Building on associative memory network theory, this research proposes that companies’ technology implementation increases the cognitive accessibility of the efficiency concept among executive decision-makers, prompting them to make business decisions that maximize company profit at the expense of ethical considerations. Across five experiments, we demonstrate that technology implementation increases unethical decision-making. Experiments 1 and 2 show that this effect is mediated by increased accessibility of efficiency. Experiment 3 rules out the influence of novelty as an alternative explanation. Experiment 4 shows that the effect diminishes when technology is not associated with efficiency, and Experiment 5 finds that the effect disappears when unethical decisions no longer lead to greater efficiency.

As the most visible element of a brand, logo design serves to convey brand values. This work examines whether, how, and why consumers’ product evaluations of brands with overlapping (vs. separated) logos vary depending on the consumption occasion. Drawing upon the metacognition theory, this research proposes that brands using logos with overlapping (vs. separated) letters are perceived as more unique and, thus, result in more favorable consumer responses for special consumption occasions. Study 1 shows that the overlapping (separated) design elicits a higher level of perceived brand uniqueness (comprehensibility). Study 2 finds that a special (everyday) consumption occasion prompts consumers to prefer unique (comprehensible) brands. Study 3 adopts the implicit association test to show the association between an overlapping (separated) design and the concept of specialness (usualness). Moreover, Studies 4 and 5 demonstrate that when products are intended for a special (everyday) occasion, overlapping (separated) logo design results in more favorable product evaluations, which is mediated by perceived brand uniqueness (comprehensibility). The findings add to the logo literature by introducing letter overlapping as a novel design feature and enrich the metacognition and consumption occasion literature. Practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Package weight and calorie judgments play an important role in food-related consumer decisions. In this article, the authors hypothesize and demonstrate that the bidirectional relationship between package stability and objective weight leads consumers to perceive visually more stable shapes as subjectively heavier: the "shape stability effect" (Study 1). The stability effect is mitigated (replicated) when the context makes volume (weight) judgments more accessible than weight (volume) judgments (Study 2). The shape stability effect has consequences for calorie perceptions (Study 3a) and consumption decisions (Study 3b). The authors also examined the implications for consumers' willingness to pay (Study 4a). Analysis of an archival dataset (Study 4b) shows that for tasty (healthy) products, price is positively (negatively) associated with shape stability. Theoretically, these results add to the literature on volume and weight judgments and calorie perceptions. Managerial implications for food packaging and positioning are offered.

Wearing a mask or face covering can serve not only as a health defense measure or a requirement for certain activities and rituals, but can also influence consumer purchasing behavior. This research examines whether, how, and when mask wearing fosters store engagement (e.g., higher intention to try on, longer staying time, and higher repeat patronage intention). Building on social observation and social monitoring theory, we conducted five studies and found that mask wearing leads consumers to perceive they are being observed/evaluated less and therefore to feel more relaxed; this feeling in turn leads to greater store engagement, especially for those who are high in self-monitoring. Studies 1-3 indicate that consumers who wear (vs. not wear) masks generate higher engagement across different shopping contexts, demonstrate the proposed mechanism through serial mediation while ruling out alternative explanations, and show that being observed/evaluated less has a unique effect beyond perceived invulnerability to viruses on feelings of relaxation. Study 4 demonstrates the moderating role of self-monitoring, such that this effect diminishes when consumers are low in self-monitoring. Finally, Study 5 generalizes the mask-wearing effect using a different facial covering situation. Both theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Seed hardness is an important quality trait of vegetable soybean. To determine the factors underlying seed hardness, two landraces with contrasting seed hardness, Niumaohuang (low seed hardness) and Pixiansilicao (high seed hardness), were selected from 216 soybean accessions originating from 26 provinces in China. The contents of the main components in vegetable soybean seeds such as water, soluble sugar, starch, protein and oil were measured, and transcriptome analyses performed during five stages of seed developmental. Transcriptome analysis indicates that during the middle and late stages of seed development, a large number of genes involved in the synthesis or degradation of starch, storage protein, and fatty acids were differentially expressed, leading to differences in the accumulation of stored substances during seed maturation among Niumaohuang and Pixiansilicao. The activity of cell proliferation and the formation of cell walls in the middle and late stages of seed development may also affect the hardness of seeds to a certain extent. In addition, weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) was undertaken to identify co-expressed gene modules and hub genes that regulate seed hardness. Overexpression of a candidate seed hardness regulatory hub gene, GmSWEET2, resulted in increased seed hardness. In this study, the important role of GmSWEET2 in regulating the hardness of vegetable soybean seeds was verified and numerous potential key regulators controlling seed hardness and the proportion of seed components were identified, laying the groundwork for improving the texture of vegetable soybean.

The interior design of hospitality settings is crucial for distinguishing a brand from its competitors. Drawing on color marketing and brand personality theories, this paper posits that aligning interior color tones with the brand personality of the hospitality and tourism brand can heighten tourists' perceptual fluency and thus their brand evaluation. Three studies support this proposition. The initial archival data analysis discovered a correlation between cold - warm interior tones and sincere - exciting brand personality in real-world hotel interior designs (Study 1). Study 2 revealed that cold tones evoke brand perceptions of sincerity, whereas warm tones elicit brand perceptions of excitement. Study 3 confirmed the effects of matching cold - warm tones with brand personality on brand evaluations and the mediating role of perceived fluency. The present research holds significant practical implications for hospitality and tourism suppliers in terms of interior design, brand personality identification, online platform promotional design, and brand marketing strategy development.

This research examines how the visual cue of a handwritten (vs. typewritten) typeface, affects tourists’ responses to the marketing of green tourism. We draw on the visual marketing literature to propose that a handwritten typeface leads to more positive responses toward green destinations/products/hospitality (i.e., anticipation of enjoyment, willingness to pay, and booking intention) via tourists’ perception of greenness. We also find that the enhancing effect of a handwritten typeface occurs only in the green (as opposed to luxury) travel context. This effect is mitigated, however, when tourists are made conscious of greenness. Four experiments using different product and service categories across two countries support our hypotheses. Our findings contribute to the literature on green tourism, typeface design, and tourists’ perception of greenness, and provide practical guidelines that can help tourism companies and policymakers design effective green communication strategies.

Soybean production is significantly impacted by Phytophthora root rot (PRR), which is caused by Phytophthora sojae. The nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat (NLR) gene family plays a crucial role in plant disease resistance. However, current understanding of the function of soybean NLR genes in resistance to PRR is limited. To address this knowledge gap, transgenic soybean plants overexpressing the NLR gene (Glyma.18g283200) were generated to elucidate the molecular mechanism of resistance. Here, transcript changes and metabolic differences were investigated at three time points (12, 24, and 36 h) after P. sojae infection in hypocotyls of two soybean lines, Dongnong 50 (susceptible line, WT) and Glyma.18g283200 overexpression line (resistant line, OE). Based on the changes in differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in response to P. sojae infection in different lines and at different time points, it was speculated that HOPZ-ACTIVATED RESISTANCE 1 (ZAR1), valine, leucine, and isoleucine degradation, and phytohormone signaling may be involved in the defense response of soybean to P. sojae at the transcriptome level by GO term and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis. Differentially accumulated metabolites (DAMs) analysis revealed that a total of 223 and 210 differential metabolites were identified in the positive ion (POS) and negative ion (NEG) modes, respectively. An integrated pathway-level analysis of transcriptomics (obtained by RNA-seq) and metabolomics data revealed that isoflavone biosynthesis was associated with disease resistance. This work provides valuable insights that can be used in breeding programs aiming to enhance soybean resistance against PRR.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is the most common bacterium occurred in nosocomial infections and is also an important indicator of food spoilage. The worldwide spread of multidrug resistant (MDR) P. aeruginosa is threatening public health. However, the prevalence and spread of MDR P. aeruginosa through the food chain is little referred under the One Health perspective. Here, we collected a total of 259 animal-derived foods (168 chicken and 91 pork) from 16 supermarkets and farmer's markets in six regions of Beijing, China. The prevalence of P. aeruginosa in chicken and pork was 42.1 %. The phenotypic antimicrobial susceptibility testing showed that 69.7 % of isolates were MDR, and isolates from Chaoyang district exhibited a higher resistance rate compared to that from Xicheng district (p < 0.05). P. aeruginosa isolates exhibited high levels of resistance against & beta;-lactams (91.7 %), cephalosporins (29.4 %), and carbapenems (22.9 %). Interestingly, none of strains showed resistance to amikacin. Whole-genome sequencing showed that all isolates carried various kinds of antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs) and virulence genes (VGs), especially for blaOXA genes and phz genes. Multilocus sequence typing (MLST) analysis indicated that ST111 (12.8 %) was the most predominant ST. Notably, the emergence of ST697 clones in food-borne P. aeruginosa was firstly reported. In addition, the toxin pyocyanin was detected in 79.8 % of P. aeruginosa strains. These findings help to decipher the prevalence and the strong toxigenic ability of MDR P. aeruginosa from animal-derived foods and highlight the effective supervision of animal-derived food hygiene should be strengthened to prevent the spread of ARGs in a One Health strategy.

This research examines whether, how, and why visual finish (i.e., whether a product/package is glossy or matte) can affect consumers' perceived effectiveness of problem-solving products. Drawing on approach-avoidance goal pursuit theory, this work classifies problem-solving products into problem-approaching and problem-avoiding ones according to their operation processes. A pilot study demonstrates that participants are more likely to choose a glossy finish over a matte one for a problem-avoiding (vs. problem-approaching) product. Studies 1 and 2 collectively find that glossy (vs. matte) finishes increase consumers' perceived effectiveness of a problem-avoiding product while the reverse is true for a problem-approaching product. Moreover, this effect is mediated by perceived trustworthiness of product function (Study 3). Studies 4-5 further document its consequential implications on willingness-to-pay (Study 4; incentive-compatible paradigm) and consumers' actual ad clicks (Study 5; field study). The findings contribute to the visual finish, product effectiveness, and approach-avoidance goal pursuit literatures. They also have significant managerial implications on product appearance design.

Previous research has investigated how visual features affect the evaluation of a singular product. Less is known about the effect of visual features when multiple products are displayed. Through three pilot studies and five experiments, the current research shows that displaying lower-saturation color on the top/left and higher-saturation color on the bottom/right leads to a more favorable evaluation of a product available in different colors saturations. This effect occurs because the magnitude fit between higher-saturation color and the bottom/right position induces perceptual fluency. It diminishes when the product targets a neutral outgroup. More important, it reverses when the product targets a dissociative outgroup, showing that people tend to correct their judgment in the opposite direction of their feeling valence when evaluating products targeting dissociative outgroups. However, the fit effect holds in the context of buying gifts for members of dissociative outgroups. The findings contribute to the visual perception and fit literature. They also have significant practical implications for developing more effective product display strategies.

To better understand why Chinese residents' COVID-19 perceptions of the importance of vaccination change dramatically over time, this research used an online lab-like experiment to test the antecedents of individuals' perception of the importance of COVID-19 vaccines. We find that participants who view themselves as separate from others (i.e. independent self-construal) perceive COVID-19 vaccines as more important than Hepatitis B vaccines (i.e. control group), regardless of how salient mortality is for them. In contrast, among participants who view themselves as a part of their social groups (i.e. interdependent self-construal), awareness of death (i.e. mortality salience) plays a moderating role. Specifically, when mortality is salient, COVID-19 vaccines are considered more important than Hepatitis B vaccines; when morality is not salient, vaccine type does not make a difference on perceptions of vaccine importance.

Emergence of the colistin resistance gene, mcr-1, has attracted worldwide attention. Despite the prevalence of mcr-1-positive Escherichia coli (MCRPEC) strains in human carriage showing a significant decrease between 2016 and 2019, genetic differences in MCRPEC strains remain largely unknown. We therefore conducted a comparative genomic study on MCRPEC strains from fecal samples of healthy human subjects in 2016 and 2019. We identified three major differences in MCRPEC strains between these two time points. First, the insertion sequence ISApl1 was often deleted and the percentage of mcr-1-carrying IncI2 plasmids was increased in MCRPEC strains in 2019. Second, the antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), aac(3)-IVa and blaCTX-M-1, emerged and coexisted with mcr-1 in 2019. Third, MCRPEC strains in 2019 contained more viru-lence genes, resulting in an increased proportion of extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli (ExPEC) strains (36.1%) in MCRPEC strains in 2019 compared to that in 2016 (10.5%), implying that these strains could occupy intestinal ecological niches by competing with other commensal bacteria. Our results suggest that despite the significant reduction in the prevalence of MCRPEC strains in humans from 2016 to 2019, MCRPEC exhibits increased resistance to other clinically important ARGs and contains more virulence genes, which may pose a potential public health threat.

The present research investigates how consumers respond to alternate premium promotion framings that have equal value (e.g., “buy a flash drive and get a free earphone” vs. “buy an earphone and get a free flash drive”). We show that the counterintuitive framing of the target (vs. non-target) product as a free gift makes consumers feel lucky, which in turn increases their purchase intention for the product bundle. We further show the effects of two moderators—salience of targeting and promotion magnitude, such that the main effect is mitigated when the marketer’s targeting efforts are salient for consumers and when the target product is price discounted but not free. Four studies (i.e., a lab study, two online experiments, and a field experiment involving actual purchases of the promoted products) for a range of products and services across two countries provide converging evidence supporting the hypotheses. The findings contribute to the literatures on bundle framing effects, pricing, and luck research in marketing, and have practical implications on designing more effective promotions for both online and brick-and-mortar retailers.

Saving behavior affects both personal welfare and national economies. This study examined the effect of social exclusion, a breakdown of social relationship, on fixed savings, which is especially pertinent to Asians. By considering the cushion hypothesis theory and the gender disparity in social connectedness, this study proposes that men and women display different fixed savings behavior in response to social exclusion. In particular, social exclusion (vs. acceptance) decreases men's fixed savings intention, as isolation stimulates them to expect less social connectedness, which means it is hard to get social support and, thus, heightens their need for resource liquidity. In contrast, social exclusion (vs. acceptance) does not affect women's fixed savings intention because women do not anticipate less social connectedness due to social exclusion. Three experiments provide convergent support for this proposition and verify the theoretical process of the expected social connectedness, coupled with the need for resource liquidity. The alternative explanations for self-efficacy, power, control, and mood are also discussed.

Inspired by the evaluation mode theory, we show online vendors mispredict consumers’ responses to different types of sales displays. While vendors predict that consumers evaluate a featured product more positively in a cooperative sales promotion (CSP; i.e., multiple stores promoting synchronously) than in an independent sales promotion (ISP; i.e., a single store promoting independently), consumers actually do the opposite. The reason is that vendors compare CSP with ISP and are able to evaluate depending on perceived acquisition utility; consumers, however, see either CSP or ISP, resulting in difficulty in accessing acquisition utility. Thus, they evaluate according to perceived transaction utility.

Nilaparvata lugens harbors yeast-like symbionts (YLSs). In present paper, a genome-wide analysis found 115 genes from Ni. lugens and 90 genes from YLSs that were involved in the metabolic degradation of 20 proteinogenic amino acids. These 205 genes encoded for 77 enzymes. Accordingly, the degradation pathways for the 20 amino acids were manually constructed. It is postulated that Ni. lugens can independently degrade fourteen amino acids (threonine, alanine, glycine, serine, aspartate, asparagine, phenylalanine, tyrosine, glutamate, glutamine, proline, histidine, leucine and lysine). Ni. lugens and YLSs enzymes may work collaboratively to break down tryptophan, cysteine, arginine, isoleucine, methionine and valine. We cloned a lysine-ketoglutarate reductase/saccharopine dehydrogenase gene (Nllkr/sdh) that encoded a bifunctional enzyme catalyzing the first two steps of lysine catabolism. Nllkr/sdh is widely expressed in the first through fifth instar nymphs and adults, and is highly expressed in the fat body, ovary and gut in adults. Ingestion of dsNllkr/sdh by nymphs successfully knocked down the target gene, and caused nymphal/adult mortality, shortened nymphal development stage and reduced adult fresh weight. Moreover, Nllkr/sdh knockdown resulted in three defects: wings were shortened and thickened; cuticles were stretched and thinned; and old nymphal cuticles remained on the tips of legs and abdomen and were not completely shed. These data indicate that impaired lysine degradation negatively affects the survival and development of Ni. lugens.