Automobile Companies Research Articles

The Suitability-Feasibility-Acceptability Strategy Integrated with Bayesian BWM-MARCOS Methods to Determine the Optimal Lithium Battery Plant Located in South America

This study aims to help managers develop a proper strategy and policy for their company’s future. After the global COVID-19 pandemic, developed countries decided to change their production and relocate and re-industrialize. The U.S.’s big electronics and automobile companies are not an exception to this rule. The lithium batteries are the main instrument of mobile phone and electric vehicles. The leading lithium battery supplier for the U.S mobile phone companies is China. Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile (in South America) have some of the largest lithium mines in the world; these countries are known as the lithium triangle. Among the 86 million tonnes of lithium resources worldwide, 49.9 million tonnes exist in this area. The researchers in this study surveyed the best country for constructing a battery for companies in the U.S. Because of the growth of electric vehicles and their use of the lithium battery, the world is facing astronomical prices for lithium. To emphasize this issue and help managers create good policy, this study combined multiple methods. The improved suitability-feasibility-acceptability (SFA) strategy is integrated with the Bayesian best-worst method (BBWM) and measurement of alternatives and rankings according to compromise solution (MARCOS) multicriteria methods to determine the best destination. For comparison, based on the SFA strategy, seven criteria are introduced: commercially viable reserves, national minimum wage, corporate income tax, accessibility to mining companies, accessibility to the waterway, population, and political stability index. The Bayesian BWM analysis reveals that the foremost factor is corporate income tax, whereas MARCOS’s findings indicate that Chile is the best country to construct the lithium battery industry. To verify the proposed approach, a comparison analysis also is performed.

Examining the effects of strategic orientation and motivation on performance and innovation in the production sector of automobile spare parts

PurposeThe aim of this study is to evaluate the relationship between innovative climate, strategic orientation, work motivation, business performance and job performance.Design/methodology/approachWithin the scope of the research, a survey was conducted with 400 engineers working in organizations operating within companies producing spare parts for automobile companies. IBM SPSS 25, IBM SPSS AMOS and LISREL programs were gradually used, and the data obtained were evaluated and analyzed.FindingsThe importance of strategic orientation and work motivation for organizations can be seen in the analysis results in terms of their positive effects.Practical implicationsIn the production sector, where innovation and competition activities take place, not only strategic decisions but also motivation for employees must be realized within the organizational culture in order for the organizations to be successful. Strategic orientation is effective in achieving innovation and creation to the extent that employees are motivated.Originality/valueIn terms of successful performance, it is very important to manage companies with the right strategic understanding and to involve the employees. In order to realize the innovation climate and to be successful in performance criteria, motivation is considered a key factor, in particular for the automobile sector. Automobile companies are now turning to electric vehicle production using new generation technologies. However, they also attach importance to the use of smart technologies in cars. For this reason, the effects of strategic orientation and work motivation on performance and innovation are investigated in companies producing automobile spare parts.

Impact of corporate sustainable practices, government initiative, technology usage, and organizational culture on automobile industry sustainable performance.

The increasing worldwide automobile production and usage adversely impact the environmental, economic, and social well-being. Although the automobile companies are trying to solve this problem by adopting corporate sustainability, there is a gap in the extant literature on sustainable corporate practices that are the most important to empower better sustainability performance. This study highlights the impact of core corporate sustainable practices attributes, government initiative, technology usage, and organizational culture on the sustainable performance of the automobile industry in India. The study proposed six aspects and fifty-three criteria from the literature review. The current article has used survey questionnaires to collect the primary data. The present article also applied the smart-PLS to test the association among the variables. The results indicated that the corporate sustainable practices attributes, technology usage, and organizational culture have a positive and significant linkage with the sustainable performance of the automobile industry. The current article guides the regulators in developing the regulations to improve sustainable organizational performance using sustainable corporate practices.

"A comparative analysis of employee wellbeing practices implemented in information technology companies & automobile companies in Pune"

"A comparative analysis of employee wellbeing practices implemented in information technology companies & automobile companies in Pune"

The Effects of Price Dispersion on Sales in the Automobile Industry: A Dynamic Panel Analysis

Price dispersion is an important indicator of pricing strategy and market efficiency. However, the relationship between price dispersion and sales has not been explored, especially for durable goods such as automobiles. In this study, we use a unique data set from Autohome comprising the actual transaction prices of buyers to assess the extent of price dispersion in the new automobile market. Based on an empirical analysis of over 222,592 price observations for 59 vehicle models collected over a period of 48 months, we find that the percentage difference ( PD) and coefficient of variation ( CV) of new automobile transaction prices are 43.4% and 9.9%, respectively. In addition, the empirical results show that the price dispersions lower for non-sedan type, Chinese car brands, and produced by state-owned companies. We further investigate whether the increase in the price dispersion of a new automobile has a positive impact on automobile sales using a multiple quadratic regression model. The findings show that price dispersion has positively impact of sales. More interestingly, negative quadratic effects are observed, indicating a concave-down-increasing relationship between price dispersion and sales. This implies that an extreme price dispersion is less helpful than a moderate price dispersion. These findings advance knowledge of consumer buying behavior and seller pricing strategies, with important theoretical contributions and practical implications for automobile companies.

ADVANCES AND CHALLENGES OF THE AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY: DRIVING TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE MOBILITY

The digital transformation of the automobile industry linked with the new challenges of sustainable mobility, is generating important changes in the business models of automobile groups. The constant efforts to innovate in its vehicles and offer services associated with them are essential to guarantee its own sustainability. Automation, connectivity, electrification and shared mobility (ACES) are the four technological drivers of this sector and have been taken as a reference in this research to examine and learn how the main European automobile groups are addressing the global challenges associated with them. It is of special interest to offer this compilation of information that allows obtaining a current and well-founded vision of the advances in the sector, giving visibility to the commitment, effort and performance that these companies are carrying out. Likewise, the results obtained show different levels of integration and progress of the ACES factors in the automobile companies studied.

ТРАНСФОРМАЦІЯ АВТОМОБІЛЕБУДІВНОГО СЕКТОРУ КИТАЮ

China's automotive industry is recovering rapidly in 2022 and is directly affecting the economies of many countries, and the electric car market is competing with the world's largest car companies and is the most promising for investment. Cars have revolutionized the concept of mobility, making it easier for goods and people to move around geographical regions than ever before. Over the decades, developed countries have witnessed how increased vehicle ownership and improved transport infrastructure have led to countering urbanization - the migration of people, businesses and industry from cities to the recently underdeveloped suburbs. This trend is spreading to emerging economies. There is one car for every five people worldwide; in the US there is one car for 1.25 citizens. However, in China, despite the 300 million cars per 1,000 people, there are only 173 cars. But, in 2009, the Chinese car market became the largest in the world, surpassing the US market in both sales and production. The automotive industry has provided 5% of the country's annual GDP annually since 2002, and accounted for 7.4% of GDP in 2010. Cars can improve the quality of life by increasing mobility, comfort and safety.
 For the Chinese society, the automotive industry has always been an attractive topic. On the one hand, this industry has long remained outside the system of state planning. Due to the emphasis on industrial capital goods rather than consumer goods, the passenger vehicle sector (including car manufacturing) has not been a key industry for decades, which is a typical Gerschenkron strategy of industrialization. It was only after China's "automotive policy of 1994" that car production was recognized as a national industry, along with the entire automotive sector. This, in turn, has led not only to an increase in the number of car factories, but also to a deterioration of the air in the country. This, of course, had an additional negative impact on people's lives, forcing them to leave the city to live in cleaner areas.

Performance evaluation of waste tyre-activated carbon as a hybrid supercapacitor electrode

The increase in the world population has resulted in an increase in vehicle production by most automobile companies. It is expected that vehicle production will increase from 1.2 billion to 2 billion by 2035. Thus, automobile industries produce approximately 1.5 billion tyres annually, which gradually turn into waste products. Recycling waste tyres into a valuable material is essential in other to promote an ecofriendly society which also contributes to the sustainable development goals 3, 7, 9, 12 and 13. Recently, researchers have focused on developing supercapacitor electrode materials for energy storage from waste tyres. This paper investigates the effect of KOH activation and iron oxide doping on the physical, chemical and electrochemical properties of the raw waste tyre-derived carbon (RWTDC). The raw waste tyre-derived carbon (RWTDC) was activated at 900 °C for 3 h, followed by the incorporation of the iron oxide (Fe2O3). The fabricated electrodes were subjected to chemical and electrochemical analysis (including X-Ray fluorescence analysis, X-Ray diffraction analysis, FTIR analysis, BET analysis, FE-SEM, cyclic voltammetry (CV) analysis, galvanostatic charge and discharge (GCD) analysis, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) analysis). The iron incorporation activated waste tyre-derived carbon (IIAWTDC) electrode material recorded the highest performance in all the electrochemical analyses with a capacitance of 1400 F/g at 1 A/g. The results suggests that the fabricated electrodes can be used as a hybrid supercapacitor electrode in supercapacitor applications.

Determinants of Dividend Policy and its Impact on Firm's Value: An Evidence of Automobile Sector in Pakistan

Research on a company's dividend policy is crucial because it ultimately affects the growth and performance of the company. The study's objective is to determine the variables that affect dividend policy, and both micro and macroeconomic indicators have been selected. Dividend policy is an important factor that successfully mediates the connection between certain economic variables and the firm value. Data were gathered from five publicly traded automobile firms in Pakistan for the years 2011 to 2021. The stock price valuation of automobile companies has been determined using the Linear Regression Model for relationship analysis of variables and the Sobel test method for the mediation impact of dividend policy. The study's findings demonstrate that economic variables like micro and macro include a most important impact on the dividend policy, and the results of the Sobel technique and findings on the stock prices of Pakistan’s automobile firms confirm these findings.

The adoption of self-driving vehicles in Africa: insight from Ghana

ABSTRACT With the recent advancements in autonomous vehicles as a means of providing sustainable transport, governments, policymakers and automobile companies, including those in the emerging economies, need to understand what drives the adoption of the technology among people. This paper, for that matter, examines the factors that influence the intention of Ghanaians to use autonomous vehicles (AVs). The Technology Acceptance Model was adopted, extended and data analysed by using multiple linear regression in the Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 21 and then the PROCESS macro add-on. Subjective norm, attitude, and awareness were found to have a significant and positive direct influence on intention to use AVs. Intention to use AVs varies significantly by age and monthly income. Trust, perceived risk, perceived benefit, and perceived ease of use have a significant indirect effect on the intention to use AVs. Perceived usefulness has both a direct significant influence on intention to use AVs and a significant indirect effect on intention to use AVs when partially mediated by attitude. Recommendations have been given to government and all transport stakeholders.

A Comparison of the Effects of Short-Term Physical and Combined Multi-Modal Training on Cognitive Functions.

Physical training has beneficial effects not only on physical fitness, but also on cognitive functions. The most effective way to improve cognitive functions via physical training as well as the degree to which training effects transfer to untrained cognitive functions is still unclear, however. Here, we investigated the effects of adaptive and multi-modal short-term training interventions on cognitive training gains and transfer effects. Over a period of 12 weeks, 102 employees of a car manufacturing company (age range 20 to 61 years) received trainer-guided exercises, consisting of either two adaptive training interventions, physical (strength) training and multi-modal (motor–cognitive) training, or non-adaptive strength training (active control group). For the multi-modal intervention, the “Agility Board” was employed, a novel, multi-modal training device. Pre- and post-training, psychometric tests were conducted to measure cognitive abilities, such as perceptual speed, attention, short-term memory, working memory, inhibition, and mental rotation. In addition, motor–cognitive performance was assessed. Compared with the active control group, both training groups showed enhanced performance at posttest. While multi-modal training yielded performance improvements only in trained tasks, physical training was associated with improvements in untrained working memory updating and immediate recall tasks, suggesting transfer effects to short-term and working memory functioning. In summary, the results demonstrate the importance of adaptive difficulty settings for short-term physical training interventions, at least for the enhancement of working memory.

Competitive Differentiation through Intangibles – A Case Study of Maruti Suzuki Ltd.

Contemporary environment is very dynamic and challenging, a company who want to survive and grow only mantra is minimization of competition with differentiation in offering (whether their product or service) for retention of customer to enhance brand loyalty. Competitive differentiation is a new strategy when your product/solution is unique and no one has anything “on the truck” that can compete against your offering at all. Competitive Differentiation is one step ahead from normal differentiation; indicates how a company is going to minimize competition using differentiation as a tool in the light of competitive strategy. Competitive differentiation is possible by unique intangibles in current era. Unique intangible assets are those intangibles which are not common in nature or different status for value creation process and specific advantages offers to a corporate. According to the nature of different industries and corporate’s different types of information’s, internal structures, agreements are exist which are main source of wealth creation. This research paper explicates conceptual understanding of Competitive differentiation, value creation & role of intangibles in general for top Indian corporate’s and as a special case study for Maruthi Suzuki ltd as an automobile company. Researcher analyzes their product offerings, service, brand image which creates a competitive differentiation in the contemporary market. Applying content analysis as tool, finally researcher finds some specific initiatives such as brand management and facelift of models, strong R&D network and skilled engineers, creation of patent every year, strong sales & service outlets, focus on customer’s engagement initiative, Digitalisation and Innovation and accessories etc. are the important intangible segment which creates competitive differentiation for Maruthi Suzuki ltd.

Quantifying the link between employee engagement, and customer satisfaction and retention in the car rental industry

In the retail service industry, employee engagement may play an important role in customer satisfaction and retention, as employees often interact directly with customers. This paper investigates the empirical link between employee engagement and customer satisfaction and retention by analyzing a unique data set from a large car rental company. Our analysis makes use of retirement-induced employee turnover as an exclusion restriction that is plausibly induced by employee age, thereby allowing for variation in employee engagement that is partially exogenous to common underlying factors that also impact customer satisfaction and retention. We show that there is a positive effect of employee engagement on customer satisfaction and retention. Further analysis of moderating effects highlight potential limits to employee engagement, as service disruptions in the form of car downgrades can dampen the positive effects of employee engagement. However, despite the dampened impact of employee engagement its overall effect remains positive indicating that employee engagement can be a key factor in building resilience to unforeseen service disruptions.

The Lure and Limits of Smart Cars: Visual Analysis of Gender and Diversity in Car Branding

Introduction: Currently Europe regards itself as a leader in the global race towards smart automated transport. According to ERTRAC, European Road Transport Research Advisory Council, automated driving innovation is motivated by technological advancements as well as “social goals of equality”. This article analyzes to what extent such dimensions of gender and diversity have become visible in smart car advertisements and how they correspond with the notion of Gender-Smart Mobility, which signifies equal and accessible transport solutions. Methods: Guided by theoretical notions of gender scripts and discourse analysis, this article addresses how perspectives of smart technology, gender, and class are carved out and handled in YouTube videos applied as marketing tools. Using visual analysis as a method, videos from well-known car producers such as BMW and Volvo are scrutinized. The visual analysis includes a presentation of the car company, descriptions of the most relevant YouTube videos, and discussion of the findings. Results: The visual analysis of the Volvo and BMW YouTube videos points to the lack of inclusiveness. There continues to be a prevalent reproduction of gendered stereotypes in the videos, not least in the notion of ‘hyper masculinity’ storytelling by BMW and how leaders (be they women or men) look, i.e., middle-class people. Volvo, on the other hand, has maintained its focus on female professionals in parallel with the introduction of new and energy-saving cars. Yet, a rather one-sided presentation of a professional business-woman is depicted as a replication of the businessman. Conclusion: In the final section, it is assessed how the visual branding complies with the notion of Gender-Smart Mobility, a concept that was developed in the EU Horizon 2020 project TInnGO. The two brands meet the Gender-Smart Mobility indicator, but only to some degree. None of the companies are fully inclusive, and it is difficult to label them as gender-smart and sustainable despite their ambitions of feeding into the green transition.

Insights into the relationship between usability and willingness to use a robot in the future workplaces: Studying the mediating role of trust and the moderating roles of age and STARA.

Background and aimHuman–robot collaboration is the key component of the fourth industrial revolution concept. Workers’ willingness to collaborate with industrial robots is a basic requirement for an efficient and effective interaction. The roles of human-robot trust and technology affinity as mediators in the relationship between robot usability and worker willingness were analyzed in this study. As other critical variables, the mediator roles of Age and STARA were also calculated.Materials and methodsThis study included 400 workers from a car company who interacted with industrial robots in their daily work activities. After examining the questionnaires’ validity and reliability, the main variables were determined to be willingness to use robots and robot usability. AMOS software also considered human-robot trust and worker technology affinity as mediators. The bootstrapping method was used to evaluate indirect relationships. A set of goodness-of-fit indices were presented to determine the adequacy of the goodness of fit between the proposed model and the data.ResultsBased on model fit indices, an overall satisfactory model fit was obtained for the direct/indirect relationship between robot usability and worker willingness to use it (with mediating role of human-robot trust). Workers’ age and fear of Smart Technology, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, and Algorithms (STARA) were identified as moderators in the relationship between usability and willingness.ConclusionAttention to the robot usability and the role of workers’ trust in robots appears to be required to ensure workers’ willingness to use robots and the success of human-robot collaboration in future workplaces. As the workers age and their fear of robots grows, usability can play a larger role in increasing their willingness to put robots to work.

Designing a Green Supply Chain Transportation System for an Automotive Company Based On Bi-Objective Optimization

Abstract Recently, due to the increasing awareness of communities regarding environmental issues and environmental regulations, companies have evolved to provide products with lower prices and better quality to retain and attract customers. Economics should also pay attention to environmental goals. Therefore, it is essential to provide a supply chain model that can consider both economic and environmental objectives. In this paper, the green direct supply chain network is presented to an automotive company, including five suppliers, primary warehouses, manufacturing plants, distributors, and sales centers. The objectives of this model are to minimize the total cost of construction, transportation, and the amount of carbon dioxide emissions during forwarding network transportation at all levels. The proposed model is also drawn using the weight method, which is one of the methods for solving multi-objective problems, and the solution of the model part. Ultimately, it has been discussed how much the automobile company should focus on reducing carbon dioxide so that managers can determine the best solutions from the Pareto border according to their organization’s priorities, which can be environmental or financial.

Project DOMO: predicaments of a woman entrepreneur with disability

Subject area This case can facilitate students to develop a deeper understanding of the social mission-based business enterprises, startups, solopreneurship, one-man companies, women-led businesses, benefits and challenges associated with service innovation and design thinking, along with the competitive forces and funding problems in scaling up a social enterprise. It can be used for the BBA, MBA or Executive MBA programs for courses on entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship, design thinking, business strategy and service innovation. Applicability/study level This case is suitable for both the undergraduate or graduate-level programs in the area of entrepreneurship, innovation and startup management. Case overview Dr Anita Sharma was a solopreneur who started a car driving school in Amritsar, Punjab, deploying specially designed, retrofitted cars to train People with Disabilities (PwDs). She demonstrated exceptional prowess in defying the social taboos and popular stigmas associated with PwDs by establishing “Drive On My Own” (DOMO) as an innovative project, a first-of-its-kind car-driving training school in India to provide an accessible car-drive learning experience to PwDs. She ignored the extreme sensitivity displayed in the social behavior of people around her, who were either were too sensitive for the PwDs by treating them as Person with Special Abilities (PwSAs) or were completely insensitive toward them or their problems thinking that their disabilities are their misfortunes. This continuum of insensitive to overprotective societal attitudes and lack of infrastructure concerning travel for PwSAs made this service innovation possible by design thinking. This entrepreneurial initiative enabled solo as well as group travel and tours possible for PwDs, by bringing in new inclusive modes of communication and solutions for self-mobility. It has also paved a path for social inclusiveness and livelihood sustainability by bringing positive change in the lives of PwDs and their family members. Moreover, a new design implementation is in her plans, as she wants to redesign these cars further to be accessible for people using wheelchairs too. The potential growth of this solopreneur’s social enterprise calls for scaling up the business, but it may also attract competition as the existing big tech-travel automobile companies may enter this domain soon with their driver-less or self-drive cars. Considering all these factors, Dr Anita Sharma faced multiple dilemmas: Can she formalize her project? What can be the type of business she can proceed with? How can she sustain and scale up her women-led project, better qualifying as a PwD-led social enterprise? How can she resolve the challenges related to the design implementation, funding the project and facing competition while scaling up DOMO as her social and service innovation? Expected learning outcomes Thus, this case study enables the application of concepts and theories of business enterprise, business funding, service innovation and design thinking. It also helps recognize and understand the challenges related to social entrepreneurship. Subject code CSS: 3 Entrepreneurship.

A Study on Global EV shift and the Strategy of Japanese Automobile Industry

Purpose: The influence of EV shift spreading around the world on Japanese automobile industry due to CASE technical innovation and environmental regulation is examined in this study. In the past, the background of high international competitiveness of Japanese automobile companies has been supported by high technology in Hybrid Vehicle (HV) in addition to highly accumulated technology in the internal combustion engine. However, considerable change and supply chain reorganization is expected in the Japanese automobile industry because CASE and EV shift spreads rapidly. The expansion factor of global EV market, current status of Japanese EV market, the reason to hesitate in EV shift, the strategy of Japanese automobile companies, and the assignment of Japanese automobile industry according to EV shift are analyzed and examined in this study. Research design, data, and methodology: This study is based on the literature research, expert interview and the data published by each company. A survey on EV market which is expanding due to global CASE and environmental regulation was conducted through the literature research. And then, a research on the strategy of Japanese automobile company for EV shift was conducted through an interview with a supply chain official along with a university researcher in Aichi Prefecture where Toyota Motor Corporation is located. A result discovering the characteristic of EV strategy on each company has been achieved. Results: At this moment, the EV market in Japan is very small. Expensive vehicle price, inconvenience of charging and mileage problem, etc. are mentioned as the cause of it. Accordingly, Japanese automobile companies have been pursued the global product strategy centered on the HV. HV has been recognized as an eco-friendly vehicle prior to moving to future FCV and EV. The time Japanese automobile companies announced their EV strategy was Year 2021. However, the strategy of each company is very much different. Toyota is pursing an all round strategy which plans bold investment in PHV, FCV, etc. in addition to EV. Nissan is devoting all their energy to develop all-solid-state battery expanding global EV market based on the result which they early focused on EV. At this moment, Nissan is considered as most advanced in the development of all-solid-state battery in Japan. Honda is concentrating on the development of EV and FCV cooperating with GM in US. Implications: EV has a simple structure unlike traditional gasoline and diesel vehicles. Therefore, the expansion of EV is expected to give inevitable significant influence on the Japanese automobile industry. First, huge EV development and production facility reorganization will cause huge amount of cost. As a next, it is expected the industrial structure to be reorganized with the bankruptcy of existing companies and the entry of new companies based on the reorganization of the supply chain due to the decrease in the number of parts. Accordingly, employment problem also will be emerged seriously. Finally, the change in the Japanese automobile industry will be an important subject for research in the future because it is expected there also will be change in traditional Sryawase type Monozukuri method which has been evaluated as a strength of Japanese manufacturing industry.

Research on the valuation of Tesla stock

Tesla Inc. is the largest electric car company in the U.S. and the world's first maker of self-driving cars. Tesla's products are now the world's best-selling electric cars. The company's market capitalization also surpassed $1 trillion in October 2021. Many investors now consider Tesla to be a promising investment choice. This paper analyzes the current situation of Tesla from various perspectives and provide suggestion on investment related to Tesla.

Virtual Crash Test Analysis of Modern Car through ANSYS Software

Today's world is more curious about the automobile safety performance. Everyone, who wishes to purchase their own vehicle, is concentrating on the safety features of the vehicle so that his journey must be safe. Most of the automobile companies in India now a day are focusing on the strength improvement of vehicle. In order to achieve the maximum safety the vehicle must undergoes the different types of test, which is to be performed during the design and development phase. Individual companies follow their own testing methods, but out of them some tests are common and must be taken before launching the vehicle in the market. Crash Test is the one of the important test which is to be conducted during the development of car. It is the method of hitting the car on an obstacle with a particular speed in order to observe and record the damage on vehicle, passenger and percentage of failure of component. This test is to be carried out with strong observations and standard speed. There are two methods of conducting crash test. One is physical crash test and other is virtual crash test. Physical crash test is time consuming, having wastage of money, material and efforts. But the plus point is it has accurate results. While virtual crash test eliminates all the above lacunas of physical crash test but the results are approximate. In this paper the modern vehicle like car crash test is to perform by using Virtual CAD Model and CAE tool like ANSYS 2020 R1 workbench. The vehicle is to be allowed to hit an obstacle with a particular speed and percentage of damage along with maximum deformation and stress concentrations is to be studied well. Three different materials are to be tested in order to achieve the better results. Based on obtained results, results are drawn.