Marketing in SMEs: a '4Ps' self-branding model

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the extent to which traditional marketing theory and practice can be applied in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and consider how owner-managers perceive their own role in marketing within a small business setting. Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative exploratory approach using semi-structured in-depth interviews amongst owner-managers of SMEs in the UK. Findings – SME marketing is effective in that it embraces some relevant concepts of traditional marketing, tailors activities to match its customers and adds its own unique attribute of self-branding as bestowed by the SME owner-manager. Research limitations/implications – The study was limited to the UK and to a small sample of SMEs and as such the findings are not necessarily generalisable. Originality/value – A “4Ps” model for SME self-branding is proposed, which encompasses the attributes of personal branding, (co)production, perseverance and practice

Epac2-deficiency leads to more severe retinal swelling, glial reactivity and oxidative stress in transient middle cerebral artery occlusion induced ischemic retinopathy

Ischemia occurs in diabetic retinopathy with neuronal loss, edema, glial cell reactivity and oxidative stress. Epacs, consisting of Epac1 and Epac2, are cAMP mediators playing important roles in maintenance of endothelial barrier and neuronal functions. To investigate the roles of Epacs in the pathogenesis of ischemic retinopathy, transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (tMCAO) was performed on Epac1-deficient (Epac1) mice, Epac2-deficient (Epac2) mice, and their wild type counterparts (Epac1+/+ and Epac2+/+). Two-hour occlusion and 22-hour reperfusion were conducted to induce ischemia/reperfusion injury to the retina. After tMCAO, the contralateral retinae displayed similar morphology between different genotypes. Neuronal loss, retinal edema and increase in immunoreactivity for aquaporin 4 (AQP4), glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), peroxiredoxin 6 (Prx6) were observed in ipsilateral retinae. Epac2 ipsilateral retinae showed more neuronal loss in retinal ganglion cell layer, increased retinal thickness and stronger immunostaining of AQP4, GFAP, and Prx6 than those of Epac2+/+. However, Epac1 ipsilateral retinae displayed similar pathology as those in Epac1+/+ mice. Our observations suggest that Epac2-deficiency led to more severe ischemic retinopathy after retinal ischemia/reperfusion injury.published_or_final_versio

Assessing photochemical ozone formation in the Pearl River Delta with a photochemical trajectory model

A photochemical trajectory model (PTM), coupled with the Master Chemical Mechanism (MCM) describing the degradation of 139 volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the troposphere, was developed and used for the first time to simulate the formation of photochemical pollutants at Wangqingsha (WQS), Guangzhou during photochemical pollution episodes between 12 and 17 November, 2007. The simulated diurnal variations and mixing ratios of ozone were in good agreement with observed data (R2=0.80, P<0.05), indicating that the photochemical trajectory model - an integration of boundary layer trajectories, precursor emissions and chemical processing - provides a reasonable description of ozone formation in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region. Calculated photochemical ozone creation potential (POCP) indices for the region indicated that alkanes and oxygenated organic compounds had relatively low reactivity, while alkenes and aromatics presented high reactivity, as seen in other airsheds in Europe. Analysis of the emission inventory found that the sum of 60 of the 139 VOC species accounted for 92% of the total POCP-weighted emission. The 60 VOC species include C2-C6 alkenes, C6-C8 aromatics, biogenic VOCs, and so on. The results indicated that regional scale ozone formation in the PRD region can be mainly attributed to a relatively small number of VOC species, namely isoprene, ethene, m-xylene, and toluene, etc. A further investigation of the relative contribution of the main emission source categories to ozone formation suggested that mobile sources were the largest contributor to regional O3 formation (40%), followed by biogenic sources (29%), VOC product-related sources (23%), industry (6%), biomass burning (1%), and power plants (1%). The findings obtained in this study would advance our knowledge of air quality in the PRD region, and provide useful information to local government on effective control of photochemical smog in the region. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd

Self-Assembly of 4-sided Fractals in the Two-handed Tile Assembly Model

We consider the self-assembly of fractals in one of the most well-studied models of tile based self-assembling systems known as the Two-handed Tile Assembly Model (2HAM). In particular, we focus our attention on a class of fractals called discrete self-similar fractals (a class of fractals that includes the discrete Sierpi\'nski carpet). We present a 2HAM system that finitely self-assembles the discrete Sierpi\'nski carpet with scale factor 1. Moreover, the 2HAM system that we give lends itself to being generalized and we describe how this system can be modified to obtain a 2HAM system that finitely self-assembles one of any fractal from an infinite set of fractals which we call 4-sided fractals. The 2HAM systems we give in this paper are the first examples of systems that finitely self-assemble discrete self-similar fractals at scale factor 1 in a purely growth model of self-assembly. Finally, we show that there exists a 3-sided fractal (which is not a tree fractal) that cannot be finitely self-assembled by any 2HAM system

New Neighbours: Modelling the Growing Population of Gamma-ray Millisecond Pulsars

The Fermi Large Area Telescope, in collaboration with several groups from the radio community, have had marvellous success at uncovering new gamma-ray millisecond pulsars (MSPs). In fact, MSPs now make up a sizable fraction of the total number of known gamma-ray pulsars. The MSP population is characterized by a variety of pulse profile shapes, peak separations, and radio-to-gamma phase lags, with some members exhibiting nearly phase-aligned radio and gamma-ray light curves (LCs). The MSPs' short spin periods underline the importance of including special relativistic effects in LC calculations, even for emission originating from near the stellar surface. We present results on modelling and classification of MSP LCs using standard pulsar model geometries.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, proceedings of the ICREA Workshop on The High-Energy Emission from Pulsars and their Systems (HEEPS), Sant Cugat, Spai

The unmasking of Pneumocystis jiroveci pneumonia during reversal of immunosuppression: Case reports and literature review

Background: Pneumocystis jiroveci pneumonia (PCP) is an important opportunistic infection among immunosuppressed patients, especially in those infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The clinical presentation of PCP in immunosuppressed patients have been well-reported in the literature. However, the clinical importance of PCP manifesting in the setting of an immunorestitution disease (IRD), defined as an acute symptomatic or paradoxical deterioration of a (presumably) preexisting infection, which is temporally related to the recovery of the immune system and is due to immunopathological damage associated with the reversal of immunosuppressive processes, has received relatively little attention until recently. Case presentation: We aim to better define this unique clinical syndrome by reporting two cases of PCP manifesting acutely with respiratory failure during reversal of immunosuppression in non-HIV infected patients, and reviewed the relevant literature. We searched our databases for PCP cases manifesting in the context of IRD according to our predefined case definition, and reviewed the case notes retrospectively. A comprehensive search was performed using the Medline database of the National Library of Medicine for similar cases reported previously in the English literature in October 2003. A total of 28 non-HIV (excluding our present case) and 13 HIV-positive patients with PCP manifesting as immunorestitution disease (IRD) have been reported previously in the literature. During immunorestitution, a consistent rise in the median CD4 lymphocyte count (28/μL to 125/μL), with a concomitant fall in the median HIV viral load (5.5 log10 copies/ml to 3.1 log10 copies/ml) was observed in HIV-positive patients who developed PCP. A similar upsurge in peripheral lymphocyte count was observed in our patients preceding the development of PCP, as well as in other non-HIV immunosuppressed patients reported in the literature. Conclusions: PCP manifesting as IRD may be more common than is generally appreciated. Serial monitoring of total lymphocyte or CD4 count could serve as a useful adjunct to facilitate the early diagnosis and pre-emptive treatment of this condition in a wide range of immunosuppressed hosts, especially in the presence of new pulmonary symptoms and/or radiographic abnormalities compatible with the diagnosis. © 2004 Wu et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.published_or_final_versio