A Distribution Services Approach for Developing Effective Competitive Strategies Against Big Box Retailers

According to one theoretical approach, the primary economic function of retailers is to deliver products together with distribution services. We use this framework to identify competitive niches for smaller retailers competing against big box stores. We compare the distribution services offered by the Home Depot versus smaller retailers using both in-store measures and consumer perception data, and the relative importance of distribution services as determinants of store choice. The results show that the Home Depot’s superiority in pricing and assortment attracts a significant market, but smaller retailers can secure niche markets by delivering higher levels of ambiance and information

A New Look at Industrial Sales and its Requisite Competencies

Although industrial sales is widely discussed in both practitioner and academic circles, no clear definition of “industrial” has been established. We present a definition of industrial sales that distinguishes it from other sales domains, and we draw from a panel of industrial sales executives and a random sample of industrial sales managers to generate and evaluate the importance of a comprehensive list of knowledge, skills, and value competencies that are required for success in industrial sales. Technical competencies, while important, were rated relatively less so than selling- and customer-related competencies. Among other recommendations, we implore industrial sales executives to incorporate a global mindset into their sales organization, and we challenge academics to extend personal selling beyond the business school to engineering, computer science, and other technical disciplines from where industrial salespeople often recruit

Low-energy antimatter experiments at the antiproton decelerator at CERN: Testing CPT invariance and the WEP

The riddle of the baryon asymmetry, i.e. the matter antimatter imbalance in the universe can be addressed by comparing matter particles with their antimatter counterparts. At the antiproton decelerator (AD) at CERN several antimatter experiments investigate whether CPT (charge-parity-time reversal) invariance and the WEP (weak equivalence principle) hold. The systems probed are antihydrogen (H¯), antiprotonic helium and individual antiprotons (p¯). This article is meant to give an overview of the experiments located at the AD, discuss some commonly used experimental techniques and point out what the different experimental approaches entail. The research done on low-energy antimatter systems can be seen as complementary to the high energy research carried out at CERN and elsewhere: It provides bounds on CPT invariance and directly addresses the question of whether the WEP holds for antimatter. It is noted that the AD - at the moment - is the only low-energy antiproton source on earth

Early molecular layer interneuron hyperactivity triggers Purkinje neuron degeneration in SCA1.

Toxic proteinaceous deposits and alterations in excitability and activity levels characterize vulnerable neuronal populations in neurodegenerative diseases. Using in vivo two-photon imaging in behaving spinocerebellar ataxia type 1 (Sca1) mice, wherein Purkinje neurons (PNs) degenerate, we identify an inhibitory circuit element (molecular layer interneurons [MLINs]) that becomes prematurely hyperexcitable, compromising sensorimotor signals in the cerebellum at early stages. Mutant MLINs express abnormally elevated parvalbumin, harbor high excitatory-to-inhibitory synaptic density, and display more numerous synaptic connections on PNs, indicating an excitation/inhibition imbalance. Chemogenetic inhibition of hyperexcitable MLINs normalizes parvalbumin expression and restores calcium signaling in Sca1 PNs. Chronic inhibition of mutant MLINs delayed PN degeneration, reduced pathology, and ameliorated motor deficits in Sca1 mice. Conserved proteomic signature of Sca1 MLINs, shared with human SCA1 interneurons, involved the higher expression of FRRS1L, implicated in AMPA receptor trafficking. We thus propose that circuit-level deficits upstream of PNs are one of the main disease triggers in SCA1

When Do Rewards Have Enhancement Effects? An Availability Valence Approach

It is commonly argued that although rewards induce behaviors, they undermine attitudes and motivation for subsequent action. This perspective has been applied in a consumer setting to suggest that sales promotions such as coupons will undermine consumer brand evaluations and brand loyalty. Instead of focusing on the undermining effects of promotional rewards, this research applies the availability valence hypothesis (Tybout, Sternthal, & Calder, 1983) to predict and explain when rewards will enhance recipient response. Two experiments demonstrate that an immediate reward from a product-related source enhances product evaluations by making favorable information more accessible than unfavorable information. Promotions enhance the relative accessibility of favorable information when their benefits are directly experienced and the salience of the promotion’s task-contingency is diminished by maximizing consumer behavioral freedom

Development of a detector for inertial sensing of positronium at AEgIS (CERN)

The primary goal of the AEgIS collaboration at CERN is to measure the gravitational acceleration on neutral antimatter. Positronium (Ps), the bound state of an electron and a positron, is a suitable candidate for a force-sensitive inertial measurement by means of deflectometry/interferometry. In order to conduct such an experiment, the impact position and time of arrival of Ps atoms at the detector must be detected simultaneously. The detection of a low-velocity Ps beam with a spatial resolution of (88 ± 5) μm was previously demonstrated [1]. Based on the methodology employed in [1] and [2], a hybrid imaging/timing detector with increased spatial resolution of about 10 μm was developed. The performance of a prototype was tested with a positron beam. The concept of the detector and first results are presented