This article analyzes what factors influence consumers’ choices of the type of retailer in Japan and classifies the types. Firstly, it is evident that several factors affect the choice of retail type significantly. Secondly, different formats of retail business are compared to examine the similarities and differences.

This study examines Japanese and Americans’ perceptions of disaster ads. The three-selves model is used to explain the in-group and out-group effects of disaster ads, while the theory of planned behavior is used to explain the antecedents of a donor’s attitude toward disaster ads. Donation motivation, donation belief, social influence, attitude towards helping charities, attitude toward helping others, affective responses, cognitive responses, and willingness to donate were examined. For a 2 x 2 experimental treatment, two disaster locations (U.S. and Japan) and two types of ads (factual and emotional) were used. The findings imply that Americans’ donation motivation and donation belief are significantly related to attitude toward helping charities. The attitude toward helping charities is strongly related to cognitive response and willingness to donate. For Japanese, donation motivation and social influence are strongly related to attitude toward helping charities and others. Also, attitude toward helping charities influences cognitive response, and attitude toward helping others affects affective response. A managerial implication, for Japanese, is that cultivating a positive attitude toward helping charities and others is important to increase cognitive and affective responses toward ads and the responses directly related to willingness to donate. For Americans, emphasizing positive attitude toward helping charities is important to increase a positive cognitive response which is related to willingness to donate.

Consumers are increasingly using their smartphones for making purchases, with the other modes being traditional offline and online channels (Kim et al., 2017). In light of the growing number of smartphone users worldwide, many e-commerce companies have responded by launching mobile apps that offer more convenient and flexible shopping experiences to smartphone users (Bang et al., 2013). A number of e-commerce related studies have identified crucial differences between mobile shopping (m-shopping) and online shopping. They find that m-shopping provides greater flexibility in terms of time and place as well as multi-tasking capabilities (for instance, a mobile shopper can communicate with others and even post a picture of an item to social media asking for others’ opinions and comments, all while shopping via a mobile app). These types of apps simultaneously cater to consumers’ shopping and social affiliation needs (Yang et al., 2012). Current research has shown that this type of shopping has gradually become habitual or automatic (Shankar et al., 2016). This new type of e-commerce has brought about a change in the shopping behavior of customers, thereby challenging companies to develop specific strategies to attract this new breed of shoppers.

Despite a ban on international trade in parts and derivatives of endangered species, illegal killing, trading, and consumption of endangered wild animals have continued to be the major causes of their rapid decline. The numbers of some endangered species (e.g., tigers, rhinos, elephants, marine turtles etc.) have been declining at an alarming rate in recent decades due to the rising wealth and increasing desire to display their wealth in East and Southeast Asian countries, including China.

Actively promoting pro-environmental behavior not only can effectively reduce degree of environmental pollution, but also is a necessary step for the sustainable development of social economy. Although scholars have had in-depth discussions on influencing factors and promoting mechanism of pro-environmental behavior, research concerning effects of external situational factors on pro-environmental behavior is relatively insufficient, and impacts of natural environment conditions, say, air quality is seldom considered. With the development of China’s economy, industrial growth and advancing urbanization, air quality continues to deteriorate when acid rain, haze and other harsh weathers occur more frequently, seriously affecting and endangering people’s health and daily life. So, does air quality also affect people’s pro-environmental behavior? And if so, how is that impact? What is the internal mechanism? Based on the above questions, this paper designed two studies, in combination with spatial distance, and explored the impacts of air quality on Chinese residents’ pro-environmental behavior. It also demonstrated the internal impact mechanism from the perspective of environmental emotion, and expanded research on impact mechanism of air quality on pro-environmental behavior.

This paper discusses consumers’ use of fashion to promote various civic causes, such as political, social, and environmental issues. Fashion has become a civic act. The fashion industry is beginning to create items to suit this purpose. This paper reviews literature supporting fashion activism, identifying future research directions. This paper contributes both academically and practically. Academically, it identifies the gap in literature referring to the understanding of the use of fashion by youth as a means of civic engagement. Prior studies are limited in scope. Thus, we urge further research to investigate fashion activism. This study contributes practically by opening up the idea to practitioners about fashion as communication tools regarding political, social and environmental matters.

Consumers become increasingly concerned about the impact of business on the society and social media platforms facilitate the spread of their concern worldwide. This research investigates how consumers react (i.e. Electronic Word-of-Mouth) when brands initiate good or bad practices in the context of social and environmental corporate responsibility. Three experiments provide a multifaceted representation of the phenomenon. We examine the role of consumers’ self-conscious moral emotions (i.e. guilt and pride), in combination with brand engagement in self-concept (BESC) and brand loyalty, in explaining consumers’ reaction. The results will help scholars and managers to better understand and address the spread of consumers’ e-WOM relating to what they perceive as responsible or irresponsible brand behaviors.

This paper focuses on the electrical properties and stability against DC accelerated aging stress of ZnO-V2O5-MnO2- Nb2O5-Bi2O3-Co3O4-Dy2O3 (ZVMNBCD) varistor ceramics sintered at 850 - 925 ℃. With the increase of sintering temperature, the average grain size increases from 4.4 to 11.8 mm, and the density of the sintered pellets decreases from 5.53 to 5.40 g/ cm3 due to the volatility of V2O5, which has a low melting point. The breakdown field abruptly decreases from 8016 to 1,715 V/cm with the increase of the sintering temperature. The maximum non-ohmic coefficient (59) is obtained when the sample is sintered at 875 ℃. The samples sintered at below 900 oC exhibit a relatively low leakage current, less than 60 mA/cm2. The apparent dielectric constant increases due to the increase of the average grain size with the increase of the sintering temperature. The change tendency of dissipation factor at 1 kHz according to the sintering temperature coincides with the tendency of the leakage current. In terms of stability, the samples sintered at 900 ℃ exhibit both high non-ohmic coefficient (45) and excellent stability, 0.8% in ΔEB/EB and -0.7% in Δα/α after application of DC accelerated aging stress (0.85 EB/85 oC/24 h).

Used in the ceramic tile market as a representative building material, relief ceramic tile is showing increased demand recently. Since ceramic tiles are manufactured through a sintering process at over 1,000 oC after uniaxial compression molding by loading granule powders into a mold, it is very important to secure the flowability of granular powders in a mold having a relief pattern. In this study, kaolin, silica, and feldspar are used as starting materials to prepare granule powders by a spray dryer process; the surface of the granule powders is subject to hydrophobic treatment with various concentrations of stearic acid. The effect on the flowability of the granular powder according to the change of stearic acid concentration is confirmed by measuring the angle of repose, tap density, and compressibility, and the occurrence of cracks in the green body produced in the mold with the relief pattern is observed. Then, the green body is sintered by a fast firing process, and the water absorption, flexural strength, and durability are evaluated. The surface treatment of the granule powders with stearic acid improves the flowability of the granule powders, leading to a dense microstructure of the sintered body. Finally, the hydrophobic treatment of the granule powders makes it possible to manufacture relief ceramic tiles having a flexural strength of 292 N/cm, a water absorption of 0.91 %, and excellent mechanical durability

본 연구에서는 신선편의식품을 구매한 뒤 집으로 귀가해서 냉장고에 보관하거나 섭취하는데 소요되는 시간과 그에 따른 신선편의식품 내.외부의 온도변화와 미생물학적 변화를 관찰하였다. 시판 중인 신선편의 식품에 대해 위생 지표세균인 일반세균, 대장균군 및 대장균, 병원성 미생물 인 B. cereus, S. aureus, Salmonella spp., L. monocytogenes를 분석하였다. 설문조사 결과 신선편의식품을 구매 후 귀가 또는 섭취에 소요되는 시간이 최대 3시간 소요되는 것으로 확인되어, 차량 트렁크 내에서 최대 3시간 동안 보관 한 결과 차량 트렁크 내부 최고 온도가 봄(3월) 19oC, 여 름(7월) 44oC, 가을(9월) 31.3oC, 겨울(2월) 17.6oC로 각각 확인되었으며, 차량 트렁크에서 보관한 신선편의식품의 품온은 최대 봄 18.5oC, 여름 42oC, 가을 29.2oC, 겨울 16.8oC 로 확인되었다. 차량 트렁크에 최대 3시간 보관한 신선편의식품의 일반세균수는 봄 3.41 log CFU/g, 여름 4.32 log CFU/g, 가을과 겨울은 각각 3.81 log CFU/g, 3.36 log CFU/g으로 확인되었다. 그 외의 대장균군 및 대장균, B. cereus, Salmonella spp., L. monocytogenes균은 검출되지 않았지만 S. aureus는 여름과 가을철에는 신선편의식품을 1시간만 차량에 보관하더라도 검출되었고, 봄과 겨울은 2시간 이상 차량 트렁크에 보관하였을 때 검출되었다. 이동 용기로 흔히 사용되는 종이박스와 스티로폼 박스 내부가 알루미늄필름으로 코팅된 종이 박스를 이용하여 얼음 첨가 여부에 따른 이동용기 온도변화 실험과 이동 중 S. aureus 의 증식여부를 확인한 결과 스티로폼 박스에서 내부 온도 변화가 가장 낮게 유지되었고, 시간 경과에 따른 미생물의 증식도 가장 적게 나타남을 확인할 수 있었다. 이상의 결과로 볼 때 신선편의식품 소비자들에게 구매 후 안전한 섭취를 위해 보관 온도나 시간에 대한 가이드라인과 이동용 기를 이용한 신선편의식품의 온도관리에 대한 정보를 제공 하여 식품의 안전성을 높이는 홍보가 필요할 것으로 판단된다.

This study surveyed Chinese elderly consumers to determine their purchasing behavior, importance, and satisfaction with HMR products in China. Three hundred and seventy people were surveyed: 184 males and 186 females aged 55 to 70 years. Two hundred and sixty-seven (72.25%) of the surveyed consumers had an average monthly income of 6,000 yuan or less, and 313 (84.9%) responded that they spend 3000 yuan or less on groceries per month. Three hundred and fortyeight (94.1%) showed a high interest in health management. Regarding the frequency of purchasing HMR products, most responded that they purchased HMR products more than once or twice a week, with a single purchase of 100 yuan or less for each purchase. The respondents preferred 2 or 3 serving packagings in a refrigerated form. For all forms of products, those made as in-house meals, outdoor meals, as a snack or night snack, for serving guests, for trips, camping, and on-thego products, the participants mostly responded that they frequently purchased the product. When purchasing HMR products, the importance of hygiene, convenience in purchase accessibility, the freshness of ingredients, and an indication of the nutritional content were considered as a high rank. After purchase, the satisfaction of SNS and mobile application advertisements and promotions, amount per serving, take out convenience, and new menu were considered low-rank. The IPA results showed that marking the origin of the ingredients and new menu are areas needing improvement. The study results may be used as base data for developing elderly friendly HMR products and establishing its marketing strategies.

Molybdenum trioxide (MoO3) is used in various applications including sensors, photocatalysts, and batteries owing to its excellent ionic conductivity and thermal properties. It can also be used as a precursor in the hydrogen reduction process to obtain molybdenum metals. Control of the parameters governing the MoO3 synthesis process is extremely important because the size and shape of MoO3 in the reduction process affect the shape, size, and crystallization of Mo metal. In this study, we fabricated MoO3 nanoparticles using a solution combustion synthesis (SCS) method that utilizes an organic additive, thereby controlling their morphology. The nucleation behavior and particle morphology were confirmed using ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-vis) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM). The concentration of the precursor (ammonium heptamolybdate tetrahydrate) was adjusted to be 0.1, 0.2, and 0.4 M. Depending on this concentration, different nucleation rates were obtained, thereby resulting in different particle morphologies.