Considering meat consumption's massive impact on climate change, environmental NGOs are increasingly campaigning to encourage consumers to reduce unsustainable meat consumption, i.e., to eat less and/or better meat. They usually use messages based on environmental appeals to do so. Yet, the effectiveness of such appeals in international campaigns may depend on countries as cultural beliefs influence food consumption behaviors. Therefore, in this research, we explore the effectiveness of such campaigns across 5 European countries, controlling for individual cultural orientations. Considering an environmental degradation appeal, we first show that countries have no influence on the campaign’s effectiveness, unlike specific individual cultural orientations, including masculinity and uncertainty avoidance. We replicate these results in the same 5 countries considering an alternative appeal, i.e., animal welfare. Recommendations to international NGOs managers result from these results.

This study investigates the role of consumers’ value orientations on their attitude towards assertive green advertisements. We find that biospheric value orientation improves attitudes towards assertive ads and hedonic value orientation positively affects consumers’ perceived threat to their freedom. Besides, the study supports the role of assertiveness in persuasive communication.

This study examined effects of pronunciation training using automatic speech recognition technology on common pronunciation errors of Korean English learners. Participants were divided into two groups. One group was given instruction and training about the use of automatic speech recognition for pronunciation practice. The other group was not given such instruction or training as a control group. A pre- and post-test experimental design was used. The treatment period was four weeks. Participants who were taught about using automatic speech recognition for pronunciation practice showed small but significant improvements in pronunciation accuracy than those who did not. In addition, automatic speech recognition was found to assist in the diagnostic evaluation of common pronunciation errors, although it did not produce statistically significant improvements. Participants responded positively to the use of automatic speech recognition for pronunciation practice and testing, although there remain some concerns over technical aspects of the test.

The aim of this review is to communicate some essential knowledge of the underlying mechanism of the corrosion of structural containment alloys during molten salt reactor operation in the context of prospective online monitoring in future MSR installations. The formation of metal halide species and the progression of their concentration in the molten salt do reflect containment corrosion, tracing the depletion of alloying metals at the alloy salt interface will assure safe conditions during reactor operation. Even though the progress of alloying metal halides concentrations in the molten salt do strongly understate actual corrosion rates, their prospective 1st order kinetics followed by near-linearly increase is attributed to homogeneous matrix corrosion. The service life of the structural containment alloy is derived from homogeneous matrix corrosion and near-surface void formation but less so from intergranular cracking (IGC) and pitting corrosion. Online monitoring of corrosion species is of particular interest for molten chloride systems since besides the expected formation of chromium chloride species CrCl2 and CrCl3, other metal chloride species such as FeCl2, FeCl3, MoCl2, MnCl2 and NiCl2 will form, depending on the selected structural alloy. The metal chloride concentrations should follow, after an incubation period of about 10,000 hours, a linear projection with a positive slope and a steady increase of < 1 ppm per day. During the incubation period, metal concentration show 1st order kinetics and increasing linearly with time1/2. Ideally, a linear increase reflects homogeneous matrix corrosion, while a sharp increase in the metal chloride concentration could set a warning flag for potential material failure within the projected service life, e.g. as result of intergranular cracking or pitting corrosion. Continuous monitoring of metal chloride concentrations can therefore provide direct information about the mechanism of the ongoing corrosion scenario and offer valuable information for a timely warning of prospective material failure.

This study utilized Automated Speech Recognition technology to determine the potential utility and acceptance of such technology in the English as a Foreign Language classroom. Learners were made aware of the Automatic Speech Recognition potential of their mobile devices and provided with some direction in, and incentive for, its use. Participants were then scored on their assessment of the technology according to the Technology Acceptance Model. Participants showed a marked appreciation for the ease and utility of the technology with over 72% agreeing that the technology was both accessible and useful. Support for the use of Automatic Speech Recognition as a testing method was somewhat mixed, with 75% of participants agreeing that the testing was fair, but only 60% reporting that they felt they did well on the test. As a secondary point of interest, this study examined the potential use of Automatic Speech Recognition technology for teaching and testing pronunciation.

This article explores the socioreligious background of the Shang dynasty oracle bone inscriptions from an unconventional perspective by analyzing the use of oracular language in epigraphic texts found on slightly later ritual bronze vessels. While this phenomenon has so far received little scholarly attention, the author argues that the cross-contextual occurrence of oracular terminology indicates a relationship between the two types of epigraphic texts and the social discourses from which they were created. Drawing on parallel passages in other bronze inscriptions, the author examines the precise meanings of the two most common oracular phrases and proposes that they belonged to a technical terminology that shared fundamental conceptual characteristics with later legal jargon. Addressing the communicative intention behind their use, the author points out that oracular language is generally placed in prominent positions in bronze inscriptions and appears in various highly ritualized and ceremonial interactions between humans and the ancestral spirits. Based on these observations, the author concludes that the bronze inscriptions support the view that the Shang dynasty oracle bone inscriptions were written for administrative and specialized purposes and were embedded in a much wider network of communication practices between humans and supra-human powers.

Introduction This paper’s goal is to assess the effects of customer participation behavior on perceived e-service quality and satisfaction in Greek e-shops. The author builds on and expands previous efforts by investigating customer participation using a multi-dimensional construct developed by Yi and Gong (2013) with the goal of dwelling deeper in the effects of individual dimensions of customer participation (i.e. information seeking, information sharing and responsible behavior) on consumers’ perceptions. The findings show that one of the three dimensions of customer participation behavior, namely responsible behavior, positively affects both perceived service quality as well as customer satisfaction, while information seeking affects only e-service quality and information sharing does not affect any of the two dependent variables. Theoretical development The author, in agreement with the service-dominant view proposed by Vargo and Lusch (2004; 2008), emphasizes the notion that the customers of a provided service are not just simple recipients of a final product, but also co-creators in its production process. Research on customer participation, has revealed its positive influence on perceived quality (Cermak et al., 1994) and satisfaction (Yang et al., 2017), while in some cases studies pointed out when this relationship does not hold, as well as investigate moderators affecting it (Yim et at., 2012). There have been studies that support the positive effect that aspects of customer participation have on customer satisfaction (Dong et al., 2015; Yim et al., 2012; Chan et al., 2010; Kellogg et al., 1997) and perceived service quality (Dong et al., 2015). At the same time, there have been few studies probing into the relationship between customer participation behavior and perceived service quality and satisfaction in the context of the production and distribution of services from self-service technologies, where a high level of customer/user activity and low provider activity is required (Wünderlich et al., 2013), which stresses the importance of the customers’ role in attaining value co-creation. According to Yi and Gong (2013) customer value co-creation behavior comprises two dimensions; customer participation behavior and customer citizenship behavior. This study focuses on customer behavior that is necessary for value co-creation, namely on customer participation behavior, since it is this that is usually manifest in the context of the interaction of customers with an e-shop. In accordance with the terminology utilized by Kelley et al. (1990), this study focuses on customer technical quality- as expressed by information seeking, information sharing and responsible behavior, according to Yi and Gong (2013)- since interaction with an e-shop is usually standardised and does not facilitate the development of interpersonal relationships between customers and employees. Research design To check the hypotheses formulated in this study, the services offered by e-shops in Greece were examined and assessed. What drew attention on the e-commerce and e-shopping sector, was the fact that through the long lasting economic crisis in Greece, it was one of the few that managed to flourish. A survey was carried out using a structured questionnaire for a sample of 335 adults, customers of 125 Greek e-shops. Customer participation behavior (composed of three dimensions, namely information seeking, information sharing and responsible behavior) was measured using Yi and Gong’s (2013) multidimensional and hierarchical scale that consists of 11 items, rated on a seven-point Likert format. E-service quality was measured through the use of a one-item scale developed expressly for this purpose by Lee and Lin (2005), who also used a one-item scale to measure customer satisfaction. Result and conclusion The results obtained from the analysis, supported the propositions that customer information seeking and customer responsible behavior enhance perceived service quality, while at the same time customer responsible behavior increases customer satisfaction. Claims that customer information seeking, or customer information sharing enhance customer satisfaction, could not find any support, as did the proposition that customer information sharing enhances perceived service quality. These results provide useful insight when it comes to designing an on-line store in a way that it would enhance the customers’ perceptions on the attained service quality, as well as their perceptions on their satisfaction. In order to succeed, enterprises should develop organisational socialisation (Kelley et al., 1990; Kelley et al., 1992) in such an extent, that it would establish a climate of trust that will lead customers to assume a responsible behavior towards the e-shop.

Cosmology considers the Hubble redshift of galaxy light by the Doppler effect as proof the Universe has been expanding since the Big Bang. However, cosmic dust that permeates the Universe also redshifts galaxy light that if not corrected over-predicts the velocities of all astronomical measurements inferred by the Doppler effect. Hubble redshifts corrected for cosmic dust suggest the Universe may not be expanding, the consequence of which may allow the outstanding problems in cosmology to possibly be resolved by Newtonian mechanics.

For many brands, offering valuable and original experiences for customers is the main means of gaining awareness, image values and hence, strategic competitive advantage. Brands like Abercrombie and Fitch, BONOBOS and Victoria’s Secret have understood the opportunities offered by experiential marketing as a new philosophy of thinking, conceiving and proposing a marketing offer. This challenge is as important for online fashion brands that target millennial customers considered as internet addicts (Bergman et al., 2005) always looking for information, exhibitionism and enjoyable online experiences. With the growth of online fashion shopping it is important that fashion retailers pay attention to the relationship between specific website quality dimensions and customer satisfaction (Kim and Stoel, 2004). Fashion brands must go beyond the vision of the website as a medium of information to a medium of entertaining proposing additional extraordinary and optimal experiences for these customers. As noted by Kim (2007), online fashion retailers need to be able to communicate the product information virtually in order to create accurate product perceptions for consumers who are visiting their website. Thus, the main question is “what are the elements of the website which could help achieve these aims?” There has been little empirical research which focuses on how information features affect consumers` commitments to a shopping site on the web (Park and Kim, 2006). Consequently,the main aim of this paper is to further research in the domain by illustrating how the online fashion brand provides a valuable shopping, consuming and cognitive experience that fits with the consumer’s expectations aligning these with the extraordinary and symbolic world of the brand. From this perspective, the website of the brand – due to its multisensory, interactive and hyper-mediatized nature – can be a very effective digital support for achieving these goals. It represents the virtual environment that enables the brand to create and open up a universe that transcribes its functional, experiential and symbolic values. From the consumer’s psychological perspective, this online communication strategy questions the psychological process that underlines the perception, elaboration and reactions of the consumer during his online experience: To this is end, it is relevant to focus on the influences of the usability of the website on the attributes of the mental images the consumer experiences and the moderating role that brand attitude and involvement in the product category could have in this. Also, based on MacInnis and Price (1987) recommendations, it is relevant to analyze the role the consumer’s style of processing could have in this process. Thus, the research questions are: How do the attributes of the website impact the mental imagery experience of the consumer during his/her website visit?; and what are the consequences of these psychological reactions on the consumer’s post-visit attitude and behavior. In attempt to respond to these questions, we explore the psychological process that underlies consumer online behavior. We draw on the literature which emphasizes the link between the website attributes and the imagery processing of the online consumer. We present and empirically test our conceptual model within the current quantitative study. We follow with a discussion of our results and presentation of the implications of our study for theory and practice.

유기과수원에 주요한 해충인 복숭아순나방(Grapholita molesta)은 친환경 과원 에서 높은 기생율을 보여주고 있으나 기존의 기생체 부화를 통한 기생율 조사 및 기 생곤충의 동정에는 많은 시간과 노력이 소요된다. 본 시험에서는 DNA 분석을 이 용하여 복숭아순나방의 기생율을 빠르게 조사하는 방법을 개발하였다. 조사샘플 은 5월 중순 복숭아나무에서 복숭아순나방 유충100여마리를 채집하였다. 이중 50 여마리를 사육하여 기생봉을 확인하고 나머지를 직접 DNA분석에 이용하였다. 사 육된 복숭아순나방의 기생율과 종을 동정한 결과 좀벌레살이고치벌(Macrocentrus thoracicus)이 주요 기생봉이였다. 좀벌레살이고치벌의 COI sequencing을 통해 DNA 염기서열을 알아내고 기존 데이터베이스에서 복숭아순나방의 COI DNA와 비교하여 두 종사이의 차별적 DNA primer를 제작하였다. 이 primer를 이용하여 채 집 복숭아순나방 유충을 qPCR을 이용하여 개별적으로 분석하였다. 분석결과 좀 벌레살이고치벌에 기생당한 전체 채집 복숭아순나방의 75%로 나타났다.

Sulfoxaflor, a novel sulfoximine insecticide, discovered by and proprietary to Dow AgroSciences is being developed globally. Sulfoxaflor will be used in all major crop groups, including fruits, vegetables, rice, cereals, soybean, and many other crops. Sulfoxaflor provides excellent efficacy at low use rates through contact and ingestion against important and difficult-to-control sap-feeding insect pests, including certain species of aphids, scales, plant bugs, whiteflies, planthoppers and other sap feeders. Sulfoxaflor’s mode of action is via agonism of the insect nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAchR), which is the same target site of neo-nicotinoid insecticides. However, relative to most neonicotinoids, sulfoxaflor is a high efficacy agonist of the nAchR with relatively low affinity for the imidacloprid binding site. Furthermore, sulfoxaflor is less susceptible to metabolism by monooxygenase enzymes and displays a broad lack of metabolism-based cross-resistance with neonicotinoids. This difference as well as its novel chemical structure led to sulfoxaflor being designated as the sole member of Group 4, Subgroup C of the IRAC Mode of Action Classification Scheme. Because of broad lack of crossresistance, sulfoxaflor will be a useful rotational partner with other insecticide chemistries, enhancing Insect Resistance Management strategies. In Korea, sulfoxaflor is being developed for use in fruit and leafy and fruiting vegetable by several companies. Results from several laboratory and field trials revealed that sulfoxaflor at use rate of 35 ppm (7% product, X2,000 dilution rate) provided excellent performance against economically important aphids in several crops compared with current sap-feeding pest control agents. Sulfoxaflor was registered in October 2011 as brandname TRANSFORM® (Sulfoxaflor 7% SC which is produced by Dongbu Hannong) will be launched for apple, pear and red-pepper in 2012.

The effect of individual gas constituents in a sintering atmosphere is examined to optimize the sintered properties of Iron-Carbon P/M components. The influence of sintered properties is reviewed as a function of hydrogen percentages and dew point in the sintering zone. Microstructures, porosity, pore morphology and dimensional changes are the subject of this review. The effects of CO containing atmospheres are compared against the non CO atmospheres in terms of hardness, carbon control and dimensional changes.

The metal injection molding process was applied to produce Ti-6Al-7Nb alloys using 3 types of mixed powders, first is a mixture of Ti and Al53.3Nb pre-alloyed powders, second is a mixture of Ti, TiAl and Nb powders, and third is a mixed elemental powders of Ti, Al and Nb. The effects of the 3 types of mixed powders and sintering conditions on the microstructure, relative density and mechanical properties of injection molded compacts were mainly investigated. The sintered compacts using first and second powders showed higher density and mechanical properties as compared to the compacts using the third powder which existed many and a little large pores in the microstructure because of the melting of Al during sintering steps. Also the oxygen content of the compacts using second powder was higher than that of the compacts using other powders. Eventually, the mechanical properties of the compacts using a mixture of Ti+Al53.3Nb or Ti+TiAl+Nb powders were above 800MPa in tensile strength and above 10% in elongation, which were similar to the properties of wrought materials.

The achievement of high density at reasonable cost is one of the major challenges of the P/M industry. One of the key factors contributing to the compressibility of a mix is the lubricant. New experimental lubricants enabling higher green density by conventional compaction or temperature-controlled die compaction were identified. The compaction and ejection characteristics of these new lubricants as measured with a fully instrumented lab press are presented and compared to that of conventional lubricants.

Dimensional precision is a critical parameter in net shape processing of ferrous PM components. Sinter-hardening alloys undergo a transformation from austenite to martensite. Martensite formation expands the sintered compact, while tempering hardened steels results in shrinkage. In addition, martensitic regions with high Cu and C contents may contain large amounts of retained austenite. The presence of martensite and retained austenite, in addition to the tempering step, all play a role in the final dimensions of a component. This paper investigates the dimensional and microstructural changes to two sinter-hardening grades through different post-sintering thermal treatments.

Cellular metals based on Iron have been intensively investigated during the last two decades. Because of the significant decreasing of the structural density of Iron based cellular structures, numerous technologies have been developed for their manufacturing. Besides the tremendous weight reduction a combination with other properties like energy and noise absorption, heat insulation and mechanical damping can be achieved. This contribution will give an overview about the latest state in Iron based cellular materials, including technologies in manufacturing, properties and potential applications.