Emergency purchasing situations: implications for consumer decision-making

This article introduces the Emergency Purchasing Situation (EPS) as a distinct buying context. EPSs stem from an unexpected event (unanticipated need or timing of a need), as well as high product importance, which are associated with a short time frame for consumer decision-making. Our conceptual review integrates largely disconnected strands of research and theories relevant to EPSs and offers a series of independent propositions to understand how these situations might affect consumer decision-making, specifically heuristic versus reflective information processing in product evaluation. We discuss changes induced by the buying context in terms of regulatory focus, perceived time pressure, and stress. Our propositions further account for purchase involvement in the form of product importance, purchase risk, and product substitutability. Finally, we consider how individual differences (expertise and trust) may affect evaluation processes. Our discussion reflects on the implications of our model, avenues for future research, and how an understanding of EPSs can be used to improve managerial practice

Stimulus Complexity and Categorical Effects in Human Auditory Cortex: An Activation Likelihood Estimation Meta-Analysis

Investigations of the functional organization of human auditory cortex typically examine responses to different sound categories. An alternative approach is to characterize sounds with respect to their amount of variation in the time and frequency domains (i.e., spectral and temporal complexity). Although the vast majority of published studies examine contrasts between discrete sound categories, an alternative complexity-based taxonomy can be evaluated through meta-analysis. In a quantitative meta-analysis of 58 auditory neuroimaging studies, we examined the evidence supporting current models of functional specialization for auditory processing using grouping criteria based on either categories or spectro-temporal complexity. Consistent with current models, analyses based on typical sound categories revealed hierarchical auditory organization and left-lateralized responses to speech sounds, with high speech sensitivity in the left anterior superior temporal cortex. Classification of contrasts based on spectro-temporal complexity, on the other hand, revealed a striking within-hemisphere dissociation in which caudo-lateral temporal regions in auditory cortex showed greater sensitivity to spectral changes, while anterior superior temporal cortical areas were more sensitive to temporal variation, consistent with recent findings in animal models. The meta-analysis thus suggests that spectro-temporal acoustic complexity represents a useful alternative taxonomy to investigate the functional organization of human auditory cortex

Mechanisms of active laryngeal closure during non-invasive intermittent positive pressure ventilation in non-sedated lambs

The present study stems from our recent demonstration (Moreau-Bussiere F, Samson N, St-Hilaire M, Reix P, Lafond JR, Nsegbe E, Praud JP. J Appl Physiol 102: 2149-2157, 2007) that a progressive increase in nasal intermittent positive pressure ventilation (nIPPV) leads to active glottal closure in nonsedated, newborn lambs. The aim of the study was to determine whether the mechanisms involved in this glottal narrowing during nIPPV originate from upper airway receptors and/or from bronchopulmonary receptors. Two groups of newborn lambs were chronically instrumented for polysomnographic recording: the first group of five lambs underwent a two-step bilateral thoracic vagotomy using video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (bilateral vagotomy group), while the second group, composed of six lambs, underwent chronic laryngotracheal separation (isolated upper airway group). A few days later, polysomnographic recordings were performed to assess glottal muscle electromyography during step increases in nIPPV (volume control mode). Results show that active glottal narrowing does not develop when nIPPV is applied on the upper airways only, and that this narrowing is prevented by bilateral vagotomy when nIPPV is applied on intact airways. In conclusion, active glottal narrowing in response to increasing nIPPV originates from bronchopulmonary receptors

Origins of the inhibiting effects of nasal CPAP on non-nutritive swallowing in newborn lambs

The present study was aimed at investigating the principal reflex mechanism by which non-nutritive swallowing (NNS) is inhibited by application of a nasal CPAP 6 cm H2O during quiet sleep (QS) in newborn lambs. Eighteen full-term lambs were chronically instrumented and evenly distributed into 3 separate groups to sort out whether reflex activity originates from the upper or lower airway receptors. Six lambs were tracheotomized, six other lambs underwent a 2-step bilateral intrathoracic vagotomy while the remaining 6 lambs underwent chronic laryngo-tracheal separation (isolated upper airway group). Forty-eight hours after surgery, each nonsedated lamb underwent polysomnographic recordings on 3 consecutive days. States of alertness, NNS and respiratory movements were recorded. Results demonstrate that a CPAP of 6 cm H2O inhibited NNS during QS while administered directly on the lower airways. This NNS inhibition was prevented by eliminating the vagal afferent messages originating from the bronchopulmonary receptors. However, application of CPAP on the upper airways only also inhibited NNS during QS. Finally, the application of a CPAP 6 cm H2O had no systematic effect on NNS-breathing coordination. In conclusion, our results suggest that the inhibiting effect of nasal CPAP 6 cm H2O on NNS is mainly mediated by bronchopulmonary receptors with some participation however of upper airway receptors. Our demonstration that spontaneous, non-nutritive swallowing can be modulated by bronchopulmonary receptor activity further illustrates the physiological interactions between upper and lower airways

Atmospheric convection and air-sea interactions over the tropical oceans: scientific progress, challenges, and opportunities

© The Author(s), 2020. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Hagos, S., Foltz, G. R., Zhang, C., Thompson, E., Seo, H., Chen, S., Capotondi, A., Reed, K. A., DeMott, C., & Protat, A. Atmospheric convection and air-sea interactions over the tropical oceans: scientific progress, challenges, and opportunities. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 101(3), (2020): E253-E258, doi:10.1175/BAMS-D-19-0261.1.Over the past 30 years, the scientific community has made considerable progress in understanding and predicting tropical convection and air–sea interactions, thanks to sustained investments in extensive in situ and remote sensing observations, targeted field experiments, advances in numerical modeling, and vastly improved computational resources and observing technologies. Those investments would not have been fruitful as isolated advancements without the collaborative effort of the atmospheric convection and air–sea interaction research communities. In this spirit, a U.S.- and International CLIVAR–sponsored workshop on “Atmospheric convection and air–sea interactions over the tropical oceans” was held in the spring of 2019 in Boulder, Colorado. The 90 participants were observational and modeling experts from the atmospheric convection and air–sea interactions communities with varying degrees of experience, from early-career researchers and students to senior scientists. The presentations and discussions covered processes over the broad range of spatiotemporal scales (Fig. 1).The workshop was sponsored by the United States and International CLIVAR. Funding was provided by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Naval Research, NOAA, NSF, and the World Climate Research Programme. We thank Mike Patterson, Jennie Zhu, and Jeff Becker from the U.S. CLIVAR Project Office for coordinating the workshop

Exploration of plant genomes in the FLAGdb++ environment

Background : In the contexts of genomics, post-genomics and systems biology approaches, data integration presents a major concern. Databases provide crucial solutions: they store, organize and allow information to be queried, they enhance the visibility of newly produced data by comparing them with previously published results, and facilitate the exploration and development of both existing hypotheses and new ideas. Results : The FLAGdb++ information system was developed with the aim of using whole plant genomes as physical references in order to gather and merge available genomic data from in silico or experimental approaches. Available through a JAVA application, original interfaces and tools assist the functional study of plant genes by considering them in their specific context: chromosome, gene family, orthology group, co-expression cluster and functional network. FLAGdb++ is mainly dedicated to the exploration of large gene groups in order to decipher functional connections, to highlight shared or specific structural or functional features, and to facilitate translational tasks between plant species (Arabidopsis thaliana, Oryza sativa, Populus trichocarpa and Vitis vinifera). Conclusion : Combining original data with the output of experts and graphical displays that differ from classical plant genome browsers, FLAGdb++ presents a powerful complementary tool for exploring plant genomes and exploiting structural and functional resources, without the need for computer programming knowledge. First launched in 2002, a 15th version of FLAGdb++ is now available and comprises four model plant genomes and over eight million genomic features

A machine learning assisted development of a model for the populations of convective and stratiform clouds

Traditional parameterizations of the interaction between convection and the environment have relied on an assumption that the slowly-varying large-scale environment is in statistical equilibrium with a large number of small and short-lived convective clouds. They fail to capture non-equilibrium transitions such as the diurnal cycle and theformation of meso-scale convective systems as well asobserved precipitation statisticsand extremes. Informed by analysis of radar observations, cloud-permitting model simulation, theory and machine learning, this work presents a new stochastic cloud population dynamics model for characterizing the interactions between convective and stratiform clouds,with the ultimate goal of informing the representation ofthese interactions in global climate models. 15 wet seasons of precipitating cloud observations by a C-band radar at Darwin, Australia are fed into a machine learning algorithm to obtain transition functions that close a set of coupled equation relating large-scale forcing, mass flux, the convective cell size distribution and the stratiform area. Under realistic large-scale forcing, the derived transition functions show that, on the one hand, interactions with stratiform clouds act to dampen the variability in the size and number of convective cells and therefore in the convective mass flux. On the other hand, for a given convective area fraction, a larger number of smaller cells is more favorable for the growth of stratiform area than a smaller number of larger cells. The combination of these two factors gives rise to solutions with a number of convective cells embedded in a large stratiform area, reminiscent of mesoscale convective systems

Anxiety, concerns and COVID-19: Cross-country perspectives from families and individuals with neurodevelopmental conditions

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic had a major impact on the mental health and well-being of children with neurodevelopmental conditions (NDCs) and of their families worldwide. However, there is insufficient evidence to understand how different factors (e.g., individual, family, country, children) have impacted on anxiety levels of families and their children with NDCs developed over time. METHODS: We used data from a global survey assessing the experience of 8043 families and their children with NDCs (mean of age (m) = 13.18 years, 37% female) and their typically developing siblings (m = 12.9 years, 45% female) in combination with data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, the University of Oxford, and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) World Factbook, to create a multilevel data set. Using stepwise multilevel modelling, we generated child-, family- and country-related factors that may have contributed to the anxiety levels of children with NDCs, their siblings if they had any, and their parents. All data were reported by parents. RESULTS: Our results suggest that parental anxiety was best explained by family-related factors such as concerns about COVID-19 and illness. Children’s anxiety was best explained by child-related factors such as children’s concerns about loss of routine, family conflict, and safety in general, as well as concerns about COVID-19. In addition, anxiety levels were linked to the presence of pre-existing anxiety conditions for both children with NDCs and their parents. CONCLUSIONS: The present study shows that across the globe there was a raise in anxiety levels for both parents and their children with NDCs because of COVID-19 and that country-level factors had little or no impact on explaining differences in this increase, once family and child factors were considered. Our findings also highlight that certain groups of children with NDCs were at higher risk for anxiety than others and had specific concerns. Together, these results show that anxiety of families and their children with NDCs during the COVID-19 pandemic were predicted by very specific concerns and worries which inform the development of future toolkits and policy. Future studies should investigate how country factors can play a protective role during future crises

Quorum Sensing Signaling Molecules Produced by Reference and Emerging Soft-Rot Bacteria (Dickeya and Pectobacterium spp.)

International audienceBACKGROUND: Several small diffusible molecules are involved in bacterial quorum sensing and virulence. The production of autoinducers-1 and -2, quinolone, indole and γ-amino butyrate signaling molecules was investigated in a set of soft-rot bacteria belonging to six Dickeya or Pectobacterium species including recent or emerging potato isolates. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Using bacterial biosensors, immunoassay, and chromatographic analysis, we showed that soft-rot bacteria have the common ability to produce transiently during their exponential phase of growth the N-3-oxo-hexanoyl- or the N-3-oxo-octanoyl-l-homoserine lactones and a molecule of the autoinducer-2 family. Dickeya spp. produced in addition the indole-3-acetic acid in tryptophan-rich conditions. All these signaling molecules have been identified for the first time in the novel Dickeya solani species. In contrast, quinolone and γ-amino butyrate signals were not identified and the corresponding synthases are not present in the available genomes of soft-rot bacteria. To determine if the variations of signal production according to growth phase could result from expression modifications of the corresponding synthase gene, the respective mRNA levels were estimated by reverse transcriptase-PCR. While the N-acyl-homoserine lactone production is systematically correlated to the synthase expression, that of the autoinducer-2 follows the expression of an enzyme upstream in the activated methyl cycle and providing its precursor, rather than the expression of its own synthase. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Despite sharing the S-adenosylmethionine precursor, no strong link was detected between the production kinetics or metabolic pathways of autoinducers-1 and -2. In contrast, the signaling pathway of autoinducer-2 seems to be switched off by the indole-3-acetic acid pathway under tryptophan control. It therefore appears that the two genera of soft-rot bacteria have similarities but also differences in the mechanisms of communication via the diffusible molecules. Our results designate autoinducer-1 lactones as the main targets for a global biocontrol of soft-rot bacteria communications, including those of emerging isolates