Consumer reactions to self-expressive brand display

Brand names and other brand elements are often displayed on one’s body or clothes for the purpose of personal value expression. Despite the frequency of such brand displays in the marketplace, we know little about how consumers respond to seeing brands in this fashion. A recent view of consumer brand identification—the concept of brand engagement in self-concept (BESC)—provides a unique perspective from which to explore how consumers react when see-ing brands displayed by others. Across three experiments, we demonstrate a consistent pattern of findings indicating that consumers’ reactions to others ostentatiously displaying brands as means of value expression are strongest for those with high BESC levels and with a high value focus during brand exposure. The research highlights important variations in consumers’ responses to self-expressive brand stimuli associated with others; implications for branding practice and re-search are provided.Brand engagement; self-concept; advertising; brand management

ALL TUNA IS NOT CREATED EQUAL: THE EXISTENCE OF QUANTITY SURCHARGES DUE TO PRODUCT DIFFERENTIATION.

Quantity surcharges exist when unit prices are higher for larger packages. We hypothesize that various sizes of goods are differentiated products, and this explains some surcharges. Estimating a random-coefficients logit demand model, we examine own and cross elasticities to determine the level of differentiation between products with different size packages.Marketing,

Time's Barbed Arrow: Irreversibility, Crypticity, and Stored Information

We show why the amount of information communicated between the past and future--the excess entropy--is not in general the amount of information stored in the present--the statistical complexity. This is a puzzle, and a long-standing one, since the latter is what is required for optimal prediction, but the former describes observed behavior. We layout a classification scheme for dynamical systems and stochastic processes that determines when these two quantities are the same or different. We do this by developing closed-form expressions for the excess entropy in terms of optimal causal predictors and retrodictors--the epsilon-machines of computational mechanics. A process's causal irreversibility and crypticity are key determining properties.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

The impact of asking intention or self-prediction questions on subsequent behavior: a meta-analysis

The current meta-analysis estimated the magnitude of the impact of asking intention and self-prediction questions on rates of subsequent behavior, and examined mediators and moderators of this question–behavior effect (QBE). Random-effects meta-analysis on 116 published tests of the effect indicated that intention/prediction questions have a small positive effect on behavior (d+ = 0.24). Little support was observed for attitude accessibility, cognitive dissonance, behavioral simulation, or processing fluency explanations of the QBE. Multivariate analyses indicated significant effects of social desirability of behavior/behavior domain (larger effects for more desirable and less risky behaviors), difficulty of behavior (larger effects for easy-to-perform behaviors), and sample type (larger effects among student samples). Although this review controls for co-occurrence of moderators in multivariate analyses, future primary research should systematically vary moderators in fully factorial designs. Further primary research is also needed to unravel the mechanisms underlying different variants of the QBE

Computing the multifractal spectrum from time series: An algorithmic approach

We show that the existing methods for computing the f(\alpha) spectrum from a time series can be improved by using a new algorithmic scheme. The scheme relies on the basic idea that the smooth convex profile of a typical f(\alpha) spectrum can be fitted with an analytic function involving a set of four independent parameters. While the standard existing schemes [16, 18] generally compute only an incomplete f(\alpha) spectrum (usually the top portion), we show that this can be overcome by an algorithmic approach which is automated to compute the Dq and f(\alpha) spectrum from a time series for any embedding dimension. The scheme is first tested with the logistic attractor with known f(\alpha) curve and subsequently applied to higher dimensional cases. We also show that the scheme can be effectively adapted for analysing practcal time series involving noise, with examples from two widely different real world systems. Moreover, some preliminary results indicating that the set of four independant parameters may be used as diagnostic measures is also included.Comment: 10 pages, 16 figures, submitted to CHAO

Extracting Lyapunov exponents from the echo dynamics of Bose-Einstein condensates on a lattice

We propose theoretically an experimentally realizable method to demonstrate the Lyapunov instability and to extract the value of the largest Lyapunov exponent for a chaotic many-particle interacting system. The proposal focuses specifically on a lattice of coupled Bose-Einstein condensates in the classical regime describable by the discrete Gross-Pitaevskii equation. We suggest to use imperfect time-reversal of system's dynamics known as Loschmidt echo, which can be realized experimentally by reversing the sign of the Hamiltonian of the system. The routine involves tracking and then subtracting the noise of virtually any observable quantity before and after the time-reversal. We support the theoretical analysis by direct numerical simulations demonstrating that the largest Lyapunov exponent can indeed be extracted from the Loschmidt echo routine. We also discuss possible values of experimental parameters required for implementing this proposal

Oscillons: an encounter with dynamical chaos in 1953?

We present evidences that Ben F. Laposky (1914-2000) might have been the first person who created a family of nonlinear analog circuits that allowed him to observe chaotic attractors and other trademarks of nonlinear science as early as 1953.Comment: accepted to Chao

Effects of exoplanetary gravity on human locomotor ability

At some point in the future, if mankind hopes to settle planets outside the Solar System, it will be crucial to determine the range of planetary conditions under which human beings could survive and function. In this article, we apply physical considerations to future exoplanetary biology to determine the limitations which gravity imposes on several systems governing the human body. Initially, we examine the ultimate limits at which the human skeleton breaks and muscles become unable to lift the body from the ground. We also produce a new model for the energetic expenditure of walking, by modelling the leg as an inverted pendulum. Both approaches conclude that, with rigorous training, humans could perform normal locomotion at gravity no higher than 4 $g_{\textrm{Earth}}$.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, to be published in The Physics Teache

Analgesic action of acetaminophen in symptomatic osteoarthritis of the knee

Objectives. The study was designed to investigate the analgesic effects and mechanisms of acetaminophen (paracetamol) in symptomatic osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee. Methods. Twenty patients with symptomatic OA were randomly allocated to two groups treated with either acetaminophen or rofecoxib for 3 months. Visits and measurements were scheduled upon entry (T0), at month 1 (T1) and at month 3 (T3). The intensity of joint pain was evaluated with a 100-mm visual analogue scale (VAS). The physical function of the affected knee was evaluated with a questionnaire comparable to the Western Ontario McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC). Levels of serotonin, substance P (SP) and β-endorphin (BEND) were determined with commercial enzyme-linked immunoassay kits. The expression of κ opioid receptor (KOR) in peripheral mononuclear blood cells (PBMCs) was quantified by real-time PCR. Results. Both acetaminophen and rofecoxib relieved pain considerably but with different kinetics, and affected different biomarkers. Rofecoxib appeared to be more efficient, reducing pain intensity by 56% at T1 (P<0.01), whereas acetaminophen reduced it by only 29%. Physical function improved in both groups by T3. Correlated with the pain relief, acetaminophen significantly reduced plasma BEND levels, whereas rofecoxib did not do so. In both groups plasma SP levels were elevated compared with T0. A reduction in serum serotonin was detected in the rofecoxib group at T1 (P=0.004) but had recovered at T3. No changes in KOR mRNA in PBMCs were observed in either group. Conclusions. There is a correlation between reduction in circulating BEND and OA pain relief in patients treated with acetaminophe

Visualizing the logistic map with a microcontroller

The logistic map is one of the simplest nonlinear dynamical systems that clearly exhibit the route to chaos. In this paper, we explored the evolution of the logistic map using an open-source microcontroller connected to an array of light emitting diodes (LEDs). We divided the one-dimensional interval $[0,1]$ into ten equal parts, and associated and LED to each segment. Every time an iteration took place a corresponding LED turned on indicating the value returned by the logistic map. By changing some initial conditions of the system, we observed the transition from order to chaos exhibited by the map.Comment: LaTeX, 6 pages, 3 figures, 1 listin