"Do Good, Have Good": A Serial Mediation Analysis of CSR with Customers' Outcomes.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is envisaged to offer several outcomes and while customer-specific consequences are unclear or have not obtained due attention, there is a dearth of literature that focuses on perceptual, attitudinal and behavioral outcomes in tandem. Against this backdrop, this study entails the investigation of perceptual (service quality), attitudinal (affective commitment) and behavioral (customer citizenship behavior) outcomes of CSR through a serial mediation mechanism. A total of 994 responses obtained from fast-food restaurants, highlight the fact that CSR influences service quality, affective commitment, and customer citizenship behavior. Moreover, it is witnessed that CSR influences customer citizenship behavior indirectly as well, as the serial mediation mechanism is also proved. The practical and theoretical usefulness of the study is also provided at the end.

The evolution of parasite host range in heterogeneous host populations.

Theory on the evolution of niche width argues that resource heterogeneity selects for niche breadth. For parasites, this theory predicts that parasite populations will evolve, or maintain, broader host ranges when selected in genetically diverse host populations relative to homogeneous host populations. To test this prediction, we selected the bacterial parasite Serratia marcescens to kill Caenorhabditis elegans in populations that were genetically heterogeneous (50% mix of two experimental genotypes) or homogeneous (100% of either genotype). After 20 rounds of selection, we compared the host range of selected parasites by measuring parasite fitness (i.e. virulence, the selected fitness trait) on the two focal host genotypes and on a novel host genotype. As predicted, heterogeneous host populations selected for parasites with a broader host range: these parasite populations gained or maintained virulence on all host genotypes. This result contrasted with selection in homogeneous populations of one host genotype. Here, host range contracted, with parasite populations gaining virulence on the focal host genotype and losing virulence on the novel host genotype. This pattern was not, however, repeated with selection in homogeneous populations of the second host genotype: these parasite populations did not gain virulence on the focal host genotype, nor did they lose virulence on the novel host genotype. Our results indicate that host heterogeneity can maintain broader host ranges in parasite populations. Individual host genotypes, however, vary in the degree to which they select for specialization in parasite populations.

No measurable fitness cost to experimentally evolved host defence in the Caenorhabditis elegans-Serratia marcescens host-parasite system.

Host susceptibility to parasites can vary over space and time. Costs associated with the maintenance of host defence are thought to account for a portion of this variation. Specifically, trade-offs wherein elevated defence is maintained at the cost of fitness in the absence of the parasite may cause levels of host defence to change over time and differ between populations. In previous studies, we found that populations of the host nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans, evolved greater levels of parasite avoidance and resistance against the bacterial parasite, Serratia marcescens. Here, we passaged these host populations either in the presence or absence of the parasite to test for a cost of elevated host defences. After 16 generations, we found that elevated levels of host defence were maintained during evolution in both the presence and absence of the parasite. Further, this maintenance of defence was not the result of limited standing genetic variation, but rather the absence of a measurable cost associated with defence. Therefore, costs associated with host defence may not broadly account for differences in host susceptibility across space and time.

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy analysis of human deciduous teeth samples.

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) analysis of human deciduous teeth has been performed by employing Nd:YAG laser (1064 nm, 10 ns) for the evaluation of plasma parameters as well as elemental analysis. The plasma parameters, i.e., electron temperature and electron number density of laser-induced teeth plasma at various fluencies, have been evaluated. Both parameters show an increasing trend up to a certain value of laser fluence, i.e., 2.6 J/cm(2). With further increase in laser fluence up to a value of 3.9 J/cm(2), a decreasing trend is observed which is due to shielding effect. With further increase in laser fluence up to a maximum value of 10.5 J/cm(2), the insignificant changes in plasma parameters are observed which are attributed to saturation phenomenon governed by self-regulating regime. Emission spectroscopy results exhibit that laser fluence is the controlling factor for both plasma parameters. The elemental analysis was also performed at constant laser fluence of 2.6 J/cm(2) by evaluating the variation in detected elemental concentration of Ca, Fe, Sr, Zn, and Pb in three different parts of human teeth, i.e., enamel, dentine, and cementum. The lower concentration of Ca as compared to the standard values of CaCO3 (self-fabricated pellet) reveals that enamel is the most deciduous part of the human teeth. However, at the same time, it is also observed that the highest concentration of micro minerals is also found in enamel, then in dentine, and lowest in cementum. Carious or unhealthy tooth is identified by enhanced concentration of micro minerals (Pb, Sr, Zn, and Fe). The highest concentration of micro minerals as compared to other parts of teeth (dentine and root cementum) and lower concentration of Ca as compared to standard CaCO3 pellet in enamel confirm that enamel is the most deciduous part of the teeth.