THE DETERMINANTS OF COUPON DISCOUNTS FOR BREAKFAST CEREALS

This study identifies the determinants of coupon values at the brand level using a framework developed from price discrimination theory and the principles of demand. Couponing is considered within the context of a complex marketing program in which it is coordinated with other non-price promotional strategies. A simultaneous, two-equation, fixed-effects, panel-data model is specified and fitted with data on household purchases of ready-to-eat (RTE) breakfast cereals between 1992 and 1997. The empirical model accounts for the bi-directional causality between brand prices and discount levels and captures the retail effects of the major cereal maker's price cuts and discount reductions that occurred in 1996. Higher brand prices cause coupon values to rise, supporting the hypothesis that cereal makers price discriminate among consumers. Other non-price promotions, including advertising, store flyers, and in-store displays, appear to be coordinated with couponing. Specifically, coupon values fall with more intense advertising and in-store displays but rise when the couponed products are featured in store flyers. Discount levels are positively related to brand market share and the size of discounts that are redeemed for rival cereals. Moreover, coupon values fall with increasing brand loyalty among RTE cereal purchasers. Cereal prices are positively affected by coupon values, advertising expenditures, food-ingredient and packaging costs, and the prices of competing brands. Inventory levels are negatively correlated with brand price. Employee wages were not found to significantly influence cereal prices.Marketing,

Adaptive computational methods for aerothermal heating analysis

The development of adaptive gridding techniques for finite-element analysis of fluid dynamics equations is described. The developmental work was done with the Euler equations with concentration on shock and inviscid flow field capturing. Ultimately this methodology is to be applied to a viscous analysis for the purpose of predicting accurate aerothermal loads on complex shapes subjected to high speed flow environments. The development of local error estimate strategies as a basis for refinement strategies is discussed, as well as the refinement strategies themselves. The application of the strategies to triangular elements and a finite-element flux-corrected-transport numerical scheme are presented. The implementation of these strategies in the GIM/PAGE code for 2-D and 3-D applications is documented and demonstrated

Labor Law-Collective Bargaining Agreements-Sham Exception to the Parol Evidence Rule in Welfare Trust Fund Agreement

Defendant, shortly after commencing a small-scale strip-mining operation, signed a standard United Mine Workers collective bargaining agreement. He claimed that before signing he informed the union representative that he could not pay the union wage scale, or the specified royalty payments to the plaintiffs, trustees of the union welfare and retirement fund, and that he signed only after being assured that the agreement was a mere formality. Defendant did not pay union wages, and sent monthly checks to the plaintiffs only in amounts he felt he could afford. Plaintiffs brought suit on the written agreement for payment of the royalties on coal mined by the defendant and were awarded a summary judgment. On appeal, held, reversed and remanded, one judge dissenting. The facts were not sufficiently established to determine whether or not the parol evidence rule should be invoked; but if the defendant can show that the signed contract was not the real agreement between himself and the union, he should not be held liable on the written terms. Lewis v. Lowry, 295 F.2d 197 (4th Cir. 1961)

Federal Procedure- Pre-Trail Disclosures- Sanctions Available to Enforce Pre-Trial Orders

Petitioner, plaintiff in an action in federal district court, was ordered under Federal Rule 16 to submit pre-trial statements setting out the facts of the case, his damages, his witnesses and exhibits, and his legal theories of recovery. His counsel filed statements which were adjudged insufficient, and a pre-trial order was entered precluding petitioner from offering at trial any testimony by witnesses other than himself and his wife, or any evidence concerning liability in negligence or breach of warranty, and limiting his exhibits and evidence of damages. On petition for mandamus to set aside the preclusion order, held, granted, one judge dissenting in part. Since Rule 16 authorizes the issuance of an order setting forth only those points on which the parties have willingly reached agreement, the information requested could not be compelled, and the preclusion order exceeded the judge\u27s authority. Padovani v. Bruchhausen, 293 F.2d 546 (2d Cir. 1961)

Full-Potential LMTO: Total Energy and Force Calculations

The essential features of a full potential electronic structure method using Linear Muffin-Tin Orbitals (LMTOs) are presented. The electron density and potential in the this method are represented with no inherent geometrical approximation. This method allows the calculation of total energies and forces with arbitrary accuracy while sacrificing much of the efficiency and physical content of approximate methods such as the LMTO-ASA method.Comment: 25 pages, 2 figures, Workshop on the TB-LMTO method, Monastery of Mont St. Odile, October 4-5, 199

MODELING COUPON VALUES FOR READY-TO-EAT BREAKFAST CEREALS

A theoretical framework is developed to highlight the significant determinants of coupon values. A fixed effects panel data model is fitted with data from the breakfast cereal industry. The explanatory variables include own retail price, brand loyalty, brand market share, rival coupon redemptions, and firm and product type indicators.coupons, ready-to-eat breakfast cereals, panel data model, Consumer/Household Economics, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods,

Income in the Off-Season: Household Adaptation to Yearly Work Interruptions

Joblessness is highly seasonal. To analyze how households adapt to seasonal joblessness, we introduce a measure of seasonal work interruptions premised on the idea that a seasonal worker will tend to exit employment around the same time each year. We show that an excess share of prime-age U.S. workers experience recurrent separations spaced exactly 12 months apart. These separations coincide with aggregate seasonal downturns and are concentrated in seasonally volatile industries. Examining workers most prone to seasonal work interruptions, we find that these workers incur large earnings losses during the off-season. Lost earnings are 1) driven mainly by repeated separations from the same employer, 2) not recouped at other firms, 3) partly offset by unemployment benefits, and 4) amplified by concurrent drops in partners’ earnings. On net, household income falls by about $0.80 for each$1 lost in own earnings

Mifepristone reduces insulin resistance in patient volunteers with adrenal incidentalomas that secrete low levels of cortisol : a pilot study

Background: Incidental adrenal masses are commonly detected during imaging for other pathologies. 10% of the elderly population has an ‘adrenal incidentaloma’, up to 20% of these show low-grade autonomous cortisol secretion and 60% of patients with autonomous cortisol secretion have insulin resistance. Cortisol excess is known to cause insulin resistance, an independent cardiovascular risk marker, however in patients with adrenal incidentalomas it is unknown whether their insulin resistance is secondary to the excess cortisol and therefore potentially reversible. In a proof of concept study we examined the short-term effects of glucocorticoid receptor (GR) antagonism in patients with an adrenal incidentaloma to determine whether their insulin resistance was reversible. Methodology/Principal Findings: In a prospective open-label pilot study, six individuals with adrenal incidentalomas and autonomous cortisol secretion were treated with mifepristone (a GR antagonist) 200 mg twice daily and studied for 4 weeks on a Clinical Research Facility. Insulin resistance at four weeks was assessed by insulin resistance indices, lnHOMA-IR and lnMatsuda, and AUC insulin during a 2-hour glucose tolerance test. Biochemical evidence of GR blockade was shown in all individuals and across the group there was a significant reduction in insulin resistance: lnHOMA-IR (1.0vs0.6; p = 0.03), lnHOMA-%beta (4.8vs4.3; p = 0.03) and lnMatsuda (1.2vs1.6; p = 0.03). Five out of six individuals showed a reduction in insulin AUC .7237 pmol/l.min, and in two patients this showed a clinically significant cardiovascular benefit (as defined by the Helsinki heart study). Conclusions: Short-term GR antagonism is sufficient to reduce insulin resistance in some individuals with adrenal incidentalomas and mild cortisol excess. Further assessment is required to assess if the responses may be used to stratify therapy as adrenal incidentalomas may be a common remediable cause of increased cardiovascular risk