Why Customers Value Mass-customized Products: The Importance of Process Effort and Enjoyment

We test our hypotheses on 186 participants designing their own scarves with an MC toolkit. After completing the process, they submitted binding bids for "their" products in Vickrey auctions. We therefore observe real buying behavior, not merely stated intentions. We find that the subjective value of a self-designed product (i.e., one's bid in the course of the auction) is indeed not only impacted by the preference fit the customer expects it to deliver, but also by (1) the process enjoyment the customer reports, (2) the interaction of preference fit and process enjoyment, and (3) the interaction of preference fit and perceived process effort. In addition to its main effect, we interpret preference fit as a moderator of the valuegenerating effect of process evaluation: In cases where the outcome of the process is perceived as positive (high preference fit), the customer also interprets process effort as a positive accomplishment, and this positive affect adds (further) value to the product. It appears that the perception of the self-design process as a good or bad experience is partly constructed on the basis of the outcome of the process. In the opposite case (low preference fit), effort creates a negative affect which further reduces the subjective value of the product. Likewise, process enjoyment is amplified by preference fit, although enjoyment also has a significant main effect, which means that regardless of the outcome, customers attribute higher value to a self-designed product if they enjoy the process. The importance of the self-design process found in this study bears clear relevance for companies which offer or plan to offer MC systems. It is not sufficient to design MC toolkits in such a way that they allow customers to design products according to their preferences. The affect caused by this process is also highly important. Toolkits should therefore stimulate positive affective reactions and at the same time keep negative affect to a minimum. (authors' abstract

Investigating Fatigue Performance on the Foamed Asphalt Specimens Generated Using Different Foam Properties

An evaluation of fatigue resistance for foamed asphalt mixture is very demanding since the binder is not continuously distributed on the aggregate surface and this mixtures contains water, the content of which dramatically affects the mechanical properties. This paper discusses the results of laboratory fatigue testingon the foamed asphalt mixtures in which the specimens are generated using three different foamed bitumen properties. Foamed bitumen as the binder was produced at three different foaming water content (FWC) at a temperature of 180oC using a 70/100 pen. The aggregates were mechanically mixed with foamed bitumen using a Hobart mixer. The resulting mixtures were then compacted using a gyratory compactor to generatespecimen with diameter of 100 mm. The specimens were fatigue tested at various stress levels at a temperature of 20oC following a curing period of 3 days at 40oC. Overall, fatigue performance of foamed asphalt can be identified based upon both stress and strain for mixtures produced at FWC 1%, 5%, and 10%

High pCO 2 levels affect metabolic rate, but not feeding behavior and fitness, of farmed giant mussel Choromytilus chorus

Indexación: Scopus.Acknowledgements. We thank Luisa Saavedra and Araceli Rodriguez-Romero for their help in the field and during laboratory activities. We also acknowledge Laura Ramajo for help with AT estimations. Emily Giles Neill provided valuable comments that greatly improved the manuscript. Special thanks are due to the reviewers and the editor for very constructive comments on the manuscript. This study was supported by the Millennium Nucleus Center for the Study of Multiple drivers on Marine Socio-Ecological Systems (MUSELS) funded by MINECON NC120086, PIA CONICYT ACT-172037 and FONDECYT grant nos. 1140938 and 1140092 to N.A.L. and M.A.L.Mar Ecol Prog Ser 454: 65−74 Findlay HS, Wood HL, Kendall MA, Spicer JI, Twitchett RJ, Widdicombe S (2009) Calcification, a physiological pro-cess to be considered in the context of the whole organ-ism. Biogeosciences 6: 2267−2284 Fitzer SC, Zhu W, Tanner KE, Phoenix VR, Kamenos NA, Cusack M (2015) Ocean acidification alters the material properties of Mytilus edulis shells. J R Soc Interface 12: 214−227 Freitas R, De Marchi L, Bastos M, Moreira A and others (2017) Effects of seawater acidification and salinity alter-ations on metabolic, osmoregulation and oxidative stress markers in Mytilus galloprovincialis. Ecol Indic 79: 54−62 Gattuso JP, Magnan A, Billé R, Cheung WWL and others (2015) Contrasting futures for ocean and society from dif-ferent anthropogenic CO2 emissions scenarios. Science 349: aac4722 Gazeau F, Urbini L, Cox TE, Alliouane S, Gattuso JP (2015) Comparison of the alkalinity and calcium anomaly tech-niques to estimate rates of net calcification. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 527: 1−12 Gray MW, Langdon CJ, Waldbusser GG, Hales B, Kramer S (2017) Mechanistic understanding of ocean acidification impacts on larval feeding physiology and energy budg-ets of the mussel Mytilus californianus. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 563: 81−94 Griffiths CL, Griffiths RJ (1987) Animal energetics, Vol 2: Bivalvia through Reptilia. In: Pandian TJ, Vernberg FJ (eds) Bivalvia. Academic Press, New York, NY, p 1−88 Harvey BP, Dwynn-Jones D, Moore PJ (2013) Meta-analysis reveals complex marine biological responses to the inter-active effects of ocean acidification and warming. Ecol Evol 3: 1016−1030 Hiebenthal C, Philipp EER, Eisenhauer A, Wahl M (2013) Effects of seawater pCO2 and temperature on shell growth, shell stability, condition and cellular stress of western Baltic Sea Mytilus edulis (L.) and Arctica is - landica (L.). Mar Biol 160: 2073−2087 Ibarrola I, Arambalza U, Navarro JM, Urrutia MB, Navarro E (2012) Allometric relationships in feeding and diges-tion in the Chilean mytilids Mytilus chilensis (Hupé), Choromytilus chorus (Molina) and Aulacomya ater (Mo - lina): a comparative study. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 426-427: 18−27 Lagos NA, Benítez S, Duarte C, Lardies MA and others (2016) Effects of temperature and ocean acidification on shell characteristics of Argopecten purpuratus: implica-tions for scallop aquaculture in an upwelling-influenced area. Aquacult Environ Interact 8: 357−370 Lardies MA, Arias MB, Poupin MJ, Manríquez PH and oth-ers (2014) Differential response to ocean acidification in physiological traits of Concholepas concholepas popula-tions. J Sea Res 90: 127−134 Lardies MA, Benítez S, Osores S, Vargas CA, Duarte C, Lohrmann KB, Lagos NA (2017) Physiological and histo - pathological impacts of increased carbon dioxide and temperature on the scallops Argopecten purpuratus cultured under upwelling influences in northern Chile. Aquaculture 479: 455−466 Lemasson AJ, Fletcher S, Hall-Spencer JM, Knights AM (2017) Linking the biological impacts of ocean acidifica-tion on oysters to changes in ecosystem services: a review. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 492: 49−62 Mackenzie CL, Ormondroyd GA, Curling SF, Ball RJ, Whitely NM, Malham SK (2014) Ocean warming, more than acidification, reduces shell strength in a commercial shellfish species during food limitation. PLOS ONE 9: e86764 McElhany P (2017) CO2 sensitivity experiments are not suf-ficient to show an effect of ocean acidification. ICES J Mar Sci 74: 926−928 Mehrbach C, Culberson CH, Hawley JE, Pytkowicz RM (1973) Measurement of the apparent dissociation con-stants of carbonic acid in seawater at atmospheric pres-sure. Limnol Oceanogr 18: 897−907 Melzner F, Thomsen J, Koeve W, Oschlies A and others (2013) Future ocean acidification will be amplified by hypoxia in coastal habitats. Mar Biol 160: 1875−1888 Michaelidis B, Ouzounis C, Paleras A, Pörtner HO (2005) Effects of long-term moderate hypercapnia on acid−base balance and growth rate in marine mussels Mytilus gal-loprovincialis. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 293: 109−118 Miller AW, Reynolds AC, Sobrino C, Riedel GF (2009) Shell-fish face uncertain future in high CO2 world: influence of acidification on oyster larvae calcification and growth in estuaries. PLOS ONE 4: e5661 Navarro JM (1988) The effects of salinity on the physio - logical ecology of Choromytilus chorus (Molina, 1782) (Bivalvia: Mytilidae). J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 122: 19−33 Navarro JM, Torres R, Acuña K, Duarte C and others (2013) Impact of medium-term exposure to elevated pCO2 lev-els on the physiological energetics of the mussel Mytilus chilensis. Chemosphere 90: 1242−1248 Navarro JM, Duarte C, Manríquez PH, Lardies MA and oth-ers (2016) Ocean warming and elevated carbon dioxide: multiple stressor impacts on juvenile mussels from south-ern Chile. ICES J Mar Sci 73: 764−771 Nienhuis S, Palmer AR, Harley CD (2010) Elevated CO2 affects shell dissolution rate but not calcification rate in a marine snail. Proc R Soc B 277: 2553−2558 Orr JC, Fabry VJ, Aumont O, Bopp L and others (2005) Anthropogenic ocean acidification over the twenty-first century and its impact on calcifying organisms. Nature 437: 681−686 Osores SJ, Lagos NA, San Martin V, Manríquez PH and others (2017) Plasticity and inter-population variability in physiological and life-history traits of the mussel Mytilus chilensis: a reciprocal transplant experiment. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 490: 1−12 Palmer AR (1982) Growth in marine gastropods: a non-destructive technique for independently measuring shell and body weight. Malacologia 23: 63−73 Parker LM, Ross PM, O’Connor WA, Borysko L, Raftos DA, Pörtner HO (2012) Adult exposure influences offspring response to ocean acidification in oysters. Glob Change Biol 18: 82−92 Pierrot D, Lewis E, Wallace DWR (2006) MS Excel program developed for CO2 system calculations. ORNL/CDIAC-105a. Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, US Department of Energy, Oak Ridge, TN Ramajo L, Marba N, Prado L, Peron S and others (2016) Bio-mineralization changes with food supply confer juvenile scallops (Argopecten purpuratus) resistance to ocean acidification. Glob Change Biol 22: 2025−2037 Range P, Chícharo MA, Ben-Hamadou R, Piló D and others (2014) Impacts of CO2-induced seawater acidification on coastal Mediterranean bivalves and interactions with other climatic stressors. Reg Environ Change 14(Suppl 1): 19−30 Sabine C, Feely RA, Gruber N, Key RM and others (2004) The oceanic sink of anthropogenic CO2. Science 305: 367–371 SERNAPESCA (Servicio Nacional de Pesca y Acuicultura) (2014) Anuarios estadísticos del Servicio Nacional de Pesca y Acuicultura. www.sernapesca.cl Solórzano L (1969) Determination of ammonia in natural waters by the phenolhypochlorite method. Limnol Oce - anogr 14: 799−801 Thomsen J, Melzner F (2010) Moderate seawater acidifica-tion does not elicit long-term metabolic depression in the blue mussel Mytilus edulis. Mar Biol 157: 2667−2676 Thomsen J, Casties I, Pansch C, Körtzinger A, Melzner F (2013) Food availability outweighs ocean acidification effects in juvenile Mytilus edulis: laboratory and field experiments. Glob Change Biol 19: 1017−1027 Thomsen J, Stapp LS, Haynert K, Schade H, Danelli M, Lannig G, Melzner F (2017) Naturally acidified habitat selects for ocean acidification-tolerant mussels. Sci Adv 3: e1602411 Toro B, Navarro JM, Palma-Fleming H (2003) Relationship between bioenergetics responses and organic pollutants in the giant mussel, Choromytilus chorus (Mollusca: Mytilidae). Aquat Toxicol 63: 257−269 Torres R, Pantoja S, Harada N, González HE, Daneri G, Frangopulos M, Fukasawa M (2011) Air-sea CO2 fluxes along the coast of Chile: from CO2 outgassing in central northern upwelling waters to CO2 uptake in southern Patagonian fjords. J Geophys Res 116: C09006 Torres R, Manriquez PH, Duarte C, Navarro JM, Lagos NA, Vargas CA, Lardies MA (2013) Evaluation of a semi - automatic system for long-term seawater carbonate chemistry manipulation. Rev Chil Hist Nat 86: 443−451 Vargas CA, Aguilera V, Martín V, Manríquez P and others (2015) CO2-driven ocean acidification disrupts the filter feeding behavior in Chilean gastropod and bivalve spe-cies from different geographic localities. Estuaries Coasts 38: 1163−1177 Vargas CA, Lagos NA, Lardies MA, Duarte C and others (2017) Species-specific responses to ocean acidification should account for local adaptation and adaptive plasti-city. Nature Ecol Evol 1: 0084 Vargas CA, Cuevas LA, Silva N, Gonzalez HE, Pol-Holz D, Narvaez DA (2018) Influence of glacier melting and river discharges on the nutrient distribution and DIC recycling in the southern Chilean Patagonia. J Geophys Res Bio-geosci 123: 256−270 Velasco LA, Navarro JM (2003) Energetic balance of infau-nal (Mulinia edulis King, 1831) and epifaunal (Mytilus chilensis Hupé, 1854) bivalves in response to wide varia-tions in concentration and quality of seston. J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 296: 79−92 Vihtakari M, Hendriks IE, Holding J, Renaud PE, Duarte CM, Havenhand JN (2013) Effects of ocean acidification and warming on sperm activity and early life stages of the Mediterranean mussel (Mytilus galloprovincialis). Water 5: 1890−1915 Wang Y, Li L, Hu M, Lu W (2015) Physiological energetic of the thick shell mussel Mytilus coruscus exposed to sea-water acidification and thermal stress. Sci Total Environ 514: 261−272 White MM, McCorkle DC, Mullineaux LS, Cohen AL (2013)Benthic habitats such as intertidal areas, sandy or rocky shores, upwelling zones, and estuaries are characterized by variable environmental conditions. This high variability of environmental stressors such as temperature, salinity, and pH/pCO 2 levels have been shown to impose restrictions on organismal performance. The giant mussel Choromytilus chorus forms intertidal and subtidal mussel beds in estuarine zones associated with fjords occurring in southern Chile and is an important aquacultural resource in Patagonia. In this study, we estimated the sensitivity of physiological traits and energy balance of C. chorus juveniles exposed to 3 pCO 2 treatments (500, 750, and 1200 μatm) for 30 d. Results showed that in acidified, high pCO 2 conditions, C. chorus juveniles had increased metabolic rates; however, other physiological traits (clearance and ingestion rates, ammonia excretion, absorption efficiency, growth rate, biomass production, net calcification, and dissolution rates) were not affected. These results suggest that when subjected to acidification, the adaptive response of C. chorus triggers tradeoffs among physiological traits that favor sustained feeding and growth in order to combat increased metabolic stress. As has been reported for other marine organisms, chronic exposure to variable pH/pCO 2 in their native habitats, such as estuarine zones, could explain the differential acclimatization capacity of giant mussels to cope with the increase in pCO 2 . Additionally, the fact that the mussels did not suffer from mortality indicates that increased pCO 2 levels may have chronic, but not lethal, effects on this species under these experimental conditions. © The authors 2017.https://www.int-res.com/abstracts/aei/v10/p267-278

Improving the Knowledge on Seismogenic Sources in the Lower Tagus Valley for Seismic Hazard Purposes

The Lower Tagus Valley, that includes the metropolitan area of Lisbon, has been struck by several earthquakes which produced significant material damage and loss of lives. Their exact location remains unknown. Our goal is to shed some light into the seismogenic sources in the area using seismic reflection and geological data. In areas with no seismic coverage, potential-field data interpretation was carried out. Seismicity was overlaid to the potential seismogenic structures and high-resolution data was acquired in order to confirm which structures have been active into the Quaternary. Three major fault-zones affecting the Neogene were identified: V. F. Xira, Samora-Alcochete and Pinhal Novo. For the first fault, strong evidences suggest it is active. The other two fault-zones and other structures previously unknown can be correlated with several epicentres. Empirical relationships between maximum moment magnitude and fault area indicate that MW > 6.5 earthquakes can be expected for the larger structures

Commensal-to-pathogen transition: One-single transposon insertion results in two pathoadaptive traits in Escherichia coli -macrophage interaction

There are no funders and sponsors indicated explicitly in the document. This deposit is composed by the main article plus the supplementary materials of the publication.Escherichia coli is both a harmless commensal in the intestines of many mammals, as well as a dangerous pathogen. The evolutionary paths taken by strains of this species in the commensal-to-pathogen transition are complex and can involve changes both in the core genome, as well in the pan-genome. One way to understand the likely paths that a commensal strain of E. coli takes when evolving pathogenicity is through experimentally evolving the strain under the selective pressures that it will have to withstand as a pathogen. Here, we report that a commensal strain, under continuous pressure from macrophages, recurrently acquired a transposable element insertion, which resulted in two key phenotypic changes: increased intracellular survival, through the delay of phagosome maturation and increased ability to escape macrophages. We further show that the acquisition of the pathoadaptive traits was accompanied by small but significant changes in the transcriptome of macrophages upon infection. These results show that under constant pressures from a key component of the host immune system, namely macrophage phagocytosis, commensal E. coli rapidly acquires pathoadaptive mutations that cause transcriptome changes associated to the host-microbe duet.There are no funders and sponsors indicated explicitly in the document.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Simplex optimization and mathematical modeling of wheat straw dilute acid hydrolysisand

Wheat straw is an interesting biorefinery raw material, due to its abundance, chemical composition, and cost. Among the different pretreatments suitable for its processing, dilute acid hydrolysis still presents some benefits due to its simplicity. Nevertheless, it requires a careful optimization to avoid excessive by-products formation and catalyst spending. An attractive and simple optimization approach is the Sequential Simplex Method, an iterative procedure that enables to rapidly screen a large area ofoperational conditions and effectively encircle the optimal. In this work, dilute acid hydrolysis of wheat straw was optimized to selectively hydrolyze the hemicellulose fraction and obtain a pentose-rich fermentable hydrolyzate. The influence oftime (up to 180 min), and sulfuric acid concentration (up to 4%, w/w) were studied. The hydrolyzates obtained in the optimized conditions mainly contain free sugars (total content higher than 46 giL). The main potential microbial inhibitors found were acetic acid, furfural, and HMF, in concentrations lower than 4.8,1.7 and 0.3 giL, respectively. Empirical models describing the influence ofthe studied variables on sugars and by-products formation were validated for the entire domain. Sulfuric acid concentration was found to be the most influential variable, although both variables are statistically significant for xylose recovery. Interaction effects play a significant (negative) role. Data was also modeled based on the combined severity parameter (CS) and the results of these two approaches are compared and discussed. These hydrolyzates were easily utilized by Debaryomyces hansenii, a natural pentose assimilating yeast

Complementing mass customization toolkits with user communities: How peer input improves customer self-design

In this article, the authors propose that the canonical customer-toolkit dyad in mass customization (MC) should be complemented with user communities. Many companies in various industries have begun to offer their customers the opportunity to design their own products online. The companies provide web-based MC toolkits which allow customers who prefer individualized products to tailor items such as sneakers, PCs, cars, kitchens, cereals, or skis to their specific preferences. Most existing MC toolkits are based on the underlying concept of an isolated, dyadic interaction process between the individual customer and the MC toolkit. Information from external sources is not provided. As a result, most academic research on MC toolkits has focused on this dyadic perspective. The main premise of this article is that novice MC toolkit users in particular might largely benefit from information given by other customers. The pioneering research conducted by Jeppesen (2005), Jeppesen and Frederiksen (2006), and Jeppesen and Molin (2003) has shown that customers in the computer gaming and digital music instruments industries are willing to support each other for the sake of efficient toolkit use (e.g., how certain toolkit functions work). Expanding on their work, this article provides evidence that peer assistance appears also extremely useful in the two other major phases of the customer's individual self-design process, namely the development of an initial idea and the evaluation of a preliminary design solution. Two controlled experiments were conducted in which 191 subjects used an MC toolkit in order to design their own individual skis. The authors find that during the phase of developing an initial idea, having access to other users' designs as potential starting points stimulates the integration of existing solution chunks into the problem-solving process, which indicates more systematic problem-solving behavior. Peer customer input also turned out to have positive effects on the evaluation of preliminary design solutions. Providing other customers' opinions on interim design solutions stimulated favorable problem-solving behavior, namely the integration of external feedback. The use of these two problem-solving heuristics in turn leads to an improved process outcome, that is, self-designed products which meet the preferences of the customers more effectively (measured in terms of perceived preference fit, purchase intention, and willingness to pay). These findings have important theoretical and managerial implications. (author's abstract

Postglacial sea-level rise and sedimentar response in the Guadiana Estuary, Portugal/Spain border

The study of sedimentological features, foraminifera and molluscan fauna in samples recovered from four rotary boreholes permitted, after 14C dating, the first assessment of the post-glacial transgression in Guadiana River Estuary. The Holocene sequence is underlain by coarse sediments from delta fan enclosing continental swamp deposits dated 16980 year BP. The Holocene sedimentary sequence was deposited either directly on this delta fan gravels or on top of fluvial sands deposited probably between 11000 and 10000 yr BP. An accelerated phase of the estuary infilling by clayey sediments containing the saltmarsh foraminifer Trochammina, began ca. 9800 year BP, when sea level was about 39 m below present. Between 7500 and 7000 year BP, the central part of the estuary started to accommodate coarser sediments, partially introduced from the continental shelf. The first phase of Holocene sea-level rise at a rate of 0.85 m/century terminated ca. 6500 year BP. Since then, lagoonal sediments in the vicinity of the estuary have been enclosed behind sand spits and predominantly sandy sedimentation was initiated within the estuary. After a second phase of slower rise at the rate of 0.3 m/century, which lasted until ca. 5000 year BP, the sea approached the present level.INTERREG II programme, DISIPOL Project (Sediment Dynamics and Pollutant Dissipation in Guadiana River Estuary