National differences in materialism - Using alternative research strategies to explore the construct

One of the core objectives in cross-national marketing research is to establish research results which are comparable across national entities. Nevertheless certain national idiosyncrasies (unique meaning of constructs, distinctive expressions) may hamper these cross-national research endeavors. Two different approaches have been introduced in the social sciences, in order to cope with this comparability-dilemma. The "emic" and the "etic" school of thought. These can be seen as two extremes on the continuum of cross-national research methodology. The paper tries to illustrate advantages and potential shortcomings of the etic (mostly quantitative) vs. the emic (mostly qualitative) research approach. A combination of alternative, qualitative and quantitative research strategies was used to explore national differences in materialism. A questionnaire was developed comprising both both qualitative and quantitative sections on materialism. The materialism scale, as operationalized by Richins and Dawson (1992) was used, for the quantitative section. The research findings call for the use of 'alternative research strategies' to overcome the emic - etic duality in cross-national research. Comparative text analysis and graphical representations of consumers statements can help to explore the reasons for conceptual differences

Beyond Gravitoelectromagnetism: Critical Speed in Gravitational Motion

A null ray approaching a distant astronomical source appears to slow down, while a massive particle speeds up in accordance with Newtonian gravitation. The integration of these apparently incompatible aspects of motion in general relativity is due to the existence of a critical speed. Dynamics of particles moving faster than the critical speed could then be contrary to Newtonian expectations. Working within the framework of gravitoelectromagnetism, the implications of the existence of a critical speed are explored. The results are expected to be significant for high energy astrophysics.Comment: 13 pages, to appear in the Special December 2005 Issue of Int. J. Mod. Phys.

About Gravitomagnetism

The gravitomagnetic field is the force exerted by a moving body on the basis of the intriguing interplay between geometry and dynamics which is the analog to the magnetic field of a moving charged body in electromagnetism. The existence of such a field has been demonstrated based on special relativity approach and also by special relativity plus the gravitational time dilation for two different cases, a moving infinite line and a uniformly moving point mass, respectively. We treat these two approaches when the applied cases are switched while appropriate key points are employed. Thus, we demonstrate that the strength of the resulted gravitomagnetic field in the latter approach is twice the former. Then, we also discuss the full linearized general relativity and show that it should give the same strength for gravitomagnetic field as the latter approach. Hence, through an exact analogy with the electrodynamic equations, we present an argument in order to indicate the best definition amongst those considered in this issue in the literature. Finally, we investigate the gravitomagnetic effects and consequences of different definitions on the geodesic equation including the second order approximation terms.Comment: 16 pages, a few amendments have been performed and a new section has been adde

Angular Symmetry Breaking Induced by Electromagnetic Field

It is well known that velocities does not commute in presence of an electromagnetic field. This property implies that angular algebra symmetries, such as the sO(3) and Lorentz algebra symmetries, are broken. To restore these angular symmetries we show the necessity of adding the Poincare momentum M to the simple angular momentum L. These restorations performed succesively in a flat space and in a curved space lead in each cases to the generation of a Dirac magnetic monopole. In the particular case of the Lorentz algebra we consider an application of our theory to the gravitoelectromagnetism. In this last case we establish a qualitative relation giving the mass spectrum for dyons.Comment: 19 page

Gravitomagnetism and the Clock Effect

The main theoretical aspects of gravitomagnetism are reviewed. It is shown that the gravitomagnetic precession of a gyroscope is intimately connected with the special temporal structure around a rotating mass that is revealed by the gravitomagnetic clock effect. This remarkable effect, which involves the difference in the proper periods of a standard clock in prograde and retrograde circular geodesic orbits around a rotating mass, is discussed in detail. The implications of this effect for the notion of ``inertial dragging'' in the general theory of relativity are presented. The theory of the clock effect is developed within the PPN framework and the possibility of measuring it via spaceborne clocks is examined.Comment: 27 pages, LaTeX, submitted to Proc. Bad Honnef Meeting on: GYROS, CLOCKS, AND INTERFEROMETERS: TESTING GENERAL RELATIVITY IN SPACE (22 - 27 August 1999; Bad Honnef, Germany

Phenomenology of the Lense-Thirring effect in the Solar System

Recent years have seen increasing efforts to directly measure some aspects of the general relativistic gravitomagnetic interaction in several astronomical scenarios in the solar system. After briefly overviewing the concept of gravitomagnetism from a theoretical point of view, we review the performed or proposed attempts to detect the Lense-Thirring effect affecting the orbital motions of natural and artificial bodies in the gravitational fields of the Sun, Earth, Mars and Jupiter. In particular, we will focus on the evaluation of the impact of several sources of systematic uncertainties of dynamical origin to realistically elucidate the present and future perspectives in directly measuring such an elusive relativistic effect.Comment: LaTex, 51 pages, 14 figures, 22 tables. Invited review, to appear in Astrophysics and Space Science (ApSS). Some uncited references in the text now correctly quoted. One reference added. A footnote adde