Measuring effects of strategic utilization of social media in business-to-business marketing: Case Greenlux Finland Oy

Utilization of social media is increasingly common in B2B marketing. Social media is an efficient and cheap marketing and communication channel available for everyone, and thus extremely attractive marketing medium. The more companies get involved in social media the more failures are reported. It is not enough for a company to just be present in social media. Succeeding on it requires hard work, investing time and money, and ability to measure and to monitor performance. With an increasing number of companies failing in utilizing social media, together with lack of research on strategic utilization of social media focusing on B2B marketing, measuring, and monitoring create a purpose for this research. The aim of this research is to discover methods for measuring and monitoring effects of strategic utilization of social media in B2B marketing. Most relevant financial and non-financial indicators are discussed, and the methods by which these can be monitored and measured. In addition, effects of strategic utilization of social media on the case company are measured and analyzed. The research methodology used in this research is a participatory action research, which includes elements of both qualitative and quantitative research methods. The case company examined in the research provides a unique opportunity to follow through all phases of strategic utilization of social media for B2B marketing purposes concluding real effects of social media to the case company, and thus gain a deep understanding about this new marketing medium in the perspective of B2B marketing. Duration of the research period is seven months. During this time, information is collected, measured, and analyzed. Case company does not have any other marketing activities simultaneously which makes it possible to examine social media apart from effects of other visible marketing activities. Effects of strategic utilization of social media can be monitored and measured in many ways. Methods that should be used depend on goals set for social media. Fundamental nature of social media requires multidimensional assessment, and thus effects should be measured, and monitored considering both financial and non-financial indicators. The results implicates that effects of strategic utilization of social media are relatively wide ranged. According to the findings, social media affects positively on brand, number of web page visitors, visitor behavior, and on distribution of awareness. According to investment calculations social media is a legitimate investment for case company. Results also implicate that by using social media case company gains conversation, arouses interest, gets attention, and creates interactivity. In addition and as a side note, winter holiday season appears to have a great effect on social media activity of B2B companies’ representatives.

Taxonomy, species richness and biogeography of Finnish crane flies (Diptera, Tipuloidea).

Biodiversity is unequally spread throughout terrestrial ecosystems. The highest species richness of animals and plants is encountered around the Equator, and naturalists observe a decrease in the number of creatures with increasing latitude. Some animal groups, however, display an anomalous species richness pattern, but these are exceptions to the general rule. Crane flies (Diptera, Tipuloidea) are small to large sized, non-biting nematoceran insects, being mainly associated with moist environments. The species richness of crane flies is highest in the tropics, but these insects are species rich and abundant in all biogeographic realms, boreal and arctic biomes included. The phylogeny and systematics of crane flies are still at an early stage and somewhat controversial. New species are constantly discovered even from temperate Europe, faunistically the best known continent. Crane flies have been rather neglected group of insects in Finland. The history of Finnish crane fly taxonomy and faunistics started in 1907, the year when Carl Lundström published his two first articles on tipuloids. Within roughly 100 years there have been only a handful of entomologists studying the Finnish fauna, and the species richness and natural history of these flies have remained poorly understood and mapped. The aim of this thesis is to clarify the taxonomy of Finnish crane flies, present an updated and annotated list of species and seek patterns in regional species richness and assemblage composition. Tipula stackelbergi Alexander has been revised (I). This species was elevated to a species rank from a subspecific rank under T. pruinosa Wiedemann and T. stackelbergi was also deleted from the list of European crane flies. Two new synonyms were found: T. subpruinosa Mannheims is a junior synonym of T. freyana Lackschewitz and T. usuriensis Alexander is a junior synonym of T. pruinosa. A new species Tipula recondita Pilipenko & Salmela has been described (II). Both morphology and COI (mtDNA) sequences were used in the assessment of the status of the species. The new species is highly disjunct, known from Finland and Russian Far East. A list of Finnish crane flies was presented, including the presence of species in the Finnish biogeographical provinces (III). A total of twenty-four species were formally reported for the first time from Finland and twenty-two previously reported species were deleted from the list. A short historical review on the studies of Finnish crane flies has been provided. The current list of Finnish species consists of 338 crane flies (IV, Appendix I). Species richness of all species and saproxylic/fungivorous species is negatively correlated with latitude, but mire-dwelling species show a reversed species richness gradient (i.e. an increase in the number of species toward north). Provincial assemblages displayed a strong latitudinal gradient and faunistic distance increased with increasing geographical distance apart of the provinces. Nearly half (48 %) of the Finnish crane flies are Trans-Palaearctic, roughly one-third (34 %) are West Palaearctic and only 16 and 2 % are Holarctic and Fennoscandian, respectively. Due to the legacy of Pleistocene glaciations, endemic Fennoscandian species are problematic and it is thus concluded that there are probably no true endemic crane flies in this region. Finally, there are probably species living within Finnish borders that have hitherto remained unnoticed. Based on subjective assessment, the number of “true” (i.e. recorded + unknown species) species count of Finnish crane flies is at minimum 350.

Histopathological changes in liver and gill epithelium of Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus, exposed to waterborne copper

Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus, of both sexes were reared in freshwater and exposed to 0.5, 1.0 and 2.5mg L-1 of waterborne copper for a period of 21 days. Liver and gill samples were collected after 21 days of exposure to copper and lesions were analyzed by light microscopy. The main histopathological changes observed in gills exposed to the highest concentration were edema, lifting of lamellar epithelia and an intense vasodilatation of the lamellar vascular axis. Although less frequent, lamellar fusion caused by the filamentar epithelium proliferation and some lamellar aneurisms were also found. The liver of control group exhibited a quite normal architecture, while the fish exposed to copper showed vacuolation and necrosis. These hepatic alterations were more evident in fish exposed to 1.0 and 2.5mg L-1 copper concentrations. The number of hepatocytes nucleus per mm² of hepatic tissue decreased with the increase of copper concentration. In contrast, the hepatic somatic index was high in fish exposed at 2.5mg L-1 of copper. In short, this work advance new knowledge as influence of copper in the gill and liver histology of O. niloticus and demonstrated that their effects could be observed at different concentrations.

Monitoring bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) infection status in dairy herds

This study was designed to assess the relationship between antibodies against bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) determined in the bulk tank milk (BTM) and the within-herd seroprevalence. We also assessed the efficiency of measuring antibody levels in BTM samples to monitor BVDV infection status in a herd. In the 81 farms included in the study, BTM samples were obtained and blood samples withdrawn from all cattle older than one year. The infection status was then determined in serum and milk using a commercial blocking ELISA based on the detection of anti-p80 antibodies. Apart from these baseline serum and milk samples, another BTM sample was collected from each herd 9 months later, and a third BTM sample obtained 9 months after this. In these second and third milk samples, anti-BVDV antibodies were determined using the same ELISA kit. Statistical tests revealed good agreement between herd seroprevalences (% seropositive animals in the herd) and the antibody levels detected in the BTM samples. During the 18 months of follow-up, the farms with persistently infected cattle at the study outset (14.8% of the herds) showed a significant decrease in BTM antibody titers after virus clearance. Conversely, a significant increase in BTM antibody levels was observed in the herds infected with BVDV during the follow-up period. Our findings indicate that monitoring antibody levels in the BTM is a useful method of identifying changes in the BVDV infection status of a herd.

Skill Development in Music Reading. The Eye-Movement Approach

This dissertation examined skill development in music reading by focusing on the visual processing of music notation in different music-reading tasks. Each of the three experiments of this dissertation addressed one of the three types of music reading: (i) sight-reading, i.e. reading and performing completely unknown music, (ii) rehearsed reading, during which the performer is already familiar with the music being played, and (iii) silent reading with no performance requirements. The use of the eye-tracking methodology allowed the recording of the readers’ eye movements from the time of music reading with extreme precision. Due to the lack of coherence in the smallish amount of prior studies on eye movements in music reading, the dissertation also had a heavy methodological emphasis. The present dissertation thus aimed to promote two major issues: (1) it investigated the eye-movement indicators of skill and skill development in sight-reading, rehearsed reading and silent reading, and (2) developed and tested suitable methods that can be used by future studies on the topic. Experiment I focused on the eye-movement behaviour of adults during their first steps of learning to read music notation. The longitudinal experiment spanned a nine-month long music-training period, during which 49 participants (university students taking part in a compulsory music course) sight-read and performed a series of simple melodies in three measurement sessions. Participants with no musical background were entitled as “novices”, whereas “amateurs” had had musical training prior to the experiment. The main issue of interest was the changes in the novices’ eye movements and performances across the measurements while the amateurs offered a point of reference for the assessment of the novices’ development. The experiment showed that the novices tended to sight-read in a more stepwise fashion than the amateurs, the latter group manifesting more back-and-forth eye movements. The novices’ skill development was reflected by the faster identification of note symbols involved in larger melodic intervals. Across the measurements, the novices also began to show sensitivity to the melodies’ metrical structure, which the amateurs demonstrated from the very beginning. The stimulus melodies consisted of quarter notes, making the effects of meter and larger melodic intervals distinguishable from effects caused by, say, different rhythmic patterns. Experiment II explored the eye movements of 40 experienced musicians (music education students and music performance students) during temporally controlled rehearsed reading. This cross-sectional experiment focused on the eye-movement effects of one-bar-long melodic alterations placed within a familiar melody. The synchronizing of the performance and eye-movement recordings enabled the investigation of the eye-hand span, i.e., the temporal gap between a performed note and the point of gaze. The eye-hand span was typically found to remain around one second. Music performance students demonstrated increased professing efficiency by their shorter average fixation durations as well as in the two examined eye-hand span measures: these participants used larger eye-hand spans more frequently and inspected more of the musical score during the performance of one metrical beat than students of music education. Although all participants produced performances almost indistinguishable in terms of their auditory characteristics, the altered bars indeed affected the reading of the score: the general effects of expertise in terms of the two eye- hand span measures, demonstrated by the music performance students, disappeared in the face of the melodic alterations. Experiment III was a longitudinal experiment designed to examine the differences between adult novice and amateur musicians’ silent reading of music notation, as well as the changes the 49 participants manifested during a nine-month long music course. From a methodological perspective, an opening to research on eye movements in music reading was the inclusion of a verbal protocol in the research design: after viewing the musical image, the readers were asked to describe what they had seen. A two-way categorization for verbal descriptions was developed in order to assess the quality of extracted musical information. More extensive musical background was related to shorter average fixation duration, more linear scanning of the musical image, and more sophisticated verbal descriptions of the music in question. No apparent effects of skill development were observed for the novice music readers alone, but all participants improved their verbal descriptions towards the last measurement. Apart from the background-related differences between groups of participants, combining verbal and eye-movement data in a cluster analysis identified three styles of silent reading. The finding demonstrated individual differences in how the freely defined silent-reading task was approached. This dissertation is among the first presentations of a series of experiments systematically addressing the visual processing of music notation in various types of music-reading tasks and focusing especially on the eye-movement indicators of developing music-reading skill. Overall, the experiments demonstrate that the music-reading processes are affected not only by “top-down” factors, such as musical background, but also by the “bottom-up” effects of specific features of music notation, such as pitch heights, metrical division, rhythmic patterns and unexpected melodic events. From a methodological perspective, the experiments emphasize the importance of systematic stimulus design, temporal control during performance tasks, and the development of complementary methods, for easing the interpretation of the eye-movement data. To conclude, this dissertation suggests that advances in comprehending the cognitive aspects of music reading, the nature of expertise in this musical task, and the development of educational tools can be attained through the systematic application of the eye-tracking methodology also in this specific domain.

Accidental and experimental salinomycin poisoning in rabbits

An outbreak of salinomycin poisoning in rabbits is described. At least 27 out of 2,000 rabbits reared on a farm died after the coccidiostatic drug sulfaquinoxaline was substituted by salinomycin in the feed. An average of 26.9ppm salinomycin was detected in the ration given to the rabbits. Clinical signs included anorexia, apathy and bradykinesia, which progressed to incoordination and recumbency. Gross lesions consisted of pale areas in the skeletal muscles. The histopathological findings showed severe necrotic degenerative myopathy in association with infiltration of neutrophils and macrophages. One rabbit exhibited similar alterations in the myocardium. Mineralization was observed in the affected skeletal muscles in some cases. In order to verify if the poisoning was due to salinomycin, 20 rabbits were divided into five groups and a ration containing the drug at doses of 10, 25, 50, 75 and 100ppm was given. The administration of doses higher than 50ppm resulted in manifestation of the clinical signs seen in the outbreak of poisoning. It was concluded, that probably an error related to the mixture of salinomycin in the feed was the cause of deaths in the spontaneous outbreak of poisoning on the rabbit farm.

Anaplasma marginale infection in cattle from south-western Amazonia

The present study provides the first epidemiological data regarding infection by Anaplasma marginale in cattle reared in south-western Brazilian Amazonia. One simple procedure was adapted for the extraction of DNA from blood clots collected in seven microregions of Rondônia State and two mesoregions of Acre State. PCR method was used to asses the frequency of A. marginale infections in 4 to12-month-old cattle. The cattle infection was investigated by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using the specific primer "msp5" for A. marginale. The DNA amplifications revealed that the mean frequency of A. marginale infection was 98.6% (1,627/1,650) in samples from Rondonia, and 92.87% (208/225) in samples from Acre. The high frequency of A. marginale infections in 4 to 12-month-old cattle indicate a situation of enzootic stability in the studied areas and are comparable to those detected by immunodiagnosis in different endemic regions in Brazil. The DNA extraction of clotted blood method described here can be used for epidemiological studies on anaplasmosis and other bovine hemoparasites.

Records of performance and sanitary status from a dairy cattle herd in southern Brazil

Over the last decades, the emphasis on the health of dairy cows has changed from an individual to a herd level. In this scenario, the role played by the recording system and its interpretation by veterinarians has gained primordial importance. The records of productive and reproductive performance and of sanitary status from a southern Brazilian dairy cattle herd have been presented and discussed. The period of study was 2000-2009. Mean values per lactation period were 349D 8436M 290F 275P 201SCS (D: days in lactation, M: kg of milk yield, F: kg of fat, P: kg of protein and SCS: somatic cell score in 1000 cells/ml of milk). Major indexes of reproductive efficiency included age at first calving (31 months), services per conception (2.1), intercalving interval (428 days), calving to conception interval (146 days), mean annual rates of parturitions (76.2%), fetal losses (9.8-19.0%), and stillbirths (3.6%), apart of voluntary waiting period (94 days). Main information on sanitary status of the herd was associated with the mean prevalence of common disorders of dairy cattle such as anaplasmosis (29.8%), mastitis (27.8%), digital diseases (26.3%), ovarian cysts (21.3%), placental retention (19.7%), postpartum uterine infections (10.6%), and calf diarrhea (23.7%) and pneumonia (16.8%), among others. In addition, culling reasons (low reproductive performance [56.3%] and udder/mastitis problems [33.6%]), causes of cattle deaths (anaplasmosis [16.4%] and leukosis [11.4]), and the impact of cattle diseases such as tuberculosis, leukosis, and neosporosis on the herd have also been presented and succinctly discussed. Numbers between brackets represent rates accumulated in the 10-year period.

Evaluation of PCR and multiplex PCR in relation to nested PCR for diagnosing Theileria equi

Conventional PCR (PCRTeq) for diagnosing Theileria equi and multiplex PCR (M/PCRTeq-Bc) for diagnosing T. equi and Babesia caballi were comparatively evaluated with nested PCR (N/PCR-Teq) for diagnosing equine piroplasmosis. In DNA sensitivity determinations, in multiple dilutions of equine blood that had tested positive for T. equi, PCR-Teq and N/PCR-Teq detected hemoparasite DNA in the larger dilutions (1:128), but did not differ significantly from the M/PCRTeq-Bc (1:64). In analyses on equine serum tested by ELISA, there was high agreement between this serological test and PCR-Teq (k = 0.780) and moderate agreement with N/PCR-Teq (k = 0.562) and M/PCRTeq-Bc (k = 0.488). PCR-Teq found a higher frequency of T. equi both in extensively and intensively reared horses, but this was not significant in relation to N/PCR-Teq (P>0.05), and both PCRs indicated that there was an endemic situation regarding T. equi in the population of horses of this sample. PCR-Teq was only significantly different from M/PCR-Teq-Bc (P<0.05). PCR-Teq presented high sensitivity and specificity, comparable to N/PCR-Teq, but with the advantage of higher speed in obtaining results and lower costs and risks of laboratory contamination. This accredits PCR-Teq for epidemiological studies and for determinations on affected horses.

Evaluation of the efficacy of hydrated sodium aluminosilicate in the prevention of aflatoxin-induced hepatic cancer in rainbow trout

The use of aluminum silicates for decontaminating animal feed containing aflatoxins has yielded encouraging results in chicken and turkey poults. In contrast, very few studies have tested these substances in aquaculture. In this work, we investigated the efficacy of a trout diet containing 0.5% hydrated sodium aluminosilicate (HSAS) in protecting against contamination with aflatoxin B1. Trout were reared on these diets for one year and the experimental groups were examined monthly for hepatic presumptive preneoplastic and neoplastic lesions. Regardless of the presence of HSAS, all of the fish that received aflatoxin in their diet have shown hepatic lesions indicative of a carcinogenic process, presenting also the development of cancer in some fish. The concentration of HSAS used in this study was ineffective in preventing the onset of hepatic lesions induced by aflatoxin B1 in rainbow trout.

Nutritional fibrous osteodystrophy in goats

Seven out of 25 goats from a southern Brazilian flock developed nutritional fibrous osteodystrophy. Affected animals were younger than 1 year of age and were confined in stalls and fed a concentrate ration containing 1:6 calcium:phosphorus ratio. The remaining flock (35 goats) was managed at pasture and showed no disease. Clinical signs were characterized by mandibular and maxillary enlargements, varying degrees of mouth opening and protruding tongue, dyspnea, apart of abnormalities of prehension and mastication. Affected animals had increased seric levels of phosphorus and parathormone, as well as higher alkaline phosphatase activity. Postmortem examination on three succumbed goats revealed bilateral enlargement of the maxilla and mandibula, and loose teeth, apart of multiple incomplete rib fractures in one of them. Severe diffuse proliferation of loose connective tissue surrounded the osteoid trabeculae, many of which were partially or completely non-mineralized. Mineralized osteoid trabeculae showed osteoclasts in the Howship's lacunae.

Different pathways in the larval development of the crab Ucides cordatus (Decapoda, Ocypodidae) and their relation with high mortality rates by the end of massive larvicultures

One of the most limiting factors affecting the larval rearing of Ucides cordatus in the laboratory is a period of high mortality, which usually occurs late in the course of the larviculture during the metamorphosis from the zoeal to the megalopal phase. The objective of the present research was to analyze the post-embryonic development of U. cordatus on an individual basis and, in particular, to search for patterns linking disturbances in the molting process to the high larval death rates observed in massive larvicultures. A total of 50 larvae were individually reared from hatching to metamorphosis into the megalopal phase under controlled conditions, fed a combination of microalgae and rotifers. The survivorship rate was 70% until zoea V. The 35 surviving zoea V larvae followed two different pathways. Eleven underwent metamorphosis directly to megalopa, eighteen molted to zoea VI and six died as zoea V. In the last molting event, only two zoea VI larvae reached the megalopal stage, while the remaining sixteen died. In further observation under microscope, 13 of the dead zoea VI showed characteristics of the pre-molt stage and pereiopods disproportionably large in relation to the carapace. The observed pattern resembles the Molt Death Syndrome (MDS) described for other decapod species, in which larvae die in the late pre-molt phase of the molting cycle. We suggest that U. cordatus larvae develop disturbances in the molting process similar to the MDS described for other species and that these disturbances are related to a more complex pathway involving the emergence of larval stage zoea VI.

Hematology values of captive giant anteaters (Myrmecophaga tridactyla) and collared anteaters (Tamandua tetradactyla)

Hematological results are reported for 13 giant anteaters (Myrmecophaga tridactyla) and 13 collared anteaters (Tamandua tetradactyla). Animals were captive-reared adults held at the Fundação Parque Zoológico de São Paulo (São Paulo, SP, Brazil) and Parque Zoológico Municipal Quinzinho de Barros (Sorocaba, SP, Brazil), and were considered healthy on physical examination. Examined parameters included red blood cell count, white blood cell count, hematocrit, hemoglobin concentration, mean corpuscular volume, mean corpuscular hemoglobin, mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration, total plasmatic protein and differential leukocyte counts. Also, a survey for hemoparasites was done and none was observed in thin blood smears. The results were generally similar to those previously reported in the exiguous literature for these species, providing further reference data for the interpretation of laboratory results besides health monitoring, assisting early disease diagnosis and providing relevant information for conservation programs for these species.

The role of alveolar type II cells in swine leptospirosis

Abstract: This study aimed to investigate a possible relationship between alveolar type II cells and the inflammatory response to infection with Leptospira spp., and thus comprise a further element that can be involved in the pathogenesis of lung injury in naturally infected pigs. The study group consisted of 73 adult pigs that were extensively reared and slaughtered in Teresina, Piauí state, and Timon, Maranhão state, Brazil. The diagnosis of leptospirosis was made using the microscopic agglutination test (MAT) aided by immunohistochemistry and polymerase chain reaction. The MAT registered the occurrence of anti-Leptospira antibodies in 10.96% (8/73) of the pigs. Immunohistochemistry allowed for the visualization of the Leptospira spp. antigen in the lungs of 87.67% (64/73) of the pigs. There was hyperplasia of bronchus-associated lymphoid tissue and circulatory changes, such as congestion of alveolar septa, parenchymal hemorrhage and edema within the alveoli. Lung inflammation was more intense (p = 0.0312) in infected animals, which also showed increased thickening of the alveolar septa (p = 0.0006). Evaluation of alveolar type II (ATII) cells using an anti-TTF-1 (Thyroid Transcription Factor-1) antibody showed that there were more immunostained cells in the non-infected pigs (53.8%) than in the infected animals (46.2%) and that there was an inverse correlation between TTF-1 positive cells and the inflammatory infiltrate. There was no amplification of Leptospira DNA in the lung samples, but leptospiral DNA amplification was observed in the kidneys. The results of this study showed that a relationship exists between a decrease in alveolar type II cells and a leptospire infection. Thus, this work points to the importance of studying the ATII cells as a potential marker of the level of lung innate immune response during leptospirosis in pigs.

Horizontal Slug Flow in a Large-Size Pipeline: Experimentation and Modeling

The knowledge of the slug flow characteristics is very important when designing pipelines and process equipment. When the intermittences typical in slug flow occurs, the fluctuations of the flow variables bring additional concern to the designer. Focusing on this subject the present work discloses the experimental data on slug flow characteristics occurring in a large-size, large-scale facility. The results were compared with data provided by mechanistic slug flow models in order to verify their reliability when modelling actual flow conditions. Experiments were done with natural gas and oil or water as the liquid phase. To compute the frequency and velocity of the slug cell and to calculate the length of the elongated bubble and liquid slug one used two pressure transducers measuring the pressure drop across the pipe diameter at different axial locations. A third pressure transducer measured the pressure drop between two axial location 200 m apart. The experimental data were compared with results of Camargo's1 algorithm (1991, 1993), which uses the basics of Dukler & Hubbard's (1975) slug flow model, and those calculated by the transient two-phase flow simulator OLGA.