Brand endorsements: An exploratory study into the effectiveness of using video game characters as brand endorsers

Celebrity endorsements have been established as one of the most preferred methods of advertising by marketers (Patel, 2009). Biswas, Hussain and O’Donnell (2009) enumerates five specific benefits of employing celebrity endorsers for a brand, they can be summarised as follows: drawing attention, crisis management, brand repositioning, global marketing, and boosting sales. However the benefits of using a celebrity endorser can be markedly reversed if the celebrity, is involved in a controversial incident, loses credibility by endorsing too many brands, suddenly changes their image, overshadows the brand which is being endorsed, experiences a drop in popularity, is the centre of negative publicity, or fails to perform within their specific career (Erdogan, 1999). As a solution to these problems this research has investigated the use of video game characters as celebrity brand endorsers. Video game characters are celebrities in their own right but they are not plagued by the same risks and problems as ordinary celebrities (Avery, Ferrand, Nicholas & Rowley, 2006; Shimp & Till, 1998). This exploratory study used a quantitative research approach. A self-administered questionnaire using a 7-point Likert scale was developed and piloted. The questionnaire was distributed at the University of the Witwatersrand to a sample group of 484 respondents between the ages of 18 to 25. Fictitious adverts were used as stimuli during the questionnaire. Convenience sampling was used because of time and monetary constraints. The linear regression results proved that video game characters are effective as brand endorsers and can be used in place of an ordinary celebrity to increase the purchase intentions of the target audience. It can be recommended that video game companies seek opportunities to create partnerships with marketers to use their characters as brand endorsers.KIM201

Levelling Up for health in towns? Development of a new deprivation index: the 'Stronger Towns Index' and its association with self-rated health and migration in England, between 2001 and 2011

Aim: To develop the ‘Stronger Towns Index': a deprivation index that took into account characteristics of areas encompassing towns that may be eligible for redevelopment funding and explore how this index was associated with self-rated health and migration within England between 2001 and 2011. / Subject and methods: All members of the ONS Longitudinal Study in England aged 16 and over in 2001 whose records included a self-rated health response and a valid local authority code. Local authorities in England were ranked using a composite index developed using the five metrics set out in the Stronger Towns Funding: productivity, income, skills, deprivation measures, and the proportion of people living in towns. The index was split into deciles, and logistic regression carried out on the association between decile and self-rated health in 2001 in the main sample (n = 407,878) and decile change and self-rated health in 2011 in a subsample also present in 2011, with migration information (n = 299,008). / Results: There were areas in the lowest deciles of Town Strength who did not receive funding. After multiple adjustment, LS members living in areas with higher deciles were significantly more likely (7% to 38%) to report good health than those in the lowest decile in 2001. Remaining in the same decile between 2001 and 2011 was associated with 7% lower odds of good self-rated health in 2011. / Conclusion: It is important to consider health in towns when allocating funding. Areas in the Midlands may have missed out on funding which might help mitigate poor health

Major Histocompatibility Complex I and II Expression and Lymphocytic Subtypes in Muscle of Horses with Immune-Mediated Myositis.

BackgroundMajor histocompatibility complex (MHC) I and II expression is not normally detected on sarcolemma, but is detected with lymphocytic infiltrates in immune-mediated myositis (IMM) of humans and dogs and in dysferlin-deficient muscular dystrophy.Hypothesis/objectivesTo determine if sarcolemmal MHC is expressed in active IMM in horses, if MHC expression is associated with lymphocytic subtype, and if dysferlin is expressed in IMM.AnimalsTwenty-one IMM horses of Quarter Horse-related breeds, 3 healthy and 6 disease controls (3 pasture myopathy, 3 amylase-resistant polysaccharide storage myopathy [PSSM]).MethodsImmunohistochemical staining for MHC I, II, and CD4+, CD8+, CD20+ lymphocytes was performed on archived muscle of IMM and control horses. Scores were given for MHC I, II, and lymphocytic subtypes. Immunofluorescent staining for dysferlin, dystrophin, and a-sarcoglycan was performed.ResultsSarcolemmal MHC I and II expression was detected in 17/21 and 15/21 of IMM horses, respectively, and in specific fibers of PSSM horses, but not healthy or pasture myopathy controls. The CD4+, CD8+, and CD20+ cells were present in 20/21 IMM muscles with CD4+ predominance in 10/21 and CD8+ predominance in 6/21 of IMM horses. Dysferlin, dystrophin, and a-sarcoglycan staining were similar in IMM and control muscles.Conclusions and clinical importanceDeficiencies of dysferlin, dystrophin, and a-sarcoglycan are not associated with IMM. Sarcolemmal MHC I and II expression in a proportion of myofibers of IMM horses in conjunction with lymphocytic infiltration supports an immune-mediated etiology for IMM. The MHC expression also occured in specific myofibers in PSSM horses in the absence of lymphocytic infiltrates

D-Terms from Generalized NS-NS Fluxes in Type II

Orientifolds of type II string theory admit a certain set of generalized NS-NS fluxes, including not only the three-form field strength H, but also metric and non-geometric fluxes, which are related to H by T-duality. We describe in general how these fluxes appear as parameters of an effective N=1 supergravity theory in four dimensions, and in particular how certain generalized NS-NS fluxes can act as charges for R-R axions, leading to D-term contributions to the effective scalar potential. We illustrate these phenomena in type IIB with the example of a certain orientifold of T^6/Z_4.Comment: 31+1 pages, uses utarticle.cls; v2: references adde

Nongeometry, Duality Twists, and the Worldsheet

In this paper, we use orbifold methods to construct nongeometric backgrounds, and argue that they correspond to the spacetimes discussed in \cite{dh,wwf}. More precisely, we make explicit through several examples the connection between interpolating orbifolds and spacetime duality twists. We argue that generic nongeometric backgrounds arising from duality twists will not have simple orbifold constructions and then proceed to construct several examples which do have a consistent worldsheet description.Comment: v2-references added; v3-minor correction (eqn. 4.17

Design and measurement considerations for WBG switching circuits

Wide Band Gap (WBG) transistors using materials such as Gallium Nitride (GaN) and Silicon Carbide (SiC) offer superior electrical and thermal properties, as well as fast switching capability. However, the high dv/dt and high di/dt may cause ringing with the parasitic inductances and capacitances in the switching loop, increasing overshoot voltages and reducing confidence in the design. Also, making accurate measurements of the switching behaviour without unduly loading the circuit under test is challenging and further impedes the development of WBG applications. This paper presents a prototype WBG Development Platform, built around a half-bridge switched inductive load test circuit. Additional circuits are integrated on to the main PCB for test and measurement purposes: These include a high bandwidth linear current gate-drive circuit and a high bandwidth on-board measurement system. These sub-circuits are described in detail in this paper, together with the switching waveforms that have been achieved during tests with SiC MOSFETs. The authors demonstrate a practical implementation for high frequency WBG power circuits

NS-NS fluxes in Hitchin's generalized geometry

The standard notion of NS-NS 3-form flux is lifted to Hitchin's generalized geometry. This generalized flux is given in terms of an integral of a modified Nijenhuis operator over a generalized 3-cycle. Explicitly evaluating the generalized flux in a number of familiar examples, we show that it can compute three-form flux, geometric flux and non-geometric Q-flux. Finally, a generalized connection that acts on generalized vectors is described and we show how the flux arises from it.Comment: 21 pages, 1 figure; v3: minor change

Generalized Flux Vacua

We consider type II string theory compactified on a symmetric T^6/Z_2 orientifold. We study a general class of discrete deformations of the resulting four-dimensional supergravity theory, including gaugings arising from geometric and "nongeometric'' fluxes, as well as the usual R-R and NS-NS fluxes. Solving the equations of motion associated with the resulting N = 1 superpotential, we find parametrically controllable infinite families of supersymmetric vacua with all moduli stabilized. We also describe some aspects of the distribution of generic solutions to the SUSY equations of motion for this model, and note in particular the existence of an apparently infinite number of solutions in a finite range of the parameter space of the four-dimensional effective theory.Comment: 30 pages, 4 .eps figures; v2, reference adde

Windrush migrants in the ONS Longitudinal Study

The ONS Longitudinal Study can be used to estimate the number of Windrush migrants in ways which go beyond the methods based solely on the most recent census, or on the Labour Force Survey. CeLSIUS estimate that in 2011 there were around 1,735 Windrush children who had entered the country (aged under 16) prior to 1971, and 3,744 migrants overall, who did not hold any passport