collected from approximately 1100 purebred Duroc pigs between 2011 and 2017. The meat quality traits evaluated were: moisture content (MC), fat content (FC), water holding capacity (WHC), cooking loss (CL), and shear force (SF). Meat samples were evaluated for the following fatty acids: palmitic, stearic, oleic, linoleic, and linolenic acids. We evaluated the meat for the following sensory traits: color, flavor, tenderness, juiciness, and acceptability of the meat. Variance and covariance components were estimated using restricted maximum likelihood procedures on different animal models. The results showed that the estimates of heritability for MC, FC, WHC, CL, and SF were 0.17, 0.58, 0.34, 0.31, and 0.42, respectively. The heritability estimates for fatty acid composition were moderate to high (0.34 to 0.63). The estimates of genetic correlation were -0.60 and 0.46 between MC and FC, and MC and SF, respectively. Generally, phenotypic correlation between meat quality traits was low. Linoleic acid had moderate to high negative phenotypic and genotypic correlation with both palmitic and oleic acid. Comparison of meat quality traits and sensory traits revealed a positive correlation (0.208) between acceptability and WHC, while the correlation between acceptability and SF was negative (-0.207). The estimated genetic parameters among meat quality traits, sensory traits, and fatty acid composition in this study are expected to be used to improve pork to suit consumer preferences.

As blogs continue to grow in importance, they have quickly become one of the largest and most established forms of non-traditional media (Onishi and Manchanda, 2012; Stephen and Galak, 2012). Due to this popularity, brands are striving to connect to consumers through the blogosphere. One of the most popular approaches is incentivization, whereby the brand incentivizes the blogger to write a review of a given product (Uribe, Buzeta and Velásquez, 2016; Hwang and Jeong, 2016). However, incentivization may pose significant risks for bloggers, who are perceived to be independent from corporate interests and a credible source of information. We employed three experimental studies to show that intrinsic, as compared to extrinsic, incentivization acceptance motives mitigate the negative effect of positive incentivized reviews on perceived independence, credibility and ultimately, blog loyalty. In our final experiment, we find that that followers who are attached to a blog are more likely to continue to browse, revisit and recommend the blog, regardless of incentivization acceptance motives.

Green products are often afflicted with a perceived performance liability, presenting marketing managers with a dilemma of how to motivate consumers to alter their consumption behavior, while acknowledging their negative inferences about green product performance. To address this problem, we develop green emphasis, defined as the prominence given to a firms’ environmental initiative in a green product communication appeal. By employing a green emphasis strategy, a firm makes prominent in a communication message either environmental attributes (Study 1 and 3), or uses assertive terminology (Study 2) to heighten issue importance. When a green emphasis strategy is used, the lack of performance-related extrinsic cues may reduce an individuals’ evaluation of a product’s performance ability. This relationship is mediated by autonomous motivation, which may be enhanced through the provision of information that is of interest and value to an individual (Deci & Ryan, 2000). Next, the moderating variable of performance criticality is examined, whereby the importance of the products’ performance ability is based on its associated category (Study 1) or purchase situation (Study 2). When a product belongs to a performance-critical category, or if situational involvement is heightened, the incongruent product information may heighten the negative impact of green emphasis. Finally, environmental attribute optionality (Study 3) is examined. When optional, the attribute is non-fundamental to the functioning of the base product (Ma, Gill, & Jiang, 2015). By making the environmental attribute an option, it is supposed that the incongruity between the attribute and perceived product performance is mitigated and localized, overcoming the negative effect of green emphasis.

Significant advances in mechanical testing for hard materials are discussed in this paper. There are three specific areas that are covered. In the measurement of fracture toughness factors such as the control of slow crack growth to produce strating cracks, and evaluating reproducibility and repeatability of tests have been recently examined. The miniaturization of tests reduces the amount of material that is used in testing, improves the throughput of tests, and also improves cost effectiveness. New techniques such as stepwise testing and micro scratch testing have contributed to significant additions to the knowledge of the wear mechanisms that operate in these materials.