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IN 1927 PACKARD introduced for the first time a hypoid rear axle in their private cars in order to keep the universal shaft tunnel in the passenger space as small as possible. Since then hypoid rear axles have been fitted to a very large extent in private cars of conventional construction (engine in front and rear wheel drive).

The following paper has been translated from German. It was given by Dipl. Ing. Werner Neidhart who is on the staff of Oswald E. Boll of Zurich and was presented in October before Deutsche Gesellschaft Fur Mineralol Wissenschaft Und Kohlechemie E.V. at Frankfurt. The paper poses many problems on the engine testing of future motor oils that concern both lubricating oil refiners, blenders and large users. Comment on this paper would be welcomed, preferably for publication in Scientific Lubrication, and for sending on to Dr. Neidhart.

Reservation of travel and leisure services through the digital environment has gained a growing role in society, influencing the revolution of the sector. It needs to be noted that there is a considerable lack of formal approaches to the identification of factors for the positive reception and use of these digital tools. For this reason, it is necessary to establish the main factors influencing the adoption and use of digital travel and restaurant platforms (TRPs), adding to the theoretical model two new factors: trust and word-of-mouth (WOM). This paper aims to discuss the aforementioned ideas.

A theoretical model has been proposed, based on the extended unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT2). Data collection was conducted through an online survey, in which 331 responses were compiled. Data obtained were analysed using structural equation modelling (SEM) with AMOS v27 software.

The results show that performance expectancy and WOM have a significant impact on the adoption of TRPs. However, it was found that effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions, trust and price/value are not significant variables.

This research confirms that WOM communication positively influences the use of TRPs, facilitating various aspects for restaurant customers, including reducing wait times, streamlining the ordering process for allergic and intolerant customers, enhancing loyalty programs, order management and the opportunity to provide a personalised experience.

This study is the first to incorporate WOM variable into the extended UTAUT2 model applied to TRPs. Through a literature review, it has paved the way for significant future research directions that have not been adequately addressed by the scientific community, including the adoption and usage of food delivery platforms and online review platforms, as well as the behaviour of disabled customers towards these platforms.

The unprecedented escalation in the number of organizations that have decided to internationalize their operations in the last two decades, and the international movement of labor that has accompanied such expansion has meant that understanding the process of knowledge sharing within subsidiary operations has become an issue of increasing importance. Where the cultural distance between home and host nations is great, as it is between Western industrialized economies and the transition economies of the (former) Communist nations, there is even greater saliency for achieving effective knowledge sharing if its potential value for gaining organizational competitive advantage is to be harnessed. In examining knowledge sharing in Russia and China, this paper specifically addresses how group membership and personal networking in these countries facilitate and impede knowledge sharing. Ultimately, the paper provides important insights for Western managers about how to work with the national compositions to optimize knowledge sharing in their subsidiary operations in Russia and China.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a new framework on sensorial place brand identity.

This conceptual paper draws from sensory marketing and brand identity theories to propose an integrative model to develop sensorial place brand identity.

By relying on a broad spectrum of the literature, the study supports the notion that sensorial place brand identity is a bottom-up approach to branding that involves several enactment stakeholders and key influences as co-creators in the process of delivering sensory place branding messages based on a strong and unique place brand identity. This leads to the presentation of a provisional framework linking sensorial place identity, experiencescapes and multisensory place brand image.

This novel approach to place brand identity follows a holistic approach by considering several enactment stakeholders and key influencers as co-creators in the process of branding a place through the senses.

A healthy and easy-to-use orange snack obtained from the freeze-dried orange pulp puree is proposed. Once the commercial packaging of the snack has been opened, the effect of conventional home storage temperature on its physicochemical properties and on the content of bioactive compounds has been studied. This research aims to recommend the consumer, and therefore the manufacturer, the best conditions for home storage of this product, keeping its nutritional quality and antioxidant capacity, as well as maintaining its colour and crispness.

The water content, water activity, hygroscopicity, crispness, colour, vitamin C, β-carotene, total phenolic compounds and antioxidant activity were characterised both when the orange snack was newly obtained and after one, two and six months of storage inside zipper bags, at 4 and 20 ºC.

The results indicated that, in these conditions, the orange snack increased its water content, causing a loss in both its porosity and its characteristic crispness. Nevertheless, the bioactive compounds remained stable throughout the storage period, with the exception of β-carotene, the content of which decreased markedly when the orange snack was stored at 20 ºC.

Few studies have evaluated the stability of food products during home storage. The findings showed that the maximum storage time to ensure a proper texture of the orange snack studied is between two and six months, both at 4 and 20 ºC. However, from the point of view of the conservation of both vitamin C and, especially, of β-carotene, it is recommended that this product be stored in refrigeration.

As independent travel has become increasingly popular in recent years, factors influencing users’ attitudes and behaviors should be explored. Besides, the rise of video platforms like YouTube, Bilibili and TikTok has led to the flourishing of user generated content (UGC), among which travel vlogs have become convenient and essential references for tourists before and while they travel on their own.

This research used quantitative analysis through a survey designed for young people, as most vlog viewers are in those age groups, to explore the attitudes and perceptions of vlog preference, attitudes and cognizance of travel vlogs among different gender, guided by the decision-making theory and preference theory with 455 participants.

Survey results showed that both genders have common choices regarding travel vlog preference, attitudes, sharing and cognizance. Yet, gender differences appear in some cognition of travel vlogs and specific preferences, such as information searching habits, trusty travel and information sources.

Existing studies focus on the influence of platforms on users, but scant studies focus on user perceptions of vlogs as a new information carrier for young people in East Asia, especially regarding gender differences, which is crucial in media-based marketing. This research provides practical suggestions to marketers and vloggers to attract and engage different genders of young people and theoretical implications on decision and preference theories.

This paper aims to test and compare two innovative methodologies (utility additive and evolutionary polynomial regression) for mass appraisal of residential properties. The aim is to deepen their characteristics, by exploring the potentialities and the operating limits.

With reference to the same case studies, concerning samples of residential properties recently sold in three Italian cities, the two procedures are tested and the results are compared. The first method is the utility additive, which interprets the process of the property price formation as a multi-criteria selection of multi-objective typology, where the selection criteria are the property characteristics that are decisive in the real estate market; the second method is a hybrid data-driven technique, called evolutionary polynomial regression, that uses multi-objective genetic algorithms to search those models expressions that simultaneously maximize accuracy of data and parsimony of mathematical functions.

The outputs obtained from the experimentation highlight the potentialities and the limits of the two methodologies, as well as the possibility of jointly applying them to interpret and predict the real estate phenomena in a more realistic representation.

In all countries, mass appraisal techniques have become strategic for the definition of management and enhancement policies of public and private property assets, in the case of investments of technical and economic refunctionalization (energy, environment, etc.), and for the alienation of buildings no longer suitable for public needs (military barracks, hospitals, areas in disuse, etc.). In this context, the use of mass appraisal techniques for residential properties assumes a leading role for sector operators (buyers, sellers, institutions, insurance companies, banks, real estate funds, etc.). Therefore, the results of the applications outline the potentialities of the two methodologies implemented and the opportunity of further insights of the topics that have been dealt with in this research.

This research outlines the practices that managers believe are critical for achieving quality management in applied research and development (e.g. R&D, process development, product development, and engineering) departments of manufacturing companies. Using these practices, comments from R&D managers, and the existing quality in R&D research literature, a model is developed that highlights the need for broad management practices, specific management practices, awareness of the R&D external environment, and a quality culture to achieve quality management in the R&D departments of manufacturing organizations.