Although people generally do not pay much attention to scent, background music (BGM), color, etc. in retail or service environments, these in-store factors could potentially have a subtle yet powerful influence on customers. Through two experiments, this research examined whether the scent and music made people feel physically warm or cool, and their effect on the participants’ perception of space and social density. Regarding to participants’ subjective perception of temperature, between the warm scent (vanilla) and the cool scent (peppermint), and between the warm music (Träumerei by Schumann) and the cool music (Vocalise by Rachmaninov) are not significantly different. But I could observe that people in warm conditions felt physically warm compare to cool conditions. And there was a significant difference on participants’ perception of space and density. People in the vanilla-scented environment felt that the capacity of the room was smaller, the space was tighter, and the social density was higher. In the case of the music, the results were the same. People in the room with Träumerei as a BCM felt that the room was smaller, the space was tighter, and the social density was higher. Moreover, people in warm conditions chose a cold or room temperature drink when I offered three drink options (cold, warm, room temperature) as a token of my gratitude. In addition to the effect to perception, I found that people in warm conditions (both scent and music) were more persuaded by commercial message than in cool conditions. These results would contribute to expand our knowledge of store atmospherics and customer experience through ambient scent and BGM.

In recent years, ethical consumption has been attracting attention in Japan. Ethical products cover various issues, such as protection of the global environment, sustainability of resources, and protection of producers. Because the specification of such issues is difficult, previous studies often analyzed only one phenomenon. Several studies have attempted to examine the buying behavior of consumers of organic food products, based on Ajzen’s (1991) theory of planned behavior (TPB) (Sparks and Shepherd, 1992; Arvola et al., 2007; Chen, 2007, Lodorfos and Dennis, 2008). The TPB considers intention as a function of three principle determinants: attitude toward behavior, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control. Regarding ethical food consumption, moral norms are individual value judgments connected to a specific behavior and its outcome (Manstead, 1999). A comprehensive model based on ethical issues for various products is required. Prior research highlights the consensus that targeting females in ethical consumption will have a greater chance of success (Roberts, 1996; Mainieri et al., 1997; De Pelsmacker et al., 2005). We propose three hypotheses to explain gender difference in consuming ethical food products. The aim of this study is to analyze the purchase behavior of consumers of ethical food products and to examine how consumers differ by gender in terms of the ethical issues. This study adopted organic vegetables, fair trade products, products certified by the Rainforest Alliance, free-range eggs, and fish certified by the Aquaculture Stewardship Council as ethical food products. These food products are associated with different ethical issues, and thus, we define ethical issues as “ethical attitude” for each product. For example, the ethical attitude of free-range eggs is included in the following categories (Table 1): environment, which means the protection of the global environment; health, which refers to the health of consumers; animal, which means the welfare of animals and the sustainability of resources; and farmer/aquaculturist, which means protecting farmers or aquaculturists

This study examines the effects of sampling promotion of a new product in terms of the purchase and WOM. Existing users of the category and related category which the new product were introduced tend to purchase it, compare to non-users. Consumers who knew about the new product before receiving the sample tend to engage into WOM

Bend tests were performed at temperatures between 77 and 473K for W-19vol%Cu, W-22vol%Ag and W-19vol%(BAg-8) composites. Yield and maximum strengths and ductility of the composite were discussed in terms of microstructure and fractography. Results are summarized as follows. (1) Almost no difference was recognized in yield strength between the composites. In contrast, a large difference was recognized in maximum strength and ductility between the composites. (2) Inferior mechanical properties of W-Ag composite to W-Cu composite are attributed to heterogeneous distribution of Ag-phases, whilst inferior mechanical properties of W-(BAg-8) composite to W-Cu composite are attributed to large pores at grain boundaries.

New Al-based alloys with very high ultimate tensile strength were developed in high Al concentration range of 91-95 at.% for Al-Fe-Cr-Ti-M (M: Co and Mo) systems and Al-Fe-Cr-Mo-Ti-Co system by the dispersion of nanoscale quasicrystalline particles in Al phase. The effect of adding elements, M was discussed in the viewpoint of stability of super-cooled liquid state and formation ability of quasicrystalline phase. The P/M Al-Fe-Cr-Ti-M alloys with dispersed nanoscale quasicrystalline particles exhibited ultimate tensile strength of 350MPa at 573K and 200MPa at 673K.

We present results of the VLBA observation toward the radio continuum and water maser emissions in a nearby LINER galaxy NGC 1052. The jet structure observed in 2000 is similar to that in 1998, and the two jet structures in 1998 and 2000 support the sub-luminal motion with apparent velocity of 0.26c. Distribution of water maser spots are located ~0.05 pc shifted to southwest from the component which is supported to be the nucleus, and no rapid positional change of the water maser gas with respect to the central engine is seen from 1995 to 2000. The maser gas is positionally coincident with a plasma torus, and the position of the maser gas relative to the nucleus is stable from 1995 to 2000. The maser gas in NGC 1052 could be explained to be associated with the nuclear circumnuclear torus or disk like the situation found in the nucleus of NGC 4258.

We had the first committee meeting of the East Asia VLBI Consortium during the EAMA6 meeting held in Seoul. A VLBI network composed of telescopes in the East Asia region could provide extreme properties, and the coordination of them has been expected. The Committee of the East Asia VLBI Consortium is a standing committee to promote activities of the consortium, in which participating countries at present are China, Japan, and Korea over eight institutes/observatories. Here we introduce the Consortium and Committee.

The VLBI Space Observatory Program (VSOP) is a worldwide project of one radio telescope in space with many ground radio telescopes. The concerted space VLBI network enables us to reveal high resolution and high quality images of radio sources. The space radio telescope is anticipated to be launched in January/February 1997, and collaborative observations have been coordinated. The basic parameters of the system and present status are given.

The Port Development has been achieved by the Government because it needs large scale of funds. However, since 1994, the Govenment has been implemeting private investments for constructing and operating the ports and so on. Although the Government had high expectation that it could expedite the expansion of the port facilities, there were many problems in view of construction, management, financial and social environment. This study figure out that most of the important reasons are the uncertainty of risk allocation between private investors and the Government, using with Analytic Hierarchy Process. It is expected that the results of this study will encourage more private investors to participate in port private investments in the future.