It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Reshaping the Shopping Experience: New Book Explores How Generative AI Is Transforming Retail
Bentham Books announces the release of Generative AI for Retail Innovation, a timely reference exploring how emerging AI technologies are reshaping retail through smarter decision-making, personalized customer experiences and sustainable business growth.
About the Book
As generative AI reshapes industries at breakneck speed, retail stands out as one of the sectors most ripe for transformation. This book examines the application of generative AI across retail functions marketing, customer engagement, merchandising, pricing, inventory management, supply chain operations, omnichannel retailing and strategic innovation. Readers will gain a comprehensive understanding of how retailers can leverage AI-driven capabilities to create value, enhance competitiveness and meet evolving consumer expectations in a rapidly changing digital environment.
Organized into fourteen chapters, the book covers foundational concepts, theoretical perspectives, practical applications, industry case studies and future trends in AI-enabled retailing. Topics include AI-powered personalization, conversational commerce, recommendation systems, virtual shopping assistants, demand forecasting, intelligent supply chains, retail analytics, ethical and responsible AI adoption, sustainability, customer experience management and emerging innovations in smart commerce. Contributions from scholars and practitioners provide both academic rigor and real-world insight, offering a balanced perspective on the opportunities and challenges of implementing generative AI in retail.
Key Features
Interdisciplinary perspectives on AI applications in retail
Contemporary case studies, practical frameworks, evidence-based research findings and strategic recommendations for leveraging AI in retail environments
Structured content integrating theory and practice while highlighting future directions for research and innovation
References in every chapter
Readership
Primary: Researchers, academicians, doctoral scholars and postgraduate students in marketing, retail management, business analytics, information systems and artificial intelligence.
Secondary: Retail managers, business leaders, consultants, entrepreneurs, technology professionals, policymakers and industry practitioners seeking to understand and implement AI-driven retail innovations.
About the Editors
Nupur Arora, School of Business Studies, Vivekananda Institute of Professional Studies–TC, New Delhi, India.
Aanchal Aggarwal, School of Business Studies, Vivekananda Institute of Professional Studies–TC, New Delhi, India.
Parul Manchanda, Department of Management Studies, Netaji Subhas University of Technology, New Delhi, India.
Rohit Bansal, Department of Management, Rockford College, Sydney, Australia.
Ramakrishna Yanamandra, School of Business, Horizon University College, Ajman, UAE.
Bentham Books announces the release of Bioenergy Solutions for Climate Change: The Key to a Sustainable Future, a timely reference exploring how bioenergy technologies can drive the world toward a low-carbon, climate-resilient future.
About the Book
As the world races to decarbonize, bioenergy is emerging as one of the most versatile tools in the fight against climate change. This book presents a comprehensive examination of bioenergy technologies and their role in addressing climate change, energy security and environmental sustainability. Integrating scientific advances with practical perspectives, it explores the production, optimization and assessment of sustainable bioenergy systems while highlighting their contribution to the transition toward a low-carbon economy.
The chapters examine the fundamentals of bioenergy, microbial approaches to renewable energy generation, carbon capture and bioenergy integration, strategic planning for bioenergy projects and clean biofuel production from agro-food waste. Additional topics include sustainability assessment, water-energy interactions, organic waste degradation and the socio-economic implications of bioenergy adoption together offering a multidisciplinary perspective on innovative technologies, resource recovery and circular economy principles.
Key Features
Explores emerging bioenergy technologies and biomass utilization
Examines carbon capture, clean biofuel production and resource recovery
Discusses sustainability assessment and strategic planning for bioenergy systems
Highlights water-energy interactions and socio-economic impacts
Presents multidisciplinary perspectives on climate change mitigation and the circular economy
Readership: Researchers, graduate students, policymakers and professionals working in renewable energy, environmental science and sustainable development.
About the Editors
Ashootosh Mandpe, Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Indore, Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India.
Maulin P. Shah, Industrial Wastewater Research Lab, Division of Applied & Environmental Microbiology, Enviro Technology Limited, Ankleshwar, Gujarat, India.
Sonam Paliya, Institute for Geology and Geochemistry of Petroleum and Coal, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
Research led by the University of Oxford has found that rapid economic growth brought major gains in access to electricity and cleaner cooking in India, but growing reliance on coal-fired power has contributed to worsening outdoor air pollution and a sharp rise in urban air-pollution-related deaths. The study has been published today (25 Sept) in Nature Cities.
Rapid economic growth in India since 2000 has enabled millions of people to move towards cleaner cooking fuels and technologies, reducing exposure to household air pollution. But this growth has also driven a near-fourfold increase in electricity demand. According to the new study, over three quarters (76%) of this demand was supplied by coal, accompanied by a sharp rise in sulphur dioxide (SO₂) emissions. This has increased concentrations of sulphate aerosols and fine particulate matter (PM2.5), leading to a rise in the number of deaths caused by urban air pollution.
The findings reveal contrasting public-health consequences of India’s economic and energy transition: declining risks from pollution inside homes alongside increasing exposure to polluted outdoor air.
Study lead Dr Basudev Swain (Department of Physics, University of Oxford at the time of the study, now Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany) said: “This is not simply a story of development making pollution worse. Rising incomes have enabled a major transition towards cleaner household energy, with important health benefits. The challenge is to ensure that the electricity supporting those gains is itself generated more cleanly.”
The researchers combined satellite observations, atmospheric analysis, chemical transport modelling, socioeconomic and energy data, and population and mortality data to trace the connections between economic growth, electricity demand, power generation, air pollution and health.
Between 2000 and 2020, India’s GDP per capita increased from around US $600–$700 to more than US $2,000, while electricity demand rose from approximately 450 terawatt-hours (TWh) to almost 2,000 TWh. The analysis found that a 1% increase in GDP per capita was associated with an approximately 1.14% increase in electricity demand.
This was accompanied by a significant increase in the number of coal-fired power plants in India, with 71 being commissioned before 2000, and another 182 commissioned between 2001 and 2024.
Urban aerosol pollution increased markedly during this period. Sulphate – which can form in the atmosphere from SO₂ released by coal combustion – increased from approximately 35.5% of total urban airborne particle pollution in 2000 to 46.4% in 2020.
Atmospheric modelling indicated that the power sector’s contribution to total urban aerosol loading increased from around 16% in 2000 to 36% in 2020, making it the largest anthropogenic contributor in the analysis. The largest increases were concentrated across northern and eastern India, including the Indo-Gangetic Plain, where dense populations overlap with extensive coal-fired power infrastructure.
The study estimated that urban deaths attributable to PM2.5 exposure increased from approximately 670,000 in 2000 to 870,000 in 2020 – an increase of around 30%.
The increase associated with power-sector emissions was particularly pronounced. The modelling estimated that urban PM2.5-attributable deaths associated with power-sector emissions rose from approximately 15,000 in 2000 to nearly 300,000 in 2020.
The study also highlights a very different trend inside Indian homes. Access to clean fuels and technologies for cooking increased from approximately 25% of the population in 2000 to nearly 75% by 2023. Over a similar period, independent health datasets show a decline in deaths attributable to household air pollution, falling from approximately 1.25–1.30 million a year around 2010 to approximately 1 million a year by 2023.
Study co-author Dr Rui Song (Department of Physics, University of Oxford) said: “Our findings have implications well beyond India. They show how difficult it can be to break the link between economic development and coal dependence when rapidly rising electricity demand and energy-security concerns prolong reliance on existing coal infrastructure. Coal-fired power not only worsens air quality and harms public health; its aerosol emissions can also reduce solar power output, directly weakening the clean energy transition.”
The researchers note that coal-fired electricity generation is not the sole cause of India’s urban air pollution, and that industrial emissions also made an important contribution to worsening air pollution. According to the study’s models, by 2020 the power sector accounted for an estimated 36% of total urban airborne particle pollution, while industry accounted for about 32%. However, power-sector PM2.5 increased by around 400% between 2000 and 2020, compared with around 90% for industrial emissions.
The study ‘Economic boom-driven electricity demand linked to urban air pollution and health in India’ will be published in Nature Cities at 10:00 am BST / 5:00 am ET Friday 25 September 2026 at https://www.nature.com/articles/s44284-026-00518-9 To view a copy of the study before this under embargo, contact caroline.wood@admin.ox.ac.uk
Oxford University has been placed number 1 in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings for the tenth year running, and number 3 in the QS World Rankings 2024. At the heart of this success are the twin-pillars of our ground-breaking research and innovation and our distinctive educational offer.
Oxford is world-famous for research and teaching excellence and home to some of the most talented people from across the globe. Our work helps the lives of millions, solving real-world problems through a huge network of partnerships and collaborations. The breadth and interdisciplinary nature of our research alongside our personalised approach to teaching sparks imaginative and inventive insights and solutions.
Through its research commercialisation arm, Oxford University Innovation, Oxford is the highest university patent filer in the UK and is ranked first in the UK for university spinouts, having created more than 300 new companies since 1988. Over a third of these companies have been created in the past five years. The university is a catalyst for prosperity in Oxfordshire and the United Kingdom, contributing around £16.9 billion to the UK economy in 2021/22, and supports more than 90,400 full time jobs.
Mt. Vesuvius towering above the ruins of Pompeii. The volcano's eruption in 79 C.E. inundated the town. Historical accounts of the disaster have now allowed scientists to recalibrate one of the most versatile dating methods, argon-argon dating.
Credit: By Qfl247, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=14711995
When Pliny the Younger recorded his first-hand experience of the explosion of Mt. Vesuvius 2,000 years ago — a cataclysm that buried Pompeii and killed his uncle, Pliny the Elder — he provided enough detail about the precise date to allow scientists to benchmark methods for dating volcanic eruptions.
In a study to be published this week in the journal Science Advances, scientists from the Berkeley Geochronology Center, UC Berkeley and the University of Padua in Italy report that argon-argon dating calibrated with the inferred date of the eruption — Aug. 24, 79 CE — is now significantly more precise, making it one of the most versatile dating methods available.
The improvement will allow geologists, paleontologists and archaeologists to attach more accurate dates to geologic events of the past, including past eruptions of volcanoes that still threaten dense urban areas like Mexico City, Naples and Yogyakarta in Indonesia. It will also help ground-truth other dating methods, such as carbon-14 dating of organic material and uranium-lead dating of billion-year-old rocks from the early days of planet Earth.
“If you want to put together the eruptive history of a volcano in relatively recent time, precision and accuracy really count,” said study leader Paul Renne, a Berkeley professor in residence of earth and planetary science and director of the independent Berkeley Geochronology Center. “The study shows that you can achieve that kind of highly useful precision and accuracy into the historical realm.”
Accuracy refers to whether a result is correct, whereas precision is a measure of how reproducible the result is. The recalibrated argon-argon dating method, used on eight samples of a potassium-containing volcanic mineral from Vesuvius called sanidine, pegged the eruption at 1,938 ±13 years prior to when the minerals were analyzed in 2025. The actual age of the volcanic minerals was 1,946 years, according to analysis of Pliny the Younger’s writings. The estimate is equivalent to a precision of 0.7% and an accuracy of 0.4%.
“This lets us more precisely infer causality between events in the geologic record, for example a meteor impact structure and a mass extinction,” Renne said. A decade ago, Renne used argon-argon dating to provide precise dates for a meteor impact, volcanic eruptions in India and the dinosaur extinction — all of which took place within a few tens of thousands of years 66 million years ago. These precise dates bolstered the idea that the impact triggered intensified volcanism, providing a one-two punch that led to the extinction of all non-avian dinosaurs.
Thanks to a deep dive into the recorded history of Vesuvius’ eruption by graduate student Caroline Hasler, the team was also able to validate the eruption date attributed to Pliny the Younger — August 24 — to within two months. This enabled the team to more precisely measure the half-life of the decay of potassium-40 to argon-40 that provides the basis for argon-argon dating. That half-life is now 12.044 billion years, give or take 0.088 billion — twice as precise as the previous value determined from nuclear physics.
Pumice from Oplontis
Renne and his team had previously analyzed sanidine from pumice ejected during the 79 CE eruption to ground-truth argon-argon dating. Based on that 1997 analysis, they predicted that they could do better, getting the precision down to less than 1%. He and his team have now achieved that goal, thanks to better pumice samples, an improved mass spectrometer and updated neutron irradiation techniques.
Argon-argon dating relies on the natural decay of potassium-40 in volcanic rock to argon-40, which is not normally present in minerals prior to eruption. Scientists irradiate rocks with neutrons to turn a non-radioactive isotope of potassium, potassium-39, into argon-39, and then compare the relative amounts of the two argon isotopes. The more argon-40 relative to argon-39, the older the sample.
In 1998, co-author Andrea Marzoli of the University of Padua obtained new, more potassium-rich pumice samples from Oplontis, another Roman town buried in ash. Unlike previous samples, the new ones came from the earliest stage of the Vesuvius eruption. Magma chambers under stratovolcanoes like Vesuvius tend to stratify, with iron and magnesium concentrating at the bottom of the chamber while soluble elements like potassium remain at the top. As a result, potassium-rich magma comes out first and ends up at the bottom of ash and pumice deposits. Marzoli’s pumice came from these bottom deposits.
Those samples were shelved and never analyzed, but several years ago, graduate students Hasler, Anthony Fuentes and Andy Tholt led by postdoctoral fellow Jack Carter in Renne’s lab suggested pulling out Marzoli’s 30-year-old samples and trying to improve on the 1997 results. The team had previously published a reconciliation of the two dating methods most commonly used for rocks — argon-argon and uranium-lead — and precisely calibrating argon-argon dating was a key component of that work.
“They came up with a Bayesian scheme — published in 2025 — to intercalibrate these two most important geochronometers that we have, which have not been giving us consistent results over the years,” Renne said. The Vesuvius results from 1997 were included in this intercalibration, but were not precise enough to have much weight in the result. The new results change that.
“It was really just a combination of better samples, instrumental advantage and a more concerted effort. All of those things came together,” Renne added. He credits co-author Bill Cassata with a major role in developing the analytical strategy and data analysis.
Before they could begin, however, Hasler had to resolve inconsistencies in the historical record. Some historians think the eruption took place later in the fall of 79 CE, based on a coin found at Pompeii that they say could only have been stamped in September. Hasler compared the coin with other contemporary Roman coins and concluded that it was likely made before September. Adopting a liberal two-month uncertainty in the timeline turned out not to be important in calibrating the dating technique, but was key in establishing the half-life of potassium-40.
Renne said that more accurate and precise argon-argon dating will be invaluable in calibrating radiocarbon dating, which is the dominant method of attaching dates to materials such as wood that are younger than about 55,000 years.
“We're hoping to really unify as many geologic dating methods as we can by using the same mathematics, the same Bayesian approach, and just bringing more data, more raw observations into that mix,” he said. “But argon-argon dating is always going to be a standard — it's going to be an important calibrant in that sense.”
Besides contributing to the calibration of the argon/argon dating method, he said, the study establishes a new benchmark for the ability of the method to date very recent eruptions with decadal accuracy.
The work was funded by the National Science Foundation (2102788, 2030393), the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation and the Berkeley Geochronology Center.
The European Union is urging the UK to raise tariffs on China-made cars that would bring its customs policy closer to the bloc’s and remove some barriers to including British products in the “made in Europe” policy, the Financial Times reported on Friday, citing sources with knowledge of the matter.
At the end of 2024, the European Commission received enough support from the EU member states to impose tariffs ranging from 7.8% to 35.3% on imports of electric vehicles from China due to unfair subsidizing.
The UK, which left the EU in the Brexit withdrawal, did not follow the EU’s move with tariffs. This has boosted the market share of Chinese cars in the UK’s total new vehicle sales to more than 16% this year.
The EU fears that the UK could become a backdoor for Chinese products if it doesn’t erect trade barriers for China’s goods. But the UK wants to be included, at least for some industries, including energy and chemicals, in the so-called “made in Europe” policy to retain access to the EU market.
The UK has ruled out rejoining the EU’s single market or customs union, but the government of Andy Burnham now faces dilemmas on how to navigate between trade with China and trade and supply chain links in strategic sectors with the EU.
Executives from the auto industry have questioned how long Britain can continue to keep so divergent trade policies with the EU if it really wants its products to be considered “European” or “made in Europe”.
Massimiliano Messina, chair for Nissan’s Africa, Middle East, India, Europe and Oceania (AMIEO) region, warned earlier this month that the UK could become a corridor of China-made electric vehicles in the European Union.
“The whole UK has to adjust some of [the country’s] tariff policy,” Messina said, as carried by FT.
Indian critical minerals producer Lohum is seeking to buy nickel mines in Indonesia and the Philippines as it targets a tenfold increase in production to meet rising demand for battery minerals, its founder and chief executive said.
India is seeking to sustain its rapid economic growth with increased use of renewable energy and electric vehicles while weaning itself off Chinese supplies and developing its own sources of the critical raw materials, such as nickel, needed for the shift to greener technologies.
Lohum’s CEO Rajat Verma said the aim was to increase nickel production capacity to 10,000 metric tons of nickel a year over the next 18 months.
It currently produces 1,000 tons of nickel a year by processing recycled materials at its plant in the western state of Gujarat.
Talking to potential investors
Verma said the company sought to raise 10 billion rupees ($105 million) in equity and 20 billion rupees in debt over the next 12 to 18 months to fund its overall plans. It is in talks with potential investors, he added, declining to name them.
Depending on possible acquisitions, he said the increased nickel capacity could be even greater.
“If we are able to get access to a good quality mine then we may set up a larger capacity,” he said.
Lohum is also seeking to produce lithium, another critical mineral and plans to invest $100 million in Zimbabwe, where it has secured rights to 10 lithium mining blocks with estimated deposits of 30 million to 40 million tons of ore.
Earlier this month, Lohum made public its plans to become the first Indian company to produce lithium from an overseas asset, saying it will be processing ore into lithium sulphate in Zimbabwe before shipping it to India to be refined into higher value lithium carbonate, needed by battery makers.
As the firm seeks to provide other battery materials, Verma said Lohum was also setting up a 5,000 metric ton a year plant to make cathode active material. The plant in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh is expected to be commissioned by March and will require nickel and lithium.
Lohum is also developing a lithium-ion battery-recycling plant in Sharjah, the United Arab Emirates, in partnership with the local government, which is expected to be operational by early next year, Verma said.
China’s dominance of supply chains is particularly marked in rare earths, which are widely distributed across the world, but can be difficult to refine commercially.
Lohum is also scouting for rare earths in Southeast Asia, Verma said, and is setting up a rare earth magnet plant, also in Uttar Pradesh, with capacity of 1,200 metric tons a year.
($1 = 95.81 rupees)
(Reporting by Neha Arora and Sethuraman N R; editing by Mayank Bhardwaj and Barbara Lewis)
India’s Cochin Shipyard to Work With Synergy Marine to Grow Commercial Work
Cochin looks to use partnerships as it grows its commercial portfolio (Cochin Shipyard)
As the latest step in the efforts to expand India’s role in commercial shipbuilding and repair, the state-owned Cochin Shipyard, which is the largest builder in India, signed an agreement with global ship manager Synergy Marine. The companies look to share expertise to support the growth of the business for both newbuilds as well as vessel engineering and conversion projects.
Synergy Marine Group and Cochin Shipyard Limited signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly pursue shipbuilding, repair and conversion projects in India. The MoU covers joint business development in ship repair, conversion, newbuilding, module fabrication, and oil and gas projects. It also provides for mutually agreed technical and strategic advisory support to CSL’s newbuilding activities, including project planning, execution, and quality assurance.
The MoU provides a framework to combine CSL’s industrial capacity with Synergy’s experience in owners’ representation, engineering, project management and long-term technical management across shipbuilding and ship repair.
Jesper Kristensen, Group CEO of Synergy Marine Group, highlights the group’s experience in working with shipowners’ requirements for engineering and project execution. “Combining that experience with CSL’s industrial capabilities gives us a practical basis to develop shipbuilding and conversion opportunities in India, with decisions guided by safety, reliability and total cost of ownership.”
Synergy reports it has supported the delivery of more than 250 newbuilding projects, and its current portfolio of newbuilding assignments covers more than 150 vessels under construction at 20 shipyards across six countries. The group also has experience in converting LNG carriers into floating storage and regasification units (FSRUs), alongside engineering studies for floating storage and LNG bunkering applications. Its conversion experience includes feasibility studies and engineering design, equipment procurement, site supervision and commissioning, supported by preparation for safe operations and subsequent technical management.
Cochin Shipyard, which was launched in 1972, is a shipbuilding and ship repair company based in Kochi. It has been using its capacity for defense projects for India but is now expanding its commercial projects for customers in India and overseas.
The agreement with Synergy Marine follows a series of other steps, including an agreement with Singapore’s Seatrium for offshore projects and a recent joint venture agreement with DP World’s Drydocks World.
The yard signed an agreement in February 2026 with the French CMA CGM Group, which committed to build six feeder-sized vessels, each with a capacity of 1,700 TEU. The vessels, which will be LNG-powered, will be the first India has built for an international shipping company. Cochin has also been exploring opportunities with Maersk, which is likely to start with ship maintenance while the government has been courting more international investment and assignments for its shipbuilding sector.
The Indian government has declared a goal of being among the top ten global shipbuilding nations by 2030. By 2047, it wants to be among the top five shipbuilding nations.
