Do promotions benefit manufacturers, retailers or both ?.

While there has been strong managerial and academic interest in price promotions, much of the focus has been on the impact of such promotions on category sales, brand sales and brand choice. In contrast, little is known about the long-run impact of price promotions on manufacturer and retailer revenues and margins, although both marketing researchers and practitioners consider this a priority area (Marketing Science Institute 2000). Do promotions generate additional revenue and for whom? Which brand, category and market conditions influence promotional benefits and their allocation across manufacturers and retailers?To answer these questions, we conduct a large-scale econometric investigation of the effects of price promotions on manufacturer revenues, retailer revenues and margins. This investigation proceeds in two steps. First, persistence modeling reveals the short- and long-run effects of price promotions on these performance measures. Second, weighted least-squares analysis shows to what extent brand and promotion policies, as well as market-structure and category characteristics, influence promotional impact. A first major finding of our paper is that price promotions do not have permanent monetary effects for either party. Second, in terms of the cumulative, over-time, promotional impact on their revenues, we find significant differences between the manufacturer and retailer. Price promotions have a predominantly positive impact on manufacturer revenues, but their effects on retailer revenues are mixed. Retailer (category) margins, in contrast, are typically reduced by price promotions. Even when accounting for cross-category and store-traffic effects, we still find evidence that price promotions are typically not beneficial to the retailer. Third, our results indicate that manufacturer revenue elasticities are higher for promotions of small-share brands and for frequently promoted brands. Moreover, they are higher for storable products and lower in categories with a high degree of brand proliferation. Retailer revenue elasticities, in turn, are higher for brands with frequent and shallow promotions, for storable products and in categories with a low extent of brand proliferation. As such, from a revenue-generating point of view, manufacturer and retailer interests are often aligned in terms of which categories and brands to promote. Finally, retailer margin elasticities are higher for promotions of small-share brands and for brands with infrequent and shallow promotions. Thus, the implications with respect to the frequency of promotions depend upon the performance measure the retailer chooses to emphasize. The paper discusses the managerial implications of our results for both manufacturers and retailers and suggests various avenues for future research.

The Protective Effect of the Mediterranean Diet: Focus on Cancer and Cardiovascular Risk

The lower occurrence of cancer and cardiovascular disease in the population around the Mediterranean basin has been linked to the dietary habits of the region. Indeed, this so-called Mediterranean diet is essentially different from the diets consumed in Western and Northern European countries and is rich in nuts, fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole-wheat bread, fish, and olive oil, with moderate amounts of red wine, which is mainly consumed during meals. Although a variety of cultural and religious traditions exist among the peoples of the Mediterranean area, olive oil, fish, and red wine hold a traditional and central position in the culinary routines of the region. The components of the diet contain an ample source of molecules with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory actions, among which omega-3 fatty acids, oleic acid, and phenolic compounds hold a prominent place. This review will summarize the results of important epidemiological studies that have investigated the protective effect of fish and olive oil on the risk of breast, prostate, and colorectal cancer and of wine on the risk of cardiovascular disease. The present review also aims to elucidate the various mechanisms by which various dietary components exhibit their beneficial action. In this respect, emphasis will be placed on the properties of omega-3 fatty acids from fish, oleic acid from olive oil, and phenolic compounds from olive oil and red wine

Methodology of the biological risk classification of animal pathogens in Belgium

The biological hazards posed by micro-organisms have lead to their categorisation into risk groups and the elaboration of classification lists. Current classification systems rely on criteria defined by the World Health Organization, which cover the severity of the disease the micro-organism might cause, its ability to spread and the availability of prophylaxis or efficient treatment. Animal pathogens are classified according to the definitions of the World Organization of Animal Health, which also consider economic aspects of disease. In Europe, classification is often directly linked to containment measures. The Belgian classification system however, only considers the inherent characteristics of the micro-organism, not its use, making the risk classification independent of containment measures. A common classification list for human and animal pathogens has been developed in Belgium using as comprehensive an approach as possible. Evolution of scientific knowledge will demand regular updating of classification lists. This paper describes the Belgian risk classification system and the methodology that was used for its peer-reviewed revision (with a focus on animal pathogens)

Protein delivery into plant cells: Toward in vivo structural biology

Understanding the biologically relevant structural and functional behavior of proteins inside living plant cells is only possible through the combination of structural biology and cell biology. The state-of-the-art structural biology techniques are typically applied to molecules that are isolated from their native context. Although most experimental conditions can be easily controlled while dealing with an isolated, purified protein, a serious shortcoming of such in vitro work is that we cannot mimic the extremely complex intracellular environment in which the protein exists and functions. Therefore, it is highly desirable to investigate proteins in their natural habitat, i.e., within live cells. This is the major ambition of in-cell NMR, which aims to approach structure-function relationship under true in vivo conditions following delivery of labeled proteins into cells under physiological conditions. With a multidisciplinary approach that includes recombinant protein production, confocal fluorescence microscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and different intracellular protein delivery strategies, we explore the possibility to develop in-cell NMR studies in living plant cells. While we provide a comprehensive framework to set-up in-cell NMR, we identified the efficient intracellular introduction of isotope-labeled proteins as the major bottleneck. Based on experiments with the paradigmatic intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) Early Response to Dehydration protein 10 and 14, we also established the subcellular localization of ERD14 under abiotic stress. © 2017 Cedeño, Pauwels and Tompa

Pairing-excitation versus intruder states in 68Ni and 90Zr

A discussion on the nature of the 0+ states in 68Ni (Z=28, N=40) is presented and a comparison is made with its valence counterpart 90Zr (Z=40, N=50). Evidence is given for a 0+ proton intruder state at only ~2.2 MeV excitation energy in 68Ni, while the analogous neutron intruder states in 90Zr reside at 4126 keV and 5441 keV. The application of a shell-model description of 0+ intruder states reveals that many pair-scattered neutrons across N=40 have to be involved to explain the low excitation energy of the proton-intruder configuration in 68Ni.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures, 1 tabl

Affinity purification of human m-calpain through an intrinsically disordered inhibitor, calpastatin

Calpains are calcium-activated proteases that have biomedical and biotechnological potential. Their activity is tightly regulated by their endogenous inhibitor, calpastatin that binds to the enzyme only in the presence of calcium. Conventional approaches to purify calpain comprise multiple chromatographic steps, and are labor-intensive, leading to low yields. Here we report a new purification procedure for the human m-calpain based on its reversible calcium-mediated interaction with the intrinsically disordered calpastatin. We exploit the specific binding properties of human calpastatin domain 1 (hCSD1) to physically capture human m-calpain from a complex biological mixture. The dissociation of the complex is mediated by chelating calcium, upon which heterodimeric calpain elutes while hCSD1 remains immobilized onto the stationary phase. This novel affinity-based purification was compared to the conventional multistep purification strategy and we find that it is robust, it yields a homogeneous preparation, it can be scaled up easily and it rests on a non-disruptive step that maintains close to physiological conditions that allow further biophysical and functional studies. © 2017 Nguyen et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited