Social-Media, Influencers, and Adoption of an Eco-Friendly Product: Field Experiment Evidence from Rural China

Can low-cost marketing tools that are used to enhance business performance also contribute to creating a better world? The authors investigate the role of online social media tools in alleviating customer (farmer) uncertainty and promoting the adoption of a new ecofriendly pesticide in rural China. The key finding is that even for a new product such as a pesticide, a low-cost social media support platform effectively promotes its adoption. The combination of information from peers and the firm on the platform facilitates learning about product features and alleviates uncertainty associated with product quality and appropriate product usage. Nevertheless, at the trial stage of the funnel the platform underperforms the firm’s customized one-on-one support because available information does not resolve uncertainty in supplier credibility and product authenticity. Having an influencer on the platform, albeit not an expert on this product, vouching for its credibility helps resolve this funnel-holdup problem. From a theoretical perspective this paper provides suggestive evidence for referent influence and credibility signaling on social media platforms and their consequences for new product trial. The authors also provide direct empirical evidence on how information facilitates learning; a phenomenon typically assumed as being present in marketing studies estimating learning model

miR-146a is a significant brake on autoimmunity, myeloproliferation, and cancer in mice

Excessive or inappropriate activation of the immune system can be deleterious to the organism, warranting multiple molecular mechanisms to control and properly terminate immune responses. MicroRNAs (miRNAs), ~22-nt-long noncoding RNAs, have recently emerged as key posttranscriptional regulators, controlling diverse biological processes, including responses to non-self. In this study, we examine the biological role of miR-146a using genetically engineered mice and show that targeted deletion of this gene, whose expression is strongly up-regulated after immune cell maturation and/or activation, results in several immune defects. Collectively, our findings suggest that miR-146a plays a key role as a molecular brake on inflammation, myeloid cell proliferation, and oncogenic transformation

Statistical Analysis of Choice Experiments and Surveys

Measures of households' past behavior, their expectations with respect to future events and contingencies, and their intentions with respect to future behavior are frequently collected using household surveys. These questions are conceptually difficult. Answering them requires elaborate cognitive and social processes, and often respondents report only their “best” guesses and/or estimates, using more or less sophisticated heuristics. A large body of literature in psychology and survey research shows that as a result, responses to such questions may be severely biased. In this paper, (1) we describe some of the problems that are typically encountered, (2) provide some empirical illustrations of these biases, and (3) develop a framework for conceptualizing survey response behavior and for integrating structural models of response behavior into the statistical analysis of the underlying economic behavior.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/47001/1/11002_2005_Article_5884.pd

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Not AvailablePolyphenol oxidases (PPOs) are copper-binding enzymes that oxidize polyphenols to quinones. PPOs are ubiquitous in plants, but, knowledge on their evolution and diversity in cereals is explored to a limited extent. This study reports their distribution and diversity in maize, sorghum, barley and millet. We have identified additional PPO proteins in the four crops than those previously reported. In all, 27 PPO were studied and an overall sequence identity across the species ranged between 30-99%. In addition to several variants of ‘HxxYC’ motif, a novel motif (HRxYxxFxER) that begins with third conserved histidine residue of ‘Copper A’ is reported. Another tri-peptide motif, ‘AGS’ was found to be 100% conserved. Twin-tyrosine (YxY) motif was substituted by ‘FTY’ or ‘YRF’ motif in four millet and one barley sequences. Among the 27 PPOs, 7 proteins were predicted to be synthesized via secretory pathway. PROSITE Scan analysis identified several domains including Zinc finger C2H2-type, Immunoglobulin [Ig]-like, and ‘TAT’ signal. Phylogenetic analysis revealed two major clades and also indicated a non-species specific diversification of the cereal PPOs investigated. Overall, our study analysed the diversity among the four cereal PPOs, it is observed that their number and distribution is consistent with their implications in different roles.Not Availabl

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Not AvailableGrain protein content and protein profiles of six arid grain legumes belonging to three different tribes were studied. Average grain protein (per cent) of horse gram, cowpea, moth bean, guar, chickpea and green gram was 20.29, 22.8, 22.6, 20.6, 21.82, and 20.40 respectively. All the six arid legumes were clearly differentiated based on the protein banding patterns generated through SDS-PAGE. The molecular weight range of proteins in different legumes was observed to be ~16 to ~250kD. Interestingly, in chickpea, moth bean and horse gram proteins >100kD were not mostly observed. Further, distinct proteins were observed indicating inter-varietal differences in horse gram (CRHG-19), cowpea (RC-101) and guar (HG-2- 20), which could be useful in varietal identification. The different legumes were broadly clustered in to four clusters. Further, chickpea (Cicereae), green gram and cowpea (Phaseoleae) were clustered together. The similarity indexes of varieties and individual crops ranged from 0.667 to 0.950 and 0.425 to 0.821 respectively. Though the six legumes belong to Leguminosae they have distinct protein profiles which could be useful in species/varietal identification.Not Availabl