An Empirical Analysis on Purchase Intention on Coffee Beverage in Taiwan

Coffee is the most popular beverage in the world. However, in Taiwan, coffee is a second option for beverage choice after tea, which is the traditional beverage of this nation. Under the impact of Western culture, the habit of Taiwanese on beverage has become gradually change. In the recent years, the rapid growth of the various coffee supply channels such as coffee shop, coffee chains, fast food restaurants and convenience stores has assisted in creating a huge market for consumption coffee. Thus, understanding consumer’s habit on coffee purchasing in non-coffee drinking habit market is crucial. It can offer some important information for coffee suppliers to formulate their market strategies in Taiwan. Therefore, in this study, the determinants of Taiwanese coffee drinker in purchasing coffee are defined. Results from 260 respondents were analysed by exploratory factor analysis and regression analysis. The findings demonstrate that brand & price, product image, promotion & advertising, motivation, atmosphere & environment and taste are critical factors which impact on coffee drinker’s purchase intention. Among that, promotion & advertising plays the principal role to attract customers. Therefore, in order to create competitive advantages in the coffee beverage industry, the actions of promotion and advertising should be strong by coffee supplier. Besides, how to produce high quality of coffee beverages and maintain to meet the requirements of drinker's for good flavor and taste also must be considered. Keywords: coffee beverage, purchase intention, Taiwa

Improved mechanical and electrical properties in electrospun polyimide/multiwalled carbon nanotubes nanofibrous composites

Highly aligned polyimide (PI) and PI/multi-walled carbon nanotubes (PI/MWCNTs) nanofibrous composites by incorporating poly(ethylene oxide) as the dispersing medium were fabricated using electrospinning technique. The morphology, mechanical, and electrical properties of the electrospun nanofibrous composites were investigated. Scanning electron microscope showed that the functionalized MWCNTs (f-MWCNTs) were well dispersed and oriented along the nanofiber axis. Analysis of electrical properties indicated a remarkable improvement on the alternating current conductivity by introduction of the aligned f-MWCNTs. Besides, with addition of 3 vol.% f-MWCNTs, the obvious enhancement of tensile modulus and strength was achieved. Thus, the electrospun PI/MWCNTs nanofibrous composites have great potential applications in multifunctional engineering materials

Molecular Cloning, Characterization and Expression Analysis of Calreticulin Gene in the Ant Polyrhachis vicina Roger (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Calreticulin (CRT) as a ubiquitous and highly conserved calcium-binding protein exists in endoplasmic reticulum (ER), which possesses a variety of biological functions in the regulation of cell calcium homeostasis, molecular chaperoning and innate immunity. In our research, the calreticulin homologous gene (refered as PvCRT) was cloned from the ant Polyrhachis vicina Roger (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), the full-length cDNA of PvCRT is 1584bp base pairs（bp）, contains a 5’-untranslated region of 87bp and a 3’-untranslated region of 246bp. The open reading frame (ORF) of 1251bp encodes 416 amino acids. Using real-time quantitative RT-PCR to study PvCRT mRNA expression levels indicate that this gene was expressed in different developmental stages of castes of P. vicina. The mRNA expression level in both embryos and adults show that PvCRT gene may play some essential roles in the ant’s development

Discretionary Loan Loss Provisions And Earnings Management For The Banking Industry

The purpose of the study is to investigate the relation between discretionary loan loss provisions and 6 indicators of bank operating performance for the period 1999-2004 under controlling the type of bank, ownership status and asset size. Besides, we investigate whether bank managers intend to use discretionary loan loss provisions as a means for earnings management. Based on the empirical results from the Taiwan Economic Journal (TEJ) database, the study finds: (1) the two earnings-related variables, namely earnings before loan loss provisions and one-year-ahead earnings, are significantly related to discretionary loan loss provision; (2) non-performing loans is significantly related to discretionary loan loss provisions, but non-performing loans ratio and bad debts coverage ratio are not found to be significantly linked to discretionary loan loss provisions; (3) capital adequacy ratio is not significantly related to discretionary loan loss provisions. Finally, our findings indicate that bank managers may use discretionary loan loss provisions to engage in earnings management when the earnings before loan loss provisions or non-performing loans are at a high level

Bis{2-[(E)-benzyl­imino­meth­yl]-4-methyl­phen­olato-κ2 N,O}cobalt(II)

In the title complex, [Co(C15H14NO)2], the CoII atom, situated on an inversion centre, is coordinated by two O and two N atoms from two symmetry-related bidentate Schiff base ligands in a slightly distorted square-planar geometry. The two phenolate rings form a dihedral angle of 10.53 (2)°

Brown Adipose Tissue Can Be Activated or Inhibited within an Hour before 18F-FDG Injection: A Preliminary Study with MicroPET

Brown adipose tissue (BAT) is emerging as a potential target for treating human obesity. It has been indicated that BAT is rich in innervations of sympathetic nerve control. Using 18F-FDG microPET imaging, this study aims at evaluating how factors related to sympathetic activation/inhibition changed BAT metabolism of mice. BAT 18F-FDG uptake were semiquantitatively evaluated in different groups of mice under temperature (cold or warm stimulus) or pharmacological interventions (norepinephrine, epinephrine, isoprenaline, or propranolol) and were compared with the corresponding controls. It was found that BAT activation can be stimulated by cold exposure (P = 1.96 × 10−4), norepinephrine (P = .002), or both (P = 2.19 × 10−6) within an hour before 18F-FDG injection and can also be alleviated by warming up (P = .001) or propranolol lavage (P = .027). This preliminary study indicated that BAT function could be evaluated by 18F-FDG PET imaging through short-term interventions, which paved the way for further investigation of the relationship between human obesity and BAT dysfunction

Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus infection triggers HMGB1 release to promote inflammatory cytokine production

AbstractThe high mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) protein is an endogenous damage-associated molecular pattern (DAMP) molecule involved in the pathogenesis of various infectious agents. Based on meta-analysis of all publicly available microarray datasets, HMGB1 has recently been proposed as the most significant immune modulator during the porcine response to porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) infection. However, the function of HMGB1 in PRRSV pathogenesis is unclear. In this study, we found that PRRSV infection triggers the translocation of HMGB1 from the nucleus to the extracellular milieu in MARC-145 cells and porcine alveolar macrophages. Although HMGB1 has no effect on PRRSV replication, HMGB1 promotes PRRSV-induced NF-κB activation and subsequent expression of inflammatory cytokines through receptors RAGE, TLR2 and TLR4. Our findings show that HMGB1 release, triggered by PRRSV infection, enhances the efficiency of virus-induced inflammatory responses, thereby providing new insights into the pathogenesis of PRRSV infection