Academic literature on the topic 'Product-congruent smell'

Purpose The purpose of this paper is evaluate to what extent consumers can recognise a scent within a context that is congruent either with the product or with the user, respectively, objects’ quality or subjects’ involvement. Design/methodology/approach This paper consists of two experimental studies. The first study assesses people’s capacity to recognise three scents: leather, synthetic leather, and fabric. The second study assesses the way in which a frame of reference (quality or involvement) affects people’s capacity for scent recognition (leather and fabric). Findings Results confirm the difficulty of scent recognition revealing, in the first study, a low level of consistency in subjects’ responses. The second study shows an interaction between the type of scent and consumers’ framework: subjects who are primed to think about product quality present more accurate scent recognition when they smell leather, whereas subjects who are primed to think about themselves present more accurate scent recognition when they smell fabric. Practical implications These results can be used in brand communication. A scent, such as that of leather, should highlight quality attributes in its communication. If the product is unscented, communication should highlight the subject who uses the product. Originality/value Previous studies show the importance of the consistency between scent and product marketing strategies. This study complements these findings by differentiating the context where a scent is presented considering either the product (the object’s quality attributes) or the individual who uses that product (subject’s involvement).

In accounting for an odorant's effect on the evaluation of a product, both the odor's intrinsic pleasantness and its appropriateness for that particular product are relevant. When comparing the effects of pleasant smells, consumers are likely to prefer products with appropriate smells 10 those with an inappropriate smell. We investigated the effect of adding congruent and incongruent odorants on product evaluations for each of three product categories: food (tea, instant whip, cake mix), personal care (shampoo, deodorant, lip balm), and household products (cream cleaner, air freshener, furniture wax), In a between-subjects design, 96 respondents judged scented and unscented products presented in commercial packages of major national brands. The respondents assessed the overall evaluation, 14 to 19 beliefs about the product, buying intention, and the frequency of use for each product. Respondents were instructed to evaluate each product as they would in a store. Although congruency ratings between odor and product show that the manipulation of congruency was successful, no main effect was found for the congruency on overall evaluations of the products. To account for this unexpected finding, we speculate that congruency between odor and product may be more important during product consumption or product use than during its selection. In addition, the odor's effects may have been attenuated in our experiment because we asked our respondents to rate each product on the attribute ‘has a nice smell’.

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Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the role of scent congruence with the brand image in the formation of consumers’ reactions to the atmosphere of a place. Design/methodology/approach Using a factorial design (i.e. scent congruent with the brand image, scent not congruent and control), an experiment was conducted in a multi-service and hospitality space welcoming both local consumers and tourists (N = 303). Findings The findings show that when the scent is perceived as congruent with the brand image, reactions in the store are more favourable. It is not enough to use a scent that “smells good” or that is congruent with other factors (e.g. sensory environment); the scent must be perceived by consumers as consistent with the brand image. Findings also reveal that the diffusion of a scent congruent with the brand image improves guest satisfaction, intention to revisit and perceptions of the product and service. Research limitations/implications The limitations are both the emphasis on direct links and the focus on a French brand (café/co-working space franchise). It would be appropriate to extend the research to other contexts. Practical implications The findings show how important it is for hospitality organisations to use scents to generate a positive impact on their guests. Hotel, restaurant and café managers wishing to enhance customer reactions through the creation of an olfactory atmosphere should take scent congruence with the brand image into consideration. Originality/value The study of the effects of the atmosphere on consumer behaviour as a function of olfactory congruence with the brand image uses in-situ experimentation (café/co-working and food and beverage area).

High-temperature powder sintering is an integral part of the dense ceramic manufacturing process. In order to find the optimal conditions for producing a ceramic product, the information about its behavior at high temperatures is required. However, the data available in the literature are very contradictory. In this work, the thermal stability of hydroxyapatite prepared by a solid-state mechanochemical method and structural changes occurring during sintering were studied. Stoichiometric hydroxyapatite was found to remain as a single-phase apatite structure with the space group P63/m up to 1300 °C inclusively. A further increase in the sintering temperature leads to its partial decomposition, a decrease in the crystallite size of the apatite phase, and the appearance of significant structural strains. It was shown that small deviations from stoichiometry in the Ca/P ratio upward or downward during the hydroxyapatite synthesis lead to a significant decrease in the thermal stability of hydroxyapatite. An apatite containing almost no hydroxyl groups, which is close to the composition of oxyapatite, was prepared. It was shown that the congruent melting of stoichiometric hydroxyapatite upon slow heating in a high-temperature furnace does not occur. At the same time, the fast heating of hydroxyapatite by laser radiation allows, under certain conditions, its congruent melting with the formation of a recrystallized monolayer of oxyhydroxyapatite. The data obtained in this study can be used when choosing sintering conditions to produce hydroxyapatite-based ceramics.

Studies show a product's color affects consumer behavior. Yet the basic principle that governs color effects is unclear. In this study, we fill this gap. We demonstrate that causal-reasoning considerations govern color effects. Specifically, people expect that a cause and its effect should exhibit some degree of resemblance or congruency (“like causes like”), which leads them to use the “law of similarity” heuristic. In two studies, using various products, we focused on an irrelevant aspect of the product’s color—the color of its packaging. We demonstrate that the same ad (e.g., a patch that prevents mosquito bites) was more persuasive (willingness to purchase the product – henceforth WTP, and preference) when the product’s packaging color was congruent (pinkish) with the effect promised (calm skin) than when it was not (red).We strengthen the notion that leaning on a cause-effect-similarity heuristic is very basic, by showing that individual differences in thinking style have a very small effect on moderating this tendency.In line with other studies, which shows that causal-reasoning considerations (as previous knowledge and metal causal structure) govern judgment and choice on artifacts (products), the present study demonstrates that causal-reasoning considerations govern judgment and choice concerning cause-effect similarity heuristic as well.

Abstract Biosynthesis of bacteriophage T4 DNA polymerase is autogenously regulated at the translational level. The enzyme, product of gene 43, represses its own translation by binding to its mRNA 5' to the initiator AUG at a 36-40 nucleotide segment that includes the Shine-Dalgarno sequence and a putative RNA hairpin structure consisting of a 5-base-pair stem and an 8-base loop. We constructed mutations that either disrupted the stem or altered specific loop residues of the hairpin and found that many of these mutations, including single-base changes in the loop sequence, diminished binding of purified T4 DNA polymerase to its RNA in vitro (as measured by a gel retardation assay) and derepressed synthesis of the enzyme in vivo (as measured in T4 infections and by recombinant-plasmid-mediated expression). In vitro effects, however, were not always congruent with in vivo effects. For example, stem pairing with a sequence other than wild-type resulted in normal protein binding in vitro but derepression of protein synthesis in vivo. Similarly, a C----A change in the loop had a small effect in vitro and a strong effect in vivo. In contrast, an A----U change near the base of the hairpin that was predicted to increase the length of the base-paired stem had small effects both in vitro and in vivo. The results suggest that interaction of T4 DNA polymerase with its structured RNA operator depends on the spatial arrangement of specific nucleotide residues and is subject to modulation in vivo.

Methyl cellulose and its derivatives are widely used in the food industry, cosmetics, and as construction materials. The properties of methyl celluloses (MC) strongly depend on their degrees and positions of substitution. In order to generate MCs with uncommon blocky substitution, we apply fully protected O-benzyl-O-methyl celluloses (BnMC). Such complex polysaccharide derivatives could not be deprotected completely and without shift of the composition by methods usually applied to mono- and oligosaccharides. Therefore, a facile debenzylation method was developed based on photo-initiated free-radical bromination in the presence of hydrobromic acid scavengers followed by alkaline treatment. The reaction proceeds under homogeneous conditions and without the aid of any catalyst. There is no need for expensive equipment, materials, anhydrous reagents, or running the reaction under anhydrous conditions. Reaction parameters were investigated and optimized for successful debenzylation of completely protected BnMC with degrees of methyl substitution (DSMe) around 1.9 (and DSBn around 1.1). Side-product-free and almost complete debenzylation was achieved when 1,2-epoxybutane (0.5 eq./eq. N-bromosuccinimide) and 2,6-di-tert-butylpyridine (0.5 eq./eq. N-bromosuccinimide) were used in the reaction. Furthermore, ATR-IR and 1H NMR spectroscopy confirmed the successful removal of benzyl ether groups. The method was developed to monitor the transglycosylation reaction of the BnMC with permethylated cellulose, for which the deprotection of many small samples in parallel is required. This comprises the determination of the methyl pattern in the glucosyl units by gas-liquid chromatography (GLC), as well as oligosaccharide analysis by liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS) after perdeuteromethylation and partial hydrolysis to determine the methyl pattern in the chains. The unavoidable partial chain degradation during debenzylation does not interfere with this analytical application, but, most importantly, the DS and the methyl pattern were almost congruent for the debenzylated product and the original MC, indicating the full success of this approach The presented method provides an unprecedented opportunity for high throughput and parallel debenzylation of complicated glucans, such as BnMC (as a model compound), for analytical purposes. For comparison, debenzylation using Na/NH3 was applied to BnMC and resulted in a completely debenzylated product with a remarkably high recovery yield of 99 mol% and is, thus, the method of choice for synthetic applications, e.g., for the transglycosylation product prepared under the selected conditions in a preparative scale.

The article seeks to explore the need for benchmarking as a management tool to facilitate effective doing business and its further development in the context of increased dynamism of the market environment in Ukraine while ensuring sustainable competitive market positions and entry of domestic products and companies into world markets, which in turn, fosters continuous product improvement, promotes business development and assumes a range of strategic actions to enhance competitiveness in the future. It is argued that to achieve long-term business success, stakeholders should obtain reliable information on their major competitors to gain business development efficiency and select an optimal management framework. From this perspective, benchmarking is viewed as a good method to gain a competitive edge. Within the scope of the study, benchmarking is a process of multifaceted comparison and evaluation of a particular company against others, the ones that have achieved better success, or have become leaders in the same industry or in other sectors. Today, benchmarking has evolved into an integral element in a management paradigm of effective business development and part of its strategic management practice to enhance the activity outcomes of any enterprise wishing to outperform their competitors and to be resistant to changes in external and internal environment. In modern realia of small and medium-sized business development, it is rather challenging to maintain their competitive positions in the market which makes businesses consistently search for new effective methods to increase their profitability, competitiveness, as well as work out better management policies and more efficient development scenarios. Undoubtedly, top managers, businessmen, business owners and other stakeholders are keen to have information on the methodology and tools of running and managing their businesses and forecast the performance outcomes. Nowadays, it is critical that benchmarking analysis is congruent with the overall business strategy aimed at effective company development and management, which ultimately will help to pin down and use the key success factors. Benchmarking technology is a promising tool to boost business opportunities as well as to track the latest trends and innovations in the production of goods and services raising the product quality subject to international standards requirements. Thus, driving the focus towards better business management and its effective development, the study suggests the following action plan to be implemented: to evaluate the internal potential; to forecast future development in the selected business areas; to provide a comparative assessment against the reference benchmarks; to substantiate target values of the desired business performance parameters taking into account the available potential and the key competitors’ achievements; to structure business goals according to the functional elements in business operational areas; to elaborate a range of measures to ensure gaining a leading position including the design of new innovative approaches and the current business process improvement plan.

Abstract Aim: The objective of this study was compare the in vivo distribution of different preparations of dendritic cells (DC) from a single donor after intradermal (ID) administration and correlate FACS analysis of excised tissue and imaging findings. Method: DC were generated from a single healthy donor apheresis product. The DC types were GM-CSF + IL-13 (IL-13 imDC), then further matured with FMKp+IFNg (IL-13mDC), GM-CSF + IL-4 (IL-4 imDC) and matured (IL-4 mDC) and GM-CSF+IFN-α (IFN-α DC). Antigen naive DC preparations were labelled with Yttrium-86 oxine (prepared on site) by incubation at room temperature for 30 minutes followed by centrifugation and resuspension. 5 × 105 radio-labelled cells in 50_L was injected ID into the footpad and the volar aspect of the foreleg of Balb/c nude mice (n=5 per group). A cohort (n=5) of control mice were similarly injected with Yttrium-86 oxine only. Images were acquired on a small animal PET (SAPET) (Mosaic, Philips Medical Systems) at 2, 24 and 45 hours post administration. Mice were then euthanized and popliteal, axillary and inguinal lymph nodes (LN) harvested. LN were processed into single cell suspension, stained with anti-human HLA-DR and CD11c and analysed by flow cytometry. SAPET images were graded: 0 – no signal, 1 – marginal, 2 – definite nodal signal, 3 – strong signal. DC detection by FACS was graded: 0 – no detection, 1 – <0.5% DC, 2 – 0.5.⋄1.5% DC, 3 – >1.5% DC of all viable cellular events. Results: Pre-injection analysis of DC showed expression of HLA-DR, HLA-ABC, CD11c, CD80 and CD86, low levels of CD83, CCR5 and CCR7 along with down regulation of CD14. Matured DC populations showed increased levels of CD83 and CD86. Similar phenotypic expression on the DC populations were observed prior to cryopreservation and upon thawing. Mean DC radiolabelling efficiency of 72% (54% – 88%). There was a minor decrease in cell numbers and viability after labelling most likely due to oxine related toxicity. There were no substantial differences in tracking between cell types. In 28 of 43 nodes assessed, FACS and SAPET results were congruent (27 FACS and SAPET positive and 1 FACS and SAPET negative). Of the 15 discrepant samples, 13 were SAPET positive and FACS negative, while 2 were FACS positive and PET negative. Average FACS and SAPET grades at 45 hours were higher for popliteal nodes than axillary nodes. No false positive nodal accumulation was visualised at 45 hours in control mice. Conclusion: This novel PET technique provides a robust, reproducible method for quantification of in vivo functional DC tracking to LN. Detection of DC migration using this novel PET agent is a more reliable technique than biopsy and FACS analysis, which has an inherent sampling error.

Molti studi nel campo del comportamento di consumo hanno sottolineato il ruolo fondamentale che le emozioni esercitano sul comportamento. La maggioranza dei nostri comportamenti è guidata da risposte emozionali all’ambiente. Allo scopo di comprendere il comportamento di consumo è cruciale indagare cosa siano le emozioni, come possano essere misurate ed elicitate, e come queste possano direttamente influenzare il comportamento. Le emozioni possono essere elicitate da diversi stimoli sensoriali. Precedenti studi di psicologia e neurofisiologia hanno usato esclusivamente stimoli affettivi visivi per elicitare le emozioni, mentre altre modalità sensoriali hanno ricevuto meno attenzione. La presente tesi si focalizza sugli stimoli olfattivi come trigger inconsci di emozioni. L’olfatto è stato studiato per le sue connessioni e la sua influenza sulle emozioni umane e sui processi cognitivi, ma le corrispondenze cross-modali e le interazioni tra l’odore e gli altri sensi sono state scarsamente indagate. Questa tesi affronta specificamente le problematiche teoretiche di come possano essere definite e misurate le emozioni, in particolare di come le emozioni possano essere elicitate da stimoli olfattivi e come questi influenzino la propensione all’acquisto dei consumatori. In relazione agli ambiente dei punti vendita reali, un’altra questione affrontata è come stimoli affettivi (in-)congruenti provenienti da diverse modalità sensoriali influenzino la risposta emozionale e come la percezione degli odori possa essere influenzata dalle corrispondenze cross-modali con gli altri sensi. In tre studi, per comprendere queste problematiche, sono stati utilizzati strumenti per la valutazione delle emozioni implicite e self-report, questionari comportamentali self-report, test di associazioni implicite e misurazioni fisiologiche. Il primo studio ha indagato come gli odori congruenti con i prodotti stimolino l’intenzione d’acquisto. I risultati mostrano come gli odori congruenti con i prodotti aumentino l’intenzione d’acquisto tramite l’effetto che hanno sulle emozioni positive e facilitino l’accesso alle informazioni del prodotto. Il secondo studio ha verificato l’effetto combinato di stimoli attivanti olfattivi e uditivi sulla percezione di immagini affettive. I risultati mostrano che stimoli congruenti in termini di attivazione influenzano differentemente le misure self-report e fisiologiche. L’effetto della co-occorrenza di stimolazione attivante tra le modalità olfattiva e uditiva migliora marcatamente l’esperienza emozionale evocata da immagine affettive. Nel terzo studio è stata indagata l’interazione cross-modale tra odore e differenti modalità sensoriali tramite test di associazione. I risultati hanno suggerito che gli odori possono essere classificati e indentificati usando come attributi distintivi principali gli stimoli provenienti da altre modalità sensoriali, associazioni cross-modali ed emozioni. Considerati insieme, questi risultati suggeriscono che gli stimoli olfattivi influenzino inconsciamente il comportamento di consumo non solo attraverso gli effetti diretti che l’odore ha sulle emozioni ma anche attraverso il priming. L’odore ambientale può guidare il consumatore ad acquisti non pianificati, in quanto opera da sollecitatore inconscio di bisogni di consumo. Questi risultati sono in linea con la letteratura precedente dimostrando che gli stimoli olfattivi influenzano direttamente le emozioni. Queste scoperte portano a nuova conoscenza su come la congruenza, in termini di attivazione affettiva tra diverse modalità sensoriali, moduli le risposte emozionali. I presenti risultati contribuiscono a una conoscenza migliore delle interazioni cross-modali nella percezione dell’odore. L’odore può essere classificato usando attributi distintivi di altre modalità sensoriali. Vengono discusse le implicazioni teoriche e pratiche.

On September 26, 2002, NASA announced that a consortium of six universities including: The University of Maryland, Virginia Tech, The University of Virginia, North Carolina A&T State University, North Carolina State University, and Georgina Tech had submitted the winning proposal for a National Institute of Aerospace. The Institute began formal operations in January of 2003 in Hampton, VA, and its mission included research, education, outreach, and technology transfer. One important focus of the NIA was to stimulate research among its member universities of potential benefit to NASA and to develop additional partnerships to further NIA focus areas. The work described in this paper is such an activity in bio-inspired actuator materials. This work was originally advocated and developed at Inha University, and it is being extended by teams from Inha University, North Carolina A&T State University, and NASA Langley so that the potential for these actuators as devices for special applications is better understood. This paper focuses on important performance characteristics of electro-active paper (EAPap) actuators and the potential of thes actuators to propel autonomous devices. EAPap is a paper that produces large displacement with small force under an electrical excitation. EAPap is made with chemically treated papers with electrodes on both outer surfaces. When electrical voltage is applied to the electrodes, a tip displacement is produced. One drawback in such actuators is that the actual power produced is variable, and the displacement is relatively unstable. Further, the performance tends to degrade in time and as a function of how the papers are processed. Environmental factors also impact the performance of the product including temperature and humidity. The use of such materials in ambulatory devices requires attention to these concerns and further research is needed to find what initial applications are most congruent with EAPap performance and service lift. In this paper, we have extended the knowledge base of EAPap to include additional ranges of temperature and humidity. We have also looked beyond the current tests on cantilevered beam actuators to segmented plate sections and have tested the ability of these actuators to perform as oscillatory devices both in and out of phase, and to chart their performance vs. time humidity and temperature thus emulating a rudimentary wing or walking assembly.