Reasons to counterfeit: Supply, demand and distribution of counterfeit goods

This research empathizes with the opportunities that drive demand for counterfeit goods. Governments, organizations and rights holders struggle to regulate the distribution and consumption of counterfeit products, so that consumer awareness has emerged as to what goods people counterfeit, and most importantly, why people intentionally buy counterfeit items. This article illustrates the incentives that inspire buyers to purchase counterfeit products, tactics that brand owners use to fuel their interest. It involves the development of demand, marketing tactics, and the implementation of consumer approach strategies by brands. It also reveals the complicated logistics and transporting routes creating manufacturing and transit hubs for counterfeiting,; it also demonstrates the lack of government intervention as well as the desperate need for policy revision. This article shows counterfeiting is phenomenon that governments, organizations, and most importantly, consumers all have equal interest in fighting against.

Factors behind consumers' choices for healthy fruits: a review of pomegranate and its food derivatives

Due to the rising interest in healthy products, superfoods such as pomegranate have begun to spread widely on the international market in recent years. Identification of the consumer choice determinants is a key factor behind the success of innovative products. Nevertheless, to date, there has been no comprehensive analysis of consumers’ preferences for pomegranate. The aim of this study is to understand the characteristics of pomegranate and its derivatives that are most preferred by consumers and to identify the buyers’ profiles by performing a systematic review (SR). The results suggest that there is not equal interest in the literature in all areas of the review. Indeed, most efforts have been made in characterizing the products, whereas consumers’ profiles and their willingness to pay for the various products features have been scarcely investigated. The SR highlights that consumer preference is first correlated with taste and, in particular, with the sweetness (positively) and astringency (negatively) of the product. The red colour and uniform shape of the husk are attractive attributes for consumers, as is the juiciness of the arils. Some innovative methods of product storage, such as intermittent heating (for fruits) and the use of pectin methyl esterase (for arils), guarantee higher consumer acceptability due to the maintenance of product genuineness. Moreover, familiarity with the product seems to be the main driver influencing consumers’ purchase decisions; in addition, people who are more “future oriented” are more willing to pay for pomegranate because of the nutraceutical attributes stressed on the label.

Making clear what is fuzzy about community membership: A prototypic approach

Aims: The critical task of positively identifying membership of the communities with which we work prior to initiating programs of research purporting to represent said communities is often forgone and treated as self-evident. This study demonstrates undertaking this task at the outset of a program of research by gathering member self-definitions of a relational, online and face-to-face community- the Fighting Game Community.Methods: Borrowing from social identity theory in social psychology, this study uses a prototypic approach and thematic content analysis with 319 open-ended descriptions of “good players” and “bad player” deviants.Results: In general, having a growth mindset and winning games were the most crucial amongst divergent themes. Of equal interest, definitions were not consensual across the community; some directly conflicted with one another. These definitions represented a community with fuzzy boundaries, that exists more as a multi-layered tapestry than a black-and-white unit with sharply delineated boundaries.

External Validity

External validity captures the extent to which inferences drawn from a given study's sample apply to a broader population or other target populations. Social scientists frequently invoke external validity as an ideal, but they rarely attempt to make rigorous, credible external validity inferences. In recent years, methodologically oriented scholars have advanced a flurry of work on various components of external validity, and this article reviews and systematizes many of those insights. We first clarify the core conceptual dimensions of external validity and introduce a simple formalization that demonstrates why external validity matters so critically. We then organize disparate arguments about how to address external validity by advancing three evaluative criteria: model utility, scope plausibility, and specification credibility. We conclude with a practical aspiration that scholars supplement existing reporting standards to include routine discussion of external validity. It is our hope that these evaluation and reporting standards help rebalance scientific inquiry, such that the current obsession with causal inference is complemented with an equal interest in generalized knowledge.

Bismuth-Graphene Nanohybrids: Synthesis, Reaction Mechanisms, and Photocatalytic Applications—A Review

Photocatalysis is a classical solution to energy conversion and environmental pollution control problems. In photocatalysis, the development and exploration of new visible light catalysts and their synthesis and modification strategies are crucial. It is also essential to understand the mechanism of these reactions in the various reaction media. Recently, bismuth and graphene’s unique geometrical and electronic properties have attracted considerable attention in photocatalysis. This review summarizes bismuth-graphene nanohybrids’ synthetic processes with various design considerations, fundamental mechanisms of action, heterogeneous photocatalysis, benefits, and challenges. Some key applications in energy conversion and environmental pollution control are discussed, such as CO2 reduction, water splitting, pollutant degradation, disinfection, and organic transformations. The detailed perspective of bismuth-graphene nanohybrids’ applications in various research fields presented herein should be of equal interest to academic and industrial scientists.

Incorporating intersectionality into quantitative research methods in public health

Introduction The use of intersectionality as an explicit theoretical framework in quantitative public health research is relatively recent, and has involved a wide array of study design and statistical methods. As best practices have not been identified, guidance for research design and analysis is needed. Methods We draw on a review of the literature and our own methods publications to present an overview of key considerations in approaching public health research from an intersectional perspective. Results Key considerations differ for descriptive studies of intersectional inequalities and analytic studies of potential causes of those inequalities, as research methodologies and their strengths and limitations differ. For descriptive studies, considerations include specification of intersectional groups, multiplicative vs. additive scale for analysis of effects and interactions, limitations of data sets, whether all intersectional groups are of equal interest, and choosing statistical methods. For analytic studies, considerations include whether potential causal factors are relevant and measurable for all intersections or are specific to some, variable measurement, different options in standardization or control of confounding, and statistical analysis methods. Discussion We present considerations in incorporating intersectionality frameworks, and provide tools for conceptualizing intersectionality-informed quantitative public health research.

Architecture of the World’s Major Religions

In Architecture of the World’s Major Religions: An Essay on Themes, Differences, and Similarities, religious architecture is presented and explained in ways that challenge predominant presumptions regarding its aesthetic, formal, spatial, and scenographic elements. Two positions frame its narrative: religious architecture is an amalgam of aesthetic, social, political, cultural, economic, and doctrinal elements; and these elements are materialized in often very different ways in the world’s principal religions. Central to the essay’s theoretical approaches is the communicative and discursive agency of religious architecture, and the multisensory and ritual spaces it provides to create and deliver content. Subsequently, mythical and scriptural foundations, and symbols of ecclesiastical and political power are of equal interest to formal organizations of thresholds, paths, courts, and centers, and celestial and geometric alignments. Moreover, it is equally concerned with the aesthetic—visual and material cultures and the transcendent realms they were designed to evoke, as it is with the kinesthetic—the dynamic and multisensory experience of place and the tangible experiences of the body’s interactions with architecture.

European Elections, National Agenda: Facebook in the 2019 Romanian EP Elections

Politicians and political campaigns are not inadvertent to the development of social media platforms as environments that allow access to a larger audience. Not relying solely on the traditional media as a mouthpiece for their messages and taking matters into their own hands offers new segues for analyzing political communication. However, not all elections are of equal interest, both for the electorate and for the candidates, as second-order election theory suggests (Reif & Schmitt, 1980; Hix & Marsh, 2004). This paper investigates the area situated at the intersection of these two research directions. This quantitative study aims to analyze how Romanian political parties and candidates used Facebook in the electoral campaign for the European Parliament, in May 2019. Th e study follows the correlation between Facebook metrics, like frequency of posts and the popularity of the pages, and the political agendas reflected in each party’s Facebook posts. The conclusions are consistent with second-order elections theory, but raise questions about the dependable nature of Facebook metrics.

Common thresher shark Alopias vulpinus movement: Bayesian inference on a data-limited species

Within the fields of biology and ecology, animal movement is arguably one of the most basic, and yet, often one of the most difficult areas of study. Where and why animals migrate, and what patterns can be derived from individual movements in order to make population-level inferences are key areas when attempting to define basic population dynamics. These questions are of equal interest to biologists and managers, with many species assessments identifying improvements in the understanding of population-level movement as a key research need. We aimed to improve our understanding of population level movement for common thresher sharks Alopias vulpinus by leveraging the largest satellite tagging dataset available for this species. Using a Bayesian approach specifically designed to address population-level questions with sparse telemetry data, we identified that A. vulpinus off the west coast of North America are partial migrators which conditionally migrate, based on a combination of fixed intrinsic states (size, sex) and variable extrinsic states (e.g. season, environment). Waters of the Southern California Bight were identified as an area where, seasonally, a large variety of sizes of A. vulpinus can be found. While smaller juveniles can be found throughout the year, larger sub-adults and adults often move out of the Bight during certain seasons (spring and winter). Knowledge of how A. vulpinus distribute along the coast, and that season, size, and to some extent sex, play important roles in where and what type of animals are likely to be found, are key pieces of information when attempting to accurately characterize basic biological parameters like age, growth, and reproduction, as well as understanding the effects of variable fishing pressures across the species’ range.

Challenging Concepts in Critical Care

This book includes 18 challenging topics in critical care. Each chapter is centred on a clinically relevant case study and comprises a full case history, punctuated by evidence-based, up-to-date learning points which highlight the critical information for the reader. Every chapter has additional commentary from an expert on that topic, providing further insight to some of the key points and controversies. This book provides essential reading for those working for intensive care exams, but will also be a valuable resource for experienced critical care clinicians looking for a concise update on a range of challenging topics. The book will be of equal interest to senior intensive care unit nurses and allied health professionals. The arrangement of information around relevant case studies stimulates interest and facilitates learning.