Prior studies have focused primarily on the issue of consumers’ privacy concerns in personalized advertising, but little is known about the effect of transparency awareness using data collection notifications on consumers. This study focuses on the relationship between consumers’ perceptions of the AI algorithms underlying online behavioral advertising (OBA) and the advertising effects. Our research model indicates that displaying data collection notifications regarding OBA and personalized ads increases favorable perceptions of AI systems, such as transparency. Moreover, the model suggests that personalized ads induce higher perceived surveillance than non-personalized ads.
Introduction
The article presents a technique for studying the perception of images of animated characters based on the application of psychophysiological methods of recording data in combination with classical sociological methods. The theoretical justification of the EEG, GSR, PPG and video-oculography methods application in testing affective stimuli is provided. The applications of the technique at various stages of creating animated characters are presented. The main advantages of the technique are noted: the ability to work with a target audience starting from the age of 3 years old and the recording of physiological data directly while viewing a stimulus material. One of the most topical objectives for the authors of animation films is the creation of animated characters, which elicits viewers’ sympathy, influences general perception of the movie and affects its distribution and final box office. The methodology that allows to study a perception of characters at different stages of its creation, from conception to final embodiment, will help authors to make changes and adjustments before moving to another technological stage, which will reduce production costs and more accurately meet the needs of the audience. The advantage of the proposed methodology on the one hand, is the efficiency of working with child audience, which is the most difficult in terms of obtaining valid information. On the other hand, it is the possibility of obtaining data directly during the perception of stimuli, which is impossible while using sociological methods.
Theoretical development
The EEG method is an integral component of classical neuromarketing studies of perception of audiovisual materials, allowing assessing the attractiveness and motivational component in the choice situation. A significant number of scientific publications demonstrate the correlation between the arousal of positive emotions and the activation of the left hemisphere. This is determined by the lower power of the alpha rhythm in the left frontal lobe as compared to the right one. While a person experiences negative emotion, the right frontal lobe is more active, thus, the alpha rhythm power is lower there (Rusalov, 1988, 1999; Aftanas, 2000; Vecchiato, et al. 2011; Ravaja, 2013, Harmon-Jones, et al. 2009). In our methodology the stimuli attractiveness index is calculated based on the EEG data. The high index scores are associated with positive emotions and the interest to object; low scores are associated with negative feelings and indifference. Changes in the indicators of the vegetative nervous system activity are strongly connected to an emotional manifestation; these changes are caused by anatomical and physiological conditions. Numerous studies have demonstrated that a decrease in the amplitude of the plethysmogram is observed when a person experiences negative emotions. On the contrary, an increase in the amplitude is observed during positive emotions experience (Sylvia, et al, 2008; Kreibig, et al., 2007). The emotional involvement indicator refers to the power of emotional inclusion when viewing a character. It is calculated by the registration of vegetative indices related to emotions (EDA, plethysmogram, breathing). Interest is a cognitive need to learn about what is happening on the screen; it reflects the direct interest in visual information. The understanding of interest is mostly based on the psychological researches (Izard, 1999; Silvia, 2006), however, the intensity of the parameter can correlate with objective physiological indicators based on oculomotor activity. The process of the characters’ image scanning is accompanied by the distribution of attention to individual areas of interest (Jenkin, 2001). In this methodology we allocated the areas of interest according to a different character or a separate element of the visual image of the hero.
Research design
The method is based on a complex approach combining neurophysiological methods of recording physiological reactions while the demonstration of animated characters’ images in combination with sociological research methods used after the stimuli demonstration. The developed technique allows the use of any audiovisual materials created at different stages of work on a character as stimuli (design of character, design of character accessories, character model in static in 2D or 3D, technological test from 10 to 30 seconds). The data was recorded via the high-speed remote binocular eye-tracking system RED250, the professional computer polygraph (PCP) “Energia” and the electroencephalograph B-AlertX24.
Result and conclusion
20 images of animated movie characters were tested on 150 respondents during the research (a child audience of animated films and an adult audience with children aged 3-8 years, who make the decision to choose an animated film). A restriction for the EEG method has been found in working with children under 7 years old. At this age the analyzed rhythms are slowed down and not completely formed. The analysis of this group of respondents was focused on vegetative indices. The predicting method of perception of animated characters’ images allows us to define the evaluation parameters of the image of the animated character in terms of attractiveness, emotional involvement and interest. The methodology will be further developed and will include a differential analysis of emotional reactions by virtue of the electroencephalography method in response to the presentation of characters or video samples. The commercial use of the technique is planned for the purpose of testing characters at all stages of animation film production.
Western social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube, etc are banned in China. In their places, Weibo, WeChat, Youku and more are the main social media channels in China and thus the main battlefields of social marketing for brands entering China Market. WeChat is the largest social network in China, with over 900 million users daily, for nearly all types of services, including booking flights, restaurant table reservation, shopping, paying bills, etc. To cater the needs of the new generation of Chinese digital natives, a mobile app eM++ was developed that creates new customer services and enables tailored fashion marketing. This new mobile app eM++ works well in China, will this be also well received in other countries? This research investigates consumers’ perception of this new fashion e-tailoring e-shopping concept in UK. Will this type of e-tailored services be welcome in UK? Will consumers welcome this type of e-shopping service in UK? Or they prefer the traditional way of tailoring and shopping? Which social media platforms should be used for promotion? The sample population of this research covers both male and females from China and UK aged 18 years old or above with experience of searching and/or buying clothing items online. Convenient sampling and snow-balling sampling methods are used. In UK, recruitment of volunteers for this project will be via emails to colleagues and previous students, as well as via posters of recruiting volunteers for this project posted on campus. Details of the project and experiment will be included in both emails and posters. Volunteered participants are asked to answer a pre-experiment online questionnaire. Based on their answers, suitable participants will be invited to participate the experimental part (which is trying a fashion app and then answer the post-experiment questionnaire). Participants successfully completed the experiment and post-experiment questionnaire will be given their own body measurements with a 3D model in user’s customised shape, as well as a discount coupon for future use when the app is officially launched. This research will have mainly quantitative data analysis, SPSS will be used to analyse the data. There will have a few open-ended questions that qualitative data analysis method will be employed. This research will explore the feasibility of this service in UK and formulate a cross-cultural comparison between China and UK.
Digital technological development has created different new possibilities. New products and services are developed to cater the needs and wants of these digital consumers (or digital natives). It has also changed the means of marketing communications. Social media has become an integral part of many people’s lives, thus social media marketing is found in the marketing strategy of every brand.
Western social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and so on are banned in China. In their places, Weibo, WeChat, Youku and more are the main social media channels in China and thus the main battlefields of social marketing for brands entering China Market. WeChat is the largest social network in China, with over 900 million users daily. Chinese users spend an average of over 70 minutes a day using WeChat, for nearly all types of services, including booking flights, restaurant table reservation, shopping, paying bills, hailing taxi, transferring money, and posting Moments on their walls, etc. Not only that, WeChat allows companies and celebrities to create official accounts to generate content for promotional purposes. Moreover, WeChat allows one-to-one personalized interaction between brands and the users.
To cater the needs of the new generation of Chinese digital natives, a mobile app eM++ was developed that creates new customer services and enables tailored fashion marketing. The eM++ app has three components. The first core component is 1Measure, which users can obtain their body measurements by skimpily taking two photographs of themselves in normal clothing anywhere and anytime. Without the involvement of expensive equipment, users can enjoy similar benefit of body scanning but more flexibility and convenience, they not only instantly receive their measurements but also have their digital body model and a shape analysis report. Based on this information, the second component of the app eShop allow users to shop fashion items currently available in different online fashion stores like ASOS, Zara, and H & M, etc. In eShop, users are suggested the right sizes to order for different fashion items, based on their measurements and shape information, and also mix-and-match recommendations. The last component is eTailor, where users can order clothing like suit jackets, pants and shirts that tailored made for them, but save the need to take body measurements in a physical store. This new digital service will first be launched in China as there is high demand on Made-to-Measure fashion and marketing through WeChat social media platform. This paper will discuss how to market this new digital service using social media like WeChat in China and consumers’ reactions to this new business model in this digital world.
We investigate two abnormal CME-Storm pairs that occurred on 2014 September 10 - 12 and 2015 March 15 - 17, respectively. The first one was a moderate geomagnetic storm (Dstmin -75 nT) driven by the X1.6 high speed flare-associated CME (1267 km s−1) in AR 12158 (N14E02) near solar disk center. The other was a very intense geomagnetic storm (Dstmin -223 nT) caused by a CME with moderate speed (719 km s−1) and associated with a filament eruption accompanied by a weak flare (C9.1) in AR 12297 (S17W38). Both CMEs have large direction parameters facing the Earth and southward magnetic field orientation in their solar source region. In this study, we inspect the structure of Interplanetary Flux Ropes (IFRs) at the Earth estimated by using the torus fitting technique assuming self-similar expansion. As results, we find that the moderate storm on 2014 September 12 was caused by small-scale southward magnetic fields in the sheath region ahead of the IFR. The Earth traversed the portion of the IFR where only the northward fields are observed. Meanwhile, in case of the 2015 March 17 storm, our IFR analysis revealed that the Earth passed the very portion where only the southward magnetic fields are observed throughout the passage. The resultant southward magnetic field with long- duration is the main cause of the intense storm. We suggest that 3D magnetic field geometry of an IFR at the IFR-Earth encounter is important and the strength of a geomagnetic storm is strongly affected by the relative location of the Earth with respect to the IFR structure.
We conducted an unbiased near- to mid-infrared imaging and spectroscopic survey of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) as a part of the AKARI Mission Program \Large-area Survey of the LMC" (LSLMC, PI: T. Onaka). An area of about 10 square degrees of the LMC was observed by ve photometric bands (3.2, 7, 11, 15, and 24 m) and a low-resolution slitless prism (2 { 5 m, R 20) equipped with AKARI/IRC. We constructed and publicly released photometric and spectroscopic catalogues of point sources in the LMC based on the survey data. The catalogues provide a large number of near-infrared spectral data, coupled with complementary broadband photometric data. Combined use of the present AKARI LSLMC catalogues with other infrared point source catalogues of the LMC possesses scientic potential that can be applied to various astronomical studies.
We have been performing daily VLBI monitoring of the ux density of Sagittarius (Sgr) A* at 22 GHz from February 2013 to August 2014 using a sub-array of the Japanese VLBI Network (JVN). The purpose of this monitoring is to explore the ux density variability at daily time resolution for a period longer than one year with the G2 cloud approaching. The ux density of Sgr A* is basically stable during the observational period, though there are some small variations. The average and scattering range are consistent with the previously observed values. We have observed no strong are of Sgr A* although it is near the expected peri-center passing.
Polarbear is a ground-based experiment located in the Atacama desert of northern Chile. The experiment is designed to measure the Cosmic Microwave Background B-mode polarization at several arcminute resolution. The CMB B-mode polarization on degree angular scales is a unique signature of primordial gravitational waves from cosmic in ation and B-mode signal on sub-degree scales is induced by the gravitational lensing from large-scale structure. Science observations began in early 2012 with an array of 1,274 polarization sensitive antenna-couple Transition Edge Sensor (TES) bolometers at 150 GHz. We published the first CMB-only measurement of the B-mode polarization on sub-degree scales induced by gravitational lensing in December 2013 followed by the first measurement of the B-mode power spectrum on those scales in March 2014. In this proceedings, we review the physics of CMB B-modes and then describe the Polarbear experiment, observations, and recent results.
We describe a survey of nearby core-collapse supernova (SN) explosion sites using integral field spec- troscopy (IFS) techniques, which is an extension of the work described in Kuncarayakti et al. (2013). The project aims to constrain SN progenitor properties based on the study of the immediate environment of the SN. The stellar populations present at the SN explosion sites are studied by means of integral field spectroscopy, which enables the acquisition of both spatial and spectral information of the object simultaneously. The spectrum of the SN parent stellar population gives an estimate of its age and metal- licity. With this information, the initial mass and metallicity of the once coeval SN progenitor star are derived. While the survey is mostly done in optical, the additional utilization of near-infrared integral field spectroscopy assisted with adaptive optics (AO) enables us to examine the explosion sites in high spatial detail, down to a few parsecs. This work is being carried out using multiple 2-8 m class telescopes equipped with integral field spectrographs in Chile and Hawaii.
Since Montreal protocol in1989 designated MB(methyl bromide) as ozone depleting chemicals, IPPC(International Plant Protection Convention) has adopted replacing the MB with alternative chemical and reducing the rate of MB use in plant quarantine in 2008. Pineapples are one of the most frequently fumigated imported fruit with MB in Korea. However, there was no technically available replacement. Therefore, we evaluated phosphine(PH3) fumigation as alternative to MB in applying pineapples.
In the preliminary test, PH3 gas in 12L desicators to calculate ranged to 0.1 from 2g/m3 was tested at 2 and 24hr exposure to target pest, citrus mealy bug(CMB, Planococcus citri). All different of stage of CMB was shown 100% mortality when 2g/m3 of PH3 applied for 24hrs at 8℃. To confirm studies designed in 0.5m3 fumigation chamber, all egg, nymph and adult stages of CMB was killed completely and there wasn’t any phytotoxic and quality damages on pineapples for 2 weeks post-fumigation periods at 8℃. In terms of commercial use, further commercial research will need to be carry out in cooperation with importers and fumigators.
Canine parvovirus (CPV2) is one of the most virulent virus causing acute hemorrhagic enteritis and myocarditis in dogs. Infection mainly caused by the ingestion of virus through the mucosal route. Therefore, induction of mucosal immunity is essential in prevention of Canine Parvovirus (CPV2) infection. For safe and effective delivery of viral antigens to the mucosal immune system, a novel surface antigen display system for lactic acid bacteria using the poly-γ-glutamic acid synthetase A protein (pgsA) of Bacillus subtilis as an anchoring matrix was applied in order to display CPV2 antigen on the surface of the recombinant L. casei. Recombinant fusion proteins comprised of pgsA and the capsid protein (VP2-S1) showed stable expression in Lactobacillus casei. Surface localization of the fusion protein was verified by cellular fractionation analyses. Oral and nasal inoculations of recombinant L. casei into mice resulted in high levels of serum immunoglobulin G (IgG) and mucosal IgA, as demonstrated by ELISA using recombinant VP2-S1 proteins. Mice receiving intranasal immunization mounted higher antibody response than those receiving oral immunization. These results indicate that mucosal immunization with recombinant L. casei expressing CPV2 VP2-S1 protein on its surface provides an effective means for elicitation of strong antibody responses against CPV 2 VP2-S1.
We present the results of far-infrared spectroscopic observations of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) with FIS-FTS. We covered a large area across the LMC, including 30 Doradus (30 Dor) and N44 star-forming regions, by 191 pointings in total. As a result, we detect the [OIII] and [CII] line emission as well as far-infrared dust continuum emission throughout the LMC. We find that the [OIII] emission is widely distributed around 30 Dor. The observed size of the distribution is too large to be explained by massive stars in 30 Dor, which are assumed to be enshrouded by clouds with the constant gas density estimated from the [OIII] line intensities. Therefore the surrounding structure is likely to be highly clumpy. We also find a global correlation between the [OIII] and the far-infrared continuum emission, suggesting that the gas and dust are well mixed in the highly-ionized region where the dust survives in clumpy dense clouds shielded from energetic photons. Furthermore we find that the ratios of [CII]/CO are as high as 110,000 in 30 Dor, and 45,000 even on average, while they are typically 6,000 for star-forming regions in our Galaxy. The unusually high [CII]/CO is also consistent with the picture of clumpy small dense clouds.
We have collected dozens of mid-infrared spectra showing UIR bands from diffuse Galactic emitting regions with the AKARI's Infrared Camera (IRC) onboard AKARI, as part of the ISMGN Mission Program. The datasets cover various directions in the inner Galactic Plane ( |l| < 70 deg), in the outer Galactic Plane ( |l| > 70 deg), and in the off-Plane ( |b| > 2 deg). The variations in the UIR band ratios are examined in terms of the radiation environments judged from the far-infrared ( 50 − 170 μm ) spectral energy distribution (SED) made with AKARI/FIS All Sky Survey data at each slit position where mid-IR spectra were obtained. We have found that the band ratios of 6.2 μm / 11.2 μm and 7.7 μm / 11.2 μm toward the inner Galaxy are systematically higher than those toward the outer Galaxy and off the Galactic plane. Likely causes of the variations in properties of UIR bands in diffuse emission on a Galactic scale are discussed in this paper.