Field surveys for the genus Reticulitermes were conducted from 2013 to 2014 in Korea, and the results were compared with published data of the genus Reticulitermes. Totally, two species, R. speratus kyushuensis and R. kanmonensis were collected from several provinces, and R.kanmonensis is newly confirmed as an unrecorded species in Korea. The R. speratus kyushuensis was mainly collected in various trees, showing 0-2% genetic divergences; whereas, the R. kanmonensis was collected in pine woods of western regions, Gunsan, Wanju, Iksan (Jeollabuk-do), and Seocheon (Chungcheonnam-do). In the morphological comparison, R. kanmonensis is distinguished from R. speratus kyushuensis by more than 15 setae on pronotum and reveals 7.0% genetic difference (in a mitochondrial COII gene) from R. speratus kyushuensis in the molecular comparison.

The genus Diadegma is a well known parasitoid group and some are known to have symbiotic virus, PDV. A novel IV was discovered from the calyx of D. fenestrale female. This virus was named as D. fenestrale Ichnovirus (DfIV). The encapsidated DfIV genome contains 65 circular DNA segments with an aggregate size of 247,191 bp. Based on BLAST analysis, a total of 120 ORFs were predicted as follows: rep; 48, cys-motif; 11, vinnexin; 10, vankyrin; 9, PRRP; 3 and other unassigned genes (39). These viral genes were expressed in lepidopteran hosts (Phthorimaea operculella and Plutella xylostella) after parasitization which means DfIV genome segments were integrated into lepidopteran hosts. This study was focused on this result. Based on gene expression profile, candidate promoter and integration motifs were selected and then, fused with eGFP as a reporter gene. Modified DfIV genome segment was ligated to a commercial containing f1 ori and Ampr gene to propagate in E. coli. We have named this fusion vector as pIN. The construction methodology of pIN and its application would be further discussed in detail.

This study was conducted to examine the effects of defaunation (removal of live protozoa) on fermentation characteristics, degradation of ryegrass hay and CH4 (methane) production by rumen microbes when incubated with plant oils (SO, sunflower oil and LO, linseed oil) in vitro. Sodium lauryl sulfate (0.000375 g/ml) as a defaunation reagent was added into the culture solution and incubated anaerobically up to 24 h at 39℃. pH from defaunation was increased for all treatments from 6 h incubation times (p<0.01-0.001) compared with those from fauantion. Concentration of ammonia-N from defaunation is higher than that from faunation at 3 h (p<0.001), 12 h (p<0.05) and 24 h (p<0.001) incubation times. Defaunation decreased (p<0.01-0.001) total volatile fatty acid concentration at all incubation times. Molar proportions of C2 (acetate, p<0.05-0.001) and butyrate (p<0.01-0.001) were also decreased by defaunation at all incubation times. Molar proportion of C3 (propionate), however, was increased by defaunation at all incubation times (p<0.001). Thus the rate of C2 to C3 was decreased by defaunation at all incubation times (p<0.001). Defaunation decreased ED (effective degradability) of dry matter (p<0.001) and ED of neutral detergent fiber (p<0.001) of ryegrass hay. Defaunation decreased total gas, CH4 production, CH4 % in total gas and CH4/CO2 at all incubation times (p<0.001). Oil supplementation decreased total gas (p<0.05-0.001), CH4 production (p<0.001) and CH4 % in total gas (p<0.001) compared with control at all incubation times. The result of this study showed that defaunation combined with oil supplementation may cause an alteration of microbial communities and further medicate the fermentation pattern, resulting in both reduction of degradation of ryegrass hay and CH4 production. No difference, however, was observed in all the examinations between SO and LO.

Nascent research into computer-mediated feedback has demonstrated its potential effectiveness for providing extensive and detailed feedback. However, a dearth of research exists on international doctoral students’ perceptions of online feedback. Thus, our exploratory qualitative study reported in this article investigated the use of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) (e.g., Skype) software to provide feedback on academic writing to international doctoral students in a TESOL Education program at a large urban university in the US. Each student participated in six feedback sessions in which they engaged in think-aloud while reacting to feedback on their academic writing presented through several online modes. The think-aloud sessions were followed by semi-structured interviews. The themes of negotiated feedback and micro-mentoring emerged when the use of online communication technologies allowed the feedback process to become more bi-directional. Based on our findings, we concluded that VoIPenabled feedback had the potential to facilitate the scaffolding of academic writing development of international graduate students.

Oral exposure of humans by excess amounts of arsenic may cause disturbances of the reproductive system. In the present study, such exposure was modelled in rats, with the support of sperm principal parameters and histopa-thological observations. Male Sprague–Dawley rats were randomly divided into three groups where the group I was served as a normal control, group II was received sodium meta-arsenite as arsenic (10 mg/kg b.w/day) and a combi-nation of sodium meta- arsenite and sodium selenite (3 mg/kg b.w/day) in group III. After 6 weeks, there was no significant change in testis weight and in total motility of all the three experimental groups, whereas, rapid moving spermatozoa, moderately moving spermatozoa and slow moving spermatozoa were significantly decreased in arsenic treated rats as compared to control rats. The other sperm principal parameters like progressiveness, average path velocity, straightness linear velocity (VSL), curvilinear velocity (VCL), straightness, linearity sperm head elongation ratio, area, linearity amplitude of lateral head department (ALH) and beat cross frequency (BCF) were found to be reduced in arsenic intoxicated rats. These results are not correlated with the histological studies. On oral admini-stration of selenium ameliorated the adverse effects of arsenic as compared to arsenic alone treated rats. Our findings clearly demonstrate that administration of selenium could prevent some of the deleterious effects of arsenic in the testis.

아스팔트 포장도로는 해당 지역의 기후, 차량 통행량 등 여러 가지 요인을 고려하여 설계 및 시공이 진 행되나 4계절이 뚜렷한 우리나라의 온도 변화 특성 및 차량의 반복하중 등으로 인하여 시간의 흐름에 따라 균열이 진행된다. 이러한 균열 부위에 대해 적절한 보수를 취하지 않으면, 각종 이물질 및 빗물의 침입과 차량의 반복 하중 등으로 인하여 균열의 가속화, 포장 구조물의 상태 악화를 유발하게 된다. 균열 보수에 있어서 표층을 완전히 걷어내고 새로 포장하는 것에 비해 국부적으로 균열을 보수 하는 것이 경제적, 시간 적 측면에서 유리하기 때문에 이러한 균열을 초기에 보수 할 수 있는 균열 보수재의 개발이 필요하다. SDA(Solvent De-Asphalting) 정제기술을 거친 경질화 부산물은 기존 도로포장용 아스팔트에 비해 침 입도와 신도가 낮고 높은 연화점과 점도를 가지기 때문에, 도로포장용 아스팔트나 균열 보수재의 모재로 사용하기에는 적합하지 않다. 따라서 본 연구는 기존 아스팔트 균열 보수재로써의 개발을 위한 기초 연구 의 일환 으로 기존 도로포장용 아스팔트에 비해 취성적인 거동을 보이는 경질화 부산물의 개질을 위해 SBS (styrene-butadiene-styrene)를 비롯한 개질 첨가제를 선정하였으며, SBS 및 개질 첨가제의 혼입 률에 따른 물리적 특성 및 유변학적 특성을 분석하였다.

Buckling, a form of failure happened to plated structures, is investigated in this study. The main focus is to investigate the effects of thickness of the plates having through-thickness holes on buckling when the plate is subjected to in-plane compression. Plates having length of 200mm and width of 100mm are chosen to have thickness in range from 0.50mm to 10mm. Two holes of diameters of 20mm are implemented in plates. The finite element procedure using ABAQUS is applied for analyses. Then using the Gerard and Becker equation compressive buckling coefficients, Kc, are calculated and presented to enable engineers to calculate buckling load for the desired plate with holes in specific dimension. In order to generalize the obtained results, verification analysis has been performed by taking plates having different dimensions from the original ones used in this study. The verification showed the capability of buckling coefficients to predict buckling stresses of plates in various dimensions.

This study highlights a novel method and mechanism for the rapid and effective milling of carbon fibers (CFs) in silicon carbide (SiC) powder, and also the dispersion of CFs in SiC powder. The composite powders were prepared by chopping and exfoliation of CFs, and ball milling of CFs and SiC powder in isopropyl alcohol. A wide range of CFs loading, from 10 to 50 vol%, was studied. The milling of CFs and SiC powder was checked by measuring the average particle size of the composite powders. The dispersivity of CFs in SiC powder was checked through scanning electron microscope. The results show that the usage of exfoliated CF tows resulted in a rapid and effective milling of CFs and SiC powder. The results further show an excellent dispersion of CFs in SiC powder for all CFs loading without any dispersing agent.

An attempt was made to investigate the effect of the preparation temperature on the electro-capacitive performance of polypyrrole (PPY)/graphene oxide (GO) nanocomposites (PNCs). For this purpose, a series of PNCs were prepared at various temperatures by the cetyltrimeth-ylammonium bromide-assisted dilute-solution polymerization of pyrrole in presence of GO (wt%) ranging from 1.0 to 4.0 with ferric chloride as an oxidant. The formation of the PNCs was ascertained through Fourier-transform infrared spectrometry, X-ray diffraction spectra, scanning electron microscopy and simultaneous thermogravimetric-differential scanning calorimetry. The electrocapacitive performance of the electrodes derived from sulphonated polysulphone-bound PNCs was evaluated through cyclic voltammetry with reference to Ag/AgCl at a scan rate (V/s) ranging from 0.2 and 0.001 in potassium hydroxide (1.0 M). The incorporation of GO into the PPY matrix at a reduced temperature has a pronounced effect on the electrocapacitive performance of PNCs. Under identical scan rates (0.001 V/s), PNCs prepared at 10 ± 1°C render improved specificconductivity (526.33 F/g) and power density (731.19 W/Kg) values compared to those prepared at 30 ± 1°C (217.69 F/g, 279.43 W/Kg). PNCs prepared at 10 ± 1°C rendered a capacitive retention rate of ~96% during the first500 cycles. This indicates the excellent cyclic stability of the PNCs prepared at reduced tempera-tures for supercapacitor applications.

The work analyses three key concepts frequently recalled and strictly correlated: contemporarity of dialogue, convergence of interests and collectivity of responsibilities. The continuous digital conversations between companies and customers are changing the value creation processes and leading to new positive convergence of customers and citizens at work. Convergence is driven by a renewed social sensitivity which is clearly influenced by collective responsibilities. After introducing the literature we bring logical arguments and empirical evidences to focus on the new convergence of market and society interests. Through a new Co-Value Model we measure the intensity of conversations contents: co-advertising contents show the highest level of consumer involvement, followed by co-planning, co-selling, co-use, co-post-sales, co-logistic and co-production. The metrics of the Co-Value Model are aimed to measure and reinforce the basic idea of convergence between the customer perspective- logic of money- and the citizen perspective -logic of gift-. Analyzing the continuous conversation between customer and companies within 21 international digital services, we demonstrate that a) the continuous digital conversations between companies and customers are changing definitively the value creation processes; b) the renewed social sensitivity gradually brings a new convergence between market and society interests which is evidenced by the high frequence of conversation focussed on social topics: c) the new convergence is driven by a renewed collective sense of co-responsibility. The findings show the robustness of the core concept of convergence: companies and customers maintain separate and complementary roles but their conversations are fundamentally remodelled both in content and in shape. Individuals are now called to play an economic role as prosumers, but at the same time, they have new opportunities as citizens for new forms of dialogue which reinforce their critical and social role. This is what we call convergence of interests. Market and society do not coincide, companies and customer act as counterparts and have different roles but their interests are converging. In many cases, prosumerism can generate a new loop between companies and consumers responsibility, and consumers can commit to this new social game of being customer and citizen at work. The model is applied to a large number of very recent case histories able to focus on the managerial implications of the new social game.

Next to brand manufacturers, retailers are increasingly incorporating ‘green’ issues in their store brands. Although a lot of studies are devoted to comparing store brands with national brands (e.g., Steenkamp et al., 2010), there is limited research that compares these two types of brands in a ‘green’ context. This study investigated what factors influence the consumption of ‘green’ store brands and national brands by focusing on three important determinants: brand equity, store image and brand identification.Different models are tested in which we incorporate both mediating and moderating effects of these constructs on green brand consumption. Using the context of organic food brands, we conducted a longitudinal online panel study among consumers in Australia, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, the UK and the US. Participants completed a self-administered questionnaire and, for each country, received either a questionnaire on store brands (n = 562) or on national brands (n = 302). Multiple regression analyses showed that for store brands, brand equity and brand identification had a positive direct effect on brand consumption. Additional analyses indicated that brand equity was not mediated by store image, but that store image moderated the effect of brand equity on brand consumption. For national brands, store image and brand identification had a positive direct effect on brand consumption. Mediation analysis showed partial mediation of brand equity by store image. We did not find a moderating effect of brand equity on brand consumption for national brands.Our findings indicate that for ‘green’ store brands, the relationship between brand equity and consumption is strengthened by consumers’ image of the store. In contrast, for national brands, the relationship between consumers’ brand equity and brand consumption is not strengthened but actually partially determined by the current image of the store where that brand is sold. In addition, identification with the green brand seems to play an important role in brand consumption for both store brands and national brands.

This research explore the complementarity effect of export-market orientation and entrepreneurial orientation on export performance of SMEs from a CEE developing economy. We found that the likelihood of this effect on export profitability is higher in dynamic export market environments if high level of resources are committed to export operations.

Country image is a construct with far-reaching commercial implications (Kotler and Gertner, 2002). It is often held up as an antecedent condition of attitude formation towards products (Verlegh and Steenkamp, 1999; Laroche et al., 2005; Zeugner-Roth and Diamantopolous, 2009), as a determinant of visiting intentions for tourist destinations (Nadeau et al., 2008; Martínez and Alvarez, 2010) or even as a source of political power (van Ham, 2001; Nye, 2004; Wang, 2008). However, the way in which country image is approached in the literatures dealing with it various venues of relevance almost exclusively threat the construct as a source of some exerted effect and rarely venture into the issue of how country image is formed and how it various venues of its commercial relevance interact. Some exceptions to this general rule can be found in White (2012) who explored how product image exerts a formative effect on country image, a country-of-origin effect in the inverse. Also, Nadeau et al. (2008) observed that country image as it pertains to destination image as well as to exports intersect in an interesting way and that the two areas of commercial relevance indeed are not completely separate. In the present study we postulate that the meaning attributed to a particular country’s image is the result of an oscillation of meaning between that attributed to objects (such as for instance products, destinations or people) associated to the country and the country image itself. I.e. a product perceived as being associated to a country would derive its meaning from the country image but also exert a feedback of meaning towards the country image. Any association is not only a determinant of meaning towards one of the objects in an association dyad (cf. Keller, 1993) but this meaning also, through association, transfer in the inverse direction as well. This suggests that any venue of meaning attribution to a country could potentially exert an effect on any situation in which the country in turn exerts a formative influence. For example, a product image of a product associated to a country could potentially exert an influence on the countries attractiveness as a tourist destination through a mediated influence through country image. In order to put this mechanism to the test 500 respondents from the USA (311 female, x age 46.5, respondents of Korean origin excluded) were recruited through an online panel and subjected to a psychometric test-series featuring items pertaining to the image of South Korea, the image of South Korean products and various factors pertaining to the respondent’s attitude towards South Korea as a tourist destination. The resulting data was subjected to statistical analysis using a covariance-based structural equation model approach. The results of the data analysis suggest that attitudes and notions directed to products from South Korea exert a statistically significant effect on the image of the country as a whole. This image in turn exerts an effect on the whether consumers express interest in visiting the country in their capacity as potential tourists. These results are in support of White (2012) in that they demonstrate that attitudes towards products from a particular country contribute to the attitude towards a country as a whole. The results also support Nadeau et al. (2008) in their finding that country image as it pertains to inferring the degree of quality of exports and the attractiveness of a place as a tourist destination should not be compartmentalized, but rather treated as a facets of the same construct. In the present study the case of South Korea was used with a particular goal in mind. The rather unusual historical particularities of the transition of South Koreas economy makes it highly interesting as an example for several reasons. Not only did South Koreas transition take place in a highly compressed timeframe, but it also took a route which runs counter to the notion that tourism often serves as the starting point of economic transition (Dieke, 2003; Dritsakis, 2004; Oh, 2005; Mishra et al., 2006; Kaplan and Celik, 2008) as the rise of South Korea can be said to have been driven by industrial development and exports, prior to the country becoming a popular tourist destination. The particularities of this path to a greater degree of economic development arguably shed new light on the issue of how country image can form and how it pertains to highly variable commercial contexts and how the effect the country image construct exert transect across these various venues of commercial activity.

Brazilian Government faced international crises by implementing fiscal stimulus to raise internal consumption while sustained a high interest rate with flexible exchange rate system and low capital flow control. The mix of economic policies has increased the internal expenditure level, lowered income differences and has sustained inflation controls. The composition of internal expenditure has changed and external firms captured the higher demand. Therefore, an imbalance in transactions account is an increasing macroeconomic problem. This paper analyses the relation between recent shifts in macroeconomic policies in Brazil, the growing importation of final goods and a different insertion and external sharing of Brazilian exportation. Fiscal policies, instead of increasing sales and firms revenues, has increased imbalances in transaction account and has feed the discussion about Dutch Disease and Deindustrialization in Brazil. We can define deindustrialization as a lower share in industrial jobs in the total employment in the country (Rowthorn & Ramaswany 1999). The broad concept is a decrease in the industrial value added share to gross domestic product in addition to a lower industrial employment share (Tregenna 2009). In the first part, we discuss three different interpretations of causes of deindustrialization. Follows an analysis of consumption in Brazil and transaction account data. For some economists Brazil faces a historical and structural trend to currency valuation, related to commodities exports. These phenomena must be corrected through export taxation in order to sustain product diversification and national firms in manufacturing sector (Bresser-Pereira 2011). Others consider that the mix of economic policies combined with low capital controls and pre-salt announcement, led to deindustrialization and devaluated currency. In addition, we can find in the literature that deindustrialization is a recent phenomenon closely linked to 2008 crisis (Bacha 2013). Finally, some economists think that deindustrialization is a natural phenomenon and as economy growth, we can observe a pattern where service sector grows more than manufacture sector. This is related to the income increases and family demand (services has higher income elasticity of demand than manufacture goods). In the second part of this paper, we show how a wage-led strategy to growth has increased imports and decrease exports instead of increasing national firms’ sales and revenues. Recent data shows an imbalance in external accounts and a huge change in imports and exports composition. In the third part, we show the consumption contribution to growth, aggregate demand since 2008, the increase in importation and the consumption pattern for durable, no durable goods. We also analyze the growing indebtedness of households and shifts in income sharing. Finally, a shift in composition of exports and imports ends the third part showing a different insertion of Brazilian economy. The conclusion shows that firms in national territory fails in benefiting from increases in demand and in competing for exports. We raise questions about when one country should adopt fiscal stimulus to fight against crises and poverty. When fiscal policy is combined with monetary contraction and currency appreciation, the results are that firms cannot benefit from a growing demand and we call that Access Theory: exchange rate is strongly related to consumption level for national goods.

This study analyzes the use of the personality metaphor in the official tourism websites developed by South American countries. The Big-Five human personality dimensions are used as a proxy to explore the intended personality projected by the countries. A multistage methodology using a combination of content analysis and correspondence analysis was used. Results reveal the existence of four main clusters based on the use of different personality traits to communicate the peculiarities of each country. However, an overall view of the results indicates that South American countries are not using in a substantial way the personality metaphor to create a strong positioning for the international tourists, and therefore the use of this new marketing tool is in its nascent stages.

Consumer ethnocentrism (CET) has been widely research in various marketing contexts since the construct was identified by Shimp and Sharma (1987) in their seminal paper. The central tenet of consumer ethnocentrism theory is that consumer ethnocentrism will have a negative effect on foreign product purchase intention and a positive effect on willingness to purchase home country products. So far, the role of satisfaction has not been integrated into the CET model. The satisfaction-repurchase relationship has also received considerable attention in the marketing literature whereby satisfaction is found to have a direct positive effect on repeat purchase. Anecdotal evidence suggests that both satisfaction and consumer ethnocentrism will have a joint effect on willingness to repurchase a home country product, especially when foreign competitor products are seen as a threat in the domestic markets. However, it remains unclear how satisfaction and consumer ethnocentrism jointly affect purchase intentions. In this research we examine the dynamics of the two constructs. This study considers South Korean consumers’ willingness to repurchase the Samsung Galaxy smartphone and examine the interrelationship among the above variables. The findings of the study suggest that consumer ethnocentrism moderates the satisfaction-repurchase intention relationship or vice versa and satisfaction and consumer ethnocentrism are mutual cooperative suppressors for repurchase intention. This study highlights that the effect of consumer ethnocentrism on repurchase intention will be stronger when consumers are satisfied with the product.

The purpose of this study is to explore the effects of social media in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) based on a theoretical foundation. Social media was firstly used as a new communication tool by internet users, and is being commercialized as a powerful tool to build and maintain long-term relationships between customers and businesses. This study focuses on service sectors and aims to clarify how social media helps companies innovate traditional CRM. Social CRM is seen as one of these service innovations and is highlighted in this paper.

Co-production is defined as customer participation in production activities that generate a result to be consumed (Etgar, 2008). Previous research has shown the positive effects of co-production, such as satisfaction, perceived control, and perceived quality (Chan, Yim, & Lam, 2010; Golder, Mitra, & Moorman, 2012; Hunt, Oneto, & Varca, 2012). However, knowledge about the potential negative consequences from co-production is scarce. Despite the importance of the role of causal locus in the generation of unsatisfactory results, to date, this subject has not been properly studied. Considering that co-production is increasingly common in contemporary consumption contexts, this paper aims to broaden knowledge about unsatisfactory results from co-production. Based on two experimental studies, we analyze the role of the causal locus of failures on customer regret and disappointment, taking into consideration the self-serving bias. The results show that a consumption situation with an unsatisfactory regret tends to be higher when the consumer takes the blame than when the causal locus is attributed to the company. When the causal locus is uncertain, regret is higher than disappointment and higher than the regret experienced when the company or the service employee is blamed. Because regret is associated with internal causal attribution, these results contradict the self-serving bias literature, which affirms that people are more likely to make external than internal attributions for failures (Mezulis, Abramson, Hyde, & Hankin, 2004; Weiner, 2010). The internal failure attribution converges with the idea that consumer participation in production implies more responsibility over the result (Bitner, Faranda, Hubbert, & Zeithaml, 1997; Prahalad & Ramaswamy, 2004).When the causal locus is attributed to the company or to the service employee, disappointment towards the company tends to be higher than in the other conditions and higher than regret. Study 2 tested whether consumers who co-produce would take responsibility for a failure and blame themselves in situations where the causal locus was undetermined. The results once again contradicted the self-serving bias literature in a scenario with co-production. Consumers who co-produced experienced more regret and less disappointment towards the company, and they blamed themselves more intensely than the consumers who did not co-produce. Therefore, the consumers who co-produce take more responsibility for dissatisfying results and, consequently, regret their actions to a higher degree than those consumers who do not co-produce. These results show that even when co-production fails to generate a satisfying result for the consumer, it may be positive for the company because it provides a context in which both the consumer and the company may be responsible for the failure. When the company is blamed, consumers experience less regret and more disappointment towards the company than when the consumer is the one to blame. But when the consumer is blamed or the causal locus is uncertain, situations that are both possible in a co-production context, then consumers experience more regret and less disappointment towards the company.

Empirical studies provide evidence that many consumers prefer a flat-rate, even though their billing rate would be lower on a pay-per-use tariff. When it comes to tariff choices, some consumers thus seem to be subject to a cognitive error, a so-called “flat-rate bias”. Based on survey data, we analyse causes and strategies to enhance the occurrence and intensity of flat-rate biases within 2 studies. The results of study 1 (n=104) point out to five important drivers of flat-rate biases, namely the taximeter, insurance, overestimation, convenience and smart-shopping effect. Within study 2 (n=416), we subsequently evaluate the effectiveness of advertisements using the identified causes for a flat-rate bias as setting levers to increase consumers' tariff-specific willingness-to-pay. Our findings show that the most effective way to enhance the return on flat-rate bias would be to enhance communication of the fact that consumers can protect themselves from fluctuations in the billing amount through a flat rate (insurance effect) and that consumers must not worry about costs when using a flat rate (taximeter effect).

Commercial fitness industry is booming in Malaysia and is becoming more difficult to entice new members with the built up competition. This research investigates the needs of these commercial fitness members and the role of engagement in determining overall satisfaction with service. Scale of Service Quality for Recreational Sport (SSQRS) was used for data collection reveals that fitness members are more drawn to interaction, outcome, physical environment quality and the engagement they receive from a gym membership and not much from the programs that are offered. This study’s finding will contribute to the development of marketing strategies for the sustainable growth of the fitness industry.