Marketing Mavens’ Fusion with Social Media

Maven behavior and its fusion with social media was a natural progression from an auspicious beginning. The acknowledgement of market influencers and their impact on consumer behavior emerged in the discipline literature during the 70’s with a study by Sheth (1971) who recognized the marketing opportunity of information disseminators. The potential publicizing influence of these brokers was investigated by Kotler and Zaltman (1976) whose findings advocated for their inclusion within a communication stratagem. Further examination produced precise demographic variables and personality traits along with the more accurate terminology of market mavens (Feick and Price, 1987) to delineate their unique dispositions. Laughlin and MacDonald (2010) recently proposed the identification of online mavens as indispensable, predicated on the significant position they hold in web based purchase behavior. This research explores the idea of social media mavens and determines specific actions most likely to transpire by online market mavens

Differences in Online Social Media Mavens: the Gender Gap

Consumer Behavior experts have acknowledged the significant impact market mavens play in the dissemination and acceptance of new products in the market place. The emergence of online social media mavens has only recently been recognized. Based on traditional patterns of behavior and Internet usage it could be assumed the predictable demographics of the social media maven would be male, young, educated and with an above average income. This study investigated these traditional assumptions and discovered unique differences in online social media mavens. In order to determine potential Social Media Mavens, this research looked beyond usage of social media and instead at who was communicating with others about social media both in the form of recommending and encouraging the usage of social media. Results indicate the gender dominance of males is leveling, signaling the potential of females to drive social media acceptance and usage to ultimately reign as Online Social Media Mavens

GaN directional couplers for integrated quantum photonics

Large cross-section GaN waveguides are proposed as a suitable architecture to achieve integrated quantum photonic circuits. Directional couplers with this geometry have been designed with aid of the beam propagation method and fabricated using inductively coupled plasma etching. Scanning electron microscopy inspection shows high quality facets for end coupling and a well defined gap between rib pairs in the coupling region. Optical characterization at 800 nm shows single-mode operation and coupling-length-dependent splitting ratios. Two photon interference of degenerate photon pairs has been observed in the directional coupler by measurement of the Hong-Ou-Mandel dip with 96% visibility.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

Digital Word-of-Mouth and the Gender Implications

Consumers can now easily access data and exchange sentiments regarding products and services on an unprecedented scale, and often in real time, through digital connections. The Internet and mobile technologies have made sharing of information and opinions among consumers easier than ever. The capacity of online participants to inspire and transform perspectives has been touted to surpass the radical potency of television when it entered the consumer’s province during the 50’s. Men and women use social media sites to learn about new products, to become smarter shoppers and to feel good about a purchase they might have already made. College students are so driven to continuously connect that they chain themselves to the technology 24/7. As digital natives, they are so thoroughly immersed in the process that they possess an indigenous aptitude to operate and fully function within the techno world. Marketers have long recognized the prominent role that word-of-mouth communication (WOM) played in the consumer decision-making process. However, in recent years, interest has grown with the expansion in the number and types of communication channels offered by new technologies. Online WOM has established itself as a central element in the lives of consumers. In the view of many, the power of social media and online digital WOM communications outstrips the ability of companies to shape their own messages through either traditional communication means or by way of their own social media initiatives. Common wisdom now holds that companies that ignore consumer-to-consumer information posted about their business and products do so at their own peril. This study explored the implication of gender on the use of digital WOM along with specific online behavior characteristics and purchase variances of male and female digital activities. Research findings suggest the identification of primary digital WOM leaders as revealed through purchase behavior, shopping experience, purchase confidence and innovative online conduct. The concept that “tie-strength” is an indicator of the importance of a moderator’s impact on consumer purchase decisions (Brown & Reingen 1987) may be shifting in regard to online digital WOM. This study indicates that respondents were neutral in regard to the usefulness of online digital WOM compared to friends and family. While online was not deemed as more useful, the neutrality indicates that more research needs to be done on the concept of tie-strength as well as outside indicators of online digital WOM credibility

Assessing cementation in the El Capitan Reef Complex and Lincolnshire Limestone using ^(13)C-^(18)O bond abundances in carbonates

The Permian El Capitan and Jurassic Lincolnshire limestones have been intensely studied for their stratigraphy, depositional setting and paleoecology. Nevertheless, the diagenetic development of these two units remains controversial, particularly with regard to diagenetic carbonate formation. Calcite cement phases have previously been characterized via δ^(18)O and δ^(13)C in order to determine precipitation temperatures and carbon sources, however, these results have lead to conflicting hypotheses

Clinical and molecular genetic features of pulmonary hypertension in patients with hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia

BACKGROUND: Most patients with familial primary pulmonary hypertension have defects in the gene for bone morphogenetic protein receptor II (BMPR2), a member of the transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta) superfamily of receptors. Because patients with hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia may have lung disease that is indistinguishable from primary pulmonary hypertension, we investigated the genetic basis of lung disease in these patients. METHODS: We evaluated members of five kindreds plus one individual patient with hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia and identified 10 cases of pulmonary hypertension. In the two largest families, we used microsatellite markers to test for linkage to genes encoding TGF-beta-receptor proteins, including endoglin and activin-receptor-like kinase 1 (ALK1), and BMPR2. In subjects with hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia and pulmonary hypertension, we also scanned ALK1 and BMPR2 for mutations. RESULTS: We identified suggestive linkage of pulmonary hypertension with hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia on chromosome 12q13, a region that includes ALK1. We identified amino acid changes in activin-receptor-like kinase 1 that were inherited in subjects who had a disorder with clinical and histologic features indistinguishable from those of primary pulmonary hypertension. Immunohistochemical analysis in four subjects and one control showed pulmonary vascular endothelial expression of activin-receptor-like kinase 1 in normal and diseased pulmonary arteries. CONCLUSIONS: Pulmonary hypertension in association with hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia can involve mutations in ALK1. These mutations are associated with diverse effects, including the vascular dilatation characteristic of hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia and the occlusion of small pulmonary arteries that is typical of primary pulmonary hypertension

Water-Resources Investigations Report 83-4141

Purpose and scope: This report has been prepared to document these significant floods for future hydraulic and hydrological planning; to provide streamflow information required for orderly development of river basins where the hazard of extreme flooding exists; and to further the general hydrologic knowledge available for Missouri rivers and streams. Streamflow data in the report include peak stages and discharges, flood hydrographs, flood-crest profiles, flood volumes, and flood-frequency information. Descriptions of the storm and of the damages resulting from these floods are given

A Pilot Survey of an M Dwarf Flare Star with Swift's UV Grism

The near-ultraviolet (NUV) spectral region is a useful diagnostic for stellar flare physics and assessing the energy environment of young exoplanets, especially as relates to prebiotic chemistry. We conducted a pilot NUV spectroscopic flare survey of the young M dwarf AU Mic with the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory's UltraViolet and Optical Telescope. We detected four flares and three other epochs of significantly elevated count rates during the 9.6 hours of total exposure time, consistent with a NUV flare rate of $\sim$0.5 hour$^{-1}$. The largest flare we observed released a minimum energy of 6$\times$10$^{33}$ erg between 1730-5000 \r{A}. All flares had durations longer than the $\sim$14-17 minute duration of each Swift visit, making measuring total flare energy and duration infeasible.Comment: Published in Research Notes of the AAS (RNAAS