SUCCESS OF BRAND EXTENSION IN GLOCALIZATION: A MEDIATION AND MODERATION ANALYSIS

This paper investigates whether brand extension strategy canbe used in glocalized markets and what are the antecedents (Mediating and Moderating variables) of successful brand extension. Glocalization has become a serious concern for managers that as have to manage the global brands with local trends and local brands in global trends. Four independent variables were used while the dependent variable was“Successful brand extension evaluation”. A self developed questionnaire was filled by 462 respondents by unrestricted non-random sampling.Hierarchical regression, Single Mediation and Moderation tests were applied on the data. Brand loyalty leads to become Brand evangelist.Brand Evangelist as mediating variable mediates the relationshipbetween Brand Loyalty and Successful Brand Extension Evaluation. Also, Parent Brand Experience in the past significantly moderates the relationship between Marketing Support and Successful Brand Extension Evaluation was accepted with Enhancing Moderation

Pharyngitis and sore throat: A review

Pharyngitis is a sore throat caused by inflammation of the back of the throat. It is one of the most common reasons for visits to family physicians. Throat may be scratchy and swallowing can be painful. Usually, a sore throat is the sign of another illness, such as a cold or the flu. In this review article, epidemiology, national perspective, regional perspective, pathogenesis, clinical diagnosis, clinical presentation and causes of pharyngitis was described.Key words: Pharyngitis, sore throat, inflammation

Establishing usability heuristics for heuristics evaluation in a specific domain: is there a consensus?

Heuristics evaluation is frequently employed to evaluate usability. While general heuristics are suitable to evaluate most user interfaces, there is still a need to establish heuristics for specific domains to ensure that their specific usability issues are identified. This paper presents a comprehensive review of 70 studies related to usability heuristics for specific domains. The aim of this paper is to review the processes that were applied to establish heuristics in specific domains and identify gaps in order to provide recommendations for future research and area of improvements. The most urgent issue found is the deficiency of validation effort following heuristics proposition and the lack of robustness and rigour of validation method adopted. Whether domain specific heuristics perform better or worse than general ones is inconclusive due to lack of validation quality and clarity on how to assess the effectiveness of heuristics for specific domains. The lack of validation quality also affects effort in improving existing heuristics for specific domain as their weaknesses are not addressed

Successful Pregnancies Post Renal Transplantation

To evaluate the maternal and fetal outcomes in renal transplant female recipients who became pregnant from 1989 to 2005 in our center, we retrospectively studied 20 incident pregnancies in 12 renal transplant recipients; 5 (41.7 %) of them from living related, 4 (33.3%) from deceased, and 3 (25%) from living unrelated donors. The mean age at pregnancy was 30.5 ± 4.5 years and mean interval from transplantation to pregnancy was 21 ± 5.7 months with the interval was < 1 year in one patient. The mean serum creatinine (SCr) before pregnancy vs 6 months post delivery was 110 ± 24.3, and 156 ± 190 µmol/ L, respectively, (p = 0.2). All patients were normotensive during the prenatal period except two who were hypertensive, none was markedly proteinuric, and only one acute rejection episode occurred during one pregnancy. Graft loss one year post delivery occurred in 2 patients; one with elevated prenatal SCr > 132 µmol/L, and another with short interval from transplantation to pregnancy < 1 year, while the remaining 10 patients revealed current mean SCr of 105 ± 18.2 µmol/L. Complications during pregnancy inclu-ded pre-eclampsia in (25%), UTI (25%), preterm delivery < 37 weeks (30%), however, none of the pregnancies ended by abortion. Normal vaginal delivery vs cesarean section was 70% vs 30%, respectively. Gestational age at delivery was 36.3 ± 3.9 weeks, and mean fetal birth weight was 2349 ± 574 gm. Apgar score was 9-10 in all of the 20 babies, and none revealed intrauterine growth retardation or congenital anomalies. We conclude that consecutive pregnancies demons-trate long-term maternal and fetal survival and function. The major risk factors are elevated starting serum creatinine, hypertension, and short time interval from transplantation to pregnancy

Investigation of Physical Quality Characteristics of Dry Land and Wet Land Wheat Varieties

The aim of this research study was to determine the physical characteristics of some commercial wheat varieties of dry land and wet land grown in Sindh province. Four irrigated land (Inqulab, TD-1, Kherman, and Sarsabz) wheat varieties and four drought tolerant (TK-3, Marvi, PK-85, Sassi) wheat varieties were collected from their respective areas and subjected to physical analysis.The physical characteristics of dry land and wet land wheat varieties differed significantly. It was observed that dry land wheat varieties higher in length (7.29mm) as compared to wet land wheat varieties (7.05mm). Whereas, wet land wheat varieties higher in breadth (4.97mm), thickness(3.86mm), volume (59.7mm3), geometric mean (10.66mm) and sphericity (1.72%) than those of dry land wheat varieties with breadth (4.15mm), thickness (3.25mm), volume (45.3mm3), geometric mean (9.34mm) and sphericity (1.35%). It is also observed that TKW (47g) of wet land wheat varieties were higher than those of dry land wheat varieties TKW (40.2g). Moreover, falling number (419sec) were recorded higher in wet land wheat varieties than those of dry land wheat varieties falling number (387sec). While, dry land wheat varieties increased in its hardness (55.3%) than those of wet land wheat varieties hardness (51.3%). This study reveals that availability of water and environmental factors are directly related with the nutritional characteristics of wheat varieties. This study revealed that due to more moisture content in wet land wheat varieties TKW, breadth, thickness, volume, geometric mean, falling number and sphericity were recorded as higher than dry land wheat varieties. However, Length and hardness were observed higher in dry land wheat varieties which resulted in better yield of flour as compared with wet land wheat varieties