disTRESSed A Marketing Plan for a New Product Launch In the Salon Hair Product Market

Abstract The Problem: The salon hair product industry is highly saturated. Product innovations and differentiation are necessary to ensure success. Consumers are constantly analyzed, looking for a missed or forgotten market segment to target. Research: Companies engage in market research to identify opportunities. To simulate a situation a brand manager may face in this industry, I actively engaged in original market research metrics like surveys, focus groups and interviews to identify potential opportunities. Research was collected, analyzed, and transformed into a realistic value proposition. Findings: Consumers value healthy, strong hair more than any other factor. Consumers who use salon products are also willing to pay higher prices to achieve their desired hair state. Also, consumers are confused by the various products offered in the market, and not always sure what products provide the desired attributes. Concept: The purpose of disTRESSed is to provide a simple solution for everyday weathering on hair. The ideal consumer has damaged, non-chemically treated hair in need of serious restoration and repair. This salon product line is a solution to all women with distressed, dry, dull hair

Ergonomic and work safety evaluation criteria of process excellence in the foundry industry

The article presents a concept of criteria assessment called the “process excellence” for ergonomics and work safety in enterprises of the foundry industry as well as points to the possibility of its application

Ergonomic and work safety evaluation criteria of process excellence in the foundry industry

The article presents a concept of criteria assessment called the “process excellence” for ergonomics and work safety in enterprises of the foundry industry as well as points to the possibility of its application

The human role in a progressive trend of foundry automation

An increasing competition in the foundry market focuses on more efficient methods of production. High quality and efficiency requirements, but also rising labor costs, will make the foundry production largely automated. Currently,molding on automatic lines accounts for 40 % of the foundry production in Poland. The article discusses organizational,technical and ergonomic implications of automation in production processes and presents the results of research carried out in this field in Polish foundries

Memory texts and memory work: Performances of memory in and with visual media

The online version of this article can be found at: http://mss.sagepub.com/content/early/2010/05/24/175069801037003

Accuracy of genomic BLUP when considering a genomic relationship matrix based on the number of the largest eigenvalues: a simulation study.

International audienceAbstractBackgroundThe dimensionality of genomic information is limited by the number of independent chromosome segments (Me), which is a function of the effective population size. This dimensionality can be determined approximately by singular value decomposition of the gene content matrix, by eigenvalue decomposition of the genomic relationship matrix (GRM), or by the number of core animals in the algorithm for proven and young (APY) that maximizes the accuracy of genomic prediction. In the latter, core animals act as proxies to linear combinations of Me. Field studies indicate that a moderate accuracy of genomic selection is achieved with a small dataset, but that further improvement of the accuracy requires much more data. When only one quarter of the optimal number of core animals are used in the APY algorithm, the accuracy of genomic selection is only slightly below the optimal value. This suggests that genomic selection works on clusters of Me.ResultsThe simulation included datasets with different population sizes and amounts of phenotypic information. Computations were done by genomic best linear unbiased prediction (GBLUP) with selected eigenvalues and corresponding eigenvectors of the GRM set to zero. About four eigenvalues in the GRM explained 10% of the genomic variation, and less than 2% of the total eigenvalues explained 50% of the genomic variation. With limited phenotypic information, the accuracy of GBLUP was close to the peak where most of the smallest eigenvalues were set to zero. With a large amount of phenotypic information, accuracy increased as smaller eigenvalues were added.ConclusionsA small amount of phenotypic data is sufficient to estimate only the effects of the largest eigenvalues and the associated eigenvectors that contain a large fraction of the genomic information, and a very large amount of data is required to estimate the remaining eigenvalues that account for a limited amount of genomic information. Core animals in the APY algorithm act as proxies of almost the same number of eigenvalues. By using an eigenvalues-based approach, it was possible to explain why the moderate accuracy of genomic selection based on small datasets only increases slowly as more data are added

Estimation of dominance variance in purebred Yorkshire swine

peer reviewedWe used 179,485 Yorkshire reproductive and 239,354 Yorkshire growth records to estimate additive and dominance variances by Method Fraktur R. Estimates were obtained for number born alive (NBA), 21-d litter weight (LWT), days to 104.5 kg (DAYS), and backfat at 104.5 kg (BF). The single-trait models for NBA and LWT included the fixed effects of contemporary group and regression on inbreeding percentage and the random effects mate within contemporary group, animal permanent environment, animal additive, and parental dominance. The single-trait models for DAYS and BF included the fixed effects of contemporary group, sex, and regression on inbreeding percentage and the random effects litter of birth, dam permanent environment, animal additive, and parental dominance. Final estimates were obtained from six samples for each trait. Regression coefficients for 10% inbreeding were found to be -.23 for NBA, -.52 kg for LWT, 2.1 d for DAYS, and 0 mm for BF. Estimates of additive and dominance variances expressed as a percentage of phenotypic variances were, respectively, 8.8 +/- .5 and 2.2 +/- .7 for NBA, 8.1 +/- 1.1 and 6.3 +/- .9 for LWT, 33.2 +/- .4 and 10.3 +/- 1.5 for DAYS, and 43.6 +/- .9 and 4.8 +/- .7 for BF. The ratio of dominance to additive variances ranged from .78 to .11

Surface Emissions Modulate Indoor SVOC Concentrations through Volatility-Dependent Partitioning.

Measurements by semivolatile thermal desorption aerosol gas chromatography (SV-TAG) were used to investigate how semivolatile organic compounds (SVOCs) partition among indoor reservoirs in (1) a manufactured test house under controlled conditions (HOMEChem campaign) and (2) a single-family residence when vacant (H2 campaign). Data for phthalate diesters and siloxanes suggest that volatility-dependent partitioning processes modulate airborne SVOC concentrations through interactions with surface-laden condensed-phase reservoirs. Airborne concentrations of SVOCs with vapor pressures in the range of C13 to C23 alkanes were observed to be correlated with indoor air temperature. Observed temperature dependencies were quantitatively similar to theoretical predictions that assumed a surface-air boundary layer with equilibrium partitioning maintained at the air-surface interface. Airborne concentrations of SVOCs with vapor pressures corresponding to C25 to C31 alkanes correlated with airborne particle mass concentration. For SVOCs with higher vapor pressures, which are expected to be predominantly gaseous, correlations with particle mass concentration were weak or nonexistent. During primary particle emission events, enhanced gas-phase emissions from condensed-phase reservoirs partitioned to airborne particles, contributing substantially to organic particulate matter. An emission event related to oven-usage was inferred to deposit siloxanes in condensed-phase reservoirs throughout the house, leading to the possibility of reemission during subsequent periods with high particle loading