Cellulose has experienced a renaissance as a precursor for carbon fibers (CFs). However, cellulose possesses intrinsic challenges as precursor substrate such as typically low carbon yield. This study examines the interplay of strategies to increase the carbonization yield of (ligno-) cellulosic fibers manufactured via a coagulation process. Using Design of Experiments, this article assesses the individual and combined effects of diammonium hydrogen phosphate (DAP), lignin, and CO2 activation on the carbonization yield and properties of cellulose-based carbon fibers. Synergistic effects are identified using the response surface methodology. This paper evidences that DAP and lignin could affect cellulose pyrolysis positively in terms of carbonization yield. Nevertheless, DAP and lignin do not have an additive effect on increasing the yield. In fact, combined DAP and lignin can affect negatively the carbonization yield within a certain composition range. Further, the thermogravimetric CO2 adsorption of the respective CFs was measured, showing relatively high values (ca. 2 mmol/g) at unsaturated pressure conditions. The CFs were microporous materials with potential applications in gas separation membranes and CO2 storage systems.

This research aims to examine consumer e-deal proneness and anticipatory regret toward ‘daily deals’ offers from group buying websites. Data collected from a consumer panel yielded 787 useable questionnaires which were analysed through Structural Equation Modelling. The results suggest that the antecedents, namely price consciousness and susceptibility to interpersonal influence have a strong and positive influence with consumer attitudes towards e-deals. The results are validated across three different product categories (i.e., beauty, food, and travel). Consumers with favourable attitudes towards daily deals are more likely to purchase them. Furthermore, the results suggest no significant difference in consumers’ intention to buy daily deals when the consumer has to evaluate between high vs low regret circumstances. The findings suggested many practical lessons for planners of marketing strategy for the retail and e-commerce marketplace in an international context.

The implications of brand hypocrisy for corporate social responsibility (CSR) at the brand level of analysis remain largely unexplored. Drawing on attribution theory and the sense making perspective of CSR, this paper aims to develop a conceptual framework that highlights the negative effects of advertising skepticism on brand distance, as mediated by perceptions of brand hypocrisy. Furthermore, the study seeks to examine whether a brand’s commitment toward sustainability, consumers’ desire for exclusivity and brand trust have any impact on perceived brand hypocrisy and distance. As the effect of CSR skepticism and brand hypocrisy bears heavily on consumers’ attitudes and behaviour, this paper draws from several socio-psychological theories to identify how it can be pre-emptively abated. Findings will enrich the understanding of negative consumer inferences related to brands and provide a conceptualization of an understudied but increasingly relevant form of brand judgment.

Self-efficacy in building self-identity amongst the differently abled employees of a fine dining restaurant in Mumbai has been used as the precursor to building up of a sustainable business model to create social capital. The outcome of this successful profitable business model has been able to demonstrate that such hearing and speech impaired individuals could be turned from being ‘social liabilities’ to ‘social positive assets’. The ‘social liability’ denotes to Mirchi & Mime employees being hearing and speech impaired who suffer from social, economic, financial and familial exclusion. The focal point of this study is to understand the transformation of such entities termed as ‘social liability’ to ‘social capital’ which has been possible within the span of three years. The study uses mixed method research to elicit, quantify and substantiate the building of social capital through the positive psychological, social and economic changes brought about in people who belong to the bottom of the pyramid (BoP). The study uses four different approaches to assess and validate the conceptual model and research objective. One, using survey instrument for guests (consumers) which included 32 items in total and 27 items were measured using likert type scale (5= strongly agree & 1- strongly disagree). Two, employee interview questionnaire was open ended. The questions intend to address the aspects such as regular vs special schooling, challenges experienced in daily routine, employee’s aspiration, pre-employment- economic, social and psychological condition and their post-employment changes, including their perception about the society. Three, the in-depth video-based interview with employee’s family- the questions revolved around their economic, social and psychological transformation pre and post-employment. Fourth, is personality assessment of selected few employees to understand implicit perception about ‘self’ and ‘world’. The quantitative outcome is obtained through descriptive and inferential analysis. The study empirically captures the social capital development with an extensive research from individual psycho-sociological perspective to familial- societal perspective. The study encapsulates an inward to outward outlook of hearing and speech impaired employees and how Mirchi & Mime a fine-dine restaurant (a profit making firm) has successfully converted a social liability into a social capital. Mirchi & Mime consistently maintained its top ranking on Indian restaurant search and discovery service (Zomato). Hence, the study contributes in justifying the viewpoint that social liability is a myth in fact if, employed strategically this would lead to economic and social inclusiveness and business sustainability.

This paper establishes the link between the “World of Barbie” and its influence in shaping the mindset of young, educated, urban Indian girls born post 1985 to belong to an albeit Transnational Imagined Community. Barbie, launched in India in 1985 by Mattel Toys India Ltd, quickly captured the mind, hearts and lives of young girls in the age 4-8years. Girls in the urban affluent Indian households became addicted to this “World of Barbie” and have enthusiastically imbibed the Barbie culture. Barbie, as Macdougall (2003) calls is a “Transnational Commodity”, has changed the way young Indian girls think of themselves belonging to a “Transnational Imagined Community”’ – be it the type of outfit they wear, how they converse with their peers, the way they define ‘glamour’ or ‘well-turned out’, or their aspired future state. The authors conducted a research amongst English speaking educated urban Indian affluent girls born between 1985 and 1998 who have internalized the “World of Barbie” which includes fashion accessories, bath sets, kitchen accessories etc. and enquired into how young girls think beyond their immediate environment , so as to delve deeper into the seminal work of Anderson(1983) on “Imagined Communities”. The present paper adopts the mix method research approach. Study 1 (Depth Interview) uses the deep understanding principle of case study research. Case study research is knowledge of “sense-making” processes created by individuals for a given stimuli (Woodside, 2010). Theory is built using case study research (CSR). “CSR method is an inquiry that focuses on describing, understanding, predicting, and/or controlling the individual” (Woodside (2010). Using CSR approach, Study 2 (focus group discussion) with Control group (girls not played with Barbie) and Research group (played with Barbie) was conducted. The authors used interpretive phenomenological analysis to infer the transcripts to understand the influence of “World of Barbie” on Transnational Imagined Community. Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) explores in detail how participants are making sense of their personal and social world; the inferences were given conceptual code as following factors viz.,i) Past memories with Barbie, ii) Possession Attachment iii) Personal Internalization, iv) Behavioral Manifestation v) Global Imagined Community. The study 3 was fixed point (Likert type) survey analysis. The questionnaire consisted of 35 questions covering above mentioned factors. The final survey was conducted with sample size of N= 315. Structural equation modeling was used to derive the results. To conclude, ‘home country culture’ into which the respondent is born is seen to be malleable if internalization of certain alien culturalartifacts are positively imbibed into early childhood. The process of internalization of this new culture should be embedded in early childhood memories to bring about this cultural transformation in adulthood. This process of reculturation in the young urban Indian girls has been facilitated through the ‘World of Barbie’ helping their mindset to migrate into a distinctly different global culture as defined in the Transnational Imagined Community.

We examine the dependence of the morphology of spiral galaxies on the environment using the KIAS Value Added Galaxy Catalog (VAGC) which is derived from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) DR7. Our goal is to understand whether the local environment or global conditions dominate in determining the morphology of spiral galaxies. For the analysis, we conduct a morphological classification of galaxies in 20 X-ray selected Abell clusters up to z~0.06, using SDSS color images and the X-ray data from the Northern ROSAT All-Sky (NORAS) catalog. We analyze the distribution of arm classes along the clustercentric radius as well as that of Hubble types. To segregate the effect of local environment from the global environment, we compare the morphological distribution of galaxies in two X-lay luminosity groups, the low-Lx clusters (Lx < 0.15 X 1044erg/s) and high-Lx clusters (Lx > 1.8 X 1044erg/s). We find that the morphology-clustercentric relation prevails in the cluster environment although there is a brake near the cluster virial radius. The grand design arms comprise about 40% of the cluster spiral galaxies with a weak morphology-clustercentric radius relation for the arm classes, in the sense that flocculent galaxies tend to increase outward, regardless of the X-ray luminosity. From the cumulative radial distribution of cluster galaxies, we found that the low-Lx clusters are fully virialized while the high-Lx clusters are not.