The relationship between airborne small ions and particles in urban environments

Ions play an important role in affecting climate and particle formation in the atmosphere. Small ions rapidly attach to particles in the air and, therefore, studies have shown that they are suppressed in polluted environments. Urban environments, in particular, are dominated by motor vehicle emissions and, since motor vehicles are a source of both particles and small ions, the relationship between these two parameters is not well known. In order to gain a better understanding of this relationship, an intensive campaign was undertaken where particles and small ions of both signs were monitored over two week periods at each of three sites A, B and C that were affected to varying degrees by vehicle emissions. Site A was close to a major road and reported the highest particle number and lowest small ion concentrations. Precursors from motor vehicle emissions gave rise to clear particle formation events on five days and, on each day this was accompanied by a suppression of small ions. Observations at Site B, which was located within the urban airshed, though not adjacent to motor traffic, showed particle enhancement but no formation events. Site C was a clean site, away from urban sources. This site reported the lowest particle number and highest small ion concentration. The positive small ion concentration was 10% to 40% higher than the corresponding negative value at all sites. These results confirm previous findings that there is a clear inverse relationship between small ions and particles in urban environments dominated by motor vehicle emissions.

Business in troubled waters : does adverse attitude affect firm value?

This paper investigates the relationship between US MNCs' valuations and anti-Americanism in countries where MNCs' foreign subsidiaries are located. We find that MNCs suffer value-destruction when they enter markets where people express severe anti-Americanism. However, we uncover that geographic diversification into these high anti-Americanism countries significantly increases firm value if the MNC has high levels of intangibles such as technological know-how and marketing expertise. Our findings are consistent with the notion that the advantages from internalizing the cross-border transfer of intangibles are greater when barriers to competition are higher.

Preventing public sector corruption : the relationship between parliamentary committees and corruption commissions

Parliamentary committees fulfil several important functions within the Parliament, with one of these being the oversight of various agencies including those that are designed to reduce corruption within the police service and other public sector agencies. The cross-party nature of committees combined with the protections of Parliament make them powerful agencies. Prenzler & Faulkner (2010) suggest that the ideal system for an agency that has oversight of a public sector integrity commission should include monitoring by a parliamentary committee, with an inspector attached to the committee. This occurs in Queensland, New South Wales and Western Australia. There has been very little research conducted on the role of parliamentary committees with oversight responsibilities for public sector integrity agencies. This paper will address this gap by examining the relationship between a parliamentary committee, a parliamentary inspector and a corruption commission. Queensland’s Parliamentary Crime and Misconduct Committee (PCMC/the Committee) and the Parliamentary Crime and Misconduct Commissioner (the Commissioner) provide oversight of the Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC). By focussing on the PCMC and the Commissioner, the paper will examine the legislative basis for the Committee and Commissioner and their respective roles in providing oversight of the CMC. One key method by which the PCMC provides oversight of the CMC is to conduct and publish a review of the CMC every three years. Additionally, the paper will identify some of the similarities and differences between the PCMC and other committees that operate within the Queensland Parliament. By doing so, the paper will provide insights into the relationships that exist between corruption commissions, parliamentary committees and parliamentary inspectors and demonstrate the important role of the parliamentary committee in preventing instances of public sector corruption.

The relationship between children's emotional and cognitive self-regulation at 2 to 3 years and prosocial behavior in the early years of school

This study used data from Growing Up in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) to investigate how parent report of children’s emotional and cognitive regulation at age 2-3 years was associated with teacher ratings of children’s prosocial behaviors in the early years of school. A sample of 2,392 children was drawn from the LSAC Birth Cohort for the analyses. The analyses used structural equation modeling to estimate parameters of the relationships between key variables. Within the model, estimates of mother-reported emotional and cognitive regulation at age 2 to 3 years were significantly associated with teacher-reported prosocial behavior at 6 to 7 years. Emotional regulation was a slightly stronger indicator of prosocial behavior than cognitive regulation. Being female and from a family with a higher socioeconomic position were also associated with higher levels of prosocial behavior. Results are discussed in relation to the role of early childhood teachers in fostering children’s self-regulatory behaviors and in providing environments in which empathic and prosocial behaviors are modeled, guided, and scaffolded so that foundations are laid for caring behaviors to be understood and internalized by children.

Why trust the Head? : key strategies for transformational school leaders for building a purposeful relationship of trust

Trust is widely recognised as one of the key qualities that a successful leader needs to bring about change within their organization. Browning’s study aimed to identify practices which a school leader can effectively use to inspire, build, and maintain trust between themselves, their staff and Chair of governing body. The study was undertaken in two phases. Phase One was the identification of four highly trusted transformational leaders from the Australian independent schooling sector. Phase Two was a multicase study of the four school leaders. The findings provide practical advice for school leaders wishing to have a positive impact on the outcomes of the students in their school.

Customer equity management : the impact of strategy drivers and customer data management on customer equity outcomes

This research contributes to the field of customer equity by examining how important the strategy drivers of consumption and customer data management are in contributing to the value of the customer asset. A mixed methods approach focused on one sector: the Australian accommodation hotels. From this research, a deeper understanding of how to theorise, conceptualise and practice customer equity management has been achieved.

Shouting from the ivory tower : a marketing approach to improve communication of academic research to entrepreneurs

Evidence-based practice in entrepreneurship requires effective communication of research findings. We focus on how research synopses can “promote” research to entrepreneurs. Drawing on marketing communications literature, we examine how message characteristics of research synopses affect their appeal. We demonstrate the utility of conjoint analysis in this context and find message length, media richness and source credibility to have positive influences. We find mixed support for a hypothesized negative influence of jargon, and for our predictions that participants’ involvement with academic research moderates these effects. Exploratory analyses reveal latent classes of entrepreneurs with differing preferences, particularly for message length and jargon.

Consumer acceptance of m-wellbeing services : a social marketing perspective

Purpose This study aims to employ the Model of Goal-Directed Behaviour (MGB) to examine the consumer acceptance of technology-based self-service (TBSS) for a credence service instrumental to a social goal. Credence services are increasingly delivered via self-service technology and in social marketing, the achievement of social goals can be contingent on consumer acceptance of these services. However, little is known about the determinants of acceptance and extant marketing literature fails to account for emotional and goal influences which are likely to be important. Design/methodology/approach The authors interviewed 30 young adults with self-reported stress, anxiety or depression as potential users of a self-help mental health service delivered via mobile phone. The data were analysed deductively and inductively with the assistance of NVivo. Findings The findings generally support using the MGB to enhance understanding of consumers' acceptance of TBSS. The paper also found evidence of the importance of maintenance self-efficacy, the self-evaluation of the ability to continue using the service, and a previously ignored element of consumer level competition that arises between alternatives that achieve the same goal. Originality/value This study is the first to examine factors that influence consumers' acceptance of TBSS for credence services aimed at achieving a social goal. It builds on understanding of consumer decision making in social marketing, particularly the influence of self-efficacy and competition. It also contributes to attitudinal research by providing initial evidence for deepening and broadening the MGB in the context of TBSSs.

The importance of individual difference : examining anthropomorphic tendency and responses to spokes-characters

Anthropomorphism is a cognitive bias, which occurs when individuals see human characteristics in a non-human agent, object or animal. Anthropomorphism is especially interesting to marketers, because once anthropomorphic bias has been triggered, it can lead to a greater feeling of connectedness to a non-human agent (Tam, Lee and Chao, 2013), the emulation of behaviours (Aggarwal and McGill, 2012) or greater attribution of brand personality and brand liking (Delbaere, McQuarrie and Phillips, 2011). Importantly, research now shows that levels of this tendency vary between individuals (Waytz, Cacioppo and Epley, 2010), but research to date has failed to focus on how anthropomorphic tendency influences individual responses to marketing communications messages. Spokes-characters present an ideal context through which to examine this gap, given that they function as personified brands, designed to trigger consumer anthropomorphic tendency. Further, little is understood about how spokes-characters operate and which consumers will prefer them to their human counterparts. Like anthropomorphic research, much empirical work to date has focused on design and outcomes, examining the sender’s encoding process and the feedback generated, but ignoring the individual decoding process that is so important to understanding individual differences and message effectiveness. The current research employs three experiments using an online survey with stimulus exposure to show that anthropomorphic tendency, personality similarity and spokes-character type all have relevance to the understanding of this complex relationship. Study one and two indicate that while a human spokesperson is still preferred by many, higher levels of anthropomorphic tendency increase likeability of cartoon spokes characters. Study three highlights the importance of personality similarity, which further increases likability. Additional analyses provide key findings concerning the nature of anthropomorphic tendency as an individual difference and trait. This research contributes to a greater understanding of anthropomorphism theory and fills existing gaps in the consumer psychology and marketing communications literature.

Using cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) to study the relationship between school leadership and organisational change

This study aimed to identify how school leaders’ practices influence department activities during school transformation. The method used to explore emerging disturbances and contradictions within and between school departments was based on Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT). The findings show that in order to implement educational changes in schools successfully, leaders should promote the change they envision as being highly consistent with the current collective identity (shared object) of the departments. From this perspective, the systemic components of the school departments are given a sense of preservation and continuity, rather than loss.

An introduction to the application of (case 1) best–worst scaling in marketing research

We review and discuss recent developments in best–worst scaling (BWS) that allow researchers to measure items or objects on measurement scales with known properties. We note that BWS has some distinct advantages compared with other measurement approaches, such as category rating scales or paired comparisons. We demonstrate how to use BWS to measure subjective quantities in two different empirical examples. One of these measures preferences for weekend getaways and requires comparing relatively few objects; a second measures academics' perceptions of the quality of academic marketing journals and requires comparing a significantly large set of objects. We conclude by discussing some limitations and future research opportunities related to BWS.

Student self-assessment of performance : a useful learning tool for students and instructors?

Assurance of Learning is a focus for many Business Schools to meet AACSB requirements. Prior research has examined student self-assessment as a measure of learning in this context, but we propose instead that this is a useful ‘learning tool’ for students and instructors that can help improve student performance and curricula. We examined self-assessment in a third year undergraduate e-marketing course and found a positive, though weak relationship between student self-assessment and instructor ratings on intended learning goals and criteria for a written assignment. Students who self-assessed tended to perform better in the assessment item and course than those who did not self-assess. But less competent students were more inaccurate in their self-assessment, suggesting a need to enhance understanding of marking criteria and performance standards within this group. Implications for educators are discussed.

A population genomics overview of the neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) gene and its relationship to migraine susceptibility

The ubiquitous chemical messenger molecule nitric oxide (NO) has been implicated in a diverse range of biological activities including neurotransmission, smooth muscle motility and mediation of nociception. Endogenous synthesis of NO by the neuronal isoform of the nitric oxide synthase gene family has an essential role within the central and peripheral nervous systems in addition to the autonomic innervation of cerebral blood vessels. To investigate the potential role of NO and more specifically the neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) gene in migraine susceptibility, we investigated two microsatellite repeat variants residing within the 5′ and 3′ regions of the nNOS gene. Population genomic evaluation of the two nNOS repeat variants indicated significant linkage disequilibrium between the two loci. Z-DNA conformational sequence structures within the 5′ region of the nNOS gene have the potential to enhance or repress gene promoter activity. We suggest that genetic analysis of this 5′ repeat variant is the more functional variant expressing gene wide information that could affect endogenous NO synthesis and potentially result in diseased states. However, no association with migraine (with or without aura) was seen in our extensive case-control cohort (n = 579 affected with matched controls), when both the 5′ and 3′ genetic variants were investigated.

Crossing over : the relationship between overseas Vietnamese and their homeland

This paper deals with the question—what are the effects of displacement on the perceptions diasporic Vietnamese have of their homeland, and of themselves? Identity has become an issue partly because there has frequently been an assumption that identity is somehow seamless, stable and unchanging. Migration highlights the relational and intersubjective nature of identity (see Bhabha, 1990; Hall, 1990). The homeland itself is also a site of constant transformation and negotiation of identities but the translocation of people accentuates the disjuncture between place and identity. When examining the Vietnamese diaspora, identity must be conceived within the locus of power relations that Vietnamese people operate within, both at a local and global level. The efflorescence of an interest in the politics of identity has come about through massive post-war decolonisation and the redrawing of national boundaries. Here, I will scrutinise how these wider relations of power act upon diasporic identities.