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Consumers have available to them several potential strategies they might use to evaluate a given price. Research suggests they might compare an observed price to internal reference prices (IRPs) drawn from memory. Alternatively, consumers might evaluate a price relative to external reference prices (ERPs) available in the immediate environment. Finally, a consumer might use the seller's price image (PI), the overall impression that consumers form of the price level of a store, as a heuristic to evaluate prices. This paper briefly reviews previous research on these three evaluation strategies, as well as work investigating how these strategies interact with each other. Building on previous work, these insights are organized into a framework for predicting the factors likely to influence consumers' use of each of these strategies. It is argued that the selection of a price evaluation strategy will be based on the relative accessibility and perceived diagnosticity of IRPs, ERPs, and PIs, as well as the consumers' motivations and type of judgment the consumers are making.

BackgroundUpdated European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (EUCAST) amikacin breakpoints for Enterobacterales and Pseudomonas aeruginosaincluded revised dosing recommendations of 25–30 mg/kg to achieve key pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic parameters, higher than recommended in the British National Formulary. The objectives of this review were to identify clinical evidence for high-dose amikacin regimens and to determine drug exposures that are related to adverse events and toxicity.MethodsThe literature search was conducted in October 2021 and updated in May 2022 using electronic databases for any study reporting adult participants treated with amikacin at doses ≥20 mg/kg/day. Reference lists of included papers were also screened for potential papers. Data were extracted for pharmacokinetic parameters and clinical outcomes, presented in a summary table and consolidated narratively. Meta-analysis was not possible. Each study was assessed for bias before, during and after the intervention using the ROBINS-I tool.ResultsNine studies (total 501 participants in 10 reports) were identified and included, eight of which were observational studies. Assessment of bias showed substantial flaws. Dosing regimens ranged from 25 to 30 mg/kg/day. Six studies adjusted the dose in obesity when participants had a body mass index of ≥30 kg/m2. Target peak serum concentrations ranged from 60 mg/L to 80 mg/L and 59.6–81.8% of patients achieved these targets, but there was no information on clinical outcomes. Two studies reported the impact of high-dose amikacin on renal function. No studies reporting auditory or vestibular toxicity were identified.ConclusionAll included papers were limited by a significant risk of bias, while methodological and reporting heterogeneity made drawing conclusions challenging. Lack of information on the impact on renal function or ototoxicity means high-dose regimens should be used cautiously in older people. There is a need for a consensus guideline for high-dose amikacin to be written.Trial registration numberPROSPERO (CRD42021250022).

The effect of vertical product line extensions on price image is examined. Upscale extensions are seen to decrease price image. The impact of vertical extensions on price image is seen as a function of consumer goals.

How consumer choice among retailers who offer various-sized assortments is influenced by the attractiveness of the options that make up these assortments is examined. It was found that the relationship between option attractiveness and assortment size is concave, and that the marginal impact of assortment size on choice decreases as the attractiveness of the options increases.

Research has documented the psychological phenomenon in which the trip back from a destination is experienced as shorter than the trip to the destination. Deemed the “return trip effect” (RTE), prior work explained this phenomenon in terms of differential familiarity between home and outbound destination or an underestimation of initial travel time. The present article posits an anticipation account for the RTE: Outbound trips to a destination tend to foster higher levels of anticipation than return trips. Due to greater anticipation, people’s perception of time elongates. Importantly, the anticipation account makes novel predictions with regard to the occurrence of the RTE that cannot be accounted for by prior explanations. Multiple studies, with diverse methodologies, test and offer evidence in support of an anticipation account of the RTE.

This research documents a novel influence of retailer price image (RPI): its effect on what consumers choose within the retailer. Because a high RPI is associated with a high likelihood of finding lower prices elsewhere, we propose that shopping at a retailer with a high RPI, relative to a low RPI, increases the salience of the option to defer choice (i.e., to leave the retailer and search elsewhere). We further propose that the increased salience of the no-choice option alters the importance consumers place on enriched attributes (e.g., brand, unique design) versus comparable attributes (e.g., megapixels, number of settings) when choosing an option (i.e., when they do not defer). The findings of seven experiments show that high-RPI settings increase the relative importance of enriched attributes, thereby making options dominating on enriched attributes more likely to be chosen in high-RPI settings than in low-RPI settings.

ORDINARY INDIVIDUALS LEAN ONE WAY and tend to be rather lopsided or simply plain, from time to time exceptions to the norm occur and the world is given extraordinary people […]

We present a software platform developed by Genentech and MathWorks Consulting Group that allows arbitrary MATLAB (MATLAB is a registered trademark of The MathWorks, Inc.) functions to perform supervisory control of process equipment (in this case, fermentors) via the OLE for process control (OPC) communication protocol, under the direction of an industrial automation layer. The software features automated synchronization and deployment of server control code and has been proven to be tolerant of OPC communication interruptions. Since deployment in the spring of 2010, this software has successfully performed supervisory control of more than 700 microbial fermentations in the Genentech pilot plant and has enabled significant reductions in the time required to develop and implement novel control strategies (months reduced to days). The software is available for download at the MathWorks File Exchange Web site at http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/36866.

The prototype nova-like variable VY Sculptoris was observed by the IUEduring four different optical brightness states of the system. The far-ultraviolet (FUV) flux level from the highest state to the lowest state declines by a factor of 28. We have carried out model accretion disk and white dwarf atmosphere fitting to the spectra. The corresponding accretion rates range from at the highest FUV flux level down to at the lowest flux level. We report tentative evidence for the detection of the underlying white dwarf with Teff= 45,000 K in the spectrum with the lowest flux level.

We present a synthetic spectral analysis of nearly the entire far-ultraviolet International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) archive of spectra of dwarf novae in or near outburst. The study includes 46 systems of all dwarf nova subtypes, both above and below the period gap. The spectra were uniformly analyzed using synthetic spectral codes for optically thick accretion disks and stellar photospheres, along with the best available distance measurements or estimates. We present newly estimated accretion rates and discuss the implications of our study for disk accretion physics and CV evolution.

An automated online sampling and measurement system that can be assembled for less than $5000 in components (including spectrophotometer, pump, computer, valves, and relays) is described. The public domain Visual Basic source code that we developed is posted at http://www.ees.ufl.edu/homepp/koopman/hamilton_etal/. This system has proven to be very successful for measuring biomass in long-duration (36 h) experiments. In addition to providing a measurement record, this system could also be part of an automatic process control system.

Electronegative low density lipoprotein (LDL−) formation that structurally resembles LDL−isolated from plasma was evaluated after LDL treatment with snake venom phospholipase A2(PLA2). PLA2treatment of LDL increased its electrophoretic mobility in proportion to the amount of LDL−formed without evidence of lipid peroxidation. These changes dose-dependently correlated with the degree of phospholipid hydrolysis. Strong immunoreactivity of LDL−subfraction from plasma and PLA2-treated LDL (PLA2-LDL) to amyloid oligomer-specific antibody was observed. Higher β-strand structural content and unfolding proportionate to the loss of α-helical structure of apolipoprotein B-100 (apoB-100) of LDL−isolated from both native and PLA2-LDLs was demonstrated by circular dichroism (CD) spectropolarimetry. These structural changes resembled the characteristics of some oxidatively modified LDLs and soluble oligomeric aggregates of amyloidogenic proteins. PLA2-LDL was also more susceptible to nitration by peroxynitrite, likely because of exposure of otherwise inaccessible hydrophilic and hydrophobic domains arising from apoB-100 unfolding. This was also demonstrated for plasma LDL−. In contrast, PLA2-LDL was more resistant to copper-mediated oxidation that was reversed upon the addition of small amounts of unsaturated fatty acids.

High-resolution Airborne Wide-band Camera (HAWC+) is the facility far-infrared imager and polarimeter for SOFIA, NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy. It is designed to cover the portion of the infrared spectrum that is completely inaccessible to ground-based observatories and which is essential for studies of astronomical sources with temperatures between tens and hundreds of degrees Kelvin. Its ability to make polarimetric measurements of aligned dust grains provides a unique new capability for studying interstellar magnetic fields. HAWC+began commissioning flights in April 2016 and was accepted as a facility instrument in early 2018. In this paper, we describe the instrument, its operational procedures, and its performance on the observatory.

The article focuses on the success of the feng shui business of Ivy Black called Ivy's Feng Shui. It explores from how Black became interested in feng shui to putting up her own business related to the particular field. It notes that positioning herself between the two categories of feng shui, which she argues are classical and pop, is her marketing strategy. It cites that overcoming people's idea of the cost of a consultant comes first when it comes to her business model.

The article discusses the challenges facing the food and beverage suppliers in the U.S. in 2013. It mentions that the decrease in demand for food and drinks has resulted in consolidation of suppliers and tightening of budgets among purchasers. It cites that the outlook for the industry is at low to no growth for the following years according to Dave DeWalt, owner of consulting firm Franklin Foodservice Solutions.

We present K-band spectroscopy of short-period, "sub-gap" cataclysmic variable (CV) systems obtained using ISAAC on the Very Large Telescope. We show the infrared (IR) spectra for nine systems below the 2-3 hr period gap: V2051 Oph, V436 Cen, EX Hya, VW Hyi, Z Cha, WX Hyi, V893 Sco, RZ Leo, and TY PsA. We are able to clearly detect the secondary star in all but WX Hyi, V893 Sco, and TY PsA. We present the first direct detection of the secondary stars of V2051 Oph, V436 Cen, and determine new spectral classifications for EX Hya, VW Hyi, Z Cha, and RZ Leo. We find that the CO band strengths of all but Z Cha appear normal for their spectral types, in contrast to their longer period cousins above the period gap. This brings the total number of CVs and pre-CVs with moderate resolution (R [?] 1500) IR spectroscopy to 61 systems: 19 pre-CVs, 31 non-magnetic systems, and 11 magnetic or partially magnetic systems. We discuss the trends seen in the IR abundance patterns thus far and highlight a potential link between anomalous abundances seen in the IR with the C IV/N V anomaly seen in the ultraviolet. We present a compilation of all systems with sufficient resolution IR observations to assess the CO band strengths and, by proxy, obtain an estimate on the C abundance on the secondary star.