Activities of National Hellenic Documentation Centre and the National Network of Scientific and Technological Libraries

Περιέχει το πλήρες κείμενοThe mission of National (Hellenic) Documentation Centre (NDC)is to ensure the flow of the scientific and technological information to the Hellenic scientific community. This is achieved by establishing online access to 17 international hosts and 1.300 databases, acting as the major information intermediary in the country offering bibliographic references to 10.000 scientst per year, producing 8 national databases and hosting 40 databases produced by other national or international organisations. Concerning libraries NDC supports them by developing and disseminating ABEKT, the most popular library automation software in the country numbering more than 700 copies installed, developing, in close collaboration with 206 libraries, the Union Catalogue of Periodicals including 22.790 unique journal titles, creating and coordinating the National Network of Hellenic Scientific Libraries with 107 libraries supporting interlibrary loan through the online document ordering system provided by the host computer of NDC, developing its own digital library having access to more than 230 electronic journals via internet and about 1.000 installed locally, organising seminars, workshops and information days focusing on the electronic information services and technologies

Sweetened Packaged Beverage Purchase Intention and Behavior Based on Subjective Norm, Perceived Risk, and Perceived Value

In the recent decade, sweetened packaged beverages have risen in Indonesia. Several studies have verified its adverse effects on health, and Indonesian media publish it frequently on their portals. It is necessary to investigate the relationship between the product purchase intention and frequency, with people's perceived risk on the product and their exposure from media - including about the products' adverse effects. This research surveyed 254 respondents via online questionnaire quantitatively. Then, principal component analysis is conducted to construct the perceived risk, perceived value, and subjective norm. Afterward, ordinal logistic regression is deployed to measure whether there is a significant relationship between those mentioned factors toward purchase intention. Finally, we conducted ordinary least square to test the significant relationship between intention and actual purchase behavior/frequency. It is found that only perceived value on the product and respondents' reference group opinion on consuming the product significantly affects their purchase intention and actual purchase behavior. This means, neither perceived risk on the product nor media exposure affects respondents' purchase intention and behavior. These findings are encouraging for sweetened packaged beverages company, while health officials and activists may find these results unfavorable.     Keywords: sweetened packaged beverages; theory of planned behavior; purchase intention; perceived risk; perceived value; mass medi

Car ownership motivations among undergraduate students in China, Indonesia, Japan, Lebanon, Netherlands, Taiwan, and USA

‘‘Peak car’’ and related discussions suggest that especially younger people (age cohort until 30) have less desire to drive and purchase cars. This might though only be true for a limited range of developed countries. This study aims to understand the role of personal background and the country context influencing future car ownership decisions of younger people in seven countries (China, Indonesia, Japan, Lebanon, Netherlands, Taiwan, and USA). The main foci of this research are undergraduate students where it is expected that their current attitudes and habits will influence their travel behavior after they graduate and obtain a job. A web survey asked students about their attitudes towards car and public transportation, social norms, their socio-demographic situations, current mobility patterns and the intention to own a car after graduation. We conducted a descriptive analysis as well as correlation analysis of the survey data focusing on explaining intentions to own a car in the future. We find that there is a significant difference between developing and developed countries; students in developed countries have less desire to purchase cars. Expectations of others appears an important determinant of purchase intentions whereas income and the symbolic affective meaning of the car are less correlated with intentions