Effects of TikTok Influencers on the Purchase Intention of Gen-Z: Cosmetic Industry

This study investigates how TikTok influencers affect Generation Z's purchase intention toward the cosmetic industry in HCMC. The research issue is a lack of knowledge on how TikTok influencers affect Generation Z's buying intentions for cosmetics. The research objective is to investigate the relationships among influencers' credibility, physical attractiveness, expertise, social advocacy, customers' trust, gender, and purchase intention. The literature study emphasizes the significance of customer trust and influencer characteristics in influencing consumer intention. A questionnaire survey is used as a data gathering technique in this research employing a quantitative methodology. To analyze the data, SPSS will be used as the statistical program. Descriptive statistics will be computed to summarize the data. Multiple regression analysis will examine the relationship between influencers' characteristics and customer trust toward their purchase intention. According to the findings, all influencers' characteristics, including credibility, physical attractiveness, expertise, and social advocacy, have favorable effects on Gen Z's purchasing intention. Surprisingly, customer trust has the most influence on Gen Z behavior. It indicates that there is a difference in purchase intention for different genders. The outcomes will offer valuable insights to cosmetic industry marketers at HCMC to develop effective influencer marketing strategies for Generation Z consumers

Stakeholder Delphi-perception analysis on impacts and responses of acid rain on agricultural ecosystems in the Vietnamese upland

Vietnam is one of most vulnerable countries to acid rain in Asia. In the Vietnamese Northern Mountains, acid rainwater affects negatively to local agricultural ecosystems. This paper analyzes how major agricultural stakeholders living in the mountains assess the impacts of acid rain and their responses on agricultural ecosystems. A two-round Stakeholder Delphi combined with the pressure-state-response (PSR) model allows ranking effects, mitigation and adaptation measures. Eight themes, 14 sub-themes, and 35 indicators for acid rain are structured in the PSR model. The results show that deforestation and rainfall variability relate to changes in the concentrations of acid ions in rainwater. Energy consumption in the industry and transportation, chemical fertilizer use in agriculture, and air pollution from neighboring areas contribute significantly to acid rain. Acid rain affects agriculture and decreases crop yields, causes arable land loss, reduces nutrients and organic matter, and accumulates heavy metals. Panel members perceive that applying local knowledge in agricultural practices, rational energy use, promotion of integrated agricultural policies, and changing farmer behaviors are measures to mitigate acid rain and its adverse effects. The results contribute to a vision on local adaptation actions and policy to foster the capacity and the resilience of major local group

Numerical investigation of the Arctic ice–ocean boundary layer and implications for air–sea gas fluxes

© The Author(s), 2017. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Ocean Science 13 (2017): 61-75, doi:10.5194/os-13-61-2017.In ice-covered regions it is challenging to determine constituent budgets – for heat and momentum, but also for biologically and climatically active gases like carbon dioxide and methane. The harsh environment and relative data scarcity make it difficult to characterize even the physical properties of the ocean surface. Here, we sought to evaluate if numerical model output helps us to better estimate the physical forcing that drives the air–sea gas exchange rate (k) in sea ice zones. We used the budget of radioactive 222Rn in the mixed layer to illustrate the effect that sea ice forcing has on gas budgets and air–sea gas exchange. Appropriate constraint of the 222Rn budget requires estimates of sea ice velocity, concentration, mixed-layer depth, and water velocities, as well as their evolution in time and space along the Lagrangian drift track of a mixed-layer water parcel. We used 36, 9 and 2 km horizontal resolution of regional Massachusetts Institute of Technology general circulation model (MITgcm) configuration with fine vertical spacing to evaluate the capability of the model to reproduce these parameters. We then compared the model results to existing field data including satellite, moorings and ice-tethered profilers. We found that mode sea ice coverage agrees with satellite-derived observation 88 to 98 % of the time when averaged over the Beaufort Gyre, and model sea ice speeds have 82 % correlation with observations. The model demonstrated the capacity to capture the broad trends in the mixed layer, although with a significant bias. Model water velocities showed only 29 % correlation with point-wise in situ data. This correlation remained low in all three model resolution simulations and we argued that is largely due to the quality of the input atmospheric forcing. Overall, we found that even the coarse-resolution model can make a modest contribution to gas exchange parameterization, by resolving the time variation of parameters that drive the 222Rn budget, including rate of mixed-layer change and sea ice forcings.Funding for this research was provided by the NSF Arctic Natural Sciences program through Award # 1203558

Built Environment and Preterm Birth

Background. Preterm birth affects approximately 500,000 babies a year in the United States. One out of nine babies born in the United States deliver before 37 weeks gestation. Preterm birth can cause lifelong neurological problems, cerebral palsy, vision and hearing impairments, and developmental delay. The estimated $26 billion a year in preterm birth related costs are staggering to the health care system. Preterm-related causes of death in 2008 together accounted for 35% of all infant deaths. Methods. This paper is a review of the literature published (2006-2012) on the relationship between neighborhood environment and preterm birth. Results. Neighborhood deprivation and the neighborhood environment were associated with low-birth weight and preterm birth. Examples of neighborhood deprivation include economic deprivation, social disorder, and lack of health resources. Neighborhood environment can be described as neighborhood physical deterioration, violent crime, and group density. Conclusions. A significant association exists between the neighborhood environment and birth outcomes. More research is needed to explore interventions with a systems approach to promote healthy maternal behavior, reduce stress, and improve care for expecting mothers living in stressful neighborhood environments in order to reduce preterm births

Tracing sediment transport and bed regime in Nha Trang Bay

Three spatial structure groups of radionuclides in U and Th series, 210Pb-excess and 137Cs, and 40K were found based on analyzing temporal and spatial datum of their content by factor analysis with oblique rotation in Nhatrang bay. U and Th spatial structure with their contours decreased toward the offshore, ran longshore and divided seawater of bay into two parts with strong gradient on both sides. Inside part located from center of Nhatrang bay toward the seashore with three main deposit centers of their contents higher than 23 Bq/kg.dry for 238U and 40 Bq/kg.dry for 232Th, indicated unstability of shoreline. Almost sediments coming from river extended toward the offshore, were stopped and transported toward southeastern. The outside part was less than above mentioned content. The boundary line between two parts superposed with the constantly limit line of turbid plume in the rainy season. Direct influence of the continental runoff was limited by the 9 Bq/kg.dry contour of 238U, 19 Bq/kg.dry contour of 232Th. Longshore current was a predominant process whereas lateral transport as sifting and winnowing process of finer grains in sediments of Nhatrang bay. Areas that had very low content of 137Cs and 210 Pb-excess adjoining shoreline showed areas being eroded. Accumulation of 137Cs and 210 Pbexcess nearby river mouth characterized for fine compositions of sediments controlled by seasonal plumes and sites further toward the south indicated finer materials transported from river and accumulated in lack of hydrodynamic process. Near shore accumulation of 40K revealed the sediments there originated from bed erosion

Post-compensation of nonlinear distortions of 64-QAM signals in a semiconductor based wavelength converter

We experimentally investigate post-compensation of nonlinear distortions induced by a wavelength converter (WC) based on four-wave mixing in a semiconductor optical amplifier. The technique exploits a low-complexity digital filter-based back-propagation (DFBP) method. We perform post-compensation of nonlinear distortions following single stage wavelength conversion of 5 Gbaud 64- quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM). We examine the DFBP performances in the presence of a degraded optical signal-to-noise ratio at the WC input and we explore the WC optimal operating conditions. Also, we experimentally demonstrate for the first time in the literature dual stage wavelength conversion of QAM signals, in particular, 5 Gbaud 64-QAM, and show that bit error rate below hard-decision forward error correction threshold is only possible with post-compensation of nonlinear distortions. These results are of importance for the development of wavelength routed networks requiring successive wavelength conversion stages to enhance routing capabilities

Single-fiber lightwave centralized WDM-OFDMA- PON with colorless optical network units

We propose and experimentally demonstrate a carrier-reuse, single-feeder, wavelength-division-multiplexed, orthogonal-frequency-division-multiple-access passive optical network (WDM-OFDMA-PON) with colorless direct-detection optical network units and coherent detection optical line terminals. We examine two strategies by adjusting the frequency occupancy and the modulation format of the uplink (UL) and downlink (DL) signals. We investigate the impact of DL signal-to-carrier ratio on performance of both UL and DL via simulations and identify impairments limiting system performance. As a proof of concept, we demonstrate on a single wavelength channel, a realization of each of the two scenarios investigated using orthogonal-frequency-division-multiplexing (OFDM). A quadrature phase-shift keying approach with wide spectrum and narrow guard band achieves 21.6 Gb/s. A 32-ary quadrature amplitude modulation approach with narrow spectrum and wide guard band achieves 14.5 Gb/s and a span of over 80 km