Several considerations regarding the online consumer in the 21st century – a theoretical approach

In nowadays' informational society, both the rapid pace development of technology and Internet's heavy influence on everyday's life brought along new characteristics to the 21st century consumer. Accordingly, in this little e-s dominated world, it comes as no surprise that the booming business on the new virtual market, the Internet, triggered the appearance of a new consumer, the online consumer, by far more informed, open to progress and selective. Along with the shifts of the traditional consumer' traits, this aim of this article is to emphasize, on a theoretical basis, the rising importance of the online consumer in the 21st century, and point out its main hallmarks and consumer behavior habits. With Generation Y, not only thriving in the digital era but also prevailing as the most active online shopper, the profile of the 21 st century consumer is defined by a clearly new and enhanced perspective.informational society, Internet, online consumer's behavior, online consumer.

How Learning-by-Doing Can Help Cut Through Complexity in Health Service Delivery

There is no single solution for successfully scaling-up key interventions and reaching the poor. Implementation research, using tools and approaches that are inclusive, participatory, and flexible, is essential for “learning-by-doing” to understand what works best in a particular context. Throughout the duration of the Future Health Systems project (FHS), country teams have committed to undertaking systematic learning though implementation research and by bringing together key actors involved in service delivery. In this Key Message Brief, we share some examples of how FHS teams have embodied a “learning-by-doing” approach, and what the consequences of this approach have been.UK Ai

Applying systems thinking to strengthen health systems

Systems thinking represents a unique theoretical and practical contribution. It facilitates ways to cross disciplines, and brings previously unused tools and approaches to tackle global health implementation differently. Future Health Systems (FHS) has played a major role in applying and advocating for the approach as a means to holistically understand health systems in low- and middle-income countries, as well as adaptation and scale-up of the project’s interventions

Start-up marketing: how to become a player on the B2B services market in Romania

The Romanian B2B services market tends to be more and more mature, as new players enter the country as a consequence of Romania’s membership within the European Union. Therefore, it becomes more and more difficult for new and small businesses to be set up and become functional players on this market. In this context, it is worthwhile performing marketing efforts from a special perspective that is a start-up marketing approach. The paper presents an analysis of start-up marketing as a discipline and also as practice in the B2B services market in Romania.start-up marketing, B2B services, Romania.

NOWADAYS ONLINE CONSUMERS' RIGHTS AND INTERESTS. CASE STUDY- THE ROMANIAN EDUCATED ONLINE YOUNG CONSUMER

The digital age brought along the appearance of a new type of consumer, the online consumer. Taking into consideration the serious security threats of the virtual market, the purpose of this article is to emphasize several significant aspects related to online consumer’s rights and interests, with a special interest on the educated online young consumers in Romania. We used desk and field research and carried out an online exploratory, quantitative survey, with the questionnaire as the main instrument, the valid number of the responses being 394 (all less than thirty years old, educated, online consumers from Romania). Related to this sample survey, the study’s findings clearly indicate that the level of information regarding their online rights and interests is average towards small, and their confidence in the security protection of the online shopping is situated at a low level of confidence. The relevance of the research for practice is given by the topic under discussion. Our study is valuable due to the used methodology and the updated gathered data regarding Romanian educated online young consumers’ perception on their rights and interests.generation Y online consumer, online consumer’s rights and interests, Romanian educated online consumers.

De novo synthesis of highly substituted pyridines

This thesis is divided into three chapters. Chapter 1 provides a brief survey of the methodologies currently available for the de novo synthesis of cyclopentadienes. Particular relevance is given to the more general methods and to the preparation of structurally interesting compounds. Mechanistic details will also be given for interesting or unusual reaction pathways. Chapter 2 presents research findings in the field of the application of the decarboxylative Claisen rearrangement (dCr) reaction to the synthesis of aromatics. The development of a novel methodology for the preparation of substituted pyridines will be described. Firstly, the feasibility of the method will be shown by detailing the preparation of simple pyridines, carrying alkyl and aryl substituents. Subsequently, efforts to expand the scope of the methodology will be discussed and attempts to prepare diversely substituted, chiral and cyclofused compounds detailed. Finally, some preliminary results concerning the use of the dCr reaction for the synthesis of cyclopentadienes and cyclopentadienyl anions will be presented. Chapter 3 provides the experimental details and the characterisation data for all the compounds synthesised

Expecting the unexpected: applying the Develop-Distort Dilemma to maximize positive market impacts in health

Although health interventions start with good intentions to develop services for disadvantaged populations, they often distort the health market, making the delivery or financing of services difficult once the intervention is over: a condition called the ‘Develop-Distort Dilemma’ (DDD). In this paper, we describe how to examine whether a proposed intervention may develop or distort the health market. Our goal is to produce a tool that facilitates meaningful and systematic dialogue for practitioners and researchers to ensure that well-intentioned health interventions lead to productive health systems while reducing the undesirable distortions of such efforts. We apply the DDD tool to plan for development rather than distortions in health markets, using intervention research being conducted under the Future Health Systems consortium in Bangladesh, China and Uganda. Through a review of research proposals and interviews with principal investigators, we use the DDD tool to systematically understand how a project fits within the broader health market system, and to identify gaps in planning for sustainability. We found that while current stakeholders and funding sources for activities were easily identified, future ones were not. The implication is that the projects could raise community expectations that future services will be available and paid for, despite this actually being uncertain. Each project addressed the ‘rules’ of the health market system differently. The China research assesses changes in the formal financing rules, whereas Bangladesh and Uganda’s projects involve influencing community level providers, where informal rules are more important. In each case, we recognize the importance of building trust between providers, communities and government officials. Each project could both develop and distort local health markets. Anyone intervening in the health market must recognize the main market perturbations, whether positive or negative, and manage them so as to maximize the benefits to the health system and population health.UKai

Living at the cutting edge: Women's experiences of protection orders. Volume 1: The women's stories

This report examines the experiences of 43 Māori, Pakeha, Pasifika and other ethnic minority women who were victims of male partner violence, the impact of the violence on them and their children, and their experiences of the justice system when they reached out for protection. The objectives of the project were to: a.identify and describe the experiences of a sample of women in obtaining protection orders, the impact of protection orders and the response to breaches of protection orders; b.identify those aspects that are working well (that is, positive experiences of protection orders); and c.identify areas for improvement including barriers that prevent women from applying for and obtaining protection orders

CARDIAC PACEMAKING: PATHOPHYSIOLOGY AND PHARMACOLOGY OF THE IF CURRENT

During my Ph.D. I focussed my experiments on the investigation of physiopathological and pharmacological role of the cardiac sinoatrial If since it has a key role in the generation and modulation of cardiac pacemaker activity. The identification of pharmacological agents able to reduce sinus heart rate has a strong interest in the clinic since they could be useful in the treatment of ischemic heart disease. Despite longstanding and intense investigation at present there is only one such agent (ivabradine) that has reached therapeutic application since all other compounds tested have shown undesired side-effects. I therefore investigated the effect of Tong Mai Yan Xin (TMYX), a drug currently used in China as a cardiac regulator of both brady- and tachy-cardic condition. Electrophysiological experiments performed on rabbit SA node cells have shown a dose-dependent slowing effect of TMYX on pacemaking rate, associated with a reduction of the early part of the pacemaker depolarization and with a moderate prolongation of APD50. The investigation of the effects of TMYX on the If current, the major contributor of diastolic depolarization phase, has revealed a dual effect: TMYX causes a leftward-shift of the activation current curve and an increase of the channel conductance. At physiological potential the bradycardic action (leftward shift) strongly prevails, thus confirming the effect on the spontaneous automaticity observed in SA node cells. The effect of TMYX was also evaluated in freely moving mice implanted with ECG transmitters. Preliminary experiments surprisingly show an increment of heart rate after the i.p. injection of the drug, while when TMYX was delivered during pharmacological blockade of only sympathetic or both sympathetic and parasympathetic autonomic system, a deep bradycardia was observed. Given the importance of the If current in the pacemaking process, it is important characterize the functional role of mutations in the HCN4 channels, the molecular constituent of If current, that are associated with clinically relevant modification of heart rate. So far all mutations reported in the literature are associated with tachycardic conditions. During my study I had the opportunity to investigate the properties of the R524Q mutation which is located in the first portion of C-linker, a region connecting the S6 transmembrane domain to the CNBD; this mutation cosegregates in familial members affected by inappropriate sinus tachycardia. Electrophysiological analysis carried out on HEK 293 cells showed an increment of cAMP sensitivity in the R524Q channels resulting in a rightward shift of the activation curve that mimic the effect of \u3b2-adrenergic stimulation. When transfected with mutant rather than wild-type HCN channels newborn ventricular myocytes, an excitable cellular model used to test the effect of mutations on spontaneous rate, showed a faster pacemaking rate. Finally I carried out some experiments to test the quantitative relevance of the If current during pacemaking. The study was carried out by means of an indirect approach based on mathematical models of SA node action potentials combined with the dynamic-clamp technique. I compared the models developed by Maltsev-Lakatta and Severi-DiFrancesco. Both these formulations describe the SA node automaticity, but they have differences in quantitative contribution of If current. My experiments allowed to validate the Severi-DiFrancesco model, that is associate with a higher contribution of If current during the diastolic depolarization than Maltsev-Lakatta formulation. In conclusion, using independent and separate approaches, my experiments confirm that alterations of the amount of the If current flowing during the diastolic depolarization leads to robust effect on automaticity of the SA node

Living at the cutting edge: Women's experiences of protection orders. Volume 2: What's to be done? A critical analysis of statutory and practice approaches to domestic violence

This report examines the experiences of 43 Māori, Pakeha, Pasifika and other ethnic minority women who were victims of male partner violence, the impact of the violence on them and their children, and their experiences of the justice system when they reached out for protection. The objectives of the project were to: a.identify and describe the experiences of a sample of women in obtaining protection orders, the impact of protection orders and the response to breaches of protection orders; b.identify those aspects that are working well (that is, positive experiences of protection orders); and c.identify areas for improvement including barriers that prevent women from applying for and obtaining protection orders