Mississippi State University

About: Mississippi State University is a education organization based out in Starkville, Mississippi, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Catfish. The organization has 14115 authors who have published 28594 publications receiving 700030 citations. The organization is also known as: The Mississippi State University of Agriculture and Applied Science & Mississippi State University of Agriculture and Applied Science.

Examining the influence of control and convenience in a self-service setting

Abstract: The constructs of perceived control and convenience have been identified in previous qualitative studies of self-service technology (SST) use as important factors; yet empirically their effects are relatively unknown. Based on the theory of planned behavior, this study explores how control and convenience perceptions influence customers’ utilitarian (speed of transaction) and hedonic (exploration) motivations for using an SST. In addition, we explore how trust in a service provider influences customers’ future SST intentions. Two studies were undertaken to assess both users and nonusers’ evaluations of an SST. The results revealed that perceived control and convenience do impact the intentions of customers to use an SST in the future; however, their impact was mediated through the constructs of speed of transaction, exploration, and trust. Increased control and convenience perceptions influenced exploration, trust and speed evaluations, which in turn were associated with stronger perceived value, higher SST satisfaction judgments, and increased SST usage intentions. Managerial implications stemming from the empirical findings are discussed along with directions for future research.

Is breath acetone a biomarker of diabetes? A historical review on breath acetone measurements.

Abstract: Since the ancient discovery of the 'sweet odor' in human breath gas, pursuits of the breath analysis-based disease diagnostics have never stopped. Actually, the 'smell' of the breath, as one of three key disease diagnostic techniques, has been used in Eastern-Medicine for more than three thousand years. With advancement of measuring technologies in sensitivity and selectivity, more specific breath gas species have been identified and established as a biomarker of a particular disease. Acetone is one of the breath gases and its concentration in exhaled breath can now be determined with high accuracy using various techniques and methods. With the worldwide prevalence of diabetes that is typically diagnosed through blood testing, human desire to achieve non-blood based diabetic diagnostics and monitoring has never been quenched. Questions, such as is breath acetone a biomarker of diabetes and how is the breath acetone related to the blood glucose (BG) level (the golden criterion currently used in clinic for diabetes diagnostic, monitoring, and management), remain to be answered. A majority of current research efforts in breath acetone measurements and its technology developments focus on addressing the first question. The effort to tackle the second question has begun recently. The earliest breath acetone measurement in clearly defined diabetic patients was reported more than 60 years ago. For more than a half-century, as reviewed in this paper, there have been more than 41 independent studies of breath acetone using various techniques and methods, and more than 3211 human subjects, including 1581 healthy people, 242 Type 1 diabetic patients, 384 Type 2 diabetic patients, 174 unspecified diabetic patients, and 830 non-diabetic patients or healthy subjects who are under various physiological conditions, have been used in the studies. The results of the breath acetone measurements collected in this review support that many conditions might cause changes to breath acetone concentrations; however, the results from the six independent studies using clearly-defined Type 1 and Type 2 diabetic patients unanimously support that an elevated mean breath acetone concentration exists in Type 1 diabetes. Note that there is some overlap between the ranges of breath acetone concentration in individual T1D patients and healthy subjects; this reminds one to be careful when using an acetone breath test on T1D diagnostics. Comparatively, it is too early to draw a general conclusion on the relationship between a breath acetone level and a BG level from the very limited data in the literature.

Indicators of Resource Use Efficiency and Environmental Performance in Fish and Crustacean Aquaculture

Abstract: The aquaculture industry is under increasing pressure to make production more resource efficient and environmentally responsible. Application of better management practices is the main approach for improving the environmental performance of aquaculture. There are, however, few numerical indicators for comparing resource use and waste generation for culture of common species and by different grow-out techniques. Indicators are proposed for evaluating the efficiency with which feed, protein, fish meal, nutrients, liming materials, water, land, and energy are used in aquaculture. In addition, methods for evaluating amounts of nutrients and other possible pollutants generated by production facilities are suggested. The indicators are designed to reveal the quantities of resources used, or of waste discharged, per tonne of production. This will simplify comparisons among species and production systems and facilitate comparisons with other kinds of animal agriculture.