The effect of print product presentation on consumer’s responses through mental imagery

This paper explores the effectiveness of a specific choice of iconic and verbal stimuli within print advertising to evoke mental imagery. This research aims to further investigate how the evoked imagery influences positive emotions and attitude towards both the advertisement and the brand. We explore how these positive emotions mediate the relationship between mental imagery and subsequent attitudinal responses. Experimental design is employed to examine the effects of imagery-evoking strategies among 340 university students. Structural equation modelling along with the ANOVA and Sobel’s test were used in order to investigate the proposed hypotheses. The study’s findings indicated that the most effective combination involves an ad containing a staged product image and textual content included instructions to imagine. This combination led to a significant enhancement across all three dimensions of mental imagery: quantity, vividness and elaboration. The findings supported the significant influence of mental imagery in engendering positive emotions and generating favorable attitudes towards the advertised products. Furthermore, the study revealed that positive emotions mediate the relationship between mental imagery and attitude. Keywords: mental imagery, product presentation, advertising, positive emotion, attitude DOI: 10.7176/JMCR/90-08 Publication date:October 31st 202

Evaluation of hydrocarbon contaminants in olives and virgin olive oils from Tunisia

The present paper investigated on the presence of some hydrocarbon contaminants, namely polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), mineral oil hydrocarbons (MOH) comprising saturated (MOSH) and aromatic (MOAH) compounds, and polyolefin oligomeric saturated hydrocarbons (POSH) in olives and extra virgin olive oils from Tunisia. Olive fruits were collected in sites exposed to different environmental contamination, and the oil extracted both by physical mean (using an Abencor extractor) and with solvent (using microwave assisted extraction, MAE). Analytical determination was performed by SPE cleanup on silica cartridge followed by spectrofluorometric detection, for PAH, and on-line HPLC-GC-FID for MOH and POSH. Oils extracted from olives by physical mean, as well as extra virgin olive oils from the market, had PAH levels never exceeding the EU legal limits. All olive samples showed similar MOSH profiles, but not clear correlation between the variable contamination levels and considered sources of contamination, was evidenced. The average MOSH content in oil extracted from olives by solvent (11.1 mg/kg) was about four time higher than in oil extracted by physical mean (2.6 mg/kg). MOSH in extra virgin oil from the market ranged from 10.3 to 38.0 mg/kg, while MOAH were not detected. The higher MOSH levels found in oils from the market evidenced an important contribution due to oil processing and/or packaging. Two of the samples were clearly contaminated with polyolefin oligomeric hydrocarbons (POSH) migrated from the plastic cap

How the Addition of Spices and Herbs to Virgin Olive Oil to Produce Flavored Oils Affects Consumer Acceptance.

With the aim to expand the olive oil market to a larger number of consumers who are not familiar with the sensory characteristics of virgin olive oil, the use of novel products known as "flavored olive oils", obtained by adding different kind of spices and aromatic herbs, is spreading in many countries. In order to test consumer acceptability of this type of product, in a country (Tunisia) in which virgin olive oil is regularly consumed, flavored olive oils were prepared by adding aromatic extracts of thyme, oregano, a mix of herbs (used as pizza seasoning), rosemary, and basil to a monovarietal Chemlali virgin olive oil and a consumer test on 206 subjects was performed. Selected quality parameters (free acidity, peroxide number, oxidative stability, specific absorption at K232 nm and K270 nm) were also measured and no significant variations were detected. Slight differences were found concerning the content of minor compounds (chlorophylls, carotenoids and total phenols). On the other hand, notable differences were seen in the profiles of volatile compounds, which appeared to be responsible for the observed variability in consumer acceptance. Although the unflavored oil was more appreciated than the flavored ones, among the latter, thyme flavored olive oil was the most appreciated

Institutional investors’ role in diversifying orientation decision across Tunisian companies

The present work’s major objective consists in examining the impact of institutional investors’ presence on corporate diversification decision. For this sake, a theoretical framework based on the corporate governance contractual approach has been advanced highlighting the idea that the presence of institutional enjoys a diversification-oriented strategic decision. For this purpose, a model is used and applied to Tunisian firms’ sample observed over the period 2011–2013. In fact, the study maintains that the presence of institutional investors helps in directly influencing corporate strategic decisions. The reached results, conducted on a sample of 111 Tunisian commercial companies and service-providing firms, appear to reveal the persistence of a significant impact of the institutional investors on diversification decision

Impaired binding of standard initiation factors eIF3b, eIF4G and eIF4B to domain V of the live-attenuated coxsackievirus B3 Sabin3-like IRES - alternatives for 5′UTR-related cardiovirulence mechanisms

ABSTRACT: Internal ribosome entry site (IRES) elements fold into highly organized conserved secondary and probably tertiary structures that guide the ribosome to an internal site of the RNA at the IRES 3′end. The composition of the cellular proteome is under the control of multiple processes, one of the most important being translation initiation. In each poliovirus Sabin vaccine strain, a single point mutation in the IRES secondary-structure domain V is a major determinant of neurovirulence and translation attenuation. Here we are extrapolating poliovirus findings to a genomic related virus named coxsackievirus B3 CVB3); a causative agent of viral myocarditis. We have previously reported that Sabin3-like mutation (U(473) → C) introduced in the domain V sequence of the CVB3 IRES led to a defective mutant with a serious reduction in translation efficiency and ribosomal initiation complex assembly, besides an impaired RNA-protein binding pattern. With the aim to identify proteins interacting with both CVB3 wild-type and Sabin3-like domain V RNAs and to assess the effect of the Sabin3-like mutation on these potential interactions, we have used a proteomic approach. This procedure allowed the identification of three RNA-binding proteins interacting with the domain V: eIF4G (p220), eIF3b (p116) and eIF4B (p80). Moreover, we report that this single-nucleotide exchange impairs the interaction pattern and the binding affinity of these standard translation initiation factors within the IRES domain V of the mutant strain. Taken together, these data indicate how this decisive Sabin3-like mutation mediates viral translation attenuation; playing a key role in the understanding of the cardiovirulence attenuation within this construct. Hence, these data provide further evidence for the crucial role of RNA structure for the IRES activity, and reinforce the idea of a distribution of function between the different IRES structural domains. VIRTUAL SLIDE: The virtual slide(s) for this article can be found here: http://www.diagnosticpathology.diagnomx.eu/vs/6160165131045880

Molecular Analysis of RNA-RNA Interactions between 5’ and 3’ Untranslated Regions during the Initiation of Translation of a Cardiovirulent and a Live-Attenuated Coxsackievirus B3 Strains

Coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3) is a causative agent of viral myocarditis, meningitis and pancreatitis. CVB3 overcome their host cells by usurping the translation machinery to benefit viral gene expression. This is accomplished through alternative translation initiation in a cap independent manner at the viral internal ribosomal entry site. The 5’ untranslated region (5’UTR) of CVB3 genomic RNA is highly structured. It is the site of multiple RNA-protein and RNA-RNA interactions and it plays a critical role during translation initiation. Similar to the 5’UTR, CVB3 3’ untranslated region (3’UTR) also contains secondary structural elements consisting of three stem-loops followed by a poly (A) tail sequence. Long-range RNA-RNA interactions between 5’ and 3’ ends of some viral genomes have been observed. Because of their dual role in translation and replication, the 5’ and 3’UTRs represent promising candidates for the study of CVB3 cardiovirulence. Taking into account that efficient initiation of mRNA translation depends on a temporally and spatially orchestrated sequence of protein-protein, protein-RNA and RNA-RNA interactions, and that, at present, little is known about RNA-RNA interactions between CVB3 5’ and 3’UTRs, we aimed in the present study, to assess a possible RNA-RNA interaction between 5’ and 3’UTRs during the initiation of translation of a wild-type and a previously characterized mutant (Sabin3-like) CVB3 strains and to investigate the effect of the Sabin3-like mutation on these potential interactions. For this purpose, “Electrophoretic Mobility Shift” assays were carried out. Data obtained did not show any RNA-RNA direct interactions between the 5’- and 3’- ends. Therefore, we can suggest that the possible mechanism by which 3’UTR enhances CVB3 IRES activity may be by bridging the 5’ to the 3’ end through RNA-protein interaction and not through RNA-RNA direct contact. However, these findings need to be confirmed by carrying out further experiments

La filière huile d’olive en Tunisie

L’olivier a façonné, au fil des millénaires, les paysages, l’histoire, la culture et la gastronomie du bassin méditerranéen qui est encore aujourd’hui le cœur productif et commercial de l’huile d’olive. La Tunisie est le pays oléicole le plus important du Sud de la Méditerranée. Si l’on exclut l’Union européenne, la Tunisie est la plus grande puissance mondiale dans le secteur de l’huile d’olive, déployant de grands efforts de restructuration, de modernisation et d’amélioration de la qualité de ses huiles, accompagnés d’une considérable expansion de surfaces. L’enjeu sera pour la Tunisie d’assurer un ajustement permanent de sa politique oléicole et d’élaborer et mettre en œuvre des stratégies concurrentielles lui permettant de profiter de ces nouvelles opportunités et de renforcer sa compétitivité. La présente étude, qui s’insère dans le cadre de cette préoccupation, a pour objectif d’affiner cette connaissance. Elle se propose d’étudier la filière huile d’olive tunisienne et les possibilités d’amélioration de ses performances