Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of rational green packaging claims vs emotional green packaging claims on consumers’ purchase propensity for organic coffee.
...Design/methodology/approach
Three within-subjects experiment were carried out (N=87, N=245, N=60). The experimental design encompasses packaging with rational green claims, emotional green claims, as well as a neutral (control) claim. Measured variables are introduced to assess participants’ environmental commitment and information processing ability. A manipulated between-subjects variable is introduced to test how distraction interacts with preference for the claims.
Findings
Overall, consumers prefer products with green claims over those with neutral (control) claims, and products with emotional green claims to those with rational green claims. The studies also reveal that this effect is moderated by participants’ environmental commitment, information processing ability and by distraction. The findings were statistically significant (p<0.05).
Research limitations/implications
As a lab experiment, the study provides limited generalizability and external validity.
Practical implications
For most organic FMCG products, it is advisable to employ emotional packaging claims.
Social implications
The presented findings provide marketers with tools to influence consumer behavior toward sustainable choices.
Originality/value
The paper validates previous contributions on the effects of product claim types, and extends them by introducing comprehensive empirical data on all the Elaboration Likelihood Model’s criteria for rational decision-making; motivation, opportunity and ability.
Peripheral sensorimotor stimming activity, such as rocking and fidgeting, is widely considered irrelevant to and even distracting from learning. In this critical-pedagogy conceptual paper, we argue ...that stimming is an intrinsic part of adaptive functioning, interaction, and cognitive dynamics. We submit that when cultural resources build from students’ own sensorimotor dynamics, rather than subjugating them to hegemonic corporeal norms, learners’ intrinsic sensorimotor behaviors may be embraced and empowered as mental activity. This call for transformative inclusive pedagogy is of particular importance for neurodivergent children whose sensorimotor engagements have historically been ostracized as disruptive. Following a conceptual analysis of stimming that builds on a range of neuro-cognitive empirical studies drawing on post-cognitivist embodied cognition theory, we imagine inclusive educational futures that disrupt sedentary instructional design to elevate minoritized learners’ sensorimotor activity. As proof of concept, we present an example inclusive embodied activity, balance board math, a pedagogical tool designed to elicit stimming as thinking. We propose a set of design heuristics for realizing stimming’s pedagogical potential.
Digital media transform news. First, we see this in changing use patterns. Young people today show a decline in interest in traditional news formats and practices, such as watching the evening news ...on TV or reading a daily newspaper. But digital media also transform production and distribution of news, leading to new ways to conceptualise and understand news. In the light of these profound transformations in audience behaviour many have started to question the concept of news in news research. In the light of such altered production and distribution contexts which are likely to fundamentally impact on audiences’ definitions and perceptions, this article sets out to explore alternative ways to understand and conceptualise news, beyond traditional news research. What is news today, and how can we study it from the perspective of news audiences, without resorting to preconceived notions? We propose a theoretical approach based in classic phenomenology which, we argue, will open up for further reconsideration of the concept as well as providing a potentially fruitful basis for research on digital news consumption. Phenomenology takes human existence as its vantage point and explores how human subjects exist and create meaning in their everyday lives in relation to basic categories such as time, space and (sociocultural) relevance. We argue phenomenology to be particularly relevant for exploring new meanings of news as the basic dimensions of phenomenology not only coincide with the basic dimensions of news consumption, but also of those of news values; time, space, and (sociocultural) relevance.
Experimental studies show that human pain sensitivity varies across the 24-hour day, with the lowest sensitivity usually occurring during the afternoon. Patients suffering from neuropathic pain, or ...nerve damage, experience an inversion in the daily modulation of pain sensitivity, with the highest sensitivity usually occurring during the early afternoon. Processing of painful stimulation occurs in the dorsal horn (DH), an area of the spinal cord that receives input from peripheral tissues via several types of primary afferent nerve fibers. The DH circuit is composed of different populations of neurons, including excitatory and inhibitory interneurons, and projection neurons, which constitute the majority of the output from the DH to the brain. In this work, we develop a mathematical model of the dorsal horn neural circuit to investigate mechanisms for the daily modulation of pain sensitivity. The model describes average firing rates of excitatory and inhibitory interneuron populations and projection neurons, whose activity is directly correlated with experienced pain. Response in afferent fibers to peripheral stimulation is simulated by a Poisson process generating nerve fiber spike trains at variable firing rates. Model parameters for fiber response to stimulation and the excitability properties of neuronal populations are constrained by experimental results found in the literature, leading to qualitative agreement between modeled responses to pain and experimental observations. We validate our model by reproducing the wind-up of pain response to repeated stimulation. We apply the model to investigate daily modulatory effects on pain inhibition, in which response to painful stimuli is reduced by subsequent non-painful stimuli. Finally, we use the model to propose a mechanism for the observed inversion of the daily rhythmicity of pain sensation under neuropathic pain conditions. Underlying mechanisms for the shift in rhythmicity have not been identified experimentally, but our model results predict that experimentally-observed dysregulation of inhibition within the DH neural circuit may be responsible. The model provides an accessible, biophysical framework that will be valuable for experimental and clinical investigations of diverse physiological processes modulating pain processing in humans.
We aimed to evaluate the gender‐specific associations of malocclusion traits with oral health‐related quality of life (OHRQoL) among Finnish adults. Data were obtained from the Health 2000 Survey, ...Finland. Included participants (n = 3993) were ≥30 years old with OHRQoL and occlusion data. OHRQoL was measured using the 14‐item Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP‐14). OHIP‐14 severity mean score, prevalence of impacts, and means of seven dimensions were outcomes. Explanatory variables were any malocclusion trait, increased overjet, negative overjet, open bite, deep bite, and crossbite/scissor bite. Logistic (prevalence) and cumulative (severity) regression models were adjusted for age, decayed teeth, deep periodontal pocket, occluding pairs, orthodontic treatment, and self‐perceived health. Gender modified the association between any malocclusion trait and OHRQoL, with the association being stronger in females. Females without any malocclusion trait (OR = 1.62, 95% CI = 1.14–2.28) or without crossbite/scissor bite (OR = 1.68, 95% CI = 1.16–2.43) had better OHRQoL (lower prevalence) than those with malocclusions. Males without increased overjet (OR 1.50, 95% CI = 1.04–2.17) had lower mean OHIP‐14 severity score than males with increased overjet, after adjustments. The association between psychological and physical disability and malocclusion traits was different between males and females. Gender differences in the impact of malocclusion traits should be considered when assessing orthodontic treatment need.
In recent years, noteworthy research has been performed around lipids from microalgae. Among lipids, glycolipids (GLs) are quite abundant in microalgae and are considered an important source of fatty ...acids (FAs). GLs are rich in 16- and 18-carbon saturated and unsaturated fatty acids and often contain polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) like n-3 α-linolenic (ALA 18:3), eicosapentaenoic (EPA, 20:5) and docosahexaenoic (DHA, 22:6). GLs comprise three major classes: monogalactosyldiacyl glycerolipids (MGDGs), digalactosyl diacylglycerolipids (DGDGs) and sulfoquinovosyl diacylglycerolipids (SQDGs), whose composition in FA directly depends on the growth conditions. Some of these lipids are high value-added compounds with antitumoral, antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory activities and also with important nutritional significance. To fully explore GLs' bioactive properties it is necessary to fully characterize their structure and to understand the relation between the structure and their biological properties, which can be addressed using modern mass spectrometry (MS)-based lipidomic approaches. This review will focus on the up-to-date FA composition of GLs identified by MS-based lipidomics and their potential as phytochemicals.
One component of the circadian clock in mammals is the Clock-Bmal1 heterodimeric transcription factor. Among its downstream targets, two genes, Cry1 and Cry2, encode inhibitors of the Clock-Bmal1 ...complex that establish a negative-feedback loop. We found that both Cry1 and Cry2 proteins are ubiquitinated and degraded via the SCFFbxl³ ubiquitin ligase complex. This regulation by SCFFbxl³ is a prerequisite for the efficient and timely reactivation of Clock-Bmal1 and the consequent expression of Per1 and Per2, two regulators of the circadian clock that display tumor suppressor activity. Silencing of Fbxl3 produced no effect in Cry1⁻/⁻;Cry2⁻/⁻ cells, which shows that Fbxl3 controls clock oscillations by mediating the degradation of CRY proteins.
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