Brand message strategies and consumer motivations to respond

The overarching purpose of this dissertation is to first provide a theoretical and empirical background for research on motivation and branding strategies; a review of the literature on social media, social media marketing, and brand association is provided for context. From this, three research questions are presented. Chapter 3 describes the procedures, methodology, results and discussion briefs of two studies. Finally, Chapter 4 discusses the expected theoretical and managerial contributions of this study and directions for future research. The primary goals of this research are to provide an exploratory analysis investigating how global brands currently use social media to share brand messages and build relationships with consumers, and the social and psychological motivational factors that lead consumers to engage with commercial brands on SNS, particularly the platform of Instagram in this early stage of social media marketing. Specifically, this study: (1) analyzes corporate account marketing messages on Instagram to understand how global brands are using Instagram for purposes of interacting with and building relationships with consumers, (2) identifies social and psychological motives that lead consumers to engage with commercial brands on Instagram, and (3) examines the relationships between identified motives and consumer-brand relationship outcome variables. To accomplish these, two studies are conducted. Study 1, that is a content analysis, examines the global brand Instagram accounts of the top 100 most valuable global brands, based on the brand associations by Aarker (1996). Building on the Uses and Gratification Theory (U&G), Study 2 explores the underlying process of consumers’ motivations to follow a brand account by conducting a survey study of 318 Instagram brand account followers in the United States. Within the theoretical framework of U&G, this research also examines how varying degrees of consumer motivation to follow a brand account on Instagram influences consumer engagement outcomes (i.e., frequency of electronic word-of-mouth and attitude toward following brands) and outcomes related to relationship building (i.e., trust, satisfaction, intention to pass along brand’s messages, and willingness to buy). The findings of Study 1 revealed that Instagram marketers often are not using the strategies that generate the highest consumer engagement. Study 2 examined seven consumer motivations for following Instagram brand accounts. Motivations related to social interaction and brand love were the strongest motivations. Directions for future research, for example, understanding why a brand follows other account on Instagram, are providedAdvertisin

Galatheoid squat lobsters (Crustacea: Decapoda: Anomura) from Korean waters

Abstract Ten species of Galatheoidea (squat lobsters), belonging to two families, were collected in the Korean exclusive economic zone: Galathea balssi Miyake and Baba, 1964, Galathea orientalis Stimpson, 1858, Galathea pubescens Stimpson, 1858, and Galathea rubromaculata Miyake and Baba, 1967 belonging to Galatheidae; Bathymunida brevirostris Yokoya, 1933, Cervimunida princeps Benedict, 1902, Munida caesura Macpherson and Baba, 1993, Munida japonica Stimpson, 1858, Munida pherusa Macpherson and Baba, 1993, and Paramunida scabra (Henderson, 1885) belonging to Munididae. The present study comprises the morphological description of these ten species, including drawings and color photographs, a brief review of their regional records, and a key for their identification. Although all species are common in Japanese waters, G. balssi, G. rubromaculata, B. brevirostris, C. princeps, M. caesura, and M. pherusa are new to Korean marine fauna

Quercetin 7-rhamnoside reduces porcine epidemic diarrhea virus replication via independent pathway of viral induced reactive oxygen species

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>On the base of our previous study we were observed relevant studies on the hypothesis that the antiviral activity of quercetin 7-rhamnoside (Q7R), a flavonoid, won't relate ability of its antioxidant.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We were investigated the effects of Q7R on the cytopathic effects (CPE) by CPE reduction assay. Production of DNA fragment and reactive oxygen species (ROS) induced by PEDV infection were studied using DNA fragmentation assay and flow cytometry.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In the course of this study it was discovered that Q7R is an extremely potent compound against PEDV. The addition of Q7R to PEDV-infected Vero cells directly reduced the formation of a visible cytopathic effect (CPE). Also, Q7R did not induce DNA fragmentation. Furthermore, ROS increased the infection of PEDV, which was strongly decreased by N-acetyl-L-cysteins (NAC). However, the increased ROS was not decreased by Q7R. Antiviral activity of antioxidants such as NAC, pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate (PDTC), and the vitamin E derivative, trolox, were hardly noticed.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We concluded that the inhibition of PEDV production by Q7R is not simply due to a general action as an antioxidants and is highly specific, as several other antioxidants (NAC, PDTC, trolox) are inactive against PEDV infection.</p

Radar-based nowcasting by combining centroid tracking and motion vector of convective storm

Póster presentado en: 3rd European Nowcasting Conference, celebrada en la sede central de AEMET en Madrid del 24 al 26 de abril de 2019

PCT-CycleGAN: Paired Complementary Temporal Cycle-Consistent Adversarial Networks for Radar-Based Precipitation Nowcasting

The precipitation nowcasting methods have been elaborated over the centuries because rain has a crucial impact on human life. Not only quantitative precipitation forecast (QPF) models and convolutional long short-term memory (ConvLSTM), but also various sophisticated methods such as the latest MetNet-2 are emerging. In this paper, we propose a paired complementary temporal cycle-consistent adversarial networks (PCT-CycleGAN) for radar-based precipitation nowcasting, inspired by cycle-consistent adversarial networks (CycleGAN), which shows strong performance in image-to-image translation. PCT-CycleGAN generates temporal causality using two generator networks with forward and backward temporal dynamics in paired complementary cycles. Each generator network learns a huge number of one-to-one mappings about time-dependent radar-based precipitation data to approximate a mapping function representing the temporal dynamics in each direction. To create robust temporal causality between paired complementary cycles, novel connection loss is proposed. And torrential loss to cover exceptional heavy rain events is also proposed. The generator network learning forward temporal dynamics in PCT-CycleGAN generates radar-based precipitation data 10 minutes from the current time. Also, it provides a reliable prediction of up to 2 hours with iterative forecasting. The superiority of PCT-CycleGAN is demonstrated through qualitative and quantitative comparisons with several previous methods.Comment: CIKM 202

Pyridoxine induced neuropathy by subcutaneous administration in dogs

To construct a sensory neuropathy model, excess pyridoxine (150 mg/kg s.i.d.) was injected subcutaneously in dogs over a period of 7 days. During the administrations period, the dogs experienced body weight reduction and proprioceptive loss involving the hindquarters. After pyridoxine administration was completed, electrophysiological recordings showed that the M wave remained at a normal state, but the H-reflex of the treated dogs disappeared at 7 days. The dorsal funiculus of L4 was disrupted irregularly in the axons and myelin with vacuolation. The dorsal root ganglia of L4, and sciatic and tibial nerves showed degenerative changes and vacuolation. However, the lateral and ventral funiculi of L4 showed a normal histopathologic pattern. Although this subcutaneous administration method did not cause systemic toxicity and effectively induced sensory neuropathy, this study confirmed the possibility of producing a pyridoxine-induced sensory neuropathy model in dogs with short-term administration

Associations among elder abuse, depression and PTSD in South Korean older adults

Increasing attention is being placed on the prevalence of elder abuse and its impact on mental health. This study conducted a survey of 172 elderly people in South Korea to determine the prevalence of elder abuse and the relationships involving elder abuse, depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Participants completed a battery of self-report questionnaires, which included the Korean Geriatric Depression Screening Scale (KGDS) and Impact of Event Scale-Revised Korean version (IES-R-K). Descriptive analyses were conducted to examine the frequency of specific forms of abuse. Logistic regression models were estimated to identify the factors that contributed to risk of abuse exposure and the relationship between exposure and PTSD or depression. The results indicated around 22% of the participants reported abuse exposure, which most commonly included being refused physical contact, verbal threats, and/or being excluded from decision-making about personal issues. Low education and being unmarried, separated or divorced was associated with an increased risk of abuse exposure. There were strong associations between elder abuse and PTSD symptoms, while comparable relationships with depression were weaker and were not robust to the inclusion of control variables. The findings provided empirical support for the relationship between abuse experiences of the elderly and poor mental health and raise important issues for the mental health care of the elderly

In-situ fabrication of cobalt-doped SrFe2As2 thin films by using pulsed laser deposition with excimer laser

The remarkably high superconducting transition temperature and upper critical field of iron(Fe)-based layered superconductors, despite ferromagnetic material base, open the prospect for superconducting electronics. However, success in superconducting electronics has been limited because of difficulties in fabricating high-quality thin films. We report the growth of high-quality c-axis-oriented cobalt(Co)-doped SrFe2As2 thin films with bulk superconductivity by using an in-situ pulsed laser deposition technique with a 248-nm-wavelength KrF excimer laser and an arsenic(As)-rich phase target. The temperature and field dependences of the magnetization showing strong diamagnetism and transport critical current density with superior Jc-H performance are reported. These results provide necessary information for practical applications of Fe-based superconductors.Comment: 8 pages, 3figures. to be published at Appl. Phys. Let