Perceived Believability of Televised Green Advertising

Consumers are typically skeptical and cynical of advertising claims for products and generally disbelieve most advertised information. Believability of advertisers’ claims is crucial for consumer adoption of products, but consumers’ environmental imagination should be assessed to enhance believability of green marketing claims. Consumer belief in an advertised product is nearly essential to prompt the consumer to purchase. This paper examines the perceptions of consumers and their believability of specifically green versus non-green televised advertisements. The FTC considers not only a product in its rulings, but also the packaging, formulations and disposal of the product. Consumer belief of advertising relating demographic, psychographic, and behavioral variables plus product familiarity were analyzed. Findings contradict earlier research on advertising believability for other product categories. Significant predictors provide a contribution to the research such as political preference, television hours viewed, and marital status. Consumer familiarity with a product was found to be statistically significant

Studies on the use of supercritical ammonia for ceramic nitride synthesis and fabrication

The extractability of ammonia halides (including ammonium thiocyanate) formed as byproducts from the synthesis of Si(NH)2 via ammonolysis of the corresponding silicon tetrahalides using supercritical NH3 as the extraction medium was investigated. It was found that the NH4SCN byproduct of ammonolysis of Si(SCN)4 can be almost completely extracted from the insoluble Si(NH)2 forming a promising system for the synthesis of pure Si(NH)2, one of the best precursors for Si3N4. In addition it was found that Si3N4, AlN, BN, and Si(NH)2 are insoluble in SC ammonia. Also discussed are design considerations for a supercritical ammonia extraction unit

What is the best treatment for diabetic neuropathy?

Tricyclic antidepressants, anticonvulsants, and capsaicin reduce the pain of diabetic neuropathy; limited data suggests that lidocaine patches may also be efficacious. Both tricyclic antidepressants and anticonvulsants are superior to placebo in relieving painful diabetic neuropathy. Compared with placebo, patients taking tricyclic antidepressants report reduced pain (number needed to treat [NNT] for at least 50% reduction= 3.5) (strength of recommendation [SOR]: A). Similarly, patients taking anticonvulsants report reduced pain (NNT for at least 50% reduction in pain=2.7) (SOR: A)

Photocathode Quantum Efficiency of Ultra-Thin Cs2Te Layers On Nb Substrates

The quantum efficiencies (QE) of photocathodes consisting of bulk Nb substrates coated with thin films of Cs2Te are reported. Using the standard recipe for Cs2Te deposition developed for Mo substrates (220 {\AA} Te thickness), a QE ~11% - 13% at light wavelength of 248 nm is achieved for the Nb substrates, consistent with that found on Mo. Systematic reduction of the Te thickness for both Mo and Nb substrates reveals a surprisingly high residual QE ~ 6% for a Te layer as thin as 15 {\AA}. A phenomenological model based on the Spicer 3-Step model along with a solution of the Fresnel equations for reflectance, R, leads to a reasonable fit of the thickness dependence of QE and suggests that layers thinner than 15 {\AA} may still have a relatively high QE. Preliminary investigation suggests an increased operational lifetime as well. Such an ultra-thin, semiconducting Cs2Te layer may be expected to produce minimal ohmic losses for RF frequencies ~ 1 GHz. The result thus opens the door to the potential development of a Nb (or Nb3Sn) superconducting photocathode with relatively high QE and minimal RF impedance to be used in a superconducting radiofrequency (SRF) photoinjector.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figure

The Design of Early Childhood Teacher Education Programs: Australian Employer Perspectives with International Program Comparisons

Provision of quality early childhood education and care (ECEC) supports children’s learning with strong agreement that early childhood teachers (ECTs) are central to quality provision. In many countries, it is mandatory that ECEC services employ ECTs. However, Australian ECT employers report that early childhood graduates are not always well-prepared to work in ECEC settings. This may be because what constitutes optimal early childhood initial teacher education programs (EC ITE) is unclear. To investigate the design of EC ITE programs this research reports on (i) design of EC ITE programs across international contexts; and (ii) 19 Australian ECT employers’ perspectives on EC ITE program design. Findings indicate little consensus on the design of EC ITE programs, with inconsistencies across and within countries. Australian employers identified shortcomings in graduates knowledge. This research highlights recommendations to understand how programs prepare ECTs, by conducting research tracking preservice teachers from EC ITE programs into ECEC teaching

A Study of the Use of Power by Middle School and High School Principals and Its Relationship to Teacher Satisfaction With Work and With Principal

This study was undertaken to determine the power bases used by middle school and high school principals in the Baltimore city Public schools (BCPS), and how their use of power affects teachers' satisfaction with their work and their principal. The three research questions posed in this study were: 1. To what extent is there a correlation between teacher satisfaction with work and supervisor, and the teacher's perceived classification of his/her principal's use of power? 2. To what extent is there congruence between the principal's self-perception of his/her use of power and the teacher's perception of the principal's use of power? 3. Are there differences in the middle school and high school principals' uses of power based on their teachers' perceived classifications? The subjects for this study were middle school principals, middle school teachers, high school principals, and high school teachers in the BCPS. The middle school and high school principals completed the Power Perception Profile: Perception of Self (PPPS). The middle school and high school teachers completed the Power Perception Profile: Perception of Other (PPPO) and the Cornell Job Description Index (JDI). Of the 41 principals, 24 principals volunteered to participate. The middle school and high school tenured teachers numbered 922. Of the 922 tenured teachers, 387 tenured teachers returned the instrument. The seven power bases measured by the PPPS and the PPPO were (a) coercive power, (b) connection power, (c) information power, (d) expert power, (e) legitimate power, (f) referent power, and (g) reward power. The subtests used to measure the teachers' level of satisfaction were (a) Supervision, and (b) Work on Present Job. Based on the findings of this study, teacher dissatisfaction with principal or with work is associated with the principal's use of coercive power, connection power, and reward power. The principal's use of information power did not appear to affect teacher satisfaction with work or supervisor . The relationship between the principal's use of legitimate power and teacher satisfaction with work and supervisor was inconclusive. The principal 's use of expert power and referent power is associated with teacher satisfaction with work and with principal. In addition, the findings indicated that the middle school principals' perceptions of their uses of power were not congruent with their teachers' perceptions. The high school principals' perceptions of their uses of power were congruent with the high school teachers' perceptions, with the exception of connection power . An analysis of variance was done between the middle school teachers' ratings of the middle school principals' power styles and the high school teachers' ratings of the high school principals' power styles to determine if there were differences in the middle school and high school principals' uses of power. The results of the analyses indicated that the principals fell into three groups. The three groups were (a) positional power, (b) personal power, and (c) a combination of personal and positional power. The middle school principals used more positional power bases than personal power bases to induce compliance from or to influence their teachers. The high school principals used a combination of personal and positional power bases to induce compliance from or to influence their teachers. The findings from this study, based on the teachers' perceptions, indicate that middle school principals use (a) coercion, (b) their legitimate authority, and (c) the rewards that are available to them to induce compliance from or to influence their teachers. They use less referent power and expert power. The high school principals use more referent power and expert power than coercive power or reward power to induce compliance from or to influence their teachers