Shallow landsliding and catchment connectivity within the Houpoto Forest, New Zealand.

Active landslides and their contribution to catchment connectivity have been investigated within the Houpoto Forest, North Island, New Zealand. The aim was to quantify the proportion of buffered versus coupled landslides and explore how specific physical conditions influenced differences in landslide connectivity. Landsliding and land use changes between 2007 and 2010 were identified and mapped from aerial photography, and the preliminary analyses and interpretations of these data are presented here. The data indicate that forest harvesting made some slopes more susceptible to failure, and consequently many landslides were triggered during subsequent heavy rainfall events. Failures were particularly widespread during two high magnitude (> 200 mm/day) rainfall events, as recorded in 2010 imagery. Connectivity was analysed by quantifying the relative areal extents of coupled and buffered landslides identified in the different images. Approximately 10 % of the landslides were identified as being coupled to the local stream network, and thus directly contributing to the sediment budget. Following liberation of landslides during high-magnitude events, low-magnitude events are thought to be capable of transferring more of this sediment to the channel. Subsequent re-planting of the slopes appears to have helped recovery by increasing the thresholds for failure, thus reducing the number of landslides during subsequent high-magnitude rainfall events. Associated with this is a reduction in slope-channel connectivity. These preliminary results highlight how site specific preconditioning, preparatory and triggering factors contribute to landslide distribution and connectivity, in addition to how efficient re-afforestation improves the rate of slope recovery

Luxury retailers’ entry and expansion strategies in China

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine internationalising luxury fashion retailers’ entry and post-entry expansion strategies in mainland China. Design/methodology/approach The study adopts a pragmatic mixed-methods research approach, including a quantitative mail survey and qualitative face-to-face in-depth executive interviews. Findings Different from initial single entry methods, multiple methods are increasingly popular for luxury fashion retailers’ post-entry expansion in mainland China. Although directly controlled expansion strategies have become significant, local partnerships are still important and omnichannel distribution strategies are rapidly growing. Research limitations/implications The findings were generated in mainland China only. Originality/value This work provides an understanding of luxury fashion retailers’ activities in the Chinese market from both macro and micro perspectives. It examines luxury fashion retailers’ initial entry strategies, as well as their post-entry expansion strategies in mainland China. Few studies in the area of international luxury fashion retailing have employed a mixed-methods approach with this number of participants

Reduction in jejunal fluid absorption in vivo through distension and cholinergic stimulation not attributable to enterocyte secretion

Jejunal fluid absorption in vivo was reduced by distension and by hydrostatic pressure and further declined on adding E. coli STa enterotoxin but no net fluid secretion was detected. Luminal atropine reduced pressure mediated reductions in fluid absorption to normal values but intravenous hexamethonium was without effect. A neural component to inhibition of absorption by pressure (though not stretch) may be mediated by axon reflexes within cholinergic neurons.Perfusion of cholinergic compounds also reduced net fluid absorption but did not cause secretion. In order to show that these actions were not secretory processes stimulated by cholinergic compounds that offset normal rates of absorption, these compounds were tested for their ability to cause net secretion in loops that were perfused with solutions in which choline substituted for sodium ion. In addition, these perfusates additionally contained E. coli STa enterotoxin or EIPA (ethyl-isopropyl-amiloride) to minimize absorption.In these circumstances, where it might be expected to do so if it were acting through a secretory rather than an absorptive mechanism, carbachol did not cause net fluid secretion. Cholinergic stimulation and pressure induced distension are thought to reduce net fluid absorption through inducing secretion but are found only to reduce fluid absorption.In conclusion, distension and cholinergic stimulation of the small intestine are two further circumstances in which fluid secretion is assumed to explain their action on fluid movement, as required by the enterocyte secretion model of secretion but, which like STa enterotoxin, instead are only able to reduce fluid absorption. This casts further doubt on the widespread validity of the enterocyte secretion model for fluid appearance in the lumen in diarrhoeal diseases

Schottky Barriers on GaAs

The forward current of Schottky barriers on n-type GaAs is investigated as a function of electron concentration in the range of 8×10^17 to 8×10^18 cm^−3 at temperatures 297-4.2°K. Both vacuum-cleaved and chemically polished surfaces are used. The majority of the junctions studied are gold Schottky barriers, but tin and lead contacts are also examined. The predominant current mechanism is field emission at liquid-nitrogen temperature and below for the range of electron concentrations used. These data are in excellent quantitative agreement at 77°K with the field-emission analysis of Padovani and Stratton if one uses a two-band model for the imaginary wave number kn. At 297°K, thermionic field emission predominates, but for an electron density above 3×1018 cm−3 the field-emission mechanism with a two-band model still gives reasonable agreement

Hong Kong, a Gateway for Mainland China? An examination of the impact of luxury fashion retailers’ ownership structures on expansion strategies

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine luxury fashion retailers’ ownership structures at their internationalisation strategies in Hong Kong and mainland China. Design/methodology/approach: This study adopts a pragmatic mixed methods approach, comprising a quantitative mail survey and ten qualitative executive interviews. Findings: This study found that group-owned luxury fashion retailers usually encounter fewer difficulties when internationalising into mainland China than their individually owned counterparts because of parenting advantage, particularly functional and service support. However, the success of some individually owned brands has demonstrated that branding strategies, management culture, international experience, financial power and local partners’ know-how are as important as parent company support and although the luxury market in mainland China has become developed, many foreign luxury fashion retailers still enter Hong Kong prior to mainland China. However, in relation to post-entry management and expansion strategies, the importance of Hong Kong has weakened because the emergence of capital cities, the growth of the middle class and fewer political restrictions. Research limitations/implications: The research findings are generated in the context of Hong Kong and mainland China, they are therefore limited in explaining luxury fashion retailers’ internationalisation strategies in other markets. Despite the challenge of the sample size, 63 out of 130 survey respondents (48.5 per cent response rate) and ten interview participants are felt to be sufficient to represent the market. Practical implications: This research can be used by practitioners when assessing appropriate entry strategies to the Chinese luxury fashion market. Originality/value: This is a pioneering study of the Chinese luxury market from the perspective of international retail strategies. It differentiates between Greater China (including Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan) and mainland China, and examines the impact of luxury fashion retailers’ ownership structures on their internationalisation strategies

Electron density and collision frequency of microwave‐resonant‐cavity‐produced discharges

A review of perturbation diagnostics applied to microwave resonant cavity discharges is presented. The classical microwave perturbation technique examines the shift in the resonant frequency and cavity quality factor of the resonant cavity caused by low‐electron density discharges. However, the modifications presented allow the analysis to be applied to discharges with electron densities beyond the limit predicted by perturbation theory. An ‘‘exact’’ perturbation analysis is presented which models the discharge as a separate dielectric, thereby removing the restrictions on electron density imposed by the classical technique. The ‘‘exact’’ method also uses measurements of the shifts in the resonant conditions of the cavity. Third, an electromagnetic analysis is presented which uses a characteristic equation, based upon Maxwell’s laws, and predicts the discharge conductivity based upon measurements of a complex axial wave number. By allowing the axial wave number of the electromagnetic fields to be complex, the fields are experimentally and theoretically shown to be spatially attenuated. The diagnostics are applied to continuous‐wave microwave (2.45 GHz) discharges produced in an Asmussen resonant cavity. Double Langmuir probes, placed directly in the discharge at the point where the radial electric field is zero, act as a comparison with the analytic diagnostics. Microwave powers ranging from 30 to 100 W produce helium and nitrogen discharges with pressures ranging from 0.5 to 6 Torr. Analysis of the data predicts electron temperatures from 5 to 20 eV, electron densities from 1011 to 3×1012 cm−3, and collision frequencies from 109 to 1011 s−1.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/69731/2/JAPIAU-74-6-3724-1.pd

Professional service firms are relationship marketers: But does size matter?

There are few research-based insights into professional service firms’ (PSFs) contemporary marketing practices. This is unfortunate as the professional services sector is a key contributor to growth in Australian and other economies around the world. As professional services are unique in a number of ways and their operations and marketing activities inextricably intertwined, the present study investigated the extent to which PSFs practice marketing and whether this differs according to size. Depth interviews were held with thirty seven Australian senior managers in four key industries. We examined the extent of relationship marketing, conceptualised at an overall managerial level as well as four sub-practices identified in research by Coviello and colleagues. We found relationship management and interaction marketing were the most common practices, which is consistent with the inseparability concept, and that relationship management and database marketing were more common in larger firms, which is consistent with their relative resource strength

A rising tide lifts all boats: the role of share and category changes in managing organic sales growth

The strategic objective of marketing activities is to drive business growth by promoting the firm’s products. Beyond merger and acquisition, organic growth can be targeted from two sources: Market Share Gain and Category Growth. Market share is often the focus for corporate objectives and used as a success measure. This research explores the relative impact of these two elements on firm growth across product category and addresses whether market share should be the main focus for all organisations. The study covers 39 consumer packaged goods’ categories from the UK and US, across 189 manufacturers over three to five years of data, post-2010. We show that firm growth through market share gain is likely to benefit small firms, and large firms’ growth is likely to be driven by category growth. The results provide empirical support in the area of business growth and how marketing plays a crucial role in this pursuit

Customer effort in value cocreation activities: improving quality of life and behavioral intentions of health care customers

Transformative service research is particularly relevant in health care where the firm and customer can contribute to individual as well as societal well-being. This article explores customer value cocreation in health care, identifying a hierarchy of activities representing varying levels of customer effort from complying with basic requirements (less effort and easier tasks) to extensive decision making (more effort and more difficult tasks). We define customer Effort in Value Cocreation Activities (EVCA) as the degree of effort that customers exert to integrate resources, through a range of activities of varying levels of perceived difficulty. Our findings underscore the importance of viewing health care service as taking place within the customer's service network that extends well beyond the customer-firm dyad to include other market-facing as well as public and private resources. Moreover, we demonstrate the transformative potential of customer EVCA linking customer EVCA to quality of life, satisfaction with service and behavioral intentions. We do so across three prevalent chronic diseasescancer, heart disease, and diabetes. Our findings highlight how an integrated care model has benefits for both customers and providers and can enhance customer EVCA

Interplay between CCR7 and Notch1 axes promotes stemness in MMTV-PyMT mammary cancer cells

Background: Breast cancer is the major cause of cancer-related mortality in women. It is thought that quiescent stem-like cells within solid tumors are responsible for cancer maintenance, progression and eventual metastasis. We recently reported that the chemokine receptor CCR7, a multi-functional regulator of breast cancer, maintains the stem-like cell population. Methods: This study used a combination of molecular and cellular assays on primary mammary tumor cells from the MMTV-PyMT transgenic mouse with or without CCR7 to examine the signaling crosstalk between CCR7 and Notch pathways. Results: We show for the first time that CCR7 functionally intersects with the Notch signaling pathway to regulate mammary cancer stem-like cells. In this cell subpopulation, CCR7 stimulation activated the Notch signaling pathway, and deletion of CCR7 significantly reduced the levels of activated cleaved Notch1. Moreover, blocking Notch activity prevented specific ligand-induced signaling of CCR7 and augmentation of mammary cancer stem-like cell function. Conclusion: Crosstalk between CCR7 and Notch1 promotes stemness in mammary cancer cells and may ultimately potentiate mammary tumor progression. Therefore, dual targeting of both the CCR7 receptor and Notch1 signaling axes may be a potential therapeutic avenue to specifically inhibit the functions of breast cancer stem cells.Sarah T. Boyle, Krystyna A. Gieniec, Carly E. Gregor, Jessica W. Faulkner, Shaun R. McColl and Marina Kochetkov