Search results

The impact of potassium permanganate (KMnO₄) treatment on the tensile strength of an alkali-treated pineapple leaf fiber (PALF) reinforced with tapioca-based bio resin (cassava starch) was studied.

The PALF was exposed to sodium hydroxide (NaOH) treatment in varying concentrations of 2.0, 3.7, 4.5 and 5.5g prior to the fiber treatment with KMnO₄. The treated and untreated PALFs were reinforced with tapioca-based bio resin. Subsequently, they were subjected to Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and tensile test analysis.

The FTIR analysis of untreated PALF revealed the presence of O-H stretch, N-H stretch, C=O stretch, C=O stretch and H-C-H bond. The tensile test result confirmed the highest tensile strength of 35N from fiber that was reinforced with 32.5g of cassava starch and treated with 1.1g of KMnO₄. In comparison, the lowest tensile strength of 15N was recorded for fiber reinforced with 32.5g of cassava starch without KMnO₄ treatment.

Based on the results, it could be deduced that despite the enhancement of bioresin (cassava starch) towards strength-impacting on the fibers, KMnO₄ treatment on PALF is very vital for improved tensile strength of the fiber when compared to untreated fibers. Hence, KMnO₄ treatment on alkali-treated natural fibers preceding reinforcement is imperative for bio-based fibers.

Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) show reduced attention to social stimuli. The reasons for these impairments are still being debated by researchers. The aim of this study is to analyse if reduced attention towards social stimuli is determined by initial underlying difficulties in the control of visual attention. Among the variables that could produce these difficulties, the authors considered geometric complexity and typology of geometric figures.

To test this hypothesis, in this paper, an eye-tracker paradigm was used for assessing visual exploration and recognition memory towards geometric figures (curved vs rectilinear) with two levels of geometric complexity (low and high) in 17 children with ASD matched with 17 children with typical development (TD).

The results showed that the ASD group seemed indifferent to both the geometric complexity and the typology of figures (curved and rectilinear), whereas the TD group showed higher performances with highly complex and curved geometric figures than with low complex and rectilinear geometric figures.

Because of the chosen research approach, the research results may lack generalizability. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to test the proposed hypotheses further.

This paper includes implications upon the presence of an unspecified visual attention deficit that is present from the early stages of the processing of stimuli.

The understanding of this deficit from the early stages of the processing of stimuli can help educators to intervene at an early stage when disturbances in social relationships are starting.

This study contributes to understanding the presence of dysfunctional perceptual antecedents that could determine general difficulties in paying attention to social stimuli in ASD subjects.

The authors have faced rapid technological developments over the past few years. Still, the authors face challenges of maritime supply chain inefficiency, high costs and the low competitiveness of Indonesian ports. In line with the flow of this research, the purpose of this paper is to conceptualise best practices to improve port connectivity, which impacts improving maritime logistics capabilities in Indonesia that are relevant to the current situation.

The authors utilise surveys and interviews as a data collection method, where several sources were actors in the maritime logistics industry. The authors also use secondary data from the Ministry of Transport of the Republic of Indonesia, online databases as well as trade magazines and newspapers. This paper conducts a multiple case study and principal component analysis (PCA) to meet the research objectives.

The intention to use port digitisation services will increase if the perceived usefulness of the service also increases. Also, if the negative coefficient of user trust rises, it will bring a very sharp decrease in customers' intentions to use. Furthermore, the high estimated value of context indicates that users expect to have a good experience using the application and bring benefit to their business.

Based on the authors’ knowledge, there has been no review about port digitalisation, specifically in Indonesia. The authors initially provided best practices to improve port connectivity, which can impact improving maritime logistics capabilities.

The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, it investigates the characteristics of Hanfparade 2022 – the biggest prolegalization festival in Germany – and its visitors, as well as the main reason for participation in Hanfparade. Findings are compared to those from Hanfparade 2016 to explore whether the main reason for festival attendance has changed since the legalization of medical cannabis in 2017 and since the announcement of plans for cannabis legalization. Second, this paper assesses Hanfparade participants’ views on cannabis legalization in Germany, in particular their opinions on and their preferences for retail supply options.

This study is a replication of a research conducted in 2016 at the same festival in Berlin, with a slightly adapted questionnaire. In this study, a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods was used: observation at the festival, interviews before and after the festival with the organizer and a survey among festival attendees (n = 183).

Protest still looks relevant for the participants at Hanfparade, and the announcement of plans for legalization does not seem to downgrade this feeling. The participants have positive opinions about self-supply through home cultivation, noncommercial supply through Cannabis Social Clubs (CSCs) and commercial supply through stores similar to Dutch coffee shops. However, positive opinions do not necessarily reflect a personal preference, e.g. CSCs were very low in personal preferences. The options of home cultivation and CSCs were more popular among daily users.

This study contributes to the ongoing debate in Germany, focusing on views of cannabis users.

This study aims to take a dual-process perspective and argues that peer influence on increasing impulse buying may also operate automatically. If-then plans, which can automate action control, may, thus, help regulate peer influence. This research extends existing literature explicating the deliberate influence of social norms.

Study 1 (N = 120) obtained causal evidence that forming an implementation intention (i.e. an if-then plan designed to automate action control) reduces peer impact on impulse buying in a laboratory experiment with young adults (students) selecting food items. Study 2 (N = 686) obtained correlational evidence for the role of norms, automaticity and implementation intentions in impulse buying using a large sample of high-school adolescents working on a vignette about clothes-shopping.

If-then plans reduced impulse purchases in the laboratory (Study 1). Both reported deliberation on peer norms and the reported automaticity of shopping with peers predicted impulse buying but an implementation intention to be thriftily reduced these links (Study 2).

This research highlights the role of automatic social processes in problematic consumer behaviour. Promising field studies and neuropsychological experiments are discussed.

Young consumers can gain control over automatic peer influence by using if-then plans, thereby reducing impulse buying.

This research helps understand new precursors of impulse buying in understudied European samples of young consumers.

Dating is a meaningful occupation for many single people. The occupation of dating has transformed considerably in Ireland due to recent changes in Irish culture and the advent of online dating technology. The purpose of this study was to explore the complexities and intricacies of dating in an Irish context.

A qualitative research approach was used and data were collected using semi-structured interviews with ten heterosexual women (age 24‐34) living in urban areas of Ireland. Data were analysed using inductive thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke, 2006).

Dating did not fully resonate with their experience, but they did not have an alternative term. The form of dating was influenced by cultural, temporal, physical and virtual contexts. Beliefs about dating, fluctuating emotions and feelings of mortification because of the stigma of online dating created meaning for participants and influenced their use of strategies to improve resilience. While dating was not a preferred occupation for participants because of its arduous nature and fluctuations in emotion, it was seen as essential to fulfil the function of finding a romantic partner or partner in occupation. Connections between participant experiences and occupational science are discussed to address the lexicon of dating and the form, function and meaning of dating.

This study contributes to occupational science knowledge by revealing the occupational understandings of dating as an emerging and dynamic occupation in a rapidly changing culture of Ireland.