DATA MINING: A SEGMENTATION ANALYSIS OF U.S. GROCERY SHOPPERS

Consumers make choices about where to shop based on their preferences for a shopping environment and experience as well as the selection of products at a particular store. This study illustrates how retail firms and marketing analysts can utilize data mining techniques to better understand customer profiles and behavior. Among the key areas where data mining can produce new knowledge is the segmentation of customer data bases according to demographics, buying patterns, geographics, attitudes, and other variables. This paper builds profiles of grocery shoppers based on their preferences for 33 retail grocery store characteristics. The data are from a representative, nationwide sample of 900 supermarket shoppers collected in 1999. Six customer profiles are found to exist, including (1) "Time Pressed Meat Eaters", (2) "Back to Nature Shoppers", (3) "Discriminating Leisure Shoppers", (4) "No Nonsense Shoppers", (5) "The One Stop Socialites", and (6) "Middle of the Road Shoppers". Each of the customer profiles is described with respect to the underlying demographics and income. Consumer shopping segments cut across most demographic groups but are somewhat correlated with income. Hierarchical lists of preferences reveal that low price is not among the top five most important store characteristics. Experience and preferences for internet shopping shows that of the 44% who have access to the internet, only 3% had used it to order food.Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Impact of Fatty-Acid Labeling of Bacillus subtilis Membranes on the Cellular Lipidome and Proteome

Developing cultivation methods that yield chemically and isotopically defined fatty acid (FA) compositions within bacterial cytoplasmic membranes establishes an in vivo experimental platform to study membrane biophysics and cell membrane regulation using novel approaches. Yet before fully realizing the potential of this method, it is prudent to understand the systemic changes in cells induced by the labeling procedure itself. In this work, analysis of cellular membrane compositions was paired with proteomics to assess how the proteome changes in response to the directed incorporation of exogenous FAs into the membrane of Bacillus subtilis. Key findings from this analysis include an alteration in lipid headgroup distribution, with an increase in phosphatidylglycerol lipids and decrease in phosphatidylethanolamine lipids, possibly providing a fluidizing effect on the cell membrane in response to the induced change in membrane composition. Changes in the abundance of enzymes involved in FA biosynthesis and degradation are observed; along with changes in abundance of cell wall enzymes and isoprenoid lipid production. The observed changes may influence membrane organization, and indeed the well-known lipid raft-associated protein flotillin was found to be substantially down-regulated in the labeled cells – as was the actin-like protein MreB. Taken as a whole, this study provides a greater depth of understanding for this important cell membrane experimental platform and presents a number of new connections to be explored in regard to modulating cell membrane FA composition and its effects on lipid headgroup and raft/cytoskeletal associated proteins

Interaction between a cationic surfactant-like peptide and lipid vesicles and its relationship to antimicrobial activity

We investigate the properties of an antimicrobial surfactant-like peptide (Ala)6(Arg), A6R, containing a cationic headgroup. The interaction of this peptide with zwitterionic (DPPC) lipid vesicles is investigated using a range of microscopic, X-ray scattering, spectroscopic, and calorimetric methods. The β-sheet structure adopted by A6R is disrupted in the presence of DPPC. A strong effect on the small-angle X-ray scattering profile is observed: the Bragg peaks from the DPPC bilayers in the vesicle walls are eliminated in the presence of A6R and only bilayer form factor peaks are observed. All of these observations point to the interaction of A6R with DPPC bilayers. These studies provide insight into interactions between a model cationic peptide and vesicles, relevant to understanding the action of antimicrobial peptides on lipid membranes. Notably, peptide A6R exhibits antimicrobial activity without membrane lysis

The Strathclyde Evaluation of Children's Active Travel (SE-CAT): study rationale and methods

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

FRACTIONAL DERIVATIVES OF PERIODICAL FUNCTIONS

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