The objective of the study was to measure the beneficial effects of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) inoculation on the nutritive value of oat silage collected from thirteen regions in the Republic of Korea. The contents of crude protein, acid detergent fiber (ADF), neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and crude ash (CA) were slightly lower in LAB inoculated silage when compared with the control silage, whereas inoculation of LAB resulted in increased total digestible nutrient (TDN). Higher number of LAB, but lower count of yeast and fungi indicated the effectiveness of the LAB inoculation on oat silage fermentation. LAB inoculation resulted in low pH silage, which may prevent undesirable microbial growth. The LAB inoculation promoted lactic acid dominant fermentation with marginal levels of acetic acid and butyric acid in oat silage. These data suggest that the LAB inoculation may preserve oat silage at better quality for ruminant animal production.

An experiment was carried out to determine the homofermentative activity of Lactobacillus plantarum KCC-10 and KCC-19 on the ensiling of whole crop barley (WCB). The crude protein in the silages was slightly higher in the KCC-10 and KCC-19 treatments compared to the control, but there was no significant difference between the two inoculant-treated silages. Nutrient parameters such as acid detergent fiber, neutral detergent fiber and in vitro dry matter digestibility in L. plantarum KCC-10 and KCC-19 treated silages did not differ from those in the control silage. The lactic acid content increased in KCC-10 and KCC-19 treated silage when compared with the control silage but the contents of acetic acid and butyric acid produced in KCC-10 and KCC-19 treated silages were similar with the control silage. Further, the number of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) in KCC-10 treated silage demonstrated a significant increase when compared to the control. Especially, KCC-19 treated silage showed greater lactic acid bacterial growth potential. Other microbes such as yeast and fungi were not detected in KCC-10 and KCC-19 treated WCB silages. Hence, this study suggests that the addition of L. Plantarum KCC-10 and KCC-19 to the WCB silage can improve fermentation quality for the production of high-quality silage.

An investigation was carried out to evaluate the potential role of Lactobacillus Plantarum KCC-10 and KCC-19 on the quality and fermentation characterization of Italian ryegrass (IRG) silages. The physiochemical properties of IRG silage such as crude protein content, neutral detergent fiber, acid detergent fiber, total digestible nutrient and in vitro dry matter digestibility were not affected by KCC-10 and KCC-19. The pH of IRG silage in KCC-10 and KCC-19 treatments decreased compared to the control (p<0.05), while the lactic acid content in KCC-10 and KCC-19 treatments increased compared to the control (p<0.05). In addition, the number of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) in the KCC-10 treatment increased compared to the control (p<0.05). The number of lactic acid bacteria in KCC-19 increased, but there was no significant difference in all treatments. Therefore, we recommend L. plantarum KCC-10 and KCC-19 as potential additive candidates in IRG silage with lots of advantages.

The physical and chemical properties of prestellar cores, especially massive ones, are still far from being well understood due to the lack of a large sample. The low dust temperature (< 14 K) of Planck cold clumps makes them promising candidates for prestellar objects or for sources at the very initial stages of protostellar collapse. We have been conducting a series of observations toward Planck cold clumps (PCCs) with ground-based radio telescopes. In general, when compared with other star forming samples (e.g. infrared dark clouds), PCCs are more quiescent, suggesting that most of them may be in the earliest phase of star formation. However, some PCCs are associated with protostars and molecular out ows, indicating that not all PCCs are in a prestellar phase. We have identied hundreds of starless dense clumps from a mapping survey with the Purple Mountain Observatory (PMO) 13.7-m telescope. Follow-up observations suggest that these dense clumps are ideal targets to search for prestellar objects.

Fashion brands are influenced by multiple identities. Even though, for example, the brand name might still be associated with one or more creative founders (Gucci, Prada, Chanel, Hermès, Adidas, Joop) the brand image, and moreover the overall brand reputation are influenced by many different identities. For instance, a specific product identity (e.g., Gucci’s Bamboo Bag), the identity of the city or country of origin (Florence, Italy), the identities of well-known key customers as brand ambassadors (Sophia Loren, Vanessa Redgrave, Lady Diana, Naomi Watts etc.). Of course, also fashion brands who are not directly associated with the name of creative founders are composed of the effects of several identities. In the case of e.g. Nike especially successful athletes (Steve Prefontaine, Michael Jordan etc.), specific sports and sport events, and product lines tailor-made for them did help to build a strong brand reputation. All in all, it seems to be expedient to understand fashion brands as more of less complex systems composed of several identities. To deal in more detail with such “brand systems” is becoming particularly important against the background of several strategic challenges – e.g., when fashion brands are growing older and the creative founders lose their specific gravitational power, when in the process of internationalization new countries gain more and more importance who’s citizens might not have a strong access to the existing brand reputation drivers, or simply when in the context of the growing global competition the fashion brand needs to be “refreshed”. Against the background of cultural differences, or even - as within countries - lifestyle differences between different groups of customers, it can also be quite possibly that very different reputation drivers account for the success of a brand. Thus, it is necessary to identify, in different contexts, the relevant reputation drivers, and to analyze which interplay of those drivers might be particularly promising. Is it the creative founder, the corporate heritage, the country and/or city of origin, a special designer, a specific corporate culture, an outstanding product design, attractive key customers etc.? Which combination of such identity factors leads to what kind of success (e.g., brand loyalty, brand trust, price premium)? Will, for instance, heritage especially lead to brand trust, whereas an outstanding product design and specifically attractive key customers create the readiness for a higher price premium? And, is it necessary to create sub-brands to especially highlight specific identities in the process of building a brand system (e.g., the sub-branding of a Michael Jordan product line in the case of Nike)? Or is sufficient to only communicate an alignment with the brand (e.g., ads showing Naomi Watts wearing a Gucci Bamboo Handbag)? In other words, which kind of brand system, and which kind of brand communications has to be designed to attract specific target groups and to sustain competitive advantages? The present contribution aims to present a conceptual framework for analyzing “brand systems” in the fashion industry. Concomitantly, an approach of measuring such brand systems will be presented. Furthermore, a concept for analyzing the impact of several sub-identities on the development of the overall brand reputation and brand success against the background of existing contingencies will be outlined. With the introduction and discussion of such a conceptual framework it especially is intended to initiate the launching of an international research project which attempts to find an answer basically to the following question: Which via an integrated branding and brand systems communication carefully crafted composition of sub-identities might be how successful under what kind of situational conditions?

The purpose of this research is to enhance sustainable outcomes as well as to understand the Chinese consumers’ needs by focusing on transformable design. In this study, mass customization and co-design were discussed. One-on-one interviews and online surveys were employed to capture both fashion experts’ and consumers’ opinions toward transformable design through customization.

The goal of this paper is to examine whether and how brand licensing can be an appropriate marketing tool for the development of a brand strategy in footwear SMEs. The article is based on a qualitative research methodology by adopting the multiple case study approach. Main results shows that licensing proves to be effective and that a multi-stage process of development exist that is common within footwear SMEs using brand licenses.

In the years 2010–2012 in Italy, the 3F sectors, fashion, food and furniture, marked a +5% (FinanciaLounge, 2014). To some extent, this rise may rely on the strong Made in Italy label that is historically “perceived by consumers as being associated with “true” luxury goods” (Hoffmann & Coste-Manière, 2014) and, in order to create nostalgia and credibility for their brands, many firms try to correlate their offer to the heritage of the Country of Origin (Fionda & Moore, 2009). In the academic literature, Country of Origin is one of the most analyzed method to enhance a firm’s competitive advantage, mainly thanks to its ability to increase positive perceptions about firms’ products in the customers’ mind (Agrawal & Kamakura, 1999; Aiello et al., 2009). Moreover, Country of Origin is defined as “the effect rooted in consumers’ images of the quality of specific products marketed by firms associated with a country of origin” (Verlegh, Steenkamp, & Meulenberg, 2005, p. 127). COO works as an information cue that covers the attitudes toward the products evaluation. In particular, COO influences customers’ brand awareness, perceived quality and brand associations depending on the country image, and, as a consequence, the overall brand equity (Agrawal & Kamakura, 1999; Chao, 1998; Magnusson, Westjohn, & Zdravkovic, 2011). For instance, some authors showed a positive bias (i.e. increased willingness to pay a higher price) toward products from some countries relative to others (Drozdenko & Jensen, 2009). For this reason, just few countries can benefit from their image and awareness in order to take advantage from the Country of Origin effect, such as Italy. Furthermore, besides the Country image, scholars found that the COO effect can vary depending on the product category “For a given category, country-of-origin credibility is high when consumers have a favorable image of the country’s products in that category, and low when the product–country image is unfavorable” (Verlegh et al., 2005, p. 129). In this perspective, firms should identify solutions to convey positive associations about their supply to customers (Phau & Leng, 2008). The relevance of this issue is confirmed by a lot of studies, where some communication tools related to COO effect are already investigated, like brand identification system, packaging, advertising copy and celebrity endorsement (Agrawal & Kamakura, 1999; Usunier, 2011). Actually, a lot of Italian firms use product placement exploiting the “Made in Italy” effect, where placement is here intended as the paid inclusion of branded products within mass media programming (Karrh, 1998). Just few examples are Piaggio with Vespa in Roman Holiday, Bacardi with Martini in James Bond and Ocean’s series, Riva Yacht with Aquarama in James Bond series and The Great Beauty, and Prada in The devil wears Prada. Many reasons are explaining such a great use of product placement. On one hand, in the last decade we have assisted to the fragmentation of media and their audience, and on the other one, consumers are more and more skeptical towards traditional benefit advertising and they use technology to avoid commercials (Hackley & Tiwsakul, 2006; Lehu & Bressoud, 2009). Integrating brands casually but notably in a media content appears to be an interesting alternative to traditional marketing communication tools (D’Astous & Chartier, 2000). Furthermore, product placement’s acceptance and its possibly effectiveness, as well as country of origin effect, is likely to vary across product category (Gupta & Gould, 1997; Russell, 1998). Moreover, we can assume that product placement impact on the overall brand equity in a positive way (Aaker, 1997; Miniero, Chizzoli, & Pate, 2013) as it is an effective tool that can increase brand awareness and develop favorable relations with customers (Chan, 2012). In particular, studies on product placement confirm an increased top-of-mind-awareness and unaided awareness of placed brands (Cholinski, 2012). Finally, even if studies on product integration effect on attitude toward placed brands are not univocal, a lot of publications present positive or at the very least neutral product placement influence on brand attitude (Russell, 2002). For instance, according to Miniero et al. (2013), product placement is a nice way to achieve communication objectives and it can be used to influence consumers’ attitude and intention to buy a specific brand (Miniero et al., 2013). To our knowledge, despite a huge employment of product placement in practice and a lot of contributions in the academic theory about these two topics, there is a gap in the literature about the relationship between the COO effect and the use of this communication tool from a practitioners’ perspective. On the contrary, from a consumers’ perspective, Tsai and Lu’s research find out a positive correlation between the use of product placement and the country image (Tsai & Lu, 2012). Moreover, due to the several studies concerning the positive impact of product placement and country of origin on brand equity, we are allowed to suppose that professionals can synergistically take advantage from both. Starting from Karrh’s studies on the practitioners’ perspective about product placement, our research aspires to draw any analogy and difference between Karrh’s findings and the Italian firm’s perceptions (Karrh, McKee, & Pardun, 2003; Karrh, 1995, 1998). Particularly, we aim to interview companies that belong to sectors where Made in Italy represents a key competitive component. In addition, our study attempts to explore if and how independent Italian firms exploit country of origin effect in their product placement in order to increase their brand equity. To answer our research questions, we could properly use the case study method (Yin, 2009). This qualitative methodology is very useful to explore unanticipated empirical discoveries (Eisenhardt, 1989). Our case study protocol will provide the analysis of three different data sources. In the first stage of our research, we will examine audio-visual materials, such as film, videotapes, websites and social media, to collect data in an unobtrusive method. In the second stage, we will go through public documents, newspapers and recent academic literature to understand trend topics on product placement and COO and to arrange guidelines suitable for the interviews. In the third ones, we will conduct in-depth face-to-face and semi-structured interviews with key figures of Made in Italy firms that integrated product placement in their communication mix at least once. More in details, interviews will be recorded and transcribed to ensure the completeness of the information gathered. Through the triangulation of these methods and sources we will achieve a richer and deeper data collection and we will also make the case study more detailed (Creswell, 2009). Although our research is still in progress, we expect to extend Karrh’s findings about product placement. More in details, we would like to focus our attention upon the integration between COO and product placement and we try to highlight any key element that can explain how to manage this relationship in order to increase brand equity.

There is relatively little evidence on how social media marketing activities influence brand equity creation and consumers’ behavior towards the brand. We explore these relationships by analyzing pioneering brands in the luxury sector (Burberry, Dior, Gucci, Hermès, and Louis Vuitton). Based on a survey of 845 luxury brand consumers (Chinese, French, Indian and Italian) who follow the five brands studied on social media, we developed a structural equation model that helps to address gaps in prior social media branding literature. Specifically, our study demonstrates the links between social media marketing efforts – measured as a holistic concept incorporating five aspects (entertainment, interaction, trendiness, customization and word of mouth) and their consequences (brand preference, price premium and loyalty).

To date, most serodiagnostic methods for brucellosis screening are based on antibodies against lipopolysaccharides of Brucella spp. However, this approach has the drawback of yielding false-positive results due to cross-reactivity with lipopolysaccharides of other related pathogens, especially Yersinia enterocolitica O:9. In this study, Brucella abortus AspC was cloned and expressed by PCR amplification into a pCold TF expression system to obtain recombinant AspC (rAspC). The immunogenicity of rAspC was confirmed by western blotting of Brucella-positive bovine serum. rAspC-based ELISA was performed to determine whether rAspC could be used in the serodiagnosis of bovine brucellosis. rAspC reacted strongly with anti-Brucella antibodies in positive sera in the tube agglutination test (TAT), but did not show strong reaction with most negative samples. In particular, the average OD492 value at the highest TAT titer showed a 1.4-fold increase with respect to the cutoff value. The accuracy, specificity, and sensitivity of rAspC were 71.88%, 78.33%, and 68%, respectively. These findings suggest that rAspC might be valuable for the serological diagnosis of bovine brucellosis.

The genus Sphathius is belong to the subfamily Doryctinae in the family Braconidae and are described with >300 species in the world (Shenefelt and Marsh, 1976). This genus is distinguished from other winged Doryctinae by 1) forewings with three submarginal cells; 2) first subdiscal cell of forewing closed; and 3) first metasomal segment petiolate, widening apically, lacking basal wing-like projections, and inserted on propodeum near coxal bases (Marsh, 1997). For the purpose of finding the biological agent for Asian longhorned beetle (ALB; Anoplophora glabripennis (Motschulsky)) and Citrus longhorned beetle (CLB; A. chinensis (Förster)), we had installed the ALB- and CLB-infested sentinel logs to attract parasitoids at experimental field of the Korea National Arboretum during summer season in 2014. Several L1 and L2 CLB larvae were found attacked by braconid larvae that were reared to adult stage. Their larvae are identified to Spathius gwangneungensis sp. nov. belong to the Spathius exarator species group. This new species has special characteristics as following; Body reddish brown or dark reddish brown, body length 2.5~3.7mm and forewing length 2.2~3.0mm in female and body length 2.1~2.6mm and forewing length 1.5~2.0mm in male, hind femur distinctly transversely aciculate dorsally, forewing more or less infuscate with a longitudinal hyaline band medially, vein m-cu of hind wing interstitial, second tergite entirely sculptured without striation, and third to fifth tergites basally sculptured. Ovipositor sheath 0.6 times as long as metasoma.