Meanings for a shopping center brand:a case study

Abstract. The purpose of this research is to build comprehensive understanding of the meanings consumers attach to a shopping center brand and how brand meanings are formed, as well as develop a model for the formation of shopping center brand meanings. The theoretical framework of this research is composed of two parts. The first addresses the formation of brand meanings in general in individual, social and marketing environments through communication and knowledge. The latter part considers the special characteristics of the shopping center brand. Prior research suggests that the place brand, brand portfolio and customer value evaluated through the needs of the individual are factors that influence the shopping center brand. The empirical research is conducted as a qualitative research and as an instrumental, intensive and explanatory case study. The subject of the case study is a traditional medium size shopping center located in a large city in Finland. A projective method, The Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique (ZMET), in which pictures play an important part, is utilized in gathering the empirical data. The research target group consist of a diversified sample of seven participants living in the same city that the case shopping center is located in and who could be determined to be familiar with it. In-depth one-on-one interviews were organized with the participants. Abductive reasoning guides the empirical analysis and the data is analyzed with categorizing it to relevant themes. The findings of this research identified eight central themes of brand meanings attached to a shopping center brand and 23 sub-constructs of meanings. The eight central constructs are togetherness, me-time, convenience, hedonism, merchandise, sense of community, inspiration and culture. Hedonism surfaced as one of the most significant of these and the role of me-time and inspiration were also novel to the field. The model constructed for the formation of shopping center brand meanings was perceived useful and the empirical findings complemented it. Brand meanings were identified to develop in individual, social and marketing environments through communication and knowledge. The role of the individual is a more mediating one whereas the social and marketing environments are more contextual and contributing to the knowledge. The research findings provide further understanding about the formation of brand meanings in the shopping center context. Based on the empirical findings, theory was developed further. Although the research was conducted as an intensive case study of one shopping center, the empirical findings of meanings consumers attach to a shopping center brand can be extended and applied to other similar cases. Knowledge gained can be used in the future as the basis for further research and utilized managerially by shopping center professionals and brand management

Geomagnetic disturbances on ground associated with particle precipitation during SC

We have examined several cases of magnetosphere compression by solar wind pressure pulses using a set of instruments located in the noon sector of auroral zone. We have found that the increase in riometric absorption (sudden commencement absorption, SCA) occurred simultaneously with the beginning of negative or positive magnetic variations and broadband enhancement of magnetic activity in the frequency range above 0.1 Hz. Since magnetic variations were observed before the step-like increase of magnetic field at equatorial station (main impulse, MI), the negative declinations resembled the so-called preliminary impulse, PI. In this paper a mechanism for the generation of PI is introduced whereby PI's generation is linked to SCA – associated precipitation and the local enhancement of ionospheric conductivity leading to the reconstruction of the ionospheric current system prior to MI. Calculation showed that PI polarity depends on orientation of the background electric field and location of the observation point relative to ionospheric irregularity. For one case of direct measurements of electric field in the place where the ionospheric irregularity was present, the sign of calculated disturbance corresponded to the observed one. High-resolution measurements on IRIS facility and meridional chain of the induction magnetometers are utilized for the accurate timing of the impact of solar wind irregularity on the magnetopause

Luenhan pikriitit keskisestä Mosambikista - Viestintuojia Karoon laakiobasalttien vaippapluumilähteestä?

We present geochemical and isotopic (Nd, Sr) data for a picrite lava suite from the Luenha River and adjacent areas in Mozambique. The Luenha picrites represent a previously unknown type of picrites related to the Karoo large igneous province (LIP) and are distinguished by their notably low TiO2 contents (0.3-1.0 wt%) and coupling of high Nb/Y with low Zr/Y and Sm/Yb. Relatively high CaO and low Zn/Fe point to a peridotitic mantle source. Contamination-sensitive incompatible element ratios show that one lava flow is likely to be uncontaminated by the crust and its composition suggests a mantle source with primitive mantle-like incompatible element ratios and mildly depleted isotopic ratios (initial Sr-87/Sr-86 = 0.7041 and epsilon(Nd) = +1.4 at 180 Ma). The primary melts of the Luenha picrites had MgO contents in the range of 13-21 wt%. Our preferred estimate for a primary melt composition (MgO = 18 wt%) resembles experimental melts of fertile mantle peridotite at 3-4 GPa and indicates liquidus temperature of 1445-1582 degrees C. Geochemical similarities suggest the Luenha picrites were generated from the same overall primitive mantle-like reservoir that produced the main volume of Karoo flood basalts in the Karoo, Kalahari, and Zambezi basins, whereas the previously identified enriched and depleted (upper) mantle sources of Karoo picrite suites (Mwenezi, Antarctica) were subordinate sources for flood basalts. We propose that the Luenha picrites record melting of a hot, chemically primitive mantle plume source that may have been rooted in the sub-African large low shear velocity province boundary and that such a source might have been the most significant magma source in the Karoo LIP. (C) 2019 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V.Peer reviewe

Raskaat harvinaiset maa-alkuaineet ja laakiobasalttien lähteet

Editor's ChoiceHeavy rare earth elements (HREEs) in mafic and ultramafic volcanic rocks are useful recorders of mantle source processes because their ratios are not easily modified by differentiation. Here we utilize REEBOX PRO, a simulator of adiabatic decompression melting of the mantle, to study the behavior of HREEs in the formation of continental flood basalt (CFB) parental magmas in the mantle. We simulate partial melting of depleted peridotite, pyrolitic peridotite, pyroxenite, and peridotite-pyroxenite mixtures at mantle potential temperatures of 1350-1650 degrees C and lithospheric thicknesses of 50-150 km, and compare the results to natural data. Many large igneous provinces are typified by low-Ti and high-Ti CFBs with contrasting HREE patterns. Our results show that low-Ti CFBs originate mainly from peridotitic sources. Flat mid-ocean ridge basalt-like HREE patterns typical of low-Ti CFBs can be generated beneath thick lithosphere (similar to 100 km), given that mantle potential temperatures are high (>1500 degrees C) and garnet is completely consumed from the source. We thus challenge the common interpretation that flat HREE patterns always indicate shallow sources for CFB parental magmas. High-Ti CFBs require pyroxenite-bearing sources (>= 10%). Contrary to a common view, their steep oceanic island basalt-like HREE patterns can be generated beneath quite a thin lithosphere (similar to 50 km), which is due to increased garnet stability in pyroxenite sources. When applied to CFBs of the Karoo large igneous province, the results are compatible with a model where a mantle plume penetrates a progressively thinning Gondwana lithosphere.Peer reviewe

Morphology of the spectral resonance structure of the electromagnetic background noise in the range of 0.1?4 Hz at <i>L</I> = 5.2

International audienceContinuous observations of fluctuations of the geomagnetic field at Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory (L = 5.2) were used for a comprehensive morphological study of the spectral resonance structure (SRS) seen in the background electromagnetic noise in the frequency range of 0.1?4.0 Hz. It is shown that the occurrence rate of SRS is higher in the nighttime than in the daytime. The occurrence rate is higher in winter than in summer. The SRS frequencies and the difference between neighbouring eigenfrequencies (the frequency scale) increase towards nighttime and decrease towards daytime. Both frequency scale and occurrence rate exhibit a clear tendency to decrease from minimum to maximum of the solar activity cycle. It is found that the occurrence rate of SRS decreases when geomagnetic activity increases. The SRS is believed to be a consequence of a resonator for Alfvén waves, which is suggested to exist in the upper ionosphere. According to the theory of the ionospheric Alfvén resonator (IAR), characteristics of SRS crucially depend on electron density in the F-layer maximum, as well as on the altitudinal scale of the density decay above the maximum.We compared the SRS morphological properties with predictions of the IAR theory. The ionospheric parameters needed for calculation were obtained from the ionosphere model (IRI-95), as well as from measurements made with the ionosonde in Sodankylä. We conclude that, indeed, the main morphological properties of SRS are explained on the basis of the IAR theory. The measured parameters of SRS can be used for improving the ionospheric models