An Integrative Typology Of Relational Benefits And Costs In Social Media Brand Pages

The paper focuses on consumer-brand relationships in the social media environment, and suggests a typology of the benefits & costs consumers perceive when interacting with social media brand fan pages. Based on a series of focus groups and with the use of an online questionnaire, qualitative and quantitative data were collected from four focus groups and from 1,792 consumers-users of popular brand fan pages on both Facebook and Twitter. Study results indicate that consumers-users of brand fan pages on Facebook and Twitter, perceive social, functional, enjoyment, special treatment, self enhancement, advice, and status benefits. Privacy concern, information overload, and ad irritation are consumers’ perceived costs. As the same seven factors of relational benefits and three factors of relational costs have been confirmed across all Facebook and Twitter brand fan pages, it can be argued that the structure and dimensions of relational benefits and costs are cross-medium and brand invariant, and are perceived in the same way by Facebook and Twitter users. Considering the rapid development of social media and their penetration in business marketing actions, this study contributes to the digital marketing literature by providing a better understanding of relational benefits, relational costs and consumer-brand relationships in a social media context

Personalisation vs. Privacy: Consumer Perceptions of Location-based Advertising

Abstract Purpose: This paper explores consumer attitudes towards location based advertising (LBA) in Leicester, with a focus on individual consumer perception of value and risk of LBA and response. Design/Methodology/Approach: A multi method approach was adopted to data collection, using four mini focus groups and a survey of 98 respondents. Six hypotheses relating to the impact of awareness, risk, value and individual characteristics on LBA adoption were developed and tested using Chi-Square tests of association. Qualitative content analysis was conducted to illustrate interview themes. Findings: Surprising results indicated a lack of awareness of LBA, and some unwillingness to engage with LBA due to privacy concerns. Nonetheless, respondents articulated the perceived value of LBA, identifying that personalised offers did encourage intention to respond, while risks centred on privacy and potential intrusion. Of the six hypotheses, only two were significant; contradicting some previous findings (Almasri, 2013; Varnali et al, 2010); thus suggesting that further research into variance in motives and intentions across customer groups is needed. Originality/Values: The paper adds new insights into the consumer adoption of location-based advertising; and identifies a need for selective, personalised approaches to LBS to incentivise consumers. Keywords: location based advertising; location based services, personalisatio

To Give or Not to Give: The Roles of Narcissistic Grandiosity and Vulnerability in Gift- Giving

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.The present study identifies how narcissistic grandiosity, vulnerability, and their interplay collectively affect gift-giving behaviors, which is understudied in the extant literature. The results showed that these two dimensions yield to different impacts in gift-giving; adequate levels of both narcissistic grandiosity and vulnerability are essential to promote gift-giving behaviors

The role of laboratory test biomarkers in diagnosis, risk assessment, and monitoring of COVID-19 patients

Government officials, healthcare providers, and scientists continue their efforts to identify and find ways of treatment regarding the coronavirus infection (CoV), also known as Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. This is due to the fact that the COVID-19 infection is ongoing and there is a possibility of new infections or new waves of disease. In addition to this possibility, there is also the continuity of the COVID-19 infection (SARS-CoV-2). Researchers have a pressing need for adequate biomarkers that are associated with the progression of SARS-CoV-2 in order to stratify patients who are at high risk. Because the disease can spread so rapidly, patients need to be classified into risk groups as soon as possible after their diagnosis in order to make the most efficient use of available resources. In addition, new markers are required in order to identify patients who have a rapid progression of their disease, which can lead to death or a serious infection. It is essential to gain a comprehension of the viral pathogenetic mechanisms, as well as the cellular and organ damage, prior to the discovery of novel biomarkers. The clinical management, screening, and prevention of serious complications could all be improved with the use of reliable biomarkers. To effectively manage the COVID-19 pandemic, future prevention, prompt diagnosis, superior treatment, and precise detection are not only extremely important but also have the potential to assist in reducing the spread of the virus. According to the conventional medical consensus, biomarkers play a very important role in the prompt detection of the etiology, treatment, diagnosis, and prognosis of a disease. This work discusses emerging and known biomarkers for detecting SARS-CoV-2 diagnostics, prognosis, and treatment in order to assist the numerous innovations and investigations that are currently taking place

Location Based Services is tracking YOU: a Netnographic perspective on challenges and opportunities from UK consumers

Location Based Services (LBS) and electronic lifestyles (e-lifestyles) represent emergent new areas with approaches (e.g. applications [apps] and electronic activities [e-activities]) billed to change customer experiences and responses (Zhou 2012). LBS is one of the IoT megatrends requiring tracking of consumers where fine grained user information is gathered when either requesting or receiving tailored location services. Other megatrend examples include Cyborgs and Artificial Intelligence applications. As such key objectives of this study are to, a) explore consumer experiences with location-based services, b) examine how respondent perceptions (value and risk) influence response to LBS and c) uncover how context may influence individual consumer response patterns. A mono method qualitative design was adopted and 85 threads from 4 websites were sampled. Piloting of relevant sites was conducted over a period of three weeks resulting in 4 websites that contained rich threads on LBS. Despite LBS being in infancy and muted lack of awareness (see Zhou, 2012) results emerged in our study pointing to rich consumer experiences with location services. Nonetheless, there was indifference in the absence of opt in and opt out options were concerns over perceived risk (e.g. data breaches, selling of data and the covert nature of services, spam: trust transfer process. As location-based services continue to increase in sophistication, there is need for more theoretical models that offer good explanatory potentialto understand consumer response further. Our research develops further research by seminal authors providing richer insights into specific privacy concerns when using location services

Evaluation of Medicinal Plant Hepatotoxicity in Co-cultures of Hepatocytes and Monocytes

Non-parenchymal cells might play an important role in the modulation of xenobiotic metabolism in liver and its pharmacological and toxicological consequences. Therefore, the role of cell-to-cell interactions in herbal induced liver toxicity was investigated in monocultures of cells from the human hepatocyte cell line (HepG2) and in co-cultures of cells from the HepG2 cell line and cells from the human monocyte cell line (THP1). Cells were treated with various concentrations (1–500 µg ml(−1)) of extracts of Pistacia palaestina, Juglans regia and Quercus ithaburensis for 24 h. Extracts from Cleome droserifolia, a known toxic plant, were taken as positive control. In the co-culture system, toxic effects were observed after exposure to extracts of Pistacia palestina and C. droserifolia. These two extracts significantly reduced by cell viability as measured the MTT test and the LDH assay. Whereas in hepatocyte cultures, only extracts of C. droserifolia were found to affect the cell viability. The production levels of albumin from hepatocytes were not affected by treatment with plant extracts in both culture systems. It seems that the observed reduction in cell viability after exposure to extracts of P. palestina in co-cultures but not in monocultures is a result of monocyte-derived factors. The use of liver cell co-cultures is therefore a useful approach to investigate the influence of intercellular communication on xenobiotic metabolism in liver

Evaluating the educational value of simulation games: Learners’ perspective

Simulation games (SG) offer great opportunities for students to learn and experience real-world business decisions in a risk-free learning environment. However, the impact of using SG on educational outcomes is not fully understood. Drawing on experiential learning theory, we develop a conceptual model to examine students’ perceptions of the educational values generated from a SG adopted in a postgraduate program at a UK business school. The study gathered data from 120 students by using survey data and qualitative data from students’ reflective reports. Results show that SG have positive impact on students’ conceptual understanding, skills development and affective evaluation of their learning experience. The paper discusses the findings and its implications for educational practitioners and offers directions for future research

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Abstract Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries

Convalescent plasma in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 (RECOVERY): a randomised controlled, open-label, platform trial

SummaryBackground Azithromycin has been proposed as a treatment for COVID-19 on the basis of its immunomodulatoryactions. We aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of azithromycin in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19.Methods In this randomised, controlled, open-label, adaptive platform trial (Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19Therapy [RECOVERY]), several possible treatments were compared with usual care in patients admitted to hospitalwith COVID-19 in the UK. The trial is underway at 176 hospitals in the UK. Eligible and consenting patients wererandomly allocated to either usual standard of care alone or usual standard of care plus azithromycin 500 mg once perday by mouth or intravenously for 10 days or until discharge (or allocation to one of the other RECOVERY treatmentgroups). Patients were assigned via web-based simple (unstratified) randomisation with allocation concealment andwere twice as likely to be randomly assigned to usual care than to any of the active treatment groups. Participants andlocal study staff were not masked to the allocated treatment, but all others involved in the trial were masked to theoutcome data during the trial. The primary outcome was 28-day all-cause mortality, assessed in the intention-to-treatpopulation. The trial is registered with ISRCTN, 50189673, and ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04381936.Findings Between April 7 and Nov 27, 2020, of 16 442 patients enrolled in the RECOVERY trial, 9433 (57%) wereeligible and 7763 were included in the assessment of azithromycin. The mean age of these study participants was65·3 years (SD 15·7) and approximately a third were women (2944 [38%] of 7763). 2582 patients were randomlyallocated to receive azithromycin and 5181 patients were randomly allocated to usual care alone. Overall,561 (22%) patients allocated to azithromycin and 1162 (22%) patients allocated to usual care died within 28 days(rate ratio 0·97, 95% CI 0·87–1·07; p=0·50). No significant difference was seen in duration of hospital stay (median10 days [IQR 5 to >28] vs 11 days [5 to >28]) or the proportion of patients discharged from hospital alive within 28 days(rate ratio 1·04, 95% CI 0·98–1·10; p=0·19). Among those not on invasive mechanical ventilation at baseline, nosignificant difference was seen in the proportion meeting the composite endpoint of invasive mechanical ventilationor death (risk ratio 0·95, 95% CI 0·87–1·03; p=0·24).Interpretation In patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19, azithromycin did not improve survival or otherprespecified clinical outcomes. Azithromycin use in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 should be restrictedto patients in whom there is a clear antimicrobial indication

Empirical evidence on the impact of tuition fees on students’ satisfaction, value, service quality and recommendation

More than ever before, HEIs are under pressure to compete for students and provide quality educational experiences and value for money as a result of government funding cuts in HE and the increase in student tuition fees. Universities in England can now charge up to £9000 per year for their courses. The present paper is a first attempt to examine the impact of the increase in tuition fees on students’ evaluations of value, service quality, satisfaction and recommendation. To this end, quantitative research using a sample of 365 students at one UK University was undertaken. The study observed statistically significant differences in evaluations of overall value perceptions and the component of exchange value. The increase in tuition fees did not impact students’ perceptions of service quality and satisfaction. Finally, the paper highlights other important findings and discusses some implications for HEIs