The relationship between consumer ethnocentrism, cosmopolitanism and product country image among younger generation consumers: the moderating role of country development status

Although the differences between developed and developing countries have been extensively studied in the context of globalization strategies, few studies have so far been conducted on the relationship between country development status and the possession by countries of a favorable (or unfavorable) product country image (PCI). Moreover, the results of such studies to date have been inconclusive. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the moderating role of country developmental status on PCI coupled with two antecedents of PCI, namely consumer ethnocentrism and cosmopolitanism. The paper also distinguishes between the PCI of the home and foreign country images of respondents. We test a new model that incorporates these constructs with a sample of 2655 younger generation consumers. The results show that country development status moderates some relationships but does not moderate others. These findings have significant implications for international companies from both developed and developing countries when developing global strategy

Fluence of thulium laser system in skin ablation

Tm:YAP laser system at power levels up to 1.2 W at 1980 nm was established in both continuous-wave and modulated modes of operation. The fluence effect of the laser system for skin ablation was analyzed by histology analysis with Wistar rat skin tissues. Thermally altered length, thermally altered area, ablation area, and ablation depth parameters were measured on histology images of skin samples just after the laser operation and after four-day healing period. Continuous-wave mode of operation provided higher thermal effects on the skin samples. Lower fluence levels were found for efficient ablation effect. © 2010 IEEE

Mid-infrared passively switched pulsed dual wavelength Ho3+ -doped fluoride fiber laser at 3 μm and 2 μm

Cascade transitions of rare earth ions involved in infrared host fiber provide the potential to generate dual or multiple wavelength lasing at mid-infrared region. In addition, the fast development of saturable absorber (SA) towards the long wavelengths motivates the realization of passively switched mid-infrared pulsed lasers. In this work, by combing the above two techniques, a new phenomenon of passively Q-switched ~3 μm and gain-switched ~2 μm pulses in a shared cavity was demonstrated with a Ho3+-doped fluoride fiber and a specifically designed semiconductor saturable absorber (SESAM) as the SA. The repetition rate of ~2 μm pulses can be tuned between half and same as that of ~3 μm pulses by changing the pump power. The proposed method here will add new capabilities and more flexibility for generating mid-infrared multiple wavelength pulses simultaneously that has important potential applications for laser surgery, material processing, laser radar, and free-space communications, and other areas

Determination of fatty acids, ?-tocopherol, ß-caroten, minerals, and some pomological properties of walnut genotypes selected from aras valley (Eastern Turkey)

Fatty Acids, ?-tocopherol, ß-caroten, minerals, and some pomological properties of walnut genotypes from four locations (Iğdır, Tuzluca, Karakoyunlu, Kağızman) of Aras Valley (Eastern Turkey) were examined. In this study, the differences among the genotypes were determined in terms of some fruit characteristics, oil and protein contents, fatty acid composition, selenium content, ?-tocopherol content, ß-carotene content and some macro-and micro-element contents. The genotypes different in the values of nut weight from 8.89 to16.22 g, kernel weight from 4.72 to 9.64 g, kernel ratio from 36.74 to 59.59%, and shell thickness 1.04-3.60 mm, respectively. The contents of fat and moisture of the selected genotypes were in the range of 59.18 to 68.12% and 10.49 to 23.31%, respectively. The contents of most common fatty acids determined in the genotypes were linoleic acid (58.15-64.07%), oleic acid (12.93-17.49%), linolenic acid (9.37-13.61%), palmitic acid (5.60-8.62%) and stearic acid (4.68-6.69%), whereas the contents of remaining fatty acids were rarely detected in trace amounts. In the genotypes, the amount of ?-tocopherol was in the range of 8.75 to 35.11 mg/kg, ß-carotene was in the range of 0.03 to 0.12 mg/kg and selenium was in the range of 15.89 to 68.19 ng/g. The genotypes were found to have 1.09 to 2.47% N, 230.36 to 451.48 mg/100g P, 350.74 to 666.20 mg/100g K, 2.30 to 3.86 mg/100g Cu, 1.71 to 3.91 mg/100g Zn, 7.16 to 18.82 mg/100g Fe, 144.0 to 452.08 mg/100g Ca, 110.25 to 342.44 mg/100g Mg, 1.73 to 9.67 mg/100g Mn and 7.11 to 25.51 mg/100g Na. The present results revealed that the high nutritional values of walnut genotypes selected from the Aras Valley(Eastern Turkey) could have health benefits effects on human nutrition. © 2019, Iranian Institute of Research and Development in Chemical Industries. All rights reserved.This work was supported as a project (2014-FBE-B07) by Scientific Research Projects Coordination Comission of Iğdır University (Turkey). In addition, The authors wish to thank Professor Sulhattin YASAR at the Faculty of Agriculture to improve the English of the manuscrip

Cytotoxic Effects of Different ICG Concentrations and Laser Parameters on Neuroblastoma

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a minimally invasive treatment for cancer therapy. It can be administered in combination with other treatments such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and surgical excision. PDT involves a photosensitizing agent that is activated by exposure to a specific wavelength of light. PDT is a cold photochemical process, there is no tissue heating. In our study, we investigated whether different laser parameters with different concentrations of indocyanine green (ICG) have cytotoxic and anti-proliferative effects on neuroblastoma. Plates were divided groups as control, only ICG concentrations (25 and 50 μg/ml), only laser treatment I (50 J/cm²), only laser treatment II (100 J/cm²), 25 μg/ml ICG + laser treatment I and 25 μg/ml ICG + laser treatment II, 50 μg/ml ICG + laser treatment I and 50 μg/ml ICG + laser treatment II. Neuroblastoma cell lines were irradiated with an in-house developed diode laser system (λ=809 nm, 70 mW/cm², 50 & 100 J/cm²) in continuous wave operation mode after ICG application. Cell proliferation was measured by XTT assay after light irradiation. Cell proliferation was decreased in a dose-dependent manner in 25 and 50 μg/ml ICG concentrations when compared with control. The applied ICG concentrations (especially 50 μg/ml) had cytotoxic effects for neuroblastoma cell lines, SH-SY5Y. There was no difference between laser treatment groups (L 50 & 100 J/cm²). However, PDT groups (laser exposure with ICG) showed significant inhibition of cell viability (p<0.05). Additionally, laser exposure did not increase the well temperature above the incubation parameter. In conclusion, PDT has cytotoxic effects in neuroblastoma cell lines. Appropriate ICG dose - laser parameter combinations must be determined for each cell type. Different energy densities may cause different effects of PDT on inhibition of cell viability

Cerebrovascular dynamics in patients with migraine: near-infrared spectroscopy study.

Migraine is hypothesized to be a neurovascular coupling disorder where the cerebral vascular reactivity is malfunctioning and measuring hemodynamic changes during migraine without causing more disturbance has always been a challenge. Functional near infrared spectroscopy system (fNIRS) is being proposed as an inexpensive, rapid, safe and accurate alternative to fMRI, transcranial doppler sonography (TCD). We have developed NIROXCOPE 201, a novel device for fNIRS which offers 16 source-detector pairs distributed on a probe that is placed on the forehead. Measuring hemodynamic changes during migraine without causing more disturbance has always been a challenge. Using NIROXCOPE 201, we have attempted to investigate the cerebrovascular reactivity of migraine patients to a breath hold task which produces a metabolic perturbation. Six normals and six migraine patients performed four consecutive breath holding task. We calculated the peak and latencies of the initial dip and recovery phases for [Hb], [HbO(2)], [tHb], and [OXY] signals. [Hb], [tHb], and [OXY] ID and R amplitudes of normals are approximately a magnitude higher than migraine patients (P<0.01), while latencies showed no significant differences. Data suggests an altered neurovascular coupling in frontal cortex of migraine patients interictally. The application of NIROXCOPE 201 to patients suffering from other primary headache disorders will reveal diagnostic as well as therapeutic implications of the presented study