This study examines how different motivations determine three types of webrooming: traditional webrooming, webrooming extended to include mobile devices, and multidevice webrooming. The examination ...uses information-processing and uncertainty-reduction theories and fsQCA and discriminant analysis methods. The data derived from a convenience sample obtained through personal and online surveys. The results from the discriminant analysis indicate a significantly positive effect of information attainment on explaining all behaviors, and price comparison orientation and empowerment for mobile-related behaviors. The fsQCA findings show various motivational configurations for each webrooming behavior. In almost all, both information-processing and uncertainty-reduction motivations exist that support the importance of the underlying theories in explaining webrooming. Furthermore, empowerment is more relevant in behaviors where mobile device usage is always present. This study enriches the theoretical body of the webrooming construct, and the results can guide marketing and multichannel managers in developing differentiated strategies that address consumers' webrooming-specific needs.
Using a consumer survey, this study examines whether consumption values can predict green buying behavior. The examination is based on the theory of consumption values and uses the fuzzy-set ...qualitative comparative analysis. The results show that the functional value is almost always necessary but is not sufficient by itself for predicting green buying. However, three “causal recipes” formed with the functional value are sufficient. These recipes use the emotional, conditional and social values combined individually with the functional value. Other three combinations of consumption values are also sufficient for predicting green buying. In contrast, the absence of the functional value is a sufficient condition for not green buying, as well as three other “causal recipes”. This finding can help marketing managers develop appropriate strategies. Further, this finding supports and clarifies the role of the theory of consumption values by taking advantage of the fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis.
Non‐Newtonian nanofluids present outstanding features in terms of energy transfer and conductivity with high application in numerous areas. In this work, non‐Newtonian nanofluids based on carbon dots ...(Cdots) functionalized with ionic liquids (ILs) are developed. The nanofluids are produced using a simple, single‐step method where the raw materials for the Cdots synthesis are glucose and waste biomass (chitin from crab shells). The use of ILs as both reaction media and functionalization molecules allows for the development of a new class of nanofluids, where the ILs on the Cdots surface represent the base‐fluid. Here, the well‐known benign IL 1‐butyl‐3‐methylimidazolium chloride (BmimCl) and a novel home‐made IL (1‐tosylate‐3‐methyl‐imidazolium triflate) TmiTrif are used. The nanofluids obtained from both substrates show, apart from high conductivity and viscosity, light absorption, and good wettability, an appealing thermal sensitivity behavior. This thermal sensitivity is preserved even when applied as thin films on glass slides and can be boosted using the surface plasmon resonance effect. The results reported demonstrate that the new Cdots/IL‐based nanofluids constitute a versatile and cost‐effective route for achieving high‐performance thermosensitive non‐Newtonian sustainable nanofluids with tremendous potential for the energy coatings sector and heat transfer film systems.
Here, a class of nanofluids produced using green, sustainable reaction conditions is described, where the base fluid is composed by ionic liquids that are covering the surface of Cdots. The produced nanofluids present appealing optoelectric features that can be further boosted using the surface plasmonic effect. These characteristics are relevant in the nanocoating area, energy, space exploration, among others.
The study investigates how value‐in‐use generated on branded mobile apps from supermarkets affects brand satisfaction and loyalty through two models. The first model assesses how value‐in‐use ...dimensions (i.e., personalization, experience, and relationship) affect the outcomes, and the mediation of satisfaction and the moderation of age on those relations. The second model decomposes experience and relationship into subdimensions. The Structural equation modeling results show that personalization, experience, and relationship influence satisfaction, although experience has a negative effect. Age moderates the relations, where younger individuals value personalization and older individuals value experience and relationship. Regarding the individual subdimensions, only behavioral experience, and app trust and commitment are relevant for satisfaction, whereas behavioral experience has a negative effect. In both models, satisfaction significantly influences loyalty and mostly acts as a full mediator. Two FGDs were conducted to understand the negative effect of experience on brand satisfaction. The results show that experience is mostly utilitarian with grocery apps and apps that require increased effort yield less satisfaction. The study enriches the literature on Service‐Dominant Logic and value‐in‐use. The findings can provide managers with insights on using branded grocery apps to enhance the value co‐created between the consumer and firm.
This paper analyzes the roles of social entrepreneurship and transformational leadership in explaining the social value and the organizational performance of non-profit social organizations. By ...evaluating the role of socioeconomic context as the moderating variable, the results confirm the strong influence of social entrepreneurship on social value and the effects of social entrepreneurship and transformational leadership on organizational performance. The socioeconomic context proves to be an important moderator of the hypothesized relations. In an unfavorable context, transformational leadership becomes relevant in explaining social value and organizational performance. However, in a favorable context, social entrepreneurship provides more significant support to social value and organizational performance, and social value itself also has an effect on organizational performance.
The role of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) on biological media has been shifting over the years, as the knowledge on the complex mechanism that lies in underneath their production and overall results ...has been growing. It has been known for some time that these species are associated with a number of health conditions. However, they also participate in the immunoactivation cascade process, and can have an active role in theranostics. Macrophages, for example, react to the presence of pathogens through ROS production, potentially allowing the development of new therapeutic strategies. However, their short lifetime and limited spatial distribution of ROS have been limiting factors to the development and understanding of this phenomenon. Even though, ROS have shown successful theranostic applications, e.g., photodynamic therapy, their wide applicability has been hampered by the lack of effective tools for monitoring these processes in real time. Thus the development of innovative sensing strategies for in vivo monitoring of the balance between ROS concentration and the resultant immune response is of the utmost relevance. Such knowledge could lead to major breakthroughs towards the development of more effective treatments for neurodegenerative diseases. Within this review we will present the current understanding on the interaction mechanisms of ROS with biological systems and their overall effect. Additionally, the most promising sensing tools developed so far, for both in vivo and in vitro tracking will be presented along with their main limitations and advantages. This review focuses on the four main ROS that have been studied these are: singlet oxygen species, hydrogen peroxide, hydroxyl radical and superoxide anion.
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•The challenges associated with ROS in vivo and in vitro sensing.•Review on the most recent knowledge on Reactive Oxygen Species sensing approaches.•The benefits and drawbacks of Reactive Oxygen Species in biological media.•Comprehensive comparison between the new sensing technologies, providing their unique pros and cons.•The use of ROS as therapeutic agents in innovative therapeutic approaches.
This study aims to holistically map actual decision journeys from the consumer's own perspective for two product categories of different levels of involvement (i.e., smartphone and soft drink), using ...an adapted sequential incident technique (SIT). Previous to the in-depth interviews, individuals reported all touchpoint encounters as their decision journey unfolded via a mobile electronic diary. Experience reports, consumer responses, and visual data were also gathered. A sequence analysis was employed to identify touchpoint and channel contacts and then perform a sequential pattern analysis. The results indicate that more and more variable touchpoints and activities exist for the high involvement product. Four decision journey maps were found for each product. However, journey sequences are more complex, non-linear, and dynamic for smartphone purchase. This study enriches both consumer decision-making and involvement theories, in that its new innovative forms of data gathering (i.e., mobile diaries) enable a more rigorous identification and understanding of current omnichannel decision journeys for products of distinct involvement classifications. The results provided by this complementary innovative method can orient marketing managers in understanding actual touchpoint contacts and developing differentiated strategies that address various consumer groups.
A label-free fiber optic biosensor based on a long period grating (LPG) and a basic optical interrogation scheme using off the shelf components is used for the detection of in-situ DNA hybridization. ...A new methodology is proposed for the determination of the spectral position of the LPG mode resonance. The experimental limit of detection obtained for the DNA was 62±2nM and the limit of quantification was 209±7nM. The sample specificity was experimentally demonstrated using DNA targets with different base mismatches relatively to the probe and was found that the system has a single base mismatch selectivity.
•DNA hybridization sensing.•Optical fiber sensor.•Simple optical interrogation scheme.•DNA sequence detection.•DNA quantification.
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Wearable monitoring devices based on inertial sensors have the potential to be used as a quantitative method in clinical practice for continuous assessment of gait disabilities in ...Parkinson’s disease (PD).
This manuscript introduces a new gait monitoring system adapted to patients with PD, based on a wearable monitoring device. To eliminate inter- and intra-subject variability, the computational method was based on heuristic rules with adaptive thresholds and ranges and a motion compensation strategy. The experimental trials involved repeated measurements of walking trials from two cross-sectional studies: the first study was performed in order to validate the effectiveness of the system against a robust 3D motion analysis with 10 healthy subjects; and the second-one aimed to validate our approach against a well-studied wearable IMU-based system on a hospital environment with 20 patients with PD.
The proposed system proved to be efficient (Experiment I: sensitivity = 95,09% and accuracy = 93,64%; Experiment II: sensitivity = 99,53% and accuracy = 97,42%), time-effective (Experiment I: earlies = 13,71 ms and delays = 12,91 ms; Experiment II: earlies = 12,94 ms and delays = 12,71 ms), user and user-motion adaptable and a low computational-load strategy for real-time gait events detection. Further, it was measured the percentage of absolute error classified with a good acceptability (Experiment I: 3,02 ≤ ε%≤12,94; Experiment II: 2,81 ≤ ε%≤13,45). Lastly, regarding the measured gait parameters, it was observed a reflection of the typical levels of motor impairment for the different disease stages.
The achieved outcomes enabled to verify that the proposed system can be suitable for gait analysis in the assistance and rehabilitation fields.
This study examines how various audience‐related variables and distinct real‐time marketing contents (i.e., predictable and unpredictable real‐time marketing) affect social media engagement. The ...relations are tested using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) and fuzzy‐set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), with a convenience sample that was obtained via conducting three online consumer surveys for several different brands. The SEM findings show that intensity of social media usage, self‐brand congruence, and brand‐real‐time marketing moment congruence are all significant in explaining total engagement. Only self‐brand and brand‐moment congruence are relevant with predictable real‐time marketing content, whereas only brand‐moment congruence is significant with unpredictable real‐time marketing. On the other hand, the FsQCA findings show various conditional configurations for both the presence and absence of engagement in each content context, where the individual variables need to be combined with others. The results also show that brand‐moment congruence is more important to explain engagement with unpredictable content in comparison to other variables, and that differences thus exist with distinct content strategies. This research enriches engagement and real‐time marketing lit.erature and the findings can assist content managers in the selection of social media content and in building more profitable consumer‐brand relations.
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