Customer participation in the customization of services: Effects on satisfaction and behavioral intentions

Customers' evaluation of the service process has important implications for service providers. However, research on customer participation at the specification stage of a customization process and its effects on the evaluation of the process and service outcome is still scarce. This paper analyzes the effect of customer participation in a scenario experiment with two measurement points in which customers and salespeople collectively customize a service offering according to customers' needs. We find that customer participation has a positive impact on satisfaction and behavioral intentions irrespective of the actual service outcome. Even for negative service experiences, participating customers are significantly more satisfied than customers who played a rather passive role at the specification stage of the service process

On the sunk-cost effect in economic decision-making: A meta-analytic review

Although the effect of monetary sunk costs on decision-making is widely discussed, research is still fragmented, and results are sometimes controversial. One reason for this incomplete picture is the missing differentiation between the effect of sunk costs on utilization and progress decisions and its respective moderators. This article presents the results of a meta-analytic review of 98 effect sizes of the sunk-cost effect, with special emphasis on the decision-specific influence of moderators. The results show clear evidence that the sunk-cost effect emerges, though its effect size and the influence of the moderators are contingent on the respective decision type. In particular, we find support for the idea that the sunkcost effect is attenuated by time in utilization decisions. The results also reveal that older adults are less likely to fall prey to the sunk-cost effect than younger adults

Latest clinical recommendations on valproate use for migraine prophylaxis in women of childbearing age. Overview from European Medicines Agency and European Headache Federation

Migraine is a common and burdensome neurological condition which affects mainly female patients during their childbearing years. Valproate has been widely used for the prophylaxis of migraine attacks and is also included in the main European Guidelines. Previous (2014) European recommendations on limiting the use of valproate in women of childbearing age did not achieve their objective in terms of limiting the use of valproate in women of childbearing age and raising awareness regarding the hazardous effect of valproate to children exposed in utero. The teratogenic and foetotoxic effects of valproate are well documented, and more recent studies show that there is an even greater neurodevelopmental risk to children exposed to valproate in the womb. The latest 2018 European review from the European Medicines Agency, with the active participation of the European Headache Federation, concluded that not enough has been done to mitigate the risks associated with in utero exposure to valproate. The review called for more extensive restrictions to the conditions for prescribing, better public awareness, and a more effective education campaign in migrainous women

Worse sleep, worsening post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD): Poor sleep quality associated with increases in PTSD symptoms amongst those experiencing high threat of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is a global health crisis with the potential to elicit and worsen psychiatric symptoms, particularly post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. Identifying modifiable protective factors is critical for preventing and treating PTSD symptoms both during and following the COVID-19 pandemic. The present study examined associations of self-reported sleep quality and anticipatory threat appraisals of the pandemic with PTSD symptoms 6 months later in a sample enriched for pre-pandemic trauma exposure and PTSD. The sample included 590 adults (mean age 38.2 years) who completed a baseline survey in August/September 2020 and follow-up survey in March/April 2021. The sample was recruited from a pool of participants interested in a prior study about traumatic stress. Participants self-reported sleep quality and pandemic-related anticipatory threat appraisals at baseline. PTSD symptoms were assessed at baseline and follow-up. Baseline sleep quality was associated with PTSD symptoms at follow-up controlling for baseline PTSD symptoms (B = -2.49, p = 0.001). Perceived anticipatory threat of the pandemic moderated this association such that worse sleep quality was related to more severe PTSD symptoms at follow-up for participants with higher (B = -4.07, p < 0.001) but not lower (B = -0.43, p = 0.679) anticipatory threat about the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings suggest that poor sleep quality may enhance vulnerability to later PTSD symptoms during the pandemic, particularly among those individuals who perceived the pandemic as threatening for their future. Treatments that address sleep problems may be beneficial for reducing trauma-related symptoms during and following the global health crisis

Benchmarking Fast-to-Alfv\'en Mode Conversion in a Cold MHD Plasma. II. How to get Alfv\'en waves through the Solar Transition Region

Alfv\'en waves may be difficult to excite at the photosphere due to low ionization fraction and suffer near-total reflection at the transition region (TR). Yet they are ubiquitous in the corona and heliosphere. To overcome these difficulties, we show that they may instead be generated high in the chromosphere by conversion from reflecting fast magnetohydrodynamic waves, and that Alfv\'enic transition region reflection is greatly reduced if the fast reflection point is within a few scale heights of the TR. The influence of mode conversion on the phase of the reflected fast wave is also explored. This phase can potentially be misinterpreted as a travel speed perturbation, with implications for the practical seismic probing of active regions.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures, accepted by ApJ 17 March 201

Towards sustainable water disinfection with peracetic acid in aquaculture: A review

eracetic acid (PAA) has a long history as an efficacious and eco-friendly disinfectant. It was first synthesised in 1902, and since then a wide range of applications has been developed in various industries. Aquaculture is a more recent industry wherein the potential of PAA is significant. As the global demand for sustainable development increases, there has likewise been growing interest in using PAA in aquaculture as an alternative to less environmentally friendly practices. PAA has no carcinogenic risk to humans (unlike formalin), has negligible harmful by-products (unlike chlorine-based disinfectants) and with appropriate precautions, the risks of causing severe human health damage is easier to control than ozone. Fish show strong physiological recovery and adaptation to PAA, whereas susceptible life stages of pathogens are highly vulnerable, enabling a safe and efficacious disinfection of the entire culture water and not the flow-restricted disinfection by such processes as ultraviolet radiation or ozone. The effective concentration of PAA against many fish pathogens is usually below 2 mg L−1, which is tolerable for most fish, and it has very low environmental risk due to rapid degradation. However, such degradation and the hydrodynamics in production-scale aquaculture systems complicate the practical use of PAA. In this review, we summarise key results of safe concentrations of PAA and its effectiveness specifically for fish farmers. We also outline major difficulties and possible solutions for practical uses of PAA. We intend to bring global attention to this compound and inspire future possibilities for its sustainable use as a water disinfectant in aquaculture.Towards sustainable water disinfection with peracetic acid in aquaculture: A reviewpublishedVersio