The Effects of Music as an Atmospheric Variable on Consumer Behaviour in the Context of Retailing and Service Environments

Music variables affect consumer behaviour. This paper presents the current state of knowledge of the effects of music on consumers in retailing and service environments, showcasing the results of relevant studies that have manipulated specific musical variables (such as tempo, volume, genre, liking) and their impact on cognitive responses (expectations, perceptions, attitude, quality evaluation), emotional responses (moods, feelings, emotions), and ultimately behavioural responses (time spent in store, money spent in store, consumption speed, waiting). Based on a critical review of the most important studies, it concludes by identifying gaps in the already extensive literature and suggests future research to explore the relationship between musical variables and consumer responses in the context of retailing

The Effects of Music as an Atmospheric Variable on Consumer Behaviour in the Context of Retailing and Service Environments

Music variables affect consumer behaviour. This paper presents the current state of knowledge of the effects of music on consumers in retailing and service environments, showcasing the results of relevant studies that have manipulated specific musical variables (such as tempo, volume, genre, liking) and their impact on cognitive responses (expectations, perceptions, attitude, quality evaluation), emotional responses (moods, feelings, emotions), and ultimately behavioural responses (time spent in store, money spent in store, consumption speed, waiting). Based on a critical review of the most important studies, it concludes by identifying gaps in the already extensive literature and suggests future research to explore the relationship between musical variables and consumer responses in the context of retailing

Gaseous optical contamination of the spacecraft environment: A review

Interactions between the ambient atmosphere and orbiting spacecraft, sounding rockets, and suborbital vehicles, and with their effluents, give rise to optical (extreme UV to LWIR) foreground radiation which constitutes noise that raises the detection threshold for terrestrial and celestial radiations, as well as military targets. Researchers review the current information on the on-orbit optical contamination. Its source species are created in interaction processes that can be grouped into three categories: (1) Reactions in the gas phase between the ambient atmosphere and desorbates and exhaust; (2) Reactions catalyzed by exposed ram surfaces, which occur spontaneously even in the absence of active material releases from the vehicles; and (3) Erosive excitative reactions with exposed bulk (organic) materials, which have recently been identified in the laboratory though not as yet observed on spacecraft. Researchers also assess the effect of optical pumping by earthshine and sunlight of both reaction products and effluents

Schiff Bases and Their Metallic Derivatives: Highly Versatile Molecules with Biological and Abiological Perspective

1998 onwards, a span reporting thousands of research articles describes the ever-increasing applicability of Schiff bases and their metallic complexes; this chapter comprehensively examines the literature of the last 20 years. The structural diversity of these molecules made them available for a very wide range of biological and abiological applications. Schiff bases are excellent chelators and due to this unique property have found their place in qualitative and quantitative determination of metals in aqueous media. The structural diversity of metal chelates proved these to be outstanding catalysts and displayed interesting fluorescence effect. Finally, Schiff base moieties have found a unique position during the in vitro and in vivo experiments for drug development against a huge number of biological entities including bacteria, fungi, cancer cells, viruses, parasites, etc

The double-edged sword of social media usage during the COVID-19 pandemic: demographical and cultural analyses

Purpose This exploratory research aims to (1) investigate the bright and dark sides of social media use during the COVID-19 pandemic; (2) explore the impact of demographic factors on social media usage; and (3) assess the effects of cultural dimensions on social media usage. Design/methodology/approach The data are collected through an online survey. Factors derived from grounded theories and models such as affordance theory and Hofstede\u27s cultural framework were considered. Spearman correlation and nonparametric analysis were used to test the hypotheses. Findings The results revealed that social media usage was positively associated with healing and affiliation, and negatively associated with self-control. There are also positive associations between social media usage and sharing information related to COVID-19 without verification, perceived reliability of COVID-19 information on social media and relapse. The impact of demographic and cultural factors indicated significant effects of gender, age, marital status, educational level, power distance and collectivism on social media usage, sharing information, perceived information reliability, healing and affiliation. Originality/value This study contributes to technology affordances by examining social media\u27s positive and negative affordances in a new context (COVID-19 pandemic). From the positive side, this study explores the use of social media for healing and affiliation. As for the negative impact of social media during the pandemic, this study assesses the user\u27s addiction to social media use (relapse) and perception of the social media information reliability and information sharing without verification. It is among few research endeavors conducted in a non-Western country. This study also examines the influence of demographic and cultural factors on social media users. The results provide insights for both researchers and policymakers regarding social media usage

Bandwidth enhancement of rectangular dielectric resonator antenna using circular slot coupled technique

This article presents a technique to enhance the bandwidth of a rectangular dielectric resonator antenna using a circular slot. The structures are designed and simulated using CST Microwave Studio software, and it is found that the circular slot exhibits a bandwidth of 36.44% (0.92-1.33 GHz). The circular slot is compared with the rectangular slot. It is shown that the rectangular slot produces a bandwidth of 6.39% (1.06-1.13 GHz). Both structures exhibit similar radiation patterns with slightly different gains at 3.10 and 3.25 dBi. The bandwidth is enhanced more than five times using the circular slot, compared to the rectangular slot

Perceived coercion and need for hospital admission among psychiatric in-patients: figures from a Pakistani tertiary care hospital

In Pakistan, an increasing proportion of psychiatric patients present to community health services as crisis admissions, with their relatives as the main decision makers. Patients are bound to perceive this process as coercive. Farnham & James (2000) report that elements of coercion are found even in voluntary hospital admission, in the form of verbal persuasion, physical force and threats of commitment. Few patients consider hospitalisation justified and most view the process of admission negatively (Swartz et al, 2003; Katsakou & Priebe, 2006; Priebe et al, 2009)

Diagnosis of Faulty Sensors in Antenna Array using Hybrid Differential Evolution based Compressed Sensing Technique

In this work, differential evolution based compressive sensing technique for detection of faulty sensors in linear arrays has been presented. This algorithm starts from taking the linear measurements of the power pattern generated by the array under test. The difference between the collected compressive measurements and measured healthy array field pattern is minimized using a hybrid differential evolution (DE). In the proposed method, the slow convergence of DE based compressed sensing technique is accelerated with the help of parallel coordinate decent algorithm (PCD). The combination of DE with PCD makes the  minimization faster and precise. Simulation results validate the performance to detect faulty sensors from a small number of measurements

Cognitive Impairment in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: Perspectives and Challenges

Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus is associated with elevated blood glucose level, abnormal abdominal fat deposition, insulin resistance and a number of complications including embryopathy, cardiovascular diseases, nephropathy, neuropathy, microangiopathy and retinopathy. Complications extending to the central nervous system may have a deteriorating effect on mental health including a decline in cognitive functioning. This could be a reason for depression, lack of compliance towards medication/treatment, and the inability of patients to meet the day-to-day management demands of the disease. Due to the high metabolic demand for energy in the brain, perturbations in glucose metabolism can noticeably impact cognitive performance. This review discusses and enlightens on the factors contributing to cognitive impairment in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus. An understanding of the mechanisms of diabetes‐related cognitive impairment and the resulting behaviors of patients can help healthcare professionals implement treatments to significantly improve health status and quality of life of patients with diabetes