Effectiveness, Efficiency, and Ethics of Marketing Analytics

Abstract The concept of big data has influenced the marketing field in numerous ways. By having access to more information about their consumers than ever before, marketers are presented with a unique opportunity to make the marketing process more streamlined and effective than ever; however, this also creates a challenge in understanding how this targeted advertising affects the brand’s perception by consumers. This study looks at the concepts of data marketing and re-targeted ads from three aspects. First, are marketers being as effective as possible to ensure they are sending the right advertisement, to the right customer, at the right time? Second, are marketers being as efficient as possible when choosing the correct platform to reach their target customers? Third, are companies remembering the ethical components of collecting this information on consumers, and ensuring they understand when consumers feel specialized advertising becomes an invasion of their privacy? To answer these questions, I first performed secondary research in the form of a literature review. From surveying the scope of the subject, I then performed primary research by conducting in-depth interviews and a survey. The results show that there are two distinct type of consumers: one group who is accepting of these re-targeted advertisements and welcoming of the specialized marketing, and a second group who is skeptical of this form of marketing and concerned over privacy issues. Marketers must be aware of these two distinct types of consumers and ensure they are choosing their advertising methods carefully to ensure an efficient utilization of resources and to make sure they are not presenting a detriment to their brand for the consumers who do not want catered advertisements

Responses of three Muslim majority primary schools in England to the Islamic faith of their pupils

This paper considers the responses of three English primary schools to the education of their Muslim pupils. It begins by setting out the context of discussion about Muslims and education in Europe as well as by describing some of the structural and pedagogical characteristics and trends in English education influencing the schools’ options and choices. The main body of the article is a comparative analysis of the three schools, focusing on the approaches of teachers and school leaders to the faith backgrounds of their pupils, their constructions of Islam for these educational contexts, and their preparation of Muslim children for a religiously plural Britain. As the schools devise strategies and select between options, they provide in microcosm differing models of the inclusion of minority Islam in a western society

After Action Reports: Lessons on Vaccine Distribution

The responses of individual states to the 2009 H1N1 Pandemic are documented in their After Action Reports (AARs), written in summer 2010. In an attempt to understand how these responses could improve for future pandemics, this paper reviews the AARs of fourteen states to determine how vaccine distribution methods and communication issues impacted the success of the states’ responses to the 2009 H1N1 Pandemic. The results of this review reveal several trends to inform preparation for future pandemics. For instance, the best distribution method for times of low supply of vaccine and high demand is one based on county populations within a state, while an online ordering system for vaccine performs well in times of high supply and lower demand. Finally, this paper finds that the best preparedness plans are the ones for which components have been tested in some capacity prior to use

Observations and model simulations of wave-current interaction on the inner shelf

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2016. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans 121 (2016); 198–208, doi:10.1002/2015JC010788.Wave directions and mean currents observed for two 1 month long periods in 7 and 2 m water depths along 11 km of the southern shoreline of Martha's Vineyard, MA, have strong tidal modulations. Wave directions are modulated by as much as 70° over a tidal cycle. The magnitude of the tidal modulations in the wavefield decreases alongshore to the west, consistent with the observed decrease in tidal currents from 2.1 to 0.2 m/s along the shoreline. A numerical model (SWAN and Deflt3D-FLOW) simulating waves and currents reproduces the observations accurately. Model simulations with and without wave-current interaction and tidal depth changes demonstrate that the observed tidal modulations of the wavefield primarily are caused by wave-current interaction and not by tidal changes to water depths over the nearby complex shoals.ONR, NSF, Sea Grant, NDSEG, an MIT Presidential Graduate Fellowship, and ASD(R&E)2016-07-1

Storm impact on morphological evolution of a sandy inlet

© The Author(s), 2018. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans 123 (2018): 5751-5762, doi:10.1029/2017JC013708.Observations of waves, currents, and bathymetric change in shallow water (8 m). A numerical model (Delft3D, 2DH mode) simulating waves, currents, and morphological change reproduces the observations with the inclusion of hurricane force winds and sediment transport parameters adjusted based on model‐data comparisons. For simulations of short hurricanes and longer nor'easters with identical offshore total time‐integrated wave energy, but different peak wave energies and storm durations, morphological change is correlated (R2 = 0.60) with storm intensity (total energy of the storm divided by the duration of the storm). Similarly, the erosion observed at the Sand Engine in the Netherlands is correlated with storm intensity. The observations and simulations suggest that the temporal distribution of energy in a storm event, as well as the total energy, impacts subsequent nearshore morphological change. Increased storm intensity enhances sediment transport in bathymetrically complex, mixed wave‐and‐tidal‐current energy environments, as well as at other wave‐dominated sandy beaches.National‐Security‐Science‐and‐Engineering and Vannevar‐Bush Faculty Fellowships; National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Sea Grant; National Science Foundatio

Flow separation effects on shoreline sediment transport

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2017. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here under a nonexclusive, irrevocable, paid-up, worldwide license granted to WHOI. It is made available for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Coastal Engineering 125 (2017): 23–27, doi:10.1016/j.coastaleng.2017.04.007.Field-tested numerical model simulations are used to estimate the effects of an inlet, ebb shoal, wave height, wave direction, and shoreline geometry on the variability of bathymetric change on a curved coast with a migrating inlet and strong nearshore currents. The model uses bathymetry measured along the southern shoreline of Martha’s Vineyard, MA, and was validated with waves and currents observed from the shoreline to ~10-m water depth. Between 2007 and 2014, the inlet was open and the shoreline along the southeast corner of the island eroded ~200 m and became sharper. Between 2014 and 2015, the corner accreted and became smoother as the inlet closed. Numerical simulations indicate that variability of sediment transport near the corner shoreline depends more strongly on its radius of curvature (a proxy for the separation of tidal flows from the coast) than on the presence of the inlet, the ebb shoal, or wave height and direction. As the radius of curvature decreases (as the corner sharpens), tidal asymmetry of nearshore currents is enhanced, leading to more sediment transport near the shoreline over several tidal cycles. The results suggest that feedbacks between shoreline geometry and inner-shelf flows can be important to coastal erosion and accretion in the vicinity of an inlet.Funding was provided by NSF, Sea Grant (NOAA), NDSEG, ASD(R&E), and ONR