Consumer attitude and intention toward ridesharing

This paper aims to examine the factors affecting consumer’s intention to participate in the sharing economy in particular toward ridesharing services. Data were collected from UberX users in Australia (n = 278) and New Zealand (n = 295) using online survey and analysed through Structural Equation Modelling in AMOS 25. The research model is tested and compared across three studies. The results show that perceived usefulness and word-of-mouth significantly influence the consumers’ attitude toward ridesharing. The results across two samples show that the positive relationship between perceived usefulness as well as word of mouth and attitude toward service innovation is moderated by the consumers’ attitude toward the advertising. In addition, currently the ridesharing application ridesharing requires more effort from the users, especially those who have a lower self-efficacy or are risk adverse towards using this type of service innovation. This paper suggests ridesharing services utilise the power of the word of mouth and peer recommendations in the brand’s promotional strategies. Furthermore, personalised e-guides and instructions can form part of the service user interface which would help curb the negative perception around app usage and complexity, and thus increase consumer confidence

Leptin is a four-helix bundle: secondary structure by NMR

AbstractLeptin is a signaling protein that in its mutant forms has been associated with obesity and Type II diabetes. The lack of sequence similarity has precluded analogies based on structural resemblance to known systems. Backbone NMR signals for mouse leptin (13C/15N -labeled) have been assigned and its secondary structure reveals it to be a four-helix bundle cytokine. Helix lengths and disulfide pattern are in agreement with leptin as a member of the short-helix cytokine family. A three-dimensional model was built verifying the mechanical consistency of the identified elements with a short-helix cytokine core

Western Pacific atmospheric nutrient deposition fluxes, their impact on surface ocean productivity

The atmospheric deposition of both macronutrients and micronutrients plays an important role in driving primary productivity, particularly in the low-latitude ocean. We report aerosol major ion measurements for five ship-based sampling campaigns in the western Pacific from similar to 25 degrees N to 20 degrees S and compare the results with those from Atlantic meridional transects (similar to 50 degrees N to 50 degrees S) with aerosols collected and analyzed in the same laboratory, allowing full incomparability. We discuss sources of the main nutrient species (nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and iron (Fe)) in the aerosols and their stoichiometry. Striking north-south gradients are evident over both basins with the Northern Hemisphere more impacted by terrestrial dust sources and anthropogenic emissions and the North Atlantic apparently more impacted than the North Pacific. We estimate the atmospheric supply rates of these nutrients and the potential impact of the atmospheric deposition on the tropical western Pacific. Our results suggest that the atmospheric deposition is P deficient relative to the needs of the resident phytoplankton. These findings suggest that atmospheric supply of N, Fe, and P increases primary productivity utilizing some of the residual excess phosphorus (P*) in the surface waters to compensate for aerosol P deficiency. Regional primary productivity is further enhanced via the stimulation of nitrogen fixation fuelled by the residual atmospheric iron and P*. Our stoichiometric calculations reveal that a P* of 0.1 mu mol L-1 can offset the P deficiency in atmospheric supply for many months. This study suggests that atmospheric deposition may sustain similar to 10% of primary production in both the western tropical Pacific

'Pregnancy comes accidentally - like it did with me': reproductive decisions among women on ART and their partners in rural Uganda

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>As highly active antiretroviral therapy (ART) restores health, fertility and sexual activity among HIV-infected adults, understanding how ART influences reproductive desires and decisions could inform interventions to reduce sexual and vertical HIV transmission risk.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We performed a qualitative sub-study among a Ugandan cohort of 1,000 adults on ART with four purposively selected categories of participants: pregnant, not pregnant, delivered, and aborted. In-depth interviews examined relationships between HIV, ART and pregnancy, desire for children, perceived risks and benefits of pregnancy, decision-making regarding reproduction and family planning (FP) among 29 women and 16 male partners. Analysis focused on dominant explanations for emerging themes across and within participant groups.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Among those who had conceived, most couples stated that their pregnancy was unintentional, and often occurred because they believed that they were infertile due to HIV. Perceived reasons for women not getting pregnant included: ill health (included HIV infection and ART), having enough children, financial constraints, fear of mother-to-child HIV transmission or transmission to partner, death of a child, and health education. Most women reported FP experiences with condoms and hormonal injections only. Men had limited FP information apart from condoms.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Counselling at ART initiation may not be sufficient to enable women who do not desire children to adopt relevant family planning practices. On-going reproductive health education and FP services, with emphasis on the restoration of fertility after ART initiation, should be integrated into ART programs for men and women.</p

Ornamental plants: annual reports and research reviews

Ohio State University Extension Nursery, Landscape, and Turf Team Directory: 1998 / Jack Kerrigan -- Floriculture Industry Roundtable of Ohio: 1998 / Charles Behnke -- Ohio State University Extension Buckeye Yard and Garden Line / James A. Chatfield, Pamela J. Bennett, Joseph F. Boggs, Gary Y. Gao, Jane C. Martin, David J. Shetlar and Randall H. Zondag -- Environmental and cultural problems of ornamental plants in Ohio: 1997 / Pamela J. Bennett and Jane C. Martin -- Insect and mite activity noted in Ohio nurseries and landscapes: 1997 / Joseph F. Boggs, David J. Shetlar, Jane C. Martin, Pamela J. Bennett, James A. Chatfield, Gary Y. Gao and Chris Carlson -- Summary of ornamental diseases in Ohio: 1997 / James A. Chatfield, Nancy J. Taylor, Stephen N. Nameth, Chris Carlson, Joseph F. Boggs, Jane C. Martin, Dan Balser and David Madison -- Weed problems in Ohio landscapes and nurseries: 1997 / Gary Y. Gao, Joseph F. Boggs, Pamela J. Bennett, Jane C. Martin, Mary Ann Rose, Joseph W. Rimelspach, Randall H. Zondag and William E. Pound -- Wildlife problems in Ohio landscapes: 1997 / Gary Y. Gao, Joseph F. Boggs, Jane C. Martin, Charles T. Behnke and James A. Chatfield -- Summary of turf cultural and disease problems in 1997 / Gary Y. Gao, Joseph F. Boggs, Pamela J. Bennett, Jane C. Martin, Joseph W. Rimelspach and James A. Chatfield -- Master Gardeners serve Ohio / Marianne Riofrio -- The greening of Poland's nurseries / Kenneth D. Cochran and Wojtek Grabczewski -- The marketing potential of Ginkgo biloba in the United States / Kenneth D. Cochran -- Composts in the Landscape: Effects on Soil pH and plant growth / Mary Ann Rose and Hao Wang -- How to optimize disease control using composts / Harry A. J. Hoitink, Wei-Zheng Zhang, David Y. Han, Alexandra G. Stone, Matthew S. Krause and Warren A. Dick -- The flowering sequence of ornamental plants as a tool for predicting the phenology of insect pests / Daniel A. Herms -- Reducing maintenance costs may mean selecting plants with the fewest flaws / T. Davis Sydnor-- Comprehensive aesthetic evaluations of crabapples at Secrest Arboretum in Wooster: 1993-1997 / Erik A. Draper, James A. Chatfield, Kenneth D. Cochran, Peter W. Bristol and David E. Allen -- Precision control of microirrigation for container-grown mini-roses / Robert C. Hansen, Ted H. Short, C. C. Pasian and R. Peter Fynn -- Red thread (Laetisaria fuciformis) control study on perennial ryegrass / Joseph W. Rimelspach, Kerry Kline, Karl Danneberger and Michael Boehm-- Red thread (Laetisaria fuciformis) control study on Kentucky bluegrass / Joseph W. Rimelspach, Kerry Kline, Karl Danneberger and Michael Boehm -- Red thread - from novelty to nuisance / Joseph W. Rimelspach -- Chrysanthemum cultivars differ in response to photoperiod when grown under far-red absorbing filters / M. J. McMahon -- Improving fuchsia cutting performance by grafting / D. M. Napier and M. J. McMahon -- Paint/paclobutrazol mix on the inside surface of rooting wedge cells to control poinsettia cutting height / Claudio C. Pasian -- Response of poinsettias to paclobutrazol in paint applications / Claudio C. Pasian and Daniel K. Struve -- Dynamic transpiration of highly stressed container-grown Acer rubrum / Ted H. Short, Ahmet Irvem and Robert C. Hansen -- Effects of temperature on the development of Asiatic Lilies / J. Steininger and C. C. Pasian-- New publications for 1997-199

Gravitational Waves From Known Pulsars: Results From The Initial Detector Era

We present the results of searches for gravitational waves from a large selection of pulsars using data from the most recent science runs (S6, VSR2 and VSR4) of the initial generation of interferometric gravitational wave detectors LIGO (Laser Interferometric Gravitational-wave Observatory) and Virgo. We do not see evidence for gravitational wave emission from any of the targeted sources but produce upper limits on the emission amplitude. We highlight the results from seven young pulsars with large spin-down luminosities. We reach within a factor of five of the canonical spin-down limit for all seven of these, whilst for the Crab and Vela pulsars we further surpass their spin-down limits. We present new or updated limits for 172 other pulsars (including both young and millisecond pulsars). Now that the detectors are undergoing major upgrades, and, for completeness, we bring together all of the most up-to-date results from all pulsars searched for during the operations of the first-generation LIGO, Virgo and GEO600 detectors. This gives a total of 195 pulsars including the most recent results described in this paper.United States National Science FoundationScience and Technology Facilities Council of the United KingdomMax-Planck-SocietyState of Niedersachsen/GermanyAustralian Research CouncilInternational Science Linkages program of the Commonwealth of AustraliaCouncil of Scientific and Industrial Research of IndiaIstituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare of ItalySpanish Ministerio de Economia y CompetitividadConselleria d'Economia Hisenda i Innovacio of the Govern de les Illes BalearsNetherlands Organisation for Scientific ResearchPolish Ministry of Science and Higher EducationFOCUS Programme of Foundation for Polish ScienceRoyal SocietyScottish Funding CouncilScottish Universities Physics AllianceNational Aeronautics and Space AdministrationOTKA of HungaryLyon Institute of Origins (LIO)National Research Foundation of KoreaIndustry CanadaProvince of Ontario through the Ministry of Economic Development and InnovationNational Science and Engineering Research Council CanadaCarnegie TrustLeverhulme TrustDavid and Lucile Packard FoundationResearch CorporationAlfred P. Sloan FoundationAstronom

Search for gravitational waves associated with the InterPlanetary Network short gamma ray bursts

We outline the scientific motivation behind a search for gravitational waves associated with short gamma ray bursts detected by the InterPlanetary Network (IPN) during LIGO's fifth science run and Virgo's first science run. The IPN localisation of short gamma ray bursts is limited to extended error boxes of different shapes and sizes and a search on these error boxes poses a series of challenges for data analysis. We will discuss these challenges and outline the methods to optimise the search over these error boxes.Comment: Methods paper; Proceedings for Eduardo Amaldi 9 Conference on Gravitational Waves, July 2011, Cardiff, U

Swift follow-up observations of candidate gravitational-wave transient events

We present the first multi-wavelength follow-up observations of two candidate gravitational-wave (GW) transient events recorded by LIGO and Virgo in their 2009-2010 science run. The events were selected with low latency by the network of GW detectors and their candidate sky locations were observed by the Swift observatory. Image transient detection was used to analyze the collected electromagnetic data, which were found to be consistent with background. Off-line analysis of the GW data alone has also established that the selected GW events show no evidence of an astrophysical origin; one of them is consistent with background and the other one was a test, part of a "blind injection challenge". With this work we demonstrate the feasibility of rapid follow-ups of GW transients and establish the sensitivity improvement joint electromagnetic and GW observations could bring. This is a first step toward an electromagnetic follow-up program in the regime of routine detections with the advanced GW instruments expected within this decade. In that regime multi-wavelength observations will play a significant role in completing the astrophysical identification of GW sources. We present the methods and results from this first combined analysis and discuss its implications in terms of sensitivity for the present and future instruments.Comment: Submitted for publication 2012 May 25, accepted 2012 October 25, published 2012 November 21, in ApJS, 203, 28 ( http://stacks.iop.org/0067-0049/203/28 ); 14 pages, 3 figures, 6 tables; LIGO-P1100038; Science summary at http://www.ligo.org/science/Publication-S6LVSwift/index.php ; Public access area to figures, tables at https://dcc.ligo.org/cgi-bin/DocDB/ShowDocument?docid=p110003

A First Search for coincident Gravitational Waves and High Energy Neutrinos using LIGO, Virgo and ANTARES data from 2007

We present the results of the first search for gravitational wave bursts associated with high energy neutrinos. Together, these messengers could reveal new, hidden sources that are not observed by conventional photon astronomy, particularly at high energy. Our search uses neutrinos detected by the underwater neutrino telescope ANTARES in its 5 line configuration during the period January - September 2007, which coincided with the fifth and first science runs of LIGO and Virgo, respectively. The LIGO-Virgo data were analysed for candidate gravitational-wave signals coincident in time and direction with the neutrino events. No significant coincident events were observed. We place limits on the density of joint high energy neutrino - gravitational wave emission events in the local universe, and compare them with densities of merger and core-collapse events.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures, science summary page at http://www.ligo.org/science/Publication-S5LV_ANTARES/index.php. Public access area to figures, tables at https://dcc.ligo.org/cgi-bin/DocDB/ShowDocument?docid=p120000