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High-profile instances of brands accused of cultural appropriation suggest that even the most prominent brands fail to fully understand the complexities of this phenomenon. This work experimentally unpacks consumer perceptions of cultural appropriation and its impact on brand attitudes and purchase interest. The authors begin by developing and validating a scale for measuring perceptions of cultural appropriation. Next, a series of studies demonstrates that viewing this phenomenon through a historical lens can help determine when and why the use of cultural elements is viewed as appropriative. Specifically, an emphasis on historical power imbalance explains why liberal consumers are more likely to recognize cultural appropriation and why commercializing disadvantaged cultures is considered appropriation, whereas using elements from advantaged cultures may be more acceptable. The conceptualization further identifies brand actions and interventions that influence perceptions of cultural appropriation, including externally emphasizing historical power imbalance, how brands obtain cultural elements, and how brands represent the culture in their product offerings and marketing. These findings help marketers (1) avoid launching products that can be damaging to the brand and offensive to consumers and (2) understand how to better promote products in a way that prevents rather than amplifies these negative perceptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organic solar cells utilizing the small molecule donor 7,7′-(4,4-bis(2-ethylhexyl)-4H-silolo[3,2-b:4,5-b′]dithiophene-2,6-diyl)bis(6-fluoro-4-(5′-hexyl-[2,2′-bithiophen]-5-yl)benzo[c][1,2,5] thiadiazole) ( p-DTS(FBTTh2)2 and the polymer acceptor poly{[N,N′-bis(2-octyldodecyl)-1,4,5,8-naphthalenedicarboximide-2,6-diyl]-alt-5,5′-(2,2′-bithiophene)}(P(NDI2OD-T2)) are investigated and a power conversion efficiency of 2.1% is achieved. By systematic study of bulk heterojunction (BHJ) organic photovoltaic (OPV) quantum efficiency, film morphology, charge transport and extraction and exciton diffusion, the loss processes in this blend is revealed compared to the blend of [6,6]-phenyl-C71-butyric acid methyl ester (PC71BM) and the same donor. An exciton diffussion study using Förster resonant energy transfer (FRET) shows the upper limit of the P(NDI2OD-T2) exciton diffusion length to be only 1.1 nm. The extremely low exciton diffusion length of P(NDI2OD-T2), in combination with the overlap in donor and acceptor absorption, is then found to significantly limit device performance. These results suggest that BHJ OPV devices utilizing P(NDI2OD-T2) as an acceptor material will likely be limited by its low exciton diffusion length compared to devices utilizing functionalized fullerene acceptors, especially when P(NDI2OD-T2) significantly competes with the donor molecule for photon absorption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of copper metalation of tetrabenzoporphyrin on the properties and performance of organic solar cells are studied. Tetrabenzoporphyrin (BP) and copper tetrabenzoporphyrin (CuBP) are both solution processed from soluble precursor materials and thermally converted in the thin film. Despite high field-effect hole mobility above 1 cm[sup 2] V[sup -1] s[sup -1], the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of solar cell devices with CuBP is severely diminished compared to those with BP. Conducting atomic force microscopy (c-AFM) is used to show that CuBP films are highly conductive in the direction perpendicular to the substrate, relative to those comprising BP. By analyzing the donor absorption characteristics as well as the external quantum efficiency and short-circuit current density of bilayer OPV devices as a function of donor layer thickness, it is determined that the differences in performance are likely due to a prohibitively short effective exciton diffusion length (L[sub D]) in the metalated derivative. By modeling the external quantum efficiency of bilayer OPV devices, we are able to approximate this difference in effective L[sub D] to be 15 nm for BP and 2 nm for CuBP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a debilitating neurodegenerative disorder affecting over 1 million people in North America. Primary treatment consists of drug therapy, with levodopa being the gold standard. As the disease progresses, maintaining physical function and minimizing adverse effects often require multiple medications. Optimal medication management is an ongoing process of drug selection and dosage titration. The rehabilitation professional plays a key role in monitoring the efficacy and toxicity of medications through assessment of motor function and mobility. This article reviews the pharmacologic management of PD and its relation to rehabilitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]