Triangulating consumers' perceptions of payment systems by using social representations theory: A multi-method approach

Social systems play a pivotal role in shaping customers' views, the adoption process and subsequent product diffusion for novel products. Perceptions of Austrian consumers regarding payment systems were assessed in a cross-sectional analysis applying social representations theory. Social representations help to unravel the sources of individuals' attitudinal or perceptual similarities and differences, which often stem from inter-group differences. In short, they are useful for the investigation of ‘deeper structure’ aspects of consumer behaviour, as has been shown in previous studies. This may be seen as a further step forward for marketing research, which operates largely on social phenomena. This study addresses the shortage of non-cognitive-based research in marketing by offering a methodological approach that uses triangulation on the basis of associative answers from social groups. A four-step analytic design revealed that consumer groups transpose the abstract concept of payment systems into tangible objects and processes in a similar way; however, their social background impacted which value was attached to established as well as new means of payment. Cash is still seen as the prototypical form of payment; newer forms, such as credit cards or ATM cards, appear already in the periphery of representations, urgently needing well-concerted marketing efforts to become recognized as substitutes for cash. From a managerial view, the research employs social phenomena as a basis for segmenting natural rather than nominal groups in order to better serve consumers' needs in an increasingly connected social reality

Multilingual elite-interviews and software-based analysis: Problems and solutions based on CAQDAS

Qualitative international research is increasingly popular in marketing, management and business practice. Cultural dimensions, most importantly language, play a central role in this research context. The importance of language in the context of questionnaire design and international data gathering has long been stressed in various sources (Pike 1966; Brislin 1970; Piekkari & Welch 2004). However, the practice of qualitative data collection and analysis has not been addressed sufficiently, although new and innovative software-based tools are available to help these efforts. This paper deals with methodological and practical issues in analysing qualitative interviews with corporate elites. We illustrate conceptual challenges in setting up qualitative projects that build on interviewing corporate elites and address practical implementation issues in terms of multilingual coding, node creation and theory building by means of computer assisted qualitative data analysis software (CAQDAS). To this end a specific empirical example will be used

Radar signal categorization using a neural network

Neural networks were used to analyze a complex simulated radar environment which contains noisy radar pulses generated by many different emitters. The neural network used is an energy minimizing network (the BSB model) which forms energy minima - attractors in the network dynamical system - based on learned input data. The system first determines how many emitters are present (the deinterleaving problem). Pulses from individual simulated emitters give rise to separate stable attractors in the network. Once individual emitters are characterized, it is possible to make tentative identifications of them based on their observed parameters. As a test of this idea, a neural network was used to form a small data base that potentially could make emitter identifications

Bipolar Spectrum Disorders in Male Youth: The Interplay between Symptom Severity, Inflammation, Steroid Secretion, and Body Composition

The morbidity and societal burden of youth bipolar spectrum disorders (BSD) are high. These disorders are multisystemic in that adult populations there are clear interactions with inflammatory processes and steroidal physiological systems. There are much less data concerning these areas of study in youth populations with BSD. This is surprising given the association of youth-onset BSD with puberty and its associated physiological changes. In this mini-review, we overview the theoretical role of inflammatory processes and steroidal physiological systems in youth BSD, describe the greater literature in adult populations, detail the literature in youth populations when available, and overview current proposed molecular mechanistic pathways and interaction effects based on the available data. We also attend to the interplay of this complex system with body composition and weight gain, an especially important consideration in relation to the role of second generation antipsychotics as the first line treatment for youth with BSD in major clinical guidelines. A developmental model of early onset BSD for boys is hypothesized with pubertal hormonal changes increasing risk for first (hypo-)manic/depressive episode. The dramatic androgen rise during puberty might be relevant for first onset of BSD in boys. A shift from general hypercortisolism driven by glucocorticoid resistance to hypocortisolism with further disease progression is assumed, while increased levels of inflammation are functionally associated with endocrine dysregulation. The interacting role of overweight body habitus and obesity in youth with BSD further indicates leptin resistance to be a central moderator of the dynamic neurobiology of BSD in youth. The intent of this mini-review is to advance our knowledge of youth BSD as multisystemic disorders with important contributions from endocrinology and immunology based on a developmental perspective. This knowledge can influence current clinical care and more importantly inform future research

Global fixed point proof of time-dependent density-functional theory

We reformulate and generalize the uniqueness and existence proofs of time-dependent density-functional theory. The central idea is to restate the fundamental one-to-one correspondence between densities and potentials as a global fixed point question for potentials on a given time-interval. We show that the unique fixed point, i.e. the unique potential generating a given density, is reached as the limiting point of an iterative procedure. The one-to-one correspondence between densities and potentials is a straightforward result provided that the response function of the divergence of the internal forces is bounded. The existence, i.e. the v-representability of a density, can be proven as well provided that the operator norms of the response functions of the members of the iterative sequence of potentials have an upper bound. The densities under consideration have second time-derivatives that are required to satisfy a condition slightly weaker than being square-integrable. This approach avoids the usual restrictions of Taylor-expandability in time of the uniqueness theorem by Runge and Gross [Phys.Rev.Lett.52, 997 (1984)] and of the existence theorem by van Leeuwen [Phys.Rev.Lett. 82, 3863 (1999)]. Owing to its generality, the proof not only answers basic questions in density-functional theory but also has potential implications in other fields of physics.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur

Films as source of everyday life and energy use: a case of Indian cinema

Drawing from film studies, this paper introduces a new, experimental method to understand domestic practices and energy use at home at the exploratory research phase. The paper adopts the methodology of the AHRC CineMuseSpace project and applies it in the context of energy studies. A detailed keyword ontology was developed in order to identify practices, technologies and energy use at home (854 keywords). 19 Indian films, based in chawl housing in Mumbai, were analysed to illustrate the method. The keyword ontology was were applied to the extracted film fragments in the database. This allowed to map the presence and use of technologies in film, and where and how practices were performed. The analysis was followed by site observations guided by the film analysis, and re-watching the films using the embodied knowledge from site. The analysis Coding allowed us to make the choice of fragments transparent, quantify frequences and locations of practices, household dynamics and the use of appliances, to identify key scenes for further analaysis and create a database that can be resampled. The paper argues that even fictional films are firmly grounded in everyday life and routines and especially fragments that are used to portray ‘normalised’ being at home can be used as an unused source to study everyday life at home, transitions in material culture and the adoption of new technologies. The novelty of the research lies in its’ methodological approach to use film data as a reflective tool to understand energy consumption patterns and help to formulate exciting, relevant research questions for fieldwork. It highlights the importance of arts and humanities research in mediating and humanising often highly technical approach of energy studies.Research England GCRF QR Funding 2018-1

On the existence of effective potentials in time-dependent density functional theory

We investigate the existence and properties of effective potentials in time-dependent density functional theory. We outline conditions for a general solution of the corresponding Sturm-Liouville boundary value problems. We define the set of potentials and v-representable densities, give a proof of existence of the effective potentials under certain restrictions, and show the set of v-representable densities to be independent of the interaction.Comment: 13 page

Efeito da forma física e do nível de energia da ração sobre o desempenho e a composição de carcaça de frango de corte.

bitstream/item/85046/1/DCOT-243.pd

Density-potential mappings in quantum dynamics

In a recent letter [Europhys. Lett. 95, 13001 (2011)] the question of whether the density of a time-dependent quantum system determines its external potential was reformulated as a fixed point problem. This idea was used to generalize the existence and uniqueness theorems underlying time-dependent density functional theory. In this work we extend this proof to allow for more general norms and provide a numerical implementation of the fixed-point iteration scheme. We focus on the one-dimensional case as it allows for a more in-depth analysis using singular Sturm-Liouville theory and at the same time provides an easy visualization of the numerical applications in space and time. We give an explicit relation between the boundary conditions on the density and the convergence properties of the fixed-point procedure via the spectral properties of the associated Sturm-Liouville operator. We show precisely under which conditions discrete and continuous spectra arise and give explicit examples. These conditions are then used to show that in the most physically relevant cases the fixed point procedure converges. This is further demonstrated with an example.Comment: 20 pages, 8 figures, 3 table