Changing consumer markets and marketing in China

China's enormous population and rapidly increasing consumer spending are attractive to many multinational corporations (MNCs) to supply products to the Chinese markets. Yet MNCs continue to struggle to find ways to serve this diverse and culturally unique market. This article reviews and integrates existing knowledge on Chinese consumers' responses to marketing efforts, and specifies and empirically tests several propositions. Chinese consumers are found to have higher brand consciousness, brand loyalty, lower price sensitivity for visible goods, and to be less responsive to sales promotions compared to Western consumers. We also find indications that the influence of face considerations (i.e., prestige earned in a social network) cause Chinese consumers to have higher emphasis on prestige in their channel choices and advertisement evaluations than Western consumers. By outlining these implications, our study can help MNCs better understand how Chinese consumers behave and that understanding can help MNCs adapt their marketing efforts.

Nothing succeeds like moderation:a social self-regulation perspective on cultural dissimilarity and individual performance.

Addressing inconsistencies in relational demography research, we examine the relationship between cultural dissimilarity and individual performance through the lens of social self-regulation theory, which extends the social identity perspective in relational demography with the analysis of social self-regulation. We propose that social self-regulation in culturally diverse teams manifests itself as performance monitoring (i.e., individuals' actions to meet team performance standards and peer expectations). Contingent on the status associated with individuals' cultural background, performance monitoring is proposed to have a curvilinear relationship with individual performance and to mediate between cultural dissimilarity and performance. Multilevel moderated mediation analyses of time-lagged data from 316 members of 69 teams confirmed these hypotheses. Cultural dissimilarity had a negative relationship with performance monitoring for high cultural-status members, and a positive relationship for low cultural-status members. Performance monitoring had a curvilinear relationship with individual performance that became decreasingly positive. Cultural dissimilarity thus was increasingly negatively associated with performance for high culturalstatus members, and decreasingly positively for low cultural-status members. These findings suggest that cultural dissimilarity to the team is not unconditionally negative for the individual but, in moderation, may in fact have positive motivational effects.

Diaspora identification and long-distance nationalism among Tamil migrants of diverse state origins in the UK

Accounts of Tamil long-distance nationalism have focused on Sri Lankan Tamil migrants. But the UK is also home to Tamils of non-Sri Lankan state origins. While these migrants may be nominally incorporated into a 'Tamil diaspora', they are seldom present in scholarly accounts. Framed by Werbner's (2002) conception of diasporas as 'aesthetic' and 'moral' communities, this article explores whether engagement with a Tamil diaspora and long-distance nationalism is expressed by Tamil migrants of diverse state origins. While migrants identify with an aesthetic community, 'membership' of the moral community is contested between those who hold direct experience of suffering as central to belonging, and those who imagine the boundaries of belonging more fluidly - based upon primordial understandings of essential ethnicity and a narrative of Tamil 'victimhood' that incorporates experiences of being Tamil in Sri Lanka, India and in other sites, despite obvious differences in these experiences. © 2013 Taylor & Francis.

Identifications with an ‘aesthetic’ and ‘moral’ diaspora amongst Tamils of diverse state origins in Britain

This chapter employs Pnina Werbner's notion of diasporas as moral communities of suffering and co-responsibility, as well as aesthetic communities of shared transnational consumption of culture and performance of ritual, and relates this to the case of Tamil migrants of diverse state origins in Britain. Sri Lankan Tamil migrants I interviewed towards my research imagine membership of a Tamil diaspora as based on personal (or familial) experiences of suffering in the Sri Lankan civil war, which acts both to create bonds with other Sri Lankan Tamils, and to distinguish from Tamils of other state origins (Indian, Singaporean etc.) despite cultural commonalities (Werbner's aesthetic diaspora). Conversely, many of the non-Sri Lankan Tamil migrants I interviewed imagined these boundaries in more flexible terms, and claimed membership of the 'community of suffering' in ways which did not necessitate personal experience, but rather privileged symbolic constructions of the ethnic community, and an interpretation of historical and current events in India, Sri Lanka (and other sites of Tamil population) as components of a single narrative of Tamil victimhood.

Diverse antiepileptic drugs increase the ratio of background synaptic inhibition to excitation and decrease neuronal excitability in neurones of the rat entorhinal cortex in vitro

Although most anti-epileptic drugs are considered to have a primary molecular target, it is clear that their actions are unlikely to be limited to effects on a single aspect of inhibitory synaptic transmission, excitatory transmission or voltage-gated ion channels. Systemically administered drugs can obviously simultaneously access all possible targets, so we have attempted to determine the overall effect of diverse agents on the balance between GABAergic inhibition, glutamatergic excitation and cellular excitability in neurones of the rat entorhinal cortex in vitro. We used an approach developed for estimating global background synaptic excitation and inhibition from fluctuations in membrane potential obtained by intracellular recordings. We have previously validated this approach in entorhinal cortical neurones [. Greenhill and Jones (2007a) Neuroscience 147:884-892]. Using this approach, we found that, despite their differing pharmacology, the drugs tested (phenytoin, lamotrigine, valproate, gabapentin, felbamate, tiagabine) were unified in their ability to increase the ratio of background GABAergic inhibition to glutamatergic excitation. This could occur as a result of decreased excitation concurrent with increased inhibition (phenytoin, lamotrigine, valproate), a decrease in excitation alone (gabapentin, felbamate), or even with a differential increase in both (tiagabine). Additionally, we found that the effects on global synaptic conductances agreed well with whole cell patch recordings of spontaneous glutamate and GABA release (our previous studies and further data presented here). The consistency with which the synaptic inhibition:excitation ratio was increased by the antiepileptic drugs tested was matched by an ability of all drugs to concurrently reduce intrinsic neuronal excitability. Thus, it seems possible that specific molecular targets among antiepileptic drugs are less important than the ability to increase the inhibition:excitation ratio and reduce overall neuronal and network excitability. © 2010 IBRO.

The health and nutritional status of multiethnic perimenopausal women

An integrated, dual-phase study design assessed the health and nutritional status and practices of African-American (A-A), Caribbean (A-C), and white non-Hispanic (W-A) women during perimenopause (40–55 years). During Phase I, four focus groups (n = 37) of male and female participants discussed the health and social implications of perimenopause. A conceptual framework for the main study (Phase II) was developed from the focus groups' findings, in concert with the main study's specific aims and objectives. ^ The main study, a cross-sectional survey, quantitatively assessed the health and nutritional status of a convenience sample of 109 women (25 A-A, 31 A-C and 53 W-A), who met specific eligibility criteria. Using seven instruments, sociodemographic, dietary, medical, reproductive health, health practice and anthropometric data were collected. ^ The groups were of comparable age, education, and socioeconomic status (SES). Despite these similarities, statistically significant interethnic nutritional status differences were found. Significantly more total energy and energy from fat were consumed by A-A than W-A and A-C women. Also, significantly more A-A and A-C than W-A women were overweight or obese with android-type weight patterning. ^ Overall, iron and calcium Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA's) were not met by 35% and 68% of participants, respectively. Iron deficiency anemia was reported by 29% of participants while 33% reported heavier menstrual bleeding. Coupled with suboptimal iron intakes, this is likely to present a serious public health problem. Similarly, increased bone demineralization characteristic of perimenopause, coupled with suboptimal calcium intakes could precipitate another public health problem, osteoporosis. ^ Participants had different expectations about the role of medical care during perimenopause. Significantly more white (57%) than black (38% [A-A and AC]) women sought medical attention for symptoms. Whereas Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) was prescribed for 25% of them, only 13% were compliant at enrollment. ^ The trends and statistically significant findings of this study have huge public health policy implications. It is imperative that appropriate policies are formulated to ensure that America's ethnically diverse perimenopausal women have ready access to culturally appropriate care. This would optimize their health outcomes, and enhance their quality of life and productive capacities at this critical juncture of their lives. ^

Differences in learning style preference among students of diverse ethnicities, gender, academic placement level, and academic achievement

This investigation studied the differences in learning styles among ethnically diverse secondary science students from a multicultural urban high school. It examined whether there were learning style differences among samples based on ethnicity, gender, academic grouping, and academic achievement. The learning style elements were based on scores of the Dunn, Dunn, and Price Learning Style Inventory (LSI) (1997). The sample (n = 476) consisted of students enrolled in Life Science courses. The analyses of data were made by one way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA). ^ Significant differences were found among students for three of the four groups tested. The largest numbers of differences in learning style element preference were in academic grouping, with eight significant differences showing small or medium effect sizes. There were four significant differences between genders and one significant difference among ethnic groups. Effect size was small. The data analyses showed that individual differences have a much bigger effect than group differences on learning style, and that proportions in learning style element categories reveal more information than means of groups. ^ This study implied the need to increase awareness of differences in learning styles among students and help educators to understand them. Other predictors of learning styles might account for a large amount of the unexplained variation. Overall, this study reinforces the body of existing literature. ^

A computer based approach to improve the dietary and physical activity patterns of a diverse group of adolescents

Diet and physical activity patterns have been implicated as major factors in the increasing prevalence of childhood and adolescent obesity. It is estimated that between 16 and 33 percent of children and adolescents in the United States are overweight (CDC, 2000). Moreover, the CDC estimates that less than 50% of adolescents are physically active on a regular basis (CDC, 2003). Interventions must be focused to modify these behaviors. Facilitating the understanding of proper nutrition and need for physical activity among adolescents is the first step in preventing overweight and obesity and delaying the development of chronic diseases later in life (Dwyer, 2000). The purpose of this study was to compare the outcomes of students receiving one of two forms of education (both emphasizing diet and physical activity), to determine whether a computer based intervention (CBI) program using an interactive, animated CD-ROM would elicit a greater behavior change in comparison to a traditional didactic intervention (TDI) program. A convenience sample of 254 high school students aged 14-19 participated in the 6-month program. A pre-test post-test design was used, with follow-up measures taken at three months post-intervention. ^ No change was noted in total fat, saturated fat, fruit/vegetables, or fiber intake for any of the groups. There was also no change in perceived self-efficacy or perceived social support. Results did, however, indicate an increase in nutrition knowledge for both intervention groups (p<0.001). In addition, the CBI group demonstrated more positive and sustained behavior changes throughout the course of the study. These changes included a decrease in BMI (ppre/post<0.001, ppost/follow-up<0.001), number of meals skipped (ppre/post<0.001), and soda consumption (ppre/post=0.003, ppost/follow-up=0.03) and an increase in nutrition knowledge (ppre/post<0.001, ppre/follow-up <0.001), physical activity (ppre/post<0.05, p pre/follow-up<0.01), frequency of label reading (ppre/follow-up <0.0l) and in dairy consumption (ppre/post=0.03). The TDI group did show positive gains in some areas post intervention, however a return to baseline behavior was shown at follow-up. Findings of this study suggest that compared to traditional didactic teaching, computer-based nutrition and health education has greater potential to elicit change in knowledge and behavior as well as promote maintenance of the behavior change over time. ^

The role of the health care organization in supporting nurses in the delivery of culturally competent care

This study was designed to explore ways in which health care organizations (HCOs) can support nurses in their delivery of culturally competent care. While cultural competence has become a priority for the federal government as well as the major health professional organizations, its integration into care delivery has not yet been realized. Health professionals cite a lack of educational preparation, time, and organizational resources as barriers. Most experts in the field agree that the cultural and linguistic needs of ethnic minorities pose challenges that individual care providers are unable to manage without the support of the health care organizations within which they practice. While several studies have identified implications for HCOs, there is a paucity of research on their role in this aspect of care delivery. Using a qualitative design with a case study approach, data collection included face-to-face interviews with 23 registered nurses, document analysis, and reports of critical incidents. The site chosen was a large health care system in South Florida that serves a culturally diverse population. Major findings from the study included language barriers, lack of training, difficulty with cultural differences, lack of organizational support, and reliance on culturally diverse staff members. Most nurses thought the ethnic mix was adequate, but rated other supports such as language services, training, and patient education materials as inadequate. Some of the recommendations for organizational performance were to provide the expectations and support for culturally competent care. Implications and recommendations for practice include nurses using trained interpreters instead of relying on coworkers or trying to "wing it", pursuing training, and advocating for organizational supports for culturally competent care. Implications and recommendations for theory included a blended model that combines both models in the conceptual framework. Recommendations for future research were for studies on the impact of language bathers on care delivery, develop and test a quantitative instrument, and to incorporate Gilbert's model into nursing research.

Bilirubin: An animal pigment in the Zingiberales and diverse angiosperm orders

Strelitziaceae is a tropical monocot family comprising three genera and seven species: Ravenala Adans and Phenkospermum Endl., which are monotypic, and five species of Strelitzia Aiton. All species produce woody capsular fruits that contain vibrantly colored arillate seeds. Arils of the Strelitzia species are orange, those of Phenakospermum are red, and those of Ravenala are blue. Unlike most plant pigments, which degrade after cell death, aril pigments in the family persist for decades. Chemical properties of the compounds are unusual, and do not match those of known pigment classes (carotenoids, flavonoids, betalains, and the chlorophylls). I isolated the orange pigment from the arils of Strelitzia nicolai, and performed HPLC-ESMS, UV-visible, 1H NMR and 13C NMR analyses to determine its chemical structure. These data indicated the pigment was bilirubin-IX, an orange-yellow tetrapyrrole previously known only in mammals and some other vertebrates as the breakdown product of heme. Although related tetrapyrroles are ubiquitous throughout the plant kingdom and include vital biosynthetic products such as chlorophyll and phytochromobilin, this is the first report of bilirubin in a plant, and evidence of an additional biosynthetic pathway producing orange coloration in flowers and fruits. ^ Given the unexpected presence of bilirubin, Iexamined the fruits and flowers of twelve additional angiosperm species in diverse orders for the presence of bilirubin using HPLC and LC-MS. Bilirubin was present in ten species from the orders Zingiberales, Arecales, and Myrtales, indicating its wide distribution in the plant kingdom. Bilirubin was present in low concentrations in all species except those within Strelitziaceae. It was present in particularly high concentrations in S. nicolai, S. reginae and P. guyannense, and is thus responsible for producing color in these species. ^ No studies have examined the evolutionary relationship among all species in the family. Thus, I also constructed a molecular phylogeny of the family. This information, combined with further studies on the distribution and synthesis of bilirubin in plants, will provide a basis for understanding the evolutionary history of this pigment in the plant kingdom.^

Low-income first time mothers: Effects on advanced practice nurse (APN) follow up telephone calls on maternal and infant health and health care charges

The United States has over 4 million births annually. Currently healthy women with non-complicated deliveries receive little to no routine postpartum support when discharged from the hospital. This is especially problematic if mothers are first time mothers, poor, have language barriers and little to no social support after giving birth. The purpose of this randomized clinical trial was to compare maternal and infant health outcomes, and health care charges between 2 groups of mothers and newborns. A control ( n = 69) group received routine posthospital discharge care. An intervention group (n = 70) received routine posthospital discharge care plus follow up telephone calls by advanced practice nurses (APNs) on days 3,7,14,21,28 and week 8. Both groups were followed for the first 8 weeks posthospital discharge following delivery to examine maternal health outcomes (perceived maternal stress, social support and perceived maternal physical health), infant health outcomes (routine medical follow up visits immunizations, weight gain), morbidity (urgent care visits, emergency room visits, rehospitalizations), health care charges (urgent care visits, emergency room visits, rehospitalizations) in both groups and charges for APN follow up in the intervention group only. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and two-sample t-tests. Study findings indicated that intervention group had significantly lower perceived maternal stress, significantly higher rating of perceived maternal health and higher levels of social support and by the end of the 2nd month posthospital discharge compared to control group mothers. Infants in the intervention group had: increased number of immunizations; fewer emergency room visits; and 1 infant rehospitalization compared to 3 infant rehospitalizations in the control group. The intervention groups' health care charges were significantly lower compared to the control group $14,333/$497 vs. $70,834/$1,068. These study results indicate that an intervention of APN follow up telephone calls in this sample of first time low-income culturally diverse mothers was an effective, safe, low cost, easy to apply intervention which improved mothers' and infants' health outcomes and reduced healthcare charges.

The river, the railroad tracks, and the towers: How residents' worldview and use value transformed Wilton Manors into a diverse, gay-friendly, urban village

This case study examines the factors that shaped the identity and landscape of a small island-urban-village between the north and south forks of the Middle River and north of an urban area in Broward County, Florida. The purpose of the study is to understand how Wilton Manors was transformed from a “whites only” enclave to the contemporary upscale, diverse, and third gayest city in the U.S. by positing that a dichotomy for urban places exists between their exchange value as seen by Logan and Molotch and the use value produced through everyday activity according to Lefebvre. Qualitative methods were used to gather evidence for reaching conclusions about the relationship among the worldview of residents, the tension between exchange value and use value in the restructuration of the city, and the transformation of Wilton Manors at the end of the 1990s. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with 21 contemporary participants. In addition, thirteen taped CDs of selected members of founding families, previously taped in the 1970s, were analyzed using a grounded theory approach. My findings indicate that Wilton Manors’ residents share a common worldview which incorporates social inclusion as a use value, and individual agency in the community. This shared worldview can be traced to selected city pioneers whose civic mindedness helped shape city identity and laid the foundation for future restructuration. Currently, residents’ quality of life reflected in the city’s use value is more significant than exchange value as a primary force in the decisions that are made about the city’s development. With innovative ideas, buildings emulating the new urban mixed-use design, and a reputation as the third gayest city in the United States, Wilton Manors reflects a worldview where residents protect use value as primary over market value in the decisions they make that shape their city but not without contestation.^

Content and Methods of Teaching Literacy: The Effect of One-on-One Tutoring in Preservice Clinical Education in Two Low-Performing, Diverse School Settings on the Effectiveness of Preservice Teachers’ Reading Instruction

This is a study of preservice teachers’ ability to teach reading to struggling, diverse students, after participating in a school-embedded course incorporating a one-on-one tutorial directly supervised by reading experts. Changes in reading performance as well as plans to analyze changes in the preservice teachers will be discussed.

The relationship of culturally responsive instruction and the reading comprehension and attitude of struggling urban adolescent readers

Culturally responsive instruction refers to the identification of relevant cultural aspects of students' lives and infusion of these into the curriculum. This instructional approach assumes that a culturally appropriate curriculum can potentially motivate, engage, and lead students to higher rates of achievement. This quasi-experimental study (N=44) investigated the relationship of culturally responsive instruction and the reading comprehension and attitude of struggling urban adolescent readers. The study incorporated the use of culturally responsive instruction using culturally relevant literature (CRL), the Bluford Series Novels, as authentic texts of instruction. Participants were seventh grade reading students at a Title I middle school in South Florida. After a baseline period, two different classes were taught for 8 weeks using different methods. One class formed the experimental group ( n=22) and the other class formed the comparison group (n =22). The CRI curriculum for the experimental group embraced the socio-cultural perspective through the use of small discussion groups in which students read and constructed meaning with peers through interaction with the Bluford Series Novels; gave written responses to multiple strategies according to SCRAP - Summarize, Connect, Reflect, Ask Questions, Predict; responded to literal and inferential questions, while at the same time validating their responses through evidence from the text. The Read XL (basal reader) curriculum of the comparison group utilized a traditional form of instruction which incorporated the reading of passages followed by responses to comprehension questions, and teacher-led whole group discussion. The main sources of data were collected from the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Tests, the Florida Assessments for Instruction in Reading (FAIR), and the Rhody Secondary Reading Attitude Assessment. Statistical analyses were performed using Repeated Measures ANOVAs. Findings from the study revealed that the experimental participants' reading attitudes and FAIR comprehension scores increased when compared to the comparison group. Overall, the results from the study revealed that culturally responsive instruction can potentially foster reading comprehension and a more positive attitude towards reading. However, a replication of this study in other settings with a larger, more randomized sample size and a greater ethnic variation is needed in order to make full generalizations.