Display “Why” Higher than “How”: How Display Positioning Affects Construal Level

Prior research has shown that vertical position of an item is important in both an offline and an online digital context. However, findings in the digital context are inconsistent and atheoretical. Recent psychology research has observed that looking up vs. down can shift processing style (abstract vs. concrete) because looking up (down) tends to associate with observing distant (proximal) stimuli. Based on this insight, we propose that when looking at an object displayed on the top (bottom) of a webpage, users will process the object in a relatively abstract (concrete) way. Further, according to the fit hypothesis in the construal level theory, we propose that advertising with low-level (vs. high-level) construals will be more persuasive when it appears at the bottom (vs. on the top) of the webpage. An initial study has been conducted to examine our propositions. Two future studies using eye-tracking technology are proposed to provide more stringent evidence

INVESTIGATING CONSUMERS’ REDEMPTION RESPONSES THROUGH THE INTERPLAY BETWEEN MESSAGE FRAMING AND PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTANCE IN MOBILE ADVERTISEMENT DESIGN

On the one hand, the increasing digitalization of commerce has put local owner operated retail outlets (LOOROs) under pressure to adapt their business models to the new technological and competitive environment as well as to the changing shopping habits of their customers. On the other hand, it also offers potential competitive advantages for them. This paper investigates the retailers’ perception of the competition and their perception of customer expectations, combined with a survey of the current use of digitalized services and the LOOROs readiness to increase the usage of digitalized services. Our results confirm that the perception of competitive pressure and customer expectations has a positive influence on LOOROs’ readiness to adopt new technologies and business models. But a significant number of the surveyed retailers underestimate the expectations of their customers and are reluctant to add digital services to their business portfolio. While our key findings are relevant insights for all LOOROs on their journey towards digitalization, our findings provide even more significant insights for all digital service providers aiming to take a slice of the still substantial market shares of LOOROs in rural areas

How and When Review Length and Emotional Intensity Influence Review Helpfulness: Empirical Evidence from Epinions.com

Although longer reviews are generally considered more helpful, no research has investigated whether “the more the better” also applies to the expression of emotions. This paper explores the distinct effects of review length and emotional intensity. We propose that, in contrast to review length, the intensity of emotions has a negative effect on review helpfulness, and that this effect only applies to positive emotions. Additionally, drawing on elaboration likelihood model and the literature on the social functions of emotions, we predict that the respective effects of review length and emotional intensity are moderated by reviewer trustworthiness and the difficulty of reading review content. To test these hypotheses, we collected a rich data set from Epinions.com - a leading provider of consumer reviews. Our findings reveal the importance of taking the intensity of emotions into consideration when evaluating review helpfulness, and the results carry important practical implications

Polygenic Basis and Variable Genetic Architectures Contribute to the Complex Nature of Body Weight —A Genome-Wide Study in Four Chinese Indigenous Chicken Breeds

Body weight (BW) is one of the most important economic traits for animal production and breeding, and it has been studied extensively for its phenotype–genotype associations. While mapping studies have mostly aimed at finding as many loci as possible that contributed to the variation in BW, the role of other factors in its genetic architecture, including their frequencies in the population and their interactions, have been largely overlooked. To comprehensively characterized the genetic architecture of BW, we performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) both at the single-marker and haplotype level on birds from four indigenous Chinese chicken breeds (Chahua, Silkie, Langshan, and Beard), rather than studying crosses between two founder lines. Additionally, samples from two more breeds (Red Junglefowl and Recessive White) were included to better reflect variable genetic characteristics across populations. Six loci were mapped in this study, revealing the polygenic basis underlying BW. Moreover, by further examining the frequencies of the significantly associated haplotypes in each subpopulation and their effect sizes, most of the loci were found to affect BW in the Beard chicken breed alone. Two loci in GGA9 and GGA27, however, had a common effect on BW across subpopulations, showing that different underlying genetic mechanisms contribute to the phenotypic variability. These findings, particularly the variable genetic architectures found in different loci, improve our understanding of the overall genetic contributions to the large variability in BW among Chinese indigenous chicken breeds. These findings thus will have important implications for future chicken breeding

Effects of Qi-Fang-Xi-Bi-Granules on Cartilage Morphology and C/ebp α

Objective. To investigate the effects of Qi-Fang-Xi-Bi-Granules (QFXBGs) on cartilage morphology and methylation of C/ebpα (CCAAT/enhancer binding proteinα) at the promoter region. Methods. Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) modeling was performed in rats in accordance with Hulth’s method, and control group received sham operation. Eight weeks after KOA modeling, the rats in the KOA modeling group were further divided into 6 groups. Each group was given the appropriate drug. After 8 weeks, half of the rats were used for Micro-CT scan, HE staining, ABH/OG staining, immunohistochemistry, and TUNNEL staining of the knee joint tissue, and the other half were used to examine C/ebpα promoter methylation. Results. The three dose groups of QFXBGs all showed lower degrees of surface fissures and flaking, thicker cartilage layer, and restored chondrocyte and subchondral bone morphology, compared with the KOA model group. C/ebpα-22 promoter methylation levels in the high- and low-dose groups were significantly higher than that in the KOA modeling group (p<0.05), while C/ebpα-2 promoter methylation level in the medium-dose group was significantly higher than that in the KOA modeling group (p<0.05). Conclusions. QFXBGs may alleviate articular cartilage degeneration through promoting C/ebpα-2 or C/ebpα-22 methylation at specific promoter sites

A Simple Graphene NH₃ Gas Sensor via Laser Direct Writing.

Ammonia gas sensors are very essential in many industries and everyday life. However, their complicated fabrication process, severe environmental fabrication requirements and desorption of residual ammonia molecules result in high cost and hinder their market acceptance. Here, laser direct writing is used to fabricate three parallel porous 3D graphene lines on a polyimide (PI) tape to simply construct an ammonia gas sensor. The middle one works as an ammonia sensing element and the other two on both sides work as heaters to improve the desorption performance of the sensing element to ammonia gas molecules. The graphene lines were characterized by scanning electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy. The response and recovery time of the sensor without heating are 214 s and 222 s with a sensitivity of 0.087% ppm-1 for sensing 75 ppm ammonia gas, respectively. The experimental results prove that under the optimized heating temperature of about 70 °C the heaters successfully help implement complete desorption of residual NH₃ showing a good sensitivity and cyclic stability

IJTC2010-41127 SURFACE DAMAGE UNDER EXTREME CONDITIONS EXISTED IN AIRCRAFT BEARINGS

ABSTRACT The extreme conditions of aircraft bearing steel M50 have been simulated by a two-disk test rig for investigating the surface damage of the ball/raceway contact surfaces. The slide/roll ratio are 0.12 and 0.15, correspondingly, the rolling speed are 43.2m/s and 49.5m/s. Aircraft engine oil 4050 as the supplied oil has been maintained at approximately 80℃ in the tests. The ultimate Hertzian contact stresses of the surface damage obtained from the experiments are 3.8GPa in 0.12 slide/roll ratio and 3.5GPa in 0.15 slide/roll ratio. The damage mode is scuffing in 0.12 slide/roll ratio and it is oxidation, thermal fatigue and scuffing in 0.15 slide/roll ratio. Cracks in the contact areas originate from surface layer in the two slide/roll ratios. INTRODUCTION The bearings used in aircraft engines operate in extreme conditions such as high speed, heavy load and high temperature. The combination of speed, load, and temperature which exist in aircraft bearings will exceed the capability of conventional synthetic lubricants and materials. The contact surfaces of the parts always occur fatigue, scuffing and many other damage modes, these damages would result in severe wear and even catastrophe M50 steel is a main material used in aircraft bearings, its tribological behavior in extreme conditions is related to the reliability and life of bearings. Rolling contact fatigue experiments of M50 steel have shown that the orientation of surface micro-crack is related to the friction direction and asperity-scale micro-cracks as well as micro-spalls may evolve into macroscopic spalling under heavy load and rolling/sliding speed conditions The study simulated the extreme conditions of aircraft bearings, the ultimate parameters and the damage modes o