The development of B2B social networking capabilities

The adoption of social media (SM) as a marketing platform in B2B markets has been growing, but there is a lack of research exploring the development of the social networking capabilities organizations need to build and maintain relationships via SM. By applying a qualitative, in-depth, case study research design in 12 organizations, this paper identifies a four-stage journey of social networking capability development. The stage-model captures the types of capabilities organizations engage or develop to be effective in creating actor engagement, network development and network management on SM. Through this, we demonstrate how the capabilities build over time and integrate with each other to improve the organizations’ perceived competitive performance on SM. We highlight the operational, dynamic and adaptive capabilities needed to build capacity for seizing the opportunities available through SM

“A Whole Other Layer of Complexity”: Black Transgender Men’s Experiences

Black transgender men are exposed to systems of oppression such as racism and cissexism at unique intersections of marginalized racial and gender identities, yet their experiences within such systems are not well understood. In this qualitative study, 10 Black transgender men were interviewed and six major themes were identified: developing an empowered view of self, navigating double consciousness, having a target on your back, strategies of resilience, culture of silence, and finding quality care

Construction of recombinant Lactobacillus casei efficiently surface displayed and secreted porcine parvovirus VP2 protein and comparison of the immune responses induced by oral immunization

Lactobacillus casei ATCC 393 was selected as a bacterial carrier for the development of mucosal vaccine against porcine parvovirus (PPV) infection. The PPV major structural polypeptide VP2 was used as the model parvovirus antigen. Two inducible expression systems, namely pPG611.1 of the cell-surface expression system and pPG612.1 of the secretion expression system based on the xylose operon promoter were used to express the VP2 protein. The immunogenicity of recombinant strains producing VP2 protein in two cellular locations, cell-surface exposed and secreted, was compared to each other by immunizing mice through the intragastric administration. The two types of constructs were able to induce strong specific immune responses against VP2 via intragastric administration and maximum titres of IgA and IgG were attained on days 46 post oral immunization, while the highest antibody levels were obtained with the strain producing the VP2 protein in extracellular milieu. The induced antibodies demonstrated neutralizing effects on PPV infection