The role of product newness in activating consumer regulatory goals

This paper examines the role that product newness plays in activating consumer regulatory goals. We propose that these fundamental goals may not only be endogenously triggered in the new product evaluation context, but also will be determined by the type of product innovation, as gauged by the extent to which it is an incremental (INP) or really new product (RNP). More specifically, ad exposure to an INP (RNP) may spontaneously trigger a promotion (prevention) goal (Study 1). Further, we show that consumer perception of the cost to buy the product (whether the price was perceived to be high or low) moderates the relation between the RNP and activated regulatory goal. When consumers perceive the price of the RNP to be high (low), a prevention (promotion) goal is activated. However, the moderating effect of price is not found in the case of goal activation by the INP. In addition, we show that the situational regulatory focus induced mediates the effect of the interaction of price and product newness on purchase intention (Study 2)

Distributed Training Large-Scale Deep Architectures

Scale of data and scale of computation infrastructures together enable the current deep learning renaissance. However, training large-scale deep architectures demands both algorithmic improvement and careful system configuration. In this paper, we focus on employing the system approach to speed up large-scale training. Via lessons learned from our routine benchmarking effort, we first identify bottlenecks and overheads that hinter data parallelism. We then devise guidelines that help practitioners to configure an effective system and fine-tune parameters to achieve desired speedup. Specifically, we develop a procedure for setting minibatch size and choosing computation algorithms. We also derive lemmas for determining the quantity of key components such as the number of GPUs and parameter servers. Experiments and examples show that these guidelines help effectively speed up large-scale deep learning training

Risk Analysis of Cargos Damages for Aquatic Products of Refrigerated Containers: Shipping Operators’ Perspective in Taiwan

As the development of refrigerated container, transportation of aquatic products is growing rapidly in recent years. It is very important to avoid cargos damages for aquatic products of refrigerated containers, while the shipping operators are running this scope of business. Hence, the risk issue of adopting various improvement strategies would be important for the container shipping operators. In the light of this, the main purpose of this paper is to analyze the risks of cargos damages for aquatic products of refrigerated containers based on the container shipping operators’ perspective in Taiwan. We use four risk assessment procedures - risk identification, risk analysis and evaluation, risk strategies, and risk treatment - as the research method in this paper. The risk factors are generated from literature review and experts interviewing. Then, three dimensions with nineteen risk factors are preliminary identified. We used these risk factors to proceed with the empirical study via questionnaires. Three points of empirical results are presented. At first, the top factor of perceived risk as well as of risk severity is ‘container data setting errors.’ Secondly, the top factor of risk frequency is ‘lack of the goods’ pre-cooling themselves.’ Thirdly, three risk factors are classified into the low-risk area, whereas sixteen risk factors are placed on the medium-risk area. There is no risk factor fix on the high-risk area. Furthermore, three risk strategies - risk prevention, risk reduction, and risk transfer - are suggested to adopt by different risk factors

In vitro ruminal fermentation and cow-to-mouse fecal transplantations verify the inter-relationship of microbiome and metabolome biomarkers: potential to promote health in dairy cows

IntroductionThere are differences in the gut microbiome and metabolome when the host undergoes different physical or pathological conditions. However, the inter-relationship of microbiome and metabolome biomarkers to potentially promote the health of dairy cows needs to be studied. Further, the development of next-generation probiotics for dairy cattle health promotion has not been demonstrated.ObjectiveIn the present study, we identified the microbiome and metabolome biomarkers associated with healthy cows.MethodsWe analyzed the relationships of the ruminal microorganism profile and metabolites between healthy and mastitis lactating dairy cows. The roles of bacterial biomarker were further verified by in vitro fermentation and cow-to-mouse fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT).ResultsTwo species, Ruminococcus flavefaciens and Bifidobacterium longum subsp. longum, and six rumen metabolites were positively correlated with healthy cows by Spearman’s correlation analysis. Through in vitro ruminal fermentation, inoculating R. flavefaciens and B. longum subsp. longum showed the upregulation of the levels of putrescine, xanthurenic acid, and pyridoxal in the mastitis ruminal fluid, which confirmed the inter-relationships between these microbiota and metabolites associated with healthy cows. Further, we verified the role of R. flavefaciens and B. longum subsp. longum in promoting health by FMT. The administration of R. flavefaciens and B. longum subsp. longum reduced the death rate and recovered the bodyweight loss of germ-free mice caused by FMT mastitis feces.DiscussionWe provided evidence that the bacterial biomarkers alter downstream metabolites. This could indirectly indicate that the two bacterial biomarkers have the potential to be used as next-generation probiotics for dairy cattle, although it needs more evidence to support our hypothesis. Two species, R. flavefaciens and B. longum subsp. longum, with three metabolites, putrescine, xanthurenic acid, and pyridoxal, identified in the ruminal fluid, may point to a new health-promoting and disease-preventing approach for dairy cattle

Tao-Hong-Si-Wu-Tang, against Middle Cerebral Artery Occlusion-Induced Cerebral Ischemia in Rats

Tao-Hong-Si-Wu-Tang (THSWT) is a famous traditional Chinese medicine (TMC). In the present study, oral administration of THSWT (0.7 and 1.4 g kg −1 day −1 ) for 14 days before MCAO dose-dependently attenuated focal cerebral ischemia in rats. MCAO-induced focal cerebral ischemia was associated with increases in hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1α, inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, and active caspase-3 expressions in ischemic regions. These expressions were obviously inhibited by 0.7 g kg −1 day −1 THSWT treatment. In addition, THSWT inhibited platelet aggregation stimulated by collagen in washed platelets. In an in vivo study, THSWT (16 g kg −1 ) significantly prolonged platelet plug formation in mice. However, THSWT (20 and 40 μg mL −1 ) did not significantly reduce the electron spin resonance (ESR) signal intensity of hydroxyl radical (OH • ) formation. In conclusion, the most important findings of this study demonstrate for the first time that THSWT possesses potent neuroprotective activity against MCAO-induced focal cerebral ischemia in vivo. This effect may be mediated, at least in part, by the inhibition of both HIF-1α and TNF-α activation, followed by the inhibition of inflammatory responses (i.e., iNOS expression), apoptosis formation (active caspase-3), and platelet activation, resulting in a reduction in the infarct volume in ischemia-reperfusion brain injury

High levels of serum macrophage migration inhibitory factor and interleukin 10 are associated with a rapidly fatal outcome in patients with severe sepsis

SummaryObjectivesThe aim of this study was to delineate the association between high macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) and interleukin 10 (IL-10) levels in the early phase of sepsis and rapidly fatal outcome.MethodsOne hundred and fifty-three adult subjects with the main diagnosis of severe sepsis (including septic shock) admitted directly from the emergency department of two tertiary medical centers and one regional teaching hospital between January 2009 and December 2011, were included prospectively. MIF and IL-10 levels were measured and outcomes were analyzed by Cox regression analysis according to the following outcomes: rapidly fatal outcome (RFO, death within 48h), late fatal outcome (LFO, death between 48h and 28 days), and survival at 28 days.ResultsAmong the three outcome groups, IL-10 levels were significantly higher in the RFO group (p < 0.001) and no significant differences were seen between the LFO and survivor groups. After Cox regression analysis, each incremental elevation of 1000 pg/ml in both IL-10 and MIF was independently associated with RFO in patients with severe sepsis. Each incremental elevation of 1000 pg/ml in IL-10 increased the RFO risk by a factor of 1.312 (95% confidence interval 1.094–1.575; p=0.003); this was the most significant factor leading to RFO in patients with severe sepsis.ConclusionsPatients with RFO exhibited simultaneously high MIF and IL-10 levels in the early phase of severe sepsis. Incremental increases in both IL-10 and MIF levels were associated with RFO in this patient group, and of the two, IL-10 was the most significant factor linked to RFO

Natural Product Chemistry of Gorgonian Corals of Genus Junceella—Part II

The structures, names, bioactivities, and references of 81 new secondary metabolites obtained from gorgonian corals belonging to the genus Junceella are described in this review. All compounds mentioned in this review were obtained from sea whip gorgonian corals Junceella fragilis and Junceella juncea, collected from the tropical and subtropical Indo-Pacific Ocean

Optimasi Portofolio Resiko Menggunakan Model Markowitz MVO Dikaitkan dengan Keterbatasan Manusia dalam Memprediksi Masa Depan dalam Perspektif Al-Qur`an

Risk portfolio on modern finance has become increasingly technical, requiring the use of sophisticated mathematical tools in both research and practice. Since companies cannot insure themselves completely against risk, as human incompetence in predicting the future precisely that written in Al-Quran surah Luqman verse 34, they have to manage it to yield an optimal portfolio. The objective here is to minimize the variance among all portfolios, or alternatively, to maximize expected return among all portfolios that has at least a certain expected return. Furthermore, this study focuses on optimizing risk portfolio so called Markowitz MVO (Mean-Variance Optimization). Some theoretical frameworks for analysis are arithmetic mean, geometric mean, variance, covariance, linear programming, and quadratic programming. Moreover, finding a minimum variance portfolio produces a convex quadratic programming, that is minimizing the objective function ðð¥with constraintsð ð 𥠥 ðandð´ð¥ = ð. The outcome of this research is the solution of optimal risk portofolio in some investments that could be finished smoothly using MATLAB R2007b software together with its graphic analysis