Segment selection by relationship strength

Relationship management is becoming more important, also in direct marketing. Measuring the strength of relationships is relevant, since relationship strength can be used as a segmentation variable. However, in measuring relationship strength, mostly one or more behavioral indicators are used (e.g. the R/F/M-formula). So, these indicators measure customer quality instead of relationship quality, which is mainly determined by customer perceptions. This paper shows some preliminary results of a relationship audit, which depends on customer attitudes towards the relationship.marketing ;

An O ( n log n ) algorithm for the two-machine ow shop problem with controllable machine speeds

There appear to be some problems in defining direct marketing. Bauer and Miglautsch (1992) present direct marketing as a relational marketing process. According to Schofield (1995: 36), "Such a definition excludes much marketing work which employs individual direct marketing techniques on a pragmatic and eclectic basis, alongside nondirect marketing elements, and in which the use of such techniques is normally seen as direct marketing". He suggests that two definitions may be needed: a general, inclusive definition of direct marketing, e.g. the DMA-definition, which allows any use of any direct marketing technique to be recognized as an instance of direct marketing, and a definition of a direct marketing system, e.g. Bauer and Miglautsch''s definition, covering cases where a product or service is marketed exclusively by direct marketing methods (Schofield 1995: 37). This distinction suggests that several levels of direct marketing can be distinguished. The definition of direct marketing as proposed by Raaijmaakers et al. (1992) allows for distinguishing several levels of direct marketing without the need for more than one definition. They stress the importance of direct relationships and the specific use of marketing instruments. Based on their definition, four levels of direct marketing can be distinguished (Hoekstra 1994). Three of them concern strategic decisions and one is at the operational level (see table 1). These types cover the ever broadening field of direct marketing, including the direct marketing system as well as the use of direct marketing methods.marketing ;

Shear Modulus Dispersion in Cracked and Fluid-Saturated Quartzites: Experimental Observations and Modeling

The effect of pore fluids on acoustic wave dispersion in rocks with low aspect ratio crack porosity is important for the interpretation of laboratory and field observations in hard rock mineral exploration environments. Here we make laboratory measurements of shear modulus dispersion at frequencies 0.01–1 Hz and at 1 MHz with different saturating fluids (dry, argon, and water saturated) in two thermally cracked quartzite samples with ~2% total porosity. Measurements are made across a range of effective pressures (10–150 MPa), with the resulting very low permeabilities of the samples varying from 1–300 × 10−21 m2. Moduli across the 0.01–1 Hz band were typically independent of frequency. The shear moduli measured at sub‐Hz frequencies are unaffected by fluid saturation, as expected for the saturated isobaric (Gassmann) regime. In marked contrast, water saturation of the cracked rocks results in very large increases in the shear moduli measured at 1 MHz and low effective pressures, indicative of saturated isolated conditions. Thus, at an effective pressure of 20 MPa, the shear moduli for the two water‐saturated quartzites increase by 74% and 98% from 1 Hz to 1 MHz. The contrast in elastic moduli between dry and water‐saturated conditions is well represented by the theoretical model developed by Walsh and others. The observed dispersion highlights the need for care in seismological application of results obtained at MHz frequencies from laboratory ultrasonic measurements.The work was funded through NSERC Discovery grants to D. R. S. and grant DP110101830 from the Australian Research Council to I. J. and D. R. S. H. S.’s visit to Canberra was funded by the NSERC Michael Smith Foreign Study Supplement

Molecular immunophenotyping of lungs and spleens in naive and vaccinated chickens early after pulmonary avian influenza A (H9N2) virus infection

In a respiratory-infection-model with the avian influenza A H9N2 virus we studied lung and splenic immune reactions in chickens using a recently developed 5K chicken immuno-microarray. Groups of chickens were either mock-immunized (referred to as non-immune), vaccinated with inactivated viral antigen only (immune) or with viral antigen in a water-in-oil (W/O) immunopotentiator (immune potentiated). Three weeks after vaccination all animals were given a respiratory infection. Immune potentiated birds developed inhibitory antiviral antibodies, showed minimal lung histopathology and no detectable viral sequences, while non-immune animals showed microscopic immunopathology and detectable virus. Immune birds, receiving antigen in saline only, showed minimal microscopic histopathology, and intermediate levels of virus detection. These classical features in the different groups were mirrored by overlapping or specific mRNA gene expression profiles in lungs and spleen using microarray analysis. To our knowledge this is the first study demonstrating pneumonia-associated lung pathology of the low pathogenic avian influenza H9N2 virus. Our data provide insights into the molecular interaction of this virus with its natural host when naive or primed by vaccination