Market Segmentation Analysis: Understanding It, Doing It, and Making It Useful

This open access book offers something for everyone working with market segmentation: practical guidance for users of market segmentation solutions; organisational guidance on implementation issues; guidance for market researchers in charge of collecting suitable data; and guidance for data analysts with respect to the technical and statistical aspects of market segmentation analysis. Even market segmentation experts will find something new, including a vast array of useful visualisation techniques that make interpretation of market segments and selection of target segments easier. All calculations are accompanied not only with a detailed explanation, but also with R code that allows readers to replicate any aspect of what is being covered in the book using R, the open-source environment for statistical computing and graphics.Dieses Open Access Buch offeriert allen etwas, die mit Marktsegmentierung zu tun haben: praktische Anleitungen für Anwender von Marktsegmentierungslösungen, organisatorische Hilfe zur Umsetzung und Datensammlung, sowie Hilfe zur technischen und statistischen Umsetzung von Marktsegmentierungsanalysen. Auch Experten der Marktsegmentierung finden neue Werkzeuge, inbesonders eine umfangreiche Sammlung von Visualisierungsmethoden zur einfacheren Interpretation und Selektion von Marktsegmenten. Alle Berechnungen werden nicht nur detailliert erklärt, sondern von R Code begleitet, welcher es dem Leser erlaubt, alle Analysen im Buch mit Hilfe der Open Source Statistiksoftware R zu replizieren

Market Segmentation Analysis

Business; Management science; Market research; Statistics

No woman's land:Feminist approaches to the ride-hailing sector and digital labor platforms in India

In this dissertation, I investigate the concerns, issues and opportunities for platform labor reform with a focus on the ride-hailing sector using Bardzell (2010)’s feminist lens. The feminist viewpoint keeps the marginal user at the center committing to equity, diversity, identity, empowerment, and social justice to improve the work conditions of gig workers in the Global South. By conducting in-depth qualitative interviews with the different stakeholders of the ride-hailing sector, and analysing case studies, media coverage, policy papers, and research reports, I suggest guidelines for redesigning the digital labor platforms

New Data Protection Abstractions for Emerging Mobile and Big Data Workloads

Two recent shifts in computing are challenging the effectiveness of traditional approaches to data protection. Emerging machine learning workloads have complex access patterns and unique leakage characteristics that are not well supported by existing protection approaches. Second, mobile operating systems do not provide sufficient support for fine grained data protection tools forcing users to rely on individual applications to correctly manage and protect data. My thesis is that these emerging workloads have unique characteristics that we can leverage to build new, more effective data protection abstractions. This dissertation presents two new data protection systems for machine learning work-loads and a new system for fine grained data management and protection on mobile devices. First is Sage, a differentially private machine learning platform addressing the two primary challenges of differential privacy: running out of budget and the privacy utility tradeoff. The second system, Pyramid, is the first selective data system. Pyramid leverages count featurization to reduce the amount of data exposed while training classification models by two orders of magnitude. The final system, Pebbles, provides users with logical data objects as a new fine grained data management and protection primitive allowing data management at a higher level of abstraction. Pebbles, leverages high level storage abstractions in mobile operating systems to discover user recognizable application level data objects in unmodified mobile applications

No woman's land:Feminist approaches to the ride-hailing sector and digital labor platforms in India

In this dissertation, I investigate the concerns, issues and opportunities for platform labor reform with a focus on the ride-hailing sector using Bardzell (2010)’s feminist lens. The feminist viewpoint keeps the marginal user at the center committing to equity, diversity, identity, empowerment, and social justice to improve the work conditions of gig workers in the Global South. By conducting in-depth qualitative interviews with the different stakeholders of the ride-hailing sector, and analysing case studies, media coverage, policy papers, and research reports, I suggest guidelines for redesigning the digital labor platforms

Applications of biased-randomized algorithms and simheuristics in integrated logistics

Transportation and logistics (T&L) activities play a vital role in the development of many businesses from different industries. With the increasing number of people living in urban areas, the expansion of on-demand economy and e-commerce activities, the number of services from transportation and delivery has considerably increased. Consequently, several urban problems have been potentialized, such as traffic congestion and pollution. Several related problems can be formulated as a combinatorial optimization problem (COP). Since most of them are NP-Hard, the finding of optimal solutions through exact solution methods is often impractical in a reasonable amount of time. In realistic settings, the increasing need for 'instant' decision-making further refutes their use in real life. Under these circumstances, this thesis aims at: (i) identifying realistic COPs from different industries; (ii) developing different classes of approximate solution approaches to solve the identified T&L problems; (iii) conducting a series of computational experiments to validate and measure the performance of the developed approaches. The novel concept of 'agile optimization' is introduced, which refers to the combination of biased-randomized heuristics with parallel computing to deal with real-time decision-making.Las actividades de transporte y logística (T&L) juegan un papel vital en el desarrollo de muchas empresas de diferentes industrias. Con el creciente número de personas que viven en áreas urbanas, la expansión de la economía a lacarta y las actividades de comercio electrónico, el número de servicios de transporte y entrega ha aumentado considerablemente. En consecuencia, se han potencializado varios problemas urbanos, como la congestión del tráfico y la contaminación. Varios problemas relacionados pueden formularse como un problema de optimización combinatoria (COP). Dado que la mayoría de ellos son NP-Hard, la búsqueda de soluciones óptimas a través de métodos de solución exactos a menudo no es práctico en un período de tiempo razonable. En entornos realistas, la creciente necesidad de una toma de decisiones "instantánea" refuta aún más su uso en la vida real. En estas circunstancias, esta tesis tiene como objetivo: (i) identificar COP realistas de diferentes industrias; (ii) desarrollar diferentes clases de enfoques de solución aproximada para resolver los problemas de T&L identificados; (iii) realizar una serie de experimentos computacionales para validar y medir el desempeño de los enfoques desarrollados. Se introduce el nuevo concepto de optimización ágil, que se refiere a la combinación de heurísticas aleatorias sesgadas con computación paralela para hacer frente a la toma de decisiones en tiempo real.Les activitats de transport i logística (T&L) tenen un paper vital en el desenvolupament de moltes empreses de diferents indústries. Amb l'augment del nombre de persones que viuen a les zones urbanes, l'expansió de l'economia a la carta i les activitats de comerç electrònic, el nombre de serveis del transport i el lliurament ha augmentat considerablement. En conseqüència, s'han potencialitzat diversos problemes urbans, com ara la congestió del trànsit i la contaminació. Es poden formular diversos problemes relacionats com a problema d'optimització combinatòria (COP). Com que la majoria són NP-Hard, la recerca de solucions òptimes mitjançant mètodes de solució exactes sovint no és pràctica en un temps raonable. En entorns realistes, la creixent necessitat de prendre decisions "instantànies" refuta encara més el seu ús a la vida real. En aquestes circumstàncies, aquesta tesi té com a objectiu: (i) identificar COP realistes de diferents indústries; (ii) desenvolupar diferents classes d'aproximacions aproximades a la solució per resoldre els problemes identificats de T&L; (iii) la realització d'una sèrie d'experiments computacionals per validar i mesurar el rendiment dels enfocaments desenvolupats. S'introdueix el nou concepte d'optimització àgil, que fa referència a la combinació d'heurístiques esbiaixades i aleatòries amb informàtica paral·lela per fer front a la presa de decisions en temps real.Tecnologies de la informació i de xarxe

Advances in Public Transport Platform for the Development of Sustainability Cities

Modern societies demand high and varied mobility, which in turn requires a complex transport system adapted to social needs that guarantees the movement of people and goods in an economically efficient and safe way, but all are subject to a new environmental rationality and the new logic of the paradigm of sustainability. From this perspective, an efficient and flexible transport system that provides intelligent and sustainable mobility patterns is essential to our economy and our quality of life. The current transport system poses growing and significant challenges for the environment, human health, and sustainability, while current mobility schemes have focused much more on the private vehicle that has conditioned both the lifestyles of citizens and cities, as well as urban and territorial sustainability. Transport has a very considerable weight in the framework of sustainable development due to environmental pressures, associated social and economic effects, and interrelations with other sectors. The continuous growth that this sector has experienced over the last few years and its foreseeable increase, even considering the change in trends due to the current situation of generalized crisis, make the challenge of sustainable transport a strategic priority at local, national, European, and global levels. This Special Issue will pay attention to all those research approaches focused on the relationship between evolution in the area of transport with a high incidence in the environment from the perspective of efficiency

Intelligent Mobility in Smart Cities

Smart Cities seek to optimize their systems by increasing integration through approaches such as increased interoperability, seamless system integration, and automation. Thus, they have the potential to deliver substantial efficiency gains and eliminate redundancy. To add to the complexity of the problem, the integration of systems for efficiency gains may compromise the resilience of an urban system. This all needs to be taken into consideration when thinking about Smart Cities. The transportation field must also apply the principles and concepts mentioned above. This cannot be understood without considering its links and effects on the other components of an urban system. New technologies allow for new means of travel to be built, and new business models allow for existing ones to be utilized. This Special Issue puts together papers with different focuses, but all of them tackle the topic of smart mobility

Metaverse. Old urban issues in new virtual cities

Recent years have seen the arise of some early attempts to build virtual cities, utopias or affective dystopias in an embodied Internet, which in some respects appear to be the ultimate expression of the neoliberal city paradigma (even if virtual). Although there is an extensive disciplinary literature on the relationship between planning and virtual or augmented reality linked mainly to the gaming industry, this often avoids design and value issues. The observation of some of these early experiences - Decentraland, Minecraft, Liberland Metaverse, to name a few - poses important questions and problems that are gradually becoming inescapable for designers and urban planners, and allows us to make some partial considerations on the risks and potentialities of these early virtual cities

Not Just Along for the Ride: Work, Justice, and Municipal Regulation of Ridehailing Platforms

Digital platforms are a package of information and communications technologies that bring together buyers and sellers onto proprietary markets. These platforms have come to dominate services like for-hire vehicles that are some of the most emblematic of city life. However, the rise of ridehailing platform like Uber has been accompanied with a loss of power for workers who make a living providing these services. This is a concern for cities, which have traditionally regulated this service to maintain trust between drivers, passengers, and market facilitators. Where conditions for workers decline and trust is damaged, it could lead to a decline in the service altogether. This study asks what role municipalities can play to improve conditions for workers. A growing literature documents the regulation of ridehailing platforms in global cities particularly as they grapple with regulatory change. Yet, few studies have captured the diverse range of municipalities that regulate the service or examined these regulatory systems once in place. To help fill this gap, this study surveys a diverse range of cities and towns that regulate ridehailing in a nested qualitative case study within the Greater Golden Horseshoe of Ontario, Canada. The study documents the conditions faced by drivers and measures those conditions against a standard of justice based upon Fainstein’s Just City theory. In Fainstein’s work, justice is a movement over time towards greater democracy, diversity and equity expressed in the capabilities of the most marginalized groups. In this study, an assessment of justice in ridehailing platforms is conducted through the analysis of semi-structured interviews with drivers in the GGH region. Interviews are transcribed and subjected to thematic analysis to identify important themes and concepts facing the drivers. The thesis next examines the current municipal regulatory system applied to ridehailing platforms and the perspective of municipal representatives within the GGH region who fashioned that system. Content analyses of local GGH region media reports, and municipal documents describe relevant events and regulatory strategies across the GGH region. Semi-structured interviews are then conducted with staff and councillors from municipalities with regulations for ridehailing platforms. Together these methods are analyzed to describe the rationale for regulation in the context of challenges facing the ridehailing system. The study continues with an examination of the current strategies employed by drivers to improve their own conditions to determine if there is a role for municipalities to support drivers. The study examines the potential of workforce development programs and their applicability to platform drivers. Interview analyses of drivers within the GGH region are compared against accounts described in videos produced by platform drivers across English North America and posted online in video diaries (vlogs). These two groups of data are then compared to understand how drivers are currently empowered and the barriers they face when trying to improve their own circumstances. The thesis contributes to the conceptual understanding of vehicle-for-hire services, the role of cities in that service and the nature of justice for platform drivers. The study finds that the erosion of municipal regulations over for-hire vehicles in the region is largely due to a choice by municipalities not to extend regulations over ridehailing platforms. This choice is attributed to an understanding of the industry as a private market where regulation should be minimized. For policy makers seeking to extend justice to platform drivers, the thesis calls for municipalities to expand the tools of oversight and create mechanisms for workers to direct changes to the structure of vehicle-for-hire services