The Powerful Triangle of Marketing Data, Managerial Judgment, and Marketing Management Support Systems

In this paper we conceptualize the impact of information technology on marketing decision-making. We argue that developments in information technology affect the performance of marketing decision-makers through different routes. Advances in information technology enhance the possibilities to collect data and to generate information for supporting marketing decision-making. Potentially, this will have a positive impact on decision-making performance. Managerial expertise will favor the transformation of data into market insights. However, as the cognitive capabilities of marketing managers are limited, increasing amounts of data may also increase the complexity of the decision-making context. In turn, increased complexity enhances the probability of biased decision processes (e.g., the inappropriate use of heuristics) thereby negatively affecting decision-making performance. Marketing management support systems, also being the result of advances in information technology, are tools that can help marketers to benefit from the data explosion. These systems are able to increase the value of data and, at the same time, make decision-makers less vulnerable to biased decision processes. Our analysis leads to the expectation that the combination of marketing data, managerial judgment, and marketing management support systems will be a powerful factor for improving marketing management. Implications of our analysis are discussed.decision making;decision biases;information technology;marketing management support systems

Diffuse radio emission in the merging cluster MACS J0717.5+3745: the discovery of the most powerful radio halo

Hierarchical models of structure formation predict that galaxy clusters grow via mergers of smaller clusters and galaxy groups, as well as through continuous accretion of gas. MACS J0717.5+3745 is an X-ray luminous and complex merging cluster, located at a redshift of 0.55. Here we present Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) radio observations at 610 MHz of this cluster. The main aim of the observations is to search for diffuse radio emission within the galaxy cluster MACS J0717.5+3745 related to the ongoing merger. These GMRT observations are complemented by Very Large Array (VLA) archival observations at 1.4, 4.9 and 8.5 GHz. We have discovered a radio halo in the cluster MACS J0717.5+3745 with a size of about 1.2 Mpc. The radio power P_1.4 GHz is 5 x 10^25 W/Hz, which makes it the most powerful radio halo known till date. A 700 kpc radio structure, which we classify as a radio relic, is located in between the merging substructures of the system. The location of this relic roughly coincides with regions of the intra-cluster medium (ICM) that have a significant enhancement in temperature as shown by Chandra. The major axis of the relic is also roughly perpendicular to the merger axis. This shows that the relic might be the result of a merger-related shock wave, where particles are accelerated via the diffuse shock acceleration (DSA) mechanism. Alternatively, the relic might trace an accretion shock of a large-scale galaxy filament to the south-west. The global spectral index of radio emission within the cluster is found to be -1.24 +/-0.05 between 4.9 GHz and 610 MHz. We derive a value of 5.8 microGauss for the equipartition magnetic field strength at the location of the radio halo. [abridged].Comment: 8 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in A&A on August 3, 200

How and Why Decision Models Influence Marketing Resource Allocations

We study how and why model-based Decision Support Systems (DSSs) influence managerial decision making, in the context of marketing budgeting and resource allocation. We consider several questions: (1) What does it mean for a DSS to be "good?"; (2) What is the relationship between an anchor or reference condition, DSS-supported recommendation and decision quality? (3) How does a DSS influence the decision process, and how does the process influence outcomes? (4) Is the effect of the DSS on the decision process and outcome robust, or context specific? We test hypotheses about the effects of DSSs in a controlled experiment with two award winning DSSs and find that, (1) DSSs improve users' objective decision outcomes (an index of likely realized revenue or profit); (2) DSS users often do not report enhanced subjective perceptions of outcomes; (3) DSSs, that provide feedback in the form of specific recommendations and their associated projected benefits had a stronger effect both on the decision making process and on the outcomes.Our results suggest that although managers actually achieve improved outcomes from DSS use, they may not perceive that the DSS has improved the outcomes. Therefore, there may be limited interest in managerial uses of DSSs, unless they are designed to: (1) encourage discussion (e.g., by providing explanations and support for the recommendations), (2) provide feedback to users on likely marketplace results, and (3) help reduce the perceived complexity of the problem so that managers will consider more alternatives and invest more cognitive effort in searching for improved outcomes.marketing models;resource allocation;DSS;decision process;decision quality

How Feedback Can Improve Managerial Evaluations of Model-based Marketing Decision Support Systems

Marketing managers often provide much poorer evaluations of model-based marketing decision support systems (MDSSs) than are warranted by the objective performance of those systems. We show that a reason for this discrepant evaluation may be that MDSSs are often not designed to help users understand and internalize the underlying factors driving the MDSS results and related recommendations. Thus, there is likely to be a gap between a marketing manager’s mental model and the decision model embedded in the MDSS. We suggest that this gap is an important reason for the poor subjective evaluations of MDSSs, even when the MDSSs are of high objective quality, ultimately resulting in unreasonably low levels of MDSS adoption and use. We propose that to have impact, an MDSS should not only be of high objective quality, but should also help reduce any mental model-MDSS model gap. We evaluate two design characteristics that together lead model-users to update their mental models and reduce the mental model-MDSS gap, resulting in better MDSS evaluations: providing feedback on the upside potential for performance improvement and providing specific suggestions for corrective actions to better align the user's mental model with the MDSS. We hypothesize that, in tandem, these two types of MDSS feedback induce marketing managers to update their mental models, a process we call deep learning, whereas individually, these two types of feedback will have much smaller effects on deep learning. We validate our framework in an experimental setting, using a realistic MDSS in the context of a direct marketing decision problem. We then discuss how our findings can lead to design improvements and better returns on investments in MDSSs such as CRM systems, Revenue Management systems, pricing decision support systems, and the like.Learning;Feedback;Marketing Decision Models;Marketing Decision Support Systems;Marketing Information Systems

Particle Acceleration on Megaparsec Scales in a Merging Galaxy Cluster

Galaxy clusters form through a sequence of mergers of smaller galaxy clusters and groups. Models of diffusive shock acceleration (DSA) suggest that in shocks that occur during cluster mergers, particles are accelerated to relativistic energies, similar to supernova remnants. Together with magnetic fields these particles emit synchrotron radiation and may form so-called radio relics. Here we report the detection of a radio relic for which we find highly aligned magnetic fields, a strong spectral index gradient, and a narrow relic width, giving a measure of the magnetic field in an unexplored site of the universe. Our observations prove that DSA also operates on scales much larger than in supernova remnants and that shocks in galaxy clusters are capable of producing extremely energetic cosmic rays.Comment: Published in Science Express on 23 September 2010, 6 figures, Supporting Online Material included. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of the AAAS for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Science, volume 330, 15 October 201

Effect of green manure crops and organic amendments on incidence of nematode-borne tobacco rattle virus

Tobacco rattle tobravirus (TRV) may infect several ornamental bulb crops and is transmitted by trichodorid nematodes. Paratrichodorus teres, P. pachydermus and Trichodorus similis are the main vectors in the Netherlands. In field experiments the effects of various pre-crops and organic amendments on the TRV Infection Potential of Soils (TRV-IPS) and on disease level in tulip and gladiolus were studied. Organic matter amendment of soil at a rate of 1% dry weight has been shown to reduce the host finding activity of P. teres under laboratory conditions. In a field containing viruliferous P. teres dahlia, italian ryegrass, white mustard and fodder radish were grown or the soil was kept fallow and the resulting TRV-IPS prior to the bulbous test crops was measured by a soil dilution bait test method. The application of organic matter was tested after dahlia as pre-crop. Household waste compost (GFT compost) was applied as a soil mix or planting furrow treatment at 12 tons dry weight per ha for tulip and gladiolus. Spent mushroom compost (Champost) was added as planting furrow treatment at 17 or 12 tons dw/ha, respectively, for tulip and gladiolus. The percentage of TRV diseased plants was determined at flowering in all pre-crop and organic amendment treatments. Champost in the planting furrow and fodder radish as a preceding crop reduced the percentage infection in tulip under favourable conditions for TRV infection. In gladiolus most organic amendments, fodder radish as pre-crop and keeping the soil fallow reduced the TRV infection rate of the plants during the first growing season, but not of the plants grown from the corms in the next year

The provision of education and training for healthcare professionals through the medium of the internet

This paper describes a new initiative to provide Internet based courses to student and professional occupational therapists in four centres in the UK, Belgium the Netherlands and Sweden. The basis of this collaborative Occupational Therapy Internet School (OTIS) is the concept of the “Virtual College”. This comprises the design and implementation of a sophisticated Internet-based system through which courses can be managed, prepared and delivered online in an effective fashion, and where students can communicate both with the staff and their peers. The aim is to support and facilitate the whole range of educational activities within a remote electronic environment. A major feature of the course organisation is the adoption of a problem-based approach in which students will collaborate internationally to propose effective intervention in given case study scenarios. The paper outlines the rationale for OTIS, the content and structure of the courseware, the technical specification of the system and evaluation criteria. In addition to the more conventional web-based learning facilities generally offered, a number of agent-based approaches are being adopted to assist in the management of the course by ensuring the proper delivery of course materials and to assist the functioning of project groups. </p

The black-necked grebe <I>Podiceps nigricollis</I>. A new bird record for the Kruger National Park

The avifauna of the Kruger National Park (KNP) was described in detail by Kemp (1974). However, species new to the list are bound to turn up occasionally. Joubert and English (1973), who discovered the occurrence of the crimson-breasted shrike Laniarius atroccoccincus Burchell, write: "Many of these species include migrants and vagrants entering the Park during rather abnormal times such as cyclones or periods of heavy rainfall.

The Powerful Triangle of Marketing Data, Managerial Judgment, and Marketing Management Support Systems

In this paper we conceptualize the impact of information technology on marketing decision-making. We argue that developments in information technology affect the performance of marketing decision-makers through different routes. Advances in information technology enhance the possibilities to collect data and to generate information for supporting marketing decision-making. Potentially, this will have a positive impact on decision-making performance. Managerial expertise will favor the transformation of data into market insights. However, as the cognitive capabilities of marketing managers are limited, increasing amounts of data may also increase the complexity of the decision-making context. In turn, increased complexity enhances the probability of biased decision processes (e.g., the inappropriate use of heuristics) thereby negatively affecting decision-making performance. Marketing management support systems, also being the result of advances in information technology, are tools that can help marketers to benefit from the data explosion. These systems are able to increase the value of data and, at the same time, make decision-makers less vulnerable to biased decision processes. Our analysis leads to the expectation that the combination of marketing data, managerial judgment, and marketing management support systems will be a powerful factor for improving marketing management. Implications of our analysis are discussed