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Social Media influencer is one of the primary keys in the advertising industry, which provides more impetus to increase consumers' sense of homophily towards brands. This is assisted by the level of expertise possessed by SMI, which is in accordance with the brand identity and elements owned by the brand. The level of homophily and expertise can increase image satisfaction and advertising trust in building a sense of emotional connection and shared values between consumers and brands. This interpersonal feeling can be interpreted as a self-brand connection where consumers with a high sense of connection will increase the consumer's desire to buy and feel the benefits provided by product consumption emotionally or practically. This research focuses on the luxury car industry, which is often promoted through social media influencers on the YouTube platform. The use of the YouTube platform has the right features to provide information through audio, visuals, and also the right duration in promoting luxury cars. Respondents who were targeted using non-probability sampling also had specific criteria where Respondents were Youtube users who had watched automotive YouTuber content and recognized SMI luxury cars on Youtube.

India is becoming a major consumer of luxury goods in the last two decades the reasons are obvious i.e the increased purchasing power of the consumer, and other demographic, sociological and psychological factors. India being the largest in terms of population with China, the needs, wants, desires and demand of the consumer is more and has a variety also. Car is more a dream than a need in India. But luxury brands like BMW, Audi and Mercedes is more desirable in the Indian society. The reason is esteem associated with those brands. It is something which reflects a changing lifestyle pattern of a class which is called affluent class. The growth rate for these cars with a price tag which is above Rs. 25 lacs has grown 20% on an average since a few years. When the whole world was facing recession the Indian luxury car market grew by 23% as per the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) despite considerable percent decline in passenger car sales. Year 2010 has shown growth in the luxury automobile sector which was up by 25%. Indian luxury car market was dominated by Mercedes Benz who entered in India in 1994 until 2009 where it was outscored by BMW which entered India in 2006.Similary Audi, Volvo and Jaguar-Land Rover also entered the Indian market and the market share was distributed among these players. Since then there has been stiff competition between these brands. This paper basically deals with identification of a car to qualify as luxury.

Previous research found that men conspicuously consume luxury products to attract a mate and to signal their mate value. However, these studies have yet neglected to investigate the function of male conspicuous consumption in same-sex competition. Given that intersexual selection and intrasexual selection are closely related processes, it stands to reason that a further function of male conspicuous consumption could be to impress and deter same-sex rivals. An 2 (intrasexual competition context vs. control) × 2 (conspicuous luxury vs. inconspicuous nonluxury) between-subjects experimental study conducted with an Amazon Mechanical Turk sample (N = 160) revealed that men reported both higher liking of and an intent to purchase a conspicuous luxury car compared to an inconspicuous nonluxury car due to increased feelings of social status. This effect was stronger in the intrasexual competition than in the control context. An additional perception study using a single-factor between-subjects design (conspicuous luxury vs. inconspicuous nonluxury car) among German men (N = 405) indicated that male participants rated a man who displayed a conspicuous luxury car more as a rival and mate poacher and less as a friend. They further perceived him to be superior on various mate value characteristics (i.e., attractiveness, intelligence, ambition, and status) and rated him as more oriented toward short-term mating. In sum, our findings add to previous research in the field of evolutionary consumer psychology by suggesting that male conspicuous consumption of luxuries may also serve a function in male–male competition.

Purpose This study aims to analyze the role of religious knowledge level in influencing customers’ brand association and purchase intention of luxury cars by focusing on the Indonesian context and taking the Lexus brand as a case in point. Design/methodology/approach A sample of 159 respondents was taken from a population of Muslim consumers who live in Java province, Indonesia, and who have not had Lexus luxury car but have had other cars before. Using a quantitative research approach on primary data collected in several cities in Indonesia, the study adopts the partial least square as a method of analysis. Findings The study shows that brand association positively and significantly influences Muslim consumers’ attitudes on luxury cars, in this case, the Lexus brand. More importantly, the level of religious knowledge among Muslim consumers is shown to significantly weaken the influence of consumer attitudes toward purchase intention on luxury cars. The study also shows that brand association has a significant influence on Muslim consumers’ purchase intention on luxury cars. Research limitations/implications This study only explores the consumers’ perceptions based on their income levels. Further details of the consumers when making purchases of the luxury cars are not being considered; this includes who the decision-maker is, gender and education level. Practical implications There are several important implications that come from this study, especially on the risk of after-sales that will be experienced by luxury car owners, in this case, the Lexus brand. Luxury car manufacturers should show and highlight different characters in representing each variant or each type, to be more reflective of the intention and personalities of consumers who purchase luxury cars and not only to show the impression of owning the luxury cars. Social implications There are also social implications of this research where although middle- and high-income consumers do not always intend to buy luxury cars due to the role of religiosity that directs the Muslim consumers to evaluate whether it is really necessary to buy the luxury cars. Originality/value There has been a gap in the literature in assessing the role of religious knowledge level in affecting brand association as well as purchase intention, especially from a quantitative research approach and particularly focusing on the Indonesian context. This study including in responsible consumption as a good customer, which is one of Sustainable Development Goals items.

Traditional wheelchairs are pushed from behind the occupant, which hinders eye contact and communication. It was proposed that the wheelchair be pushed from the side using a push bar to place the caregiver beside the occupant. However, this method requires the caregiver to exert continuous effort to maintain a straight trajectory because the force at the lateral push location generates a moment. This study explores simple modifications to the front castor wheel of the wheelchair that allow pushing it from the side without additional effort. We used a three-dimensional dynamic model of the castor wheel to predict the effects of altering its dimensions and rake, cant, and bank angle and present a simplified steady-state solution. Experimental results support the model’s predictions, and a proof-of-concept experiment with a wheelchair showed that it is possible to push a wheelchair from the side without increasing forces or moments. The results also confirmed that the lateral ground reaction force generated on the castor wheel is proportional to the normal force and the cant angle, which can counter the moment caused by the lateral push location. The implications of this model extend beyond wheelchair design and can be applied to other applications that use castor wheels, such as robotics, trolleys, and walkers.

I aspire to answer two questions regarding the concept of a corrective duty. The first concerns what it means to wrong others, thus triggering a demand for corrections (the ground question). The second relates to the proper content of corrective duties. I first illustrate how three prominent accounts of corrective duties—the Aristotelian model of correlativity, the Kantian idea that wronging corresponds to the violation of others’ right to freedom, and the more recent continuity view—have failed to answer the two questions satisfactorily. I then introduce my proposal, which holds that we wrong others when we fail to treat their status as moral agents as a source of stringent constraints on our action. I call it the moral neglect account. Once we have identified a common aim of corrective duties (counterbalancing moral neglect), we can fill their content in the various contexts in which wronging has occurred. I conclude by observing that it is not the primary role of corrective justice to assign responsibilities for damage reparations; in fact, requests for compensation make more sense if framed in distributive rather than corrective terms.

Obesity significantly increases the risk of hyperlipidemia, type 2 diabetes, and liver disease. This study examined humanized monoacylglycerol acyltransferase 2 mice ( HuMgat2 ) and their response to a high fat diet (HFD) while investigating hepatocyte dysfunction during obesity development. HuMgat2 mice fed a HFD exhibited hyperlipidemia, hyperglycemia, insulin resistance, and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD). Elevated levels of cholesterol and triglycerides were associated with increased expression of lipogenic genes and accumulation of nuclear Srebp1/Srebp2. Mice fed a HFD demonstrated impaired insulin signaling and increased glucose production through the expression of gluconeogenesis genes. Liver fibrosis was characterized by collagen deposition and activation of Jak2-Stat3 signaling, resulting in hepatocyte apoptosis. RNA sequencing identified extracellular matrix degradation and apolipoprotein metabolism as being altered. Levels of cytochrome P450 enzymes were downregulated, as indicated by decreased Cyp2b10 and Cyb3a11 levels, alongside reduced expression of the di- and tri-carboxylic acid transporter Slc13a2, correlating with elevated Krebs cycle intermediates. Notably, HuMgat2 mice exhibited responses to a high-fat diet that were comparable to those observed in mMgat2 mice. These findings suggest that HFD consumption and concomitant obesity disrupts metabolite homeostasis, contributing to liver damage and cell death. They also further validate HuMgat2 mice as an excellent preclinical model for testing human MOGAT2 inhibitors as therapeutics for treating obesity.