Information based power – A balancing act between retail strategies and consumer movement patterns

Problem background: The barrier between physical stores and online stores is blurred, which is paving the way for multi- and omni-channel retailing. Consumers of today are having a great access to information, due to their increased use of digital devices. Thus, the power among consumers is increasing, which is creating a thought of whether the consumer, or the retailer, is the party in charge. Aim of the study and research questions: The aim of this study is to attain an understanding of the views of retailers on multi-and omni-channel strategies, and their perceptions and handling of consumer movement patterns. Thereby, we are also striving for an understanding of the division of information-based power between retailers and consumers in a multi- and omni-channel retailing context. The research questions below will be directing the work process of this study. - How do retailers, offering high involvement products, discuss multi- and omni-channel strategies? - How do retailers, offering high involvement products, handle consumer movement patterns between various retail channels? - Based on the answers to the former questions, how can the division of information-based power between retailers and consumers be interpreted? Method: This study has been conducted through a qualitative research method, with an inductive approach. The primary data has been collected through ten semi-structured interviews, and the respondents have been strategically selected. The collected material has been interpreted through a hermeneutic approach. Conclusions: The decision of working either according to a multi- or an omni-channel strategy may have an impact on the opportunities and challenges from working with various channels. It may also affect the handling of consumer movement patterns and the direction of consumers to certain channels. Lastly, the division of information-based power between retailers and consumers, in a multi- and omni-channel retailing context, may be a continuous and complex balancing act between these two parties

Spelet om infrastrukturen - En diskursanalys av riksdagsledamöters föreställningar av offentlig privat samverkan

The purpose of this article is to describe the discourse in which public-private partnership (PPP) resides, within the Swedish parliament, in the field of infrastructure. I have chosen to look at the latest three years deliberation where PPP appears in parliament bills. This case study is based upon discourse as a qualitative method. Five indicator signs which is history, comparison, geographic location, vision of growth potential and solution controls the context of PPP The result of the analysis was that a clear discourse was unravelled. A first rather surprising conclusion shows that it is possible to disconnect the discourse from PPP. PPP is not important by itself, the result shows that it only play the part of possible solution to the problems related to the discourse and does not have any value in its own. This result lead the conclusion that PPP is no more than a tool for politicians to get as much out of their infrastructural aims as possible, as rational vote-maximizing actors. But it also leads to the conclusion that the power over defining a solution is partly a question of ideology. The discourse on other hand is not linked to ideology

Humanitära interventioner En teoriutvecklande studie.

Konflikterna i Somalia respektive Darfur (Sudan) är två av likartad karaktär men med olika utfall, i den tidigare initierades och genomfördes en intervention medan i den senare har en sådan uteblivit. I fallet Somalia tog det inte lång tid innan FN med USA i spetsen hade tagit plats i landet med avsikt att få till stånd ett slut på den interna konflikten. Fallet Darfur är av likartad karaktär där hundratusentals människor redan mist livet och än fler drivits på flykt men till skillnad från Somaliakonflikten har ingen intervention ännu initierats. Med bakgrund och en historisk överblick till konflikternas start görs ett försök att analysera de båda utfallen. För att förstå situationerna använder vi oss av fem olika förklaringsvariabler, aktörsperspektiv, system, media, suveränitet och intressen. De olika förklaringsvariablerna ger tillsammans en sammansatt bild av vilka faktorer som spelar en avgörande roll i huruvida en intervention har goda eller mindre bra förutsättningar att bli ett faktum. Resultatet visade att de var och en för sig gav en fragmenterad bild av varför respektive varför inte en intervention initierats medan de tillsammans länkade ihop bilden till en sammansatt helhet genom att vara beroende av varandra. Med facit i hand kan man ifrågasätta om interventionen i Somalia var lyckad eller misslyckad, frågan kring Darfur har fortfarande inte fått något svar och vi väntar på om det i slutändan kommer att initieras en intervention eller om världen passivt fortsätter att iaktta ohyggligheterna som uträttas. Av förutsättningarna att döma ser det onekligen inte ljust ut

Mapping of serum amylase-1 and quantitative trait loci for milk production traits to cattle chromosome 4

The present study was undertaken to confirm and refine the mapping of a quantitative trait locus in cattle for milk fat percentage that had earlier been reported to be linked to the serum amylase-1 locus, AM1. Five half-sib families from the previous study and 7 new ones were genotyped for nine microsatellite markers spanning chromosome 4. AM1 was mapped between the microsatellite markers BMS648 and BR6303. In a granddaughter design, interval mapping based on multiple-marker regression was utilized for an analysis of five milk production traits: milk yield, fat percentage and yield, and protein percentage and yield. In the families reported on previously, significant effects for fat and protein percentages were detected. In the new families, an effect on milk and fat yields was found. The most likely positions of the quantitative trait locus in both groups of families were in the same area of chromosome 4 in the vicinity of the obese locus. Direct effects of the obese locus were tested for using polymorphism in two closely linked microsatellites located 2.5 and 3.6 top downstream of the coding sequence. No firm evidence was found for an association between the obese locus and the tested traits

FAS-dependent cell death in α-synuclein transgenic oligodendrocyte models of multiple system atrophy

Multiple system atrophy is a parkinsonian neurodegenerative disorder. It is cytopathologically characterized by accumulation of the protein p25α in cell bodies of oligodendrocytes followed by accumulation of aggregated α-synuclein in so-called glial cytoplasmic inclusions. p25α is a stimulator of α-synuclein aggregation, and coexpression of α-synuclein and p25α in the oligodendroglial OLN-t40-AS cell line causes α-synuclein aggregate-dependent toxicity. In this study, we investigated whether the FAS system is involved in α-synuclein aggregate dependent degeneration in oligodendrocytes and may play a role in multiple system atrophy. Using rat oligodendroglial OLN-t40-AS cells we demonstrate that the cytotoxicity caused by coexpressing α-synuclein and p25α relies on stimulation of the death domain receptor FAS and caspase-8 activation. Using primary oligodendrocytes derived from PLP-α-synuclein transgenic mice we demonstrate that they exist in a sensitized state expressing pro-apoptotic FAS receptor, which makes them sensitive to FAS ligand-mediated apoptosis. Immunoblot analysis shows an increase in FAS in brain extracts from multiple system atrophy cases. Immunohistochemical analysis demonstrated enhanced FAS expression in multiple system atrophy brains notably in oligodendrocytes harboring the earliest stages of glial cytoplasmic inclusion formation. Oligodendroglial FAS expression is an early hallmark of oligodendroglial pathology in multiple system atrophy that mechanistically may be coupled to α-synuclein dependent degeneration and thus represent a potential target for protective intervention

Integrating Multiple Research Methods to Unravel the Complexity of Human-Water Systems

Abstract: Predicting floods and droughts is essential to inform the development of policy in water management, climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction. Yet, hydrological predictions are highly uncertain, while the frequency, severity and spatial distribution of extreme events are further complicated by the increasing impact of human activities on the water cycle. In this commentary, we argue that four main aspects characterizing the complexity of human‐water systems should be explicitly addressed: feedbacks, scales, tradeoffs and inequalities. We propose the integration of multiple research methods as a way to cope with complexity and develop policy‐relevant science

Physiological and Pathological Role of Alpha-synuclein in Parkinson’s Disease Through Iron Mediated Oxidative Stress; The Role of a Putative Iron-responsive Element

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the second most common progressive neurodegenerative disorder after Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and represents a large health burden to society. Genetic and oxidative risk factors have been proposed as possible causes, but their relative contribution remains unclear. Dysfunction of alpha-synuclein (α-syn) has been associated with PD due to its increased presence, together with iron, in Lewy bodies. Brain oxidative damage caused by iron may be partly mediated by α-syn oligomerization during PD pathology. Also, α-syn gene dosage can cause familial PD and inhibition of its gene expression by blocking translation via a newly identified Iron Responsive Element-like RNA sequence in its 5’-untranslated region may provide a new PD drug target

Novel suppressors of α-synuclein toxicity identified using yeast

The mechanism by which the Parkinson’s disease-related protein α-synuclein (α-syn) causes neurodegeneration has not been elucidated. To determine the genes that protect cells from α-syn, we used a genetic screen to identify suppressors of the super sensitivity of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae expressing α-syn to killing by hydrogen peroxide. Forty genes in ubiquitin-dependent protein catabolism, protein biosynthesis, vesicle trafficking and the response to stress were identified. Five of the forty genes—ENT3, IDP3, JEM1, ARG2 and HSP82—ranked highest in their ability to block α-syn-induced reactive oxygen species accumulation, and these five genes were characterized in more detail. The deletion of any of these five genes enhanced the toxicity of α-syn as judged by growth defects compared with wild-type cells expressing α-syn, which indicates that these genes protect cells from α-syn. Strikingly, four of the five genes are specific for α-syn in that they fail to protect cells from the toxicity of the two inherited mutants A30P or A53T. This finding suggests that α-syn causes toxicity to cells through a different pathway than these two inherited mutants. Lastly, overexpression of Ent3p, which is a clathrin adapter protein involved in protein transport between the Golgi and the vacuole, causes α-syn to redistribute from the plasma membrane into cytoplasmic vesicular structures. Our interpretation is that Ent3p mediates the transport of α-syn to the vacuole for proteolytic degradation. A similar clathrin adaptor protein, epsinR, exists in humans