Decoding Gen Z Identity Construction in Social Networks Through The Paradigm of Branding

Social networks play a significant and often monopolizing role in the lives of youth and provide spaces where they can express their individual identity and experiment with who they are and what they represent. This paper examines the evolution of social networks from play spaces to marketplaces; where self-expression is more about impressions, and the nature of self-identity fuses with the principles of branding. By examining the complex association between identity expression and branding within public and participatory networked ecosystems, this study scrutinizes the way children build ideologies of their own selves. The study culminates with a toolkit as a resource for parents and carers—applying the principles of brand strategy to help carers play a more meaningful role in constructing, nurturing, and protecting youth identity

Definiteness Morphology in Swedish Determiner Phrases

In Swedish determiner phrases definiteness can be realised both pre-nominally with a definite article and post-nominally with a definite suffix on the head noun. This paper discusses the distribution of definiteness morphology in a number of morphosyntactic contexts. Separate patterns of definiteness marking emerge when considering the following morphosyntactic contexts: DPs modified with a prepositional phrase, DPs followed by a restrictive relative clause, and DPs with adjectival pre-nominal modification. This paper synthesizes various proposals in the literature to develop the working analysis: in particular, LaCara\u27s (2011) analysis which includes two component features of definiteness and insights about DEN-omission from Simonenko (2014: Chapter 2). This working analysis demonstrates that the distribution under discussion can be unified using while maintaining a straightforward mapping between the semantics and the morphosyntax. The following avenues are identified as promising areas for future work: the distribution of definiteness morphology in additional morphosyntactic or semantic contexts and between varieties of Swedish; the semantic features adopted here and their alternatives; typological work concerning the semantic and morphosyntax definiteness cross-linguistically, including the properties of adjectival modification in definite DPs

A comparison of social media marketing between B2B, B2C and mixed business models

This paper explores the implicit assumption in the growing body of literature that social media usage is fundamentally different in business-to-business (B2B) companies than in the extant business-to-consumer (B2C) literature. Sashi’s (2012) customer engagement cycle is utilized to compare B2B, B2C, Mixed B2B/B2C and B2B2C business model organizational practices in relation to social media usage, importance, and its perceived effectiveness as a communication channel. Utilizing 449 responses to an exploratory panel based survey instrument, we clearly identify differences in social media marketing usage and its perceived importance as a communications channel. In particular we identify distinct differences in the relationship between social media importance and the perceived effectiveness of social media marketing across business models. Our results indicate that B2B social media usage is distinct from B2C, Mixed and B2B2C business model approaches. Specifically B2B organizational members perceive social media to have a lower overall effectiveness as a channel and identify it as less important for relationship oriented usage than other business models

Morphological Representations In Lexical Processing

This dissertation integrates insights from theoretical linguistics and the psycholinguistic literature through an investigation of the morphological representations involved in auditory lexical processing. Previous work in theoretical morphology, spoken word recognition, and morphological processing are considered together in generating hypotheses. Chapter 2 provides theoretical and methodological background. Theoretical linguistics is considered a subset of psycholinguistic inquiry. I argue that this perspective is beneficial to both subfields. Modality is a crucial theme: most work investigating morphological processing involves visual presentation, whereas this dissertation exclusively examines the auditory modality. Experimental work in this dissertation uses primed auditory lexical decision. Important considerations for this methodology are discussed in Chapter 2. Chapter 3 explores the role of morpho-phonological representations through a novel experimental design which examines the sensitivity of phonological rhyme priming to morphological structure, specifically, the extent to which stems of complex words are available for rhyme priming. Results suggest that phonological rhyme priming can facilitate phonological representations without facilitating syntactic representations, consistent with an architecture in which phonological and syntactic representations are separated. Furthermore, there is a directional asymmetry for the effect: stems in complex words are available for rhyme priming in targets but not primes. This asymmetry invites attention to the time-course of auditory morphological processing and a theoretical perspective in which syntactic and phonological recombination are considered separately. Chapter 4 concerns the processing of inflectional affixation. A distance manipulation is incorporated into two studies which compare word repetition priming to morphological stem priming. The results are informative about the time-course of the effects of representations involved with inflectional affixation. Furthermore, the results are consistent with abstract and episodic components of morphological priming which can be attributed to stem and recombination representations respectively. Finally, a morphological affix priming study focuses on the representation of the inflectional affix. Results are consistent with an account in which affixes are isolable representations in memory and therefore can be facilitated through identity priming. To summarise, by combining insights from theoretical linguistics and the psycholinguistic literature, this dissertation advances our understanding of the cognitive architecture of morphological representations and generates hypotheses for future research

The effect of ageing on in vivo human ciliary muscle morphology and contractility

Purpose. To assess the effect of ageing on in vivo human ciliary muscle morphology and contractility during accommodation. Methods. Seventy-nine subjects, aged 19–70 years were recruited. High-resolution images were acquired of nasal and temporal ciliary muscle in the relaxed state, and at stimulus vergence levels of -4 and -8 D, using anterior segment optical coherence tomography (AS-OCT). Objective refractions and axial lengths were also recorded. Linear regression analysis was performed to determine the effect of age on nasal and temporal ciliary muscle morphologic characteristics. Results. Ciliary muscle anterior length decreased significantly with age both nasally (R = 0.461, P = 0.001) and temporally (R = 0.619, P < 0.001) in emmetropic eyes. In a subset of 37 participants, ciliary muscle maximum width increased significantly with age, by 2.8 µm/year nasally (R = 0.54, P < 0.001) and 3.0 µm/year temporally (R = 0.44, P = 0.007), while the distance from the inner apex of the ciliary muscle to the scleral spur decreased significantly with age on both the nasal and temporal aspects (R = 0.47; P = 0.004 and R = 0.43; P = 0.009, respectively). During accommodation, changes to ciliary muscle thickness and length remained constant throughout life. Conclusions. The human ciliary muscle undergoes age-dependent changes in morphology that suggest an antero-inwards displacement of muscle mass, particularly in emmetropic eyes. However, the morphologic changes observed appear not to affect the ability of the muscle to contract during accommodation, even in established presbyopes, thus supporting a lenticular model of presbyopia development

In vivo analysis of ciliary muscle morphologic changes with accommodation and axial ametropia

Purpose. To use anterior segment optical coherence tomography (AS-OCT) to analyze ciliary muscle morphology and changes with accommodation and axial ametropia. Methods. Fifty prepresbyopic volunteers, aged 19 to 34 years were recruited. High-resolution images were acquired of nasal and temporal ciliary muscles in the relaxed state and at stimulus vergence levels of -4 and -8 D. Objective accommodative responses and axial lengths were also recorded. Two-way, mixed-factor analyses of variance (ANOVAs) were used to assess the changes in ciliary muscle parameters with accommodation and determine whether these changes are dependent on the nasal–temporal aspect or axial length, whereas linear regression analysis was used to analyze the relationship between axial length and ciliary muscle length. Results. The ciliary muscle was longer (r = 0.34, P = 0.02), but not significantly thicker (F = 2.84, P = 0.06), in eyes with greater axial length. With accommodation, the ciliary muscle showed a contractile shortening (F = 42.9. P < 0.001), particularly anteriorly (F = 177.2, P < 0.001), and a thickening of the anterior portion (F= 46.2, P < 0.001). The ciliary muscle was thicker (F = 17.8, P < 0.001) and showed a greater contractile response on the temporal side. Conclusions. The accommodative changes observed support an anterior, as well as centripetal, contractile shift of ciliary muscle mass

Supported work experience and its impact on young people with intellectual disabilities, their families and employers

Purpose – The Real Opportunities project set out to implement a number of the approaches identified through research that can assist transition to adulthood in nine local authority areas in Wales. Supported work experience was delivered by small job coaching teams in each area. The purpose of this paper is to establish the impact of the work experience and employment teams by describing the placements provided, any change in the skills of young people, and the responses to the placements by employers, young people and their families. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected over 24 months by participating employment services. Questionnaires were administered to employers. Interviews were carried out with a sub-sample of young people (24) participating and a family member (25). Findings – Over a 24-month period 297 young people received supported work experience. In total, 262 young people had an intellectual disability, 35 an autistic spectrum disorder. Up to three placements were delivered to each person, averaging five weeks per placement, with 405 placements in total. In total, 62 per cent of those with two placements had a different category of second work placement to their first. These numbers demonstrated that work experience in community placements is possible with support. Young people improved work skills significantly between first and second placements. Employers reported high satisfaction rates with the young person’s work in a range of key performance areas and company benefits from participation for other staff, company image and customer relations. Interviews with 24 young people and 25 of their family members reported satisfaction with support and placements. Six young people had paid work now, and 33 per cent said they would get a job at some future time. Families reported changes in young person’s outlook but their view of prospects of employment remained pessimistic due to the external environment. Research limitations/implications – Implications for future research are discussed. Practical implications – Implications for transition are discussed. Originality/value – The paper provides new insight into the impact of a large number of supported work experience placements

Imaging of platelet actin nodule with high spatial and temporal resolution

Platelets play a critical role in haemostasis and through platelet adhesion and aggregation ensure the integrity of the cardiovascular system is maintained in the event of an injury. The actin cytoskeleton plays a pivotal role their function. However, little is known about the role of a recently characterised actin structure, the actin nodule. The aims of this thesis are to characterise the actin nodule and elucidate their role in platelet spreading. To achieve this, platelets from the Lifeact-GFP transgenic mouse are used for live-cell imaging studies which demonstrate that actin nodules are a transient, surface-proximal, stationary actin structure which requires actin polymerisation downstream of SFK activity and the presence of Arp 2/3 complex. Additionally, their co-localisation with αIIb and results from previous work suggest a role for the actin nodule in platelet adhesion. The intracellular delivery of the actin label, Lifeact, and gold nanoparticles into human platelets using pH (low) insertion peptide is investigated and successful delivery of both represents a step forward in the ability to image actin dynamics in human platelets. Additionally, functionalisation of gold nanoparticles with multiple moieties including, a luminescent europium complex, demonstrate their potential as labels for multimodal imaging of human platelet actin nodule dynamics