Mapping the mind for the modern market researcher

Purpose - To describe the utility of three of the main cognitive neuroscientific techniques currently in use within the neuroscience community, and how they can be applied to the emerging field of neuromarket research. Design/methodology/approach - A brief development of functional magnetic resonance imaging, magnetoencephalography and transcranial magnetic stimulation are described, as the core principles are behind their respective use. Examples of actual data from each of the brain imaging techniques are provided to assist the neuromarketer with subsequent data for interpretation. Finally, to ensure the neuromarketer has an understanding of the experience of neuroimaging, qualitative data from a questionnaire exploring attitudes about neuroimaging techniques are included which summarize participants' experiences of having a brain scan. Findings - Cognitive neuroscientific techniques have great utility in market research and can provide more "honest" indicators of consumer preference where traditional methods such as focus groups can be unreliable. These techniques come with complementary strengths which allow the market researcher to converge onto a specific research question. In general, participants considered brain imaging techniques to be relatively safe. However, care is urged to ensure that participants are positioned correctly in the scanner as incorrect positioning is a stressful factor during an imaging procedure that can impact data quality. Originality/value - This paper is an important and comprehensive resource to the market researcher who wishes to use cognitive neuroscientific techniques.

How can systematic reviews incorporate qualitative research? A critical perspective

Systematic review has developed as a specific methodology for searching for, appraising and synthesizing findings of primary studies, and has rapidly become a cornerstone of the evidence-based practice and policy movement. Qualitative research has traditionally been excluded from systematic reviews, and much effort is now being invested in resolving the daunting methodological and epistemological challenges associated with trying to move towards more inclusive forms of review. We describe our experiences, as a very diverse multidisciplinary group, in attempting to incorporate qualitative research in a systematic review of support for breastfeeding. We show how every stage of the review process, from asking the review question through to searching for and sampling the evidence, appraising the evidence and producing a synthesis, provoked profound questions about whether a review that includes qualitative research can remain consistent with the frame offered by current systematic review methodology. We conclude that more debate and dialogue between the different communities that wish to develop review methodology is needed, and that attempts to impose dominant views about the appropriate means of conducting reviews of qualitative research should be resisted so that innovation can be fostered. Copyright © 2006 SAGE Publications.

The problem of appraising qualitative research

Qualitative research can make a valuable contribution to the study of quality and safety in health care. Sound ways of appraising qualitative research are needed, but currently there are many different proposals with few signs of an emerging consensus. One problem has been the tendency to treat qualitative research as a unified field. We distinguish universal features of quality from those specific to methodology and offer a set of minimally prescriptive prompts to assist with the assessment of generic features of qualitative research. In using these, account will need to be taken of the particular method of data collection and methodological approach being used. There may be a need for appraisal criteria suited to the different methods of qualitative data collection and to different methodological approaches. These more specific criteria would help to distinguish fatal flaws from more minor errors in the design, conduct, and reporting of qualitative research. There will be difficulties in doing this because some aspects of qualitative research, particularly those relating to quality of insight and interpretation, will remain difficult to appraise and will rely largely on subjective judgement.

The role of government research establishments : a study of the concept of public patronage for applied research and development

This thesis follows the argument that, to fully understand the current position of national research laboratories in Great Britain one needs to study the historical development of the government research establishment as a specific social institution. A particular model is outlined in which it is argued that institutional characteristics evolve through the continual interplay between internal development and environmental factors within a changing political and economic context, and that the continuous development of an institution depends on its ability to adapt to changes in its operational environment. Within this framework important historical precedents for formal government institutional support for applied research are identified. and the transition from private to public patronage documented. The emergence and consolidation of government research laboratories in Britain is described in detail. The subsequent relative decline of public laboratories is interpreted in terms of the undermining of a traditional role resulting in legitimation crisis. It is concluded that it is no longer feasible to consider the public research laboratory as a coherent institutional form, and that the future of each individual laboratory can only be considered in relation to the institutional needs of its own sphere of operation. Nevertheless the laboratories have been forced into decline in an essentially unplanned way which may have serious consequences for the maintenance of the scientific and technical infrastructures, necessary for material progress in the national context.

International business research and risky investments, an analysis of FDI in conflict zones

The purpose of this paper is to examine the determinants of a firm's strategy to invest in a conflict location. To the best of our knowledge, this has not been done before. We examine this using a standard model of international business, overlaid with the fundamental approach to corporate social responsibility. We start with the population of multinationals who have chosen to invest in low income countries with weak institutions. We then split this sample in order to distinguish between firms that have invested in conflict regions compared to those that have not. Our analysis then proceeds to explain the decision of those firms to invest in conflict locations using a simple Probit model. We find that countries with weaker institutions and less concern about corporate social responsibility (CSR) are more likely to invest in conflict regions. Finally, firms with more concentrated ownership are more likely to invest in such locations. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.

Leadership research and cognitive neuroscience:the state of this union

Advances in cognitive neuroscience and other approaches to understanding human behavior from a biological standpoint are only now beginning to filter into leadership research. The purpose of this introduction to the Leadership Quarterly Special Issue on the Biology of Leadership is to outline the organizational cognitive neuroscience approach to leadership research, and show how such an approach can fruitfully inform both leadership and neuroscientific research. Indeed, we advance the view that the further application of cognitive neuroscientific techniques to leadership research will pay great dividends in our understanding of effective leadership behaviors and as such, a future symbiosis between the two fields is a necessity.

A soft-computing-based method for the automatic discovery of fuzzy rules in databases:uses for academic research and management support in marketing

The study here highlights the potential that analytical methods based on Knowledge Discovery in Databases (KDD) methodologies have to aid both the resolution of unstructured marketing/business problems and the process of scholarly knowledge discovery. The authors present and discuss the application of KDD in these situations prior to the presentation of an analytical method based on fuzzy logic and evolutionary algorithms, developed to analyze marketing databases and uncover relationships among variables. A detailed implementation on a pre-existing data set illustrates the method. © 2012 Published by Elsevier Inc.

The experience of living with age related macular degeneration:A longitudinal study into the impact of age related macular degeneration on quality of life

In this thesis I contribute to the understanding of the experience of living with Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) and its impact on quality of life through the use of a pragmatically guided mixed methods approach. AMD is a condition resulting in the loss of central vision in old age which can have a huge impact on the lives of patients. This thesis includes: literature reviewing; qualitative meta-synthesis; surveys and descriptive statistics; observation; and analysis of in-depth interviewing, in order to build a picture of what it is like for older people to live with AMD. I present the findings from six separate studies each designed to answer specific research questions. I begin with a mixed methods study to determine how well the most commonly used measure of quality of life for AMD patients’ represents patient experiences. I then go on to investigate the experiences of patients with AMD through a meta-synthesis of qualitative research and finally present four of my own empirical studies three of which investigate the experiences of patients with different types of AMD: early dry AMD, treatable wet AMD and advanced wet AMD and the final study investigates what it is like for a couple living together with AMD. Throughout the qualitative studies I use Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to develop an understanding of the experiences and life contexts of patients with AMD. Through rigorous analysis, I identify a range of themes which highlight the shared and divergent experiences of individuals with AMD and the need to acknowledge patients’ past, present and potential future life contexts and experiences when providing services to older people with AMD. I relate the findings of the six studies to the wider psychological literature on chronic illness and make recommendations for services for patients with AMD to be provided holistically within a lifeworld-led health care model.

A review of research and practice for the industrial networks of the future

Academic researchers have followed closely the interest of companies in establishing industrial networks by studying aspects such as social interaction and contractual relationships. But what patterns underlie the emergence of industrial networks and what support should research provide for practitioners? First, it appears that manufacturing is becoming a commodity rather than a unique capability, which accounts especially for low-technology approaches in downstream parts of the network, for example, in assembly operations. Second, the increased tendency towards specialisation has forced other, upstream, parts of industrial networks to introduce advanced manufacturing technologies for niche markets. Third, the capital market for investments in capacity, and the trade in manufacturing as a commodity, dominates resource allocation to a larger extent than was previously the case. Fourth, there is becoming a continuous move towards more loosely connected entities that comprise manufacturing networks. Finally, in these networks, concepts for supply chain management should address collaboration and information technology that supports decentralised decision-making, in particular to address sustainable and green supply chains. More traditional concepts, such as the keiretsu and chaibol networks of some Asian economies, do not sufficiently support the demands now being placed on networks. Research should address these five fundamental challenges to prepare for the industrial networks of 2020 and beyond. © 2010 Springer-Verlag London.

Editorial:welcome to the LRN2004 annual conference special issue of the International journal of logistics: research and applications

It is a great pleasure to be Guest Editor for this issue – I hope that the papers which are included will be stimulating and support you in your ongoing research activities. A number of guiding principles were adopted in selecting the papers for inclusion in this issue. Firstly, the papers cover a wide range of logistics and supply chain management (SCM) topics. This is a reflection of the evolution of the field in recent years. In terms of the “buy-make-store-move-sell” model of SCM all the main constituent areas are addressed. Secondly, it is important that the conference issue of this Journal reflects the emphasis and content of the conference itself. I have tried to achieve this in terms of the papers included. One interesting point to note is that outsourcing is a theme which is a major issue in a number of papers. This reflects the increasing importance of this issue to organisations of all kinds and sizes. Economic globalisation and the trend towards vertical disintegration of supply chain architectures have sharpened the focus on outsourcing as a key element of supply chain strategy. The need to move beyond the notion that sourcing of certain activities can be some kind of panacea in evident from the relevant contributions. Thirdly, the LRN Annual Conference has become a more international event in recent years...the number of delegates and papers presented from outside the UK has continued to grow. The papers collected in this issue reflect this internationalization. Two papers are worthy of particular comment from an LRN perspective. The contribution by Jaafar and Rafiq has been developed from the submission which won the best paper prize at the LRN 2004 event. The paper by Pettit and Beresford is based on research which was supported by LRN seed corn funding. It was developed form the final report on this work submitted to CITL (UK) via the LRN. The seed corn funding is an important mechanism whereby the LRN supports research in innovative aspects of logistics in UK universities. In many ways, the LRN2004 event in Dublin seems like a long time ago. From my point of view it was one of the most professionally rewarding activities in which I have been involved in my career. It was a time to meet old friends and new and to keep abreast of the multitude of interesting projects being undertaken in over 20 countries. There are too many people to thank for the smooth running of the event. However, my colleague John Mee does warrant a special mention. His logistical skills were seriously put to the test in the weeks and months leading up to September 9th. 2004. I want to acknowledge his particular contribution to the success of the event. Since then we have had the 2005 event at the University of Plymouth. This was again a great opportunity to network with colleagues and many congratulations are due to John Dinwoodie and his team. We now look forward to LRN 2006 in Newcastle...form my part I hope and trust that this issue provides some useful perspectives and insights into the range of topics addressed.

Universities Masters World Cup Soccer:integrated sports science research and implementation of an international masters soccer community

Ageing populations with greater wellness and athletic expectations require quality sports and active living experiences in order to increase and sustain participation levels. Responding to the diverse needs and circumstances of Masterslveterans players is a complex and multi-faceted process. While sports science contributions have been very effective at enhancing active living in a variety of youth and adult sports events, very little has been documented regarding their efficacy in events for Masterslveteran players. This paper draws upon action research to examine the growth and development of a unique Masters World Cup 6-0-side Soccer Tournament, involving representative teams from twelve nations. lntegrated sports science concepts and strategies were employed to develop quality soccer experiences. Longitudinal data suggest that fostering a community of practice is critical to the success of Masters soccer programs. In addition to critical leadership contributions, an eclectic range of age-appropriate and responsive soccer experiences are essential to ensure that Masters events meet the diverse needs and circumstances of the players.

Editorial overview:new protein production tools for structural biology

Full text: The idea of producing proteins from recombinant DNA hatched almost half a century ago. In his PhD thesis, Peter Lobban foresaw the prospect of inserting foreign DNA (from any source, including mammalian cells) into the genome of a λ phage in order to detect and recover protein products from Escherichia coli [ 1 and 2]. Only a few years later, in 1977, Herbert Boyer and his colleagues succeeded in the first ever expression of a peptide-coding gene in E. coli — they produced recombinant somatostatin [ 3] followed shortly after by human insulin. The field has advanced enormously since those early days and today recombinant proteins have become indispensable in advancing research and development in all fields of the life sciences. Structural biology, in particular, has benefitted tremendously from recombinant protein biotechnology, and an overwhelming proportion of the entries in the Protein Data Bank (PDB) are based on heterologously expressed proteins. Nonetheless, synthesizing, purifying and stabilizing recombinant proteins can still be thoroughly challenging. For example, the soluble proteome is organized to a large part into multicomponent complexes (in humans often comprising ten or more subunits), posing critical challenges for recombinant production. A third of all proteins in cells are located in the membrane, and pose special challenges that require a more bespoke approach. Recent advances may now mean that even these most recalcitrant of proteins could become tenable structural biology targets on a more routine basis. In this special issue, we examine progress in key areas that suggests this is indeed the case. Our first contribution examines the importance of understanding quality control in the host cell during recombinant protein production, and pays particular attention to the synthesis of recombinant membrane proteins. A major challenge faced by any host cell factory is the balance it must strike between its own requirements for growth and the fact that its cellular machinery has essentially been hijacked by an expression construct. In this context, Bill and von der Haar examine emerging insights into the role of the dependent pathways of translation and protein folding in defining high-yielding recombinant membrane protein production experiments for the common prokaryotic and eukaryotic expression hosts. Rather than acting as isolated entities, many membrane proteins form complexes to carry out their functions. To understand their biological mechanisms, it is essential to study the molecular structure of the intact membrane protein assemblies. Recombinant production of membrane protein complexes is still a formidable, at times insurmountable, challenge. In these cases, extraction from natural sources is the only option to prepare samples for structural and functional studies. Zorman and co-workers, in our second contribution, provide an overview of recent advances in the production of multi-subunit membrane protein complexes and highlight recent achievements in membrane protein structural research brought about by state-of-the-art near-atomic resolution cryo-electron microscopy techniques. E. coli has been the dominant host cell for recombinant protein production. Nonetheless, eukaryotic expression systems, including yeasts, insect cells and mammalian cells, are increasingly gaining prominence in the field. The yeast species Pichia pastoris, is a well-established recombinant expression system for a number of applications, including the production of a range of different membrane proteins. Byrne reviews high-resolution structures that have been determined using this methylotroph as an expression host. Although it is not yet clear why P. pastoris is suited to producing such a wide range of membrane proteins, its ease of use and the availability of diverse tools that can be readily implemented in standard bioscience laboratories mean that it is likely to become an increasingly popular option in structural biology pipelines. The contribution by Columbus concludes the membrane protein section of this volume. In her overview of post-expression strategies, Columbus surveys the four most common biochemical approaches for the structural investigation of membrane proteins. Limited proteolysis has successfully aided structure determination of membrane proteins in many cases. Deglycosylation of membrane proteins following production and purification analysis has also facilitated membrane protein structure analysis. Moreover, chemical modifications, such as lysine methylation and cysteine alkylation, have proven their worth to facilitate crystallization of membrane proteins, as well as NMR investigations of membrane protein conformational sampling. Together these approaches have greatly facilitated the structure determination of more than 40 membrane proteins to date. It may be an advantage to produce a target protein in mammalian cells, especially if authentic post-translational modifications such as glycosylation are required for proper activity. Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cells and Human Embryonic Kidney (HEK) 293 cell lines have emerged as excellent hosts for heterologous production. The generation of stable cell-lines is often an aspiration for synthesizing proteins expressed in mammalian cells, in particular if high volumetric yields are to be achieved. In his report, Buessow surveys recent structures of proteins produced using stable mammalian cells and summarizes both well-established and novel approaches to facilitate stable cell-line generation for structural biology applications. The ambition of many biologists is to observe a protein's structure in the native environment of the cell itself. Until recently, this seemed to be more of a dream than a reality. Advances in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy techniques, however, have now made possible the observation of mechanistic events at the molecular level of protein structure. Smith and colleagues, in an exciting contribution, review emerging ‘in-cell NMR’ techniques that demonstrate the potential to monitor biological activities by NMR in real time in native physiological environments. A current drawback of NMR as a structure determination tool derives from size limitations of the molecule under investigation and the structures of large proteins and their complexes are therefore typically intractable by NMR. A solution to this challenge is the use of selective isotope labeling of the target protein, which results in a marked reduction of the complexity of NMR spectra and allows dynamic processes even in very large proteins and even ribosomes to be investigated. Kerfah and co-workers introduce methyl-specific isotopic labeling as a molecular tool-box, and review its applications to the solution NMR analysis of large proteins. Tyagi and Lemke next examine single-molecule FRET and crosslinking following the co-translational incorporation of non-canonical amino acids (ncAAs); the goal here is to move beyond static snap-shots of proteins and their complexes and to observe them as dynamic entities. The encoding of ncAAs through codon-suppression technology allows biomolecules to be investigated with diverse structural biology methods. In their article, Tyagi and Lemke discuss these approaches and speculate on the design of improved host organisms for ‘integrative structural biology research’. Our volume concludes with two contributions that resolve particular bottlenecks in the protein structure determination pipeline. The contribution by Crepin and co-workers introduces the concept of polyproteins in contemporary structural biology. Polyproteins are widespread in nature. They represent long polypeptide chains in which individual smaller proteins with different biological function are covalently linked together. Highly specific proteases then tailor the polyprotein into its constituent proteins. Many viruses use polyproteins as a means of organizing their proteome. The concept of polyproteins has now been exploited successfully to produce hitherto inaccessible recombinant protein complexes. For instance, by means of a self-processing synthetic polyprotein, the influenza polymerase, a high-value drug target that had remained elusive for decades, has been produced, and its high-resolution structure determined. In the contribution by Desmyter and co-workers, a further, often imposing, bottleneck in high-resolution protein structure determination is addressed: The requirement to form stable three-dimensional crystal lattices that diffract incident X-ray radiation to high resolution. Nanobodies have proven to be uniquely useful as crystallization chaperones, to coax challenging targets into suitable crystal lattices. Desmyter and co-workers review the generation of nanobodies by immunization, and highlight the application of this powerful technology to the crystallography of important protein specimens including G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). Recombinant protein production has come a long way since Peter Lobban's hypothesis in the late 1960s, with recombinant proteins now a dominant force in structural biology. The contributions in this volume showcase an impressive array of inventive approaches that are being developed and implemented, ever increasing the scope of recombinant technology to facilitate the determination of elusive protein structures. Powerful new methods from synthetic biology are further accelerating progress. Structure determination is now reaching into the living cell with the ultimate goal of observing functional molecular architectures in action in their native physiological environment. We anticipate that even the most challenging protein assemblies will be tackled by recombinant technology in the near future.

Co-constructed caring research and intellectual disability:an exploration of friendship, intimacy and being human

For this paper, emotional and socio-political questions lie at the heart of relationships in understanding intellectual disability and what it is to be a human. While the sexual and intimate is more often than not based on a private and personal relationship with the self and (an)other, the sexual and intimate life of intellectually disabled people is more often a ‘public’ affair governed by parents and/or carers, destabilizing what we might consider ethical and caring practices. In the socio-political sphere, as an all-encompassing ‘care space’, social intolerance and aversion to difficult differences are played out, impacting upon the intimate lives of intellectually disabled people. As co-researchers (one intellectually disabled and one ‘non-disabled’), we discuss narratives from a small scale research project and our personal reflections. In sociological research and more specifically within disability research it is clear that we need to keep sex and intimacy on the agenda, yet also find ways of doing research in a meaningful, caring and co-constructed way.

Servitization: academic research and business practice

En los últimos años, la servitización de la manufactura ha llegado a ser un tópico de interés tanto a nivel académico como empresarial. Así, las empresas están contemplando que la servitización es una forma de mejorar su posición competitiva y estar más cerca de sus clientes. Diferentes estudios empíricos han intentado explicar por qué y cómo se servitiza. Facilitan información clave para entender mejor el proceso de servitización. La conexión entre la academia y la práctica empresarial es decisiva en los fundamentos de este tópico de investigación. La fundamentación del mismo, permitirá continuar con su desarrollo y a la puesta en práctica en las empresas. Así, este número especial pretende contribuir en el avance de la teoría y práctica de la servitización. In recent years, the servitization of manufacturing has become a topic of interest to both academics and practitioners. Indeed, companies are realising that servitization is a way to enhance their competitive advantage and get closer to their customers. Several empirical studies have attempted to explain why and how to servitize. They provide important insights to better understand the processes of servitization. The connection between academia and business practices is decisive in the foundation of this research topic. This foundation will allow continuing with its development, contributing in turn to improve the implementation in companies. Hence, this special issue aims to contribute to the theoretical and practical aspects of servitization.