15,192 research outputs found

    Affective Meaning Integration in Design and its Influence on Product and Brand Evaluation

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    Previous research and theorizing in product design and consumer psychology testifies to the importance of unity or congruence among affective meanings connoted among elements in visual communications such as advertisements, product appearance and product packaging (e.g., Hekkert, 2006; Peracchio and Meyers-Levy, 2005; Van Rompay and Pruyn, in press). However, understanding of the processes whereby affective meaning congruence impacts consumer response is far from complete. In this paper, we propose a framework for understanding congruence effects in design based on recent studies addressing processing fluency. Moreover, we will distinguish between studies addressing congruence effects among strictly visual product features and congruence effects among affective meanings connoted by visual elements and textual elements such as brand slogans in advertising. In presenting the latter, the role of individual differences in information processing will be discussed and tested in an experimental study addressing effects of ‘advertising slogan-product shape’ congruence. Practical and managerial implications are discussed

    Affective meaning integration in design and its influence on product and brand evaluation

    No full text
    Previous research and theorizing in product design and consumer psychology testifies to the importance of unity or congruence among affective meanings connoted among elements in visual communications such as advertisements, product appearance and product packaging (e.g., Hekkert, 2006; Peracchio and Meyers-Levy, 2005; Van Rompay and Pruyn, in press). However, understanding of the processes whereby affective meaning congruence impacts consumer response is far from complete. In this paper, we propose a framework for understanding congruence effects in design based on recent studies addressing processing fluency. Moreover, we will distinguish between studies addressing congruence effects among strictly visual product features and congruence effects among affective meanings connoted by visual elements and textual elements such as brand slogans in advertising. In presenting the latter, the role of individual differences in information processing will be discussed and tested in an experimental study addressing effects of 'advertising slogan-product shape' congruence. Practical and managerial implications are discussed

    Link stability estimation based on link connectivity changes in mobile ad-hoc networks

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    Dear Wang, Re: Link Stability Estimation Based on Link Connectivity Changes in Mobile Ad-hoc Networks I have not been able to assess if this is an author version peer-reviewed or is it an author version non peer reviewed. Could you please clarify this so I can proceed to add your paper to Spiral. Spiral digital repository only accept peer-reviewed papers. 30/11/12 author has confirmed peer reviewe

    Performance and activation under social evaluation /

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    Auteursnaam op omslag: Ad Pruijn.Proefschrift Groningen.Proefschrift ter verkrijging van het doctoraat in de sociale wetenschappen.Lit. opg.: p. 179-194

    Cerebral atrophy in mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer disease: rates and acceleration.

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    OBJECTIVE: To quantify the regional and global cerebral atrophy rates and assess acceleration rates in healthy controls, subjects with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and subjects with mild Alzheimer disease (AD). METHODS: Using 0-, 6-, 12-, 18-, 24-, and 36-month MRI scans of controls and subjects with MCI and AD from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) database, we calculated volume change of whole brain, hippocampus, and ventricles between all pairs of scans using the boundary shift integral. RESULTS: We found no evidence of acceleration in whole-brain atrophy rates in any group. There was evidence that hippocampal atrophy rates in MCI subjects accelerate by 0.22%/year2 on average (p = 0.037). There was evidence of acceleration in rates of ventricular enlargement in subjects with MCI (p = 0.001) and AD (p < 0.001), with rates estimated to increase by 0.27 mL/year2 (95% confidence interval 0.12, 0.43) and 0.88 mL/year2 (95% confidence interval 0.47, 1.29), respectively. A post hoc analysis suggested that the acceleration of hippocampal loss in MCI subjects was mainly driven by the MCI subjects that were observed to progress to clinical AD within 3 years of baseline, with this group showing hippocampal atrophy rate acceleration of 0.50%/year2 (p = 0.003). CONCLUSIONS: The small acceleration rates suggest a long period of transition to the pathologic losses seen in clinical AD. The acceleration in hippocampal atrophy rates in MCI subjects in the ADNI seems to be driven by those MCI subjects who concurrently progressed to a clinical diagnosis of AD

    A Fair and Secure Cluster Formation Process for Ad Hoc Networks

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    An efficient approach for organizing large ad hoc networks is to divide the nodes into multiple clusters and designate, for each cluster, a clusterhead which is responsible for holding intercluster control information. The role of a clusterhead entails rights and duties. On the one hand, it has a dominant position in front of the others because it manages the connectivity and has access to other node¿s sensitive information. But on the other hand, the clusterhead role also has some associated costs. Hence, in order to prevent malicious nodes from taking control of the group in a fraudulent way and avoid selfish attacks from suitable nodes, the clusterhead needs to be elected in a secure way. In this paper we present a novel solution that guarantees the clusterhead is elected in a cheat-proof manner

    Energy efficiency in ad-hoc wireless networks

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    In ad-hoc wireless networks, nodes are typically battery-powered, therefore energy limitations are among the critical constraints in ad-hoc wireless networks' development. The approaches investigated in this thesis to achieve energy efficient performance in wireless networks can be grouped into three main categories. 1. Each wireless network node has four energy consumption states: transmitting, receiving, listening and sleeping states. The power consumed in the listening state is less than the power consumed in the transmitting and receiving states, but significantly greater than that in the sleeping state. Energy efficiency is achieved if as many nodes as possible are put into the sleeping states. 2) Since energy is consumed for transmission nonlinearly in terms of the transmission range, transmission range adjustment is another energy saving approach. In this work, the optimal transmission range is derived and applied to achieve energy efficient performance in a number of scenerios. 3) Since energy can be saved properly arranging the communication algorithms, network topology management or network routing is the third approach which can be utilised in combination with the above two approaches. In this work, Geographical Adaptive Fidelity (GAF) algorithms, clustering algorithms and Geographic Routing (GR) algorithms are all utilised to reduce the energy consumption of wireless networks, such as Sensor Networks and Vehicular Networks. These three approaches are used in this work to reduce the energy consumption of wireless networks. With the GAF algorithm. We derived the optimal transmission range and optimal grid size in both linear and rectangular networks and as a result we show how the network energy consumptions can be reduced and how the network lifetime can be prolonged. With Geographic Routing algorithms the author proposed the Optimal Range Forward (ORF) algorithm and Optimal Forward with Energy Balance (OFEB) algorithm to reduce the energy consumption and to prolong the network lifetime. The results show that compared to the traditional GR algorithms (Most Forward within Radius, Nearest Forward Progress), the network lifetime is prolonged. Other approaches have also been considered to improve the networks's energy efficient operation utilising Genetic Algorithms to find the optimal size of the grid or cluster. Furthermore realistic physical layer models, Rayleigh fading and LogNormal fading, are considered in evaluating energy efficiency in a realistic network environment

    Customer satisfaction in emergency ambulance services: A case for empirical research

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    The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) provides valuable humanitarian services to the global community. For its funding it relies not only on governmental subsidies, but also on contributions from its member organisations. In the case of Austria and Germany the prominent part of the revenues stems from emergency and ambulance services. However, competition from other non-profit organisations and private firms increasingly seems to threaten this lucrative business. Consequently, the ICRC is looking for new paths to maintain and increase its competitive advantage - the wide-spread service availability and the closeness to the customer. Therefore, a pilot project is carried out within the Austrian Red Cross, one of its member organisations, to identify ways to increase customer satisfaction. However, gathering relevant empirical data is extremely difficult and ethically challenging due to the unique survey situation during the service transaction process. If successful, this project will have lead character for other European countries

    The impact of mobility models on the performance of mobile Ad Hoc network routing protocol

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    A mobility model represents nodes distribution and movement over the network. Several research works have shown that a selection of mobility model can affect the outcome of routing performance simulation in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks. Thus, a routing protocol may only be effective in a particular mobility model or scenario but performs inferiorly in another. As a result, analyses of routing protocol performance are often based on inadequate information leading to inaccurate argument and conclusion. In this paper, three different mobility models have been selected, where each of them is highly distinctive in terms of nodes movement behavior. In addition, a new measurement technique called probability of route connectivity is introduced. The technique is used to quantify the success rate of route established by a routing protocol. Extensive simulation runs are done and results are compared between each mobility model

    Internet connection method for mobile ad hoc wireless networks

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    In recent years, wireless networks with Internet services have become more and more popular. Technologies which integrate Internet and wireless networks have extended traditional Internet applications into a more flexible and dynamic environment. This research work investigates the technology that supports the connection between a Mobile Ad Hoc Wireless Network (MANET) and the Internet, which enables the current wireless Internet technologies to provide a ubiquitous wireless life style. With detailed analysis of the existing wireless Internet technologies and MANETs regarding their features and applications, the demand and lack of research work for an application to provide Internet connection to MANET is indicated. The primary difficulty for MANET and Internet connection is that the dynamic features of MANET do not suit the traditional connection methods used in infrastructure wireless networks. This thesis introduces new concept of the 'Gateway Awareness' (GAW) to the wireless devices in the MANET. GAW is a new routing protocol designed by the author of this thesis, at the University of Warwick. Based on GAW, an inclusive definition for the connection method, which supports the Internet connection and keeps the independency of routing in MANET, is addressed. Unlike other research work, this method supports the MANET and Internet communication in both directions. Furthermore, it explores possible ways of using the Internet as an extension for wireless communications. The GAW routing method is developed from destination sequenced distance vector (DSDV) routing protocol. However, it defines a layer of wireless nodes (known as GAWNs) with exclusive functions for the Internet connection task. The layer of GAWNs brings a new set of route update and route selection method. Simulations show that the GAW routing method provides quality Internet connection performance in different scenarios compared with other methods. In particular, the connection is completed with minimum effect on the independent MANET while the routing efficiency and accuracy is guaranteed
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