ALL TUNA IS NOT CREATED EQUAL: THE EXISTENCE OF QUANTITY SURCHARGES DUE TO PRODUCT DIFFERENTIATION.

Quantity surcharges exist when unit prices are higher for larger packages. We hypothesize that various sizes of goods are differentiated products, and this explains some surcharges. Estimating a random-coefficients logit demand model, we examine own and cross elasticities to determine the level of differentiation between products with different size packages.Marketing,

Consumer response to car fronts: eliciting biological preparedness with product design

Building on assumptions derived from evolutionary theory, we investigated viewers' reactions to the design of car fronts (i.e., an automobile's face), which were designed to be threatening using basic principles of anthropomorphism. Previous research suggests two opposite human reactions when presented with threatening stimuli: Initially, threatening objects attract human attention (e.g., when exploring a scene for the first time), but afterwards, people tend to avoid such threatening stimuli (as they are likely to induce discomfort in the viewer). This proposition is tested within a product design context using eye tracking methodology. Results showed that automotive stimuli not only activate affective dimensions of customers, but also lead to specific automatic reactions that can be explained by evolutionary theory. Practical implications for product design and marketing are discussed

RISKGATE and Australian coal operations

The major Australian Coal Association Research Program (ACARP) project, RISKGATE has now completed three years of knowledge capture and system development. The body of knowledge for risk management of tyres, collisions, fires, isolation, strata underground, ground control open cut, explosions, explosives underground, explosives open cut, manual tasks and slips/trips/falls was launched in December 2012. Recently, the project added knowledge about outbursts, coal bumps and bursts, human-machine interface, tailings dams, occupational hygiene and inrush to the original 11 topics. In 2014, the project plans (pending ACARP funding approval) to focus on issues around Fitness for Work. RISKGATE provides an environment for knowledge capture and knowledge exchange to drive innovation and cross industry sharing of current practice in the identification, assessment and management of risk. By capturing operational knowledge from industry experts, RISKGATE provides a cumulative corporate memory at a time of high personnel turnover in the coal industry. RISKGATE is the largest single ACARP Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) initiative to date. This paper presents an overview of the first seventeen topics, topic structures, and contrasts and inter-relationships between topics. The second part of the paper discusses some early steps that companies are taking to integrate RISKGATE into their operations; and conclude with some thoughts on where RISKGATE can go in the future

DNA repair biomarkers XPF and phospho-MAPKAP kinase 2 correlate with clinical outcome in advanced head and neck cancer.

BackgroundInduction chemotherapy is a common therapeutic option for patients with locoregionally-advanced head and neck cancer (HNC), but it remains unclear which patients will benefit. In this study, we searched for biomarkers predicting the response of patients with locoregionally-advanced HNC to induction chemotherapy by evaluating the expression pattern of DNA repair proteins.MethodsExpression of a panel of DNA-repair proteins in formalin-fixed paraffin embedded specimens from a cohort of 37 HNC patients undergoing platinum-based induction chemotherapy prior to definitive chemoradiation were analyzed using quantitative immunohistochemistry.ResultsWe found that XPF (an ERCC1 binding partner) and phospho-MAPKAP Kinase 2 (pMK2) are novel biomarkers for HNSCC patients undergoing platinum-based induction chemotherapy. Low XPF expression in HNSCC patients is associated with better response to induction chemoradiotherapy, while high XPF expression correlates with a worse response (p = 0.02). Furthermore, low pMK2 expression was found to correlate significantly with overall survival after induction plus chemoradiation therapy (p = 0.01), suggesting that pMK2 may relate to chemoradiation therapy.ConclusionsWe identified XPF and pMK2 as novel DNA-repair biomarkers for locoregionally-advanced HNC patients undergoing platinum-based induction chemotherapy prior to definitive chemoradiation. Our study provides insights for the use of DNA repair biomarkers in personalized diagnostics strategies. Further validation in a larger cohort is indicated

When Does the Past Repeat Itself? The Interplay of Behavior Prediction and Personal Norms

Does asking people about their future behavior increase or decrease the likelihood that they will repeat their past behavior? In two laboratory and two field experiments, we find that behavior prediction strengthens behavior repetition, making people more likely to do what they normally do, when personal norms regarding engaging in a behavior are weak or not easily accessible. However, when personal norms are strong or made accessible at the time of the prediction request, behavior prediction weakens behavior repetition and increases the likelihood that people do what they think they should do-even if it's not what they normally would do. These findings provide new tools for influencing behavior repetition, reconcile some seemingly contradictory past findings, and contribute to the debate regarding the relative importance of habits and intentions in guiding behavior. T he repetition of unhealthy behaviors (such as overeating) and the lack of repetition of healthy behaviors (such as exercising) are leading contributors to preventable deaths in developed countrie

Targeting cardiomyocyte ADAM10 ectodomain shedding promotes survival early after myocardial infarction

After myocardial infarction the innate immune response is pivotal in clearing of tissue debris as well as scar formation, but exaggerated cytokine and chemokine secretion with subsequent leukocyte infiltration also leads to further tissue damage. Here, we address the value of targeting a previously unknown a disintegrin and metalloprotease 10 (ADAM10)/CX3CL1 axis in the regulation of neutrophil recruitment early after MI. We show that myocardial ADAM10 is distinctly upregulated in myocardial biopsies from patients with ischemia-driven cardiomyopathy. Intriguingly, upon MI in mice, pharmacological ADAM10 inhibition as well as genetic cardiomycyte-specific ADAM10 deletion improves survival with markedly enhanced heart function and reduced scar size. Mechanistically, abolished ADAM10-mediated CX3CL1 ectodomain shedding leads to diminished IL-1β-dependent inflammation, reduced neutrophil bone marrow egress as well as myocardial tissue infiltration. Thus, our data shows a conceptual insight into how acute MI induces chemotactic signaling via ectodomain shedding in cardiomyocytes

Differential Effects of Aging on Fore– and Hindpaw Maps of Rat Somatosensory Cortex

Getting older is associated with a decline of cognitive and sensorimotor abilities, but it remains elusive whether age-related changes are due to accumulating degenerational processes, rendering them largely irreversible, or whether they reflect plastic, adaptational and presumably compensatory changes. Using aged rats as a model we studied how aging affects neural processing in somatosensory cortex. By multi-unit recordings in the fore- and hindpaw cortical maps we compared the effects of aging on receptive field size and response latencies. While in aged animals response latencies of neurons of both cortical representations were lengthened by approximately the same amount, only RFs of hindpaw neurons showed severe expansion with only little changes of forepaw RFs. To obtain insight into parallel changes of walking behavior, we recorded footprints in young and old animals which revealed a general age-related impairment of walking. In addition we found evidence for a limb-specific deterioration of the hindlimbs that was not observed in the forelimbs. Our results show that age-related changes of somatosensory cortical neurons display a complex pattern of regional specificity and parameter-dependence indicating that aging acts rather selectively on cortical processing of sensory information. The fact that RFs of the fore- and hindpaws do not co-vary in aged animals argues against degenerational processes on a global scale. We therefore conclude that age-related alterations are composed of plastic-adaptive alterations in response to modified use and degenerational changes developing with age. As a consequence, age-related changes need not be irreversible but can be subject to amelioration through training and stimulation