Market segmentation strategies for complex automotive products

With the advent of 'big data', the purpose of this empirical study was to take the opportunity to rethink conventional market segmentation strategies. This is particularly relevant for the automotive industry which is going through a period of rapid change with advanced technologies such as electric powered and autonomous vehicles, creating increased concerns as to how this complexity is communicated effectively. A mixed methods approach was utilised to collect data from multiple sources, incorporating in-depth discussion groups, semi-structured interviews, an online survey, and data collection of communication processes through the attendance of new car product launches. The results suggest that marketing departments should rethink their data capture methods to collect more relevant consumer information, not the contemporary trend of needs, attitude, and motivation variables that are difficult to identify and collect, but basic information on their level of familiarity with products through previous experience and exposure. The basic dimensions identified are characterised by a consumer's expertise, involvement, and familiarity with a product. The findings are synthesised into a theoretical framework to define differing levels of product complexity, which would enable manufacturers to provide more closely defined market segmentation strategies when communicating new product information

Influence of Fe doping on nanostructures and photoluminescence of sol–gel derived ZnO

The doping of Fe (0.5, 2, and 50 mol%) in ZnO was performed using sol–gel process, which led to noteworthy alterations in the microstructure, phase formations and optical properties. Nanoparticles (20–50 nm) with euhedral shape morphology and aggregated nanowires (20–30 nm diameter) are observed at 2 mol% Fe doping, whereas well developed and facetted nanoparticles (50–100 nm), nanowires (∼60 nm diameter) and ultrafine particles (2–5 nm) are seen at 50 mol% Fe doping. The hexagonal-ZnO was present as the dominant phase with the traces of cubic-ZnFe2O4 up to 2 mol% Fe, while at highest 50 mol% Fe doping, ZnFe2O4 was the observed prominent phase, which is also responsible for the observed violet (412 nm, 3.0 eV) and blue emission bands (468 nm, 2.65 eV and 440 nm, 2.82 eV) together with quenched orange (632 nm, 1.96 eV) and green (523 nm, 2.37 eV) luminescence

Expression of the papillomavirus E2 protein in HeLa cells leads to apoptosis.

The papillomavirus E2 protein plays a central role in the viral life cycle as it regulates both transcription and replication of the viral genome. In this study, we showed that transient expression of bovine papillomavirus type 1 or human papillomavirus type 18 (HPV18) E2 proteins in HeLa cells activated the transcriptional activity of p53 through at least two pathways. The first one involved the binding of E2 to its recognition elements located in the integrated viral P105 promoter. E2 binding consequently repressed transcription of the endogenous HPV18 E6 oncogene, whose product has been shown previously to promote p53 degradation. The second pathway did not require specific DNA binding by E2. Expression of E2 induced drastic physiological changes, as evidenced by a high level of cell death by apoptosis and G1 arrest. Overexpression of a p53 trans-dominant-negative mutant abolished both E2-induced p53 transcriptional activation and E2-mediated G1 growth arrest, but showed no effect on E2-triggered apoptosis. These results suggest that the effects of E2 on cell cycle progression and cell death follow distinct pathways involving two different functions of p53