Weathering product-harm crises.

Product-harm crises can seriously imperil a brand's performance. Consumers tend to weigh negative publicity heavily in product judgments, customer preferences may shift towards competing products during the recall period, and competitors often increase their advertising spending in the wake of a brand's misfortune. To counter these negative effects, brands hope to capitalize on their equity, and often use advertising as a communication device to regain customers' lost trust. We develop a multiple-event hazard model to study how consumer characteristics and advertising influence consumers' first-purchase decisions for two affected brands of peanut butter following a severe Australian product-harm crisis. Buying a recently affected brand is perceived as highly risky, making the trial purchase a first hurdle to be taken in the brand's recovery. Both pre-crisis loyalty and familiarity are found to form an important buffer against the product-harm crisis, supporting the idea that a brand's equity prior to the crisis offers resilience in the face of misfortune. Also heavy users tend to purchase the affected brands sooner, unless their usage rate decreased significantly during the crisis. Brand advertising was found to be effective for the stronger brand, but not for the weaker brand, while competitive advertising delayed the first-purchase decision for both brands affected by the crisis.(pro-environmental) attitudes; Behavior; Claim; Cognitive; Consumption; Control; Control theory; Decision; Decisions; Demand; Ecological consumer behaviour; Effects; Ego depletion; Implications; Marketing; Model; Performance; Research; Self-control; Self-perception theory; Social marketing; Studies; Theory; Product; Judgments; Preference; Recall; Advertising; Brands; Communication; Trust; Characteristics; Loyalty;

Managing Product-Harm Crises

Product-harm crises are among a firm’s worst nightmares. Since marketing investments may be instrumental to convince consumers to purchase the firm's products again, it is important to provide an adequate measurement of the effectiveness of these investments, especially after the crisis. We provide a methodology through which firms can assess the impact of product crises in a quantitative way. Based on the model estimates, firms can estimate the required level of investment to recoup from the crisis. A key finding of this paper is that it is not only important to assess the extent to which business is lost as a result of the crisis, but also to find the new, postcrisis response parameters to marketing activities. The study of an Australian product-harm crisis for peanut butter reveals that a product crisis may represent a quadruple jeopardy for a firm: (i) loss of baseline sales, (ii) a reduced own effectiveness for its marketing instruments, (iii) increased vulnerability, and (iv) decreased clout. We arrive at this conclusion by using a time-varying error-correction model that allows for (i) shortand long-term marketing mix effects, (ii) intercepts and response parameters that change over time as a result of the crisis, and (iii) missing observations, which result from the absence of the impacted brands during the product-recall period. The time-varying error-correction model is applicable to other marketing-research areas in which these three requirements (or any subset thereof) apply

Parametrical optimization of laser surface alloyed NiTi shape memory alloy with Co and Nb by the Taguchi method

Different high-purity metal powders were successfully alloyed on to a nickel titanium (NiTi) shape memory alloy (SMA) with a 3 kW carbon dioxide (CO2) laser system. In order to produce an alloyed layer with complete penetration and acceptable composition profile, the Taguchi approach was used as a statistical technique for optimizing selected laser processing parameters. A systematic study of laser power, scanning velocity, and pre-paste powder thickness was conducted. The signal-to-noise ratios (S/N) for each control factor were calculated in order to assess the deviation from the average response. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was carried out to understand the significance of process variables affecting the process effects. The Taguchi method was able to determine the laser process parameters for the laser surface alloying technique with high statistical accuracy and yield a laser surface alloying technique capable of achieving a desirable dilution ratio. Energy dispersive spectrometry consistently showed that the per cent by weight of Ni was reduced by 45 per cent as compared with untreated NiTi SMA when the Taguchi-determined laser processing parameters were employed, thus verifying the laser's processing parameters as optimum

Oorwormen in de boomgaard

Oorwormen leveren een nuttige bijdrage aan de natuurlijke bestrijding van plagen in boomgaarden

Comparison of Model Predictive Control performance using grey-box and white box controller models

Model predictive control (MPC) for building climate control has received increasing attention the last decade. Its large scale implementation is, however, still hampered by the difficulty of obtaining accurate but computationally efficient multi-zone building controller models. This paper compares an existing grey-box approach with a novel white-box approach to obtain a controller model of the building envelope and it compares the performance achieved by using these two approaches. The comparison is made for an existing office building, which is currently controlled using a grey-box MPC [1].  The building envelope and its heating, cooling and air conditioning systems  (HVAC) are modelled using the Modelica building energy simulation library IDEAS. The model is validated using measurement data from the real building. This detailed simulation model is composed of discretised partial differential equations, ordinary differential equations and algebraic equations. The model is therefore too complex to be used as controller model for MPC. Two MPC approaches are compared. On the one hand, the white-box controller model is obtained by linearizing the building envelope part of the simulation model and by pre-computing model inputs such as solar gains through each window [2]. The method generates a linear state space model, which produces very similar temperatures as the original non-linear model. On the other hand, the grey-box identification method that was used to obtain the current controller model, is also applied to the detailed simulation model. Both white-box and grey-box MPC are applied to the detailed simulation model. The dynamics of the HVAC systems are not included in the MPC model but the efficiencies, constraints, cost function and boundary conditions are included. The energy use, the achieved thermal zone comfort and the prediction performance are compared. Finally, a new grey-box model is identified with operation data of the real building and the multi-step ahead prediction performance of the white-box and of both the grey-box models obtained with the simulation data and obtained with the measured data is computed for the real building using the measurement data and the weather forecast, which are used by the current MPC implementation.  [1] Zdenek Vana, Jiri Cigler, Jan Siroky, Eva Zacekova, Lukas Ferkl. Model-based energy efficient control applied to an office building. J. Process Control (2014).  [2] Picard, D., Jorissen, F., and Helsen, L. 2015. Methodology for Obtaining Linear State Space Building Energy Simulation Models. In 11th International Modelica Conference, pages 51–58, Paris

Genetic structure of captive and free-ranging okapi (Okapia johnstoni) with implications for management

Breeding programs for endangered species increasingly use molecular genetics to inform their management strategies. Molecular approaches can be useful for investigating relatedness, resolving pedigree uncertainties, and for estimating genetic diversity in captive and wild populations. Genetic data can also be used to evaluate the representation of wild population genomes within captive population gene-pools. Maintaining a captive population that is genetically representative of its wild counterpart offers a means of conserving the original evolutionary potential of a species. Okapi, an even-toed ungulate, endemic to the Democratic Republic of Congo, have recently been reclassified as Endangered by the IUCN. We carried out a genetic assessment of the ex-situ okapi (Okapia johnstoni) population, alongside an investigation into the genetic structure of wild populations across their geographic range. We found that while levels of nuclear (12 microsatellite loci) genetic variation in the wild, founder and captive okapi populations were similar, mitochondrial (833 bp of Cyt b, CR, tRNA-Thr and tRNA-Pro) variation within captive okapi was considerably reduced compared to the wild, with 16 % lower haplotype diversity. Further, both nuclear and mitochondrial alleles present in captivity provided only partial representation of those present in the wild. Thirty mitochondrial haplotypes found in the wild were not found in captivity, and two haplotypes found in captivity were not found in the wild, and the patterns of genetic variation at microsatellite loci in our captive samples were considerably different to those of the wild samples. Our study highlights the importance of genetic characterisation of captive populations, even for well-managed ex-situ breeding programs with detailed studbooks. We recommend that the captive US population should be further genetically characterised to guide management of translocations between European and US captive population

Rapid and Efficient Generation of Recombinant Human Pluripotent Stem Cells by Recombinase-mediated Cassette Exchange in the AAVS1 Locus

Even with the revolution of gene-targeting technologies led by CRISPR-Cas9, genetic modification of human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) is still time consuming. Comparative studies that use recombinant lines with transgenes integrated into safe harbor loci could benefit from approaches that use site-specific targeted recombinases, like Cre or FLPe, which are more rapid and less prone to off-target effects. Such methods have been described, although they do not significantly outperform gene targeting in most aspects. Using Zinc-finger nucleases, we previously created a master cell line in the AAVS1 locus of hPSCs that contains a GFP-Hygromycin-tk expressing cassette, flanked by heterotypic FRT sequences. Here, we describe the procedures to perform FLPe recombinase-mediated cassette exchange (RMCE) using this line. The master cell line is transfected with a RMCE donor vector, which contains a promoterless Puromycin resistance, and with FLPe recombinase. Application of both a positive (Puromycin) and negative (FIAU) selection program leads to the selection of RMCE without random integrations. RMCE generates fully characterized pluripotent polyclonal transgenic lines in 15 d with 100% efficiency. Despite the recently described limitations of the AAVS1 locus, the ease of the system paves the way for hPSC transgenesis in isogenic settings, is necessary for comparative studies, and enables semi-high-throughput genetic screens for gain/loss of function analysis that would otherwise be highly time consuming

Prototyping the BOPTEST framework for simulation-based testing of advanced control strategies in buildings

Advanced control strategies are becoming increasingly necessary in buildings in order to meet and balance requirements for energy efficiency, demand flexibility, and occupant comfort. Additional development and widespread adoption of emerging control strategies, however, ultimately require low implementation costs to reduce payback period and verified performance to gain control vendor, building owner, and operator trust. This is difficult in an already first-cost driven and risk-averse industry. Recent innovations in building simulation can significantly aid in meeting these requirements and spurring innovation at early stages of development by evaluating performance, comparing state-of-the-art to new strategies, providing installation experience, and testing controller implementations. This paper presents the development of a simulation framework consisting of test cases and software platform for the testing of advanced control strategies (BOPTEST - Building Optimization Performance Test). The objectives and requirements of the framework, components of a test case, and proposed software platform architecture are described, and the framework is demonstrated with a prototype implementation and example test case