The digital marketing skills gap: developing a digital marketer model for the communication industries.

Scholarly literature suggests digital marketing skills gaps in industry, but these skills gaps are not clearly identified. The research aims to specify any digital marketing skills gaps encountered by professionals working in communication industries. In-depth interviews were undertaken with 20 communication industry professionals. A focus group followed, testing the rigour of the data. We find that a lack of specific technical skills; a need for best practice guidance on evaluation metrics, and a lack of intelligent futureproofing for dynamic technological change and development are skills gaps currently challenging the communication industry. However, the challenge of integrating digital marketing approaches with established marketing practice emerges as the key skills gap. Emerging from the key findings, a Digital Marketer Model was developed, highlighting the key competencies and skills needed by an excellent digital marketer. The research concludes that guidance on best practice, focusing upon evaluation metrics, futureproofing and strategic integration, needs to be developed for the communication industry. The Digital Marketing Model should be subject to further testing in industry and academia. Suggestions for further research are discussed

Examining chain bookshops in the context of 'third place'.

Purpose: This research theoretically conceptualises the notion of "third place" within the setting of chain bookshops. The widespread adoption of coffee franchises and comfortable seating has developed the bookshop as a leisurely setting. Underpinning the discussion in current retail marketing theory, the research aims to explore how the understanding of "third place" has changed with the passage of time and to examine whether chain bookshops can be called third places. Design/methodology/approach: The methodological approach is largely qualitative, drawing upon interviews with bookshop managers with regard to their strategic aims, and using focus groups to discuss consumers' bookshop experiences. The research also draws upon quantitative data, i.e. face-to-face questionnaires and online surveys. Findings: The research concludes that while consumer experience of chain bookshops is positive, they cannot be called a "third place" due to the lack of conversation therein. Nevertheless, an important caveat exists - the presence of an integral coffee shop encourages socialising among bookshop customers. Research limitations/implications: The project's scope is limited to chain bookshops in the UK. Future work might look at third place or restorative provision in other retail settings or over a wider geographic spread. Practical implications: The research has important implications and recommendations for managers of retail sites regarding the potential restorative qualities of bookshops, coffee shops and other retail environments. Originality/value: This empirical research enhances scholarly understanding of the bookshop as a restorative space, highlighting an important advantage which traditional retailers have over internet retailers

Impaired Knowledge of Driving Laws Is Associated with Recommended Driving Cessation in Cognitively Impaired Older Adults

Background/Aims: The present study examined if knowledge of driving laws independently predicts on-the-road driving performance among cognitively impaired older adults. Methods: The current study consisted of retrospective observational analyses on 55 cognitively impaired older adults (77.9 ± 6.4 years) that completed an on-the-road driving evaluation, a 20-item knowledge test of driving laws, and a brief cognitive test battery. Results: Logistic regression found poorer performance on the knowledge test was significantly associated with greater likelihood of recommended driving cessation beyond important demographic and cognitive variables (p Conclusion: Cognitively impaired patients’ ability to drive may be related to their knowledge regarding common driving laws, in addition to their current level of cognitive functioning

Maximising the availability and use of high quality evidence for policymaking:Collaborative, targeted and efficient evidence reviews

Abstract A number of barriers have been identified to getting evidence into policy. In particular, a lack of policy relevance and lack of timeliness have been identified as causing tension between researchers and policy makers. Rapid reviews are used increasingly as an approach to address timeliness, however, there is a lack of consensus on the most effective review methods and they do not necessarily address the need of policy makers. In the course of our work with the Scottish Government’s Review of maternity and neonatal services we developed a new approach to evidence synthesis, which this paper will describe. We developed a standardised approach to produce collaborative, targeted and efficient evidence reviews for policy making. This approach aimed to ensure the reviews were policy relevant, high quality and up-to-date, and which were presented in a consistent, transparent, and easy to access format. The approach involved the following stages: 1) establishing a review team with expertise both in the topic and in systematic reviewing, 2) clarifying the review questions with policy makers and subject experts (i.e., health professionals, service user representatives, researchers) who acted as review sponsors, 3) developing review protocols to systematically identify quantitative and qualitative review-level evidence on effectiveness, sustainability and acceptability; if review level evidence was not available, primary studies were sought, 4) agreeing a framework to structure the analysis of the reviews around a consistent set of key concepts and outcomes; in this case a published framework for maternal and newborn care was used, 5) developing an iterative process between policy makers, reviewers and review sponsors, 6) rapid searches and retrieval of literature, 7) analysis of identified literature which was mapped to the framework and included review sponsor input, 8) production of recommendations mapped to the agreed framework and presented as ‘summary topsheets’ in a consistent and easy to read format. Our approach has drawn on different components of pre-existing rapid review methodology to provide a rigorous and pragmatic approach to rapid evidence synthesis. Additionally, the use of a framework to map the evidence helped structure the review questions, expedited the analysis and provided a consistent template for recommendations, which took into account the policy context. We therefore propose that our approach (described in this paper) can be described as producing collaborative, targeted and efficient evidence reviews for policy makers

Bookselling online: an examination of consumer behaviour patterns.

Based upon empirical research, and using a range of methods, this paper examines the behaviour and experiences of consumers in online bookselling settings and offers comparison between online and offline (traditional) bookselling. The research finds that while the convenience of online bookshops is important, the key factors enticing consumers online are a combination of breadth of range, ease of access to obscure titles, as well as personalised recommendations and customer reviews. The research is of value to the book trade, highlighting consumer responses to widely adopted online marketing approaches. The research also contributes to scholarly knowledge in the fields of consumer behaviour, e-marketing and e-commerce in online bookselling, as well as providing findings which can be tested in other online settings, informing future theoretical research

Rare Exonic Minisatellite Alleles in MUC2 Influence Susceptibility to Gastric Carcinoma

BACKGROUND: Mucins are the major components of mucus and their genes share a common, centrally-located region of sequence that encodes tandem repeats. Mucins are well known genes with respect to their specific expression levels; however, their genomic levels are unclear because of complex genomic properties. In this study, we identified eight novel minisatellites from the entire MUC2 region and investigated how allelic variation in these minisatellites may affect susceptibility to gastrointestinal cancer. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPLE FINDINGS: We analyzed genomic DNA from the blood of normal healthy individuals and multi-generational family groups. Six of the eight minisatellites exhibited polymorphism and were transmitted meiotically in seven families, following Mendelian inheritance. Furthermore, a case-control study was performed that compared genomic DNA from 457 cancer-free controls with DNA from individuals with gastric (455), colon (192) and rectal (271) cancers. A statistically significant association was identified between rare exonic MUC2-MS6 alleles and the occurrence of gastric cancer: odds ratio (OR), 2.56; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.31-5.04; and p = 0.0047. We focused on an association between rare alleles and gastric cancer. Rare alleles were divided into short (40, 43 and 44) and long (47, 50 and 54), according to their TR (tandem repeats) lengths. Interestingly, short rare alleles were associated with gastric cancer (OR = 5.6, 95% CI: 1.93-16.42; p = 0.00036). Moreover, hypervariable MUC2 minisatellites were analyzed in matched blood and cancer tissue from 28 patients with gastric cancer and in 4 cases of MUC2-MS2, minisatellites were found to have undergone rearrangement. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our observations suggest that the short rare MUC2-MS6 alleles could function as identifiers for risk of gastric cancer. Additionally, we suggest that minisatellite instability might be associated with MUC2 function in cancer cells

P2X4 receptor function in the nervous system and current breakthroughs in pharmacology

ATP is a well-known extracellular signalling molecule and neurotransmitter known to activate purinergic P2X receptors. Information has been elucidated about the structure and gating of P2X channels following the determination of the crystal structure of P2X4 (zebrafish), however there is still much to discover regarding the role of this receptor in the central nervous system (CNS). In this review we provide an overview of what is known about P2X4 expression in the CNS and discuss evidence for pathophysiological roles in neuroinflammation and neuropathic pain. Recent advances in the development of pharmacological tools including selective antagonists (5-BDBD, PSB-12062, BX430) and positive modulators (ivermectin, avermectins, divalent cations) of P2X4 will be discussed

Environmental effects and individual body condition drive seasonal fecundity of rabbits: identifying acute and lagged processes

The reproduction of many species is determined by seasonally-driven resource supply. But it is difficult to quantify whether the fecundity is sensitive to short- or long-term exposure to environmental conditions such as rainfall that drive resource supply. Using 25 years of data on individual fecundity of European female rabbits, Oryctolagus cuniculus, from semiarid Australia, we investigate the role of individual body condition, rainfall and temperature as drivers of seasonal and long-term and population-level changes in fecundity (breeding probability, ovulation rate, embryo survival). We built distributed lag models in a hierarchical Bayesian framework to account for both immediate and time-lagged effects of climate and other environmental drivers, and possible shifts in reproduction over consecutive seasons. We show that rainfall during summer, when rabbits typically breed only rarely, increased breeding probability immediately and with time lags of up to 10 weeks. However, an earlier onset of the yearly breeding period did not result in more overall reproductive output. Better body condition was associated with an earlier onset of breeding and higher embryo survival. Breeding probability in the main breeding season declined with increased breeding activity in the preceding season and only individuals in good body condition were able to breed late in the season. Higher temperatures reduce breeding success across seasons. We conclude that a better understanding of seasonal dynamics and plasticity (and their interplay) in reproduction will provide crucial insights into how lagomorphs are likely to respond and potentially adapt to the influence of future climate and other environmental change.Konstans Wells, Robert B. O’Hara, Brian D. Cooke, Greg J. Mutze, Thomas A.A. Prowse, Damien A. Fordha

Defining the process to literature searching in systematic reviews: a literature review of guidance and supporting studies

BACKGROUND: Systematic literature searching is recognised as a critical component of the systematic review process. It involves a systematic search for studies and aims for a transparent report of study identification, leaving readers clear about what was done to identify studies, and how the findings of the review are situated in the relevant evidence. Information specialists and review teams appear to work from a shared and tacit model of the literature search process. How this tacit model has developed and evolved is unclear, and it has not been explicitly examined before. The purpose of this review is to determine if a shared model of the literature searching process can be detected across systematic review guidance documents and, if so, how this process is reported in the guidance and supported by published studies. METHOD: A literature review. Two types of literature were reviewed: guidance and published studies. Nine guidance documents were identified, including: The Cochrane and Campbell Handbooks. Published studies were identified through 'pearl growing', citation chasing, a search of PubMed using the systematic review methods filter, and the authors' topic knowledge. The relevant sections within each guidance document were then read and re-read, with the aim of determining key methodological stages. Methodological stages were identified and defined. This data was reviewed to identify agreements and areas of unique guidance between guidance documents. Consensus across multiple guidance documents was used to inform selection of 'key stages' in the process of literature searching. RESULTS: Eight key stages were determined relating specifically to literature searching in systematic reviews. They were: who should literature search, aims and purpose of literature searching, preparation, the search strategy, searching databases, supplementary searching, managing references and reporting the search process. CONCLUSIONS: Eight key stages to the process of literature searching in systematic reviews were identified. These key stages are consistently reported in the nine guidance documents, suggesting consensus on the key stages of literature searching, and therefore the process of literature searching as a whole, in systematic reviews. Further research to determine the suitability of using the same process of literature searching for all types of systematic review is indicated