Processing Popup Ads and Print Ads: A Comparative Study between American, Brazilian, and Argentinean Consumers

As more and more companies become global business entities, it will be important to find out how traditional consumer behavior processes and relationships work in different countries. A comparison of the processing of a traditional print ad and popup ad are compared within and between the United States, Brazil, and Argentina. Very little research exists regarding traditional consumer behavior and advertising model outcomes in Brazil and Argentina. Since these two Latin American countries have become large economic powers in the global economy, it is important to study how these countries’ consumers react to existing models of consumption and advertising. Could there be differences due to some cultural influences? Cross-cultural experimental research is a good first step to try and develop some answers so companies can correctly use existing or new marketing strategies to successfully sell their products in these countries. The experiment followed a two (media: print or web) by two (argument quality: strong or weak) by two (involvement: high or weak), between-subject factorial design. Subjects participated in groups that ranged in size from 23 to 30. Target ads included a brand of personal computer and orange soda that were not familiar to the subjects tested. Dependent variables included attitude- toward- the- ad, attitude-toward- the- brand, purchase intention, and attitude-toward-the-ad- claim. Preliminary results indicate American subjects have a higher Aad for web ads than for print ads and a greater Abrand for web ads than for print ads. But this is not the case for their Brazilian and Argentinean counterparts. The ultimate goal of course, is to aide marketers in understanding their customers and to help them sell more products. This experiment may help marketers determine where to put their promotional dollar allocations in several countries or not and in what advertising form

Making Progress: The Use Of Multiple Progress Reports To Enhance Advertising Students’ Media Plan Term Projects

Since the AACSB mandates that students demonstrate effective oral and written communication skills, it is imperative that business professors do what is necessary to improve such skills. The authors investigate whether the use of using multiple progress reports in an Advertising class project improves the final product. The data results show that grades are improved and satisfaction with the class is enhanced when these multiple progress reports are utilized in a term project

The electrical double layer for a fully asymmetric electrolyte around a spherical colloid: an integral equation study

The hypernetted chain/mean spherical approximation (HNC/MSA) integral equation is obtained and solved numerically for a totally asymmetric primitive model electrolyte around a spherical macroparticle. The ensuing radial distribution functions show a very good agreement when compared to our Monte Carlo and molecular dynamics simulations for spherical geometry and with respect to previous anisotropic reference HNC calculations in the planar limit. We report an analysis of the potential vs charge relationship, radial distribution functions, mean electrostatic potential and cumulative reduced charge for representative cases of 1:1 and 2:2 salts with a size asymmetry ratio of 2. Our results are collated with those of the Modified Gouy-Chapman (MGC) and unequal radius Modified Gouy-Chapman (URMGC) theories and with those of HNC/MSA in the restricted primitive model (RPM) to assess the importance of size asymmetry effects. One of the most striking characteristics found is that,\textit{contrary to the general belief}, away from the point of zero charge the properties of an asymmetric electrical double layer (EDL) are not those corresponding to a symmetric electrolyte with the size and charge of the counterion, i.e. \textit{counterions do not always dominate}. This behavior suggests the existence of a new phenomenology in the EDL that genuinely belongs to a more realistic size-asymmetric model where steric correlations are taken into account consistently. Such novel features can not be described by traditional mean field theories like MGC, URMGC or even by enhanced formalisms, like HNC/MSA, if they are based on the RPM.Comment: 29 pages, 13 figure

Master Franchising as an Entry Strategy: Marketing and Legal Implications

In this paper the authors investigate the establishment of franchise agreements as a viable alternative to enter a foreign market. Specifically, the spotlight is on the strategy called master franchising. The authors first review the concept of franchising and identify master franchising as a strategic option. Next, they focus on the mechanics of structuring the required agreements. Last, the authors explore strategies, trends, and current opportunities and limitations of international franchising

Estimación del coeficiente de dispersión longitudinal en ríos de la región central de Argentina utilizando ADCP

RESUMENEl coeficiente de dispersión longitudinal (D) es un parámetro fundamental requerido para predecir el transporte de contaminantes en un curso fluvial. La determinación experimental de D mediante técnicas convencionales como, por ejemplo, ensayo de trazadores, requieren una gran inversión en planificación, personal técnico y análisis posterior, y los resultados son únicamente válidos para las condiciones de flujo presentes en el momento de realizar la medición. En los ríos de la zona central de Argentina, los cuales presentan una gran variabilidad estacional de caudales, se hace muy costosa la determinación de este coeficiente D con ensayo de trazadores, ya que se deberían evaluar un amplio rango de condiciones de flujo existentes. Debido a esto, se utilizan fórmulas empíricas, desarrolladas por diversos autores, que permiten estimar el coeficiente de dispersión longitudinal de acuerdo con parámetros hidráulicos globales (profundidad, velocidad media del flujo, ancho del río, etc.). Sin embargo, estas expresiones presentan una gran variación en sus resultados y solo funcionan adecuadamente en ríos con características similares a los que fueron ajustadas. Es por ello que, en este trabajo, se estima, de manera alternativa, el coeficiente D mediante una caracterización hidrodinámica detallada, realizada en sistema fluvial con un perfilador de corriente acústico Doppler (ADCP). Se adoptó, como sistema fluvial de estudio, el río Carcarañá que escurre por la región central de Argentina (provincias de Córdoba y Santa Fe). A partir de las estimaciones realizadas, se evalúa D en los principales tributarios del sistema fluvial y se comparan los resultados con los obtenidos de la aplicación de las formulas empíricas y con ábacos desarrollados sobre la base de valores reportados para diferentes ríos del mundo.ABSTRACTThe Longitudinal dispersion coefficient (D) is a fundamental parameter required to predict the transport of pollutants in rivers. The experimental determinations of D by conventional techniques, such as tracers test, require a large investment in planning, staff and subsequent analysis, and the results are only valid for the flow conditions present during the test. Using tracers test to estimate D is very expensive in rivers of central region of Argentina which have a large seasonal variability of flow discharges (with maximum values one or two orders of magnitude larger than the mean values), as tracers test should be performed for a wide range of flow conditions. Thus, water quality modelers use empirical formulas developed by various authors estimating the longitudinal dispersion coefficient based on global hydraulic parameters (mean flow depth and velocity, river width, etc.). However, these formulas show large scatter in the results and only perform properly in rivers with similar characteristics that were calibrated. On that basis, an alternative estimation of the coefficient of longitudinal dispersion is performed in this paper through a detailed experimental hydrodynamic characterization performed in a fluvial system with an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP). The Carcarañá River, flowing through the Cordoba and Santa Fe provinces in Argentina, has been selected as a study system. The results of this paper include the values o longitudinal dispersion coefficients in different streams of the analyzed fluvial system which are the compared with values estimated using empirical formulas and plots developed using data from different river systems around the world

Ion pairing in model electrolytes: A study via three particle correlation functions

A novel integral equations approach is applied for studying ion pairing in the restricted primitive model (RPM) electrolyte, i. e., the three point extension (TPE) to the Ornstein-Zernike integral equations. In the TPE approach, the three-particle correlation functions $g^{[3]}({\bf r}_{1},{\bf r}_{2},{\bf r}_{3})$ are obtained. The TPE results are compared to molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and other theories. Good agreement between TPE and MD is observed for a wide range of parameters, particularly where standard integral equations theories fail, i. e., low salt concentration and high ionic valence. Our results support the formation of ion pairs and aligned ion complexes.Comment: 43 pages (including 18 EPS figs) - RevTeX 4 - J. Chem. Phys. (in press

Band-gap Shift In Cds Semiconductor By Photoacoustic Spectroscopy: Evidence Of A Cubic To Hexagonal Lattice Transition

The band-gap energies of the CdS semiconductor are obtained by a photoacoustic spectroscopy (PAS) technique over a range of temperature of thermal annealing (TTA), in which the evolution of the sample structure is characterized by x-ray diffraction patterns. The PAS experiment gives a set of data for the band-gap shift in the region of the fundamental absorption edge. With increasing TTA the band-gap shift increases up to a critical TTA when its slope decreases in a roughly symmetrical way. It is suggested that at this temperature a cubic to hexagonal-lattice transition occurs.64329129

A PBIL for load balancing in network coding based multicasting

One of the most important issues in multicast is how to achieve a balanced traffic load within a communications network. This paper formulates a load balancing optimization problem in the context of multicast with network coding and proposes a modified population based incremental learning (PBIL) algorithm for tackling it. A novel probability vector update scheme is developed to enhance the global exploration of the stochastic search by introducing extra flexibility when guiding the search towards promising areas in the search space. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed PBIL outperforms a number of the state-of-the-art evolutionary algorithms in terms of the quality of the best solution obtained

Analysis of biological and technical variability in gene expression assays from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded classical Hodgkin lymphomas

Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissues are invaluable sources of biological material for research and diagnostic purposes. In this study, we aimed to identify biological and technical variability in RT-qPCR TaqMan® assays performed with FFPE-RNA from lymph nodes of classical Hodgkin lymphoma samples. An ANOVA-nested 6-level design was employed to evaluate BCL2, CASP3, IRF4, LYZ and STAT1 gene expression. The most variable genes were CASP3 (low expression) and LYZ (high expression). Total variability decreased after normalization for all genes, except by LYZ. Genes with moderate and low expression were identified and suffered more the effects of the technical manipulation than high-expression genes. Pre-amplification was shown to introduce significant technical variability, which was partially alleviated by lowering to a half the amount of input RNA. Ct and Cy0 quantification methods, based on cycle-threshold and the kinetic of amplification curves, respectively, were compared. Cy0 method resulted in higher quantification values, leading to the decrease of total variability in CASP3 and LYZ genes. The mean individual noise was 0.45 (0.31 to 0.61 SD), indicating a variation of gene expression over ~1.5 folds from one case to another. We showed that total variability in RT-qPCR from FFPE-RNA is not higher than that reported for fresh complex tissues, and identified gene-, and expression level-sources of biological and technical variability, which can allow better strategies for designing RT-qPCR assays from highly degraded and inhibited samples