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

Complex nanostructures in diamond

Meteoritic diamonds and synthesized diamond-related materials contain a wide variety of complex nanostructures. This Comment highlights and classifies this structural complexity by a systematic hierarchical approach, and discusses the perspectives on nanostructure and properties engineering of diamond-related materials

Callers’ attitudes and experiences of UK breastfeeding helpline support

Background: Breastfeeding peer support, is considered to be a key intervention for increasing breastfeeding duration rates. Whilst a number of national organisations provide telephone based breastfeeding peer support, to date there have been no published evaluations into callers’ experiences and attitudes of this support. In this study we report on the descriptive and qualitative insights provided by 908 callers as part of an evaluation of UK-based breastfeeding helpline(s). Methods: A structured telephone interview, incorporating Likert scale responses and open-ended questions was undertaken with 908 callers over May to August, 2011 to explore callers’ experiences of the help and support received via the breastfeeding helpline(s). Results: Overall satisfaction with the helpline was high, with the vast majority of callers’ recalling positive experiences of the help and support received. Thematic analysis was undertaken on all qualitative and descriptive data recorded during the evaluation, contextualised within the main areas addressed within the interview schedule in terms of ‘contact with the helplines’; ‘experiences of the helpline service’, ‘perceived effectiveness of support provision’ and ‘impact on caller wellbeing’. Conclusion: Callers valued the opportunity for accessible, targeted, non-judgmental and convenient support. Whilst the telephone support did not necessarily influence women’s breastfeeding decisions, the support they received left them feeling reassured, confident and more determined to continue breastfeeding. We recommend extending the helpline service to ensure support can be accessed when needed, and ongoing training and support for volunteers. Further advertising and promotion of the service within wider demographic groups is warranted

Atypical chemokine receptor 4 shapes activated B cell fate

Activated B cells can initially differentiate into three functionally distinct fates-early plasmablasts (PBs), germinal center (GC) B cells, or early memory B cells-by mechanisms that remain poorly understood. Here, we identify atypical chemokine receptor 4 (ACKR4), a decoy receptor that binds and degrades CCR7 ligands CCL19/CCL21, as a regulator of early activated B cell differentiation. By restricting initial access to splenic interfollicular zones (IFZs), ACKR4 limits the early proliferation of activated B cells, reducing the numbers available for subsequent differentiation. Consequently, ACKR4 deficiency enhanced early PB and GC B cell responses in a CCL19/CCL21-dependent and B cell-intrinsic manner. Conversely, aberrant localization of ACKR4-deficient activated B cells to the IFZ was associated with their preferential commitment to the early PB linage. Our results reveal a regulatory mechanism of B cell trafficking via an atypical chemokine receptor that shapes activated B cell fate

Plasmin Activates the Lymphangiogenic Growth Factors VEGF-C and VEGF-D

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) C and VEGF-D stimulate lymphangiogenesis and angiogenesis in tissues and tumors by activating the endothelial cell surface receptor tyrosine kinases VEGF receptor (VEGFR) 2 and VEGFR-3. These growth factors are secreted as full-length inactive forms consisting of NH2- and COOH-terminal propeptides and a central VEGF homology domain (VHD) containing receptor binding sites. Proteolytic cleavage removes the propeptides to generate mature forms, consisting of dimers of the VEGF homology domain, that bind receptors with much greater affinity than the full-length forms. Therefore, proteolytic processing activates VEGF-C and VEGF-D, although the proteases involved were unknown. Here, we report that the serine protease plasmin cleaved both propeptides from the VEGF homology domain of human VEGF-D and thereby generated a mature form exhibiting greatly enhanced binding and cross-linking of VEGFR-2 and VEGFR-3 in comparison to full-length material. Plasmin also activated VEGF-C. As lymphangiogenic growth factors promote the metastatic spread of cancer via the lymphatics, the proteolytic activation of these molecules represents a potential target for antimetastatic agents. Identification of an enzyme that activates the lymphangiogenic growth factors will facilitate development of inhibitors of metastasis

Engineering Oxidative Stress Resistance in CHO Cell Factories

Oxidative stress is a phenomenon created by an imbalance in the amount of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) created within a cell, and the ability of its defence mechanisms to effectively deal with ROS. Oxidative stress is extremely deleterious to the cell, and is known to cause damage to DNA, proteins and lipids (Turrens, 2003). Mitochondria are the cell’s predominant producer of ROS (Murphy, 2009), but it has also been shown that increased protein folding in the Endoplasmic Reticulum (ER) results in an increase in ROS levels (Malhotra, 2008), an issue particularly pertinent as developers move towards hard-to-express proteins. As well as many enzymes dedicated to the eradication of ROS, such as caspases, peroxidases and superoxide dismutases (SODs) the cell maintains a glutathione pool to buffer the increase of ROS (Lu, 2009). Design of Experiment models were designed and implemented using the growth, productivity and ROS content data from batch experiments in order to design anti-oxidant supplementation strategies. Two rounds of fed-batch screening were performed and a feeding strategy identified that improved the growth and ROS burden of three cell lines producing the same recombinant MAb product. A directed evolution strategy was employed to engineer oxidative stress resistant host cell lines through chronic exposure to Hydrogen Peroxide. Following transfection with a recombinant MAb product, the novel engineered cell line consistently outperformed the original cell line in terms of growth and ROS content, in both transient and stable transfection processes. Doubling time of stably transfected evolved cell line was reduced to 23 hours, a substantial time frame reduction. A link between ROS level reduction and improvement in cell line performance was demonstrated, with further investigation needed to unpick the mechanistic underpinnings of the oxidative stress resistance as well as to attempt to address the imbalance of improvements in growth compared to productivity

Social presence and dishonesty in retail

Self-service checkouts (SCOs) in retail can benefit consumers and retailers, providing control and autonomy to shoppers independent from staff, together with reduced queuing times. Recent research indicates that the absence of staff may provide the opportunity for consumers to behave dishonestly, consistent with a perceived lack of social presence. This study examined whether a social presence in the form of various instantiations of embodied, visual, humanlike SCO interface agents had an effect on opportunistic behaviour. Using a simulated SCO scenario, participants experienced various dilemmas in which they could financially benefit themselves undeservedly. We hypothesised that a humanlike social presence integrated within the checkout screen would receive more attention and result in fewer instances of dishonesty compared to a less humanlike agent. This was partially supported by the results. The findings contribute to the theoretical framework in social presence research. We concluded that companies adopting self-service technology may consider the implementation of social presence in technology applications to support ethical consumer behaviour, but that more research is required to explore the mixed findings in the current study.<br/

Anion-polarisation--directed short-range-order in antiperovskite Li2_2FeSO

Short-range ordering in cation-disordered cathodes can have a significant effect on their electrochemical properties. Here, we characterise the cation short-range order in the antiperovskite cathode material Li$_2$FeSO, using density functional theory, Monte Carlo simulations, and synchrotron X-ray pair-distribution-function data. We predict partial short-range cation-ordering, characterised by favourable OLi$_4$Fe$_2$ oxygen coordination with a preference for polar cis-OLi$_4$Fe$_2$ over non-polar trans-OLi$_4$Fe$_2$ configurations. This preference for polar cation configurations produces long-range disorder, in agreement with experimental data. The predicted short-range-order preference contrasts with that for a simple point-charge model, which instead predicts preferential trans-OLi$_4$Fe$_2$ oxygen coordination and corresponding long-range crystallographic order. The absence of long-range order in Li$_2$FeSO can therefore be attributed to the relative stability of cis-OLi$_4$Fe$_2$ and other non-OLi$_4$Fe$_2$ oxygen-coordination motifs. We show that this effect is associated with the polarisation of oxide and sulfide anions in polar coordination environments, which stabilises these polar short-range cation orderings. We propose similar anion-polarisation-directed short-range-ordering may be present in other heterocationic materials that contain cations with different formal charges. Our analysis also illustrates the limitations of using simple point-charge models to predict the structure of cation-disordered materials, where other factors, such as anion polarisation, may play a critical role in directing both short- and long-range structural correlations