Influencing Consumer Choice for Healthy Foods at the Point of Purchase:The role of marketing communication and food pricing strategies

Obesity is a world-wide issue causing not only health problems for individuals but also having severe consequences to economies on a broader scale. Therefore, much attention has been given to promoting healthier consumption patterns among consumers. Marketers can do their part in the battle against obesity for example by promoting healthier products through marketing communications and pricing strategies at the point of purchase. This dissertation set out to better understand the effectiveness of such tactics in helping consumers make healthier decisions. Essay 1 compares the effects of different types of front-of-package nutrition labelling on a number of consumer outcomes through a meta-analysis. Essay 2 focuses on a specific type of nutrition label, namely nutrition claims, and compares claims focusing on the addition of positive nutrients and the reduction of negative nutrients. Essay 3 investigates potential unintended consequences of price discounts on healthy food products. Overall, the findings suggest that the effectiveness of these tactics may be limited due to unintended consequences on product perceptions. Marketers and policy makers need to acknowledge that consumers are not basing their food choices on considerations of health and price alone. More focus should be placed on increasing consumers’ overall health motivation

<i>H</i>₂ and mixed <i>H</i>₂/<i>H</i>_∞ Stabilization and Disturbance Attenuation for Differential Linear Repetitive Processes

Repetitive processes are a distinct class of two-dimensional systems (i.e., information propagation in two independent directions) of both systems theoretic and applications interest. A systems theory for them cannot be obtained by direct extension of existing techniques from standard (termed 1-D here) or, in many cases, two-dimensional (2-D) systems theory. Here, we give new results towards the development of such a theory in H2 and mixed H2/H∞ settings. These results are for the sub-class of so-called differential linear repetitive processes and focus on the fundamental problems of stabilization and disturbance attenuation

Explanations reconsidered

Edna Ullmann-Margalit .introduced the notion of an invisiblehand explanation (I-H explanation) to the philosophical literature in 1978, and made a distinction between "aggregate" and "functional-evolutionary" (F-E) forms of I -H explanations. The present paper produces a substantially refined analysis of the forms and functions of I-H explanations. Sections (1) and (2) introduce the ideas of I-H and aggregate I-H explanation, respectively. Section (J) argues that no one form of explanation can serve the explanatory fUnctions Ullmann-Margalit attributes to aggregate explanations, and divides those explanatory functions between genetic and "systematic-dispositional" explanations. Section (4) identifies difficulties with the idea of F-E explanation in the social realm, and shows that any I-H explanations fitting the P-E mold would constitute simply a special class of "aggregate" explanation

Plant condensates: no longer membrane-less?

Cellular condensation is a reinvigorated area of study in biology, with scientific discussions focusing mainly on the forces that drive condensate formation, properties, and functions. Usually, condensates are called 'membrane-less' to highlight the absence of a surrounding membrane and the lack of associated contacts. In this opinion article we take a different direction, focusing on condensates that may be interfacing with membranes and their possible functions. We also highlight changes in condensate material properties brought about by condensate-membrane interactions, proposing how condensates-membrane interfaces could potentially affect interorganellar communication, development, and growth, but also adaptation in an evolutionary context. We would thus like to stimulate research in this area, which is much less understood in plants com-pared with the animal field

The regularity of the positive part of functions in L2(I;H1(Ω))∩H1(I;H1(Ω)∗)L^2(I; H^1(\Omega)) \cap H^1(I; H^1(\Omega)^*) with applications to parabolic equations

Let $u\in L^2(I; H^1(\Omega))$ with $\partial_t u\in L^2(I; H^1(\Omega)^*)$ be given. Then we show by means of a counter-example that the positive part $u^+$ of $u$ has less regularity, in particular it holds $\partial_t u^+ \not\in L^1(I; H^1(\Omega)^*)$ in general. Nevertheless, $u^+$ satisfies an integration-by-parts formula, which can be used to prove non-negativity of weak solutions of parabolic equations