Elastic Cheerios effect: self-assembly of cylinders on a soft solid

A rigid cylinder placed on a soft gel deforms its surface. When multiple cylinders are placed on the surface, they interact with each other via the topography of the deformed gel which serves as an energy landscape; as they move, the landscape changes which in turn changes their interaction. We use a combination of experiments, simple scaling estimates and numerical simulations to study the self-assembly of cylinders in this elastic analog of the Cheerios effect for capillary interactions on a fluid interface. Our results show that the effective two body interaction can be well described by an exponential attraction potential as a result of which the dynamics also show an exponential behavior with respect to the separation distance. When many cylinders are placed on the gel, the cylinders cluster together if they are not too far apart; otherwise their motion gets elastically arrested

Prices and Coupons for Breakfast Cereals

This paper explores the relationship between shelf prices and manufacturers' coupons for 25 ready-to-eat breakfast cereals. Contrary to the predictions of static monopoly price discrimination, we find the shelf prices for a particular brand in a particular city are generally lower during periods when coupons are available. We find evidence that is also inconsistent with dynamic theories of pricing that predict lower prices and coupons after periods of low demand, and find little support for explanations of couponing based on the vertical relationship between manufacturers and retailers. We find some support for models of price discrimination in oligopoly settings that suggest inter-brand competition can cause all prices to be lower than the uniform (non-discriminatory) price. We also find some evidence suggesting that firm-wide incentives may induce managers to use coupons and price cuts simultaneously in order, for example, to meet market share targets.

The influence of television on vocabulary, concepts and preferences of children in grades one and two.

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston University N.B.: With which is bound Currie, Jamesena. A study of twenty-five first grade children's preferences for television programs

Cereal FACTS: Evaluating the Nutrition Quality and Marketing of Children's Cereals

Evaluates cereal companies' marketing practices in 2008-09, immediately before and after full implementation of their pledges to reduce unhealthy marketing to children. Ranks brands with combined scores for nutrition quality and marketing exposure