40,740 research outputs found
Mobility of antimony, arsenic and lead at a former mine, Glendinning, Scotland
Elevated concentrations of antimony (Sb), arsenic (As) and lead (Pb) in upland organic-rich soils have resulted from past Sb mining activities at Glendinning, southern Scotland. Transfer of these elements into soil porewaters was linked to the production and leaching of dissolved organic matter and to leaching of spoil material. Sb was predominantly present in truly dissolved (< 3 kDa) forms whilst As and Pb were more commonly associated with large Fe-rich/organic colloids. The distinctive porewater behaviour of Sb accounts for its loss from deeper sections of certain cores and its transport over greater distances down steeper sections of the catchment. Although Sb and As concentrations decreased with increasing distance down a steep gully from the main spoil heap, elevated concentrations (~ 6-8 and 13-20 μg L− 1, respectively) were detected in receiving streamwaters. Thus, only partial attenuation occurs in steeply sloping sections of mining-impacted upland organic-rich soils and so spoil-derived contamination of surface waters may continue over time periods of decades to centuries
Systematic derivation of a rotationally covariant extension of the 2-dimensional Newell-Whitehead-Segel equation
An extension of the Newell-Whitehead-Segel amplitude equation covariant under
abritrary rotations is derived systematically by the renormalization group
method.Comment: 8 pages, to appear in Phys. Rev. Letters, March 18, 199
Mechanism of margination in confined flows of blood and other multicomponent suspensions
Flowing blood displays a phenomenon called margination, in which leukocytes
and platelets are preferentially found near blood vessel walls, while
erythrocytes are depleted from these regions. Here margination is investigated
using direct hydrodynamic simulations of a binary suspension of stiff (s) and
floppy (f) capsules, as well as a stochastic model that incorporates the key
particle transport mechanisms in suspensions -- wall-induced hydrodynamic
migration and shear-induced pair collisions. The stochastic model allows the
relative importance of these two mechanisms to be directly evaluated and
thereby indicates that margination, at least in the dilute case, is largely due
to the differential dynamics of homogeneous (e.g. s-s) and heterogeneous (s-f)
collisionsComment: 5 Pages, 4 figure
The changing nature of the Pb-206/Pb-207 isotopic ratio of lead in rainwater, atmospheric particulates, pine needles and leaded petrol in Scotland, 1982-1998
The Long-Term Erosion of Repeat-Purchase Loyalty
The study investigates the long-term erosion of repeat-purchase loyalty among consumers who purchase brands in a one-year base period.
The study utilises a five-year consumer panel of continuous reporters. We identify brand buyers in a base year, then calculate the proportion that fail to buy the brand in later years. We analyse the top 20 brands in 10 consumer goods categories
We find pronounced erosion in repeat-buying over the long-term. The proportion of buyers from a base year that fail to buy the brand in a later year increases steadily over time, from 57% in year 2 to 71.5% by year 5. Moreover, we identify brand and marketing mix factors linked to this over-time customer loss, or erosion.
The study provides evidence that consumers’ propensity to buy particular brands changes over a period of years, even though those brands continue to exhibit stable market share. This evidence provides a different interpretation than the literature to date, which has viewed purchase propensities as fixed.
The study finds that store brands and niche brands exhibit lower levels of erosion in their buyer base; that a broad range is associated with lower erosion, and that high price promotion incidence is associated with lower erosion for manufacturer brands.
Loyalty erosion has been reported before (Ehrenberg, 1988; East & Hammond 1996) but only over short periods. This study examines the phenomenon over five years, confirms that the rate of erosion does diminish over time, and that it is related to category and brand characteristics, as well as marketing mix decisions
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