Pay What You Want as a Marketing Strategy in Monopolistic and Competitive Markets

Pay What You Want (PWYW) can be an attractive marketing strategy to price discriminate between fair-minded and selfish customers, to fully penetrate a market without giving away the product for free, and to undercut competitors that use posted prices. We report on laboratory experiments that identify causal factors determining the willingness of buyers to pay voluntarily under PWYW. Furthermore, to see how competition affects the viability of PWYW, we implement markets in which a PWYW seller competes with a traditional seller. Finally, we endogenize the market structure and let sellers choose their pricing strategy. The experimental results show that outcome-based social preferences and strategic considerations to keep the seller in the market can explain why and how much buyers pay voluntarily to a PWYW seller. We find that PWYW can be viable in isolation, but it is less successful as a competitive strategy because it does not drive traditional posted-price sellers out of the market. Instead, the existence of a posted-price competitor reduces buyers’ payments and prevents the PWYW seller from fully penetrating the market. If given the choice, the majority of sellers opt for setting a posted price rather than a PWYW pricing. We discuss the implications of these results for the use of PWYW as a marketing strategy

Freilanduntersuchungen zum Einfluss von 31 Unterlagsrebsorten auf Ertrag und ausgewählte Qualitätsparameter der Rebsorte “Zweigelt”

Auf einem Standort mit carbonathältiger Braunerde auf Flyschmergel wurde bei der Sorte “Zweigelt” der Einfluss von 31 Unterlagsrebsorten auf die Parameter Mostgewicht, Säuregehalt des Mosts, Ertrag, Traubengewicht und Schnittholzgewicht ermittelt. Im Durchschnitt der zwölf Versuchsjahre bewirkten die Unterlagen 41 B, Ru 140 und G 9 eine signifikante Reduktion des Mostgewichts um 0.47∘ KMW, 0.26∘ KMW und 1.13∘ KMW im Vergleich zu K 5BB. Bei den Unterlagen 1616 C und 3309 C war das Mostgewicht mit + 0.4∘ KMW und + 0.34∘ KMW hingegen signifikant höher. Die Jahresmittelwerte des Mostgewichtes lagen zwischen einem Minimum von 16.6∘ KMW und einem Maximum von 19.1∘ KMW. Der Säuregehalt des Mostes war bei den Unterlagen 41 B, Binova und G 9 um 0.49 g/l, 0.64 g/l und 0.5 g/l im Vergleich zu K 5BB erhöht. Der geringste Jahresmittelwert des Säuregehalts im Most lag bei 5.4 g/l und der höchste Wert bei 7.8 g/l. Der Ertrag war bei den Unterlagen SO4, Cosmo 10.99 R, G 9, Aripa, 101–14 MG, 1616 C, 3309 C und Riparia portalis signifikant verringert. Binova und 225 Ru A2 bewirkten eine signifikante Ertragssteigerung um 0.5 kg/Stock beziehungsweise 0.41 kg/Stock im Vergleich zu K 5BB. Die Jahresmittelwerte des Ertrages lagen zwischen 0.58 kg/Stock im ersten Ertragsjahr und 1.97 bis 5.96 kg/Stock in den Folgejahren. Das Traubengewicht wies ebenfalls einen signifikanten Zusammenhang mit der verwendeten Unterlage auf. Im Durchschnitt aller Beobachtungsjahre wurde das Traubengewicht durch K 125AA, G 26, 41 B und Binova positiv beeinflusst. Hingegen führten die Unterlagen G 9, 99 R, 101–14 MG und 3309 C im Vergleich zu K 5BB zu einer Verringerung des Traubengewichts. Die Jahresmittelwerte lagen zwischen einem Minimum von 149 g und einem Maximum von 318 g. Das Schnittholzgewicht wurde signifikant durch die Unterlage beeinflusst, wobei die Unterlagen K 125AA, Binova, 225 Ru A2, 1103 P und Fercal im Vergleich zu K 5BB zu Erhöhungen zwischen 0.014 kg/m2 und 0.03 kg/m2 führten; die Unterlagen G 9, Riparia portalis, 101–14 MG, 1616 C und Aripa bewirkten hingegen eine Reduktion des Schnittholzgewichts. Die Jahresmittelwerte betrugen 0.03 kg/m2 und 0.094 kg/m2 in den ersten beiden Ertragsjahren und lagen in den Folgejahren zwischen 0.112 kg/m2 und 0.243 kg/m2. Mikrovinifikation und

Does shear wave ultrasound independently predict axillary lymph node metastasis in women with invasive breast cancer?

Shear wave elastography (SWE) shows promise as an adjunct to greyscale ultrasound examination in assessing breast masses. In breast cancer, higher lesion stiffness on SWE has been shown to be associated with features of poor prognosis. The purpose of this study was to assess whether lesion stiffness at SWE is an independent predictor of lymph node involvement. Patients with invasive breast cancer treated by primary surgery, who had undergone SWE examination were eligible. Data were retrospectively analysed from 396 consecutive patients. The mean stiffness values were obtained using the Aixplorer(®) ultrasound machine from SuperSonic Imagine Ltd. Measurements were taken from a region of interest positioned over the stiffest part of the abnormality. The average of the mean stiffness value obtained from each of two orthogonal image planes was used for analysis. Associations between lymph node involvement and mean lesion stiffness, invasive cancer size, histologic grade, tumour type, ER expression, HER-2 status and vascular invasion were assessed using univariate and multivariate logistic regression. At univariate analysis, invasive size, histologic grade, HER-2 status, vascular invasion, tumour type and mean stiffness were significantly associated with nodal involvement. Nodal involvement rates ranged from 7 % for tumours with mean stiffness <50 kPa to 41 % for tumours with a mean stiffness of >150 kPa. At multivariate analysis, invasive size, tumour type, vascular invasion, and mean stiffness maintained independent significance. Mean stiffness at SWE is an independent predictor of lymph node metastasis and thus can confer prognostic information additional to that provided by conventional preoperative tumour assessment and staging

Trouble at the top: The construction of a tenant identity in the governance of social housing organizations

The project of citizen governance has transformed the social housing sector in England where 20,000 tenants now sit as directors on the boards of housing associations, but the entrance of social housing tenants to the boardroom has aroused opposition from the chief executives of housing companies and triggered regulatory intervention from government inspectors. This paper investigates the cause of these tensions through a theoretical framework drawn from the work of feminist philosopher Judith Butler. It interprets housing governance as an identificatory project with the power to constitute tenant directors as regulated subjects, and presents evidence to suggest that this project of identity fails to completely enclose its subject, allowing tenant directors to engage in ‘identity work’ that threatens the supposed unity of the board. The paper charts the development of antagonism and political tension in the board rooms of housing companies to present an innovative account of the construction and contestation of identities in housing governance

Kasha or state selective behavior in the photochemistry of ortho-nitrobenzaldehyde?

The photochemistry of ortho-nitrobenzaldehyde dissolved in tetrahydrofuran was studied by means of femtosecond UV/Vis and IR spectroscopy. Comparison was made of the spectral and temporal signatures for similar to 400 nm and similar to 260 nm excitation. The 400 nm excitation promotes NBA to its lowest excited singlet state of n pi* character whereas for 260 nm an upper excited state of pi pi* character is addressed. On the picosecond time scale, the molecule undergoes hydrogen transfer, yielding a ketene intermediate, internal conversion recovering the starting material, and intersystem crossing. Time constants and yields of these processes are virtually not affected by the excitation wavelength. For 400 nm excitation a similar to 100 fs decay component seen in the 260 nm experiment is absent, indicating that this component is due to a pi pi* -> n pi* internal conversion. In contrast to its formation, the decay of the ketene intermediate is influenced by the excitation wavelength. This can be attributed to different amounts of vibrational excitation

Genetic Variants in Arhgef11 Are Associated With Kidney Injury in the Dahl Salt-Sensitive Rat

A previous genetic analysis comparing the Dahl salt-sensitive (S) rat to the spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR) identified a major locus on chromosome 2 that influences proteinuria in the S rat. In the present study, blood pressure, proteinuria, and renal hemodynamics were evaluated in congenic strains with small segments of the protective SHR genome on the S background. Proteinuria and renal function were significantly improved in the congenic strains compared to the S. The causative locus interval was narrowed to Arhgef11, Pear1, and Sh2d2 were identified as important candidate genes that may be linked to kidney injury in the S rat. In particular, Arhgef11 plays an important role in the activation of the Rho-ROCK signaling pathway. Inhibition of this pathway using fasudil resulted in a significant reduction of proteinuria in treated S rats (compared to untreated S). However, no difference was observed between treated or untreated SHR or congenic strains. The homologous region in humans was found to be associated with estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) in the Candidate Gene Association Resource (CARe) population. In summary, these findings demonstrate that allelic variants in Arhgef11, acting through the Rho-ROCK pathway, could influence kidney injury in the S as well as provide insight into human kidney disease

Simulation of dimensionality effects in thermal transport

The discovery of nanostructures and the development of growth and fabrication techniques of one- and two-dimensional materials provide the possibility to probe experimentally heat transport in low-dimensional systems. Nevertheless measuring the thermal conductivity of these systems is extremely challenging and subject to large uncertainties, thus hindering the chance for a direct comparison between experiments and statistical physics models. Atomistic simulations of realistic nanostructures provide the ideal bridge between abstract models and experiments. After briefly introducing the state of the art of heat transport measurement in nanostructures, and numerical techniques to simulate realistic systems at atomistic level, we review the contribution of lattice dynamics and molecular dynamics simulation to understanding nanoscale thermal transport in systems with reduced dimensionality. We focus on the effect of dimensionality in determining the phononic properties of carbon and semiconducting nanostructures, specifically considering the cases of carbon nanotubes, graphene and of silicon nanowires and ultra-thin membranes, underlying analogies and differences with abstract lattice models.Comment: 30 pages, 21 figures. Review paper, to appear in the Springer Lecture Notes in Physics volume "Thermal transport in low dimensions: from statistical physics to nanoscale heat transfer" (S. Lepri ed.

Caspase-Dependent Inhibition of Mousepox Replication by gzmB

BACKGROUND: Ectromelia virus is a natural mouse pathogen, causing mousepox. The cytotoxic T (Tc) cell granule serine-protease, granzyme B, is important for its control, but the underlying mechanism is unknown. Using ex vivo virus immune Tc cells, we have previously shown that granzyme B is able to activate several independent pro-apoptotic pathways, including those mediated by Bid/Bak/Bax and caspases-3/-7, in target cells pulsed with Tc cell determinants. METHODS AND FINDINGS: Here we analysed the physiological relevance of those pro-apoptotic pathways in ectromelia infection, by incubating ectromelia-immune ex vivo Tc cells from granzyme A deficient (GzmB(+) Tc cells) or granzyme A and granzyme B deficient (GzmAxB(-/-) Tc cell) mice with ectromelia-infected target cells. We found that gzmB-induced apoptosis was totally blocked in ectromelia infected or peptide pulsed cells lacking caspases-3/-7. However ectromelia inhibited only partially apoptosis in cells deficient for Bid/Bak/Bax and not at all when both pathways were operative suggesting that the virus is able to interfere with apoptosis induced by gzmB in case not all pathways are activated. Importantly, inhibition of viral replication in vitro, as seen with wild type cells, was not affected by the lack of Bid/Bak/Bax but was significantly reduced in caspase-3/-7-deficient cells. Both caspase dependent processes were strictly dependent on gzmB, since Tc cells, lacking both gzms, neither induced apoptosis nor reduced viral titers. SIGNIFICANCE: Out findings present the first evidence on the biological importance of the independent gzmB-inducible pro-apoptotic pathways in a physiological relevant virus infection model

Medicines information and adherence in HIV/AIDS patients

Background: Providing written medicines information is being legislated in an increasing number of countries worldwide, with the patient information leaflet (PIL) being the most widely used method for conveying health information. The impact of providing such information on adherence to therapy is reportedly unpredictable. Therapy for human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) and related opportunistic infections usually involves polytherapy and complex regimens, both of which are risk factors for non-adherence. The objective of this study was to assess the impact of medicines information on adherence to chronic co-trimoxazole therapy in low-literate HIV/AIDS patients. Methods: Two different PILs were designed for co-trimoxazole tablets and were available in both English and isiXhosa. Participants were randomly allocated to a control group (receiving no PIL), group A (receiving a 'complex PIL') and group B (receiving a 'simple PIL' incorporating pictograms). At the first interview, demographic data were collected and the time, date and day that the participant would take his/her first tablet of the month's course was also documented. In a follow-up interview adherence to therapy was assessed using two methods; self-report and tablet count. Results: The medicines information materials incorporating simple text and pictograms resulted in significantly improved adherence to therapy in the short term, whereas a non-significant increase in adherence was associated with the availability of the more complex information. This was shown by both the self-reported assessment as well as the tablet count. Conclusion: This research suggests that appropriately designed written material can have a positive impact in improving adherence and, together with verbal consultation, are essential for enabling patients to make appropriate decisions about their medicine taking