailers' websites highlights the regulatory problems posed by the emerging shift to online shopping. The very low prevalence of visible pregnancy warnings is likely to be an overestimate of the extent to which consumers would be exposed to warnings due to images being counted as being present regardless of their quality or readability. New regulation is needed to ensure that mandatory information requirements for harmful products are applied to online shopping contexts.