56 research outputs found

    CONSUMER DECISION PROCESS EXPLORATION: LUXURY FASHION PRODUCTS IN BOGOTÁ

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    This research aims to explore the factors that are part of the decision process for purchasing luxury fashion products in the city of Bogota (Colombia). The variables of influence that arise from the previous literature (product display, technological accessibility, representation of status, brand perception, lifestyle, association with well-being and wealth, association with delight, the motivation of the consumer, authenticity of the product, and cost-benefit ratio) were explored as part of 10 in-depth interviews with people between ages of 25 and 45 who live in strata 5 and 6 in Bogota, Colombia. The validity of the interviews is observed in the verification of concepts with previous research, the quality of the data collected, and, therefore, with the condition of the dependence, credibility, and transferability of these data. The main variables that affect the decision process for purchasing luxury fashion products are the brand, exclusivity, distinction, and their relationship with the positive emotions generated in the consumer. The results of this research suggest how to improve their marketing strategies, focusing on what their target public looks for. This research is the first to analyze the decision process for purchasing luxury fashion products in the city of Bogota by using in-depth interviews

    Sentiment Analysis for Social Media

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    Sentiment analysis is a branch of natural language processing concerned with the study of the intensity of the emotions expressed in a piece of text. The automated analysis of the multitude of messages delivered through social media is one of the hottest research fields, both in academy and in industry, due to its extremely high potential applicability in many different domains. This Special Issue describes both technological contributions to the field, mostly based on deep learning techniques, and specific applications in areas like health insurance, gender classification, recommender systems, and cyber aggression detection

    Consumer cultural studies

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    This collaborative publishing project was built following those trends; it embraced the participation of diverse international authors, whose perception, rationale and research development helped signify the interest and need for an in-depth approach in consumer cultural studies to provide perspectives to tackle the market’s influence over popular culture, its diverse identity resources and intersections between influential analytical categories, such as surroundings, organizations and circulation and distribution of tangible and intangible product

    Calculating and tracking the environmental impacts of everyday – An overview of Finnish footprinting tools

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    Considering efforts to mitigate the negative impact of human activities on the environment, a strong emphasis from all three sectors, in Finland and internationally, has lately been turned toward carbon footprint calculators. Calculators represent a branch of communication methods which aim to foster knowledge of individuals’ environmental impact and to change consumption habits. The variety of different types of calculators are in this thesis called footprinting tools (FPT). In Finland, footprinting tools targeted to individuals have existed already for two decades, but it is yet unclear what their actual effect on making our lifestyles more environmentally friendly are, or what kind of different ways they use for fostering awareness and provoking sustainable action. To guide the development of current and future footprinting tools, this thesis aims at building an overview of the different characteristics of Finnish footprinting tools and discuss their key differences and similarities. Additionally, the study presents suggestions for FPT development according to the results of the analysis of the tools. The study is conducted by analyzing currently available footprinting tools with an adaptation of textual and visual grounded theory method. In total 37 currently active tools were examined during the study. The key findings of the study remark, that Finnish citizens are offered a broad variety of online tools. It seems, that despite providing a seemingly similar service, each FPT has a unique purpose and they utilize different types of features and functionalities to provide information and provoke action. The key differences in the methods which tools use can be found by comparing calculators and trackers, calculators being tools which require consumption data input from the user, and tracker representing the types of tools which utilise consumption databases for generating personalized information of individuals environmental impact. Since footprinting tools can be built to fit every need, the suggestion for FPT development focuses on guiding tool concept design to best fits tool host goals and resources, and to take into consideration the common pitfalls of FPT’s. Implications of this study are valuable for both research and practice. For instance, an overview of Finnish footprinting tools has not been made in earlier research as extensively as was done in this thesis. Both the list of existing tools and the analysis of their characteristics can be valuable for further research on Finnish and potentially international FPT’s. In practice, this study is useful for organizations who aim to use and develop FPT’s. Organizations can use the results of this study as a toolbox of different footprinting tool features and functionalities, which can help them in the development of a tool which best supports their goals.Ihmistoiminnan aiheuttamien negatiivisten ympäristövaikutusten ratkaisemisessa on viime aikoina saanut vahvasti huomiota, sekä Suomessa että kansainvälisesti, hiilijalanjälkilaskurit. Laskurit edustavat viestinnällisiä välineitä, jotka pyrkivät edistämään yksilöiden tietoisuutta ympäristövaikutuksestaan ja tiedostamisen kautta muuttamaan kulutustapojaan. Joukkoa erilaisia laskureita kutsutaan tässä Pro gradu -tutkielmassa jalanjälkityökaluiksi (footprinting tool, FPT). Suomessa jalanjälkityökaluja on tarjottu yksilöille jo noin 20 vuotta, mutta työkalujen todellisesta vaikutuksesta ympärisöongelmien ratkaisuun ei ole varmuutta. Samoin tietoa kaikista työkalujen käyttämistä tiedon levittämisen keinoista ja kestäviin elämäntapoihin kannustavista toiminnallisuuksista ei ole jäsennelty kattavasti, vaikka aikaisempaa tutkimusta työkaluista on saatavilla laajalti. Jalanjälkityökalujen kehittämisen tueksi tämä tutkielma pyrkii rakentamaan yleiskatsauksen suomalaisten työkalujen ominaisuuksista ja esittelemään laskureiden eroavaisuuksia ja yhtäläisyyksiä. Lisäksi, tutkielma esittää tuloksiin perustuen suosituksia jalanjälkityökalujen suunnitteluun. Tutkielma on toteutettu hyödyntäen ja yhdistäen visuaalista ja tekstuaalista grounded theory -menetelmää. Tutkielmassa tarkasteltiin yhteensä 37 aktiivista jalanjälkityökalua. Tutkielman keskeisenä tuloksena voidaan esittää, että suomalaisille on tarjolla laaja kattaus erilaisia netissä käytössä olevia jalanjälkityökaluja. Vaikka työkalut tarjoavat näennäisesti samankaltaisia palveluita, jokaisella työkalulla on oma tarkoituksensa ja ne hyödyntävät erilaisia ominaisuuksia tiedon tarjoamiseen ja kestäviin elämäntapoihin siirtymiseen. Keskeisimmät eroavaisuudet voidaan havaita laskureiden ja seurantatyökalujen välillä. Laskurit ovat työkaluja, joihin käyttäjät itse syöttävät omat kulutustietonsa, kun taas seurantatyökalut hyödyntävät erilaisia tietokantoja yksilöllisen ympäristövaikutuksen laskentaan. Koska työkaluja voidaan rakentaa lukuisilla tavoilla vastaamaan kulloiseenkin tarpeeseen, suositus työkalujen suunnitteluun sisältää ohjeistuksen työkalujen konseptin suunnitteluun tavalla, joka parhaiten vastaa työkalun tekijän tavoitteita ja resursseja. Ohjeistukset ottavat huomioon myös tutkimuksissa havaitut työkalujen yleisimmät heikot kohdat. Tutkielman tuloksilla on käyttökohteita jalanjälkityökalujen tutkimuksessa ja toteutuksessa. Yhtä laajaa katsausta suomalaisiin laskureihin ei ole aikaisemmin tehty, jolloin esimerkiksi käytössä olevien työkalujen listausta ja niiden ominaisuuksia käsittelevän analyysin tuloksia voi hyödyntää suomalaisten tai kansainvälisten laskureiden jatkotutkimuksessa. Käytännössä tutkielman tulokset ovat hyödyllisiä jalanjälkityökaluja kehittäville organisaatioille. Erilaiset toimijat voivat käyttää tutkielman tuloksia jalanjälkityökalujen ominaisuuksien työkalupakkina, jonka avulla organisaatiot voivat paremmin saavuttaa tavoitteensa

    The Influence of Technology on the Academic and Social Lives of Students and Lecturers in Kuwaiti Higher Education (HE)

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    The central purpose of this mixed methods sequential explanatory study was to identify the perceptions of higher education (HE) students and lecturers in Kuwait, as regards the use of technology in their academic and social lives. In the quantitative phase of the study, the research questions were designed to identify the factors of influence on students’ and lecturers’ use of technology. The data were collected by administering survey questionnaires and the participants’ answers to the items on the survey scales were then analysed using statistical analysis software (SPSS). This involved descriptive analysis and Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), which additionally included principal components analysis (PCA), a data reduction method. In the qualitative phase of the study, the research questions were aimed at understanding how students and lecturers used technology for learning and teaching, as well as for social purposes. Thematic analysis was subsequently applied in analysing the interview, diary and observation data. The findings of the quantitative (factors) and qualitative phases (themes) were integrated while interpreting the outcomes of the study. Some of the significant findings to emerge from this thesis were that the expediency of the technologies and disruptive practices of the lecturers empowered the students; triggered student engagement in self-regulated learning; intellectually stimulated students’ ability to identify and solve problems creatively, and improved student learning through social interaction and collaboration, all within a facilitating and encouraging learning environment. However, the analysis also acknowledged certain disadvantages of students being too dependent on technology. Meanwhile, although the lecturers espoused constructivist beliefs, thus helping them to orchestrate classroom activities and create socio-constructivist learning environments, as a means of facilitating learning through the adoption of learner-centred approaches, they were also frustrated. In the final analysis, the students were found to be overwhelmingly positive in their attitudes towards technology, while the lecturers saw themselves as associates in this process, creating communities of learners

    Helping academics manage students with “invisible disabilities”

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    Genetic analysis of candidate genes linked to atopic eczema in the Bangladeshi population of East London

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    PhDBackground: Atopic Eczema (AE) is a common skin disease that results from a complex interplay between genetic and environmental factors. It may be associated with other atopic phenotypes including; asthma, hayfever and food allergy. The onset, typically in early childhood, can affect any part of the body but often occurs in the flexures of the elbows and knees. Aim and hypothesis: The aim of this thesis was to investigate the genetics of AE in the Bangladeshi families of East London to identify possible positive association with AE or other atopic diseases. This involved investigating previously associated genes and also novel genes mapping to regions showing suggestive linkage from a microsatellite genome scan and data from a haplotype tagging SNP based Illumina based Array genotyping. Methods: A total of 70 families (n=384) individuals were recruited via the Paediatric dermatology Clinic at the Royal London Hospital. Three genes; FOXP3, SPINK5 and TNC were assessed for genetic association with AE and other atopic phenotypes using a combination of techniques, such as PCR, dHPLC, sequencing, and Taqman SNP assays. FBAT software was used for statistical analysis. Results and future work: Suggestive associations with AE and other allergic disorders were identified in all genes examined however, none of these results remained significant (p-value<0.05) after correcting for multiple testing. As part of this project, several novel genes have been identified including TNC, JAK3 and KYNU. To follow up these promising findings, replication studies could be conducted in other populations with AE in particular by large case-control analyses. In addition, with the development of high throughput SNP genotyping and, in particular, exome sequencing, the larger Bangladeshi families with multiple AE affected could be investigated to identify AE-associated disease mutation

    Bard Observer, Vol. 19 (February 22, 2005)

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    https://digitalcommons.bard.edu/observer/1541/thumbnail.jp
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