How do consumers react differently to a brand owned by a New Digital Influencer compared to a traditional brand, in the high-end beauty segment?

The present thesis aims at studying and comparing reactions consumers have towards two types of brands: a traditional brand, one that has been in the high-end beauty segment for generations, and a brand owned by a New Digital Influencer -NDI - in the same segment. A New Digital Influencer is someone who gathers a large online following, who has their audience’s trust by posting reliable content. The goal was to understand consumers’ reactions in Purchase Intention, Brand Attitude, Word-of-Mouth, and Engagement. Furthermore, high-end stands for “very good quality” and “expensive”, being this the criterion applied to select the studied brands. Following the Literature Review, a quantitative research was performed. An online questionnaire targeted at women who are on social media and who don’t reject recommendations from influencers was considered the ideal approach. An experimental in-between groups design was conducted with respondents being randomly allocated either to the traditional brand, or to the brand owned by an NDI. Research Questions were answered by performing a Kruskal-Wallis test, where both groups were considered statistically different in three of the four dimensions analysed. Furthermore, the traditional brand has higher scores for Purchase Intention and Word-of-Mouth; for Engagement the public engages more with a brand owned by an NDI; and for Brand Attitude the reaction by consumers is equal for both brand types. All these discoveries are justified with previous literature. The gap in academic literature has been significantly reduced. Also, it is confirmed: influencers are a possible competitor in the retail industry.A presente tese pretende estudar e comparar a reação de consumidores a dois tipos de marcas: uma marca tradicional, marca presente no mercado de beleza de luxo há gerações, e uma marca lançada por um Novo Influenciador Digital – NDI- no mesmo segmento. Novo Influenciador Digital é alguém que ganha uma rede de seguidores considerável online, que detém a confiança dos mesmos através da postagem de conteúdo confiável. O objetivo traçado foi o de compreender a reação de consumidores em termos de Intenção de Compra, Atitude com a Marca, Boca-a-Boca e Interação. Ainda, o conceito de luxo é “alta qualidade” e “caro” pelo que foi este o critério utilizado na seleção das marcas estudadas. Posteriormente à Revisão de Literatura, foi efetuada uma análise quantitativa. Um questionário online tendo como alvo mulheres ativas nas redes sociais, que não rejeitam influenciadores foi considerada a abordagem ideal. Foi feita uma experiência entre grupos na qual os respondentes foram aleatoriamente alocados à marca tradicional, ou à marca lançada por um NDI. As Perguntas de Pesquisa foram respondidas através do teste de Kruskal-Wallis, e os dois grupos foram considerados estatisticamente diferentes em três dimensões. A marca tradicional obteve resultados mais elevados em Intenção de Compra e Boca-a-Boca; Interação com uma marca lançada por um NDI é superior; Atitude com a Marca é igual em ambos os grupos. Os resultados foram justificados de acordo com a literatura. A lacuna na literatura académica foi significativamente reduzida, e é possível afirmar: influenciadores são possível concorrência no mundo do retalho

Hedging currency risk associated to the financing of production relocation

CEM

A discrete time-dependent method for metastable atoms in intense fields

The full-dimensional time-dependent Schrodinger equation for the electronic dynamics of single-electron systems in intense external fields is solved directly using a discrete method. Our approach combines the finite-difference and Lagrange mesh methods. The method is applied to calculate the quasienergies and ionization probabilities of atomic and molecular systems in intense static and dynamic electric fields. The gauge invariance and accuracy of the method is established. Applications to multiphoton ionization of positronium and hydrogen atoms and molecules are presented. At very high intensity above saturation threshold, we extend the method using a scaling technique to estimate the quasienergies of metastable states of the hydrogen molecular ion. The results are in good agreement with recent experiments.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figure, 4 table

Crater population and resurfacing of the Martian north polar layered deposits

Present-day accumulation in the north polar layered deposits (NPLD) is thought to occur via deposition on the north polar residual cap. Understanding current mass balance in relation to current climate would provide insight into the climatic record of the NPLD. To constrain processes and rates of NPLD resurfacing, a search for craters was conducted using images from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Context Camera. One hundred thirty craters have been identified on the NPLD, 95 of which are located within a region defined to represent recent accumulation. High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment images of craters in this region reveal a morphological sequence of crater degradation that provides a qualitative understanding of processes involved in crater removal. A classification system for these craters was developed based on the amount of apparent degradation and infilling and where possible depth/diameter ratios were determined. The temporal and spatial distribution of crater degradation is interpreted to be close to uniform. Through comparison of the size-frequency distribution of these craters with the expected production function, the craters are interpreted to be an equilibrium population with a crater of diameter D meters having a lifetime of ~30.75D^(1.14) years. Accumulation rates within these craters are estimated at 7.2D^(−0.14) mm/yr, which corresponds to values of ~3–4 mm/yr and are much higher than rates thought to apply to the surrounding flat terrain. The current crater population is estimated to have accumulated in the last ~20 kyr or less

Bridging the Gap Between Health Records and Personal Health Information

This study surveyed professionals in health information technology (HIT), health informatics, and healthcare to identify the ideal components of an integrated personal health record (PHR) and to determine their concerns about the design and implementation of PHRs. In addition, the study investigated participants' opinions on the possibility of sharing health information electronically between providers and patients as well as the idea of patients sharing their personal health information electronically with individuals of their choice. The study found strong support in favor of both concepts. Participants voiced concern over maintaining patient privacy and providing security to protect health information; however, with appropriate protections, respondents supported a number of PHR functionalities that would begin to shift this tool from being a standalone product to an integrated part of an individual's health record

Radiation measurements and low frequency and high pressure investigations of induction heated plasma

Radiation measurements, low frequency, and high pressure investigations of induction heated plasma torch to simulate gas core nuclear rocket requirement

Mass wasting triggered by seasonal CO₂ sublimation under Martian atmospheric conditions: Laboratory experiments

Sublimation is a recognized process by which planetary landscapes can be modified. However, interpretation of whether sublimation is involved in downslope movements on Mars and other bodies is restricted by a lack of empirical data to constrain this mechanism of sediment transport and its influence on landform morphology. Here we present the first set of laboratory experiments under Martian atmospheric conditions which demonstrate that the sublimation of CO2 ice from within the sediment body can trigger failure of unconsolidated, regolith slopes and can measurably alter the landscape. Previous theoretical studies required CO2 slab ice for movements, but we find that only frost is required. Hence, sediment transport by CO2 sublimation could be more widely applicable (in space and time) on Mars than previously thought. This supports recent work suggesting CO2 sublimation could be responsible for recent modification in Martian gullies

On the Whitehead spectrum of the circle

The seminal work of Waldhausen, Farrell and Jones, Igusa, and Weiss and Williams shows that the homotopy groups in low degrees of the space of homeomorphisms of a closed Riemannian manifold of negative sectional curvature can be expressed as a functor of the fundamental group of the manifold. To determine this functor, however, it remains to determine the homotopy groups of the topological Whitehead spectrum of the circle. The cyclotomic trace of B okstedt, Hsiang, and Madsen and a theorem of Dundas, in turn, lead to an expression for these homotopy groups in terms of the equivariant homotopy groups of the homotopy fiber of the map from the topological Hochschild T-spectrum of the sphere spectrum to that of the ring of integers induced by the Hurewicz map. We evaluate the latter homotopy groups, and hence, the homotopy groups of the topological Whitehead spectrum of the circle in low degrees. The result extends earlier work by Anderson and Hsiang and by Igusa and complements recent work by Grunewald, Klein, and Macko.Comment: 52 page

Analysis of Mobility Patterns to Oklahoma Food Banks During the SARS-COV-2 Pandemic

We investigate changes in travel to food banks during the outbreak of SARS-CoV-2. The pandemic created challenges that impacted the availability of food and the ability of individuals to access food -- increasing demand on food banks. In a context where face-to-face interactions were not possible, we use cell phone mobility data to evaluate changes in food bank utilization during this period of increased demand for services. From 2017 to 2019 there were an increasing number of trips to food banks from a closer set of census block groups. In 2020 overall trips decreased but travel distances to food banks increased