Counterfeit purchase typologies during an economic crisis

Purpose-The economic crisis has become a global phenomenon, although in Europe it mostly affected the Mediterranean countries of Southern Europe. In times of economic stress, counterfeit products increase their market share. In this context this paper aims to explore, and attempt to explain, consumer perspectives on the purchasing of counterfeit brands. Methodology-The study utilized an e-mail based open ended questionnaire as its data collection method. The research used a sample of 83 participants belonging to generation Y (younger and older) and upper medium and high income class brackets. Findings-Purchasing behaviour of counterfeit products during the economic crisis enabled us to identify four types of consumers. Furthermore, the results indicated that some consumers have significant interest in counterfeits while some consumers show apathy or indifference towards counterfeiting. Furthermore, some consumers believe that the government’s economic austerity policies cause high level consumption of counterfeits while others consider the authorities to be responsible for counterfeiting, since they do not adequately tackle it. Research limitations/implications- This research is exploratory in nature and restricted to Greek generation Y consumers. Suggestions are presented regarding future studies and generalization of the findings. Practical implications- Implementation of law, joint communication campaigns and social media usage are the major implications for the stakeholders in the marketplace. Originality/value-This study extends the body of knowledge of purchasing behavior on non-deceptive counterfeit products by offering empirical findings from Greece, a country facing a severe economic crisis. To our knowledge this is the first study that explores counterfeit buying behaviour during an economic crisis perio

The theory and application of eulerlets

Consider a fixed body in a uniform flow field in the limit as the Reynolds number approaches infinity and the flow field remains steady. Instead of using standard techniques and theory for describing the problem, a new method is employed based upon the concept of matching two different Green’s integral representations over a common boundary, one given by approximations valid in the near-field and the other by approximations in the far-field. Further novelty arises from the choice of a near-field, that is, the Euler flow matched to an Oseen flow far-field. This entails introducing and defining eulerlets that are Green’s functions of the Euler equation. One important consequence of the model is the presence of a new Euler wake velocity not captured in standard models. This has a constant unchanging downstream profile and arises from the matching to the far-field Oseen wake velocity. It is then shown how this representation reduces to classical inviscid ideal flow aerodynamics when applied to flow past aerofoils and wings. It is also shown how it reduces to slender body flow theory. Finally, the formulation is tested on uniform flow past a circular cylinder for mean-steady subcritical laminar flow and turbulent flow. The inviscid impermeability boundary condition is used, the drag coefficient is specified, and a constant distribution of drag eulerlets is modeled. The forward flow separation and pressure drop in the wake are captured and compare favorably with experiment. The future expectation is the modeling of multiple general shaped bodies

Peer-to-peer live video streaming with rateless codes for massively multiplayer online games

International audienc

Postoperative outcomes in oesophagectomy with trainee involvement

BACKGROUND: The complexity of oesophageal surgery and the significant risk of morbidity necessitates that oesophagectomy is predominantly performed by a consultant surgeon, or a senior trainee under their supervision. The aim of this study was to determine the impact of trainee involvement in oesophagectomy on postoperative outcomes in an international multicentre setting. METHODS: Data from the multicentre Oesophago-Gastric Anastomosis Study Group (OGAA) cohort study were analysed, which comprised prospectively collected data from patients undergoing oesophagectomy for oesophageal cancer between April 2018 and December 2018. Procedures were grouped by the level of trainee involvement, and univariable and multivariable analyses were performed to compare patient outcomes across groups. RESULTS: Of 2232 oesophagectomies from 137 centres in 41 countries, trainees were involved in 29.1 per cent of them (n = 650), performing only the abdominal phase in 230, only the chest and/or neck phases in 130, and all phases in 315 procedures. For procedures with a chest anastomosis, those with trainee involvement had similar 90-day mortality, complication and reoperation rates to consultant-performed oesophagectomies (P = 0.451, P = 0.318, and P = 0.382, respectively), while anastomotic leak rates were significantly lower in the trainee groups (P = 0.030). Procedures with a neck anastomosis had equivalent complication, anastomotic leak, and reoperation rates (P = 0.150, P = 0.430, and P = 0.632, respectively) in trainee-involved versus consultant-performed oesophagectomies, with significantly lower 90-day mortality in the trainee groups (P = 0.005). CONCLUSION: Trainee involvement was not found to be associated with significantly inferior postoperative outcomes for selected patients undergoing oesophagectomy. The results support continued supervised trainee involvement in oesophageal cancer surgery

An extension to thin aerofoil theory obtained by using eulerlets and oseenlets

An extension and theoretical underpinning of thin aerofoil theory is given. To enablethis requires first a novel mathematical representation for a new matched asymptoticapproach. The new matched asymptotic approach is to match near - field Euler flow toa far - field Oseen flow. The novel mathematical representation is a Green's integral forEuler flow. This requires the development of Eulerlets. Once this mathematicalrepresentation is achieved, then the Taylor series approximation is applied assuming athin aerofoil body. The first term in the approximation yields standard thin aerofoiltheory, and additionally we give the next three terms in the approximation with theirorders of magnitude

Consumers’ perceptions on complexity and prospects of ethical luxury: qualitative insights from Taiwan

This qualitative study explores ethical luxury in Taiwan, a country that represents a significant demographic in the luxury market. The study utilized the ZMET technique and focus groups. A total of 28 heavy users of luxury brands were interviewed. Results indicate that luxury brands are chiefly defined by such constructs as price, quality and aesthetical attributes, whereas ethicality is centrally demarcated by human wellbeing, the environment and animal welfare, amongst other elements. The fusion of these two concepts implies several encouraging outlooks and certain deterring factors. Results denote that there is potential for ethical luxury's inception in the Taiwanese market, but with considerable forethought in the process. This study extends the body of knowledge in how consumers perceive the prospect of ethical luxury, especially from a non-western perspective

Using eulerlets to give a boundary integral formulation in euler flow and discussion on applications

Boundary element models in inviscid (Euler) flow dynamics for a manoeuvring body are difficult to formulate even for the steady case; Although the potential satisfies the Laplace equation, it has a jump discontinuity in twodimensional flow relating to the point vortex solution (from the 2p jump in the polar angle), and a singular discontinuity region in three-dimensional flow relating to the trailing vortex wake. So, instead models are usually constructed bottom up from distributions of these fundamental solutions giving point vortex thin body methods in two-dimensional flow, and panel methods and vortex lattice methods in three-dimensional flow amongst others. Instead, the idea here is to present initially a boundary integral formulation in Euler flow that can then produce a true top down boundary element formulation. This is done for the steady two-dimensional case by matching the Euler flow to a far-field Oseen flow to determine the appropriate description for the Green’s function Eulerlets. It is then shown how this reduces to the standard point vortex representations. Finally, two applications are outlined that can be used to test this approach, that of steady flow past a semi-infinite flat plate and steady flow past circular cylinder