Things Become Appealing When I Win: Neural Evidence of the Influence of Competition Outcomes on Brand Preference

Against the background of an increasingly competitive market environment, the current study aimed to investigate whether and how victory and defeat, as two critical factors in competition outcomes, would affect consumers’ preference of unfamiliar brands. In the experiment, participants’ status of victory or defeat was induced by a pseudo-online game, followed by a main task of brand preference rating. Using the precise and intuitive attributes of neuroscientific techniques, we adopted event-related potentials to analyze brain activity precisely during brand information processing when individuals experienced victory or defeat. Behavioral data showed that individuals had a stronger preference for unfamiliar brands in victory trials than in defeat trials, even if the brand was completely unrelated to the competition; this indicated a transfer of valence. Three emotion-related event-related potential components, N1, P2 and later positive potentials, were elicited more negatively in victory trials than in defeat trials, indicating the existence of incidental emotions induced by victory or defeat. No significant correlation was found between any pair of ERP components and preference scores. These results suggest that the experience of victory and defeat can evoke corresponding incidental emotions without awareness, and further affect the individual’s preference for unfamiliar brands. Therefore, playing a game before presenting brand information might help promote the brand by inducing a good impression of the brand in consumers

Potentiel de la CIN-EF pour la caractérisation mécanique de renforts textiles

For composite materials with a thermoplastic matrix, the shaping of the textile reinforcement has a direct impact on the mechanical properties of the consolidated composites. However, measuring textile reinforcement materials using non-destructive techniques poses challenges due to their physical properties, structure, large deformation, and complex kinematics. To address this measurement error issue, the performance of "global" digital image correlation by finite elements (FE-DIC) is parametrically studied from various perspectives in relation to the mechanical properties of textile reinforcements. This research project is divided into three distinct parts. The first part involves conducting bias tests on several typical reinforced fabrics, such as glass fabric, carbon fabric, and carbon/PPS fabric. The measurement method entails determining the displacement field using the FE-DIC method to regularize the displacement field and exchange it with the facilitated simulation. The analysis of results involves calculating and comparing the ultimate error and residuals by varying the mesh size and mesh orientation to identify the most suitable parameters. The second part proposes two FE-DIC-based algorithms qualified by correlation residuals, which are used to reduce errors resulting from large deformations. The last part proposes an in situ test approach based on X-ray micro-tomography at the yarn scale, providing a feasible method to study inter-yarn kinematics and establish a link between experiments and numerical simulations. The results of these three research subjects significantly contribute to reducing measurement errors associated with tracking displacement fields and deformation fields.Pour les matériaux composites à matrice thermoplastique, tout comme pour d'autres types de matériaux composites, la mise en forme du renfort textile a un impact direct sur les propriétés mécaniques des matériaux composites consolidés. Dans le but de réduire les erreurs de mesure, les performances de la corrélation "globale" d'images numériques par éléments finis (CIN-EF) sont étudiées de manière paramétrique, en se focalisant sur les propriétés mécaniques des renforts textiles sous différentes perspectives. Ce projet de recherche est divisé en trois parties distinctes. La première partie concerne les essais de traction réalisés sur plusieurs types de tissus renforcés courants, tels que le tissu de verre, le tissu de carbone et le tissu de carbone/PPS. La méthode de mesure consiste à mesurer le champ de déplacement à l'aide de la méthode CIN-EF afin de régulariser le champ de déplacement et d'échanger avec les simulations assistées. Dans l'analyse des résultats, l'erreur ultime et les résidus sont calculés et comparés en faisant varier respectivement la taille du maillage et l'orientation du maillage, afin de trouver les paramètres les plus appropriés. La deuxième partie consiste à proposer deux algorithmes basés sur CIN-EF qualifiés par les résidus de corrélation, qui sont utilisés pour réduire les erreurs générées par les grandes déformations. Enfin, la dernière partie propose une approche de test in situ basée sur la micro-tomographie aux rayons X à l'échelle de la chaîne, qui fournit une méthode réalisable pour étudier la cinématique inter-chaînes et établir un lien entre les expérimentations et les simulations numériques. Les résultats de ces trois sujets de recherche permettent de réduire de manière significative les erreurs de mesure issues du suivi des champs de déplacement et des champs de déformation

Potentiel de la CIN-EF pour la caractérisation mécanique de renforts textiles

For composite materials with a thermoplastic matrix, the shaping of the textile reinforcement has a direct impact on the mechanical properties of the consolidated composites. However, measuring textile reinforcement materials using non-destructive techniques poses challenges due to their physical properties, structure, large deformation, and complex kinematics. To address this measurement error issue, the performance of "global" digital image correlation by finite elements (FE-DIC) is parametrically studied from various perspectives in relation to the mechanical properties of textile reinforcements. This research project is divided into three distinct parts. The first part involves conducting bias tests on several typical reinforced fabrics, such as glass fabric, carbon fabric, and carbon/PPS fabric. The measurement method entails determining the displacement field using the FE-DIC method to regularize the displacement field and exchange it with the facilitated simulation. The analysis of results involves calculating and comparing the ultimate error and residuals by varying the mesh size and mesh orientation to identify the most suitable parameters. The second part proposes two FE-DIC-based algorithms qualified by correlation residuals, which are used to reduce errors resulting from large deformations. The last part proposes an in situ test approach based on X-ray micro-tomography at the yarn scale, providing a feasible method to study inter-yarn kinematics and establish a link between experiments and numerical simulations. The results of these three research subjects significantly contribute to reducing measurement errors associated with tracking displacement fields and deformation fields.Pour les matériaux composites à matrice thermoplastique, tout comme pour d'autres types de matériaux composites, la mise en forme du renfort textile a un impact direct sur les propriétés mécaniques des matériaux composites consolidés. Dans le but de réduire les erreurs de mesure, les performances de la corrélation "globale" d'images numériques par éléments finis (CIN-EF) sont étudiées de manière paramétrique, en se focalisant sur les propriétés mécaniques des renforts textiles sous différentes perspectives. Ce projet de recherche est divisé en trois parties distinctes. La première partie concerne les essais de traction réalisés sur plusieurs types de tissus renforcés courants, tels que le tissu de verre, le tissu de carbone et le tissu de carbone/PPS. La méthode de mesure consiste à mesurer le champ de déplacement à l'aide de la méthode CIN-EF afin de régulariser le champ de déplacement et d'échanger avec les simulations assistées. Dans l'analyse des résultats, l'erreur ultime et les résidus sont calculés et comparés en faisant varier respectivement la taille du maillage et l'orientation du maillage, afin de trouver les paramètres les plus appropriés. La deuxième partie consiste à proposer deux algorithmes basés sur CIN-EF qualifiés par les résidus de corrélation, qui sont utilisés pour réduire les erreurs générées par les grandes déformations. Enfin, la dernière partie propose une approche de test in situ basée sur la micro-tomographie aux rayons X à l'échelle de la chaîne, qui fournit une méthode réalisable pour étudier la cinématique inter-chaînes et établir un lien entre les expérimentations et les simulations numériques. Les résultats de ces trois sujets de recherche permettent de réduire de manière significative les erreurs de mesure issues du suivi des champs de déplacement et des champs de déformation

Evaluation of the performance of Finite Element digital image correlation to characterize textile reinforcements

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Assessment of sulfamethoxazole toxicity to marine mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis): Combine p38-MAPK signaling pathway modulation with histopathological alterations

Sulfamethoxazole (SMX), is a ubiquitous antibiotic in the aquatic environment and received concerns on its health hazards, especially its sub-lethal effects on non-target organisms which were remained largely unknown. In the present study, in order to investigate SMX induced tissue damages and reveal underlying mechanisms, marine mussels, Mytilus galloprovincialis were challenged to SMX series (0.5, 50 and 500 μg/L) for six-days followed by six-day-recovery. Comprehensive histopathological alteration (including qualitative, semi-quantitative and quantitative indices), together with transcriptional and (post-) translational responses of key factors (p38, NFκB and p53) in the p38-MAPK signaling pathway were analyzed in gills and digestive glands. Tissue-specific responses were clearly investigated with gills showing more prompt responses and digestive glands showing higher tolerance to SMX. The histopathology showed that SMX triggered inflammatory damages in both tissues and quantitative analysis revealed more significant responses, suggesting its potential as a valuable health indicator. SMX activated expressions of p38, NFκB and p53 at transcriptional and (post-) translational levels, especially after exposed to low level SMX, evidenced by p38 coupled with NFκB/p53 regulation on immunity defense in mussels. Less induction of targeted molecules under severe SMX exposure indicated such signaling transduction may not be efficient enough and can result in inflammatory damages. Taken together, this study expanded the understanding of aquatic SMX induced health risk in marine mussels and the underlying regulation mechanism through p38 signaling transduction