The main objective of this paper is to elucidate the present status of Plant Genetic Resources (PGRs), their research, and management system in the genebank of Nepal. PGRs for food and agriculture are the biological basis of world food and nutrition security. The remarkable elevation ranging from 60 meter above sea level (masl) to highest summit Mount Everest (8,848 masl) has created huge geographical and climatic variation which harbor enormous plant species in the country. National Agriculture Genetic Resource Center (NAGRC) or ‘Genebank’ currently conserved 11,051 accessions of more than 110 crops species belonging to cereals (5,850), pseudo cereals (1,150), pulses (1,800), oilseeds (185), and vegetables (565) including other crops (1,501) at ex-situ. Diversity mapping, characterization and evaluation of PGRs, duplicates identification, diversity study, pre-breeding and landrace enhancement are the major research works of NAGRC, and its management strategies include conservation method, types, and groupings of PGRs. Characterization, evaluation and tagging of economically important traits in PGRs are now more important for strengthening their pre-breeding and proper utilization. Additionally, strong communication and collaborative network among public, private, community based organizations and international organizations are important for the effective management of PGRs.

Six wooden plant essential oils (EOs; Illicium verum, Gaultheria fragrantissima, Bursea delpechiana,Croton anisatum, Cinnamomum cassia and Aniba rosaeodora) and their major compounds (trans-anethole, methyl salicylate, trans-cinnamaldehyde, linalool and linalyl acetate) identified from gas chromatography (GC) and GC-mass spectrometry were tested for adult repellence and pheromone antagonism using Y-tube essay and oviposition deterrent effect using no choice test against adzuki bean beetle (ABB), Callosobruchus chinensis L. EOs of I. verum and C. anisatum as well as their common major compound, trans-anethole were found effective repellents having high degree of pheromone antagonistic and oviposition deterrent activity. Methyl salicylate, the major compound of G. fragrantissima EO (which was only the pheromone antagonist) showed high degree of repellency, oviposition deterrence and pheromone antagonistic effect in higher concentration. From this study, EOs of I. verum and C. anisatum and their common major compound trans-anethole as well as the major compound of G. fragrantissima, methyl salicylate can be screened as eco-friendly management agents against C. chinensis in stored legumes if slow releasing formulations are prepared by future efforts.

The purpose of this study is to explore the effects of mobilization of C0-C1 and C7-T1 applied to asymptomatic individuals with reduced upper cervical rotation during the FRT. Design: parallel randomized controlled trial. 48 subjects(38.52 years±15.13) with C1-C2 rotation hypomobility in TFR joined the study and were randomized into three groups(C0, C7, control group). FRT in both directions was measured before and after the intervention. C0 intervention consisted of a dorsal translatoric mobilization of C0-C1 in the cervical neutral position. C7 intervention consisted of a ventral cranial translatoric mobilization of C7- T1 in neutral position and the control group maintained a supine position. C0 group experienced a FRT ROM to the restricted side increase of 17.64。(SD=4.55), that was significantly greater (P<0.001) than 5.95。 (SD=4.81) of the C7 group and 2.45。(SD=5.05) of the control group. The results showed that a dorsal translatoric mobilization of C0-C1 in neutral position restored the physiological FRT mobility in subjects with C1-C2 hypomobility and experienced statistical significant improvement in FRT as compared to a C7-T1 translatoric mobilization and a control group. (Level of evidence: 1b).

Fumigant toxicities of 20 plant essential oils, and fumigant and contact toxicities of the components of active oils and their analogues against adzuki bean weevil, Callosobruchus chinensis (L.) were investigated. Fumigant toxicity varied with plant essential oils and concentrations. The 24-h LC50 values against adult C. chinensis were 3.14, 6.68, 8.59, 8.90 and 10.23 mg/L air concentration for Gaultheria fragrantissima, Illicium verum, Croton anisatum, Aniba roseodora, and Bursea delpechiana, respectively. To elucidate structure-activity relationship of methyl salicylate (MS) and trans-anethole (tA), fumigant and contact toxicities of MS, methyl 3-hydroxybenzoate (M3HB), methyl 4-hydroxybenzoate (M4HB), methyl 2-methoxybenzoate (M2MB), methyl 2-acetoxysalicylate (M2AS), methyl benzoate (MB), salicylic acid (SA), trans-anethole (tA) and 1-methoxy-4-propylbenzene (PB) were investigated. The 24-h LC50 values of fumigant toxicity were 3.48, 5.36, 6.39 and 9.27 mg/L air concentration for MS, MB, tA and PB, respectively. The 24-h LD50 values (µg/beetle) of contact toxicity were 28.89, 33.27, 33.56, 44.81 56.31, 38.59 and 69.20 for MS, M2AB, M2MB, MB, SA, tA and PB, respectively. Structural differences were identified that may contribute to understanding the insecticidal activities of methyl salicylate and trans-anethole.

Polarbear is a ground-based experiment located in the Atacama desert of northern Chile. The experiment is designed to measure the Cosmic Microwave Background B-mode polarization at several arcminute resolution. The CMB B-mode polarization on degree angular scales is a unique signature of primordial gravitational waves from cosmic in ation and B-mode signal on sub-degree scales is induced by the gravitational lensing from large-scale structure. Science observations began in early 2012 with an array of 1,274 polarization sensitive antenna-couple Transition Edge Sensor (TES) bolometers at 150 GHz. We published the first CMB-only measurement of the B-mode polarization on sub-degree scales induced by gravitational lensing in December 2013 followed by the first measurement of the B-mode power spectrum on those scales in March 2014. In this proceedings, we review the physics of CMB B-modes and then describe the Polarbear experiment, observations, and recent results.

We present an ongoing study of the complete sample of supernova remnants (SNRs) and candidates in the Magellanic Clouds. 108 objects in both Clouds are considered to be either SNR or reliable candidates. This represents the most complete sample of all known SNRs in any galaxy. It therefore allows us to study SNR population properties such as the age-diameter (Age-D) relation. Here, we show that this Age-D relation is strongly dependant on the local environment in which SNRs are residing.

Consumers and sources are embedded in cultural contexts that influence how those sources are read. We examine how consumers stigmatized for being fat collectively read advertisements for luxury fashion brands featuring plus-sized sources. We unveil individual and cultural resources stigmatized consumers rely on to collectively develop readings of advertising sources.

In the international literature, there is an increasing attention on the analysis of the fashion city (Breward & Gilbert, 2006) and its implication on city branding and competitiveness (Jensen, 2005; Power & Hauge, 2008; Pasquinelli, 2010) and local identity (Bovone, 2006). Some examples are the study of Weller (2013) who examines the success of New Zealand’s designer fashion industry in the first years of the twenty-first century. Hauge, Malmberg & Power (2009) analyse the Swedish fashion cluster underlining that it is benefit from localisation economies, but it also follow rules of globalised industries. Rantisi (2004) examines how New York City was able to reinvent itself as a fashion capital. By tracing the origins of women's ready-to-wear in New York in the late nineteenth century and its consolidation in the Garment District by the early twentieth century. Jansson & Power (2010) approaches the ways in which fashion and design-based industrial actors contribute to creating images and myths that support global-city status. The Italian city of Milan is used as a case study to show how the city is an arena where different brand channels are negotiated and formed to service fashion and design branding. Fashion capitals usually have a broad mix of business, financial, entertainment, cultural and leisure activities and are internationally recognised for having a unique and strong identity (Gemperli, 2010) In this chart of fashion capital city, Italy ranked in a good position with Milan as capital fashion city. Milan emerged as a fashion capital city in 1970s, while Florence and Rome stayed in the following positions (Merlo & Polese, 2006). Florence is usually ranked in the third position in Italy thanks to the luxury pole around the metropolitan area with global brand as Gucci, Ferragamo and Prada. The Global Fashion Monitor (2012) scored Florence at the thirteen position at global level in the ‘World's Leading Cities for Fashion’, with a gain of three position from previous chart and indicating as motivation “Florence: Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and Botticelli — A proud heritage to a thriving fashion industry”. This situation anyways is not guaranteed in the future. In fact some authors also underlined that this chart of global city will not be maintained in the future as city from developing countries are increasingly enter in the competition (McKinsey, 2013; Gilbert, 2006). In particular, McKinsey (2013) ranks Paris, London, Milan and Seoul in the mature growing fashion industry in the Luxury segment, while Moscow, Singapore, San Peterbrurg, Beijing, Shangai, San Paolo etc as emerging city in the global fashion industry. FASHION AND CITY BRANDING Crewe & Beaverstock (1998) underlined the contemporary fashion industry and the role it plays in identity formation has created a situation where fashion can be taken seriously as a cultural industry supplying symbolic content in sold goods. In this context fashion is identified as a powerful stylistic marker, not a simply part of a trivial consumer culture. Jansson & Power (2010) underlined that the value of global fashion city-based brands lies partly in their ability to persuade consumers of products’excellence, quality, and innovation. Also, the brand infuses products (and firms) with the ‘feel’ of the city: cool clothes come from cool cities. Labels of origin such as ‘Made in Italy’ or Rive Gauche are used as strategic tools in the fashion industry (Hauge et al., 2009). Positive connections between product images and place may create a kind of monopoly rent and therein can create barriers to entry for products from competing places; and give firms an incentive for being in the ‘right’ place. Jansson & Power (2010) underline also that clustering in few fashion city produce also some other benefits as agglomerations of firms and consumers play a central role in the gathering, creation, and transfer of industry-relevant knowledge and cluster of creative industries (Lazzeretti & Capone, 2015). There is in fact an increasing effort in the research on the city branding with the help of local industry and local cultural production (Jensen, 2005). Breward & Gilber (2006) have underlined that city branding is more a focus from city authorities in order to appear in the global hierarchy of fashion capital. Niedamysl (2004) besides points out that city branding has the main aim of attracting visitors, investors or inhabitants. Power & Hauge (2008) discuss the role of the branding for territories, places and cities, underlining that has been a topic deeply undervalued for territorial competitiveness and they analyse the fashion industry as an example. City branding is a recent strand of research with a growing trend (Merrilees, Miller & Herington, 2009) and it results a complex research theme, due to its multidisciplinary approach (Pike, 2011). Born at the beginning for the analysis of the image of the city, it deals increasingly with analysis of marketing strategies and policy for urban context (Merrilees, Miller & Herington, 2012). At the moment, it is a theme that rise interest from different subjects as marketing, management, but also urban studies, economic geography and urban and regional development. If an analysis on ISI Web of Science is developed on ‘city branding’, over 100 articles are collected on these themes with article from the following Journal as Cities, International Journal of Tourism Science, Journal of Business Research, Urban Studies, Applied Geography, Current Issues in Tourism, European Journal of Marketing, etc. These Journals confirm the multidisciplinary approach and the interest on city branding from several stakeholders: policy-makers, urban planners, marketing strategist, urban developer, etc. Within the theme, several studies have focused on how city branding is particularly attached to some local industries and activities, that denote the area and the city. In this context, one of the most interesting aspect is interactions between branding and fashion (Jansson & Power, 2010; Hauge et al .. 2009; Martinez, 2007). The aim of this paper is to analyse the role of fashion and fashion design for the city of Florence, in the formation of a new image of the city, also in a perspective of new branding strategies for the future. The analysis is based on a multi-level approach. First, an initial analysis is developed on publications on ‘city branding’ on ISI Web of Science to identify the relevance of the theme and the most used methodologies in these studies. The second part of the work is instead based on analysis of reviews of online communities (TripAdvisor, Twitter, etc.) of the attractions of the city and a questionnaire is administrated to visitors of the main fashion outlets in Florence (The Mall, Barberino Desegner Outlet, etc.), in order to emphasize the perception of visitors and consumers of fashion in the city and how it contributes to the fashion city branding of the city of Florence. From the point of view of marketing, several authors have tried to analyse the brand association in fashion (Ranfagni, Guercini & Crawford, 2014), but mainly from the point of view of products. In this work, we try to contribute to this debate through the analysis of online communities and city branding of Florence. Merrilees et al. (2009) investigate what are the city attributes influencing city brand attitudes with a quantitative survey of a sample of 878 residents of the Gold Coast City. Hankinson's (2001) study of twelve English cities shows the diversity of approaches in how city organizations market and brand themselves. Vanolo (2008) analysed the city of Turin and its transition from post-industrial to a cultural and creative city. This work develop a single stake-holder perspective as most studies avoid to considers multiple stakeholders perception on city branding (Merrilees et al., 2012). Results confirm the importance of the fashion industry in the perceived image of Florence from the visitors and for the future city branding policies are even more strategic to continue to exploit the competitive advantage that Florence has in the fashion industry globally.

Most religious teachings support the idea that money and materialism are at the root of all evil. However, reality is not so rigorous and many times materialism seems even a blessing. The purpose of this study is to investigate and compare religious and non-religious consumer on their perspective toward materialism, and through it, luxury brand and purchase intention. The total sample consisted of 491 university Asian students. Results show that religious consumers are not necessarily against neither materialism nor luxury brand possession. Consumers’ religiosity did not influence their perspective toward materialism or luxury goods. This creates an opportunity for managers to promote luxury brand toward religious consumers especially in Asia, where religion is more prevalent.

Peer pressure and popularity have always been important issues for teenagers, potentially impacting on teenagers’ attitudes towards luxury, social consumption motivation and their self-concept clarity (how clearly teens view themselves). We empirically investigate these relationships using data from a sample of Brazilian teens and find that self-concept clarity has a significant effect on peer pressure, popularity and social consumption motivation, which itself directly impacts attitudes towards luxury items. The total sample consisted of 558 teenagers between the ages of 12 and 19 (grades 7 through 12). Hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling.

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.

The Chinese market has played an important role for the luxury industry in the past years, with double-digit yearly growth (except for last year). Luxury brands have tried to design strategies to meet the local requirements, be it in terms of retail formats or communication strategies. However, Chinese luxury consumers are evolving in terms of consumption habits and materialistic value: observations from the field show that there is less and less emphasis on logo display among certain consumers (Dubois & Laurent, 1994; Lin & Wang, 2010). Such changes might affect also young consumers, which already stand for a great share of luxury consumers (Source: Red Luxury,2012). Besides, past studies on Chinese consumers’ attitudes toward luxury and values behind luxury consumption have often relied on student-samples, acknowledging the potential limitation to their results due to a potential lack of representativeness of the population interviewed. Few studies have provided analyses of the causes of the values and behaviours of young Chinese customers towards luxury product consumption, focused on them as ‘young people’ (Wang et al., 2012; Xue & Wang, 2012). Besides, most of those that tried to do so relied upon student samples of Chinese students studying abroad (in the USA or Europe) (Chen & Kim, 2013). This paper attempts to investigate the contemporary young Chinese consumers’ behaviour towards luxury consumption, segmenting them into two groups : the international student group and mainland Chinese young consumer group. A quantitative survey collected data from 104 respondents within a month where the snowball sampling method was applied to broadcast both online and offline questionnaires. Qualitative data was analyzed through lexical analyzis, while quantitative data was analyzed with the help of SPSS (Levene-test and T-tests). This study mainly focuses on four features: Chinese culture, materialism, young Chinese generation culture and buying motivation. The results of the study mainly indicate that there have been some changes between generations. One such change is that Chinese youths are more individualistic than what was found in previous studies, and another change is that young Chinese consumers hold different points of view towards the values of luxury consumption. As far as differences between international students and local young people from Mainland China are concerned, we found the following differences: • Finding 1: International students purchase luxury products to fit-in with their friends & because they want others to view them as a member of the upper class & as a successful person more than their local fellows. • Finding 2: International students’ income is more able to support them purchase luxury products than for young locals, and they are more inclined to save money to buy luxury products that their local fellows. • Finding 3: Mainland Chinese young people usually go luxury shopping with their parents more than international students do and claim they will still purchase luxury products even if prices increase more than them as well. • Find 4: Purchasing luxury products make local young people happier than international students, and they care more about the style (as opposed to price) of luxury products than these lasts.  We believe such findings will help luxury companies refine their strategies for the coming generations and help researchers notice on which dimensions of luxury consumption using expatriated Chinese students might have an impact and lead towards biased results.

The paper analyses the effect of Country Related Product Image (CRPI), as Country of Origin construct, and Country Product Familiarity (CPF) on retailers’ Intention to Buy (INTB). Despite the relevance and richness of the country-of-origin (COO) research, this body of literature is mainly based on investigating purchasing behaviours of consumers rather than professional buyers. Therefore, the effect that this construct exerts on retail buyers requires further understanding. Moreover, the study contributes to the literature by testing the impact of CRPI, and its multidimensional nature, jointly with CPF. A cross product analysis is considered to verify whether these effects on retailers’ INTB change in relation to specific product categories. The research hypotheses are tested by conducting a survey on a sample of 257 Chinese retail buyers and considering two different Italian product categories: shoes, that is a traditional fashion sensitive product, and ceramic tiles, that is a less fashion-based product whose technical attributes are more prominent for buyers’ evaluations. Results show that 1) the CRPI is a multidimensional construct that influences the intention of Chinese retail buyers to buy Italian products; 2) when CPF is considered, the impact of CRPI dimensions on intention to buy decreases; 3) the joint effect of CRPI dimensions and CPF on retailers’ INTB varies according to the product considered. Theoretical and managerial implications are derived.

This study was aimed to determine the biometry of genital organs, incidence of gynecological disorders and pregnancy loss in Black Bengal goat (Capra hircus). Genitalia of 118 does were collected from local abattoirs. Biometric parameters of genital organs were measured and gross and histopathological examinations were carried out for detection of abnormalities. For gravid uterus, age of the fetus was determined by measuring crown-rump length. There was no significant difference in the length, width and weight of right and left ovaries (P>0.05). However, the number of follicles between left (5.3 ± 2.3) and right ovaries (7.4 ± 2.7) varied significantly (P<0.05). The mean length of right fallopian tube and uterine horn were not varied with those of left fallopian tube and uterine horn. The length of uterine body, cervix and vagina were 1.3 ± 0.1 cm, 3.3 ± 0.5 cm and 6.8 ± 1.3 cm, respectively. Overall, 29 (24.6%) genitalia had abnormalities. Fifteen genitalia (12.7%) had ovarian abnormalities including ovaro-bursal adhesions (6.8%), parovarian cyst (5.1%) and follicular cyst (0.9%). Uterine abnormalities were found in 12 genitalia (10.2%) and predominant uterine lesion was endometritis (6.8%) followed by adenomyosis (1.7%), hemorrhagic lesion on endometrial surface (0.9%) and cyst in broad ligament (0.9%). In addition, cyst in fallopian tube (0.9%) and vagina (0.9%) were recorded. The proportion of slaughtered pregnant goats was 15.3% (18/118). The pregnancy wastage was highest in the first month (50.0%) followed by second (33.3%) and third (16.7%) month. It can be concluded that ovaro-bursal adhesions, parovarian cyst and endometritis are the gynecological disorders of major concern in Black Bengal goat.

Despite the rapid growth and potential for technology-based services from a technology and productivity perspective, the biggest challenges that managers often face are gaining customer acceptance and increasing usage of these new innovative services. In the B2C field, studies of self‐service technology show that the perceived risk is an important factor influencing the usage of service technology. Whereas research has explored different risk types that emerge in consumer settings such as functional and psychological risk, research on risk perception in B2B setting still lacks a detailed examination of the different facets risk can take on in technology-based service adoption. Some studies indicate that there might be different views and perceptions of the risk involved in technology-based services between customers and providers. Our study addresses this gap and aims to develop a holistic understanding of the types of risk customers perceive when using a technology-based service. We investigate what types of risk are emergent in technology-based service encounters and whether customers and providers perceive these risks differently. We conducted 49 qualitative interviews with providers and customers in two industries in four countries. Our study emphasizes the importance of functional and financial risks as expected in a B2B context, but also sheds light on the fact that business customers have personal and psychological fears that hinder them from using technology-based services. Most importantly, we show that gaps in the perception and evaluation of risk exist between customers and providers: customers doubt the functionality of technology-based services; they emphasize privacy risk as a main hindrance and worry about their own role in a service, whereas only few providers are aware of the customers’ fears.

Being one of the most important textile and apparel producers for years, Turkey began to become active in terms of retailing. Although retailing industry is in its growing phase, the social and economic influences caused the customers' tastes and demands to be more distinctive and segmented in parallel with the advancement of the retail industry. Therefore, the retail industry began to develop in more fragmented way where clear boundaries between different types of retailers were established. In this study, the apparel retail market is overviewed and analyzed within the context for determination of the current situation and future prospective. To this aim, the textile and apparel companies that are active in Turkey were classified into groups based on the type of distribution channels they used. Then, the performances of the groups were established using the secondary type of resources. Finally, the findings were summarized, by showing the similarities and differences between different channels.

This research was a Research and Development (R&D) project which aimed at developing digital storytelling based local wisdom through Blended Learning as an innovative media for teaching English at eighth grade students of SMP Negeri 1 Petang. The development model used in this research was adapted from the development of Luther’s model (in Sutopo, 2003). The data were collected by using documentation technique, interview, observation, and questionnaire. This research found that, (1) in developing digital storytelling based local wisdom through a Blended Learning method required a number of chronologically steps, namely: observation, need analysis, media prototype design, expert judgment, revision of the product, field testing, analyzing of data and finalizing the final product; (2) the total mean score of the questionnaire filled by the English teacher was 4.09, it indicated that the product was categorized as excellent, and (3) furthermore, the result of the questionnaire filled by the students was 3.76, this meant that the implementation of the product could be categorized as good. The results of this study were as expected and can help both the teachers and the students in the process of teaching and learning English, especially narrative text.

The right to freedom of religion is one of the fundamental rights guaranteed in many international and regional human rights instruments. Several international documents safeguard freedom of religion including the right to convert from one faith to another. In Malaysia, the safeguard of this fundamental right is provided under Article 11(1) of the Federal Constitution with some limitations. The right to convert out of one’ s faith is not mentioned explicitly. However, for the non- Muslims, this right to opt out of one’ s faith and choose another has been regarded as an implicit part of religious liberty guaranteed by Article 11. In relation to the Muslims, the issue of apostasy is regarded as a taboo as well as a politically explosive proposition. This paper aims to examine the concept of freedom of religion under international law focusing mainly on the issue of apostasy in the context of the Malaysian Federal Constitution. The paper concludes that the position of Muslims especially in the context of embracing a new religion remains unsettled.