Market-Based Models for Digital Signage Network Promotion Management

Digital signage network (DSN) is capable of delivering customized content to designated screens in a real-time or near real-time manner, which provides tremendous potential for building dynamic demand stimulation tools. However current DSN media buying process is mainly carried out through manually conducted negotiation between the DSN operator and the advertisers. This practice does not capitalize the unique technology advantage offered by the newly emerged advertising medium. We propose automated DSN media buying models which allow advertisers to customize their promotion schedules in a highly responsive manner. Specifically, we design a direct revelation mechanism and an iterative bidding model for DSN promotion scheduling. We show that the direct revelation mechanism computes optimal solutions. We evaluate the revenue performance of the iterative bidding model through a computational study. The implementation of the iterative bidding mechanism is also described

Dynamic graphical instructions result in improved attitudes and decreased task completion time in human−robot co-working: an experimental manufacturing study

Collaborative robots offer opportunities to increase the sustainability of work and workforces by increasing productivity, quality, and efficiency, whilst removing workers from hazardous, repetitive, and strenuous tasks. They also offer opportunities for increasing accessibility to work, supporting those who may otherwise be disadvantaged through age, ability, gender, or other characteristics. However, to maximise the benefits, employers must overcome negative attitudes toward, and a lack of confidence in, the technology, and must take steps to reduce errors arising from misuse. This study explores how dynamic graphical signage could be employed to address these issues in a manufacturing task. Forty employees from one UK manufacturing company participated in a field experiment to complete a precision pick-and-place task working in conjunction with a collaborative robotic arm. Twenty-one participants completed the task with the support of dynamic graphical signage that provided information about the robot and the activity, while the rest completed the same task with no signage. The presence of the signage improved the completion time of the task as well as reducing negative attitudes towards the robots. Furthermore, participants provided with no signage had worse outcome expectancies as a function of their response time. Our results indicate that the provision of instructional information conveyed through appropriate graphical signage can improve task efficiency and user wellbeing, contributing to greater workforce sustainability. The findings will be of interest for companies introducing collaborative robots as well as those wanting to improve their workforce wellbeing and technology acceptance

Critical analysis of advertising and strategic media planning in FMCG Sector in India

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The food pyramid meets the regulatory pyramid - responsive regulation of food advertising to children

Obesity poses an urgent threat to children’s health. The causes of obesity are many and varied, but evidence suggests that the food industry makes a significant contribution. Multinational companies use a range of communication channels and marketing techniques to promote unhealthy foods and beverages to children. This promotion has a small but significant effect on children’s food preferences and choices, their consumption patterns and diet-related health. While public health advocates call for statutory regulation of unhealthy food advertising, the food industry has mobilised government support for voluntary action. In Australia, there is significant debate over the success of two self-regulatory codes that address food advertising to children. In this thesis I evaluate the food industry’s initiatives using a new approach. Although I consider evidence of the codes’ outcomes, I focus on whether they establish the building blocks of an effective self-regulatory regime. I use regulatory studies and public health law to create a framework for evaluation, drawing particularly on the idea of responsive regulation. I also compare food, tobacco and alcohol advertising regulation to predict whether statutory regulation of food advertising is practical and politically feasible. I find that food and alcohol advertising codes contain a series of ‘escape clauses’ that permit companies to continue with most of their marketing practices. As a result, the codes do not significantly reduce children’s exposure to food and alcohol advertising, or moderate the persuasive techniques used by marketers. Food industry self-regulation lacks the features of a well-designed voluntary scheme, including clear objectives, independent administration and monitoring, effective enforcement and systematic review. Further, regulatory processes are almost entirely industry based, meaning that the scheme is not accountable to external stakeholders. The difficulty of conducting research in this area underscores this conclusion. Food and alcohol companies report high levels of compliance with the codes, and an ethical commitment to responsible marketing practices. However, the initiatives do not place demanding requirements on participants; they only codify existing best practice in advertising to children. Further, industry initiatives exclude some of the main food and alcohol advertisers. In comparison to tobacco, food and alcohol products are highly varied, making regulation a more complex exercise. More fundamentally, these industries have an economic interest in advertising unhealthy products to a wide range of age groups. Accordingly, they are unlikely to accept any tighter restrictions on advertising to children, which might impact on their communication with adult audiences. One way of strengthening self-regulation is to include external stakeholders in regulatory processes. Public health actors engage with the food and alcohol industry (unlike the tobacco industry), creating the potential for more collaborative arrangements. However, experience with the ‘quasi-regulation’ of alcohol advertising illustrates that public health participation may not create a more transparent and accountable scheme. Also, external participation in industry schemes is highly contentious, and public health actors risk their credibility and reputation in doing so. Accordingly, government action is required to broaden the reach of self-regulation and improve its functioning. Given the strong case for government action, the question becomes what form it should take. There are significant political barriers to legislation, including the power of the food industry, and neo-liberal ideologies that favour minimal regulation. Accordingly, I consider options outside of ‘command-and-control’ regulation. Through co-regulation, the government could set clear objectives for the codes to achieve, establish an independent body for monitoring and enforcement, and formalise its oversight of the scheme. It must also threaten the industry with more intrusive regulation, should the improved scheme fail to reduce children’s exposure to unhealthy food advertising. This strategy implicitly endorses a responsive regulatory approach that begins with voluntary action by the food industry itself. However, it also recognises the central role of the state in regulation, and describes new ways for governments to protect public health

Social World Sensing via Social Image Analysis from Social Media

Social imagery, the visuals shared by users via various platforms and applications, may be analyzed to elicit something of massmind (and individual) thinking. This work involves the exploration of seven topics from various subject areas (global public health, environmentalism, human rights, political expression, and human predation) through social imagery and data from social media. The coding techniques involve manual coding, the integration of multiple social data streams, computational text analysis, data visualizations, and other combinations of approaches.https://newprairiepress.org/ebooks/1037/thumbnail.jp