How the Kano model contributes to Kansei engineering in services

Recent studies show that products and services hold great appeal if they are attractively designed to elicit emotional feelings from customers. Kansei engineering (KE) has good potential to provide a competitive advantage to those able to read and translate customer affect and emotion in actual product and services. This study introduces an integrative framework of the Kano model and KE, applied to services. The Kano model was used and inserted into KE to exhibit the relationship between service attribute performance and customer emotional response. Essentially, the Kano model categorises service attribute quality into three major groups (must-be [M], one-dimensional [O] and attractive [A]). The findings of a case study that involved 100 tourists who stayed in luxury 4- and 5-star hotels are presented. As a practical matter, this research provides insight on which service attributes deserve more attention with regard to their significant impact on customer emotional needs. Statement of Relevance: Apart from cognitive evaluation, emotions and hedonism play a big role in service encounters. Through a focus on delighting qualities of service attributes, this research enables service providers and managers to establish the extent to which they prioritise their improvement efforts and to always satisfy their customer emotions beyond expectation. Keywords: Kansei engineering, emotional feelings, Kano model, service

Phylogenetic inferences of Atelinae (Platyrrhini) based on multi-directional chromosome painting in Brachyteles arachnoides, Ateles paniscus paniscus and Ateles b. marginatus

We performed multi-directional chromosome painting in a comparative cytogenetic study of the three Atelinae species Brachyteles arachnoides, Ateles paniscus paniscus and Ateles belzebuth marginatus, in order to reconstruct phylogenetic relationships within this Platyrrhini subfamily. Comparative chromosome maps between these species were established by multi-color fluorescence in situ hybridization ( FISH) employing human, Saguinus oedipus and Lagothrix lagothricha chromosome-specific probes. The three species included in this study and four previously analyzed species from all four Atelinae genera were subjected to a phylogenetic analysis on the basis of a data matrix comprised of 82 discrete chromosome characters. The results confirmed that Atelinae represent a monophyletic clade with a putative ancestral karyotype of 2n = 62 chromosomes. Phylogenetic analysis revealed an evolutionary branching sequence \{Alouatta \{Brachyteles \{Lagothrix and Ateles\}\}\} in Atelinae and \{Ateles belzebuth marginatus \{Ateles paniscus paniscus \{Ateles belzebuth hybridus and Ateles geoffroyi\}\}\} in genus Ateles. The chromosomal data support a re-evaluation of the taxonomic status of Ateles b. hybridus. Copyright (C) 2005 S. Karger AG, Basel

Simulations of energetic beam deposition: from picoseconds to seconds

We present a new method for simulating crystal growth by energetic beam deposition. The method combines a Kinetic Monte-Carlo simulation for the thermal surface diffusion with a small scale molecular dynamics simulation of every single deposition event. We have implemented the method using the effective medium theory as a model potential for the atomic interactions, and present simulations for Ag/Ag(111) and Pt/Pt(111) for incoming energies up to 35 eV. The method is capable of following the growth of several monolayers at realistic growth rates of 1 monolayer per second, correctly accounting for both energy-induced atomic mobility and thermal surface diffusion. We find that the energy influences island and step densities and can induce layer-by-layer growth. We find an optimal energy for layer-by-layer growth (25 eV for Ag), which correlates with where the net impact-induced downward interlayer transport is at a maximum. A high step density is needed for energy induced layer-by-layer growth, hence the effect dies away at increased temperatures, where thermal surface diffusion reduces the step density. As part of the development of the method, we present molecular dynamics simulations of single atom-surface collisions on flat parts of the surface and near straight steps, we identify microscopic mechanisms by which the energy influences the growth, and we discuss the nature of the energy-induced atomic mobility

Resummation of mass terms in perturbative massless quantum field theory

The neutral massless scalar quantum field $\Phi$ in four-dimensional space-time is considered, which is subject to a simple bilinear self-interaction. Is is well-known from renormalization theory that adding a term of the form $-\frac{m^2}{2} \Phi^2$ to the Lagrangean has the formal effect of shifting the particle mass from the original zero value to m after resummation of all two-leg insertions in the Feynman graphs appearing in the perturbative expansion of the S-matrix. However, this resummation is accompanied by some subtleties if done in a proper mathematical manner. Although the model seems to be almost trivial, is shows many interesting features which are useful for the understanding of the convergence behavior of perturbation theory in general. Some important facts in connection with the basic principles of quantum field theory and distribution theory are highlighted, and a remark is made on possible generalizations of the distribution spaces used in local quantum field theory. A short discussion how one can view the spontaneous breakdown of gauge symmetry in massive gauge theories within a massless framework is presented.Comment: 15 pages, LaTeX (style files included), one section adde