81,408 research outputs found

    Effects of perceived justice of fair trade organizations on consumers' purchase intention toward fair trade products

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    The purpose of fair trade (FT) initiatives is to provide fair and reasonable payment to producers who may otherwise be negatively affected by free trade. Attracting consumers to purchase FT products is key to the success of the FT movement. This study identified the effects of consumers’ perceived justice of FT organizations (FTOs) on their purchase intention toward FT products. A total of 398 valid questionnaire responses were received and structural equation modeling was adopted to assess the casual relationships between variables. The results indicate that (a) perceived distributive, procedural, and interactional justice of FTOs among consumers positively affected trust in FTOs; (b) perceived distributive and procedural justice exhibited positive effects on perceived effectiveness of FT; and (c) trust in FTOs and perceived effectiveness of FT among consumers positively affected their purchase intention toward FT products. Based on these findings, this study provides practical suggestions to FT-related businesses and organizations, enabling these entities to accurately determine directions for the promotion and marketing communications of FT products

    Accelerated storage test of betalains extracted from the peel of pitaya (Hylocereus cacti) fruit

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    Betalains are nitrogen-containing colorants with antioxidant properties that can be found in plant materials such as pitaya peels. However, thermo-stability of these natural colors may vary with different source, yet few study has reported the rate orders of degradation for pitaya-sourced betalains. In this study, accelerated storage test of betalains, namely betacyanin and betaxanthin, extracted from pitaya peel are investigated by heat treatment of the extract at elevated temperatures. The results show that degradation kinetics of betacyanins and betaxanthins can both fit first-order kinetics and Arrhenius equation with activation energies at − 49.2 kJ/mol and − 40.0 kJ/mol, respectively. The result of Student’s t-test indicated that the predicted k values are statistically the same as compared to their corresponding experimental values. LSD estimation also showed that k value variation tendency of the two betalains appears to be the same at 60 °C or below, while betacyanins tend to degrade faster above 80 °C than betaxanthins due to higher coefficient value of k value variation. This result also suggests that the pitaya-sourced betalains tend to degrade gradually even though they are stored under refrigerated condition. However, the betalains showed appreciably lower rate of degradation if they are processed at 60 °C or below

    The effects of the supplementation of multi-strain probiotics on intestinal microbiota, metabolites and inflammation of young SPF chickens challenged with Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica

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    This study assessed the effect of probiotics on cecal microbiota, cecal short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), and the gene expression of cytokines in young specific-pathogen-free (SPF) chickens infected with S. enterica subsp. enterica. One-day-old SPF chickens (n = 105) were randomly assigned to one of the three treatment groups: control (Cont) group, Salmonella-infected (Sal) group, and a Salmonella-infected group treated with multi-strain probiotics (ProSal group). All chickens except those in the Cont group were challenged orally with 1 × 108 cfu/ml of Salmonella 4 days after hatching. Chickens in the Sal group exhibited more abundance of Proteobacteria than those in the Cont and ProSal groups. At the genus level, chickens in ProSal group exhibited increased numbers of Lactobacillus and Oscillospira compared with those in the other groups. Chickens in the ProSal group exhibited a significant increase of cecal SCFAs compared with chickens in the Sal group. Chickens in the ProSal group exhibited increased gene expression of anti-inflammatory cytokines, IL-10 and TGF-β4, and decreased expression of the proinflammatory cytokine, IFN-γ, in the cecal tonsil compared with those in the Sal group. The results of this study indicated that the administration of probiotics can modulate microbiota, SCFAs, and immunomodulatory activity in SPF chickens

    Design and Development of an Active Suspension System Using Pneumatic-Muscle Actuator and Intelligent Control

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    A pneumatic muscle is a cheap, clean, and high-power active actuator. However, it is difficult to control due to its inherent nonlinearity and time-varying characteristics. This paper presents a pneumatic muscle active suspension system (PM-ASS) for vehicles and uses an experimental study to analyze its stability and accuracy in terms of reducing vibration. In the PM-ASS, the pneumatic muscle actuator is designed in parallel with two MacPherson struts to provide a vertical force between the chassis and the wheel. This geometric arrangement allows the PM-ASS to produce the maximum force to counter road vibration and make the MacPherson struts generate significant improvement. In terms of the controller design, this paper uses an adaptive Fourier neural network sliding-mode controller with H∞ tracking performance for the PM-ASS, which confronts nonlinearities and time-varying characteristics. A state-predictor is used to predict the output error and to provide the predictions for the controller. Experiments with a rough concave-convex road and a two-bump excitation road use a quarter-car test rig to verify the practical feasibility of the PM-ASS, and the results show that the PM-ASS gives an improvement the ride comfort
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