157 research outputs found
Drivers of Business-to-Business (B2B) Sales Success and the role of Digitalization after COVID-19 Disruptions
Purpose - The purpose of this research is to investigate the drivers of business-to-business sales success and the role of digitalization, in a selling and sales management landscape being disrupted by COVID-19.
Design/methodology/approach – The methodology follows a discovery-oriented grounded theory approach which consists of a two-stage qualitative study with sales professionals in Chile, and a Fuzzy-Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA).
Findings - This research shows that interfunctional coordination, agility in the selling process, and business customer engagement are critical determinants of B2B sales success, while digitalization moderates these relationships.
Originality/value - This research responds to a call for more research on the impact of digitalization on business relationships in different contexts and perspectives. We study the Chilean context, through a two-stage qualitative study, and a fsQCA analysis, which constitutes a novel combination in this stream of research
Fashion Events and e-WOM
The aim of this article is to gain a deeper understanding of fashion events marketing from a sponsor's perspective and its influence on customers and society. We firstly seek to investigate what are the main marketing objectives of brands when they decide to sponsor fashion events; secondly, what are the main factors to enhance customer engagement with sponsoring brands; and finally, what are the most effective pathways to generate e-WOM in this context of fashion events. In order to answer these research questions, we conducted four studies: two online focus groups, in-depth interviews, and a fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). Main findings show that the chief objectives of brands in sponsoring fashion events are: a) customer engagement with the sponsoring firm and, in particular, e-WOM, b) brand presence, and c) brand positioning with fashion industry values. The conditions that enhance customer engagement are a) enjoyment, b) fashion values, c) sustainability, and d) product knowledge. Fashion values are found to be a necessary condition to generate e-WOM. There are two conditions sufficient to produce e-WOM: a) the lack of enjoyment and fashion values or b) fashion values and sustainability
Tails of the Unexpected: The Interaction of an Isothermal Shell with a Cloud
A new mechanism for the formation of cometary tails behind dense clouds or
globules is discussed. Numerical hydrodynamical models show that when a dense
shell of swept-up matter overruns a cloud, material in the shell is focussed
behind the cloud to form a tail. This mode of tail formation is completely
distinct from other methods, which involve either the removal of material from
the cloud, or shadowing from a strong, nearby source of ionization. This
mechanism is relevant to the cometary tails seen in planetary nebulae and to
the interaction of superbubble shells with dense clouds.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS letter
Characterization of Pporous materials as radon source and its radiological implications
In this work, a magnitude is proposed in order to compare the potential radiological risk due to radon exposition generated by different materials, and a method based in the ^^^Rn accumulation technique is presented for its determination.. The obtained results indicate that the proposed magnitude and their corresponding measurement methodology are useful in order to take decisions about the management of different kinds of porous materials
Characterization of terrestrial hot particles from the Palomares accident using destructive and non-destructive analytical techniques
Several radioactive particles from the Palomares area have been analyzed with the nuclearmicroprobe of the National Accelerator Centre (CNA) in Seville exploring the advantages of combining -PIXE using a 5.5 MeV4He beam with conventional -PIXE analysis using 3 MeV protons. Themeasurements performed with the -particles are more sensitive to the sample surface, while the resultscollected with protons are indicative of the average composition of the hot particle. In this way, importantinformation about the depth distribution of Pu and U in the particles has been obtained. In addition, theparticles have been analyzed by SEM (EDX) and one of them has been sacrificed for the determinationof its U and Pu isotopic composition by ICP-MS and -spectrometry, being gained in this way importantinformation about the composition of the weapons involved in the Palomares accident.Junta de Andalucía Excellence Project TU-DRAMA (Ultra-sensitive techniques for radionuclides determination in environmental materials
Performance and cost of pigs fed 50% rice bran diets with addition of phytase and/or cellulase
Animal performance and feed costs were evaluated in pigs fed during growing and finishing phases diets containing 50% rice bran (RB) without enzymes (Treatment T1); or with addition of 1,000 units of phytase (T2); or with 250,000 units of carboxy-methylcellulase (T3); or with both enzymes per kilogram of diet (T4); in addition to a conventional maize and soy-based diet (T5). Eighty-five castrated males, 70 days old and varying in initial weight from 17.5 to 31.1 kg, were subjected to five treatments in six randomized blocks. Animals receiving the conventional diet consumed more feed and gained more weight. However, their feed conversion ratio was similar to that of animals fed the 50% RB diets, with or without enzymes, and feed costs were lower with the latter than with the maize and soy diet
Enrichment of the ISM by metal-rich droplets and the abundance bias in HII regions
We critically examine a scenario for the enrichment of the interstellar
medium (ISM) in which supernova ejecta follow a long (10^8 yr) journey before
falling back onto the galactic disk in the form of metal-rich ``droplets'',
These droplets do not become fully mixed with the interstellar medium until
they become photoionized in HII regions. We investigate the hypothesis that the
photoionization of these highly metallic droplets can explain the observed
``abundance discrepancy factors'' (ADFs), which are found when comparing
abundances derived from recombination lines and from collisionally excited
lines, both in Galactic and extragalactic HII regions. We derive bounds of
10^{13}--10^{15} cm on the droplet sizes inside HII regions in order that (1)
they should not have already been detected by direct imaging of nearby nebulae,
and (2) they should not be too swiftly destroyed by diffusion in the ionized
gas. From photoionization modelling we find that, if this inhomogeneous
enrichment scenario holds, then the recombination lines strongly overestimate
the metallicities of the fully mixed HII regions. The abundances derived from
collisionally excited lines also suffer some bias, although to a much lesser
extent. In the absence of any recipe for correcting these biases, we recommend
the discarding of all objects showing large ADFs from studies of galactic
chemical evolution. These biases must also be kept in mind when comparing the
galactic abundance gradients for elements derived from recombination lines with
those derived from collisionally excited lines. Finally, we propose a set of
observations that could be undertaken to test our scenario and improve our
understanding of element mixing in the ISM.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures, accepted in Astronomy and Astrophysic
Unveiling the nature of the "Green Pea" galaxies
We review recent results on the oxygen and nitrogen chemical abundances in
extremely compact, low-mass starburst galaxies at redshifts between 0.1-0.3
recently named to as "Green Pea" galaxies. These galaxies are genuine
metal-poor galaxies ( one fifth solar) with N/O ratios unusually high for
galaxies of the same metallicity. In combination with their known general
properties, i.e., size, stellar mass and star-formation rate, these findings
suggest that these objects could be experiencing a short and extreme phase in
their evolution. The possible action of both recent and massive inflow of gas,
as well as stellar feedback mechanisms are discussed here as main drivers of
the starburst activity and their oxygen and nitrogen abundances.Comment: To appear in JENAM Symposium "Dwarf Galaxies: Keys to Galaxy
Formation and Evolution", P. Papaderos, G. Hensler, S. Recchi (eds.). Lisbon,
September 2010, Springer Verlag, in pres
Properties of the ionized gas in HH202. I: Results from integral field spectroscopy with PMAS
We present results from integral field spectroscopy with the Potsdam
multi-Aperture Spectrograph of the head of the Herbig-Haro object HH 202 with a
spatial sampling of 1"x1". We have obtained maps of different emission lines,
physical conditions --such as electron temperature and density-- and ionic
abundances from recombination and collisionally excited lines. We present the
first map of the Balmer temperature and of the temperature fluctuation
parameter, t^2. We have calculated the t^2 in the plane of the sky, which is
substantially smaller than that determined along the line of sight. We have
mapped the abundance discrepancy factor of O^{2+}, ADF(O^{2+}), finding its
maximum value at the HH 202-S position. We have explored the relations between
the ADF(O^{2+}) and the electron density, the Balmer and [O III] temperatures,
the ionization degree as well as the t^2 parameter. We do not find clear
correlations between these properties and the results seem to support that the
ADF and t^2 are independent phenomena. We have found a weak negative
correlation between the O^{2+} abundance determined from recombination lines
and the temperature, which is the expected behaviour in an ionized nebula,
hence it seems that there is not evidence for the presence of super-metal rich
droplets in H II regions.Comment: 12 pages, 11 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA
The ionized gas in the central region of NGC 5253: 2D mapping of the physical and chemical properties
ABRIDGED: NGC5253 was previously studied by our group with the aim to
elucidate in detail the starburst interaction processes. Some open issues
regarding the 2D structure of the main properties of the ionized gas remain to
be addressed. Using IFS data obtained with FLAMES, we derived 2D maps for
different tracers of electron density (n_e), electron temperature (T_e) and
ionization degree. The maps for n_e as traced by several line ratios are
compatible with a 3D stratified view of the nebula with the highest n_e in the
innermost layers and a decrease of n_e outwards. To our knowledge, this is the
first time that a T_e map based on [SII] lines for an extragalactic object is
presented. The joint interpretation of our two T_e maps is consistent with a
T_e structure in 3D with higher temperatures close to the main ionizing source
surrounded by a colder and more diffuse component. The highest ionization
degree is found at the peak of emission for the gas with relatively high
ionization in the main GHIIR and lower ionization degree delineating the more
extended diffuse component. Abundances for O, Ne and Ar are constant over the
mapped area within <0.1 dex. The mean 12+log(O/H) is 8.26 while the relative
abundances of log(N/O), log(Ne/O) and log(Ar/O) were \sim-1.32, -0.65 and
-2.33, respectively. There are two locations with enhanced N/O. The first
(log(N/O)\sim-0.95) is associated to two super star clusters. The second
(log(N/O)\sim-1.17), reported here for the first time, is associated to two
moderately massive (2-4x10^4 M_sun) and relatively old (\sim10 Myr) clusters. A
comparison of the N/O map with those produced by strong line methods supports
the use of N2O2 over N2S2 in the search for chemical inhomogeneities within a
galaxy. The results on the localized nitrogen enhancement were used to compile
and discuss the factors that affect the complex relationship between Wolf-Rayet
stars and N/O excess.Comment: 16 pages, 14 figures, accepted for publication in A&
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