Additive Manufacturing of Locally Weakened Parts to Obtain a Designed Fracture

Manuela Galati,Silvio Defanti 대한금속·재료학회 2024 METALS AND MATERIALS International Vol.30 No.2

Today, the additive manufacturing (AM) approach has led to profound changes in part and process design, enabling previouslyimpossible material properties. With the freedom to create the material as components are built layer by layer, AMhas permitted precise spatial control of the material properties in manufactured parts. In this work, an original approach isproposed to locally control component and process design and create intentionally weakened regions with designed fracture,which paves the way to tuneable mechanical properties. Tensile tests of specimens with embedded weakened area of variousgeometries are used to verify the feasibility of a-priori-designed fracture modes and to characterise the variation in materialbehaviour. The results show that an ad hoc design of the artificially weakened areas is effective for predictable breakage,with load and strain being the precursor for active control of the mechanical behaviour. The attainability of a quantitativerelationship between the defect and the mechanical response is exemplified by the fact that, e.g. for a flat geometry, themaximum stress and strain are reduced by half when the thickness of the weak region is doubled.

Invasive potential of biofilm-forming Staphylococci bovine subclinical mastitis isolates

Manuela Oliveira,Ricardo Bexiga,Sandro Filipe Nunes,Cristina Lobo Vilela 대한수의학회 2011 JOURNAL OF VETERINARY SCIENCE Vol.12 No.1

Staphylococcus (S.) aureus is a common infectious agent of bovine chronic mastitis, a disease that is difficult to eradicate. The abilities of Staphylococci to be internalized and form a biofilm can contribute to host immunological defence evasion that subsequently impairs antimicrobial therapy. The invasive capability of six S. aureus field isolates with different biofilmforming profiles was compared in vitro using a bovine mammary epithelial cell line. This was further confirmed in primary cell cultures using fluorescent rRNA probes against S. aureus. The results suggest that S. aureus invasion levels are not related to biofilm formation.

SHOPPING EXPERIENCES AND LUXURY BRANDS: CONSUMER RESPONSE TO HOLISTIC BRAND CUES ACROSS MULTIPLE RETAIL SETTINGS

Manuela Valta,Donata Vianelli 글로벌지식마케팅경영학회 2015 Global Fashion Management Conference Vol.2015 No.06

Over the past decades, researchers devoted considerable attention to the impact of store environments on shopping behavior (e.g. Baker et al., 2002; Kotler, 1973; Turley & Milliman, 2000). More recent, practitioners and academics alike have argued that a greater challenge for brands is the creation and enhancement of compelling shopping experiences along, and beyond, the entire path-to-purchase (Interbrand, 2014; Shankar et al., 2011). In a luxury brand context, where the shopping experience is a significant motivator for purchases (Yoon, 2013), the interaction of multiple retail environments greatly affect consumer behavior towards the brands. Accordingly, brand experiences is created at both ends of the marketing supply chain, by brand manufacturers and retailers. Yet, although research has developed fruitful areas for new perspectives on the relationships between manufacturers and retailers (Ganesan et al., 2009), the vast majority of existing research predominantly focuses on consumer response to brand experiences with respect to manufacturer cues (Dolbec & Chebat, 2013; Tynan et al., 2010), store cues (Baker et al., 2002), or retail settings (Möller & Herm, 2013). The evolving business world needs to implement more comprehensive and holistic approaches (Choi et al., 2014), where integrated strategies must emerge. The objective of this study is to present an explanation of luxury brand experiences across manufacturer and retailer’s settings. By overviewing the literature on the interaction between brand management, store atmospherics, and consumer behavior, and applying qualitative methods, the authors provide relevant insights for academics and practitioners toward a more comprehensive understanding of the luxury brand experience. Customer experience and luxury brands In the field of contemporary marketing, customer experience has been defined as a construct which “encompasses the total experience and may involve multiple retail channels” (Verhoef et al., 2009, p. 32). It includes the search, purchase, consumption, and after-sale phases of the experience. In a holistic brand perspective, this definition enlightens the key role of luxury brands in delivering the same brand promise and brand message across each connection between the consumer and the brand. Among the characteristics of luxury brands, consumers are willing to pursue luxury products as these products provide psychological benefits rather than functional benefits (Kapferer, 1997). Further, luxury brands are associated with status, wealth, exclusion, and pride (McFerran et al., 2014). As result, strong experiences with luxury brands derive when consumers develop deep emotional bonds with brands (Grisaffe & Nguyen, 2011). From a marketing perspective, consumers that develop deep emotional relationships with a brand have a lot of positive and strong associations (Yoo et al., 2000), such as the perception of the brand uniqueness and inimitability, and loyalty to the brand. However, when it comes to analyze the brand experience, research confers a conceptually different meaning from other brand constructs. According to Brakus et al. (2009), brand experience has distinct dimensions from evaluative, affective, and associative brand constructs, such as brand attachment, brand attitudes, customer delight, and brand personality. The concept of brand experience encompasses multiple dimensions, which refer to the sensorial, affective, intellectual, and behavioral sphere (Zarantonello & Schmitt, 2009). More specifically, the intrinsic concept of luxury brands as hedonic products with high symbolic value, holistically incorporate manufactures and retailers in fulfilling these various dimensions of brand experience. By assuring consistency across the manufacturer and retailer’s settings of the luxury brand, customer experiences evoke the exclusivity of the brand and transfer the authenticity of the brand message. From a consumer’s perspective, consumers reach brand authenticity when they perceive both the internal consistency, which focuses on maintaining the luxury brand standard and style, honoring its heritage, preserving its essence, and avoiding its exploitation, and the external consistency, which pertains to appearances and claims of the brand (Choi et al., 2014). Similarly, consumers tend to perceive the exclusivity of the luxury brand when they encounter consistent experiences across multiple brand touch points. Accordingly, in the experiential view, the principle of consistency and contiguity proposes that sensations, imagery, feelings, pleasures, and other symbolic or hedonic components are paired together to create mutually evocative consumer response (Holbrook & Hirschmann, 1982). The integration between the marketing and consumer’s perspectives suggests that luxury brands create and maintain powerful customer experiences when there is consistency across the manufacturer and retailer’s environments. However, in the landscape of luxury brand management, the conceptualization of customer experience requires the understanding of how consumers respond to luxury brand messages. This investigation is particularly important when examining brand experiences emerged in the manufacturer versus retailer physical environment. Existing literature on brand experiences, retail atmospherics, and luxury brands cannot fill the gap we address. Prior studies aiming to investigate the brand experience have analyzed the phenomenon of this construct from a theoretical perspective (Verhoef et al., 2009), case study analysis (Payne et al., 2009), or focused only on the direct relationship between manufacturer and consumer (e.g. Dolbec et al., 2013; Kim, 2009). For example, Dolbec et al. (2013) have studied in-store brand experiences on consumer response to flaghship vs. brand stores, and highlighted how their study suffers from not considering the continuity between current, previous and future experiences. Regarding the impact of store atmospherics and retailer’s settings on customer experiences (e.g. Baker et al. 2002; Bloch, 1995), research has found that specific combinations of atmospherics elements influences consumers’ perceptions about merchandise, service quality, and the overall store image. More recently, Möller & Herm (2013) showed how retail settings may shape consumers interpretation and evaluation of the brand, and in-store bodily experiences transfer a metaphoric message to customers’ perceptions of the brand. However, the authors empirically tested a mono-brand fashion retail store, and stressed the importance of examining the interaction between brand and store personalities in transferring meaning “from the product to the retailer and the other way around” (Möller & Herm, 2013, p. 8). The retail landscape has dramatically changed the dynamics of consumer-brand interactions in the physical encounter. The main challenge of these interactions concerns the effective integration of multichannel brand experiences into an exciting, emotionally engaging, and coherent brand experience. However, in-depth studies on consumer perceptions to these multi-environment experiences have not yet emerged. In this paper, we aim to fill that gap. By addressing the attention to the customer’s sphere, we specifically investigate how consumers perceive luxury brands in relation to brand experiences across various retail settings. Method and studies Owing to the lack of relevant research, this study applies a direct qualitative and exploratory approach to develop deep insights of consumers response to luxury brand experiences in different retail settings (Creswell, 2012). Two sequential studies investigate consumer cues of brand experiences across various environments. Study 1 provides the identification of luxury brand elements that are pivotal in the creation of exciting shopping experiences. In study 1, respondents named a luxury brand which they had frequently experienced in the last year, and to which they felt being in a deep relationship across multiple retail touch points of the brand. Respondents were asked about what elements of the brand they were more engaged to. The authors imposed no constraints on the elicitation. Following the categorization of luxury brands (Jackson, 2004) which comprehends fashion, perfumes and cosmetics, wines and spirits, and watches and luxury, respondents chose whatever brand they wanted. One of the authors provided the instructions to respondents. This study includes in the first sample a variety of 35 consumers from various age (20 to 65 years old consumers), as well as various education levels. The interviews were recorded, transcribed, and evaluated with content analysis, following quality criteria of Kassarjian (1977). The luxury brand elements emerged from Study 1 were used in Study 2 as thematic basis for investigating how these elements provide exciting experiences across multiple retail setting of the luxury brand. The same interviewer of Study 1 undertook in-depth interviews with eight of the above respondents, two from each consumer profile identified in line with the hedonic profiles of Arnold & Reynolds (2003). Each interview discussion lasted between 30 and 45 minutes, was audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. The text was analyzed by the authors following the generalized sequence of steps of data reduction and transformation, data display and conclusion drawing/verification (Miles & Huberman, 1994). The code development followed thematic analysis (Boyatzis, 1998), and coding was multivariate within subjects. With multiple ideas per respondent, we extracted a large list of properties. We sorted thematic elements into logically related clusters and assigned representative headers. The authors now describe results regarding respondents’ perceptions of luxury brand experiences in multiple retail environments. Results and discussion Consumers identified a wide range of experience factors that they seek in luxury brands, and highlighted how the brand and retail environment fulfill these expectations. They considered the brand evocation to exclusivity and authenticity as the primary reason for purchasing luxury brands. One of the respondents stated: “I buy brand X because it is a nice and deeply authentic brand to have. When I use the brand X I feel I am wearing something very exclusive. And I feel exclusive”. Regarding experiencing luxury brands in the stores, respondents stressed the importance of “finding the same brand appealing in the monobrand store as well across retailers’ stores”, and added that when they did not perceive this coherence of message they often switched to other brands in the purchasing stage. Another determinant element of holistic experiences concerns the products presentation of the brand in various settings, which has to be very similar and related across the brand touch points. Respondents explained to feel confused when they visit one store and encounter “colorful display with a charming presentation of the brand Y in the store of retailer 1”, while finding in store of retailer 2 “black and white displays and an awful presentation for the brand Y”. Concerning the specific impact of the retailer’s environment on luxury experiences, we identified that the overall store setting of the retailer influences the luxury brand even when consumers do not experience the brand in the specific. For example, one respondent highlighted that “If I have to buy brand Z, I never go to retailer 3. I know that brand Z does not feel luxury at all in retailer 3 because of its very old fashioned store”. This study shows how consumers respond to luxury brand strategies across manufacturer and retailer’s brand setting. By providing deep insights on their relationship with luxury brands, consumers contributed to understand key elements for living consistent luxury brand experiences. They stresses the pivotal role of a coherent brand exclusivity. This is an evident implication to motivate consumers in purchasing the luxury brands. Retailers can also make important considerations from our study. They must create more appealing and overall exciting store images. By enhancing luxury experiences in the store, retailers can leverage opportunities of stronger connection with consumers. Simultaneously, brand manufacturers can build upon retailers enhanced in-store experience to magnify the holistic luxury brand experience. Finally, this study is one of the first explorations concerning the cross-effect of brand experiences and store atmospherics. In an empirical context, the authors investigate the conceptualization of consumer experiences in a multichannel view, and provide relevant contributions to analyze the brand and the environment as interdependent elements. Further research may test empirically our findings on the interaction between luxury brands and multi-retail experiences.

18F-FDG PET/CT-Guided Clinical Management of the Rare Aggressive “Columnar-Cell” Variant of Papillary Thyroid Cancer

Manuela Vadrucci,Giovanni Serio,Alberto Baroli 대한내분비학회 2016 Endocrinology and metabolism Vol.31 No.2

- (no abstract) -

The Effect of Polyurethane Scaffold Surface Treatments on the Adhesion of Chondrocytes Subjected to Interstitial Perfusion Culture

Manuela Teresa Raimondi,Serena Bertoldi,Silvia Caddeo,Silvia Farè,Chiara Arrigoni,Matteo Moretti 한국조직공학과 재생의학회 2016 조직공학과 재생의학 Vol.13 No.4

The purpose of this study was to measure chondrocytes detachment from cellularized constructs cultured in a perfusion bioreactor, and to evaluate the effect of different scaffold coatings on cell adhesion under a fixed flow rate. The scaffolds were polyurethane foams, treated to promote cell attachment and seeded with human chondrocytes. In a preliminary static culture experiment, the scaffolds were imbibed with fetal bovine serum (FBS) and then cultured for 4 weeks. To quantify cell detachment, the number of detached cells from the scaffold treated with FBS was estimated under different interstitial perfusion flow rates and shear stress levels (0.005 mL/min equivalent to 0.05 mPa, 0.023 mL/min equivalent to 0.23 mPa, and 0.045 mL/min equivalent to 0.45 mPa). Finally, groups of scaffolds differently treated (FBS, plasma plus FBS, plasma plus collagen type I) were cultured under a fixed perfusion rate of 0.009 mL/min, equivalent to a shear stress of 0.09 mPa, and the detached cells were counted. Static cultivation showed that cell proliferation increased with time and matrix biosynthesis decreased after the first week of culture. Perfused culture showed that the number of detached cells increased with the perfusion rate on FBS-treated constructs. The plasma-treated/collagen-coated scaffolds showed the highest resistance to cell detachment. To minimize cell detachment, the perfusion rate must be maintained in the order of 0.02 mL/min, giving a shear stress of 0.2 mPa. Our set-up allowed estimating the resistance to cell detachment under interstitial perfusion in a repeatable manner, to test other scaffold coatings and cell types.

Effect of liquid sourdough technology on the pre-biotic, texture, and sensory properties of a crispy flatbread

Manuela Sanna,Simonetta Fois,Giovanni Falchi,Marco Campus,Tonina Roggio,Pasquale Catzeddu 한국식품과학회 2019 Food Science and Biotechnology Vol.28 No.3

The present study compared liquid sourdoughtechnology with baker’s yeast leavening when applied tothe production of a semolina-based crispy flatbread. Followingin vitro starch digestion, the results revealed thesourdough leavened flatbread to contain a lower percentageof rapidly digestible starch (16%), higher amounts ofslowly digestible starch (27%) and inaccessible digestiblestarch (4.1%) compared with the baker’s yeast leavenedflatbread (20, 20, and 2.4%, respectively), making theformer nutritionally healthier. The sourdough leavenedbread was crispier, stiffer and more solid, as shown bytexture analyses, although Raman spectroscopy revealed nodifferences in the crystallinity status of starch. Thedescriptive analyses show that the use of sourdoughenhances the positive sensory traits, as rated by the consumerpanel scores (6.08 vs. 5.56). In summary, the resultsindicate that the implementation of sourdough technologyin the production of flat crispy breads could confer economicadvantages to this product.

Exploring General and Domain-Specific Cognitive, Motivational and Affective Factors Associated with Excellence and Success in Academic and Sport Contexts: A study with Portuguese Intercollegiate Student-Athletes.

( Manuela Amaral ),( Jose Fernando Cruz ),( Fernando Parente ) 한국체육학회 2015 국제스포츠과학 학술대회 Vol.2015 No.1

Purpose: The study of psychological factors associated with individual success and achievement in major life contexts has been a major goal of research on human excellence. The present study has as main aim the exploration of the role of core cognitive, motivational and affective structures and processes in two major achievement contexts. Another goal was to understand the interrelationships between such psychological constructs (e.g., perfectionism, coping strategies, passion, threat and challenge appraisals) and the perceived competence, as well as the perceived importance of college and sport in Portuguese student-athletes. Method: Participants include 375 Portuguese (43,7% female) student-athletes, with ages ranging between 18 and 37 years-old (M=21,5), from several Portuguese higher education institutions and with different trajectories and levels of success in both domains (academics and sport) , some of them competing at major national and international competitive levels. A "Psychological Assessment Survey" designed for the specific purpose of this project was administered and include general and specific-domain measures in both main domains under study (academic and sport). Result: Psychological differences between successful and non-successful student-athletes in both achievement domains will be explored, with a special emphasis on successful student-athletes in competitive sports at international level. Preliminary analyses (univariate and multivariate), showed that Portuguese successful student-athletes in competitive sport at national and international levels showed higher levels of perceived competence in sport (comparatively to academics), higher levels of sport-specific challenge appraisals and lower levels in some major sport-specific dimensions of perfectionism (e.g., concern with errors, doubts about actions), but also higher levels of general positivity, passion and grit, and problem-solving coping strategies. In addition, a differential pattern of relationships of perceived importance and perceived competence in each specific domain (academics and sport) with different and main psychological factors was evident. Conclusion: The high-stakes "natural" evaluative and the competitive nature of both achievement contexts put additional challenges and "pressures" to student-athletes involved in both competitive sports and academic achievements. Discussion of present results point to the need of solid theoretical foundations for future studies and research on the role of psychological factors associated with excellence and success, but also for the necessary design and implementation of psychosocial interventions with this "forgotten" population of student-athletes in major research programs.

Unusual Neurological Presentation of Nevoid Basal Cell Carcinoma Syndrome (Gorlin-Goltz Syndrome)

Manuela Pennisi,Giuseppe Lanza,Mariagiovanna Cantone,Carmelo Schepis,Raffaele Ferri,Rita Barone,Rita Bella 대한신경과학회 2017 Journal of Clinical Neurology Vol.13 No.4

Dentoskeletal features in individuals with ectopic eruption of the permanent maxillary first molar

Manuela Mucedero,Matteo Rozzi,Giulia Cardoni,Maria Rosaria Ricchiuti,Paola Cozza 대한치과교정학회 2015 대한치과교정학회지 Vol.45 No.4

Objective: The aim of the study was to analyze the prevalence and distribution of ectopic eruption of the permanent maxillary first molar (EEM) in individuals scheduled for orthodontic treatment and to investigate the association of EEM with dental characteristics, maxillary skeletal features, crowding, and other dental anomalies. Methods: A total of 1,317 individuals were included and randomly divided into two groups. The first 265 subjects were included as controls, while the remaining 1,052 subjects included the sample from which the final experimental EEM group was derived. The mesiodistal (M-D) crown width of the deciduous maxillary second molar and permanent maxillary first molar, maxillary arch length (A-PML), maxillomandibular transverse skeletal relationships (anterior and posterior transverse interarch discrepancies, ATID and PTID), maxillary and mandibular tooth crowding, and the presence of dental anomalies were recorded for each subject, and the statistical significance of differences in these parameters between the EEM and control groups was determined using independent sample t -tests. Chi-square tests were used to compare the prevalence of other dental anomalies between the two groups. Results: The prevalence of maxillary EEM was 2.5%. The M-D crown widths, ATID and PTID, and tooth crowding were significantly greater, while A-PML was significantly smaller, in the EEM group than in the control group. Only two subjects showed an association between EEM and maxillary lateral incisor anomalies, which included agenesis in one and microdontia in the other. Conclusions: EEM may be a risk factor for maxillary arch constriction and severe tooth crowding.

Understanding the Role of Interpreting in the Peacemaking Process at the Korean Armistice Negotiations (Panmunjom 1953)

Manuela Fernandez Sanchez 한국외국어대학교 통번역연구소 2010 통번역학연구 Vol.13 No.2

1953 년, 한국전쟁은 평화협정에 이르지 못한 채 정전협정을 체결함으로써 중단되었다. 그 해 7 월 27 일 판문점에서 남북의 합의 하에 정전협정이 체결되어 적대관계를 끝낸 것이다. 전문가들은 냉전시대를 통틀어 가장 힘들고 복잡했던 협상 과정 중 하나로 UN 군, 중공 및 북한 간 정전회담을 꼽고 있다. 당사국 간 문화 및 언어적 차이가 수시로 큰 걸림돌이었는데다가, 평화와 이해에 전혀 도움되지 않는 적대감까지 더해졌었다. 이런 복잡한 상황속에서 통역사는 소통의 문제를 해결하는 데 중요한 역할을 했다. 기록에 따르면 통역사 대부분은 전문적인 정식교육이나 경험이 없었고 서로 다른 지리적 문화적 배경을 지닌 채 협상에 참여했었다. 본 논문은 정전협정 때와 그 이후 군사정전위원회에서 통역사가 수행했던 역할을 기술한다. 판문점과 같은 무력분쟁 협상에서 통역사의 위치를 분석함으로써 통역학에서 보통 간과되어 왔던 다음의 구체적 문제를 조명할 수 있다. 이는 주로 구술언어의 동력(Cronin 2002), 환경에 따른 제약(Angelelli, 2004) 그리고 판문점과 같은 실제 무력분쟁의 해결상황에서 벌어지는 면대면 언어학적 중재에 관한 것이다.