Women and Illegal Activities: Gender Differences and Women's Willingness to Comply Over Time

In recent years the topics of illegal activities such as corruption or tax evasion have attracted a great deal of attention. However, there is still a lack of substantial empirical evidence about the determinants of compliance. The aim of this paper is to investigate empirically whether women are more willing to be compliant than men and whether we observe (among women and in general) differences in attitudes among similar age groups in different time periods (cohort effect) or changing attitudes of the same cohorts over time (age effect) using data from eight Western European countries from the World Values Survey and the European Values Survey that span the period from 1981 to 1999. The results reveal higher willingness to comply among women and an age rather than a cohort effect. Working Paper 06-5

Health Advertising to promote Fruit and Vegetable Intake: Application of need-related Health Audience Segmentation.

Given the importance of meaningful audience segmentation in creating effective health advertisements, this study proposes a new segmentation approach based on a theoretical structure of eight fundamental consumer needs. The authors demonstrate the usefulness of this new method in the process of developing appropriate health advertisements in the context of fruit and vegetable consumption. Results of a two-step cluster analysis reveal five different health segments to exist with different health-realted need patterns. Significant differences exist between these segments both with regard to (category-specific) fruit and vegetable consumption and reactions toward fruit and vegetable health advertisements. In general, a segment’s reactions toward appropriate need-related health advertising were significantly more positive than its reactions toward health advertising that has a general character (i.e. not responsive to a segment’s underlying needs). Based on these results some practical suggestions and recommendations are offered for health communicators to use when developing need-related health advertisements to audiences with specific health-related need patterns.

A Taxonomy of Consumer Motives through Preferred Brand Personality : Empirical Findings for 11 Countries

This paper presents a circumplex taxonomy of related consumer motives based on valence ratings of 34 preferred brand personality traits. Results of INDSCAL analysis reveal a consistent, replicable preferred brand personality structure across 11 different countries and four different product categories. As preferred brand personality dimensions are considered as behavioral expressions of underlying motives, the found structure was reformulated in terms of a taxonomy of eight fundamental consumer motives i.e. Vitality, Pleasure, Conviviality, Belonging, Security, Control, Recognition and Power, determined by two basic, bipolar dimensions i.e. Intrapersonal versus Interpersonal axis. The proposed taxonomy appears to overlap considerably with prior classifications of human motives. Opportunities in the context of consumer research are discussed, as well as some directions for future research.

Sliding-bar MACCEPA for a powered ankle prosthesis

This paper describes a new design that improves several aspects of the mechanically adjustable compliance and controllable equilibrium position actuator (MACCEPA). The proposed design avoids premature wear and attachment issues found in the cable transmission used in previous MACCEPA designs and allows the use of high-performance compact compression springs. The mechanical configuration of the actuator provides an adjustable stiffness with a nonlinear stiffening output torque. The output position of the actuator and its global stiffness are independent from each other. In this work, we provide a mathematical description of the actuation principle along with an experimental verification of its performance in a powered ankle-foot prosthesis. This work is part of the CYBERLEGs project funded by the European Commissions 7th Framework Programme

Exploring polyoxometalates as non-destructive staining agents for contrast-enhanced microfocus computed tomography of biological tissues

To advance clinical translation of regenerative medicine, there is, amongst others, still need for better insights in tissue development and disease. For this purpose, more precise imaging of the 3D microstructure and spatial interrelationships of the different tissues within organs is crucial. Despite being destructive towards the sample, conventional histology still is the gold standard for structural analysis of biological tissues. It is, however, limited by 2D sections of a 3D object, prohibiting full 3D structural analysis. MicroCT has proven to provide full 3D structural information of mineralized tissues and dense biomaterials. However, the intrinsic low X-ray absorption of soft tissues requires contrast-enhancing staining agents (CESAs). In a previous study, we showed that hafnium-substituted Wells-Dawson polyoxometalate (Hf-WD POM) allows simultaneous contrast-enhanced microCT (CE-CT) visualization of bone and its marrow vascularization and adiposity. In this study, other POM species have been examined for their potential as soft tissue CESAs. Four Wells-Dawson POMs, differing in structure and overall charge, were used to stain murine long bones and kidneys. Their staining potential and diffusion rate were compared to those of Hf-WD POM and phosphotungstic acid (PTA), a frequently used but destructive CESA. Monolacunary Wells-Dawson POM (Mono-WD POM) showed similar soft tissue enhancement as Hf-WD POM and PTA. Moreover, Mono-WD POM is less destructive, shows a better diffusion than PTA, and its synthesis requires less time and cost than Hf-WD POM. Finally, the solubility of Mono-WD POM was improved by addition of lithium chloride (LiCl) to the staining solution, enhancing further the soft tissue contrast. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: To advance clinical translation of regenerative medicine, there is, amongst others, still need for better insights in tissue development and disease. For this purpose, more precise imaging of the 3D microstructure and spatial interrelationships of the different tissues within organs is crucial. Current standard structural analysis techniques (e.g. 2D histomorphometry), however, do not allow full 3D assessment. Contrast-enhanced X-ray computed tomography has emerged as a powerful 3D structural characterization tool of soft biological tissues. In this study, from a library of Wells Dawson polyoxometalates (WD POMs), we identified monolacunary WD POM together with lithium chloride, dissolved in phosphate buffered saline, as the most suitable contrast-enhancing staining agent solution for different biological tissues without tissue shrinkage.status: publishe