Trust and reciprocity effect on electronic word-of-mouth in online review communities

Purpose Social media developments in the last decade have led to the emergence of a new form of word of mouth (WOM) in the digital environment. Electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) is considered by many scholars and practitioners to be the most influential informal communication mechanism between businesses and potential and actual consumers. The purpose of this paper is to extend knowledge about WOM in this new context by proposing a conceptual framework that enables a better understanding of how trust and reciprocity influence eWOM participation in ORCs. Design/methodology/approach This study applies non-probability convenience sampling technique to conduct a quantitative study of data from an online survey of 189 members of ORCs. Partial least squares (PLS) is used to analyse the correlations between individuals’ intention to seek opinion, to give their own opinion and to pass on the opinion of another within ORCs. Findings The data analysis reveals that opinion seeking within ORCs had a direct effect on opinion giving and opinion passing. Ability trust and integrity trust had a positive effect on opinion seeking, while benevolence trust had a direct positive effect on opinion passing. Reciprocity had a direct impact on opinion passing. While reciprocity did not affect opinion giving, the relationship between these two concepts was mediated by integrity trust. Research limitations/implications By studying the complexities that characterise the relationships between reciprocity, trust and eWOM, the study extends understanding of eWOM in ORCs. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of only a few papers that have examined the complex interrelationships between reciprocity, trust and eWOM in the context of ORCs

Tolkien\u27s Middle-Earth: Race Personified through Orcs

From the time of Middle-earth’s creation, a complex society of hierarchies has existed both within and among the different races and creatures in Tolkien’s world. The race-constructed hierarchies speak to the way in which the different races understand themselves and those around them, just as people do in today’s modern society. While embarking on the journeys of this world with Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit, with Frodo and the fellowship’s journey across Middle-earth to destroy the ring and Sauron in Mordor in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and from the creation of Arda and Middle-earth until the Third Age in The Silmarillion, the reader begins to get a greater understanding of the multifaceted intricacies the creatures of this world create in view of their differences. However, what role do the creatures of Middle-earth accept for themselves if they were mere corruptions of another race by someone or something that is seemingly purely evil? The Orcs present this existential question throughout Tolkien’s world, most engagingly in The Lord of the Rings. The reader is left to determine for themselves not only how the Orcs are viewed by the rest of Middle-earth, but also how they understand themselves, where they come from, and if they are inherently evil because of the way in which they were created. Understanding the Orcs’ racial identity will first be examined by understanding their creation story, then by examining the way in which they live and function among other Orcs, both with and without a formal leader, and lastly by addressing the way other races in Middle-earth refer to and understand Orcs as a creature in their world and obstacles on their journeys. Essential to this discussion is the determination of whether or not the conception of an inferior and superior race is a conscious ideological construction

Effect factors of part-load performance for various Organic Rankine cycles using in engine waste heat recovery

The Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) is regarded as one of the most promising waste heat recovery technologies for electricity generation engines. Since the engine usually operates under different working conditions, it is important to research the part-load performance of the ORC. In order to reveal the effect factors of part-load performance, four different forms of ORCs are compared in the study with dynamic math models established in SIMULINK. They are the ORC applying low temperature working fluid R245fa with a medium heat transfer cycle, the ORCs with high temperature working fluid toluene heated directly by exhaust condensing at low pressure and high pressure, and the double-stage ORC. It is regarded that the more slowly the system output power decreases, the better part-load performance it has. Based on a comparison among the four systems, the effects of evaporating pressure, condensing condition, working fluid, and system structure on part-load performance are revealed in the work. Further, it is found that the system which best matches with the heat source not only performs well under the design conditions, but also has excellent part-load performance

Research 2.0 : improving participation in online research communities

Web 2.0 thinking and technologies create a number of new opportunities to conduct research broadly labeled as Research 2.0. Research 2.0 is a growing area of academic and commercial interest, which includes research undertaken in online research communities. This research in progress paper explores the practice of online research communities using a case study example operated by the commercial market research company Virtual Surveys Limited (VSL) in the UK on behalf of their client United Biscuits UK Ltd. The preliminary findings are based on VSL and academics working together to improve the online research community participants’ response rate and the quality of contributions. Data collected for this study is based on meetings, participant observation, and a pilot survey of United Biscuits online research community (snackrs.com) members. Using the responses of 112 snackrs.com community members, a preliminary typology of motivational factors is proposed. This can be used to refine the recruitment and development of activities in an online research community. Also, a model for supporting online research communities to ensure longitudinal engagement based on an adaptation of Salmon’s (2004) 5 Stage Model for e-moderation is proposed, extending the 5 stages to 7 – adding the stages of selection and disengagemen

Neuroethology of olfactory-guided behavior and its potential application in the control of harmful insects

Harmful insects include pests of crops and storage goods, and vectors of human and animal diseases. Throughout their history, humans have been fighting them using diverse methods. The fairly recent development of synthetic chemical insecticides promised efficient crop and health protection at a relatively low cost. However, the negative effects of those insecticides on human health and the environment, as well as the development of insect resistance, have been fueling the search for alternative control tools. New and promising alternative methods to fight harmful insects include the manipulation of their behavior using synthetic versions of "semiochemicals", which are natural volatile and non-volatile substances involved in the intra-and/or inter-specific communication between organisms. Synthetic semiochemicals can be used as trap baits to monitor the presence of insects, so that insecticide spraying can be planned rationally (i.e., only when and where insects are actually present). Other methods that use semiochemicals include insect annihilation by mass trapping, attract-and-kill techniques, behavioral disruption, and the use of repellents. In the last decades many investigations focused on the neural bases of insect's responses to semiochemicals. Those studies help understand how the olfactory system detects and processes information about odors, which could lead to the design of efficient control tools, including odor baits, repellents or ways to confound insects. Here we review our current knowledge about the neural mechanisms controlling olfactory responses to semiochemicals in harmful insects. We also discuss how this neuroethology approach can be used to design or improve pest/vector management strategies.Fil: Reisenman, Carolina Esther. University of California at Berkeley; Estados UnidosFil: Lei, Hong. University of Arizona; Estados UnidosFil: Guerenstein, Pablo Gustavo. Provincia de Entre Ríos. Centro de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia de Tecnología a la Producción. Universidad Autónoma de Entre Ríos. Centro de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia de Tecnología a la Producción. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Centro de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia de Tecnología a la Producción; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Entre Ríos. Facultad de Ingeniería; Argentin

The Anti-War Adoption of Lord of the Rings

Ten years after Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy was first published in 1954, an unexpected party discovered Middle-earth. America’s counterculture adopted the series, despite its largely conservative, patriarchal, and militant ideologies. Tolkien himself was not fond of the hippie movement, calling them his “deplorable cultus” (Helms 7). Although always adamant that his books were not allegory, the hippies found it anyway and applied his art to their own agendas. Second-wave feminists understood Eowyn’s refusal to let her romantic interest and her father determine her fate, as well as her fear of being kept in a cage and unable to participate in “great deeds,” as resistance against the patriarchy. Mordor’s impersonal machines, existing in stark contrast to the Shire’s green pastures, spoke to environmentalists. The Shire’s uninvolved and distant authority – bringing about Middle Earth’s most peaceful, selfless, and content residents – resonated among anarchists. Even the drug culture identified with the hobbits’ love for pipeweed and mushrooms. (Ciabattari) But it was the anti-Vietnam movement which took up Tolkien’s work more than any other group. “Frodo Lives,” and “Go Go Gandalf,” became the countenance of the young American counterculture. This essay will examine the publication and reception of Tolkien’s work, as well as his philosophies on war, peace, and power which resonated among the anti-Vietnam movement, and which continues to resonate as we search for truth and peace in a disordered world

Making or Creating Orcs: How Thorinsmut\u27s Free Orcs AU Writes Back to Tolkien

Making or Creating Orcs is a close reading of an Alternate University fan fiction, The Free Orcs AU, by Thorinsmut, which is based on the premise that Erebor was not attacked by Smaug and that some Orcs have fought and freed themselves from Sauron and have established a homeland in Gundabad. Working in the context of the scholarship on racist stereotypes relating to Tolkien\u27s Orcs, I argue that Thorinsmut is able to write back to colonial narratives (Baker) through the AU premise and the associated deletions and transformations of Tolkien\u27s characterizations, plot, setting, and themes in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. The narrative focus on trade and political alliances between Dwarves and Orcs (and the removal of Elves and Men) transforms Tolkien\u27s plot from a quest to destroy Sauron\u27s Ring to a story about Dwarf and Orc relationships, personal and cultural, and the experiences of Orcs who were enslaved by Sauron and fought for their freedom