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Elastomer seals are used in many applications. They are exposed to lubricants and additives at elevated temperatures, as well as mechanical stresses. They can only provide good sealing function when they have resistance to those factors. There are many elastomer-lubricant compatibility tests based on DIN ISO 1817 in industry. However, they are insufficient and costly. Correlations between the tests and the applications are inadequate. The purpose of this study is investigating lubricant compatibility of fluoroelastomers (FKM) seals in polyethylene-glycol (PG)- and polyalphaolefin (PAO)- based synthetic oils and developing a methodology to predict seal service life.

A new compatibility test which is more sufficient in terms of time and cost was developed and compared with a standard test, currently used in industry. Compatibility of FKM radial lip seals with PG- and PAO-based synthetic oils with different additives was investigated chemically and dynamically. Failure mechanisms were examined.

The new method and the Freudenberg Flender Test FB 73 11 008 showed similar results concerning damages and similar tendencies regarding wear. The additive imidazole derivative was the most critical. Static tests give indications of possible chemically active additives, but alone they are insufficient to simulate the dynamic applications.

The paper describes a new method to investigate elastomer-lubricant compatibility and gives first results with a variety of lubricants.

There are different techniques in practice to disperse multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) in elastomers. In the present work, commercially available MWCNTs NANOCYL NC 7000™ are used as filler. A synthetic Nitrile Butadiene Rubber (NBR) and Hydrogenated Nitrile Butadiene Rubber (HNBR) were used as polymer matrix for the composites prepared by melt blending. The filler dispersion in HNBR was studied through Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). The mechanical properties are investigated through strain sweep and tensile tests. Dielectric measurements are carried out to study electrical conductivity of the nanocomposites. Dynamic mechanical measurements showed an enhanced Payne effect and improvement in stiffness with increase in CNTs content into rubber matrix An improvement in electrical and mechanical properties in both NBR and HNBR system resulted by an increase in filler loading. The mechanical and electric percolation threshold of CNTs was found at very low filler volume fraction. Equilibrium swelling experiments were used to study polymer-filler interaction with the help of Kraus plot and diffusion coefficient. NBR showed higher polymer-filler interaction compared to HNBR. In NBR nanocomposites, CNTs showed higher interaction than carbon black. Good dispersion and effective interaction of the CNTs with the polymer led to significant mechanical reinforcing effects.

Extending research on cultural differences in aesthetic appreciation, the purpose of this paper is to show how a more interdependent self-construal, a cultural and individual difference variable related to one’s social self, impacts the influence of visual harmony on consumer evaluations of marketing artifacts’ attractiveness.

Data were obtained via three studies from a total of 1,498 consumers in Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, and Italy. Marketing visuals included the design of products, packages, typefaces, and logos. Self-construal was both measured and manipulated.

The results indicate that a person’s self-construal moderates the effect of visual harmony on attractiveness. Specifically, the positive effect of visual harmony on attractiveness – through self-congruity – is more pronounced with consumers possessing a more interdependent self-construal, and with products that are more hedonic than utilitarian.

Given the pivotal role attractiveness has in influencing consumer behavior, understanding what differences, at the individual and cultural levels, impact the harmony-attractiveness relationship helps marketers to better match the visual design of marketing stimuli to target audiences.

This study is among the first to show how the social-self impacts consumer response to marketing visuals. Further, value stems from adopting a holistic perspective on design, clarifying the process mechanism, and identifying boundary conditions.

The purpose of this study was to provide a holistic view of exhibition destination attractiveness by examining perceptions of two of the three key stakeholders (exhibition organizers and visitors) and contrasting them with those of exhibitors.

This research used a mixed method approach, collecting 535 responses from visitors attending nine business-to-business exhibitions in four major cities in China via structured surveys. In addition, eight in-depth interviews with CEOs/owners of leading global and Chinese exhibition companies were conducted.

The findings revealed that exhibitors may go almost anywhere where there is potential for successful business. In contrast, visitors prefer exhibition destinations with good accessibility to minimize travel time and an attractive leisure environment that offers a degree of enjoyment in addition to taking care of business. A destination’s “economic environment” and “cluster effects” were comparatively less important to them. Organizers were cognizant of these differences, contributing to their reluctance in taking large-scale, branded exhibitions to second-tier destinations, despite considerable efforts by these cities to improve their infrastructure.

This study offers practical guidelines for destination administrators and exhibition organizers with regard to evaluating destination resources for long-term exhibition development.

In contrast to prior studies, this research identifies significant differences in perceptions of exhibition destination attractiveness among all three key industry stakeholders. It also presents a persuasive case for the need to clearly differentiate between the attractiveness of a destination for attracting/hosting exhibitions versus conventions, rather than approaching the subject from a more generic meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions (MICE) segment/business events perspective.

The personality impressions evoked by service environments play a key role in attracting and retaining customers. This paper explores the interior design of service and retail environments, and links the designer perspective with the consumer perspective to assist managers in creating and managing interiors for achieving desired responses.

The authors propose and test a conceptual model that relates types of interior design to consumer impressions of that environment's personality. Two studies establish holistic types of interiors based on design elements and factors with a sample of professionals, and then link those types to generic impressions evoked with consumers.

Store personality relates systematically to five holistic types of interiors. Minimal‐shell interiors score high on unpleasantness, complex‐shell designs score high on enthusiasm, genuineness, and solidity, moderate‐shell interiors generate below‐average impressions of sophistication, genuineness, and solidity, low‐content interiors score high on enthusiasm and sophistication, and high‐content designs score low on enthusiasm, and high on unpleasantness.

This research is limited to wine tasting rooms as an example category. Implications for interior design in general can be drawn from the holistic types of interiors identified and from basic relations to generic dimensions of consumer responses.

The findings reported in this research assist managers in more confidently using interior design for positioning and differentiating servicescapes.

Integrating the designer perspective with the customer perspective is a unique approach yielding taxonomy for servicescape interiors, and a holistic perspective on their links with personality impressions.

This paper aims to examine how visual and haptic package design characteristics singularly and jointly affect consumers' brand impressions.

Integrating and extending design perception with congruence and fluency theories, the paper presents three research propositions that are tested in three studies. Bottled water serves as an example category with data provided by professionals and consumers.

Study 1 identifies key types of holistic bimodal designs (Modern, Big Grip, Prototypical‐Small, Boxy Billboards, and Prototypical‐Large) based on brand visual and haptic factors. Study 2 relates these types to unique single‐modal brand impressions. Study 3 determines how consumers evaluate brands depending on the semantic congruence between haptics and visuals. Except for the excitement dimension, brand evaluations are more positive under conditions of high rather than low congruence.

The findings are obtained for a single category (bottled water) using experiments designed to highlight and focus consumer attention on the formation of impressions. The findings may thus not fully reflect consumer responses in actual retail purchase situations.

The paper provides preliminary guidelines on how to utilize visual and haptic cues in the design of brand packages for stimulating desired consumer responses.

The work presented in this paper contributes to the literature on design‐based brand inferences and semantic congruence by integrating the visual with the haptic perspectives.

Consumption norms describe an individual’s perception of what or how much most other people typically eat. While gendered consumption norms are well known, consumption norms linked to other demographic variables are yet to be reported. This study aimed to investigate which food consumption norms in relation to gender, age and income are currently held by the UK population. A secondary research objective was to investigate whether these consumption norms were held equally across people in different age groups and genders within the sample population.

A sample of 498 adults participated in an online survey composed of statements on consumption patterns based on gender, age and income for nine foods (e.g. red meat) and five meal patterns (e.g. take-away meals). E.g. “Men tend to eat more red meat than women.” Participants reported their agreement/disagreement with these statements.

The results indicate that participants have perceived consumption norms that are associated with gender, age and income. Lower energy-dense foods and smaller meal patterns were generally associated with females, older persons and individuals with a higher income. In contrast, more energy-dense foods and meal patterns were generally associated with males, younger adults and individuals with a lower income. These consumption norms were held consistently across the population sample.

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first explicit demonstration of food consumption norms based on age and income.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a model of automate for effective strategy execution.

Both exploratory and confirmatory modes of research using exploratory factor analysis, total interpretive structure modeling, and t-test techniques have been conducted.

In the context of effective strategy execution, the organization support system has most driving power affecting appropriateness of other automate systems. On the other hand, the effective design and deployment of control and monitoring system dependent on other systems. The control and monitoring directly affects the success of strategy execution while the other systems affect execution through structural mediation suggested by the proposed model.

Though this study adopts multiple research methods, a comparatively large sample size would be more useful. The study also faces subjective limitation of the research context. There is possibility of participant’s biases while responding to five-point scale questionnaire.

The driving-dependence linkages among the automate systems helps in developing appropriate managerial action plan to convert strategic goals into the results. The model helps in institutionalizing the systems as well as making them effective while linking them in structured relationship. Additionally, the integrated understanding of the automate systems helps promote a sense of purpose and shared meaning of systems among the key stakeholders, which smoothen the execution process.

This study reviews and factorize different automate systems and identifies structured linkages among them to demonstrate the relative criticality of each systems and how effective development of one system leads to the effectiveness of other system. This study also adds methodological value extending triangulation along with the interpretative tool.

Over the past two decades, institutions of higher education worldwide have come under pressure to demonstrate effective performance. Their response has been to borrow the quality concept from industry and place it at the centre of institutional performance assessment in higher education. This article describes a Hong Kong study which developed valid and reliable organisational effectiveness self rating scales for higher educational institutions. In the course of developing these scales, the relevance of quality to institutional performance assessment was examined. In failing to produce a valid and reliable effectiveness scale for a quality dimension, the study highlighted the shortcomings of the quality concept particularly as a basis for the comparative assessment of institutional performance. The study also indicated a methodology for identifying concepts which may provide a firmer base than quality for such comparisons.

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common neurodevelopmental condition with community prevalence globally of 2%–7% (M = 5%; Sayal et al., 2018). Clinicians are routinely encouraged to explain to children and young people the benefits of a healthy lifestyle, including exercise (NICE NG87, 2018). Exercise has been proposed as a safe and low-cost adjunctive approach for ADHD and is reported to be accompanied by positive effects on several aspects of executive functioning (EF). The purpose of this narrative review was to synthesise the contemporary randomised control trial (RCT) studies that examine the effect of sport, physical activity and movement on EF in children and adolescents with ADHD.

A narrative review approach with a systematic literature search using PRISMA guidelines for screening and selecting relevant systematic reviews was used. The final review included four peer-review systematic reviews (>2019).

The results identified four RCT meta-analyses and findings showed that children and adolescents with lower baseline cognitive performance demonstrated greater improvements in functioning after physical activity interventions, particularly for tasks with higher executive function demands, where baseline performance reaches an optimal level. Findings suggest that 10–20 min of acute moderate-high-intensity exercise interventions (cycling/running) appeared to have positive effects on indices of inhibitory control. Preliminary evidence suggests that as little as 5 min of jumping exercises improved inhibitory control. Sixty to eighty minutes of moderately intense, repeated (chronic) exercise appeared to demonstrate the greatest beneficial impact on selective attention.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this review is the first to present the extant literature on the effect of physical activity and sport on symptoms of young people with ADHD. It presents evidence to suggest that exercise with progressively increasing cognitive demands may have positive effects for children with ADHD, specifically in terms of improving cognitive flexibility. Further large-scale clinical trials are needed to confirm the positive effects of physical exercise on cognitive functioning in children with ADHD.