1,503 research outputs found
The Impact of Celebrity Credibility on Consumer’s Purchase Intention toward the Footwear Industry in Malaysia: The Mediating Effect of Attitude toward Advertisement
Practices of using celebrities as spokespeople for commercialized products are continuously favoured toward the effort of marketing and positioning. The popularity of celebrity advertising is founded upon advertiser’s belief on message credibility by well-known personalities to achieve greater attention, recall and behavioural intention among consumers. The present study assesses the impact of celebrity credibility on the underlying purchase intention of Malaysian consumers toward the footwear industry, by exploring the mediating role of attitude toward advertisement between celebrity credibility and purchase intention. The influence of endorser’s characteristics and cultures on consumer’s behavioural intention is explained through the applications of the Theory of Identification (Kelman, 1961, 2006) and the Meaning Transfer Model (McCracken, 1989) in this study. Descriptive findings collected from 200 potential consumers have suggested attitude toward advertisement as the catalyst of endorser’s identification, for cultivating dimensions of celebrity credibility (trustworthiness, expertise and attractiveness) into transactional intention. The phenomenon of integration approaches of single phenomenon, with two theoretical perspectives (Mayer & Sparrowe, 2013) is demonstrated in this product marketplace
Measurement of Absorption Cross Section of a Lossy Object in Reverberation Chamber Without the Need for Calibration
A reliable and simple procedure is proposed to measure the averaged absorption cross section (ACS) of a lossy object in a reverberation chamber (RC). This procedure is based on the time-domain measurement of the ACS in an RC. In the time-domain, to obtain the ACS, the chamber decay time needs to be known. Conventionally, the ACS is normally measured in the frequency domain, and a full two-port calibration must be carried out before collecting the S-parameters, which is tedious and time-consuming. In reality, the chamber decay time depends on the diffused loss of the RC, not the insertion loss of the cables. In this paper, by making use of this fact, the ACS can be measured accurately without calibration, which will simplify the measurement process and shorten the measurement time at the same time
The impact of celebrity credibility on consumer’s purchase intention toward the footwear industry in Malaysia: The mediating effect of attitude toward advertisement
Practices of using celebrities as spokespeople for commercialized products are continuously favoured toward the effort of marketing and positioning. The popularity of celebrity advertising is founded upon advertiser’s belief on message credibility by well-known personalities to achieve greater attention, recall and behavioural intention among consumers. The present study assesses the impact of celebrity credibility on the underlying purchase intention of Malaysian consumers toward the footwear industry, by exploring the mediating role of attitude toward advertisement between celebrity credibility and purchase intention. The influence of endorser’s characteristics and cultures on consumer’s behavioural intention is explained through the applications of the Theory of Identification (Kelman, 1961, 2006) and the Meaning Transfer Model (McCracken, 1989) in this study. Descriptive findings collected from 200 potential consumers have suggested attitude toward advertisement as the catalyst of endorser’s identification, for cultivating dimensions of celebrity credibility (trustworthiness, expertise and attractiveness) into transactional intention. The phenomenon of integration approaches of single phenomenon, with two theoretical perspectives (Mayer & Sparrowe, 2013) is demonstrated in this product marketplace
Spatial Parkin Translocation and Degradation of Damaged Mitochondria via Mitophagy in Live Cortical Neurons
SummaryMitochondria are essential for neuronal survival and function. Proper degradation of aged and damaged mitochondria through mitophagy is a key cellular pathway for mitochondrial quality control. Recent studies have indicated that PINK1/Parkin-mediated pathways ensure mitochondrial integrity and function [1–8]. Translocation of Parkin to damaged mitochondria induces mitophagy in many nonneuronal cell types [9–16]. However, evidence showing Parkin translocation in primary neurons is controversial [9, 15, 17, 18], leaving unanswered questions as to how and where Parkin-mediated mitophagy occurs in neurons. Here, we report the unique process of dissipating mitochondrial Δψm-induced and Parkin-mediated mitophagy in mature cortical neurons. Compared with nonneuronal cells, neuronal mitophagy is a much slower and compartmentally restricted process, coupled with reduced anterograde mitochondrial transport. Parkin-targeted mitochondria are accumulated in the somatodendritic regions where mature lysosomes are predominantly located. Time-lapse imaging shows dynamic formation and elimination of Parkin- and LC3-ring-like structures surrounding depolarized mitochondria through the autophagy-lysosomal pathway in the soma. Knocking down Parkin in neurons impairs the elimination of dysfunctional mitochondria. Thus, our study provides neuronal evidence for dynamic and spatial Parkin-mediated mitophagy, which will help us understand whether altered mitophagy contributes to pathogenesis of several major neurodegenerative diseases characterized by mitochondrial dysfunction and impaired transport
Human Pol II promoter recognition based on primary sequences and free energy of dinucleotides
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Promoter region plays an important role in determining where the transcription of a particular gene should be initiated. Computational prediction of eukaryotic Pol II promoter sequences is one of the most significant problems in sequence analysis. Existing promoter prediction methods are still far from being satisfactory.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We attempt to recognize the human Pol II promoter sequences from the non-promoter sequences which are made up of exon and intron sequences. Four methods are used: two kinds of multifractal analysis performed on the numeric sequences obtained from the dinucleotide free energy, Z curve analysis and global descriptor of the promoter/non-promoter primary sequences. A total of 141 parameters are extracted from these methods and categorized into seven groups (methods). They are used to generate certain spaces and then each promoter/non-promoter sequence is represented by a point in the corresponding space. All the 120 possible combinations of the seven methods are tested. Based on Fisher's linear discriminant algorithm, with a relatively smaller number of parameters (96 and 117), we get satisfactory discriminant accuracies. Particularly, in the case of 117 parameters, the accuracies for the training and test sets reach 90.43% and 89.79%, respectively. A comparison with five other existing methods indicates that our methods have a better performance. Using the global descriptor method (36 parameters), 17 of the 18 experimentally verified promoter sequences of human chromosome 22 are correctly identified.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The high accuracies achieved suggest that the methods of this paper are useful for understanding the difficult problem of promoter prediction.</p
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In Situ TEM Study of the Degradation of PbSe Nanocrystals in Air
PbSe
nanocrystals have attracted widespread attention due to a
variety of potential applications. However, the practical utility
of these nanocrystals has been hindered by their poor air stability,
which induces undesired changes in the optical and electronic properties.
An understanding of the degradation of PbSe nanocrystals when they
are exposed to air is critical for improving the stability and enhancing
their applications. Here, we use in situ transmission electron microscopy
(TEM) with an environmental cell connected to air to study PbSe nanocrystal
degradation triggered by air exposure. We have also conducted a series
of complementary studies, including in situ environmental TEM study
of PbSe nanocrystals exposed to pure oxygen and PbSe nanocrystals
in H2O using a liquid cell, and ex situ experiments, such
as O2 plasma treatment and thermal heating of PbSe nanocrystals
under different air exposure. Our in situ observations reveal that
when PbSe nanocrystals are exposed to air (or oxygen) under electron
beam irradiation, they experience a series of changes, including shape
evolution of individual nanocrystals with the cuboid intermediates,
coalescence between nanocrystals, and formation of PbSe thin films
through drastic solid-state fusion. Further studies show that the
PbSe thin films transform into an amorphous Pb rich phase or eventually
pure Pb, which suggest that Se reacts with oxygen and can be evaporated
under electron beam illumination. These various in situ and ex situ
experimental results indicate that PbSe nanocrystal degradation in
air is initiated by the dissociation and removal of ligands from the
PbSe nanocrystal surface
Earthquake Forecast via Neutrino Tomography
We discuss the possibility of forecasting earthquakes by means of
(anti)neutrino tomography. Antineutrinos emitted from reactors are used as a
probe. As the antineutrinos traverse through a region prone to earthquakes,
observable variations in the matter effect on the antineutrino oscillation
would provide a tomography of the vicinity of the region. In this preliminary
work, we adopt a simplified model for the geometrical profile and matter
density in a fault zone. We calculate the survival probability of electron
antineutrinos for cases without and with an anomalous accumulation of electrons
which can be considered as a clear signal of the coming earthquake, at the
geological region with a fault zone, and find that the variation may reach as
much as 3% for emitted from a reactor. The case for a beam
from a neutrino factory is also investigated, and it is noted that, because of
the typically high energy associated with such neutrinos, the oscillation
length is too large and the resultant variation is not practically observable.
Our conclusion is that with the present reactor facilities and detection
techniques, it is still a difficult task to make an earthquake forecast using
such a scheme, though it seems to be possible from a theoretical point of view
while ignoring some uncertainties. However, with the development of the
geology, especially the knowledge about the fault zone, and with the
improvement of the detection techniques, etc., there is hope that a medium-term
earthquake forecast would be feasible.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, 1 tabl
Research on new energy vehicle charging prediction based on Monte Carlo algorithm and its impact on distribution network
With the vigorous promotion of new energy policies, the large-scale charging of new energy vehicles has put forward higher requirements for the safety and stability of the distribution network. Based on the daily driving habits and charging patterns of new energy vehicles, a Monte Carlo sampling algorithm was used to establish a charging load model for new energy vehicles. The model analyzed the driving range, charging load, and time related parameters of new energy vehicles. By analyzing the law of daily charging power of new energy vehicles, the overall trend of charging load of new energy vehicles is obtained. Combined with the daily electricity consumption law of the distribution network, the total load of the distribution network is obtained, and the degree of impact on the distribution network is analyzed. This provides direction for the scheduling of future electric vehicle charging behavior and the construction of related supporting facilities, and provides strong guidance for the optimization and upgrading of the distribution network
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