Sorry seems to be the hardest word : the effect of self-attribution when apologizing for a brand crisis

When apologizing for a product failure, self-attribution by a business inevitably affects consumer attitude and behavior. This study draws from the dissonance-attribution model and investigates the effect of self-attribution in apologies on consumers\u27 brand attitude. Using a 2x2 experiment, the results show that internal attribution generates significant change in brand attitude in a positive direction, while external attribution leads to negative change in brand attitude. Dispositional attribution leads to significantly more positive brand attitude than situational attribution. Internal/dispositional attribution produces significantly more positive effect on consumer attitude than the other three types of attribution. Moreover, perceived risk is found to mediate the relationship between attributions and brand attitude, and such mediating effect is moderated by consumers\u27 corporate associations. Clearly, how a company apologizes for a product crisis makes a big difference in the effectiveness of recovery strategies to restore consumer confidence

Forward modeling of standing slow modes in flaring coronal loops

Standing slow-mode waves in hot flaring loops are exclusively observed in spectrometers and are used to diagnose the magnetic field strength and temperature of the loop structure. Owing to the lack of spatial information, the longitudinal mode cannot be effectively identified. In this study, we simulate standing slow-mode waves in flaring loops and compare the synthesized line emission properties with Solar Ultraviolet Measurements of Emitted Radiation spectrographic and Solar Dynamics Observatory/Atmospheric Imaging Assembly imaging observations. We find that the emission intensity and line width oscillations are a quarter period out of phase with Doppler shift velocity in both time and spatial domain, which can be used to identify a standing slow-mode wave from spectroscopic observations. However, the longitudinal overtones could only be measured with the assistance of imagers. We find emission intensity asymmetry in the positive and negative modulations; this is because the contribution function pertaining to the atomic emission process responds differently to positive and negative temperature variations. One may detect half periodicity close to the loop apex, where emission intensity modulation is relatively small. The line-of-sight projection affects the observation of Doppler shift significantly. A more accurate estimate of the amplitude of velocity perturbation is obtained by de-projecting the Doppler shift by a factor of 1–2θ/π rather than the traditionally used cosθ. If a loop is heated to the hotter wing, the intensity modulation could be overwhelmed by background emission, while the Doppler shift velocity could still be detected to a certain extent

Modified Palmer Drought Severity Index Based on Distributed Hydrological Simulation

Drought monitoring at large scale is essential for fighting against drought. Aiming at the limitation of acquiring long-time serial soil moisture and actual evapotranspiration for Palmer drought severity index (PDSI), the paper modified the PDSI based on distributed hydrological model on subbasin level in Luanhe river basin, North China. The water balance was simulated using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). Calibration and validation results showed good agreement between simulated and measured discharges, and the SWAT model can be used to predict hydrological processes in the study area. Then the simulation results of main hydrologic components were used to establish PDSI. The verification of the drought indices showed that the modified PDSI based on SWAT model and Palmer drought severity index could better describe the characteristics of regional drought evolution in the Luanhe river basin. High drought frequency areas were mainly distributed in the grassland regions of upstream located in the eastern part of Inner Mongolia plateau, and the drought area had a significant upward trend form 1973 to 2010. Compared with the traditional Palmer drought severity index, the modified PDSI could reflect the spatial heterogeneity of regional drought and improve the physical mechanism of PDSI. The drought monitoring method can provide technical support for comprehensive understanding of drought and effective preventing and relieving of drought disasters

Ensuring water resource security in China; the need for advances in evidence based policy to support sustainable management.

China currently faces a water resource sustainability problem which is likely to worsen into the future. The Chinese government is attempting to address this problem through legislative action, but faces severe challenges in delivering its high ambitions. The key challenges revolve around the need to balance water availability with the need to feed a growing population under a changing climate and its ambitions for increased economic development. This is further complicated by the complex and multi-layered government departments, often with overlapping jurisdictions, which are not always aligned in their policy implementation and delivery mechanisms. There remain opportunities for China to make further progress and this paper reports on the outcomes of a science-to-policy roundtable meeting involving scientists and policy-makers in China. It identifies, in an holistic manner, new opportunities for additional considerations for policy implementation, continued and new research requirements to ensure evidence-based policies are designed and implemented and identifies the needs and opportunities to effectively monitor their effectiveness. Other countries around the world can benefit from assessing this case study in China

An Estimated <inline-formula><math display="inline"><semantics><mi>δ</mi></semantics></math></inline-formula>-Based Iterative Block Decision Feedback Equalization in SC-FDE System

We provide a novel nonlinear frequency domain equalization algorithm for the frequency domain equalization of an SC-FDE system by improving the classical iterative block decision feedback equalization (IBDFE) algorithm and applying δ estimation to the improved algorithm. The improvement of the IBDFE algorithm is carried out by replacing the ZF equalization in the feedback branch with the MMSE equalization and eliminating the iteration of the correlation factor, thus reducing the noise error and the computational complexity of the original algorithm. δ estimation can estimate residual inter-symbol interference in the signal after MMSE equalization and reject it, thus further improving the equalization accuracy. The simulation results show that the performance of the novel algorithm is better than that of the IBDFE algorithm with similar complexity, or the complexity of the novel algorithm is lower than that of the IBDFE algorithm with similar performance

An Estimated &delta;-Based Iterative Block Decision Feedback Equalization in SC-FDE System

We provide a novel nonlinear frequency domain equalization algorithm for the frequency domain equalization of an SC-FDE system by improving the classical iterative block decision feedback equalization (IBDFE) algorithm and applying &delta; estimation to the improved algorithm. The improvement of the IBDFE algorithm is carried out by replacing the ZF equalization in the feedback branch with the MMSE equalization and eliminating the iteration of the correlation factor, thus reducing the noise error and the computational complexity of the original algorithm. &delta; estimation can estimate residual inter-symbol interference in the signal after MMSE equalization and reject it, thus further improving the equalization accuracy. The simulation results show that the performance of the novel algorithm is better than that of the IBDFE algorithm with similar complexity, or the complexity of the novel algorithm is lower than that of the IBDFE algorithm with similar performance

A Multi-Timescale Integrated Operation Model for Balancing Power Generation, Ecology, and Water Supply of Reservoir Operation

In traditional ecological scheduling, a single monthly or daily model will lead to the incomplete transmission of ecological information or increase the complexity of solving problems. Therefore, a multi-timescale nested model (MTNM) is proposed. Although the MTNM can express the daily flow process of environmental flow, the quadratic nested calculation method cannot obtain the optimal solution for the daily scheduling scheme. Targeting the problem that long and short-term objectives cannot obtain the optimal solution at the same time, this paper proposes a multi-timescale integrated model (MTIM) which considers the monthly, 10-day, and daily scale. The model is applied to the Liujiaxia reservoir. The scheduling results show that, compared with the MTNM, the MTIM can better meet the multi-objective demand. In a wet year, when both models can guarantee water supply and ecological demand, the MTIM increases electricity generation by 0.91%. In a dry year, electricity generation can still be increased by 4.35% without sacrificing the ecological and water supply benefits of the lower reaches. In different typical years, the MTIM can improve the contradictory relationship between multi-objective by improving the utilization efficiency of water. The results can improve the decision support for the operation process of other reservoirs with ecological needs

Addressing Climate Change Impacts on Streamflow in the Jinsha River Basin Based on CMIP5 Climate Models

Projecting future changes of streamflow in the Jinsha River Basin (JRB) is important for the planning and management of the west route of South-to-North Water Transfer Project (SNWTP). This paper presented an analysis of the implications of CMIP5 climate models on the future streamflow in the JRB, using SWAT model. Results show that: (1) In the JRB, a 10% precipitation decrease might result in a streamflow increase of 15 to 18% and a 1 &deg;C increase in temperature might results in a 2 to 5% decrease in streamflow; (2) GFDL-ESM2M and NORESM1-M showed considerable skill in representing the observed precipitation and temperature, which can be chosen to analyze the changes in streamflow in the future; (3) The precipitation and temperature were projected to increase by 0.8 to 5.0% and 1.31 to 1.87 &deg;C. The streamflow was projected to decrease by 4.1 to 14.3% in the upper JRB. It was excepted to change by &minus;4.6 to 8.1% in the middle and lower JRB (MLJRB). The changes of low streamflow in the MLJRB were &minus;5.8 to 7.4%. Therefore, the potential impact of climate on streamflow will have little effect on the planning and management of the west route of SNWTP