Proximity and Consumer Trust in a Brand Crisis

Brand crises cause detrimental effects for consumers and organisations. Over the last 50 years, Marketing, Public Relations and Communications disciplines have attempted to identify methods that can minimise such consequences for organisations. Consumers’ attitudinal and behavioural responses play a critical role for organisations during crisis, with responses including decreased satisfaction, purchase intention and trust. A review of existing brand crisis literature revealed an important mediator between brand crisis and consumers’ responses yet to be recognised. This study introduces the concept of proximity to the literature to better understand consumers’ responses to a brand crisis. The study proposes that consumers’ connection to a brand crisis, through product ownership and violation of shared values, will have a significant effect upon consumers’ trust in the affected organisation. A sequential mixed-method exploratory research design achieved insight into proximity through the collection of 6 in-depth interviews and 55 questionnaire responses. A significant variance is highlighted in negative responses between high proximity and low proximity groups, indicating that a closer connection to a brand crisis event elicits stronger negative responses and lower levels of trust post-crisis. The research enables the refinement of the proximity concept, allowing better conceptualisation and aiding its application within future research or practice. Proximity is explored using the context of three recent, large-scale crisis events; the 2015 Volkswagen emissions fault, Samsung Note 7 product fault in 2016 and the 2015 Talk Talk cyber-attack

Elucidating the biological role of actin cytoskeletal proteins in the budding yeast saccharomyces cerevisiae

The dynamic, co-ordinated remodelling of the actin cytoskeleton is attributed to the interaction of actin with a wide variety of actin regulating proteins. The remodelling of actin is central to many cellular processes including endocytic uptake, polarisation of growth, cell motility, and is important for the ability of cells to respond to many intracellular and extracellular signals. Therefore, the study of individual actin regulating proteins enables a greater understanding of the complex overall control of the actin network and many cellular processes. Sla1p is an endocytic adaptor protein with several known roles in the cytoplasm, which include linking proteins involved in the early stages of endocytic uptake with those required for the actin polymerisation at endocytic sites. The data presented in this thesis however details the nuclear localisation of Sla1p. In addition to this initial observation, further analysis has allowed the proposal of a mechanism for the nuclear translocation of Sla1p. This was achieved by analysis of potential nuclear transport signals in wild-type and sla1 mutants, consideration of phosphorylatory mechanisms, and by detailed studies of nuclear transport receptor mutants. Finally, results of microarray analysis undertaken between wild-type and sla1 mutant strains were used to elucidate potential roles of nuclear Sla1p. These studies suggest that Sla1p localises both to the cytoplasm and the nucleus in S. cerevisiae and that its activity and cellular localisation may be regulated primarily through phosphorylation. The key to the dynamic remodelling of the actin cytoskeleton is the coordinated control of filament nucleation, polymerisation and disassembly. Data presented in this thesis demonstrates the association of the cortical patch protein Ysc84p with actin filaments, and the ability of Ysc84p to both sever and cap these filaments in vitro. A possible regulatory mechanism for the protein is also considered. Additionally, a Ysc84p homologue is localised to dynamic actin structures in mammalian cells and studies suggest that this protein may have a similar actin regulatory mechanism. These studies therefore suggest an exciting role for the cortical patch protein Ysc84p in the regulated control of branched actin filaments in S. cerevisiae

The Library Ireland Week (LIW) job swop initiative Experiences from Maynooth University Library

Each year, as part of Library Ireland Week (LIW), Irish libraries are encouraged to engage in job swops. This initiative, championed by the Library Association of Ireland (LAI) (https://libraryassociation.ie/) is straightforward, with individual libraries organising swops and absorbing any costs involved. This article describes the experiences of six library assistants from Maynooth University (MU) (https://www.maynoothuniversity.ie/library) Ireland, who participated in job swop

Effect of water-to-feed ratio on feed disappearance, growth rate, feed efficiency, and carcass traits in growing-finishing pigs

peer-reviewedThe optimum proportion of water for preparing liquid feed to maximize growth and optimize feed efficiency (FE) in growing-finishing pigs is not known. The aim of the current study was, using an automatic short-trough sensor liquid feeding system, to identify the water-to-feed ratio at which growth was maximized and feed was most efficiently converted to live-weight. Two experiments were conducted in which four commercially used water-to-feed ratios were fed: 2.4:1, 3.0:1, 3.5:1, and 4.1:1 on a dry matter (DM) basis (the equivalent of 2:1, 2.5:1, 3.0:1, and 3.5:1 on a fresh matter basis). Each experiment comprised 216 pigs, penned in groups of 6 same sex (entire male and female) pigs/pen with a total of 9 pen replicates per treatment. The first experiment lasted 62 days (from 40.6 to 102.2 kg at slaughter) and the second experiment was for 76 days (from 31.8 to 119.6 kg at slaughter). Overall, in Exp. 1, FE was 0.421, 0.420, 0.453, and 0.448 (s.e. 0.0081 g/g; P < 0.01) for pigs fed at 2.4:1, 3.0:1, 3.5:1, and 4.1:1, respectively. Overall, in Exp. 2, average daily gain was 1,233, 1,206, 1,211, and 1,177 (s.e. 12.7 g/day; P < 0.05) for pigs fed at 2.4:1, 3.0:1, 3.5:1, and 4.1:1, respectively. At slaughter, in Exp. 1, dressing percentage was 76.7, 76.6, 76.7, and 75.8 (s.e. 0.17%; P < 0.01) for 2.4:1, 3.0:1, 3.5:1, and 4.1:1, respectively. There were no differences between treatment groups for DM, organic matter, nitrogen, gross energy, or ash digestibilities. These findings indicate that liquid feeding a diet prepared at a water-to-feed ratio of 3.5:1 maximizes FE of growing-finishing pigs without negatively affecting dressing percentage. Therefore, preparing liquid feed for growing-finishing pigs at a water-to-feed ratio of 3.5:1 DM is our recommendation for a short-trough liquid feeding system

Effects of loudness and complex speech on spataial and temporal precision in Parkinson's Disease

The paper presents preliminary results of a speech motor control study of hypokinetic dysarthria in Parkinson's disease (PD). By means of EPG, the tongue contacts of two speakers with PD and two control speakers during the production of target words containing initial /t/ stops were analysed in normal and loud condition as well as in complex sentences. The preliminary results showed no effects of increasing loudness on duration and on the number of tongue contacts in speakers with PD. Furthermore, frication of the stop /p/ to [f] was found for one speaker in the acoustic analysis.casl[1] Alm, P. 2004. Stuttering and the basal ganglia circuits: A critical review of possible relations. JCD 37, 325-369. [2] Dromey, C. Ramig, L.O. 1998. Intentional changes in sound pressure level and rate: Their impacts on measures of respiration, phonation, and articulation. JSLHR 41, 1003-1018. [3] Dromey, C. 2000. Articulatory kinematic in patients with Parkinson disease using different speech treatment approaches. Journal of Medical Speech-Language Pathology 8, 155-161. [4] Kent, R. D., Weismer, G., Kent, J. F., Rosenbek, J. C. 1989. Toward phonetic intelligibility testing in dysarthria. JSHD 54, 482-99. [5] Kleinow, J., Smith, A., Ramig, L.O. 2001. Speech motor stability in idiopathic Parkinson's disease: effects of rate and loudness manipulations. JSLHR 44, 1041-1051. [6] McAuliffe, M. J., Ward, E.C., Murdoch, B.E. 2006. Speech production in Parkinson's disease: I. An electropalatographic investigation of tongue-palate contact patterns. Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics 20, 1- 18. [7] McAuliffe, M. J., Ward, E.C., Murdoch, B.E. 2006. Speech production in Parkinson's disease: II. Acoustic and electropalatographic investigation of sentence, word and segment durations. Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics 20, 19-33. [8] Mooshammer, C., Hoole, P., Geumann, A. (in press). Jaw and order. Language and Speech. [9] Schulman, R. 1989. Articulatory dynamics of loud and normal speech. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 85, 295-312. [10] Stevens, K.N. 1989. On the quantal nature of speech. Journal of Phonetics 17, 3-45.pub53pu

Measuring Spinal Mobility Using an Inertial Measurement Unit System: a Reliability study in Axial Spondyloarthritis

The objectives of this study were to evaluate the reliability of wearable inertial motion unit (IMU) sensors in measuring spinal range of motion under supervised and unsupervised conditions in both laboratory and ambulatory settings. A secondary aim of the study was to evaluate the reliability of composite IMU metrology scores (IMU-ASMI (Amb)). Forty people with axSpA participated in this clinical measurement study. Participant spinal mobility was assessed by conventional metrology (Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Metrology Index, linear version—BASMILin) and by a wireless IMU sensor-based system which measured lumbar flexion-extension, lateral flexion and rotation. Each sensor-based movement test was converted to a normalized index and used to calculate IMU-ASMI (Amb) scores. Test-retest reliability was evaluated using intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC). There was good to excellent agreement for all spinal range of movements (ICC &gt; 0.85) and IMU-ASMI (Amb) scores (ICC &gt; 0.87) across all conditions. Correlations between IMU-ASMI (Amb) scores and conventional metrology were strong (Pearson correlation ≥ 0.85). An IMU sensor-based system is a reliable way of measuring spinal lumbar mobility in axSpA under supervised and unsupervised conditions. While not a replacement for established clinical measures, composite IMU-ASMI (Amb) scores may be reliably used as a proxy measure of spinal mobility

Well made plans : catalogue of an exhibition of drawings from the Queensland Architectural Archive in the Fryer Memorial Library, University of Queensland

Catalogue of an exhibition held at the Brisbane City Hall Art Gallery and Museum, 1-29 June 1988

SustainaWHAT?! Learnings and legacies

SustainaWHAT?! is a multi-disciplinary, student/ staff co-created, cross-faculty and now crossinstitutional collaborative project which encourages PGRs to explore the relationship between the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and their research, with a focus on their professional and personal development. Initiated in 2021 by Ros Beaumont at Newcastle University’s multi, inter and transdisciplinary School ‘X’. This question chimed with Julie Gwilliam (Cardiff University) and Fiona Cownie (Bournemouth University) when they attended a joint student / staff presentation at the 2021 AdvanceHE Sustainability Symposium. Come and find about what we've done so far and our future plans

Influence of the Intestinal Microbiota on Colonization Resistance to Salmonella and the Shedding Pattern of Naturally Exposed Pigs

[EN] Salmonella colonization and infection in production animals such as pigs are a cause for concern from a public health perspective. Variations in susceptibility to natural infection may be influenced by the intestinal microbiota. Using 16S rRNA compositional sequencing, we characterized the fecal microbiome of 15 weaned pigs naturally infected with Salmonella at 18, 33, and 45 days postweaning. Dissimilarities in microbiota composition were analyzed in relation to Salmonella infection status (infected, not infected), serological status, and shedding pattern (nonshedders, single-point shedders, intermittent-persistent shedders). Global microbiota composition was associated with the infection outcome based on serological analysis. Greater richness within the microbiota postweaning was linked to pigs being seronegative at the end of the study at 11 weeks of age. Members of the Clostridia, such as Blautia, Roseburia, and Anaerovibrio, were more abundant and part of the core microbiome in nonshedder pigs. Cellulolytic microbiota (Ruminococcus and Prevotella) were also more abundant in noninfected pigs during the weaning and growing stages. Microbial profiling also revealed that infected pigs had a higher abundance of Lactobacillus and Oscillospira, the latter also being part of the core microbiome of intermittent-persistent shedders. These findings suggest that a lack of microbiome maturation and greater proportions of microorganisms associated with suckling increase susceptibility to infection. In addition, the persistence of Salmonella shedding may be associated with an enrichment of pathobionts such as Anaerobiospirillum. Overall, these results suggest that there may be merit in manipulating certain taxa within the porcine intestinal microbial community to increase disease resistance against Salmonella in pigs. IMPORTANCE Salmonella is a global threat for public health, and pork is one of the main sources of human salmonellosis. However, the complex epidemiology of the infection limits current control strategies aimed at reducing the prevalence of this infection in pigs. The present study analyzes for the first time the impact of the gut microbiota in Salmonella infection in pigs and its shedding pattern in naturally infected growing pigs. Microbiome (16S rRNA amplicon) analysis reveals that maturation of the gut microbiome could be a key consideration with respect to limiting the infection and shedding of Salmonella in pigs. Indeed, seronegative animals had higher richness of the gut microbiota early after weaning, and uninfected pigs had higher abundance of strict anaerobes from the class Clostridia, results which demonstrate that a fast transition from the suckling microbiota to a postweaning microbiota could be crucial with respect to protecting the animalsSIThis study was funded by the Food Institutional Research Measure (FIRM) administered by the Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine (DAFM). H.A. is a postdoctoral researcher supported by the Juan de la Cierva Postdoctoral Trainee Program of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (IJCI-2016-30795). H.A. was funded by the PiGutNet COST action (FA1401) for a Short-Term Scientific Mission at INRA’s GABI laboratory (Jouy-en-Josas, France). We gratefully acknowledge the Central Veterinary Research Laboratory (CVRL) Backweston for their expert help with the serological analyses. H.A. participated in the study design, sample collection and processing, data analysis, and manuscript writing. F.C.L. participated in study design and manuscript correction. J.E. participated in data analysis and manuscript revision. P.D.C. and F.C. participated in microbiome sequencing and manuscript revision. O.O. performed part of the data analysis and manuscript revision. H.L. and K.W. participated in sample collection and processing. G.D. and P.G.L. participated in the study design and manuscript correction. G.E.G. participated in the study design, data analysis, and manuscript writin

Fecal Microbiota Transplantation in Gestating Sows and Neonatal Offspring Alters Lifetime Intestinal Microbiota and Growth in Offspring

Previous studies suggest a link between intestinal microbiota and porcine feed efficiency (FE). Therefore, we investigated whether fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) in sows and/or neonatal offspring, using inocula derived from highly feed-efficient pigs, could improve offspring FE. Pregnant sows were assigned to control or FMT treatments and the subsequent offspring to control treatment, FMT once (at birth), or FMT four times (between birth and weaning). FMT altered sow fecal and colostrum microbiota compositions and resulted in lighter offspring body weight at 70 and 155 days of age when administered to sows and/or offspring. This was accompanied by FMT-associated changes within the offspring?s intestinal microbiota, mostly in the ileum. These included transiently higher fecal bacterial diversity and load and numerous compositional differences at the phylum and genus levels (e.g., Spirochaetes and Bacteroidetes at high relative abundances and mostly members of Clostridia, respectively), as well as differences in the abundances of predicted bacterial pathways. In addition, intestinal morphology was negatively impacted, duodenal gene expression altered, and serum protein and cholesterol concentrations reduced due to FMT in sows and/or offspring. Taken together, the results suggest poorer absorptive capacity and intestinal health, most likely explaining the reduced body weight. An additive effect of FMT in sows and offspring also occurred for some parameters. Although these findings have negative implications for the practical use of the FMT regime used here for improving FE in pigs, they nonetheless demonstrate the enormous impact of early-life intestinal microbiota on the host phenotype.publishersversionPeer reviewe