Market Segmentation in (In)Action: Marketing and 'Yet to Be Installed' Role of Big and Social Media Data

Marketing has always been dependent on the input of new forms of consumer data throughout its history, relying on translations of this data into more and more effective means for targeting and engaging consumers. The focus on the digital segmentation of consumers has been subject to differing marketing orientations, beginning with relationship marketing and moving towards experiential marketing and now more recent efforts towards ‘collaborative’ marketing. The intention behind segmenting consumers is focused on more effectively engaging targeted segments towards repeat buying behaviours. However, as in past practices, the shift to social media marketing and social customer relationship management (social CRM) has been subject to some significant limitations. Although the advent of social media and the opening up of this space for marketing has created (the potential for) an expanded means for tracking and classifying consumer behaviour, this paper highlights the limitations of the practices for all but a few select marketing practices in the ‘successful’ ‘making up’ of markets. This paper examines the limitations in use of social media data. Despite the promises of big data, old ways of segmentation and classification die hard and are seen as and often are evaluated as (more) effective. While the potential for consumers to actively participate in forms of marketing has shifted with the advent of social media, studies of participation in multiple mediums for ‘user’ or consumer participation indicate that this is done infrequently. Social media remains ‘uninstalled’. This paper highlights the limitations of specific marketing segmentations ‘in practice.’ It indicates that narratives of consumer empowerment and participation are limited alongside the slow and incremental adaptation to highly valued trends by most companies in practice

Ideal gas behavior of a strongly-coupled complex (dusty) plasma

In a laboratory, a two-dimensional complex (dusty) plasma consists of a low-density ionized gas containing a confined suspension of Yukawa-coupled plastic microspheres. For an initial crystal-like form, we report ideal gas behavior in this strongly-coupled system during shock-wave experiments. This evidence supports the use of the ideal gas law as the equation of state for soft crystals such as those formed by dusty plasmas.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, 5 authors, published versio

Evaluating the origins and transformations of organic matter and dissolved inorganic nitrogen in two contrasting North Sea estuaries

In order to delineate the potential sources and to understand the main controls on the biogeochemical cycling of dissolved and particulate organic matter (DOM, POM) and dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) during estuarine mixing, comprehensive seasonal geochemical and isotopic and surveys across the freshwater-tidal interface were carried out in the Tyne and Tweed Estuaries, NE UK. This study provided a contrast between a relatively pristine system (Tweed) with one that is heavily influenced by anthropogenic activity (Tyne). Geochemical and isotopic (13C, 14C and 15N) analyses demonstrated the predominance of terrigenous organic matter in both these estuaries, with elevated river discharges leading to enhanced terrestrial loading. High pCO2 values in the Tyne (summer) and Tweed (winter) suggested that a significant fraction of this terrestrially-derived organic matter (both DOM and POM pools) is relatively labile and can potentially undergo significant mineralization during estuarine mixing. In both estuaries in situ processing of DIN was relatively minor, with mixing between different sources being the main factor in controlling the distribution of nitrate and ammonium across the salinity gradient. However, anthropogenic ammonium discharges in the Tyne were found to have an enormous direct and indirect impact on estuarine nitrogen cycling. Large, concave removals of terrigenous high molecular weight (HMW) DOC caused by flocculation, biodegradation, and/or photochemical oxidation were associated with a non-conservative 13C-enrichment in d13C signatures. Radiocarbon dates showed an export of young (modern) HMW DOC and old (100-1000s of years), terrigenous POC to the North Sea. 14C-enriched values in coastal North Sea HMW DOC were attributed to anthropogenic discharges originating from within the coastal North Sea environment. In the Tweed, seasonal changes in soil characteristics resulted in an older age for POM during the summer. In the Tyne, decreases in POC% with increasing salinity sometimes coincided with an increase in POC age. This was attributed to mixing with older sediment and to the possible preferential loss of the younger, more labile POC fraction during mineralization. This study has shown that land use patterns, sewage inputs, and freshwater flushing time are the main influences in determining the behaviour and origin of organic matter and DIN entering the coastal North Sea in these two systems

The Effects of Salinity and Acetaminophen on the Aquatic Snail Physa acuta

Pharmaceuticals are increasingly detected in water bodies, and their presence can negatively impact aquatic organisms. This effect can be amplified when combined with increasing salinity in freshwater ecosystems. Acetaminophen is a widely used analgesic that is commonly found in river, streams, and waters where it is discharged directly. Therefore, organisms present in these locations (e.g., insects, snails, amphibians, and fish) are likely to be affected by acetaminophen. In this study, we determined the effects of elevated salinity (0.68 g/L), acetaminophen (500 µg/L) and combined elevated salinity (0.68 g/L) and acetaminophen (500 µg/L), on the growth, reproduction, and movement of the freshwater snail Physa acuta. There were no effects on growth or reproduction. No changes were observed on movement in individual treatments groups; however, there was a significant effect in the combined treatment of salinity and acetaminophen. It is likely that an energetic trade-off between physiological mechanisms resulted in a synergistic negative effect on snails

Rules and Laws for Civil Actions 2023

Rules and Laws for Civil Actions is an open-access resource for law students containing the U.S. Constitution, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Federal Rules of Evidence, Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure, and selected federal and state statutes. The book was created by a team of faculty members at the University of Iowa College of Law to supplement the study of Civil Procedure, Evidence, Constitutional Law, and other law school courses. In addition to containing the official text, each legal source found in Rules and Laws for Civil Actions is accompanied by an introductory section written by an Iowa Law professor explaining its significance and background. Students are able to access the online and digital versions of the resource free of charge. Additional digital copies in a variety of formats are available for at https://pressbooks.uiowa.edu/civil-procedure-rules/.Note that this digital file matches with the pagination of the hardcover edition of Rules and Laws for Civil Actions. The pagination of the hardcover and paperback editions is different due to differences in formatting.https://scholarship.law.bu.edu/books/1356/thumbnail.jp

Evolutionary Spiking Neural Networks As Racing Car Controllers,"

Abstract-The Izhikevich spiking neural network model is investigated as a method to develop controllers for a simple, but not trivial, car racing game, called TORCS. The controllers are evolved using Evolutionary Programming, and the performance of the best individuals is compared with the hand-coded controller included with the Simulated Car Racing Championship API. A set of experiments using the sigmoid neural network was also conducted, to act as a benchmark for the network of Izhikevich neurons. The results are promising, indicating that this spiking neural network model can be applied to other games or control problems

"Fake it till You Make it"! Contaminating Rubber Hands ("Multisensory Stimulation Therapy") to Treat Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a deeply enigmatic psychiatric condition associated with immense suffering worldwide. Efficacious therapies for OCD, like exposure and response prevention (ERP), are sometimes poorly tolerated by patients. As many as 25% of patients refuse to initiate ERP mainly because they are too anxious to follow exposure procedures. Accordingly, we proposed a simple and tolerable (immersive yet indirect) low-cost technique for treating OCD that we call "multisensory stimulation therapy." This method involves contaminating a rubber hand during the so-called "rubber hand illusion" (RHI) in which tactile sensations may be perceived as arising from a fake hand. Notably, Jalal et al. (2015) showed that such fake hand contamination during the RHI provokes powerful disgust reactions in healthy volunteers. In the current study, we explored the therapeutic potential of this novel approach. OCD patients (n = 29) watched as their hidden real hand was being stroked together with a visible fake hand; either synchronously (inducing the RHI; i.e., the experimental condition; n = 16) or asynchronously (i.e., the control condition; n = 13). After 5 min of tactile stimulation, the rubber hand was contaminated with fake feces, simulating conventional exposure therapy. Intriguingly, results suggested sensory assimilation of contamination sensations into the body image via the RHI: patients undergoing synchronous stimulation did not report greater contamination sensations when the fake hand was initially contaminated relative to asynchronous stroking. But contrary to expectations, they did so after the rubber hand had been contaminated for 5 min, as assessed via disgust facial expressions (a secondary outcome) and in vivo exposure (upon discontinuing the illusion). Further, to our surprise, synchronous and asynchronous stroking induced an equally vivid and fast-emerging illusion, which helps explain why both conditions initially (5 min after initiating tactile stimulation) provoked contamination reactions of equal magnitude. This study is the first to suggest heightened malleability of body image in OCD. Importantly, it may pave the way for a tolerable technique for the treatment of OCD-highly suitable for poorly resourced and emergency settings, including low-income and developing countries with minimal access to high-tech solutions like virtual reality