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

Searching for the properties of nuclear matter using proton-carbon and deuteron-carbon collisions at 4.2 a gev/c

The present work reports the use of nuclear transparency effect of protons in proton and deuteron carbon interactions at 4.2 A GeV/c to get information about the states of nuclear matter. The half angle technique is used to extract the information on nuclear transparency. The results are compared with Dubna version of Cascade model. The average values of multiplicity, momentum and transverse momentum of protons are analyzed as a function of the number of identified protons in an event. We observed some evidence and trends in the data which could be considered as transparency effect. Analysis of the results shows that the leading effect is the basis of the observed transparency. Some contribution to the observed effect could be the existing short range correlations and the scaling power law s^-N, for exclusive two body hard scattering.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figure

Array trade-off study using multilayer parasitic subarrays

The use of multilayer parasitic patch arrays in a microstrip phased array offers many potential advantages. An analytical study of microstrip arrays with high gain multilayer parasitic patch subarrays and conventional patch antennas is presented. It is indicated that a thinned array of half as many multilayer parasitic patch subarrays (per row and column) at twice the spacing will perform as well as the full array of ordinary patch antennas. The criterion for comparison was array gain, 3 dB beamwidth and sidelobe level. The attendant reduction in the required number of patch antennas and consequently, MMIC phase shifters is very significant in terms of array complexity, cost and power loss

System overview on electromagnetic compensation for reflector antenna surface distortion

The system requirements and hardware implementation for electromagnetic compensation of antenna performance degradations due to thermal effects was investigated. Future commercial space communication antenna systems will utilize the 20/30 GHz frequency spectrum and support very narrow multiple beams (0.3 deg) over wide angle field of view (15-20 beamwidth). On the ground, portable and inexpensive very small aperture terminals (VSAT) for transmitting and receiving video, facsimile and data will be employed. These types of communication system puts a very stringent requirement on spacecraft antenna beam pointing stability (less than .01 deg), high gain (greater than 50 dB) and very lowside lobes (less than -25 dB). Thermal analysis performed on the advanced communication technology satellite (ACTS) has shown that the reflector surfaces, the mechanical supporting structures and metallic surfaces on the spacecraft body will distort due thermal effects from a varying solar flux. The antenna performance characteristics (e.g., pointing stability, gain, side lobe, etc.) will degrade due to thermal distortion in the reflector surface and supporting structures. Specifically, antenna RF radiation analysis has shown that pointing error is the most sensitive antenna performance parameter to thermal distortions. Other antenna parameters like peak gain, cross polarization level (beam isolation), and side lobe level will also degrade with thermal distortions. In order to restore pointing stability and in general antenna performance several compensation methods were proposed. In general these compensation methods can be classified as being either of mechanical or electromagnetic type. This paper will address only the later one. In this approach an adaptive phased array antenna feed is used to compensate for the antenna performance degradation. Extensive work has been devoted to demonstrate the feasibility of adaptive feed compensation on space communication antenna systems. This paper addresses the system requirements for such a system and identify candidate technologies (analog and digital) for possible hardware implementation

Adaptive feed array compensation system for reflector antenna surface distortion

The feasibility of a closed loop adaptive feed array system for compensating reflector surface deformations has been investigated. The performance characteristics (gain, sidelobe level, pointing, etc.) of large communication antenna systems degrade as the reflector surface distorts mainly due to thermal effects from a varying solar flux. The compensating systems described in this report can be used to maintain the design performance characteristics independent of thermal effects on the reflector surface. The proposed compensating system employs the concept of conjugate field matching to adjust the feed array complex excitation coefficients

Assessing the profitability of farming of disadvantaged smallholders inside and outside polder 29 in Khulna district of Bangladesh

The present study is designed to compare profitability of growing crops by the selected disadvantaged smallholders living inside and outside the Polder No. 29 in Khulna district of Bangladesh. Primary data were collected from 120 respondents, of which 65 from inside the Polder 29 and 55 from outside the Polder 29 were selected randomly. The disadvantaged people outside Polder 29 (Latabunia) followed only one cropping pattern a year such as: (i) T. Aman paddy and Bagda. On the other hand, the disadvantaged people inside polder area followed two distinct cropping patterns a year such as: (i) T. Aman paddy and Bagda; and (ii) Boro paddy and T. Aman paddy. No disadvantaged people outside Polder 29 were found to be involved in small trading and livestock keeping whereas it was common inside Polder 29. So, a wider variation in cropping patterns and profitability of the disadvantaged people was observed as the farm is located inside and outside the Polder 29 (Latabunia). Profitability of disadvantaged people for Bagda cultivation within and outside Polder 29 was not much differs but profitability of disadvantaged people for T. Aman production inside Polder 29 was higher than the profitability for T. Aman production of Latabunia farmers and the difference was Tk 19142.00 per hectare. The concerned scientists should give top most priority to develop salt tolerance new variety of T. Aman paddy and MV Boro paddy for this area. Necessary steps could be taken to protect the land of outside farmers from the salinity or other appropriate steps could be taken to decrease salinity problem of the area.Afsana Zaman, and Maksuda Manna