The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which the message structure of an online word-of-mouth referral influences the booking intentions of lodging consumers. The objectives were (1) determine what elements of the message structure of an online word-of-mouth referral influenced the booking intention of lodging consumers and (2) determine whether message structure moderated the relationships between beliefs, attitudes, norms, and booking intentions of online lodging consumers. A Web-based survey instrument was administered to 158 undergraduate students from eight different hospitality management course sections. Each course section was exposed to one of eight conditions. To address the first objective of the study, two separate two-way ANOVA procedures were employed to determine the main and interaction effects of type of claim (positive versus negative) and type of conclusion (implicit versus explicit) within one-sided messages and type of claim (positive claim first versus negative claim first) and type of conclusion (implicit versus explicit) within two-sided messages, the third element of the message structure examined was type of conclusion (explicit vs. implicit).To address the second objective, structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to determine whether message structure moderated the relationships between beliefs, attitudes, norms, and booking intentions of online lodging consumers The findings from the ANOVA indicated there was a significant main effect for positive one-sided messages. Respondents that received only positive online word-of-mouth messages had significantly higher booking intention scores (M = 3.84, SD = 1.57) than respondents that received only negative online word-of-mouth messages (M = 2.63, SD = 1.61; F (1, 75) = 10.67, p = .002). There was no significant interaction for type of claim and type of conclusion within the one-sided condition, F (1, 75) = 0.66, p = .419.The findings from SEM analysis indicate sidedness would moderate the relationship between beliefs, attitudes, norms, and booking intentions of online lodging consumers. Specifically, the relationship between behavioral beliefs and normative beliefs was stronger in the sample of respondents exposed to the one-sided message (β = .52, p = .002) than in the sample of respondents exposed to the two-sided message (β = .31, p = .011). This study suggests that lodging companies could benefit from a human-centered approach to understanding online word-of-mouth message structure and thereby consumer information behavior.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2003. / Also available in print.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2003. / Also available in print.

Due to the fast speed of broadband and the advanced level of bandwidth, Internet users love to spend a lot of time surfing the Internet and the e-life concept has become a very popular living style. Recently, the trend towards food shopping in groups has overwhelmed traditional shopping habits. In the past, people bought food after a free taste and now the food lovers share their experiences on their blogs. The unknown shops therefore will become famous after being introduced by food lovers forwarding their relevant e-mails. The establishment of virtual communities for shopping in groups helps consumers to acquire a better price after negotiating with shop owners. The estimated variables, including comments of group leaders, life styles and intensity of relations, were used to analyze the buying willingness in the virtual communities. The results of questionnaires were collected from the ihergo website, run by a Delicacies Discovery Team in Kaohsiung. All data were analyzed and verified via: descriptive statistics, reliability factors, correlation and regression etc. The results are described as follows: 1.The positive comments of group leaders impacted buying willingness in the virtual communities. 2.The positive intensity of relations affected the buying willingness in the virtual communities. 3.The ¡§creativity and trends¡¨ in lifestyle revealed a positive correlation with the buying willingness in virtual communities

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2003. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Available also from UMI Company.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Dept. of Classical Languages and Literatures, December 2003. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Infection of animal cells with picornaviruses results in the accumulation of replication associated membrane bound vesicles and a cessation in the trafficking of integral membrane and secreted proteins. At present little is known about the role of Foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) non-structural proteins in infection, or on trafficking events in cells. In this study we utilise state-of-the-art bioimaging technology and fluorescent protein chimeras to ascertain the effects of expressing FMDV non-structural proteins 2B, 2C, 2BC, 3A and 3AB on cellular organelles, and on the trafficking of vesicular stomatitis virus glycoprotein (VSVG). The expression of protein 2C in cells resulted in a membrane bound reticular distribution that appeared to form novel structures juxtaposing the cell nucleus. In 2C positive cells these novel structures co-distributed with the ER markers ERp60 and DsRedER. The formation of GFP-2C positive structures was visualised in live cells using wide-field microscopy showing structures forming from the peripheral reticular distribution and migrating towards the nucleus. The putative role of microtubules in the formation and movement of these structures was suggested when cells were incubated in the presence of nocodazole. The possible role of protein 2C in FMDV infection is discussed. The formation of 2C novel structures however had no effect on the trafficking of VSVG from the ER to the plasma membrane. Neither did the expression of 2B (which formed similar juxtanuclear structures to 2C), 3A or 3AB. The presence however of 2BC, the precursor of 2B and 2C in infected cells, had the effect of blocking VSVG in the ER by an unknown mechanism. FMDV hasbeen shown previously to down regulate the surface expression of MHC class I on the surface of infected cells (Sanz-Parra et al., 1998), and the results of this study implicate protein 2BC in the inhibitory effects of FMDV infection

published_or_final_version / Dentistry / Master / Master of Philosophy

African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) play an important role in the maintenance of the SAT types of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in southern Africa. These long-term carriers mostly become sub-clinically infected, maintaining the disease and posing a threat to other susceptible wildlife and domestic species. During an unrelated bovine tuberculosis experiment using captive buffalo in the Kruger National Park (KNP), an outbreak of SAT-1 occurred and was further investigated. The clinical signs were recorded and all animals demonstrated significant weight loss and lymphopenia that lasted 100 days. In addition, the mean cell volume and mean cell haemoglobin values were significantly higher than before the outbreak started. Virus was isolated from several buffalo over a period of 167 days post infection and the molecular clock estimated to be 3 × 10−5 nucleotide substitutions per site per day. Seven amino acid changes occurred of which four occurred in hypervariable regions previously described for SAT-1. The genetic relationship of the outbreak virus was compared to buffalo viruses previously obtained from the KNP but the phylogeny was largely unresolved, therefore the relationship of this outbreak strain to others isolated from the KNP remains unclear.