A Structural Equation Modeling-Based Examination of the Private Label Brand (PLB) Consumer Evaluation Process

The goal of this paper is to answer the question “What variables influence consumer private label brand (PLB) evaluations?” We employ structural equation modeling (SEM) in order to analyze a hypothesized process by which consumer-based evaluations of retailer and product category, along with perceived risk of the category and PLB all affect the ultimate PLB brand evaluation. PLBs have been heavily researched in academic marketing research journals but SEM-based research is minimal. Research has generally been conducted using model-building techniques which are then empirically tested using real-world data. Given the complexity of the process, an alternate approach is to use experimental techniques to gain first-hand PLB data and then analyze it using appropriate methodology. The current project represents a step in that direction. While the model is subject to limitations that call its utility into question, it does provide guidance for a future, more theoretically-sound a priori model and resulting SEM analysis

Applying Media-Richness Concepts for the Optimization of Industrial Negotiations

Despite increasing involvement in a global market and growing sophistication of salesperson technologies, salespeople feel unprepared to negotiate digitally and student-learning outcomes tied to digital negotiation exercises are unclear. The present study first outlines the digital negotiation role-play exercise and then compares student learning outcomes between digital and face-to-face negotiation role-plays. It answers research questions revolving around middle-range-richness mediums, i.e., digital communication tools relying mostly on text (e.g., SMS texts). The benefits of digital experiential sales negotiation exercises are uniquely important for building real-world industrial sales negotiation skills due to the complexity and quantity of negotiation messages exchanged

The Efficacy of Sexualized Female Models in Young Adult-Male Oriented Cigarette Advertising

This paper explores the portrayal (efficacy) of female models in male-targeted cigarette print advertisements through a content analysis (experiment). We first describe the presence and portrayal of females through a content analysis on male-targeted cigarette advertisements in magazines; we find that, in aggregate, females are often used as sexually attractive decoration, and the overall female portrayal is fundamentally different (and unequal) to that of the male. We next investigate the efficacy of these portrayals through an experiment among young adult-aged male smokers and nonsmokers. Our experimental findings indicate that these sexually charged advertisements generate superior attitudinal results in non-smoking males than smoking males, a finding that – in conjunction with the portrayal of females in the content analysis – suggests potential societal and public policy implications

Interactive 3-D Visualization: A tool for seafloor navigation, exploration, and engineering

Recent years have seen remarkable advances in sonar technology, positioning capabilities, and computer processing power that have revolutionized the way we image the seafloor. The massive amounts of data produced by these systems present many challenges but also offer tremendous opportunities in terms of visualization and analysis. We have developed a suite of interactive 3-D visualization and exploration tools specifically designed to facilitate the interpretation and analysis of very large (10\u27s to 100\u27s of megabytes), complex, multi-component spatial data sets. If properly georeferenced and treated, these complex data sets can be presented in a natural and intuitive manner that allows the integration of multiple components each at their inherent level of resolution and without compromising the quantitative nature of the data. Artificial sun-illumination, shading, and 3-D rendering can be used with digital bathymetric data (DTM\u27s) to form natural looking and easily interpretable, yet quantitative, landscapes. Color can be used to represent depth or other parameters (like backscatter or sediment properties) which can be draped over the DTM, or high resolution imagery can be texture mapped on bathymetric data. When combined with interactive analytical tools, this environment has facilitated the use of multibeam sonar and other data sets in a range of geologic, environmental, fisheries, and engineering applications

Mapping a Continental Shelf and Slope in the 1990s: A Tale of Three Multibeams

Increasing societal pressures on the U.S. continental shelves adjacent to dense population centers have brought to light the lack of accurate base maps in these areas. Existing bathymetric maps and random sidescan sonar surveys are either not accurate enough or do not provide the coverage necessary to make policy decisions. Until the mid 1990s, it was not financially prudent nor technically efficient to map the shallow shelves. However, the availability of high-resolution multibeam mapping systems now allow efficient and accurate mapping of the continental margins. In 1996 the U.S. Geological Survey began a large-scale seafloor mapping campaign on the continental shelf and slope adjacent to Los Angeles, CA. The first survey used a Kongsberg Simrad EM1000 (95 kHz). The survey continued in 1998 by mapping the slope and proximal basins from Newport to Long Beach, CA, using a Kongsberg Simrad EM300 (30 kHz). The area was completed in May 1999 by mapping the entire shelf adjacent to Long Beach, CA using an EM3000D (a dual-headed 300-kHz system). The mapping used both INS from the vehicle motion sensor and DGPS to provide position accuracies of ~1 m. All the data were processed in the field in near realtime using software developed at the Univ. of New Brunswick. Because of the different systems used and the range of water depths, the spatial resolution of the processed data varies from \u3c0.5 m on the inner shelf to 8 m on the basin floors. Perspective overviews of backscatter draped over bathymetry reveals a host of geological features unknown to exist in this area. These features include shallow, linear gullys, barchan dunes, small-scale bedforms in shallow troughs, major canyon system complexes, large- and smallscale mass movements, faults, and large areas of outcrop. The effects on sediment transport of man-made features, such as sewer outfall pipes and dredge-disposal fields, are clearly delineated on the new maps. The maps provide the fundamental base maps for studies as varied as those involving benthic habitats, marine disposal sites, sediment transport, and tectonic ma

A Retrospective Examination of Female Model Portrayals in Male Youth Targeted Cigarette Advertising Through the Lens of Objectification Theory

We present a retrospective (1994-2003) portrayal of female models in a decade’s worth of male-targeted cigarette advertising. We specifically conduct a content analysis on cigarette manufacturer-sponsored advertisements in male-oriented print magazines. We first explore the set of advertisements using a Gestalt-type analysis, which then informs a formal content analysis using a carefully developed manual and conduct quantitative analysis on key variables that emerged. Overall, we find that the portrayal of females in male-targeted cigarette print advertising largely consists of young, objectified women whose purpose is overwhelmingly decorative, primarily to endow the advertising with sexual allure and use a “sex sells” type effort at that male audience target. These female models are used to add a hedonic, pleasure-seeking, sexual meaning to cigarette consumption, are restricted in gender role to traditional notions of femininity, and rarely appear in groups. They even are assigned different roles in terms of the simple act of smoking than males in the advertisements. We also discuss implications and areas for further research

Contingent Effects of Humor Type and Cognitive Style on Consumer Attitudes

In the spirit of examining humor contextually, we consider a basic question in this essay: do different humor types “play by the same rules,” cognitively speaking? We examine the relationship between humor and cognitive processing style, as operationalized through Need for Cognition. We find that humor based on disparagement processes “breaks through” the cognitive differences inherent in incongruity humor. Rather than exhibiting incongruity-based humor’s affective response transferring to attitude for low-NFC subjects, and more centrally-employing high NFC subjects’ higher tendency to dismiss the humor’s effect on overall attitude, disparagement based humor is processed the same by both low- and high-NFC respondents. Overall, our findings suggest that the relationship between cognitive processing (as operationalized through Need for Cognition) and resultant attitudes is a complicated one, strongly contingent on humor type. Were only incongruity-based humor utilized, our findings would have reinforced Zhang’s (Psychol Mark 13:531–545, 1996b) assertion that a person’s Need for Cognition will play a key role in the evaluation of humor, but our results suggest that a more complex conceptualization of the relationship between humor and attitude formation is required when humor is treated as a potentially more complicated, context-dependent construct

Progress in the study of CdZnTe strip detectors

We report new performance measurements and computer simulations of a sub-millimeter pitch CdZnTe strip detector under study as a prototype imaging spectrometer for astronomical x-ray and gamma-ray observations. The prototype is 1.5 mm thick with 375 micron strip pitch in both the x and y dimensions. Previously reported work included demonstrations of half-pitch spatial resolution (approximately 190 microns) and good energy resolution and spectral uniformity. Strip detector efficiency measurements have also been presented. A model that includes the photon interaction, carrier transport and the electronics was developed that qualitatively reproduced the measurements. The new studies include measurements of the CdZnTe transport properties for this prototype in an effort to resolve quantitative discrepancies between the measurements and the simulations. Measurements of charge signals produced by laser pulses and (alpha) -rays are used to determine these transport properties. These are then used in the model to predict gamma-ray efficiencies that are compared with the data. The imaging performance of the detector is studied by scanned laser and gamma beam spot measurements. The results support the model\u27s prediction of nearly linear sharing of the charge for interactions occurring in the region between electrodes. The potential for strip detectors with spatial resolution much finer than the strip pitch is demonstrated. A new design scheme for strip detectors is shortly discussed

Prospectus, March 26, 1981

PC GRADUATE TRANSFORMS A HOBBY INTO A FLOURISHING BUSINESS THAT HAS BECOME VERY SUCCESSFUL; Woman\u27s Place is always there; Letter to the Editor: Conley doesn\u27t see point; Handicapped Awareness Week next week; Profile Bingo begins April 5 at 3 p.m.; Classifieds; Attention; PATH Presents: The Other Side of the Mountain; WPCD airs \u27Community Health Interests\u27; The old relics: still nice to see; Conley catches up on music during break; Motorcycles are becoming popular \u27second cars\u27; Office careers contest April 25; Arobics may be the perfect thing for you; \u27X-Rays and You\u27 featured; Here come the tornadoes!; Campus Question: Do you think marijuana should be legalized?; \u27Don\u27t ruin your feet,\u27 says Reaoe: Get good running shoes; Learn what you meed to: go to the PC Career Center; Parents learn how to make games; Television Production offered next semester; Cobras look impressive already; Baseball team returns seven lettermen; Technology is everywhere: Even in the cameras; Women\u27s Softball Schedule And Roster; Women\u27s Roster; Park district has volleyball registration; Soccer! Soccer meeting todayhttps://spark.parkland.edu/prospectus_1981/1023/thumbnail.jp

Development of an orthogonal-stripe CdZnTe gamma radiation imaging spectrometer

We report performance measurements of a sub-millimeter resolution CdZnTe strip detector developed as a prototype for astronomical instruments operating with good efficiency in the 30-300 keV photon energy range. The prototype is a 1.4 mm thick, 64×64 contact stripe CdZnTe array of 0.375 mm pitch in both dimensions. Pulse height spectra were recorded in orthogonal-stripe coincidence mode which demonstrate room-temperature energy resolution \u3c10 keV (FWHM) for 122 keV photons with a peak-to-valley ratio \u3e5:1. Good response is also demonstrated at higher energies using a coplanar grid readout configuration. Spatial resolution capabilities finer than the stripe pitch are demonstrated. We present the image of a 133Ba source viewed through a collimator slit produced by a 4×4 stripe detector segment. Charge signals from electron and hole collecting contacts are also discussed