A study of brand preference: An experiential view

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel UniversityConsumer brand preference is an essential step to understand consumer choice behaviour, and has therefore always received great attention from marketers. Brand preferences reveal the type of attributes a brand possesses, to strengthen its position and increase its market share. Moreover, it forms a critical input in developing a company’s successful brand strategy, and gives insight for product development. However, the shift to experiential marketing broadens the role of the brand from a bundle of attributes to experiences. Experiential marketing also considers both, the rational and irrational assumptions of consumer behaviour. The technological advancement helped increasing the similarities between the brands attributes and product commoditisation. Consequently, consumers cannot shape their preferences among brands using rational attributes only. They seek the brand that creates experience; intrigue them in a sensorial, emotional, and creative way. Companies’ competitiveness in such market has, therefore become increasingly difficult. Their survival requires building their competitive advantage by delivering memorable experiences, which would influence consumers’ brand preferences, and consequently stimulate consumers’ purchase decisions. In the marketing literature, the traditional models are uni-dimensional, and addressing the brand preferences by consumers’ cognitive judgement of brand attributes on a rational basis. The role of experience is limited to the impact of its type on shifting preference level. Most of prior studies are partial and focusing on one or two antecedents of brand preferences. In addition to these drawbacks, the studies also ignore consequences determining the consumer purchase decisions. Based on these limitations in the literature, a lack of understanding of how consumers develop their brand preferences was identified. Accordingly, the aim of this study is to develop a model that provides an understanding of how brand knowledge and brand experiences determine brand preferences and to investigate its impact on brand repurchase intentions. In this model, the brand knowledge is defined by attribute-based beliefs, referring to consumers’ salient beliefs about the brand intrinsic cues, and non-attribute beliefs, reflected in the price, appearance, brand personality, and self-congruity. Therefore, the relative importance of brand knowledge factors contributing to brand preference is determined. Furthermore, the model addresses the interactions between the brand knowledge and brand experience in shaping brand preference. Thus, addressing how the experiences reflect embedded value in the brand offerings influencing consumer preferences. To achieve the aim of this study, a sequential mixed-method methodology combining both qualitative and quantitative research was adopted. The aim of the first qualitative phase is exploratory, using focus groups, to refine the proposed model and generate items for questionnaire development. The second phase, quantitative research, is the survey conducted using self-administrated questionnaires. The structural equation modelling (AMOS) software is used to analyse the data. The findings confirm that brand knowledge and brand experience are key sources of brand preferences. In addition, all the factors of brand knowledge have a direct positive impact on brand preferences. However, the role of brand personality on brand preference is realised through brand experience. The findings also support that the impacts of the general brand attributes and appearance on brand preference are partially mediated by brand experience. Furthermore, brand preference positively impacts repurchase intentions. The ultimate contribution of this study stems from revealing that both cognitive information processing and experiential responses form the bases of developing brand preferences, which form the link to future psychological reactions. Methodologically, the study measures the multi-dimensional constructs, brand experience and brand personality, at the aggregate level. In addition, it validates the “big-five personality” as a measure of brand personality. Pragmatically, the study suggests three levels for building brands of technological products to win consumer preferences. At the first level lies the brand functional attributes, at the second level, are the brand symbolic attributes reflected in the imagery associations and aesthetic appearance while at the third level is the brand experience. Noteworthy, these experiences are private in nature and cannot be commoditised. This model extends the notion of brand experience on preference development and can be extended in future research to build long-term consumer-brand relationship.Egyptian Ministry of Higher Education and Egyptian Cultural Bureau in Londo

Configurable Secured Adaptive Routing Protocol for Mobile Wireless Sensor Networks

This paper aims at designing, building, and simulating a secured routing protocol to defend against packet dropping attacks in mobile WSNs (MWSNs). This research addresses the gap in the literature by proposing Configurable Secured Adaptive Routing Protocol (CSARP). CSARP has four levels of protection to allow suitability for different types of network applications. The protocol allows the network admin to configure the required protection level and the ratio of cluster heads to all nodes. The protocol has an adaptive feature, which allows for better protection and preventing the spread of the threats in the network. The conducted CSARP simulations with different conditions showed the ability of CSARP to identify all malicious nodes and remove them from the network. CSARP provided more than 99.97% packets delivery rate with 0% data packet loss in the existence of 3 malicious nodes in comparison with 3.17% data packet loss without using CSARP. When compared with LEACH, CSARP showed an improvement in extending the lifetime of the network by up to 39.5%. The proposed protocol has proven to be better than the available security solutions in terms of configurability, adaptability, optimization for MWSNs, energy consumption optimization, and the suitability for different MWSNs applications and conditions

Integrating student engagement with the DeLone & McLean model to assess the effectiveness of Online Learning System during COVID-19 pandemic

The Coronavirus pandemic has created significant challenges for higher education institutions and rushed them toward the utilization of IT resources to practice online learning as a replacement of the face-to-face classrooms. This study aims to assess the effectiveness of the online learning system (OLS) in driving student engagement and generating positive performance impact during the Coronavirus outbreak. A conceptual model is proposed by adopting the D&M model to examine the impact of the OLS overall quality dimensions (system quality, information quality, and service quality) on student’s performance impact and to study the mediating effect of actual use, student satisfaction, and student engagement on this relationship. By depending on a sample of 781stuents at both ungraduated and postgraduate levels enrolled at public universities in Egypt, using a self-administrated online survey to collect the data and SEM-PLS to analyze the data. The results indicate the significance of OLS quality dimensions direct effect on actual use, student satisfaction, student engagement and performance impact. Also, student engagement has the highest direct effect on performance impact and indirectly it enhances the relationship between overall quality dimensions and performance impact. These findings suggest several theoretical and managerial implications which specifically highlight the importance of overall quality and student engagement as determinants of OLS effectiveness

Does ultrasound-guided continuous suprascapular nerve block affect frozen shoulder rehabilitation programme outcome?

Background: Physical therapy (PT) is often recommended for patients with frozen shoulder. However, it could be painful for some patients, and this could hinder the rehabilitation programme. Some procedures like joint injection and suprascapular nerve block (SSNB) could alleviate pain during this setting. Objective: The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of continuous SSNB plus PT compared to PT alone in managing frozen shoulder.Patients and methods: A total of 76 patients with frozen shoulder were included in this study. They were divided into two groups: 38 patients in the injection group (IG) received SSNB via catheter before PT, while the remaining 38 participants in the control group (CG) received no block prior to PT (CG). The functional state of the shoulder joint was assessed via the constant shoulder scale before and just after PT, then one month later.Results: General patient characteristics, including age, gender, BMI, comorbidities, and trauma history, were statistically comparable between the two groups. When we examined the constant scores of the two groups, we found that both had low scores before treatment, which increased immediately after treatment and then increased again one month later. Nonetheless, the injection group had a much greater increase than the control group.Conclusion: When used with PT for the treatment of adhesive capsulitis, continuous SSNB is an effective option that enhances the response to PT. It is associated with better improvement in shoulder function

Salp Swarm Optimization with Self-Adaptive Mechanism for Optimal Droop Control Design

The collaboration of the various distributed generation (DG) units is required to meet the increasing electricity demand. To run parallel-connected inverters for microgrid load sharing, several control strategies have been developed. Among these methods, the droop control method was widely accepted in the research community due to the lack of important communication links between parallel-connected inverters to control the DG units within a microgrid. To help to solve the power-sharing process, keep to frequency and voltage constrained limits in islanded mode microgrid system. The parameter values must therefore be chosen accurately by using the optimization technique. Optimization techniques are a hot topic of researchers; hence This paper discusses the microgrid droop controller during islanding using the salp swarm inspired algorithm (SSIA). To obtain a better fine microgrid output reaction during islanding, SSIA-based droop control is used to optimally determine the PI gain and the coefficients of the prolapse control. The results of the simulation show that the SSIA-based droop control can control the power quality of the microgrid by ensuring that the keep to frequency and voltage constrained limits and deviation and proper power-sharing occurs during the microgrid island mode during a load change

Tempol improves optic nerve histopathology and ultrastructures in cisplatin-induced optic neuropathy in rats by targeting oxidative stress—Endoplasmic reticulum stress—Autophagy signaling pathways

IntroductionOptic neuropathy is an affection of the optic neurons, which ends with blindness and occurs either primarily due to direct affection of the optic nerve or secondarily as a complication of chronic diseases and/or adverse effects of their therapy. The search for novel therapeutic tools is crucial in addressing the limited therapeutic approaches for optic neuropathy. Therefore, the present study was developed to investigate the possible ameliorative effect of tempol against cisplatin-induced optic neuropathy and its underlying mechanism.MethodsForty-eight adult male albino Wistar rats were divided into four equal groups—control, tempol (TEM), cisplatin (CIS), and tempol and cisplatin combined (TEM+CIS). Optic nerve oxidative stress (MDA, SOD, and GPx), gene expression of endoplasmic reticulum stress (ATF-6, XBP-1, BIP, CHOP, and JNK), autophagy 6 (LC3, Beclin-1, and p62) markers, nerve growth factor-1, immunohistochemical expression of (LC3 and p62), histopathological, and electron microscopic examination were performed.ResultsHistopathological and ultrastructure examination validated that cisplatin caused optic neuropathy by inducing oxidative stress, upregulating ER stress markers, and downregulating autophagy markers, and NGF-1 expression. TEM + CIS showed improvement in optic nerve structure and ultrastructure along with oxidative stress, ER stress mRNA, autophagy (immunohistochemical proteins and mRNA) markers, and nerve growth factor mRNA expression.ConclusionsBased on previous findings, tempol represents a valid aid in cisplatin-induced optic neuropathy by implicating new molecular drug targets (ER stress and autophagy) for optic neuropathy therapy

A brand preference and repurchase intention model: The role of consumer experience

Consumer brand preference is an essential step towards understanding consumer choice behaviour, and has therefore always received great attention from marketers. However, the study of brand preference has been limited to traditional marketing focusing on functional attributes to maximise utility. But now the shift to experiential marketing broadens the role of the brand from a bundle of attributes to experiences. Technological advancements have helped to increase the similarities between brand attributes and product commoditisation. Consequently, consumers cannot shape their preferences among brands using rational attributes only. They seek out brands that create experiences; that intrigue them in a sensorial, emotional and creative way. This study seeks to develop a model that provides an understanding of how brand knowledge and brand experience determine brand preference and to investigate its impact on brand repurchase intention. Accordingly, exploratory focus group discussions are employed followed by a survey of mobile phone users in Egypt. The findings provide insights into the relative importance of consumer perceptions on different brand knowledge factors in shaping brand preferences. It also demonstrates the significance of consumers’ experiential responses toward brands in developing their brand preferences that in turn influence brand repurchase intention. The model therefore offers managers a new perspective for building strong brands able to gain consumer preferences

Impact of opioid-free analgesia on pain severity and patient satisfaction after discharge from surgery: multispecialty, prospective cohort study in 25 countries

Background: Balancing opioid stewardship and the need for adequate analgesia following discharge after surgery is challenging. This study aimed to compare the outcomes for patients discharged with opioid versus opioid-free analgesia after common surgical procedures.Methods: This international, multicentre, prospective cohort study collected data from patients undergoing common acute and elective general surgical, urological, gynaecological, and orthopaedic procedures. The primary outcomes were patient-reported time in severe pain measured on a numerical analogue scale from 0 to 100% and patient-reported satisfaction with pain relief during the first week following discharge. Data were collected by in-hospital chart review and patient telephone interview 1 week after discharge.Results: The study recruited 4273 patients from 144 centres in 25 countries; 1311 patients (30.7%) were prescribed opioid analgesia at discharge. Patients reported being in severe pain for 10 (i.q.r. 1-30)% of the first week after discharge and rated satisfaction with analgesia as 90 (i.q.r. 80-100) of 100. After adjustment for confounders, opioid analgesia on discharge was independently associated with increased pain severity (risk ratio 1.52, 95% c.i. 1.31 to 1.76; P < 0.001) and re-presentation to healthcare providers owing to side-effects of medication (OR 2.38, 95% c.i. 1.36 to 4.17; P = 0.004), but not with satisfaction with analgesia (beta coefficient 0.92, 95% c.i. -1.52 to 3.36; P = 0.468) compared with opioid-free analgesia. Although opioid prescribing varied greatly between high-income and low- and middle-income countries, patient-reported outcomes did not.Conclusion: Opioid analgesia prescription on surgical discharge is associated with a higher risk of re-presentation owing to side-effects of medication and increased patient-reported pain, but not with changes in patient-reported satisfaction. Opioid-free discharge analgesia should be adopted routinely

Cytotoxicity, Antimicrobial, and In Silico Studies of Secondary Metabolites From Aspergillus sp. Isolated From Tecoma stans (L.) Juss. Ex Kunth Leaves

Elsayed HE, Kamel RA, Ibrahim RR, et al. Cytotoxicity, Antimicrobial, and In Silico Studies of Secondary Metabolites From Aspergillus sp. Isolated From Tecoma stans (L.) Juss. Ex Kunth Leaves. Frontiers in Chemistry. 2021;9: 760083.Endophytes are prolific producers of privileged secondary metabolites with diverse therapeutic potential, although their anticancer and antimicrobial potential still have a room for further investigation. Herein, seven known secondary metabolites namely, arugosin C (1), ergosterol (2), iso-emericellin (3), sterigmatocystin (4), dihydrosterigmatocystin (5), versicolorin B (6), and diorcinol (7) were isolated from the rice culture ofAspergillus sp.retrieved fromTecoma stans(L.) Juss. ex Kunth leaves. Their anticancer and antimicrobial activities were evaluated in MTT and agar well diffusion assays, respectively. The cytotoxicity results showed that metabolite3displayed the best viability inhibition on the MCF-7 breast cancer cells with IC50= 225.21 µM, while5on the HepG2 hepatocellular carcinoma cells with IC50= 161.81 µM.5demonstrated a 60% apoptotic mode of cell death which is virtually correlated to its high docking affinity to Hsp90 ATP binding cleft (binding score −8.4 Kcal/mol). On the other side, metabolites4and5displayed promising antimicrobial activity especially onPseudomonas aeruginosawith MIC = 125 μg/ml. The observed effect may be likely related to their excellentin silicoinhibition of the bacterial DNA-gyrase kinase domain (binding score −10.28 Kcal/mol). To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to report the promising cytotoxic and antibacterial activities of metabolites 3, 4, and 5 which needs further investigation and renovation to therapeutic leads