A HAZARD ANALYSIS OF CONSUMERS’ SWITCHING BEHAVIOUR IN GERMAN FOOD RETAILING FOR DAIRY PRODUCTS

German food retailing is characterized by fierce competition among retail chains for consumer shopping. This paper considers the switching behaviour using data of white dairy product purchases. The empirical investigation uses a survival analysis approach, in particular hazard analysis. The results extend the knowledge of shopping behaviour by providing a new set of explaining variables and the importance of the first store, defined as store with the major share of household budget, becomes apparent. On average, households buy dairy products 42 times per year. Thereof 58 % are retail chain switches and in 41 % of all cases the households remain at the previously visited retail chain. Generally a low customer loyalty is visible in this investigation. It is shown that switching behaviour is widely influenced - amongst others - by percentage of private label products, percentage of special offers and price consciousness.switching behaviour, store choice, store loyalty, hazard analysis, food retailing, Geschäftsstättenwahl, Geschäftsstättenwechsel, Einkaufsverhalten, Hazard Analyse, Lebensmitteleinzelhandel, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Agricultural Finance, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Industrial Organization,

Nonequilibrium Spin Dynamics in the Ferromagnetic Kondo Model

Motivated by recent experiments on molecular quantum dots we investigate the relaxation of pure spin states when coupled to metallic leads. Under suitable conditions these systems are well described by a ferromagnetic Kondo model. Using two recently developed theoretical approaches, the time-dependent numerical renormalization group and an extended ow equation method, we calculate the real-time evolution of a Kondo spin into its partially screened steady state. We obtain exact analytical results which agree well with numerical implementations of both methods. Analytical expressions for the steady state magnetization and the dependence of the long-time relaxation on microscopic parameters are established. We find the long-time relaxation process to be much faster in the regime of anisotropic Kondo couplings. The steady state magnetization is found to deviate significantly from its thermal equilibrium value.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, final version as accepted by Physical Review Letter

Повышение рационального использования человеческого потенциала

Реферат Выпускная квалификационная работа содержит 131 страницу, 20 рисунков, 39 таблиц, 50 использованных источников, 6 приложений. Ключевые слова: персонал, человеческий потенциал, рациональное использование, адаптация, компетенции, ПАО «ТРК», социальная ответственность компании. . Объектом исследования в работе является: рациональное использование человеческого потенциала компании. . Цель работы - рассмотрение методов повышения рационального использования человеческого потенциала современной компании . В процессе исследования проводились: 1) рассмотрение деятельности компании за 2011 – 2015 гг.; оценка действующей в компании системы управления персоналом и человеческого потенциала компании; 3) внесение предложений по совершенствованию действующей системы управления человеческим потенциалом компании (с расчетом экономической эффективности от внесенных предложений). . В результате исследования: внесены предложения по внедрению в кадровую работу системы периодической сверки компетенций и улучшению работы с кадровым резервом; проведен расчет экономии от внедрения предлагаемых мероприятий . Степень внедрения: запланировано применение внесенных по результатам проведенного исследования предложений в деятельность компании в 2016 г. . Область применения: управление персоналом и человеческим потенциалом в ПАО «ТРК». . Экономическая эффективность/ значимость работы: сумма полученной экономии составит 4 165 тыс. руб. в год. . В будущем планируется: применение внесенных по результатам проведенного исследования предложений в деятельность компании.abstract Final qualifying work includes 131 page, 20 figures, 39 tables, 50 sources used, 6 applications. Keywords: personnel, human potential, rational use, adaptation, competence, PJSC "TRK" social responsibility of the company. . The object of research is in: the rational use of human resources. . Purpose - to examine the methods of enhancing the rational use of the human potential of the modern company. The study carried out: 1) review of the activities of the company for 2011 - 2015 .; assessment of the current in the company personnel management and human resources of the company; 3) make proposals to improve the existing control system of the human potential of the company (with the calculation of the cost-effectiveness of the proposals). . As a result of the study: made suggestions for the implementation of the personnel working in the periodic verification of competency of the system and improvement of work with the personnel reserve; calculated the savings from the implementation of the proposed activities. Degree of implementation: planned application made by the results of the research proposals in the company's activity in 2016. Field of application: personnel management and human potential in PJSC "TRK". . Cost-effectiveness / value of the work: the sum of the savings will amount to 4165 thousand rubles.. in year. . In the future: an application made on the results of the research proposals in the company's activities

Wilson chains are not thermal reservoirs

Wilson chains, based on a logarithmic discretization of a continuous spectrum, are widely used to model an electronic (or bosonic) bath for Kondo spins and other quantum impurities within the numerical renormalization group method and other numerical approaches. In this short note we point out that Wilson chains can not serve as thermal reservoirs as their temperature changes by a number of order Delta E when a finite amount of energy Delta E is added. This proves that for a large class of non-equilibrium problems they cannot be used to predict the long-time behavior.Comment: 2 page

Operational Framework to Quantify “Quality of Recycling” across Different Material Types

Many pledges and laws are setting recycling targets without clearly defining quality of recycling. Striving to close this gap, this study presents an operational framework to quantify quality of recycling. The framework comprises three dimensions: the Virgin Displacement Potential (VDP); In-Use Stocks Lifetime (IUSL); and Environmental Impact (EI). The VDP indicates to what extent a secondary material can be used as a substitute for virgin material; the IUSL indicates how much of a certain material is still functional in society over a given time frame, and the EI is a measure of the environmental impact of a recycling process. The three dimensions are aggregated by plotting them in a distance-to-target graph. Two example calculations are included on poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) and glass. The results indicate that the recycling of bottle and container glass collected via a deposit-refund system has the lowest distance-to-target, at 1.05, and, thus, the highest quality of recycling. For PET bottles, the highest quality of recycling is achieved in closed-loop mechanical recycling of bottles (distance to optimal quality of 0.96). Furthermore, sensitivity analysis indicates that certain parameters, e.g., the collection rate for PET bottles, can reduce the distance-to-target to 0.75 when all bottles are collected for recycling

Detection of the tagged or untagged photons in acousto-optic imaging of thick highly scattering media by photorefractive adaptive holography

We propose an original adaptive wavefront holographic setup based on the photorefractive effect (PR), to make real-time measurements of acousto-optic signals in thick scattering media, with a high flux collection at high rates for breast tumor detection. We describe here our present state of art and understanding on the problem of breast imaging with PR detection of the acousto-optic signal

Patient-Reported Side Effects of Intradetrusor Botulinum Toxin Type A for Idiopathic Overactive Bladder Syndrome

Objective: The aim of the study was a prospective assessment of patient-reported side effects in an open-label study after intradetrusor botulinum toxin injections for idiopathic overactive bladder (OAB). Patients and Methods: Botulinum toxin A injection was performed in 56 patients with idiopathic OAB. Patients were followed up for 6 months concerning side effects and patients' satisfaction. Results: Different types of side effects were assessed such as dry mouth (19.6%), arm weakness (8.9%), eyelid weakness (8.9%), leg weakness (7.1%), torso weakness (5.4%), impaired vision (5.4%) and dysphagia (5.4%). In all cases, symptoms were mild and transient. Urological complications such as gross hematuria (17.9%), acute urinary retention (8.9%) and acute urinary tract infection (7.1%) were noticed. In all cases, acute urinary retention was transient and treated with temporary intermittent self-catheterization. There was no statistically significant correlation between dosage and observed side effects. Patients' satisfaction rate was high (71.4%). Conclusion: Intradetrusor injection of botulinum toxin was associated with a high rate of neurourological side effects. In general, side effects were transient, mild and did not require special treatment. Copyright (C) 2010 S. Karger AG, Base

Macrospin approximation and quantum effects in models for magnetization reversal

The thermal activation of magnetization reversal in magnetic nanoparticles is controlled by the anisotropy-energy barrier. Using perturbation theory, exact diagonalization and stability analysis of the ferromagnetic spin-s Heisenberg model with coupling or single-site anisotropy, we study the effects of quantum fluctuations on the height of the energy barrier. Opposed to the classical case, there is no critical anisotropy strength discriminating between reversal via coherent rotation and via nucleation/domain-wall propagation. Quantum fluctuations are seen to lower the barrier depending on the anisotropy strength, dimensionality and system size and shape. In the weak-anisotropy limit, a macrospin model is shown to emerge as the effective low-energy theory where the microscopic spins are tightly aligned due to the ferromagnetic exchange. The calculation provides explicit expressions for the anisotropy parameter of the effective macrospin. We find a reduction of the anisotropy-energy barrier as compared to the classical high spin-s limit.Comment: 10 pages, 11 figure