Molecular investigations into vaginal immunization with HIV gp41 antigenic construct H4A in a quick release solid dosage form

A robust vaginal immune response is considered essential for an effective prophylactic vaccine that prevents transmission of HIV and other sexually acquired diseases. Considerable attention has recently focused on the potential of vaginally administered vaccines as a means to induce such local immunity. However, the potential for vaccination at this site remains in doubt as the vaginal mucosa is generally considered to have low immune inductive potential. In the current study, we explored for the first time the use of a quick release, freeze-dried, solid dosage system for practical vaginal administration of a protein antigen. These solid dosage forms overcome the common problem associated with leakage and poor retention of vaginally administered antigen solutions. Mice were immunized vaginally with H4A, an HIV gp41 envelope based recombinant protein, using quick release, freeze-dried solid rods, and the immune responses compared to a control group immunized via subcutaneous H4A injection. Vaginally immunized mice failed to elicit robust immune responses. Our detailed investigations, involving cytokine analysis, the stability of H4A in mouse cervicovaginal lavage, and elucidation of the state of H4A protein in the immediate-release dosage form, revealed that antigen instability in vaginal fluid, the state of the antigen in the dosage form, and the cytokine profile induced are all likely to have contributed to the observed lack of immunogenicity. These are important factors affecting vaginal immunization and provide a rational basis for explaining the typically poor and variable elicitation of immunity at this site, despite the presence of immune responsive cells within the vaginal mucosae. In future mucosal vaccine studies, a more explicit focus on antigen stability in the dosage form and the immune potential of available antigen-responsive cells is recommended.

Requisite IS management knowledge and skills construct: A survey

A review of the literature suggests that various IS knowledge and skills should be grouped into a construct because many IS tasks require a combination of diverse disciplines. Many studies argue that today's IS executives should be multidisciplinary, while the organizational skills are becoming increasingly important. However, the outstanding issue is what is the appropriate balance of disciplines between the organizational domain and technical domain. For understanding such a balance, it is easier to refer to quantitative proportions than to qualitative descriptions. Therefore, this study suggests a way to quantitatively identify an IS management knowledge and skills construct - a combination that comprises six related knowledge and skills categories suggested by the literature. By analyzing the data obtained in a 1996's survey, two such constructs for current proficiency and expected level have been quantitatively identified. To people aiming at a senior IS executive career, the deficiencies between current and expected constructs suggest not only the direction but also the extent should be enhanced, and the constructs indicate the balance among various disciplines should be maintained.

Ethnic diversity as a multilevel construct:the combined effects of dissimilarity, group diversity, and societal status on learning performance in work groups

The authors present a model of the multilevel effects of diversity on individual learning performance in work groups. For ethnically diverse work groups, the model predicts that group diversity elicits either positive or negative effects on individual learning performance, depending on whether a focal individual’s ethnic dissimilarity from other group members is high or low. By further considering the societal status of an individual’s ethnic origin within society (Anglo versus non-Anglo for our U.K. context), the authors hypothesize that the model’s predictions hold more strongly for non-Anglo group members than for Anglo group members. We test this model with data from 412 individuals working on a 24-week business simulation in 87 four- to seven-person groups with varying degrees of ethnic diversity. Two of the three hypotheses derived from the model received full support and one hypothesis received partial support. Implications for theory development, methods, and practice in applied group diversity research are discussed.

Internal market orientation:construct, measurement and consequences

This thesis contributes to the paucity of marketing research into the area of internal marketing. Drawing from knowledge developed in a diverse range of marketing and management literatures, the domaill of internal marketing is clarified Gild a new concept, internal market orientation is developed. A new instrument, measuring the internal market orientation, is developed and subjected to standard scale development procedures. Six dimensions of the construct are confirmed; collegial interaction, group interaction, jorlllal interaction, external envirollment, wage flexibility and job flexibility. A sample of 766 UK retail store managers are surveyed to identify levels of internal market orientation and external market orientation in large UK multi-product, multi-site retailers and the structural relationships between internal market orientation, extemal market orientation alld company performance are examined. The external market orientation construct is applied to the local retail market and established measurement instruments adapted to this pwpose. Three measures of performance are employed ill this study. The structural relationships between the six dimensions of internal market orientation and the three dimensions of external market orientation are examined employing structural equations methodology, using LISREL 8.3. alld the impact of internal market orientation Oil external market orientation and company performance is measured. The study finds no direct link between internal market orientation and financial performance but does identify the moderated role of internal market orientation on financial performance. Significant relationships between three of the six dimensions of internal market orientation and the three dimensions of external market orientation are identified and the impact of internal market orientation on the retention of employees and their behaviour is also identified. The research findings contribute to marketing theory by providing empirical evidence to support the long held assumption that internal marketing has an impact on marketing success and offers an explanation of the mechanism by which this influence operates. For marketing practitioners, the research findings offer additional information on which services marketing strategies may be formulated.

Relationship status and identity construction in heterosexual women:A discourse analytic and personal construct study

This thesis reports the findings of three studies examining relationship status and identity construction in the talk of heterosexual women, from a feminist and social constructionist perspective. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 women in study 1 and 13 women for study 2, between the ages of twenty and eighty-seven, discussing their experiences of relationships. All interviews were transcribed and analysed using discourse analysis, by hand and using the Nudist 6 program. The resulting themes create distinct age-related marital status expectations. Unmarried women were aware they had to marry by a ‘certain age’ or face a ‘lonely spinsterhood’. Through marriage women gained a socially accepted position associated with responsibility for others, self-sacrifice, a home-focused lifestyle and relational identification. Divorce was constructed as the consequence of personal faults and poor relationship care, reassuring the married of their own control over their status. Older unmarried women were constructed as deviant and pitiable, occupying social purgatory as a result of transgressing these valued conventions. Study 3 used repertory grid tasks, with 33 women, analysing transcripts and notes alongside numerical data using Web Grid II internet analysis tool, to produce principle components maps demonstrating the relationships between relationship terms and statuses. This study illuminated the consistency with which women of different ages and status saw marriage as their ideal living situation and outlined the domestic responsibilities associated. Spinsters and single-again women were defined primarily by their lack of marriage and by loneliness. This highlighted the devalued position of older unmarried women. The results of these studies indicated a consistent set of age-related expectations of relationship status, acknowledged by women and reinforced by their families and friends, which render many unmarried women deviant and fail to acknowledge the potential variety of women’s ways of living.

Internet banking service quality:an investigation of interrelationships between construct dimensions

Service quality measurement in Internet banking services is an area of growing interest to researchers and managers. This research investigates the interrelationships between the dimensions comprising the Internet banking service quality construct through structural equation modelling. Five Internet service quality dimensions are identified: access, web interface, trust, attention and credibility. Credibility is modelled as an outcome of the causal variables of access, web interface, trust and attention. Trust and attention emerges as key dimensions in explaining the credibility dimension. Access is found to be a common antecedent of trust, attention and Web interface dimensions. Implications from the findings are offered.

The definition, theoretical modelling and empirical research of front-line service employee corporate identity within a UK national grocery retailer:determining the FLE corporate brand identification construct

Over the past forty years the corporate identity literature has developed to a point of maturity where it currently contains many definitions and models of the corporate identity construct at the organisational level. The literature has evolved by developing models of corporate identity or in considering corporate identity in relation to new and developing themes, e.g. corporate social responsibility. It has evolved into a multidisciplinary domain recently incorporating constructs from other literature to further its development. However, the literature has a number of limitations. It remains that an overarching and universally accepted definition of corporate identity is elusive, potentially leaving the construct with a lack of clear definition. Only a few corporate identity definitions and models, at the corporate level, have been empirically tested. The corporate identity construct is overwhelmingly defined and theoretically constructed at the corporate level, leaving the literature without a detailed understanding of its influence at an individual stakeholder level. Front-line service employees (FLEs), form a component in a number of corporate identity models developed at the organisational level. FLEs deliver the services of an organisation to its customers, as well as represent the organisation by communicating and transporting its core defining characteristics to customers through continual customer contact and interaction. This person-to-person contact between an FLE and the customer is termed a service encounter, where service encounters influence a customer’s perception of both the service delivered and the associated level of service quality. Therefore this study for the first time defines, theoretically models and empirically tests corporate identity at the individual FLE level, termed FLE corporate identity. The study uses the services marketing literature to characterise an FLE’s operating environment, arriving at five potential dimensions to the FLE corporate identity construct. These are scrutinised against existing corporate identity definitions and models to arrive at a definition for the construct. In reviewing the corporate identity, services marketing, branding and organisational psychology literature, a theoretical model is developed for FLE corporate identity, which is empirically and quantitatively tested, with FLEs in seven stores of a major national retailer. Following rigorous construct reliability and validity testing, the 601 usable responses are used to estimate a confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation model for the study. The results for the individual hypotheses and the structural model are very encouraging, as they fit the data well and support a definition of FLE corporate identity. This study makes contributions to the branding, services marketing and organisational psychology literature, but its principal contribution is to extend the corporate identity literature into a new area of discourse and research, that of FLE corporate identity

Building up resilience of construction sector SMEs and their supply chains to extreme weather events

Wider scientific community now accept that the threat of climate change as real and thus acknowledge the importance of implementing adaptation measures in a global context. In the UK , the physical effects of climate change are likely to be directly felt in the form of extreme weather events, which are predicted to escalate in number and severity in future under the changing climatic conditions. Construction industry; which consists of supply chains running across various other industries, economies and regions, will also be affected due to these events. Thus, it is important that the construction organisations are well prepared to withstand the effects of extreme weather events not only directly affecting their organisations but also affecting their supply chains which in turn might affect the organisation concerned. Given the fact that more than 99% of construction sector businesses are SMEs, the area can benefit significantly from policy making to improve SME resilience and coping capacity. This paper presents the literature review and synthesis of a doctoral research study undertaken to address the issue of extreme weather resilience of construction sector SMEs and their supply chains. The main contribution of the paper to both academia and practitioners is a synthesis model that conceptualises the factors that enhances resilience of SMEs and their supply chains against extreme weather events. This synthesis model forms the basis of a decision making framework that will enable SMEs to both reduce their vulnerability and enhance their coping capacity against extreme weather. The value of this paper is further extended by the overall research design that is set forth as the way forward.

Dissociable brain structural changes associated with predisposition, resilience, and disease expression in bipolar disorder

Genetic factors are important in the etiology of bipolar disorder (BD). However, first-degree relatives of BD patients are at risk for a number of psychiatric conditions, most commonly major depressive disorder (MDD), although the majority remain well. The purpose of the present study was to identify potential brain structural correlates for risk and resilience to mood disorders in patients with BD, type I (BD-I) and their relatives. Structural magnetic resonance imaging scans were acquired from 30 patients with BD-I, 50 of their firstdegree relatives (28 had no Axis I disorder, while 14 had MDD) and 52 controls. We used voxel-based morphometry, implemented in SPM5 to identify group differences in regional gray matter volume. From the identified clusters, potential differences were further examined based on diagnostic status (BD-I patients, MDD relatives, healthy relatives, controls). Whole-brain voxel-based analysis identified group differences in the left hemisphere in the insula, cerebellum, and substantia nigra. Increased left insula volume was associated with genetic preposition to BD-I independent of clinical phenotype. In contrast, increased left substantia nigra volume was observed in those with the clinical phenotype of BD-I. Changes uniquely associated with the absence of a clinical diagnosis in BD relatives were observed in the left cerebellum. Our data suggest that in BD, genetic and phenotype-related influences on brain structure are dissociable; if replicated, these findings may help with early identification of high-risk individuals who are more likely to transition to syndromal states. Copyright © 2009 Society for Neuroscience.

Case study as a research strategy : investigating extreme weather resilience of construction SMEs in the UK

Determining an appropriate research methodology is considered as an important element in a research study; especially in a doctoral research study. It involves approach to the entire process of a research study, starting from theoretical underpinnings and spanning to data collection and analysis, and extending to developing the solutions for the problems investigated. Research methodology in essence is focused around the problems to be investigated in a research study and therefore varies according to the problems investigated. Thus, identifying the research methodology that best suits a research in hand is important, not only as it will benefit achieving the set objectives of a research, but also as it will serve establishing the credibility of the work. Research philosophy, approach, strategy, choice, and techniques are inherent components of the methodology. Research strategy provides the overall direction of the research including the process by which the research is conducted. Case study, experiment, survey, action research, grounded theory and ethnography are examples for such research strategies. Case study is documented as an empirical inquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context, especially when the boundaries between phenomenon and context are not clearly evident. Case study was adopted as the overarching research strategy, in a doctoral study developed to investigate the resilience of construction Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in the UK to extreme weather events. The research sought to investigate how construction SMEs are affected by EWEs, respond to the risk of EWEs, and means of enhancing their resilience to future EWEs. It is argued that utilising case study strategy will benefit the research study, in achieving the set objectives of the research and answering the research questions raised, by comparing and contrasting with the alternative strategies available. It is also claimed that the selected strategy will contribute towards addressing the call for improved methodological pluralism in construction management research, enhancing the understanding of complex network of relationships pertinent to the industry and the phenomenon being studied.

The paradox of social resilience:how cognitive strategies and coping mechanisms attenuate and accentuate resilience

This paper examines two concepts, social vulnerability and social resilience, often used to describe people and their relationship to a disaster. Social vulnerability is the exposure to harm resulting from demographic and socioeconomic factors that heighten the exposure to disaster. Social resilience is the ability to avoid disaster, cope with change and recover from disaster. Vulnerability to a space and social resilience through society is explored through a focus on the elderly, a group sometimes regarded as having low resilience while being particularly vulnerable. Our findings explore the degree to which an elderly group exposed to coastal flood risk exhibits social resilience through both cognitive strategies, such as risk perception and self-perception, as well as through coping mechanisms, such as accepting change and self-organisation. These attenuate and accentuate the resilience of individuals through their own preparations as well as their communities' preparations and also contribute to the delusion of resilience which leads individuals to act as if they are more resilient than they are in reality, which we call negative resilience. Thus, we draw attention to three main areas: the degree to which social vulnerability can disguise its social resilience; the role played by cognitive strategies and coping mechanisms on an individual's social resilience; and the high risk aspects of social resilience. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Negative brand personality:the construct, its antecedents and outcome variables

By evolving brands and building on the importance of self-expression, Aaker (1997) developed the brand personality framework as a means to understand brand-consumer relationships. The brand personality framework captures the core values and characteristics described in human personality research in an attempt to humanize brands. Although influential across many streams of brand personality research, the current conceptualization of brand personality only offers a positively-framed approach. To date, no research, both conceptually and empirically, has thoroughly incorporated factors reflective of Negative Brand Personality, despite the fact that almost all researchers in personality are in agreement that factors akin to Extraversion (positive) and Neuroticism (negative) should be in a comprehensive personality scale to accommodate consumers’ expressions. As a result, the study of brand personality is only half complete since the current research trend is to position brand personality under brand image. However, with the brand personality concept being confused with brand identity at the empirical stage, factors reflective of Negative Brand Personality have been neglected. Accordingly, this thesis extends the current conceptualization of brand personality by demarcating the existing typologies of desirable brand personality and incorporating the characteristics reflective of consumers’ discrepant self-meaning to provide a more complete understanding of brand personality. However, it is not enough to interpret negative factors as the absence of positive factors. Negative factors reflect consumers’ anxious and frustrated feelings. Therefore, this thesis contributes to the current conceptualization of brand personality by, firstly, presenting a conceptual definition of Negative Brand Personality in order to provide a theoretical basis for the development of a Negative Brand Personality scale, then, secondly, identifying what constitutes Negative Brand Personality and to what extent consumers’ cognitive dissonance explains the nature of Negative Brand Personality, and, thirdly, ascertaining the impact Negative Brand Personality has on attitudinal constructs, namely: Negative Attitude, Detachment, Brand Loyalty and Satisfaction, which have proven to predict behaviors such as choice and (re-)purchasing. In order to deliver on the three main contributions, two comprehensive studies were conducted to a) develop a valid, parsimonious, yet relatively short measure of Negative Brand Personality, and b) ascertain how the Negative Brand Personality measure behaves within a network of related constructs. The mixed methods approach, grounded in theoretical and empirical development, provides evidence to suggest that there are four factors to Negative Brand Personality and, tested through use of a structural equation modeling technique, that these are influenced by Brand Confusion, Price Unfairness, Self- Incongruence and Corporate Hypocrisy. Negative Brand Personality factors mainly determined Consumers Negative Attitudes and Brand Detachment. The research contributes to the literature on brand personality by improving the consumer-brand relationship by means of engaging in a brandconsumer conversation in order to reduce consumers’ cognitive strain. The study concludes with a discussion on the theoretical and practical implications of the findings, its limitations, and potential directions for future research.

Developing a conceptual framework for investigating the resilience of construction SMEs and their supply chains against extreme weather events

Projections into future increasingly suggest that the intensity and frequency of Extreme Weather Events (EWEs) will increase in the future. This has demanded the business organisations as well to be prepared to face the increasing risk of EWEs, in order to ensure their business continuity. However, current evidence base suggests that businesses, especially SMEs, are not adequately prepared to face the threat of such events. Ability to adequately prepare them has been hindered by the lack of in depth studies addressing this issue. The paper presents a doctoral study designed to investigate the resilience of SMEs operating in the construction sector; which is said to be a highly vulnerable sector for the impacts of EWEs, and their supply chains to EWEs. A conceptual framework developed to investigate this issue is presented and explained. It is argued that the resilience of construction SMEs and their supply chains against EWEs can be improved by a combination of reducing their vulnerability, enhancing coping capacity and implementing coping mechanisms. Importance of undertaking a broader view to include the whole supply chain in making business decisions with regard to EWEs by SMEs is also highlighted.

Climate change and construction sector SMEs:vulnerability, consequences and resilience

Climate change has become one of the prime challenges the society has to face in the future. As far as businesses are concerned, it also has added one other important issue that they have to consider as part of their business planning. Climate change is of significant importance particularly to the Small and Medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which are considered as the most vulnerable among the business community to the effects of climate change. This paper presents the findings of a literature review conducted with the aim of identifying the specific importance of climate change to the construction sector SMEs. The objectives of the paper are to identify the vulnerability of construction sector SMEs to the effects of climate change, their consequences and also to identify the importance of improving resilience and implementing adaptive measures to manage these issues. The paper also outlines the directions of a study undertaken to address these issues as part of an EPSRC funded research project titled “Community Resilience to Extreme Weather Events – CREW”. The paper concludes by stressing the importance of improving the resilience of construction sector SMEs to climate change effects and also the importance of collective action in this regard.