First Mover Advantage is already well known. It is when a company gains a position in a certain market or industry, or when it establishes a strong entry barriers through a distribution channel or a monopoly of resources. It is a concept that has been attracting attention for a long time in marketing and strategy. However, although it is possible for the starter to enjoy these various benefits, it is also true that there is a corresponding price. Therefore, the risks and costs that the starter may bear, and thus the relative benefits enjoyed by the latter, can be significant. Late Mover Advantage and so on. The fact that latecomers can enjoy a variety of benefits as well as the profits of the starters is an important consideration that must be taken into account by many companies considering entry into the market. In general, there is a very high risk of overinvestment in technology and market uncertainty. For example, China has skipped wired networks and went wireless, and many African countries have skipped wired communications and built infrastructure for wireless communications. In other words, companies that hastened to invest in fixed-line facilities in order to preoccupy the African telecom market are in a state of failure rather than expecting the interests of the starters. Another thing is that the starter has to bear more risks and costs than the latter, such as the uncertainty of demand, the risk of changing consumer preferences, and the cost of training new consumers. Also, because imitation is generally less costly than development, a latecomer entering through imitation may be in a better position if patents or other technical defenses are not available. Especially, if latecomers have excellent management ability and financial power such as excellent marketing ability, it is relatively easy to catch up with the first candidate.

Chitin deacetylases (CDAs) are extracellular-modifying enzymes that deacetylate chitin to produce chitosan. In insects, this modification may contribute to the affinity and/or cross-linking of chitin/chitosan-like polysaccharides for a variety of structural proteins, which may lead to diverse mechanical properties of the cuticle. We previously reported the functional importance of Group I CDAs, TcCDA1 and TcCDA2, as well as the two alternative spliced isoforms of the latter, TcCDA2a and TcCDA2b from the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum in molting, morphology of cuticle and movement of legs. In this study, we further analyzed protein localization, ultrastructural defects of the cuticles and leg joints after RNAi of those genes. Both proteins are mainly present in the innermost procuticle region called the “assembly zone”. Loss of function of either TcCDA1 or TcCDA2 caused disorganized chitinous horizontal laminae and vertical pore canals in both the rigid and soft cuticles. RNAi of TcCDA2b affects cuticle integrity similar to that seen in RNAi of the two alternatively spliced forms of TcCDA2. In contrast, TcCDA2a-deficient adult, like that seen in the hypomorphic phenotype produced by RNAi of TcCDA1, exhibited ruptured tendons between femur and tibia, resulting in loss of locomotion ability. These results suggest that Group I CDAs play critical roles in molting, morphology, ultrastructure and mobility in T. castaneum. This work was supported by NRFs (NRF-2015R1A6A3A04060323 and NRF-2018R1A2B6005106).

Many insects are able to feed on crucifers despite the presence of a potent activated defense system known as the mustard oil bomb. In damaged tissue, mustard oil glucosides (glucosinolates) are hydrolyzed by the enzyme myrosinase to form toxic mustard oils (isothiocyanates). Here, we analyzed how the the cabbage stem flea beetle Psylliodes chrysocephala, a key pest of oilseed rape, copes with this chemical defense. First, we found that P. chrysocephala prevents the activation of ingested glucosinolates by two different strategies, a) by sequestering glucosinolates and b) by converting glucosinolates to desulfo-glucosinolates. Our next aim was to identify the sulfatase enzyme(s) responsible for the detoxification of glucosinolates in P. chrysocephala. Nine arylsulfatase-like genes were identified in the transcriptome of P. chrysocephala, and five of them showed glucosinolate sulfatase activity upon heterologous expression in Sf9 cells. By using RNAi, we confirmed that PcGSS1 and PcGSS2 are active towards benzenic and indolic glucosinolates in P. chrysocephala adults in vivo. However, in feeding experiments, the proportion of sequestered and desulfated glucosinolates ranged from 26 to 35% which suggests that these strategies alone are likely not sufficient to overcome the chemical plant defense. Indeed, P. chrysocephala additionally conjugates isothiocyanates to glutathione and metabolizes them via the conserved mercapturic acid pathway. In summary, the cabbage stem flea beetle avoids isothiocyanate formation by specialized strategies (sequestration and desulfation), but also relies on a conserved detoxification pathway to prevent toxicity of isothiocyanates.

This paper proposes a fusion controller combing an anti-windup PID controller and BELBIC (Brain Emotional Learning Based Intelligent Controller) for controlling the position and vibration of a robot system having a single flexible manipulator. A finite element model of the flexible manipulator is developed. The reliability of it is verified by comparing the natural frequencies computed using the finite-element method with the experimentally measured ones. An MSC.ADAMS computational model of the robot system is interfaced with the proposed controller in MATLAB/Simulink, for carrying out a simulation. The simulation is performed with various references inputs and endpoint masses. The effectiveness and robustness of the proposed controller for control of the position and vibration of the flexible manipulator is shown through the simulation.

Personalised nutrition can contribute significantly to the prevention of non-communicable dietary related diseases by providing dietary suggestions based on individual’s nutritional needs. Adoption of the concept of personalised nutrition by individuals is crucial for the success of personalised nutrition services. However, consumers’ adoption intention of personalised nutrition services is not only the result of cognitive deliberations of benefits and risks, but several studies in other contexts show that affective and contextual factors also play an important role in explaining consumers’ adoption intention. This study therefore examines whether affective factors (i.e., measured by means of ambivalent feelings) and contextual factors (i.e., eating context) increase the understanding of consumers' intentions to use personalized nutrition services. An online survey study was conducted among a total of 996 participants in the Netherlands. The results of a number of estimated fully latent structural regression models show that the intention to use personalized nutrition is not only positively driven by a weighing of benefits and risks (i.e., privacy calculus), which is also established in previous studies, but also negatively by ambivalent feelings. In turn, the results show that ambivalence towards personalized nutrition is predicted by privacy risk and the extent to which someone perceives the eating context as a barrier for personalized nutrition. Taken together, the current study implies that to stimulate the adoption of personalized nutrition services not only benefits and risks of personalized nutrition should be addressed, but also consumers’ ambivalent feelings regarding the concept and contextual factors that may prohibit adoption.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that incidents like the recall of the exploding Samsung Galaxy 7 phones drive owners of other (competing) brands to experience and express feelings of joy when a rival brand fails (e.g., “the hottest phone in the streets!”). Although consumers sometimes experience brand-related schadenfreude—that is, joy out of other brand’s failure—, psychological processes driving schadenfreude are not clearly understood (Hickman & Ward, 2007; Van Dijk, Van Koningsbruggen, Ouwerkerk, & Wesseling, 2011). We propose that schadenfreude may be elicited by consumers’ tendencies to stand by their choices (Ye & Gawronski, 2016). We demonstrate that consumers show higher levels of schadenfreude if their choice is disconfirmed; for example, by a comparative product review that evaluates their chosen brand to be inferior to a rival non-chosen brand. Furthermore, this effect is moderated by the popularity of the chosen brand and mediated by feelings of self-threat. Moreover, we show that this effect is stronger for narcissists. We also find evidence that schadenfreude is a means for consumers to reaffirm their sense of self after they experience a self-threat induced by the disconfirmation of their choice.

The study examines physiological and neuronal processes of 26 inexpert wine drinkers in order to understand how consumers judge and choose wines during product experience. We analyzed if an increase in the beta band activity can be related to reward process and individual preference for a wine. We predicted that tasting different wines influence participants' preferences and beta band activity. We also hypothesized that high beta band activity would be related to preferences for a wine. The results confirmed that 1) tasting different wines modulate individual preferences and beta band activity and 2) the higher preferences for a wine corresponded to a stronger decrease in beta band oscillations.

We investigate how two concurrent multimodal sensory primes affect consumers’ evaluation of green products. More specifically, we study how an action of physical cleansing—which enables consumers to smell cleaning scents and offers them a sensation of physical cleanliness—influence their subsequent green detergent choices. Based on the theory of embodied cognition (Barsalou, 2008), we theorize that the two sensory inputs can simultaneously prime morality and cleaning effectiveness—two related yet different concepts—, which can be diagnostic for green product evaluations. The results of two studies show that both the cleaning effectiveness and the primed morality affect how consumers judge a green detergent. On the one hand, consumers infer how effective the detergent is from its scent strength and artificiality – the milder and the more natural the scent is perceived to be, the ―greener‖ and the less effective the detergent is judged to be compared to a regular, non-green alternative. On the other hand, the act of physical cleansing primes the sense of moral superiority of consumers relative to ―others.‖ The consumers who feel morally superior to others then underestimate how attractive the green detergent is going to be to ―other consumers‖ in the market (i.e., to the rest of the market). Our research contributes to both the psychophysiology and the green marketing literature. Regarding the former, we demonstrate a novel multisensory interaction effect by investigating how the brain deals with two competing primed concepts at the same time. Regarding the latter, our findings explain why making people feel moral does not always promote green or ethical consumption (Khan & Dhar, 2006; Mazar & Zhong, 2010). Apart from the account of moral licensing, we further identify that self-based green choices are largely utilitarian and driven by a pragmatic self-interest rather than by morality.

In the past, scholars and policy makers have tried to educate as well as incentivize practices like recycling to avoid reduce landfill stocks and create new objects from past used materials. Such products have been commercialized more and more by big brands (i.e. Adidas and Levi’s) and by famous fashion designers (i.e. Stella McCartney). While more academic literature has focused on drivers for consumers’ motivations to engage in recycling activities, there has been little research investigating consumers’ underlying psychological factors to favour recycled products over standard ones. In this study we address this issue by experimentally testing consumer evaluation and intention to adopt recycled products through an implicit theory – or mind-sets-framework on. In a set of three studies we demonstrate how consumers holding and incremental mind-set – who believe that trait like intelligence, morality or personality are malleable and transformable over time – are more keen top adopt products made of recycled materials. In contrasts, individuals with an entity mind-set – who instead believe human traits are fixed and non-mutable- are more sceptical to embrace such products. In Experiment 1 we demonstrated that the chronic incremental mind set of individuals influences their intention to acquire a recycled – over a non-recycled – coffee mug. In Experiment 2, we demonstrate through a laboratory experiment that this preference for products made out of recycled materials is stable in individual with an incremental min-set – over their entity min-set counterpart – even below the liminal attention threshold. Finally, in Experiment 3 we demonstrate that by attributing the merit of the transformation in a different object to qualities that are embedded in the materials used (rather than to the process to transform them) can make recycled products more appealing also to individuals with an entity mind-set. The results of these studies contribute to the literature on implicit theory by investigating another area in consumer psychology (intention to adopt recycled products) so far unexplored. On a managerial point of view, this study suggests how highlighting the effort spent by a company in creating the product can attract consumer (especially incremental theorists) to intend to buy the product, while highlighting the qualities of the material used can attract more entity theorists.