The flashing behavior of thunderstorms

Lightning flash distribution in thunderstorms - statistical analysi

Understanding the factors that attract travellers to buy tickets online in Saudi Arabia

Despite widespread discussions of online consumer behaviour and the effect of web quality on online user’s actions, there is still a lack of research in the area of consumer attitude towards the services provided by airline companies due to the specific nature of travellers. – being using the internet for different motivations and buying specific kind of product (e-tickets). This study aims to measure consumers’ electronic satisfaction and intention to purchase tickets from Airlines websites. The results provide better understanding on the factors that attract travellers to adopt the most cost effective distribution channel for Airlines (own website) for ticketing needs. To obtain the study objective, a conceptual framework is developed based on literature pertaining to e-consumer behaviour, web quality, and travel and tourism streams. A detective quantitative methodology was chosen to examine the constructs and the relations within the framework. An online survey targeting actual airline online users (travellers) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is suggested with items covering 9 constructs: Information Quality (IQ), System Quality (SQ), Perceived usefulness (PU), Perceived ease of use (PEOU),e-Trust (ET), Airline reputation (AR), Price Perception (PP), e-Satisfaction (ES), and Intention to Purchase (IP). Findings would help decision makers within airline companies to understand their customers’ online behaviour and enable enhancements and modifications to be made to their airline storefront, hence ensuring the satisfaction of potential customers and conversion of visitors into buyers

Marketing images and consumers' experiences in selling environments

In a well-functioning market, consumers exert choices not just in purchases of products but also in selections of locations to enjoy shopping. Scholarly research has demonstrated that retail atmospheres impact on shoppers’ pleasurable shopping experiences. Demonstrating the marketing concept in action, shoppers consistently respond to this empowerment by for example, spending more time shopping and spending more money in retail facilities that are perceived to offer a pleasanter atmosphere and experience. This research pivots round an in-depth qualitative study that evaluated the impact of a plasma screens and specific informational content on shopping centre user behaviour. A phenomenological study of the effects of the medium, and the way in which these systems influence behaviour, permitted a far deeper investigation of our sample group vis-àvis increased browsing time and the propensity to spend. A series of eight focus discussions were conducted with local user groups of varying age and gender. Key themes drawn from the group discussions using axial coding indicated that the influence created by the images varied with subjects and settings. The general consensus was that such ‘screens’ created a certain ambience that influenced the way our subjects felt about the selling environment under study. Moreover, for our sample groups, there was clearly a link between the screened images and modern expectations of a selling environment. The plasma screens provided added enjoyment to shoppers’ experiences, providing them with more information enabling more informed shopping choices. The research concludes with implications for strategic marketing, theory and practice

Meteorological observations required for future weather modification programs

Meteorological observations required for computer models describing weather modification experiment

P-wave diffusion in fluid-saturated medium

This paper considers the propagating P-waves in the fluid-saturated mediums that are categorized to fall into two distinct groups: insoluble and soluble mediums. P-waves are introduced with slowness in accordance to Snell Law and are shown to relate to the medium displacement and wave diffusion. Consequently, the results bear out that the propagating P-waves in the soluble medium share similar diffusive characteristic as of insoluble medium. Nonetheless, our study on fluid density in the mediums show that high density fluid promotes diffusive characteristic whiles low density fluid endorses non-diffusive P-wav

Measurement of forward-scatter cross sections in the melting layer

Forward scatter cross section measurement in melting layer of snow flake

Time-varying conditional Johnson SU density in value-at-risk (VaR) methodology

Stylized facts on financial time series data are the volatility of returns that follow non-normal conditions such as leverage effects and heavier tails leading returns to have heavier magnitudes of extreme losses. Value-at-risk is a standard method of forecasting possible future losses in investments. A procedure of estimating value-at-risk using time-varying conditional Johnson SU¬ distribution is introduced and assessed with econometric models. The Johnson distribution offers the ability to model higher parameters with time-varying structure using maximum likelihood estimation techniques. Two procedures of modeling with the Johnson distribution are introduced: joint estimation of the volatility and two-step procedure where estimation of the volatility is separate from the estimation of higher parameters. The procedures were demonstrated on Philippine-foreign exchange rates and the Philippine stock exchange index. They were assessed with forecast evaluation measures with comparison to different value-at-risk methodologies. The research opens up modeling procedures where manipulation of higher parameters can be integrated in the value-at-risk methodology.Time Varying Parameters; GARCH models; Nonnormal distributions; Risk Management

Trade costs, 1870–2000

What has driven trade booms and trade busts in the past century and a half? Was it changes in global output or in the costs of international trade? To address this question, we derive a micro-founded measure of aggregate bilateral trade costs based on a standard model of trade in differentiated goods. These trade costs gauge the difference between observed bilateral trade and frictionless trade in terms of an implied markup on retail prices of foreign goods. Thus, we are able to estimate the combined magnitude of tariffs, transportation costs, and all other macroeconomic frictions that impede international trade but that are inherently difficult to observe. We use this measure to examine the growth of global trade between 1870 and 1913, its retreat from 1921 to 1939, and its subsequent rise from 1950 to 2000. We find that trade cost declines explain roughly 55 percent of the pre–World War I trade boom and 33 percent of the post–World War II trade boom, while a precipitous rise in trade costs explains the entire interwar trade bust

Anharmonicity and self-energy effects of the E2g phonon in MgB2

We present a Raman scattering study of the E2g phonon anharmonicity and of superconductivity induced self-energy effects in MgB2 single crystals. We show that anharmonic two phonon decay is mainly responsible for the unusually large linewidth of the E2g mode. We observe ~ 2.5 % hardening of the E2g phonon frequency upon cooling into the superconducting state and estimate the electron-phonon coupling strength associated with this renormalization.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, accepted to PR