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In recent years, the commercial catalogues of businesses that produce teaching aids – which, prompted by the spread of a pedagogical vision linked to activism, first appeared in the second half of the nineteenth century in parallel with the first production of school objects – have acquired increasing importance as a research source in the field of historical pedagogy. Their versatile nature makes them a rich, varied and precious research tool that can make a considerable contribution to the field of studies related to school materials. The aim of this article is to define the characteristics of this source to subsequently show how recent research grants have been able to offer a first instance of comparative reflection on the issue. From a review of the data that has emerged, a methodological framework for studying commercial catalogues of teaching aids as a research source is being traced out, with plans for future steps on an international level to reinforce its study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emergence of the latest form of aggressive, low price retailer- the catalog showroom merchandiser-has ignited a controversy over comparative price advertising. This paper considers that problem within the context of existing literature and presents results of a survey of catalog showroom customers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses in-home catalog shopping behavior with particular focus on three aspects of this type of shopping: its convenience, its selection of goods, and its degree of risk. This study focuses on several hypotheses derived from these three aspects of catalog shopping. First is that catalog shopping is related to the amount of household income or households with children. Hypotheses also guess that this type of shopping is related to the consumers' attitudes toward large and small scale shopping centers. Furthermore, the author hypothesizes that catalog shopping is related to age. The methodology of this study is described, and the results are analyzed. The author also discusses how this information will impact marketers.

Visual information search is a combination of two distinct types of behavior. Goal-directed search behavior occurs when consumers use stored search routines to collect information in a deliberate manner. In contrast, exploratory search behavior occurs when consumers are confronted with multiple pieces of information but have little stored knowledge about how to proceed with the information gathering. This article reports on an investigation into exploratory search behavior and attempts to establish a connection between the layout of objects in a display and the amount of attention devoted to each of these objects. The research has implications for catalog page layout and visual merchandising. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objectives of the study a,e to examine consumers' perceptions of speciality food mail-order products on the basis of a mail survey of "active" and "inactive" mail-order shoppers. The paper identifies a profile of mail-order shoppers, examines the influence of perceived risk and the effectiveness of risk relievers, derives the dimensions of perceived benefits and establishes consumer segments based upon benefits sought. The results reveal a distinct profile of active in-home shoppers with respect to demographic and lifestyle variables. Shoppers perceive higher levels of risk with mail-order shopping compared to in-store shopping. Appropriate risk relievers are identified for both active and inactive groups. Consumers' perceptions of the benefits of mail-order emphasis quality, uniqueness and convenience. However, underlying these attributes are four main dimensions of customer relations and service, convenience, nostalgia and uniqueness. Furthermore, it is possible to identify two segments of active mail-order shoppers in terms of a product-oriented group and a mail-order-oriented group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The AHAF model generates sales forecasts for individual articles of merchandise in catalogs, using heuristic programming to simulate the actual decision-making process of a catalog control buyer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Who are in-home shoppers? Are they convenience oriented? Do they find store shopping particularly difficult or unpleasant? Are they likely to be "locked in" at home? This article suggests some answers to these questions. Marketers are becoming increasingly interested in identifying the in-home shopper and her attitudes and motivations toward telephone and mail-order shopping because of the increasing share of general merchandise retail sales accounted for by telephone and mail-order selling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • A electromechanical servo-axis model is defined to evaluate axis losses. • A continuous optimization procedure is defined by interpolating discrete catalogs. • The optimal motor-reducer is found minimizing energy consumption, axis size. • Optimization is applied to two case studies, choosing optimal motor-reducer pairs. Abstract This papers deals with the optimal selection of motors and reducers in servo-controlled machines. A model of an electromechanical servo-axis is developed, which allows electrical and mechanical losses to be evaluated. The model is based on data that can be extracted from commercial catalogs, thus requiring no experimental characterization. Then, a novel optimal selection procedure is presented, called continuous optimization, based on the extension of a discrete commercial catalog to a continuous one, by means of data fitting on the electromechanical parameters that influence the motor and reducer operation. A non-linear constrained optimization problem is solved in order to find the optimal motor-reducer unit with respect to a variety of objective functions, such as motor size, overall energetic efficiency, total mass, etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When constructing reinforced concrete building structures, shores are normally used to transmit the loads from freshly poured slabs to lower floors. However, certain problems are involved in this process, including: (a) the loads on the shores may be higher than expected, which can lead to the collapse of the shoring system or even of the whole structure, and (b) the limited range of shore types in commercial catalogues, which often means that the shores used are oversized. This paper describes the study carried out on the development of a new load-limiter (LL) that can be fitted to shores to improve safety and reduce the cost of constructing building structures. The study shows that combining mechanical and civil engineering fields made it possible to produce a novel device that could revolutionise the shoring techniques at present in use. The method of designing and implementing the LLs involved: (a) the design of prototypes by using numerical simulations, (b) the use of the design of experiments technique, (c) an ambitious experimental campaign in which LL were tested, (d) the detailed simulation of the final design, and (e) the formulation of a simplified model that considers the behaviour of the shore-LL as a unit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose From an interpretive semiology perspective this paper examines the meaning suggested by the absence of children in newspaper advertisements, commercial websites and catalogue images of children’s furniture manufacturers. The purpose of the paper is to highlight the multilayered process involved in conveying meaning to the “parent-child cluster” consumer through press and online advertisements designed by children’s furniture manufacturers.Design/methodology/approach A corpus of 200 press advertisements and catalogues produced by children's furniture manufacturers (particularly IKEA and Gautier) was analysed using a combination of Barthes’ (1964) visual analysis and Greimas’ (1987) narrative approach to visual discourses.Findings The scenes portrayed to shape the message addressed to the “parent-child cluster“ consumer, suggest that, in addition to fostering positive values such as self-fulfilment and stimulating background for an active child, they also promote discourses about contemporary childhood and parenthood.Originality/value This paper highlights how furniture retailers through the figurative choices they make to portray a child bedroom and to organize a series of child bedroom images within a catalogue, generate a brand discourse aiming to typify representations of childhood imbued with diverse cognitive, social and emotional dimensions within diverse cultural backgrounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses trade catalogs for bicycles.

A session on trade catalogs, featuring representatives of five libraries that have significant collections, was presented at the annual Art Libraries Society of North America conference held in Washington, DC, in May 2014. Four of the five speakers contributed revised versions of their presentations to this article. Each addresses issues concerning acquisitions of trade catalogs, cataloging, housing, accessibility, preservation, and digitization. In addition, the authors describe the unique characteristics of their respective collections and the trade catalogs' important contributions to study and research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – To comprehend tablet catalog marketing, the purpose of this paper is to obtain an integrated descriptive analysis of tablet catalogs and to compare the value propositions between retailers’ and aggregators’ applications (apps). Design/methodology/approach – A total of 28 tablet catalog apps were content analyzed in terms of interface attributes. Next, based on the results, a χ2 analysis was applied to compare the value proposition between retailers and aggregators. Findings – The result showed that the value propositions of retailers and aggregators were significantly different in the Context, Customization, and Communication dimensions. In addition, the incongruence of emphasized dimensions among retailers is larger than that among aggregators. Research limitations/implications – Because mobile commerce exhibits fast-changing dynamics, the results from collected data may vary in different periods. However, the present results may provide a baseline of longitudinal study. The 8Cs framework expanded from the 7Cs framework may be applied to other studies. Practical implications – Retailers who attempt to engage in tablet catalog marketing may use the information and findings to facilitate their decision making. The list of the attributes can be a benchmark for a retailer to evaluate its current tablet catalog app or be a reference for those retailers who are planning to develop one. Originality/value – This study identified and demonstrated a need of adding a new “C,” Control, in the previous framework and introduced the expanded framework. In addition, this study provided a set of findings for further research in the area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In her essay in the most recent Re: Sources column, Sharon Marcus argues for the importance of theatrical scrapbooks as historical resources and notes that, to date, they have been largely neglected. I offer the current essay as a companion piece to Marcus's in that I would like to argue for the importance of another largely neglected resource for theatre researchers: trade catalogs. Specifically, I will focus on the mail-order trade catalogs of magic supply houses that were prevalent throughout the twentieth century until Web sites took over as the primary marketing tools for these establishments. I also draw upon Christopher B. Balme's idea that historiographic rewards can be earned by paying close attention to the information contained in theatrical playbills. Balme posits that one reason playbills have been neglected is because they are considered to be further removed from a theatrical performance than visual evidence such as photographs, designs, or videos:In comparison to theatre iconography—which in superficial readings would seem to offer the promise of access to the theatrical event, a performance on the stage (which of course it seldom does)—the playbill is foreplay but not the act itself. Like most foreplay, the playbill is clearly designed to excite, to stimulate; but for the scholar in search of the real thing, the transcendent experience and enchantment that is the “performance,” playbills represent a kind of archival ludus interruptus. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Price evaluation process consists of comparing the current price with a reference price, which may be modified by some marketing actions. The present paper analyzes the effects of price promotions used by retailers on reference prices, which may lead to changes in price evaluation process. For this purpose, there was done a research on price promotions communicated by the main hypermarkets from Romania in their promotional catalogues for non-food products, aimed to establish: the way used to express the price discounts, the retailers' interest in specifying the initial price, the discounts' magnitude or the messages used to communicate them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]