$240 for Illinois Avenue, please:Economic inequality increases preference for personal control appeals

Economic inequality is rising globally, yet its impact on consumer behavior remains poorly understood. In five studies, we show that economic inequality increases the preference for personal control appeals—advertising appeals encouraging consumers to reclaim their sense of agency and control. This effect emerged when economic inequality was objectively measured or experimentally manipulated. We also identify the mechanism underlying this effect by showing that higher economic inequality triggers a sense of financial threat, which reduces consumers’ sense of control. These aversive psychological states subsequently increase the preference for personal control appeals. Furthermore, we demonstrate that a momentary boost in the sense of control or a stronger dispositional belief in economic mobility effectively mitigates psychological threats of higher economic inequality, thereby attenuating the preference for personal control appeals. Overall, our findings offer a more nuanced understanding of the motivational effects of economic inequality in shaping consumer behavior

$240 for Illinois Avenue, please:Economic inequality increases preference for personal control appeals

Economic inequality is rising globally, yet its impact on consumer behavior remains poorly understood. In five studies, we show that economic inequality increases the preference for personal control appeals—advertising appeals encouraging consumers to reclaim their sense of agency and control. This effect emerged when economic inequality was objectively measured or experimentally manipulated. We also identify the mechanism underlying this effect by showing that higher economic inequality triggers a sense of financial threat, which reduces consumers’ sense of control. These aversive psychological states subsequently increase the preference for personal control appeals. Furthermore, we demonstrate that a momentary boost in the sense of control or a stronger dispositional belief in economic mobility effectively mitigates psychological threats of higher economic inequality, thereby attenuating the preference for personal control appeals. Overall, our findings offer a more nuanced understanding of the motivational effects of economic inequality in shaping consumer behavior

Detection of Neuraminidase Activity in Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1

Objective(s)Some properties of neuraminidase produced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 growth in a defined medium (BHI) were examined and evaluated for its features.Materials and MethodsThe obtained supernatant enzyme of P. aeruginosa PAO1 cultures was used in a sensitive fluorometric assay by using 2'-(4-methylumbelliferyl) α-D-N acetylneuraminic acid as substrate. As hydrolyzing MUN with neuraminidase; free N-acetylneuraminic acid and 4-methylumbelliferone were formed with a shift in the fluorescence spectra from 315/374 nm (substrate) to 365/450 nm (product). Enzyme activity was then measured by the fluorescence of 4-methylumbelliferone at 450 nm.ResultsAmong the culture media to determine the enzyme production, the highest production of P. aeruginosa PAO1 neuraminidase was found in BHI culture media. Neuraminidase production in P. aeruginosa PAO1 paralleled bacterial growth in defined medium (BHI) and was maximal in the late logarithmic phase of growth but decreased during the stationary phase, probably due to protease production or thermal instability. The neuraminidase of P. aeruginosa PAO1 possessed an optimum temperature of 56 °C and the activity was pH-dependent with maximal activity at pH 5. Heating the enzyme at 56 °C for 45 min in the presence of bovine serum albumin destroyed 33.1% of the activity while the addition of Ca+2, EDTA and N-acetyl neuraminic acid (NANA) decreased activity markedly. ConclusionOverall, the results indicated that neuraminidase of P. aeruginosa PAO1 is more an extracellular enzyme than K. pneumonia neuraminidase is

Presence Aware Power Saving Mode (PA-PSM) enhancement for IoT devices for energy conservation

The Internet of Things has brought a vision to turn the digital object into smart devices by adding an intelligence system and thereafter connecting them to the internet world. These smart devices accumulate environmental information with the help of sensors and act consequently without human intervention. The Internet of Thing is a rapidly growing industry with expected 50 - 200 billion smart devices to connect to the internet. Multi-billions of smart devices will produce a substantial amount of data to provide services to human society, although, it will lead to increase energy consumption at the highest level and drive to high energy bills. Moreover, the flood of IoT devices may also lead to energy scarcity. IoT is nowadays mainly focused on the IT industry and researchers believe the next wave of IoT may connect 1 trillion sensors by 2025. Even if these sensors would have 10 years of battery life, it will still require 275 million batteries to be replaced every day. Therefore, it is a necessity to reduce energy consumption in smart devices. “Presence Aware Power Saving Mode (PA-PSM) Enhancement for IoT Devices for Energy Conservation”, a proposed novel approach in this research paper by the help of a proposed algorithm in this research paper to reduce power consumption by individual devices within smart homes. In the proposed approach, a centralized automation controller keeps the less priority smart devices into deep sleep mode to save energy and experiments suggest the proposed system may help to reduce 25.81% of the energy consumed by smart devices within the smart home

HOSPITAL DISASTER RISK MANAGEMENT: THE CASE OF URMIA HOSPITALS

 Objective: This study has been conducted with the aim of assessing the risk management category and its status in hospital from the perspective of senior managers in Urmia hospitals considering the existing scientific gap and the importance of the issue for the health system and society.Methods: This cross-sectional research was conducted in all 12 hospitals in Urmia. Participants in the research included 37 senior hospital managers. Data gathering instrument was a researcher-made questionnaire with Likert scale. Content validity and reliability of the tool (Cronbach's alpha coefficient) have been also measured in a similar study. This tool has been designed in two parts: Demographic specifications and items (44 questions). Kolmogorov-Smirnov, ANOVA one-way, independent t-test, and Spearman tests were used in SPSS 20 software for statistical analysis.Results: The average of total score of all risk management components was equal to 3.0445, which is in moderate level. According to ANOVA one-way test, there was no significant relationship between the organizational status of managers and their education level with any of the risk management components. Furthermore, it was specified using independent t-test, there is no statistically significant relationship between gender and risk management components. It was specified using Pearson correlation test; there is a statistically significant relationship between gender and education level as well as individual's organizational status (p-value: 0.001).Conclusion: Studied hospitals have suffered from the lack of risk management. There is not enough knowledge in this regard among senior hospital managers, and therefore, due to the importance of this issue, needed policies and programs should be provided to all hospital managers and needed supporting and education should be provided in regard to the implementation of risk management measures

A Model for Explanation of Customer Satisfaction Consequences in Banking Industry: Evidence from Iran

In recent years, customer satisfaction has come to be used not only as a performance indicator for individual firms but also an aggregate for economic analysis. In particular, it has been reported that changes in customer satisfaction are a leading, positive indicator of other financial and economic indicators such as GDP growth and customer spending. In our research, we have examined consequences of customer satisfaction by analyzing the relationships among variables such as customer complaints, loyalty, trust, switching costs, and corporate image. A sample of 551 respondents took part in this study. A cluster-sampling plan was used to collect data from estimated sample. Findings indicate that customer satisfaction appears to be linked to customer loyalty. Findings also indicate that customer satisfaction has a positive and significant impact on customer trust and complaints. In addition, as trust increases, the switching costs decreases. Similarly, when customer complaints decrease, the customer loyalty will increase. Finally, corporate image and switching costs have a significant impact on customer loyalty.Key words: Customer satisfaction; Loyalty; Trust; Corporate image; Switching cos