357 research outputs found
The Effect of Brand Position on Consumer Choices of Luxury Brands: A Cross-Cultural Study Between British and Chinese Consumers
This dissertation is grouped by topicsâluxury brands, values, consumer luxury shopping behaviour, luxury brand management, and luxury brand differentiations. It intends to address the influence of luxury brand positioning on consumer choices.Despite various changes in internal and external environment, little research has investigated the differences of Chinese and British luxury markets. Therefore, in this article, an approach to understanding the positioning of luxury brands and luxury consumption behaviour is presented. The existing definitions are reviewed, which suggests that consumer consumption decisions of luxury brands can be evaluated by 39 items models. Based on this, the purpose of this paper is to focus on and to offer a deeper understanding of the luxury brand positioning effects. In order to fulfil this purpose, four research objectives and three propositions are expounded focusing on the variables of consumer choice decision as well as an explanation of the brand unique personality. By following the research objectives and propositions as a direction guide, literature studies are critically analysed resulting in a composite framework which guides the data interpretation. This research takes a qualitative case study for collecting secondary data by means of previous research data. The analysed results demonstrate that there would be a difference in the effect of brand positioning between the Chinese and British consumers. By identifying the equity of different luxury brands, consumer choice behaviour can be better understood, and this may assist luxury brand managers in their exploration of luxury market
Probing dynamics of dark energy with latest observations
We examine the validity of the CDM model, and probe for the dynamics
of dark energy using latest astronomical observations. Using the
diagnosis, we find that different kinds of observational data are in tension
within the CDM framework. We then allow for dynamics of dark energy
and investigate the constraint on dark energy parameters. We find that for two
different kinds of parametrisations of the equation of state parameter , a
combination of current data mildly favours an evolving , although the
significance is not sufficient for it to be supported by the Bayesian evidence.
A forecast of the DESI survey shows that the dynamics of dark energy could be
detected at confidence level, and will be decisively supported by the
Bayesian evidence, if the best fit model of derived from current data is
the true model.Comment: 4.5 pages, 3 figures, 1 table; references adde
Robustness of Reaction-Diffusion PDEs Predictor-Feedback to Stochastic Delay Perturbations
This paper studies the robustness of a PDE backstepping delay-compensated
boundary controller for a reaction-diffusion partial differential equation
(PDE) with respect to a nominal delay subject to stochastic error disturbance.
The stabilization problem under consideration involves random perturbations
modeled by a finite-state Markov process that further obstruct the actuation
path at the controlled boundary of the infinite-dimension plant. This scenario
is useful to describe several actuation failure modes in process control.
Employing the recently introduced infinite-dimensional representation of the
state of an actuator subject to stochastic input delay for ODEs (Ordinary
Differential Equations), we convert the stochastic input delay into
unidirectional advection PDEs, where corresponds to the number of jump
states. Our stability analysis assumes full-state measurement of the spatially
distributed plant's state and relies on a hyperbolic-parabolic PDE cascade
representation of the plant plus actuator dynamics. Integrating the plant and
the nominal stabilizing boundary control action, all while considering
probabilistic delay disturbances, we establish the proof of mean-square
exponential stability as well as the well-posedness of the closed-loop system
when random phenomena weaken the nominal actuator compensating effect. Our
proof is based on the Lyapunov method, the theory of infinitesimal operator for
stability, and -semigroup theory for well-posedness. Our stability result
refers to the -norm of the plant state and the -norm of the actuator
state...Comment: 16.5 pages, 6 figure
Bilateral boundary control of an input delayed 2-D reaction-diffusion equation
In this paper, a delay compensation design method based on PDE backstepping
is developed for a two-dimensional reaction-diffusion partial differential
equation (PDE) with bilateral input delays. The PDE is defined in a rectangular
domain, and the bilateral control is imposed on a pair of opposite sides of the
rectangle. To represent the delayed bilateral inputs, we introduce two 2-D
transport PDEs that form a cascade system with the original PDE. A novel set of
backstepping transformations is proposed for delay compensator design,
including one Volterra integral transformation and two affine Volterra integral
transformations. Unlike the kernel equation for 1-D PDE systems with delayed
boundary input, the resulting kernel equations for the 2-D system have singular
initial conditions governed by the Dirac Delta function. Consequently, the
kernel solutions are written as a double trigonometric series with
singularities. To address the challenge of stability analysis posed by the
singularities, we prove a set of inequalities by using the Cauchy-Schwarz
inequality, the 2-D Fourier series, and the Parseval's theorem. A numerical
simulation illustrates the effectiveness of the proposed delay-compensation
method.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures(including 8 sub-figures
The metaphoric nature of the ordinal position effect
Serial orders are thought to be spatially represented in working memory: The beginning items in the memorised sequence are associated with the left side of space and the ending items are associated with the right side of space. However, the origin of this ordinal position effect has remained unclear. It was suggested that the direction of serial orderâspace interaction is related to the reading/writing experience. An alternative hypothesis is that it originates from the âmore is rightâ/âmore is upâ spatial metaphors we use in daily life. We can adjudicate between the two viewpoints in Chinese readers; they read left-to-right but also have a culturally ancient top-to-bottom reading/writing direction. Thus, the reading/writing viewpoint predicts no or a top-to-bottom effect in serial orderâspace interaction; whereas the spatial metaphor theory predicts a clear bottom-to-top effect. We designed four experiments to investigate this issue. First, we found a left-to-right ordinal position effect, replicating results obtained in Western populations. However, the vertical ordinal position effect was in the bottom-to-top direction; moreover, it was modulated by hand position (e.g., left hand bottom or up). We suggest that orderâspace interactions may originate from different sources and are driven by metaphoric comprehension, which itself may ground cognitive processing
Quantitative assessment of image motion blur in diffraction images of moving biological cells
Motion blur (MB) presents a significant challenge for obtaining high-contrast image data from biological cells with a polarization diffraction imaging flow cytometry (p-DIFC) method. A new p-DIFC experimental system has been developed to evaluate the MB and its effect on image analysis using a time-delay-integration (TDI) CCD camera. Diffraction images of MCF-7 and K562 cells have been acquired with different speed-mismatch ratios and compared to characterize MB quantitatively. Frequency analysis of the diffraction images shows that the degree of MB can be quantified by bandwidth variations of the diffraction images along the motion direction. The analytical results were confirmed by the p-DIFC image data acquired at different speed-mismatch ratios and used to validate a method of numerical simulation of MB on blur-free diffraction images, which provides a useful tool to examine the blurring effect on diffraction images acquired from the same cell. These results provide insights on the dependence of diffraction image on MB and allow significant improvement on rapid biological cell assay with the p-DIFC method
Experimental study on effects of gas flow rate on soot characteristics in diffusion flames coupled with plasma
This study examined the evolution of morphology and nanostructure of soot particles from the plasma-flame interaction for various gas flow rates. The current study used both optical diagnostic and sampling methods to explore the soot production and combustion characteristics. Soot particles were characterized at the same positions downstream from the flame zone by thermophoretic sampling and transmission electron microscopy. Moreover, X-ray diffraction analysis, and thermogravimetric analysis were performed to study the nanostructure and oxidation reactivity of soot. A reduction in soot concentration was found with the plasma addition, which illustrated an inhibition effect of plasma on soot emission. The increased gas flow rate promoted soot concentration since a growing number of carbons participated in the combustion process. Depending on the gas flow rate (carbon content) variation and plasma activation, either liquid-like soot material with irregularly shaped protrusions or chain-like structure, or a mixture of both, were generated from the diffusion flames. The soot produced by plasma-flame interaction also demonstrated a high correlation between nanostructure and reactivity. The soot from lower carbon content with plasma activation had a shorter fringe length and larger fringe tortuosity related to higher oxidation reactivity. On the contrary, soot from the highest carbon content without plasma-flame interaction exhibited prevalent fullerene-like nanostructures with evident large or small shells and also had a higher carbonization degree resulting in lower oxidation reactivity
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