THE DETERMINANTS OF COUPON DISCOUNTS FOR BREAKFAST CEREALS

This study identifies the determinants of coupon values at the brand level using a framework developed from price discrimination theory and the principles of demand. Couponing is considered within the context of a complex marketing program in which it is coordinated with other non-price promotional strategies. A simultaneous, two-equation, fixed-effects, panel-data model is specified and fitted with data on household purchases of ready-to-eat (RTE) breakfast cereals between 1992 and 1997. The empirical model accounts for the bi-directional causality between brand prices and discount levels and captures the retail effects of the major cereal maker's price cuts and discount reductions that occurred in 1996. Higher brand prices cause coupon values to rise, supporting the hypothesis that cereal makers price discriminate among consumers. Other non-price promotions, including advertising, store flyers, and in-store displays, appear to be coordinated with couponing. Specifically, coupon values fall with more intense advertising and in-store displays but rise when the couponed products are featured in store flyers. Discount levels are positively related to brand market share and the size of discounts that are redeemed for rival cereals. Moreover, coupon values fall with increasing brand loyalty among RTE cereal purchasers. Cereal prices are positively affected by coupon values, advertising expenditures, food-ingredient and packaging costs, and the prices of competing brands. Inventory levels are negatively correlated with brand price. Employee wages were not found to significantly influence cereal prices.Marketing,

MARKET COMPETITION AND METROPOLITAN-AREA GROCERY PRICES

This paper examines the relationship of 1987 retail grocery prices to supermarket sales concentration across 95 U.S. metropolitan areas. The regression model incorporates a large number of population, retail-cost, and retail competition factors and separate prices by type of grocery item. We find that the concentration-price relationship is sensitive to item type: positive for packaged, branded, dry groceries and unrelated for produce, meat, and dairy product prices. As for market rivalry, we find that small grocery stores provide no grocery price competition for supermarkets. However, branded grocery prices are driven down by fast-food places and by rapid price churning, whereas for unbranded foods the presence of warehouse stores places downward pressure on supermarket prices while fast-food presence does not. For the branded-groceries component, we also find prices higher in large, fast-growing, low- income, Eastern cities. We also find that cities where rents, wages, and electricity costs are high tend to have high dry grocery prices. However, for the unbranded-products component retail costs are unrelated to prices, and cities in the South have the highest prices.retail grocery trade, pricing policy, variable price merchandising, market competition, category management, market structure, sales concentration, price discrimination, price rivalry, oligopoly, food demand, food prices, Consumer/Household Economics,

MODELING COUPON VALUES FOR READY-TO-EAT BREAKFAST CEREALS

A theoretical framework is developed to highlight the significant determinants of coupon values. A fixed effects panel data model is fitted with data from the breakfast cereal industry. The explanatory variables include own retail price, brand loyalty, brand market share, rival coupon redemptions, and firm and product type indicators.coupons, ready-to-eat breakfast cereals, panel data model, Consumer/Household Economics, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods,

THE EFFECT OF STEERING ON STRIDE PATTERN AND VELOCITY IN LONG JUMP

The purpose of this study was to identify whether visual control strategies (or steering) in the long jump run-up had an effect on the subsequent velocity, or the stride pattern, afler the point of steering. Three Australian long jumpem were recorded on videotape during competition. Six jumps for each athlete were analysed. A point of steering was clearly identifiable, however this point had no consistent effect on the velocity profiles of the athletes. Two of the athletes maintained their velocity, and the third increased his velocity afler this point was reached. Stride patterns from this point were not related to steering. It was found that most of the adjustment in stride pattern occurred in the last two strides, and this may have been responsible for the observed reduction in velocity immediately prior to takeoff. Practical solutions for altering and practising the run-up rhythm are discussed

Object-Oriented Paradigms for Modelling Vascular\ud Tumour Growth: a Case Study

Motivated by a family of related hybrid multiscale models, we have built an object-oriented framework for developing and implementing multiscale models of vascular tumour growth. The models are implemented in our framework as a case study to highlight how object-oriented programming techniques and good object-oriented design may be used effectively to develop hybrid multiscale models of vascular tumour growth. The intention is that this paper will serve as a useful reference for researchers modelling complex biological systems and that these researchers will employ some of the techniques presented herein in their own projects

Study of the spectral properties of ELM precursors by means of wavelets

The high confinement regime (H-mode) in tokamaks is accompanied by the occurrence of bursts of MHD activity at the plasma edge, so-called edge localized modes (ELMs), lasting less than 1 ms. These modes are often preceded by coherent oscillations in the magnetic field, the ELM precursors, whose mode numbers along the toroidal and the poloidal directions can be measured from the phase shift between Mirnov pickup coils. When the ELM precursors have a lifetime shorter than a few milliseconds, their toroidal mode number and their nonlinear evolution before the ELM crash cannot be studied reliably with standard techniques based on Fourier analysis, since averaging in time is implicit in the computation of the Fourier coefficients. This work demonstrates significant advantages in studying spectral features of the short-lived ELM precursors by using Morlet wavelets. It is shown that the wavelet analysis is suitable for the identification of the toroidal mode numbers of ELM precursors with the shortest lifetime, as well as for studying their nonlinear evolution with a time resolution comparable to the acquisition rate of the Mirnov coils

Novel use of stir bar sorptive extraction (SBSE) as a tool for isolation of oviposition site attractants for gravid Culex quinquefasciatus

Mosquitoes such as Culex quinquefasciatus Say (Diptera: Culicidae) are important vectors of organisms that cause disease in humans. Research into the development of effective standardized odour baits for blood-fed females (oviposition attractants), to enable entomological monitoring of vector populations, is hampered by complex protocols for extraction of physiologically active volatile chemicals from natural breeding site water samples, which have produced inconsistent results. Air entrainment and solvent extraction are technically demanding methods and are impractical for use in resource poor environments where mosquito-borne disease is most prevalent. This study reports the first use of a simple, robust extraction technique, stir bar sorptive extraction (SBSE), to extract behaviourally active small lipophilic molecules (SLMs) present in water samples collected from Cx. quinquefasciatus breeding sites in Tanzania. Extracts from a pit latrine and from a cess pool breeding site attracted more gravid Cx. quinquefasciatus in pair choice bioassays than control extracts, and coupled gas chromatography-electroantennography (GC-EAG) allowed tentative identification of 15 electrophysiologically active chemicals, including the known oviposition attractant, skatole (3-methylindole). Here, we have demonstrated, using simple pair choice bioassays in controlled laboratory conditions, that SBSE is effective for the extraction of behaviourally and electrophysiologically active semiochemicals from mosquito breeding site waters. Further research is required to confirm that SBSE is an appropriate technique for use in field surveys in the search for oviposition cues for Cx. quinquefasciatus

Plans for the next GRAPE balloon flight

The Gamma RAy Polarimeter Experiment (GRAPE) was first flown on a 26-hour balloon flight in the fall of 2011. GRAPE consists of an array of Compton polarimeter modules (based on traditional scintillation technologies) designed to operate in the energy range from 50 keV up to 500 keV. The ultimate goal is to operate GRAPE in a wide FoV configuration for the study of gamma-ray bursts. For the first (demonstration) balloon flight, GRAPE was configured in a collimated mode to facilitate observations of known point sources. The Crab nebula/pulsar, the active Sun, and Cygnus X-1 were the primary targets for the first flight. Although the Crab was detected, the polarization sensitivity was worse than expected. This paper will review the plans for the next GRAPE balloon flight, which is scheduled to take place in the fall of 2014 from Ft. Sumner, NM. These plans involve several modifications designed to improve the polarization sensitivity, including an expansion of the array of polarimeter modules from 16 to 24 and improvements to the instrument shielding. Sensitivity estimates of the resulting instrument, based on GEANT4 simulations, will be presented