Communicating with the Business to Business Market

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Factors that influence the millennial customer to engage with a Facebook page : a case-study of a selected university in South Africa

Abstract: Customers, such as those who are millennial students, will only reveal their true needs and wants to the people they trust, and only when they can engage with them. Social media marketing tools, such as Facebook marketing, can allow Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) (such as universities) to engage with their students, and build loyalty, brand equity, and positive word-of-mouth. For universities to know their target audience better, they need to investigate the factors that influence the engagement of their students with the university’s Facebook page. This study thus applied the technology acceptance model (TAM) of social media. A descriptive, quantitative research method and non-probability quota sampling technique were employed at a selected university, realising a sample of 399. Exploratory factor analysis and structural equation modelling were used to determine the factors that influence student engagement with a Facebook page. The results indicated that all seven hypotheses were accepted and that perceived ease of use (EU), critical mass (CM), capability (CP), and perceived playfulness (PP) influence the perceived use (PU) of a Facebook page. Furthermore, PU influences the intention to use (IU) the Facebook page, where trustworthiness (TW) influences IU

A ray of sunshine in the COVID‑19 environment, with a virtual sunburst elective

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Do we assess what we set out to teach in obstetrics: An action research study

Background. Medical education empowers students to transform theoretical knowledge into practice. Assessment of knowledge, skills and attitudes determines students’ competency to practice. Assessment methods have been adapted, but not evaluated, to accommodate educational challenges. Objectives. To evaluate whether assessment criteria align with obstetrics learning outcomes. Methods. We conducted a collaborative action research study, in which we reviewed and analysed learning outcomes and assessments according to Bigg’s model of constructive alignment. Data were analysed as per levels of Bloom’s taxonomy. Results. Final-year students have two 3-week modules in obstetrics, with 75% overlap in learning outcomes and assessments. Ninety-five percent of learning outcomes were poorly defined, and 11 - 22% were inappropriately assessed. Summative assessments were comprehensive, but continuous assessments were rudimentary without clear educational benefit. There is a deficiency in assessment of clinical skills and competencies, as assessments have been adapted to accommodate patient confidentiality and increasing student numbers. The lack of good assessment practice compromises the validity of assessments, resulting in assessments that do not focus on higher levels of thinking. Conclusion. There was poor alignment between assessment and outcomes. Combining the obstetrics modules, and reviewing learning outcomes and assessments as a single entity, will improve the authenticity of assessments

From work-integrated learning to virtual case studies: Navigating an alternative to fieldwork in paediatric occupational therapy

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Examining the link between the antecedents of relationship commitment and loyalty within the road transport industry of South Africa

Abstract: The study investigates the extent to which the relationship commitment by customers of road transport service providers is influenced by trust, communication, shared values and the attractiveness of alternatives. In turn, the influence of the extent of their commitment towards future loyalty is determined. Design/methodology/approach – An explanatory research design was followed and data was collected from road transport service provider customers using self-administered questionnaires. A total of 120 responses were suitable for analysis. Multiple regression analysis as well as the one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) technique was used to analyse the results and to uncover the interrelationships between constructs..

Tumor Epithelial Cell Matrix Metalloproteinase 9 (MMP-9) is a Prognostic Marker in Colorectal Cancer

Presented at American Association Cancer Research in 2008 Zuzga D.S., Gibbons A.V., Li P., Lubbe W.J., Chervoneva I., Pitari G.M. “Tumor epithelial cell MMP-9 is a prognostic marker in colorectal cancer”. In: American Association for Cancer Research Special Conference, Molecular Diagnostics in Cancer Therapeutic Development: Proceedings; 2008 Sept 22-25; Philadelphia, PA. Abstract A40. Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related mortality indeveloped nations. Mortality from colon cancer largely reflects metastasis, thespread of the disease to distant sites. Early diagnosis of pre-metastatic diseaseand accurate stratification of patients with metastasis is pivotal to decreasemortality rates from colon cancer by effectively administering surgery alone orwith chemotherapy. However, specific pathological markers of colorectal cancermetastasis have not emerged. Matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP-9) is a keyregulator of metastasis and a therapeutic target in colon cancer. Here, MMP-9overexpression in pure tumor epithelial, but nor stromal, cell populations frompatients was associated with metastatic colorectal cancer progression as definedby RT-PCR and confirmed by immunostaining. Thus, tumors with increasedMMP-9 expression compared to matched normal adjacent tissues alwaysexhibited metastatic dissemination. In particular, MMP-9 overexpression in tumorepithelial cells, compared to normal epithelial cells, specifically predicted lymphnode involvement. Importantly, patients with relative increase of MMP-9 levels intumor epithelial cells were characterized by more advanced disease stages, withsignificantly higher proportion of regional lymph nodes harboring metastasis,compared to patients with a relative decrease in MMP-9 expression. Together,these observations suggest tumor epithelial cell MMP-9 is a novel prognosticmarker that may be exploited for more efficient disease stage stratification andtherapeutic regimen selection in patients with colorectal cancer

Endogenous orienting modulates the Simon effect: critical factors in experimental design

Responses are faster when the side of stimulus and response correspond than when they do not correspond, even if stimulus location is irrelevant to the task at hand: the correspondence, spatial compatibility effect, or Simon effect. Generally, it is assumed that an automatically generated spatial code is responsible for this effect, but the precise mechanism underlying the formation of this code is still under dispute. Two major alternatives have been proposed: the referential-coding account, which can be subdivided into a static version and an attention-centered version, and the attention-shift account. These accounts hold clear-cut predictions for attentional cuing experiments. The former would assume a Simon effect irrespective of attentional cuing in its static version, whereas the attention-centered version of the referential-coding account and the attention-shift account would predict a decreased Simon effect on validly as opposed to invalidly cued trials. However, results from previous studies are equivocal to the effects of attentional cuing on the Simon effect. We argue here that attentional cueing reliably modulates the Simon effect if some crucial experimental conditions, mostly relevant for optimizing attentional allocation, are met. Furthermore, we propose that the Simon effect may be better understood within the perspective of supra-modal spatial attention, thereby providing an explanation for observed discrepancies in the literature

Prevalence of drug-drug interactions of antiretroviral agents in the private health care sector in South Africa

Objectives. Human immunodefiency virus (HIV) infection can be effectively treated with highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), requiring concomitant administration of three to four different agents, often with a high potential for drug-drug interactions (DDIs). This study aimed to determine the prevalence of possible DDIs between antiretrovirals (ARVs) themselves and other drugs. Design. Retrospective drug-utilisation study using data from from a national medicine claims database for the period 1 January to 31 December 2004. Setting. A section of the private healthcare sector in South Africa. Subjects. All ARV prescriptions (N=43482) claimed during 2004. The possible DDIs found were classified according to a clinical significant rating as described by Tatro7 (2005) in his book, “Drug Interactions – Facts and comparisons.” Results. A total of 5305882 medicine items were prescribed, of these, 1.92% (N=101 938) accounted for ARVs. Of the total number of 2595254 prescriptions, 1.68% (N=43 482), were ARVs. A total number of 18035 DDIs (81 different types) were identified, of these, 83.89%, (n=15130) were DDIs between ARVs and other drugs, while 16.11% (n=2905) were DDIs between ARVs themselves. Possible DDIs with a clinical significance level of 1 (major, n=17) and 2 (moderate, n=1436) represented 8.06% (n=1 453) of the total number of identified interactions. Conclusions. Since concomitant use of ARVs and other drugs used to treat HIV complications is increasing, there is a great need of understanding and anticipating these DDIs, overcoming them by dose adjustments and patient education by pharmacists, so that they are not life threatening to HIV/AIDS patients