Introduction Manufacturers have recently been using comparative advertising for the apparent purpose of producing clearer and more favorable brand images. A number of empirical studies have measured the effects of manufacturer sponsored comparative advertising and identified some situations where it is more effective than noncomparative advertising. However, no study has addressed the feasibility of retail sponsored comparative advertising. Statement of the Problem The importance of store image to the retailer is well documented. Advertising plays an important role in the development and enhancement of store images. Despite this, very few guidelines exist to aid retailers in their search for advertising approaches which will produce favorable store images. Therefore, this study dealt with store image. It explored the degree to which store image was enhanced when a retailer employed comparative advertising. Methodology An after-only with control group experimental design was utilized to generate data measuring the relative effects of North Carolina department store sponsored comparative and noncomparative advertising. A preliminary study facilitated development of four mock comparative and noncomparative newspaper advertisements. Together, the ads stressed sponsoring store superior performance across seven store image attributes (easy to find items you want, friendly personnel, reasonable prices, good buys, good service, fast checkout, and low pressure salespeople). Comparative ads claimed sponsoring store superior performance on these seven attributes over three competing stores. Three dependent variables were used to measure comparative and noncomparative advertising effects. These variables were: (1) overall store image as measured by a multiattribute attitude model, (2) performance evaluations of the seven advertised attributes and (3) belief levels for claims made in experimental ads. The study hypothesized noncomparative, comparative and control group differences in these dependent variables. Analysis of variance was used in conjunction with the Scheffe multiple comparison test procedure to identify significant group differences. Results and Conclusions The results of hypotheses testing produced the following major findings: Hypothesis 1 No significant group differences in overall store images. Hypothesis 2 No significant group differences on: low pressure salespeople, good buys on products, good service, reasonable prices for value, and fast checkouts attributes. Comparative advertising significantly less effective than current advertising (control group scores) for "easy to find items you want" attribute. Noncomparative advertising significantly less effective than current advertising for "friendly personnel" attribute. Hypothesis 3 Noncomparative advertising significantly more effective than comparative advertising for 9 out of 28 ad claims and significantly more effective than current advertising on four claims. Comparative advertising significantly less effective than current advertising for three claims. Hypothesis 4 In general, noncomparative advertising was significantly more effective than comparative advertising promoting attributes and making claims aimed at specific segments as defined by age, sex, income and store loyalty. In a smaller number of situations, the noncomparative approach was significantly more effective than current advertising. The results of hypotheses testing clearly showed comparative advertising producing effects significantly less favorable than noncomparative or current advertising. Whether or not significant group differences existed, noncomparative advertising consistently produced effects more favorable than comparative or current advertising. Although it has limitations, this study strongly concludes that retailers should avoid the use of comparative advertising. / Ph. D.

Several methods have been developed to determine the cyclic oligomer content in PET. Isolation procedures can be classified as those involving extraction, such as with solvents like chloroform, dioxane, and xylene, and those involving dissolution followed by precipitation in solvents like dimethylformamide and 1-methylnaphthalene. The amount of cyclic oligomer obtained is largely dependent upon the method used, as well as the type, drawing, and thermal history of the PET used.Various methods for separation of cyclic oligomers have also been developed using GPC and thin-layer chromatography. / Master of Science

There is a definite correlation between syllabic stroke intensity and the amount of copy produced on the typewriter in a given time. The correlation showed that an increase in syllabic stroke intensity produced a corresponding increase in the number of strokes typed, over the range investigated. This range was from 3.hBh strokes per syllable to h.285 strokes per syllable. / Master of Science

This thesis aims to address two key issues in two-dimensional (2D) convective turbulence: particle dispersion and statistics of the small-scale turbulence. / Particle dispersion plays a key role in understanding transport and mixing in turbulence, which is also significant to natural processes such as pollutants spreading in the atmosphere. To study particle dispersion in 2D convective turbulence, we use particle tracking velocimetry (PTV) technique in a soap film. The Taylor-scale Reynolds number of the system is Rλ ≈ 155. It is found that the particle dispersion law strongly depends on the initial separation. In the present system, mean square separations of particle pairs with initial separation in the inertial range grow exponentially and the ones with initial separation close to Kolmogorov length scale follow Richardson scaling law for a short range, which is consistent with the measurement in three-dimensional (3D) case and numerical result. We attribute exponential growth to the fact that the size of thermal plumes, which is regarded as energy injection scale in the present system, is comparable to the integral length scale of the flow, thus, only enstrophy cascading range is achieved for large initial separations, where exponential growth was predicted theoretically. The probability density functions (PDFs) of separation for particle pairs with initial separation close to Kolmogorov length scale display stretched exponential decay and the ones with initial separation in the inertial range exhibit exponential decay. On the other hand, for the particle pairs with initial separation near the integral length scale, Gaussian PDF is observed. The correlation of separation is also found to be initial separation dependent. The single-particle dispersion follow Taylor’s prediction. The acceleration PDF measured in the whole field deviates significantly from Gaussian distribution and displays extreme intermittency, with fluctuations racing up to 60 times of the root-mean-square values. / 本論文主要研究二維湍流熱對流中的兩個問題：粒子擴散和小尺度湍流的統計特性。 / 粒子擴散不僅對湍流運輸和混合特性的理解至關重要，而且在自然過程，如大氣污染物粒子擴散中扮演重要角色。我們通過粒子示蹤測速的方法，在薄膜中研究了二維湍流熱對流粒子的擴散。該係統對應的泰勒微尺度雷諾數是Rλ ≈ 155。研究發現，當粒子對的初始相對分離落在慣性區時，分離以指數形式增長；而當初始分離接近於Kolmogorov長度尺度時，分離在短時間以Richardson標度律演變，該發現和三維實驗結果以及數值模擬結果一致。分析表明，指數增長是由於粒子被困在相幹結構中，如熱羽流，其尺度與湍流積分長度尺度相當。我們認為，該係統中能量注入尺度即為熱羽流之尺度。這樣，只有渦量級串區在該系統中實現，理論上，可以觀察到分離的指數增長。該研究發現對於解釋污染物顆粒在大氣中長時間聚集有重要意義。研究亦表明，分離尺度接近於耗散區時，分離的概率密度函數以廣義指數形式衰減；落在慣性區時，其概率密度函數以指數形式衰減；接近於積分長度尺度時，以高斯形式衰減。研究表明，分離的相關性也依賴於初始分離。研究表明，單粒子擴散遵循泰勒擴散理論。實驗表明，全場加速度的概率密度函數不同於高斯分佈，並且體現出強間歇性和波動，加速度的波動可以達到特征速度的60倍。 / Li, Xiangyu = 薄膜中二維湍流熱對流實驗研究 / 李翔宇. / Thesis M.Phil. Chinese University of Hong Kong 2014. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 42-45). / Abstracts also in Chinese. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on 12, October, 2016). / Li, Xiangyu = Bo mo zhong er wei tuan liu re dui liu shi yan yan jiu / Li Xiangyu. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only.

The effect of a supplemental food supply on the reproductive attainment of the gray squirrel was investigated in the squirrel populations of two food supplemented Experimental and two Control woodlots near the campus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia, from December 1972 to June 1974. Mast, the major fall-winter food for the squirrel, was scarce to absent in the Fall of both 1972 and 1973. Due to the emigration of the residents of one of the Experimental woodlots in May of 1973, the study compared the reproductive, and other, responses of the squirrel populations in the remaining Experimental woodlot and the two Control woodlots. Two possible sources of supplemental food existed in one of the Control woodlots which may have influenced the reproductive attainment and survival of the squirrels in that area. / Master of Science

Vertical cracks normal to the major axis of a standard fire brick will cause a lowering of the dynamic modulus of elasticity calculated. / Master of Science

For decades, acquisitions have been a remarkably popular and controversial phenomenon all over the world. However, little is known about how acquisition performance is affected by the characteristics of top executives of the acquiring as well as the target company. Acquisition performance can be examined both as investor reactions to acquisition announcements on the stock market and as post-acquisition performance of the newly integrated company. Drawing upon several research streams (signaling theory, the behavioral decision making perspective, the resource-based view, and social network research), this dissertation reports on three independent but interrelated studies that examine the effects of executive human and social capital characteristics on acquisition performance. / Study 1 focuses on the firm tenure of the acquiring company’s CEO and shows that investors responded to acquisition deals more favorably when the deals were made by either short- or long-tenured CEOs, especially when the CEO was also the chairperson of the board and when he/she had received higher compensation. Study 2 shifts the focus from stock market reactions to post-acquisition firm performance. This study examines post-acquisition integration in the form of knowledge contributions made by the executives from the target company who were retained in the newly integrated company. Results show that the positive effect of retention of target executives was stronger when an acquisition was unrelated and when the target firm was relatively small. Study 3 explores the effects of acquiring CEOs’ social ties on investor reactions to acquisition announcements and compares the effects between manufacturing and hospitality industries. / This dissertation contributes to both the acquisition research and the research on corporate executives. It contributes to the acquisition literature by applying a multi-stage view of acquisition performance and explicitly examining the performance implications of key decision makers’ characteristics. It also contributes to the executive effect literature by uncovering an unconventional U-shaped curvilinear relationship between executive tenure and acquisition performance. More important, the study examines the corporate governance mechanisms that may modify the executive effects on acquisition performance. / 企業收購是近幾十年來十分流行而又具有爭議的現象。然而，我們對高管的特徵如何影響企業收購的績效卻知之甚少。收購績效可定義爲收購公告發佈時股票市場的反應和收購完成之後的新公司的財務業績。本文綜合了來自信號理論、決策行爲、資源基礎理論和社會網路方面的文獻，用三個相互獨立而又相互聯繫的三個研究來檢驗高管的人力資本和社會資本對收購績效的影響。首先，本文提出，股市投資者傾向於更加歡迎那些由年資很短或者很長的首席執行官所執行的收購，尤其是當首席執行官同時是董事會主席或者薪酬水準很高的情況下。第二，本文從收購完成後，留用的目標公司高管知識貢獻的大小來考察收購後的整合。研究結果表明，在非相關收購和在兩家公司規模差異較大的情況下，目標公司高管留用對收購後財務業績的正向效應更加明顯。第三，本文還從社會資本的角度出發，探討了收購公司首席執行官的社會關係對股市反應的作用在酒店業收購和製造業收購的差異。本文對收購和公司高管研究的貢獻主要體現在以下三個方面。首先，從收購是多階段現象這一視角，本文檢驗了高管對收購績效的影響，豐富了關於收購的研究。其次，本文通過揭示在收購情形下任期與績效的U型關係，拓展了關於高管效應的研究。更重要的是，本文還考察了公司治理機制如何完善高管對收購績效的作用。 / Lin, Shanshan. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2015. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 203-223). / Abstracts also in Chinese. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on 30, September, 2016). / Detailed summary in vernacular field only.

Philip Glass (b. 1937) composed several works in the 1980s involving elements of film and opera. In the ensuing decade, he continued to explore new means of expression targeted for the stage. The operatic works that comprise his “Cocteau trilogy” reflect this ongoing focus. This thesis analyzes how Jean Cocteau’s earlier films are altered in Glass’s operas, focusing on the role of music in the process of adaptation. As case studies, I explore Orphée (1992), a straightforward operatic production adapted from Cocteau’s 1950 film of the same name, and La Belle et la Bête (1994), an opera for ensemble and film adapted from the 1946 motion picture. / The methodological frame is rooted in Linda Hutcheon’s theory of adaptation, which centers on conceptions of genre in the process of change. For adaptations from film to opera, Hutcheon’s theory offers two important terms that reflect her “dual-vision” in defining adaptation: “product” and “process.” Applied to Orphée and La Belle et la Bête, this model offers fresh insights into Glass’s creative approach. Insights relating to Orphée include (1) the reconstruction of the film’s dramatic structure in the opera based on the original cinematic scenes, (2) the accentuation of important scenes in the opera, and (3) musical allusions that create historical layers between the source texts and the adaptation. Discussion of La Belle et la Bête targets its hybrid performance form as well as recurring motifs that unveil aspects of Glass’s re-interpretation of the well-known fairy tale.Following Hutcheon’s framework for approaching cross-genre transitions, I contend that the process of adaptation in Orphée and La Belle et la Bête points to intertextuality as a central feature of Glass’s compositions from this period. / 菲利普‧格拉斯（b. 1937）于上世紀80年代創作了涵蓋電影和歌劇元素的作品，並于接下的十年中陸續探索新的舞台表現形式。由歌劇作品組成的“尚高克多三部曲”(“Cocteau trilogy”)正是這一主題的重要體現。此論文通過對音樂在改編過程中的角色變化以分析由高克多早期電影至格拉斯的歌劇的體裁轉換。與直接由高克多1950年的同名電影改編而成的歌劇《奧爾菲》(Orphée)一樣，根據與其1946所拍的《美女與野獸》(La Belle et la Bête)同名的歌劇亦是本文的研究案例。 / 本論文的理論框架來自琳達‧赫琦安(Linda Hutcheon)的改編理論。她的理論主要關注“體裁”(genre)這一觀念在改編過程中所發生的變化。對於由電影改編至歌劇的議題，赫琦安提供了兩個重要的理念：“製成品”(product)與“過程”(process)。這兩個概念反映了她在定義“改編”(adaptation)這一理念中所涉及的“雙重視覺”(“double-vision”)。在分析《奧菲斯》和《美女與野獸》的過程中，此模式為分析格拉斯的創新性改編提供了全新的分析視角。通過借助赫琦安的理論，《奧菲斯》體現出以下幾點：（1）電影的戲劇結構基於原電影段落基礎上的重建；（2) 對於歌劇中重要情節的突顯；(3)使用音樂指涉用於揭示原文本與改編文本中的歷史層次。尤其對《美女與野獸》而言，其後現代的表演方式和再現動機的運用揭示了格拉斯對此童話的重新演繹。根據赫琦安在關於跨媒介轉換中所提出的規則，我認為格拉斯的《奧菲斯》和《美女與野獸》的改編過程足以證明了互文性是為格拉斯于此創作時期的主要特點。 / Liang, Danni. / Thesis M.Phil. Chinese University of Hong Kong 2014. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 93-98). / Abstracts also in Chinese. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on 12, September, 2016). / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only.

This dissertation is concerned with the position and vibration control of flexible articulated space robots consisting of a rigid platform, two flexible arms, and a rigid end-effector carrying a payload, all components being serially connected through revolute joints. The mission is to carry a payload over a prescribed trajectory in the inertial space, while suppressing the elastic vibration of the arms and the rigid-body perturbations. The equations of motion governing the robot dynamics are derived by means of Lagrangian mechanics and they include actuator dynamics. Based on the assumption that the elastic deformations and the rigid-body perturbations are small relative to the nominal trajectory-following rigid-body motions, a perturbation approach is adopted to separate the equations into nonlinear rigid-body equations and linear perturbation equations. The nominal trajectory is planned to conserve the limited actuator resources and keep the platform attitude stationary, by eliminating the inherent kinematic redundancy of the manipulator. By assuming perfect sensing, i.e., all the states are completely accessible, two kinds of controls are designed in discrete-time. First, a feedforward control is designed to minimize the persistent disturbance resulting from the nominal motions. Next, a feedback control is synthesized based on the Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR) theory with a prescribed degree of stability to make the system stable and further enhance the disturbance-rejection performances. These controls are subsequently applied to the case in which only the sensor outputs are available, and they are noisy. A finite number of sensors is assumed. A Kalman filter is designed to estimate the state on the assumption of zeromean Gaussian white plant and measurement noise. In the real situation, controls are applied to the original plant rather than the linearized model, so that the Linear Quadratic Gaussian (LQG) control combined with robustness recovery methods is tested on the plant. Due to difficulties in implementing a Kalman filter, a Maximum Likelihood Estimator (MLE) is proposed. A numerical example illustrates the approach. / Ph. D.

The effects of maximum size coarse aggregate on the relationship between accelerated strength and 14-day normally cured strength of normal and superplasticized concrete have been investigated. The results obtained show that differences among maximum size coarse aggregates are greater in normal concrete than in superplasticized concrete in strength-producing properties. Among the various sizes of aggregates investigated, one-half inch maximum size of coarse aggregate exhibited higher strength producing properties. This report includes the test results as well as the procedures for the preparation and testing of concrete specimens. These specimens were prepared and tested at the concrete laboratory at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. / Master of Science / incomplete_metadata