In Europe, the cabbage stem flea beetle (Psylliodes chrysocephala) is a specialized insect feeding on Brassicaceae plants. The plants use the glucosinolate-myrosinase defense system, but P. chrysocephala can overcome this chemical defense by detoxification of the emerging ITCs by conjugation with glutathione (mercapturic acid pathway). In addition to known products of the mercapturic acid pathway, previously unreported metabolites were isolated, and their structures were elucidated by means of high resolution mass spectroscopy (HR-ESITOFMS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). The products found may represent general detoxification products of the mercapturic acid pathway.

Insect metabolism and the inter-species communication among insects are fascinating fields of science. The underlying chemical principles are difficult to elucidate since minute amounts of chemicals, often of unknown structures, are involved. The talk highlights recent examples of work where chemical analysis and biological research went hand in hand to unravel ecological mysteries. Focus will be on the use of modern and sensitivity improved nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy serving as analytical key technology.

During the last decade, customer complaint management received considerable attention in marketing literature, e.g., researchers examined the consequences of a negative incident on customer attitudes towards the provider and the associated behavioral intention such as self-reported repurchase intentions ( e.g. Evanschitzky, Brock, and Blut, 2011; Smith and Bolton, 2002; van Doorn and Verhoef, 2008). However, this stream of research has not examined actual purchase behavior after the complaint (e.g., de Matos, Henrique, and Rossi, 2007). Hence, it is unclear whether service recovery only affects self-reported outcomes (i.e., purchase intention) or actual purchase behavior. Moreover, recent research has indicated that customer inertia explains a large proportion of the variance of a customer’s repurchase behavior (e.g. van Doorn and Verhoef, 2008). So far, no research has assessed the impact of inertia in the service recovery context. It is indicated that the relationship between the provider and the customer is strongly affected by the service failure (van Doorn and Verhoef, 2008), but as of now, the role of past behavior has not been investigated. This study contributes to the complaint management literature by (1) analyzing the effects of service recovery on actual purchase behavior after recovery and (2) by assessing the role of inertia in situations of service recovery. Results indicate that complaint satisfaction has a significant positive impact on post complaining purchase behavior while overall satisfaction has no such effect. Furthermore, past purchase behavior has the strongest impact; thus, inertia plays a substantial role in complaint management.

Social media has quickly becoming tools of choice for communicating between brand and their customers. Among all social medias, instagram is seen as the most effective one, especially for fashion brands. Instagram’s main function to share videos and pictures is suitable with visual communication methods that is often being used by fashion brands. Posts with high amount of likes and positive comments may increase brand awareness and can trigger positive e-WOM (Electronic Word of Mouth) among customers and potential customers. Why is communicating with consumers very important? Because in this era consumers are brands’ most trustworthy and loyal marketers for company’s products (Çukul, 2015). Customers are likely to believe review from their families and friends rather than reviews that is being written by the company itself (Chang, 2014). Realizing the importance of nurturing positive word of mouths among customers, this paper is going to use qualitative analysis to analyze Instagram posts of well-known local fashion brands to find out what kind of post that will generate the highest positive e-WOM feedback from the audience. Content of Instagram account of researched brands are being examined according to post type (photo / video), content type (9 elements), number of likes and reviews, photo type (amateur / professional), and shooting place (studio / outdoor / shops). Analysis is conducted to understand what kind of Instagram post that will give positive feedback from their customers. The result of this paper will serve as guidance for company to tailor interesting and engaging post hence increasing the probability of creating positive e-WOM that will increase brand image that ultimately will increase sales.

Human sacrifice is a religious practice in which living human individuals are consumed to worship natural and ancestral spirits. Ample evidence of this practice during the Yin-Shang period is furnished by oracle-bone inscriptions, which are extant from ca. 1200 B.C.E. This paper addresses the issue of female human sacrifice in Shang-dynasty oracle-bone inscriptions both from the point of view of religious studies and from a socio-historical perspective. Proceeding from a systematic overview of the various categories of female human sacrifice in the inscriptional record, the paper analyzes the social status and origins of the victims in order to better understand the specific functions and peculiarities of female human sacrifice under the Shang.

Employing a 2 (Source disclosure: Health agency vs. Co-created) x 2 (Co-creator identity: General vs. Specific) between-subjects fractional factorial design, this research explores how the disclosure of consumer involvement in developing public health messages can increase advertising effectiveness. This effect is enhanced by revealing the co-creator’s identity and experience with the health issue.

M390 microclean(R) of Edelstahl is a powder metallurgical plastic mould steel with a high level of corrosion and wear resistance and therefore often used in the plastics processing industry. But as a consequence of rapidly advancing developments in the plastics processing industry the required level of wear resistance of tool steels in this field is constantly rising. For that reason a new PM tool steel with higher hardness values and an increased amount of primary carbides has been developed to improve the resistance against abrasive and adhesive wear. The wear resistance of both steels against adhesive situations for components of the plastification unit of injection moulding machines has been tested with a novel method. In case of processing polyolefins with an injection moulding machine it was found that there is adhesive wear between the check-ring and the flights of the screw tip of the non-return valve under certain circumstances. The temperature in that region was measured with an infrared temperature sensor. The existence of significant peaks of that signal was used as an indicator for an adhesive wear situation.

The results of investigations in screw design for metall injection molding (MIM) will be presented. The consistency of cavity pressure, metering time and MFQ (monitoring of feedstock quality; parameter measured during metering) was chosen to compare different screws. A simulation program was used to optimize the conveying and melting mechanisms in the plastification unit. The theoretical background of this simulation programm will be explained.

This study aims to add insight into the effectiveness of e-training, e-leadership, work-life balance, and work motivation on millennial generation employees’ performance in today’s work life amid the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic that requires to work more online. Unlike previous generations, millennials are technology-literate, intent on succeeding quickly, give up easily, and seek instantaneous gratification. The population in this study are millennial generation employees at one of Honda motorcycle dealers in Jakarta, Indonesia. The number of samples collected was 200. The sampling technique used is the side probability method, with proportional random sampling technique. The research method used is an associative quantitative approach through survey methods and Structural Equation Modeling. Data were collected through questionnaires distributed to millennial generation employees, with results then processed through the Lisrel 8.5 program. The results of this study show, first, that e-training, e-leadership, and work-life balance have positive effect on work motivation. Second, e-training, e-leadership, work-life balance, and work motivation have positive effect on employees’ performance. The findings indicate that companies must pay attention to the factors of e-training, e-leadership, and work-life balance to keep employees motivated and to maintain optimal employee performance, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic through working online.

For a long time, public awareness of plant breeding activities was low. Since the late 1970s, the situation has changed when activists started a campaign against large multinationals because they began to buy seed companies all over the world. They were concerned about their power to control the world seed market and distribute seeds only to the rich. A few years later, with the advent of the gene technology age and the first genetically modified plants reaching the market scale a new debate came up fueled by the green movement. Since that time, any activities with genetically modified plants are strictly regulated in all industrial countries. In Europe, a number of directives have been implemented by the European Commission which have been transferred into national legislation by the member countries. Market approval for GMO varieties needs a qualified majority by the board of minsters but unfortunately there has been no agreement since more than 15 years. This was one reason why all industry activities in this field (and most academic as well) came to an end or were relocated outside the EU. Today, only a very small area (<100,000 ha) is planted with GMO seeds in Europe while acreages have been up to >150 million ha worldwide. In Europe, plant variety release and market approval is regulated by a Community Plant Variety Protection directive which gives a breeder the exclusive right to market its variety all over Europe. To get an approval, a new variety must fulfill a number of requirements. It must be novel, distinguishable and consistent and it must have an added value to the farmer/grower. Plant Breeding in worldwide and in Europe is dominated by some multinationals, however in Germany a number of small and medium sized companies are still very successful in the seed market. Those companies have a focus on a small range of crops and their activities are mostly limited to Europe with Eastern Europe gaining more importance in the past years. Interestingly, their R&D rate is among the highest of all industry (~16%) which demonstrates a great interest to adopt new technologies. The EC has supported plant breeding research by its framework programs where researchers from academia and industry work together in a multinational project. Moreover, the German government has been increasing the budget for research and technology over the past 8 years. Breeding research has been supported by numerous initiatives such as GABI, the German nation al plant genome project launched in 1998. Recently, a large project to improve yield and yield stability of wheat has been started by the ministry of agriculture. The German research foundation (DFG) supports basic and applied breeding research in different ways. Every scientist working in Germany can submit a proposal to the DFG at any time. Coordinated projects such as priority programs (PP) enable the collaboration of a limited number of research groups. We have initiated a PP on flowering time research 3 years ago. Twenty groups work on different aspects of flowering time regulation in model and crop plant species (http://www.flowercrop.uni-kiel.de/en). At the end of my talk, I will present a selection of recent results from our PP with a direct impact on plant breeding.