The study investigates how customer perceptions of parent brands influence the perceived value of brand extensions in the hotel industry and how these relationships are moderated by the nature of the ...brand extension in question. Drawing on brand equity logic, the study proposes that perceived positive brand attributes, awareness, attitudes, and loyalty toward the parent brand positively relate to higher perceived value of the brand extension, and that these positive relationships grow stronger in cases of step-down extensions rather than step-up extensions. Survey results from UK hotel customers reveal that only perceived parent brand attributes and attitudes seem to have a positive impact on perceived value of the extension and subsequent (re)visit intentions. The moderation results further reveal that the positive relationships turn stronger in cases of step-down extensions and insignificant during step-up extensions. Managers are therefore cautioned to apply step-up extensions too frivolously, as such extensions seem largely ineffective in generating consumer value and subsequent behavioral intentions, whereas the effectiveness is heightened in cases of step-down extensions.
ABSTRACT
Mutualistic relationships of legume plants with, either bacteria (like rhizobia) or fungi (like arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi), have been investigated intensively, usually as bi-partite ...interactions. However, diverse symbiotic interactions take place simultaneously or sequentially under field conditions. Their collective, but not additive, contribution to plant growth and performance remains hard to predict, and appears to be furthermore affected by crop species and genotype, non-symbiotic microbial interactions and environmental variables. The challenge is: (i) to unravel the complex overlapping mechanisms that operate between the microbial symbionts as well as between them, their hosts and the rhizosphere (ii) to understand the dynamics of the respective mechanisms in evolutionary and ecological terms. The target for agriculture, food security and the environment, is to use this insight as a solid basis for developing new integrated technologies, practices and strategies for the efficient use of beneficial microbes in legumes and other plants. We review recent advances in our understanding of the symbiotic interactions in legumes roots brought about with the aid of molecular and bioinformatics tools. We go through single symbiont-host interactions, proceed to tripartite symbiont-host interactions, appraise interactions of symbiotic and associative microbiomes with plants in the root-rhizoplane-soil continuum of habitats and end up by examining attempts to validate community ecology principles in the legume-microbe-soil biosystem.
Time to integrate bottom-up with top-down approaches: From the groundbreaking understanding of the legume-rhizobium symbiosis to the dynamics and functions of the legume-microbe-soil continuum and the management of sustainable agro-ecosystems.
Abstract
Discard of unwanted catches are common in European fisheries, but reducing or banning this has been given high priority in the proposal for the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy. ...Although many technical regulations have been introduced to limit unwanted catches, there is little understanding of the underlying socio-economic and institutional incentives causing discard at the fisher level. The paper presents an approach which views discards as a result of decisions made both on deck and at earlier stages of the fishing planning and implementation process. Decisions made by fishers resulting in a more selective fishery are considered “selective behaviour”. It is argued that fishing practices are institutionally embedded within three institutional spheres: “state”, “market”, and “community”, which together with “natural conditions” create incentives and frameworks for discard and selective behaviour. A comprehensive list of factors which may influence discards and selective behaviour is developed and applied to three case studies—all trawl fisheries—in Denmark, Greece, and England. The paper discusses cross-case findings of how the identified factors may create drivers for discard. Finally, a refined list of factors is presented in a tree structure and the usefulness of the list as a tool for analysing drivers for discard and selective behaviour, in a context of developing mitigating measures, is discussed.
Objective
To assess the pain profile of patients in the levelling/alignment phase of orthodontic treatment, as reported from randomized clinical trials.
Materials and methods
Five databases were ...searched in September 2022 for randomized clinical trials assessing pain during levelling/alignment with a visual analogue scale (VAS). After duplicate study selection, data extraction, and risk-of-bias assessment, random effects meta-analyses of mean differences (MDs) and their 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were performed, followed by subgroup/meta-regression, and certainty analyses.
Results
A total of 37 randomized trials including 2277 patients (40.3% male; mean age 17.5 years) were identified. Data indicated quick pain initiation after insertion of orthodontic appliances (
n
= 6; average = 12.4 mm VAS), a quick increase to a peak at day 1 (
n
= 29; average = 42.4 mm), and gradually daily decrease the first week until its end (
n
= 23; average = 9.0 mm). Every second patient reported analgesic use at least once this week (
n
= 8; 54.5%), with peak analgesic use at 6 h post-insertion (
n
= 2; 62.3%). Patients reported reduced pain in the evening compared to morning (
n
= 3; MD = − 3.0 mm; 95%CI = − 5.3, − 0.6;
P
= 0.01) and increased pain during chewing (
n
= 2; MD = 19.2 mm; 95% CI = 7.9, 30.4;
P
< 0.001) or occlusion of the back teeth (
n
= 2; MD = 12.4 mm; 95% CI = 1.4, 23.4;
P
= 0.3), while non-consistent effects were seen for patient age, sex, irregularity, or analgesic use. Subgroup analyses indicated increased pain among extraction cases and during treatment of the lower (rather than the upper) arch, while certainty around estimates was moderate to high.
Conclusions
Evidence indicated a specific pain profile during orthodontic levelling/alignment, without signs of consistent patient-related influencing factors.
This study reports data on 47 Tigrinya speaking Eritrean refugees learning French. L2 French proficiency is assessed through the placement test Ev@lang, a standardized grammar test, and fine corpus ...analyses. Analysis of individual factors shows that, whereas school education, number of years in Switzerland, and French classes attended play no role in proficiency, age penalizes learning and, critically, multilingualism facilitates it. Corpus analyses replicate difficulties commonly reported in the literature with root infinitives, determiner omission and gender errors. Productions also depart from previous reports as we observed a low rate of subject drop, a high rate of gender errors involving animate nouns, and the overuse of the feminine, in line with Tigrinya grammar. Finally, our data provide preliminary evidence of the validity of Ev@lang in assessing French proficiency in refugees, an issue which is becoming critical with the increased role of language skills in European asylum policies.
ABSTRACT
We present the ultraviolet to submillimetre spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of the HERschel Ultra Luminous Infrared Galaxy Survey (HERUS) sample of 42 local ultraluminous infrared ...galaxies (ULIRGs) and fit them with a Markov chain Monte Carlo code using the CYprus models for Galaxies and their NUclear Spectra (CYGNUS) radiative transfer models for starbursts, active galactic nucleus (AGN) tori, and host galaxy. The Spitzer IRS spectroscopy data are included in the fitting. Our Bayesian SED fitting method takes comparable time to popular energy balance methods but it is more physically motivated and versatile. All HERUS galaxies harbour high rates of star formation but we also find bolometrically significant AGN in all of the galaxies of the sample. We estimate the correction of the luminosities of the AGN in the ULIRGs due to the anisotropic emission of the torus and find that it could be up to a factor of ∼10 for nearly edge-on tori. We present a comparison of our results with the smooth torus model of Fritz et al. and the two-phase models of Siebenmorgen et al. and SKIRTOR. We find that the CYGNUS AGN torus models fit significantly better the SEDs of our sample compared to all other models. We find no evidence that strong AGN appear either at the beginning or end of a starburst episode or that starbursts and AGN affect each other. IRAS 01003−2238 and Mrk 1014 show evidence of dual AGNs in their SED fits, suggesting a minimum dual AGN fraction in the sample of 5 per cent.
: Many stress‐related mental disorders, including depression and post‐traumatic stress disorder occur more often in women than in men. While social and cultural factors certainly contribute to these ...differences, neurobiological sex differences seem to also play an important role. A rapidly burgeoning literature from basic and clinical research documents sex differences in brain anatomy, chemistry and function, as well as in stress and drug responses. For example, some clinical studies have reported that women may have a better outcome when treated with selective serotonin re‐uptake inhibitors, in comparison to tricyclic antidepressants. Furthermore, relatively limited basic research has been devoted to developing animal models and consequently describing drug treatments which are sensitive to sex differences. In this MiniReview, we discuss sex differences in behavioural aspects, as well as neurochemical, neurobiological and pharmacological findings that we have collected from several different animal models and tests of depression. These are the forced swim test, the chronic mild stress and the learned helplessness models, the Flinders sensitive line rats, which is a genetic model of depression and the lipopolysaccharide‐induced sickness behaviour, a putative inflammatory model of depression. Collectively, our data have shown that in all animal models assayed, serotonergic neurochemical responses were differently affected in males and females, ultimately producing sex‐dependent behavioural effects. In addition, Flinders sensitive line rats exhibited a sexually dimorphic response to chronic antidepressant treatment. These sex‐differentiated neurochemical and behavioural alterations lend support to a major role of serotonin in the mediation of sexually dimorphic responses.
RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) play key roles in many aspects of RNA metabolism. In Leishmania, a unicellular eukaryote that favors the posttranscriptional mode of regulation for controlling gene ...expression levels, the function of RBPs becomes even more critical. However, due largely to limited in vivo approaches available for identifying RBPs in these parasites, there have been no significant advances to our understanding of the role these proteins play in posttranscriptional control through binding to cis-acting elements in the 3' untranslated region (3'UTR) of mRNAs. Here we describe an optimized in vivo RNA tethering approach using the bacteriophage MS2 coat protein combined to immunoprecipitation and mass spectrometry analysis to identify RBPs specifically interacting with 3'UTR short interspersed degenerated retroposon elements (SIDERs). Members of the SIDER2 subfamily were shown previously to promote mRNA degradation through a novel mechanism of mRNA decay. Using this modified MS2 tethering approach, we have identified candidate RBPs specifically interacting with SIDER2 elements and contributing to the decay mechanism.
(1) Background: Emotional eating is considered as the propensity to eat in response to emotions. It is considered as a critical risk factor for recurrent weight gain. Such overeating is able to ...affect general health due to excess energy intake and mental health. So far, there is still considerable controversy on the effect of the emotional eating concept. The objective of this study is to summarize and evaluate the interconnections among emotional eating and overweight/obesity, depression, anxiety/stress, and dietary patterns; (2) Methods: This is a thorough review of the reported associations among emotional eating and overweight/obesity, depression, anxiety/stress, and dietary patterns. We compressively searched the most precise scientific online databases, e.g., PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science and Google Scholar to obtain the most up-to-date data from clinical studies in humans from the last ten years (2013-2023) using critical and representative keywords. Several inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied for scrutinizing only longitudinal, cross-sectional, descriptive, and prospective clinical studies in Caucasian populations; (3) Results: The currently available findings suggest that overeating/obesity and unhealthy eating behaviors (e.g., fast food consumption) are associated with emotional eating. Moreover, the increase in depressive symptoms seems to be related with more emotional eating. Psychological distress is also related with a greater risk for emotional eating. However, the most common limitations are the small sample size and their lack of diversity. In addition, a cross-sectional study was performed in the majority of them; (4) Conclusions: Finding coping mechanisms for the negative emotions and nutrition education can prevent the prevalence of emotional eating. Future studies should further explain the underlying mechanisms of the interconnections among emotional eating and overweight/obesity, depression, anxiety/stress, and dietary patterns.
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