Does Culture affect Consumer Behaviour, when shopping On-Line?

Abstract. On-line retailers have to decide whether to standardize or adapt their marketing strategy to the foreign consumer markets. The objective of this article is not only to locate differences in on-line shopping behavior between English, Italian, and Chinese consumers, but also to explain these differences, through cultural dimensions. A discriminant analysis was conducted on English, Italian and Chinese consumers, based on eighteen behavioral variables, to illustrate the effect that a change of culture would have on a consumer’s on-line shopping behavior. The behavioral variables were classified in a descending lexicographic order of their discriminating power, between these cultures. After running the discriminant analysis, a factorial analysis of the eighteen behavioral describers was also run, to organize the latter into a smaller number of factors that are mutually exclusive, and very exhaustive. Factorial analysis identified five distinct factors that point out differences between the three countries, underlining that on-line retailers cannot duplicate abroad their home marketing strategy, because the needs e-shoppers wish to fulfill diverge between these markets

Structure floristique d'un transect de végétation steppique de la basse-Moulouya

L'analyse factorielle des correspondances adaptée aux circonstances expérimentales offre d'énormes possibilités pour le dépouillement des enquêtes phyto-écologiques. Le modèle canonique pour la réécriture phytosociologique 1 des tableaux floristiques et le modèle double discriminant pour la cartographie spatiale constituent des aides 1 précieux pour cerner les structures phyto-écologiques .. La complémentarité de ces deux modèles a permis de hiérarchiser la structure de notre transect suivant un niveau sectoriel caractérisé par un gradient floristique et un niveau local caractérisé par divers niveaux d'implantation localisés, agrégatifs et de correspondance pointue.Floristical structure of steppic vegetation transect of the Basse-MoulouyaThe factorial correspondence analysis adapted to experimental circumstances allows great possibilities for phytoecological data analysis. The canonical model for the phytosociological rewriting ofbotanical tables. Furthermore, the double disciminant model for spatial maping consitutes great help in defining or delimiting physociological structures. These two models are complementary and allow together a better structure hierrarchy within the transe ct according to a sectoriallevel caracterised by a floristical gradient and a locallevel caracterised by various levels of localised implementation, agregated, and sharp correspondence .

Local and regional factors influencing zooplankton communities in the connected Kasseb Reservoir, Tunisia

Associations between zooplankton community structure and abiotic (temperature, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, nutriments) and biotic factors (chlorophyll a and phytoplankton community) were examined, in Kasseb Reservoir, northern Tunisia. Samples were taken bimonthly from July to December 2002 at 3 sampling stations (deepest station: Station 1, Brik River: Station 2 and M’Zaz Stama River: Station 3). From our results it is evident that zooplankton exhibit seasonally and spatially heterogeneous distribution. The highest density of zooplankton was recorded in September at a depth of 5 m (10.8 × 103 ind·l-1). At Station 1 cyclopoid copepods (65% of total abundance) were the most abundant group followed by Cladocera (21% of total abundance). At Station 2 (93% of total abundance) and Station 3 (98% of total abundance) cyclopoid copepodswere numerically dominant throughout the study period. Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) was used to estimate the influence of abiotic and biotic factors in structuring the zooplankton assemblage. Zooplankton abundance was negatively correlated with turbidity (r= -0.381,

Design of dynamic experiments for black-box model discrimination

Diverse domains of science and engineering require and use mechanistic mathematical models, e.g. systems of differential algebraic equations. Such models often contain uncertain parameters to be estimated from data. Consider a dynamic model discrimination setting where we wish to chose: (i) what is the best mechanistic, time-varying model and (ii) what are the best model parameter estimates. These tasks are often termed model discrimination/selection/validation/verification. Typically, several rival mechanistic models can explain data, so we incorporate available data and also run new experiments to gather more data. Design of dynamic experiments for model discrimination helps optimally collect data. For rival mechanistic models where we have access to gradient information, we extend existing methods to incorporate a wider range of problem uncertainty and show that our proposed approach is equivalent to historical approaches when limiting the types of considered uncertainty. We also consider rival mechanistic models as dynamic black boxes that we can evaluate, e.g. by running legacy code, but where gradient or other advanced information is unavailable. We replace these black-box models with Gaussian process surrogate models and thereby extend the model discrimination setting to additionally incorporate rival black-box model. We also explore the consequences of using Gaussian process surrogates to approximate gradient-based methods

Postendovascular thoracic aortic repair subclavian steal syndrome revealed by severe headache

AbstractSubclavian steal syndrome (SCSS) has been known since 1960 in the medical literature. Its principal cause is atherosclerosis responsible of occlusion of the subclavian artery (SCA). It is the pathological process in which blood flows in reverse direction from the vertebral artery (VA) to the SCA. Usually asymptomatic, but a variety of symptoms may develop involving the vertebro-basilar and/or the carotid territories and may be precipitated by exercise of the upper extremity. In some circumstances it can be iatrogenic complicating the course of a thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) when the left SCA is covered by the endoprosthesis, which is a necessity many times giving the frequent proximity of the acute thoracic pathologies to the origin of this vessel.We present a case of severe headache occurring after a TEVAR with intentional coverage of the origin of the left SCA. This headache was the only symptom from which the patient complained, and which disappeared immediately after carotid-SCA bypass. Other devastating complications can happen, which gave as a concern about the management of SCA when decision to practice a TEVAR is taken

Towards the Formal Reliability Analysis of Oil and Gas Pipelines

It is customary to assess the reliability of underground oil and gas pipelines in the presence of excessive loading and corrosion effects to ensure a leak-free transport of hazardous materials. The main idea behind this reliability analysis is to model the given pipeline system as a Reliability Block Diagram (RBD) of segments such that the reliability of an individual pipeline segment can be represented by a random variable. Traditionally, computer simulation is used to perform this reliability analysis but it provides approximate results and requires an enormous amount of CPU time for attaining reasonable estimates. Due to its approximate nature, simulation is not very suitable for analyzing safety-critical systems like oil and gas pipelines, where even minor analysis flaws may result in catastrophic consequences. As an accurate alternative, we propose to use a higher-order-logic theorem prover (HOL) for the reliability analysis of pipelines. As a first step towards this idea, this paper provides a higher-order-logic formalization of reliability and the series RBD using the HOL theorem prover. For illustration, we present the formal analysis of a simple pipeline that can be modeled as a series RBD of segments with exponentially distributed failure times.Comment: 15 page

Does Word-Of-Mouth’s Effect on Products/Brands Differ Between Countries? A Comparative Study of England and Russia

The aim of this paper is to investigate the effect that Word-Of-Mouth (WOM) could have on consumers in different countries, with respect to brand-choice, brand-image, product-category choice, the quantity purchased of a product/brand, and with respect to the likelihood of sharing a product/brand experience depending on a consumer’s level of satisfaction with a specific product-category or brand (Satisfied, Dissatisfied, or Delighted). The hypotheses to be investigated were generated from the literature, and then used to define the variables that were later integrated in a Discriminant-Analysis, to help differentiate between the effects that WOM could have on the product/brand-related decisions stated above, in different countries.The effect of WOM on products categories and brands differs from one country to another on several facets, as illustrated here through the case of England and Russia. The findings of this paper advise marketers on whether to standardize their reliance on WOM to support their brands in different countries, or adapt its extent and manner to each specific country. Ability to predict consumers’ country of origin, merely by analysing their answers to survey questions, and therefore foresee the differentiated effect of WOM on products and brands in each country

Ensayo aleatorizado del cierre de orejuela izquierda vs varfarina para la prevención de accidentes cerebrovasculares tromboembólicos en pacientes con fibrilación auricular no relacionada con valvulopatía. Estudio PREVAIL

The successful application of poly­(<i>N</i>-vinylcaprolactam)-based microgels requires a profound understanding of their synthesis. For this purpose, a validated process model for the microgels synthesis by precipitation copolymerization with the cross-linker <i>N</i>,<i>N</i>′-methylenebis­(acrylamide) is formulated. Unknown reaction rate constants, reaction enthalpies, and partition coefficients are obtained by quantum mechanical calculations. The remaining parameter values are estimated from reaction calorimetry and Raman spectroscopy measurements of experiments with different monomer/cross-linker compositions. Because of high cross-propagation reaction rate constants, simulations predict a fast incorporation of the cross-linker. This agrees with reaction calorimetry measurements. Furthermore, the gel phase is predicted as the major reaction locus. The model is utilized for a prediction of the internal particle structure regarding its cross-link distribution. The highly cross-linked core reported in the literature corresponds to the predictions of the model

Physical Activity and Insulin Sensitivity: The RISC Study

OBJECTIVE— Physical activity is a modifiable risk factor for type 2 diabetes, partly through its action on insulin sensitivity. We report the relation between insulin sensitivity and physical activity measured by accelerometry