ALBERT

Notes: Psychologists and anthropologists have long observed that people in different cultures have different self-concepts in terms of the relation between self and other people. The separated self-schema or "separatedness" is most often attributed to Western cultures. Applies the connectedness-separateness theory to test a set of hypotheses using content analysis of advertising themes across cultures. Results revealed that "connected appeals" were used more in PRC advertising, while "separated appeals" were used more in US advertising. Target audiences and product types were found to moderate the cultural effect. The findings were predicted and explained by the connectedness-separateness self-schema theory. Implications and future research directions are discussed.

Notes: The relationship between consumers' decision-making styles and their choice between domestic and imported brand clothing is investigated using a sample of Chinese consumers. The multivariate analysis of variance and discriminant analysis results indicate that seven decision-making styles together with other consumer behavioural characteristics can be used to distinguish and profile consumers who prefer to buy domestic, imported or both types of clothing. Empirical findings reveal that consumers who prefer to buy imported brand clothing tend to have a unique lifestyle and shopping orientation that differ from those who prefer domestic brand clothing. Conceptual contributions and managerial implications are discussed.

Notes: Formation of CoSi2 films by the reaction of ternary Co/Ti/Si system has been investigated. Ti and Co films were sequentially deposited on Si substrates by ion beam sputtering. It succeeded in the growth of epitaxial single-crystalline CoSi2 films on both Si(111) and Si(100) substrates through a multistep annealing process with temperatures from 550 to 900 °C in a nitrogen environment. A thin layer of TiN was formed on top of the epitaxial CoSi2. The values of Rutherford backscattering spectrometry/channeling minimum yield χmin for the epitaxial CoSi2 films were in the range of 10%–14%. The epitaxial CoSi2 grown on Si(111) was found to be composed of type B.

Notes: We describe the numerical procedure for calculating three-dimensional profiles of temperature in a multilayer stack illuminated by a laser beam, and model the crystallization and amorphization kinetics for phase-change rewritable media. Experimental methods have been used to determine indirectly the probabilities of nucleation and growth for Ge2Sb2Te5 alloy. Some of the fundamental behaviors of phase-change erasable media, such as the crystallization of as-deposited amorphous phase, amorphization of supercooled liquid, and recrystallization of quenched amorphous phase, have been illustrated based on our three-dimensional temperature calculations and the model kinetics. The calculated transient reflectance behavior of as-deposited Ge2Sb2Te5 amorphous films in a single layer and in a quadrilayer stack, as well as the erasure behavior of Ge2Sb2Te5 alloy in a quadrilayer disk are in good agreement with experimental observations. © 1997 American Institute of Physics.

Notes: Previous studies conducted in developed countries have demonstrated that ethnocentric consumers are more willing to buy domestic products. This study investigates the moderating roles of quality judgment of domestic products and conspicuous consumption (CC) in the relationship between consumer ethnocentrism and willingness to buy domestic products (WBD) in the context of a developing country, namely the People's Republic of China. The results support the hypothesis that the impact of ethnocentrism on consumer WBD tends to be weaker when consumers judge them as being of lower quality, or when consumers hold higher CC values. The conceptual and managerial implications for developing countries, including China, are discussed.

Notes: Abstract It is shown for a family of *-products (i.e. different ordering rules) that, under a strong invariance condition, the functions of the quadratic preferred observables (which generate the Cartan subalgebra in phase space realization of Lie algebras) take only the linear or exponential form. An exception occurs for the case of a symmetric ordering *-product where trigonometric functions and two special polynomials can also be included. As an example, the ‘quantized algebra’ of the oscillator Lie algebra is argued.

Notes: Conclusions 1) There are several rural economic belts within the boundaries of Jiangsu province. Suzhou, Wuxi, and Changzhou regions of S Jiangsu form the developed belt; rural economic levels gradually decrease towards the W and N (except suburbs of big cities like Nanjing, Xuzhou and others). Xuzhou and Huaiyin regions of NW Jiangsu from an underdeveloped belt. 2) Areal differences of rural economic levels within Jiangsu are quite impressive. Gross product per head of rural labour in the developed belt is more than three times the national mean (1,835 yuans in 1986), and net income per capita is twice the national mean (442 yuans). However, both indexes in the underdeveloped belt are lower than the national mean. Consequently, no unified policies and measures should be adopted for the whole province without considering the real conditions of every region. 3) As shown in Fig 1, most countries in the developed belt possess not only fluorishing rural industry, but also a more diverse agriculture. The prosperous and diverse agriculture provided the capital accumulation and the raw materials for industrial development. After more than 20 years of growth rural industry has become more self-reliant, and is able to give financial, technical and other help to further agricultural development in turn. Therefore, the appropriate orientation of rural economic development lies in accelerated rural industrialisation, in turn promoting agricultural modernization. In contrast with developed belt, the underdeveloped belt has the specific characteristics of a less diverse agriculture and only the initial stage of rural industrial development. Currently, the improvement and diversification of agricultural production, particular commodity production, should be the basic orientation. Rural industrial development should rely on capital accumulation by agriculture, and be centered on those products, that are closely related to or serve agriculture. 4) The pros and cons of part-time farmers are now hotly debated among scholars. Unanimity cannot be reached without considering conditions of different regions. For example, the developed belt of Jiangsu fluorishing rural industry ensures employed part-time farmers a satisfactory non-agricultural income, and agriculture becomes their sideline occupation. Decrease of agricultural input and shortage of incentives for improving crops yield are manifest: agricultural extensification and decline will be inevitable. In such regions from a long-term point of view the disadvantages seem to outweigh the advantages of part-time farmers. The solution is to encourage job specialisation by the rural work force, and deacrease part-time farmers, to promote land agglomeration and create larger and more vigorous agricultural units. Up to now, rural industry in the underdeveloped belt has been mostly handicraft, and has not ensured stable and sizable income. Under such conditions the encouragement of job specialisation by the rural work force is unsuitable, but it is beneficial for farmers to devote part pf their time working as handicraftsmen in the sense of developing rural commodity production, increasing the farmers' cash earnings, improving their working and living conditions, accumulating capital and skills for further industrial development. 5) Another hotly argued problem concerns the local occupational transformation or the movement of surplus agricultural labour. This also requires solution in accordance with real conditions of different regions. As the concurrent two jobs of part-time farmers are beneficial in the underdeveloped belt, the large-scale movement of rural labour is unlikely to occur. Furthermore, the occupational transformation of surplus agricultural labour on the spot does not decrease part-time farming so preventing agricultural decline in the developed belt. Thus, it is rational to establish industrial parks with ideal locations or to develop existing towns, to concentrate rural industry, and then to promote spatial movement of surplus agricultural labour. 6) The rural economic type is a matter of complexity. Many problems, such as its formation, its inner structure and outer environment, mechanism of changes and ways of improvement still remain to be solved by further detailed studies.