On the variation of solar flare coronal x-ray source sizes with energy

Observations with {\em RHESSI} have enabled the detailed study of the structure of dense hard X-ray coronal sources in solar flares. The variation of source extent with electron energy has been discussed in the context of streaming of non-thermal particles in a one-dimensional cold-target model, and the results used to constrain both the physical extent of, and density within, the electron acceleration region. Here we extend this investigation to a more physically realistic model of electron transport that takes into account the finite temperature of the ambient plasma, the initial pitch-angle distribution of the accelerated electrons, and the effects of collisional pitch-angle scattering. The finite temperature results in the thermal diffusion of electrons, that leads to the observationally-inferred value of the acceleration region volume being an overestimate of its true value. The different directions of the electron trajectories, a consequence of both the non-zero injection pitch-angle and scattering within the target, cause the projected propagation distance parallel to the guiding magnetic field to be reduced, so that a one-dimensional interpretation can overestimate the actual density by a factor of up to $\sim 6$. The implications of these results for the determination of acceleration region properties (specific acceleration rate, filling factor, etc.) are discussed.Comment: 45 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

The Impact of Brand Equity Drivers on Consumer-based Brand Equity in the Sport Service Setting

The importance of brand equity to a firm has been well documented by previous literature. Brands with high equity allow a firm to charge a premium price as well as garner a larger market share in relation to competitors (Simon & Sullivan, 1993). From the consumer’s perspective, previous research has failed to explain precisely how consumers perceive and become loyal to specific brands. Therefore, this study constructed and tested a consumer-based brand equity model based on Keller’s (2003a) brand equity pyramid that explains how consumer perceptions influence brand resonance. Data were collected from a general consumer sample (n = 787) in a mid-sized southeastern community in order to validate the consumer-based brand equity model. The results from an examination of the structural model confirmed a significant relationship between brand awareness and brand associations as posited by previous research. Brand associations were found to have a significant impact on a consumer’s cognitive evaluation (brand superiority) and affective response (brand affect) to a focal brand in the service realm. Further, this study highlighted the important role that emotions play in the process of building strong brand equity. Cumulatively, these findings revealed that two attitudinal constructs (brand superiority and brand affect) played a differential role in the brand association-brand resonance relationship in the services context

The Development of Brand Association Measures in Multiple Product Categories: New Findings and Implications for Goods and Service Brands

Being able to determine the equity of a service or goods brand is of paramount importance to marketing practitioners and scholars alike. One way to determine the equity of a brand is through the measurement of brand associations. Few studies have constructed brand association measures in the context of either goods or service brands and most have been constructed to measure traditional goods brands. As Vargo and Lusch (2004) have indicated, the characteristics of a good differ greatly from those of a service. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to construct a separate brand association measure for the services and goods contexts. This study employed a mixed methods approach to generating and empirically testing brand association measures in both contexts. Thought-listing procedures with a sample of consumers (n=72) were utilized to generate survey items for the service-based brand associations measure. To test the psychometric properties of the brand association measure, a sample of service consumers (n=459) was utilized. Factor analysis procedures via MPlus 3.1 were utilized to examine the dimensionality of the service-based as well as the goods-based brand association measures. The result of this study was the construction of brand association measures that can be utilized in the goods or services contexts. It represents one of the first attempts to construct and compare brand association measures in both the goods and services contexts. Goods and services marketers can utilize these measures to determine how their consumers view their brand and they can track the success of their positioning efforts

Fan Community Identification: An Empirical Examination of Its Outcomes in Japanese Professional Sport

nderstanding why sport fans socially interact with other fans, participate in team-related discussions, recruit new members, and retain membership in sport fan communities is an important issue for sport marketers. In this study, we tested a model of fan community identification that included outcome and moderator variables in the contexts of two major professional sport leagues (soccer and baseball) in Japan. Based on the results, in both settings, fan community identification had positive effects on team brand equity and four fan community-related consequences: fan community engagement, customized product use, member responsibility, and positive word-of-mouth. Furthermore, the impact of team brand equity on positive word-of-mouth was strengthened by consumers' participation in fan loyalty programs. The theoretical model and results add new insights that advance our understanding of fans' collective feelings of friendship and camaraderie in sport fan communities

Determination of the total accelerated electron rate and power using solar flare hard X-ray spectra

Solar flare hard X-ray spectroscopy serves as a key diagnostic of the accelerated electron spectrum. However, the standard approach using the collisional cold thick-target model poorly constrains the lower-energy part of the accelerated electron spectrum, and hence the overall energetics of the accelerated electrons are typically constrained only to within one or two orders of magnitude. Here we develop and apply a physically self-consistent warm-target approach which involves the use of both hard X-ray spectroscopy and imaging data. The approach allows an accurate determination of the electron distribution low-energy cutoff, and hence the electron acceleration rate and the contribution of accelerated electrons to the total energy released, by constraining the coronal plasma parameters. Using a solar flare observed in X-rays by the {\em RHESSI} spacecraft, we demonstrate that using the standard cold-target methodology, the low-energy cutoff (and hence the energy content in electrons) is essentially undetermined. However, the warm-target methodology can determine the low-energy electron cutoff with $\sim$7\% uncertainty at the $3\sigma$ level and hence permits an accurate quantitative study of the importance of accelerated electrons in solar flare energetics.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal, 18 pages, 5 figure

Intestinal Dipeptide Absorption Is Preserved During Thermal Injury and Cytokine Treatment

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/142293/1/jpen0520.pd

Defining hierarchical protein interaction networks from spectral analysis of bacterial proteomes

Cellular behaviors emerge from layers of molecular interactions: proteins interact to form complexes, pathways, and phenotypes. We show that hierarchical networks of protein interactions can be defined from the statistical pattern of proteome variation measured across thousands of diverse bacteria and that these networks reflect the emergence of complex bacterial phenotypes. Our results are validated through gene-set enrichment analysis and comparison to existing experimentally derived databases. We demonstrate the biological utility of our approach by creating a model of motility i