Advertising Media and the Green Environmental Aspect

Previous research has shown that consumer trust in advertising is low and continues to diminish. Researchers have also found that a big share of advertising investments is placed in less favorable media which can contribute to consumers’ increasing disbelief towards advertising. The results of the present study add to these previous findings by showing that the consumers’ trust levels in advertising vary among the 11 different media studied and that the marketing managers’ beliefs about consumers are not consistent with the consumers’ attitudes toward and usage of advertising media. Ignoring this phenomenon may have consequences for companies investing in less favorable media and thereby adding to consumers’ increasing disbelief towards advertising. The greatest discrepancy was found for ads on TV. The marketing managers seem to believe incorrectly that ads on TV are not only more trusted but also more used by consumers than the consumers claim. The consumers were found to have more negative attitudes toward TV advertising than what the marketing managers believe about consumers. TV is also perceived by the consumers as more harmful for the green environment than the marketing managers believe about consumers. The results show that the consumers have more positive attitudes toward direct marketing than the marketing managers believe about them. The consumers perceive direct marketing as better, less irritating and less harmful for the environment compared to the marketing managers’ beliefs about them. In addition, the consumers claim to make more use of ads in many of the paper-based media than TV advertising when they want to buy different products. This was found to be not consistent with the marketing managers’ beliefs about consumers. The consumers were found to have more negative attitudes toward advertising through the mobile phone than the marketing managers believe about consumers. Advertising through the mobile phone is considered by the consumers as one of the worst, most irritating and least trusted medium among the 11 advertising media studied. Moreover, the consumers consider the mobile phone to be more harmful for the green environment compared to the marketing managers’ beliefs about consumers. The results also show that the marketing managers feel more personal responsible towards caring for the green environment than the consumers. In addition, both the marketing managers and the consumers were found to have equally high demands and expectations of organizations to act responsibly toward the green environment. This contradicts previous findings that showed that the green environmental aspect is among the factors that are the least considered when marketing managers work with marketing communication in general and advertising media selection in particular. Furthermore, this study found that green environmental responsibility attitude (GERA) is weakly related to the perception on the green environmental aspect of advertising media. Thus, the discrepancies found in this study between the consumers and marketing managers regarding their green environmental perceptions on the 11 different advertising media should be explained by other factors.Advertising Media; Attitudes; Consumers; Marketing Managers; Green Environment; Green Environmental Responsibility Attitude (GERA);

Dynamics of a single exciton in strongly correlated bilayers

We formulated an effective theory for a single interlayer exciton in a bilayer quantum antiferromagnet, in the limit that the holon and doublon are strongly bound onto one interlayer rung by the Coulomb force. Upon using a rung linear spin wave approximation of the bilayer Heisenberg model, we calculated the spectral function of the exciton for a wide range of the interlayer Heisenberg coupling \alpha=J_{\perp}/Jz. In the disordered phase at large \alpha, a coherent quasiparticle peak appears representing free motion of the exciton in a spin singlet background. In the N\'{e}el phase, which applies to more realistic model parameters, a ladder spectrum arises due to Ising confinement of the exciton. The exciton spectrum is visible in measurements of the dielectric function, such as c-axis optical conductivity measurements.Comment: 28 pages, 12 figure

Hinders for Eco-friendly Media Selection

This study shows that, despite organizations claiming to care for the green environment through documented environmental policies, marketing communication such as advertising media selection does not seem to be much guided by green environmental concerns. Problems with consistency and control thus seem to exist between companies’ ideas/decisions (documented environmental policies) and their actions (advertising media selection), causing the need for justification and/or hypocrisy. This study adds to prior research on the non-use of models in practice by showing that the non-use of models also exists among marketing managers when selecting advertising media for marketing communication purposes. It was found that 64 percent of the marketing managers do not make use of media selection models. In the attempt to investigate differences in the factors guiding media selection between marketing managers who use media selection models (users) and those who do not use any model (non-users), it was found that the users take a medium’s eco-friendly characteristics less into consideration than the non-users. The paper discusses that the use of models can be viewed as attempts for making more rational decisions. The findings thus suggest that rational decision-making (users) may hinder eco-friendly media selection while non-rationality (non-users) may develop more powerful organizational ideologies such as acting responsibly towards the green environment. However, this study points out a link between the use of media selection models, previous experience and rules of thumb, i.e. the users tend to make more use of previous experience and rules of thumb than the non-users. Thus, the author argues that a new approach to model use may be needed and that the media selection should not be too much influenced by the marketing managers’ previous experience and rules of thumb. Otherwise, new factors may be overlooked such as consumers’ increasing concern for the green environment in relation to consumer advertising media attitudes. Previous studies have found that current approaches to marketing planning pay too little attention to the impact of technological advances on changes in consumer media habits. Thereby the risk may exist for focusing on mainly conventional media and not selecting “new media”. The present study seems to contradict these previous findings by showing that the selection of “new media” such as media using the Internet was found among the most selected advertising media by both the users and non-users for the two communication objectives studied, i.e. brand-building and to increase sales. Thus, the results indicate that while the marketing managers adapt their media selection to changes in technological media advances they tend to overlook consumers’ increasing concern for the green environment and the environmental aspect of advertising media. The results also show differences among the marketing managers in their selection of advertising media. At the same time as the non-users tend to be more precise with the recycling of paper, they are more inclined to select paper-based media such as catalogues and brochures than the users. The users on the other hand, tend to select more electronic media such as TV, radio and cinema than the non-users. In the attempt to explain the factors guiding media selection and in particular to what extent the environmental aspect of advertising media is considered, green environmental responsibility attitudes (GERA) of the users and non-users are assessed.Media Selection; Advertising; Green Environment; Marketing Managers; Models; Green Environmental Responsibility Attitude (GERA); Rationality; Non-rationality

Media Selection for Marketing Communication - an exploratory study among marketing managers -

For marketing managers, decisions in media planning and consequently the media selection are becoming increasingly complex and challenging as more media options are available. This exploratory study examines the factors that guide and influence marketing managers when selecting media for their ad campaigns. The extent to which green environmental issues, advertiser-agency cooperation and the economic recession influence media selection is focused on. The sample was chosen on the basis of a cluster analysis on annual media investments among the largest advertisers in Sweden. The results of the cluster analysis showed some correspondence with type of industry and revealed eight clusters with different portfolios of media expenditures. The results of the interviews indicated that despite companies’ environmental policies, green environmental issues do not seem to be considered by the marketing managers in this study when selecting advertising media. Among the marketing managers it is perceived that considering the green environment when selecting advertising media is not part of their responsibility. The results also indicated that the marketing managers spend a great amount of time on selecting and building relationships with new agencies. Rather than primarily agency performance evaluations, the marketing managers indicate personal chemistry to be a key element for good collaboration between advertisers and agencies. Compared to earlier studies on developing advertiser-agency relationships, the marketing managers in this study seem to be more similar to American than to Dutch marketing managers in the sense that they put social bonding before agency performance evaluations. The lack of personal chemistry was found to be one of the main reasons for companies to switch agencies. The interviews revealed that it is primarily the marketing manager that is involved in the media selection and that the role of agencies is to give additional secondary input on the matter. The marketing managers in this study indicate that in times of an economic recession there is a stronger need to be flexible and to adjust marketing (communication) plans which is in line with prior research. In addition, the marketing managers perceive an economic recession to provide better negotiation opportunities with agencies and media suppliers. This study may add to previous findings by indicating that during an economic recession receiving special offers from media suppliers is popular among the marketing managers which may lead to adjustments of the marketing communication plan and thus to more ad hoc media decisions. Furthermore, this study concludes with a discussion on the factors that may hinder marketing managers from performing more effective media selection, e.g. basing media selection on mostly previous experience, main agency appointment, short term agency collaboration and the non-use of models.Marketing Managers; Media Selection; Advertising; Marketing Communication; Green Environment; Advertiser-agency Cooperation; Economic Recession

Slow Nonthermalizing Dynamics in a Quantum Spin Glass

Spin glasses and many-body localization (MBL) are prime examples of ergodicity breaking, yet their physical origin is quite different: the former phase arises due to rugged classical energy landscape, while the latter is a quantum-interference effect. Here we study quantum dynamics of an isolated 1d spin-glass under application of a transverse field. At high energy densities, the system is ergodic, relaxing via resonance avalanche mechanism, that is also responsible for the destruction of MBL in non-glassy systems with power-law interactions. At low energy densities, the interaction-induced fields obtain a power-law soft gap, making the resonance avalanche mechanism inefficient. This leads to the persistence of the spin-glass order, as demonstrated by resonance analysis and by numerical studies. A small fraction of resonant spins forms a thermalizing system with long-range entanglement, making this regime distinct from the conventional MBL. The model considered can be realized in systems of trapped ions, opening the door to investigating slow quantum dynamics induced by glassiness.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure

Haemodynamic, endocrine and renal actions of adrenomedullin 5 in an ovine model of heart failure

AM5 (adrenomedullin 5), a newly described member of the CGRP (calcitonin gene-related peptide) family, is reported to play a role in normal cardiovascular physiology. The effects of AM5 in HF (heart failure), however, have not been investigated. In the present study, we intravenously infused two incremental doses of AM5 (10 and 100 ng/min per kg of body weight each for 90 min) into eight sheep with pacing-induced HF. Compared with time-matched vehicle control infusions, AM5 produced progressive and dose-dependent increases in left ventricular dP/dt(max) [LD (low dose), +56 mmHg/s and HD (high dose), +152 mmHg/s] and cardiac output (+0.83 l/min and +1.81 l/min), together with decrements in calculated total peripheral resistance (−9.4 mmHg/min per litre and −14.7 mmHg/min per litre), mean arterial pressure (−2.8 mmHg and −8.4 mmHg) and LAP (left atrial pressure; −2.6 mmHg and −5.6 mmHg) (all P<0.001). HD AM5 significantly raised PRA (plasma renin activity) (3.5-fold increment, P<0.001), whereas plasma aldosterone levels were unchanged over the intra-infusion period and actually fell in the post-infusion period (70% decrement, P<0.01), resulting in a marked decrease in the aldosterone/PRA ratio (P<0.01). Despite falls in LAP, plasma atrial natriuretic peptide and B-type natriuretic peptide concentrations were maintained relative to controls. AM5 infusion also induced significant increases in urine volume (HD 2-fold increment, P<0.05) and urine sodium (2.7-fold increment, P<0.01), potassium (1.7-fold increment, P<0.05) and creatinine (1.4-fold increment, P<0.05) excretion and creatinine clearance (60% increment, P<0.05). In conclusion, AM5 has significant haemodynamic, endocrine and renal actions in experimental HF likely to be protective and compensatory in this setting. These results suggest that AM5 may have potential as a therapeutic agent in human HF

An experimental proposal to study collapse of the wave function in travelling-wave parametric amplifiers

The read-out of a microwave qubit state occurs using an amplification chain that enlarges the quantum state to a signal detectable with a classical measurement apparatus. However, at what point in this process did we really `measure' the quantum state? In order to investigate whether the `measurement' takes place in the amplification chain, we propose to construct a microwave interferometer that has a parametric amplifier added to each of its arms. Feeding the interferometer with single photons, the visibility depends on the gain of the amplifiers and whether a measurement collapse has taken place during the amplification process. We calculate the interference visibility as given by standard quantum mechanics as a function of gain, insertion loss and temperature and find a magnitude of $1/3$ in the limit of large gain without taking into account losses. This number reduces to $0.26$ in case the insertion loss of the amplifiers is $2.2$ dB at a temperature of $50$ mK. We show that if the wave function collapses within the interferometer, we will measure a reduced visibility compared to the prediction from standard quantum mechanics once this collapse process sets in.Comment: 21 pages and 23 figures (including appendices and subfigures). v4: Abstract and introduction rewritten and note on stochasticity of quantum state collapse added to section 6. v5: no content changes w.r.t. v

Charge Smoothening and Band Flattening due to Hartree corrections in Twisted Bilayer Graphene

Doping twisted bilayer graphene away from charge neutrality leads to an enormous buildup of charge inhomogeneities within each Moir\'{e} unit cell. Here we show, using unbiased real-space self-consistent Hartree calculations on a relaxed lattice, that Coulomb interactions smoothen this charge imbalance by changing the occupation of earlier identified `ring' orbitals in the AB/BA region and `center' orbitals at the AA region. For hole doping, this implies an increase of the energy of the states at the ${\bf \Gamma}$ point, leading to a further flattening of the flat bands and a pinning of the Van Hove singularity at the Fermi level. The charge smoothening will affect the subtle competition between different possible correlated phases.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

The significance of indirect costs—application to clinical laboratory test economics using computer facilities

The significance of indirect costs in the cost price calculation of clinical chemistry laboratory tests by way of the production centres method has been investigated. A cost structure model based on the ‘production centres’ method, the Academisch Ziekenhuis Groningen (AZG) 1-2-3 model, is used for the calculation of cost and cost prices as an add-in tool to the spreadsheet program Lotus 1-2-3. The system specifications of the AZG 1-2-3 cost structure model have been extended with facilities to impute all relevant indirect costs to cost centres by aid of allocation rules, which can be chosen freely. The inference is made that as indirect costs play a more important part in decision-making processes concerning planning and control, the specification of the relation to the cost centres should be determined in a more detailed way. The AZG 1-2-3 cost structure model has therefore been extended in order to increase the significance as a management tool for laboratory management