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Theories developed within the paradigm of landscape ecology propose that biodiversity within any given patch will be influenced by the surrounding landscape context (LC). Here LC is defined as the vegetation or land covers surrounding the site. This thesis used empirical vascular plant abundance data from the Huon forest district in southern Tasmania to test the hypothesis that LC influences the floristic composition and successional trajectory of patches within Eucalyptus obliqua and E. regnans wet forest. Secondary objectives included measuring the spatial and temporal variation in LC of the study area and its association with timber harvesting; describing differences in the response to LC between species and plant groups; comparing the effect size of plant responses to LC with other environmental predictors; finding the spatial and temporal scale at which plants respond most strongly to LC; and determining whether the effect of LC varied in response to disturbance regime differences. Most studies in landscape ecology have explored the effects of fragmentation on native vegetation in an agricultural matrix. In contrast, forest patches sampled in this study comprised native forest of various ages and successional stages within intact to variegated landscapes (sensu McIntyre and Hobbs 1999) in a frontier region dedicated substantially to timber production. Variation in LC was investigated for the study region using a new metric: the Landscape Context Index (LCI). This metric provided a relative scale of vegetation maturity in areas surrounding any given 50 x 50 m pixel, measured in 500 m, 1 km and 2 km radii. LCI was mapped for three years (1947, 1985 and 2009). The average LCI score was lower in 1985 than 1947, and was lower again in 2009. The greatest declines in LCI score were associated with timber harvesting, although in settled areas conversion to plantations was also an important contributor to LC score decline. The extreme reductions in LCI score observed in the period between 1947 and 1985 were not observed in the second period, possibly due in part to the mitigating effect of the Forest Practices Code, which resulted in changes to timber harvesting practices, including increased dispersal and reduced size of clearfelled patches. Distance to the nearest mature forest edge (DMFE), was used as a surrogate for mature forest influence, a component of LC. Between 15 to 200 m DMFE, there was an observed gradient in assemblage variation, species richness and diversity in all three age classes of silvicultural regrowth forest studied (4‚Äö-9, 22‚Äö-28, and 41‚Äö-45 years since regeneration). These trends were mainly driven by declines in richness and cover of mature forest affiliated species. Factors considered likely to contribute to differences in plant species response to LC are their sensitivity to micro-climatic variation (influenced by proximity to mature forest, and topography) and macroclimatic variation, their capacity to persist through disturbance, and their dispersal mode. Individual species abundance models for both mature forest affiliated species and pioneer species were stronger (e.g. 38 out of 56 common species using beta regression modelling) when they included both LC metrics and site environmental variables. Although LC was important in explaining variance in species abundance, it typically contributed less to model strength than other environmental predictors, such as soil, climate, topography and disturbance history. Abundance of most pioneer species was associated negatively with mature forest metrics, while the abundance of mature forest affiliated species was associated positively with these metrics. There was little evidence that plant species with bird or wind dispersed seed or that had seed able to persist through disturbance in the soil or in woody capsules were any less associated with LC metrics than species sensitive to disturbance with shorter dispersal capacity. It is therefore possible that such species were responding indirectly to LC through inter species competition, or because they were dependent on animal species sensitive to LC for their pollination or dispersal. LC effects on site micro-climate, soil and browsing pressure, which all vary with distance from edges of mature forest could also be influencing the distribution of species in ways that are associated with the distance from and proportion of mature forest in the landscape. Auto-correlation between LC metrics and site history are other factors that may be contributing to the observed responses of all plant species to LC metrics. There was only equivocal support for the hypothesis that floristic responses within regrowth forests are more strongly associated with the LC of the patch at the time that they were last disturbed rather than current LC. Interpretation of the response of vegetation to both the spatial and temporal scale of LC was hampered by the strong autocorrelation in LC scores between scales, and by the sampling methods chosen. The balance of evidence suggests that the LC in the years following disturbance and prior to canopy closure strongly influence the trajectory rate of succession, however colonization and extinction within sites may occur infrequently at any time so that later successional stages are still likely to be influenced by LC at all times. An interactive effect between proximity to mature forest and fire frequency was observed within secondary regrowth forests, such that patches burnt twice or more since 1898 exhibited greater assemblage differences with distance from the boundary compared with forest burnt only once. This was evidence that the response to LC is partly dependent on disturbance regimes at the site and that succession towards mature forest occurs more slowly in frequently disturbed patches. There was also a poor representation of the dominant rainforest trees and epiphytic ferns in regrowth forest that has colonized abandoned pastures (old fields), irrespective of the LC. Barriers to the colonization by rainforest tree species within old field regrowth may include the maintenance of more open canopy structure for longer periods than typical in uncleared regrowth forest disturbed by single fire events. An examination of all results in conjunction with those of other empirical studies suggest that successional trajectories in the species composition of wet eucalypt forests may be altered by changes in landscape configurations in response to silvicultural practices and changes in climate and associated fire regimes. Given the association between LC and succession in forest patches, the observed reductions in mean LCI scores across the study region may signal that recovery from the effects of wildfire, extreme climate events, and harvesting may be slower at the site level. If so, then current LC patterns reflect a reduction in resilience at the landscape scale. Predicted changes in climate and associated fire regimes may make local extinctions more likely in areas of low LCI score. In the context of landscape planning, although dispersal and pollination distances for most vascular plants is best measured in tens of metres rather than kilometres, landscape planning at 500 m to one kilometre may be sufficient to avoid local extinctions at finer scales and thereby prevent range contractions. Silvicultural methods and land management practices that may avert future losses in landscape resilience are discussed.

An important aspect of service employees’ performance is related to their ability to demonstrate brand-congruent behaviour, given that customers’ brand experience is a function of their encounter with them (Akdeniz & Calantone, 2015). An extensive amount of work in the area examines how frontline employees affect customers’ experience with the brand (Xie et al., 2014), and scholars examine a variety of organizational, interpersonal and intrapersonal factors which affect employees’ ability to deliver the brand consistently (e.g. Dean et al., 2016). Much of the published work espousing the importance of employees assumes that employees share a common understanding of their role, despite evidence showing that individuals may frame their work quite differently and have different motives when it comes to fulfilling various work-related objectives. Second, current internal branding conceptualizations view employees as a homogenous group of stakeholders who respond to the firm’s internal branding efforts in an unvarying way (Punjaisri et al., 2009). These assumptions are inaccurate, as interpersonal variations among individuals need to be taken into account when examining each employee’s ability to meet existing brand delivery standards when interacting with customers (Di Mascio, 2010). Without accommodating these intrapersonal variations into existing internal branding frameworks, managerial insights cannot be uniformly applied to entire service staff. This study departs from investigating traditional service employee management models which implicitly assume that all employees share homogeneous brand perceptions and introduces an individual-level perspective in the internal branding literature. This perspective is unique in that it accounts for intrapersonal variations among frontline employees and illustrates how different types of employee respond to the firm’s human resource management practices and how they deliver the brand to consumers. This study extends the service employee and the internal branding literature in introducing an individual-level perspective which takes into account intrapersonal variations of frontline employees when delivering the brand to consumers. Drawing from schema theory (Daft & Weick, 1984) and action identification theory (Vallacher & Wegner, 1987), a typology of service employees is introduced by exploring how each of these types perceives the firm’s brand and how they understand their role in the brand delivery process. Building on these findings, this study empirically confirms that the role of various human resource management practices (i.e. training, coaching) is not equally effective for all types of employees and also that employees’ responses to the firm’s efforts (i.e. brand mindfulness, brand attachment) vary significantly depending on their perceptions of the firm’s brand. Results also indicate that different employee types’ responses affect their extra-role brand-related behaviour (as captured by brand development and brand resilience) in different ways. © 2018, Academy of Marketing Science.

PURPOSE: To identify the mutation responsible for an abnormal electroretinogram (ERG) in a transgenic mouse line (tg21) overexpressing erythropoietin (Epo). The tg21 line was generated on a mixed (C3H; C57BL/6) background and lacked the b-wave component of the ERG. This no-b-wave (nob) ERG is seen in other mouse models with depolarizing bipolar cell (DBC) dysfunction and in patients with the complete form of congenital stationary night blindness (cCSNB). We determined the basis for the nob ERG phenotype and screened C3H mice for the mutation to evaluate whether this finding is important for the vision research community. METHODS: ERGs were used to examine retinal function. The retinal structure of the transgenic mice was investigated using histology and immunohistochemistry. Inverse PCR was performed to identify the insertion site of the Epo transgene in the mouse genome. Affected mice were backcrossed to follow the inheritance pattern of the nob ERG phenotype. Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT PCR), Sanger sequencing, and immunohistochemistry were used to identify the mutation causing the defect. Additional C3H sublines were screened for the detected mutation. RESULTS: Retinal histology and blood vessel structure were not disturbed, and no loss of DBCs was observed in the tg21 nob mice. The mutation causing the nob ERG phenotype is inherited independently of the tg21 transgene. The qRT PCR experiments revealed that the nob ERG phenotype reflected a mutation in Gpr179, a gene involved in DBC signal transduction. PCR analysis confirmed the presence of the Gpr179(nob5) insertional mutation in intron 1 of Gpr179. Screening for mutations in other C3H-derived lines revealed that C3H.Pde6b(+) mice carry the Gpr179 (nob5) allele whereas C3H/HeH mice do not. CONCLUSIONS: We identified the presence of the Gpr179(nob5) mutation causing DBC dysfunction in a C3H-derived transgenic mouse line. The nob phenotype is not related to the presence of the transgene. The Gpr179(nob5) allele can be added to the list of background alleles that impact retinal function in commonly used mouse lines. By providing primers to distinguish between Gpr179 mutant and wild-type alleles, this study allows investigators to monitor for the presence of the Gpr179(nob5) mutation in other mouse lines derived from C3H.

his is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Journal of Marketing Management on 25/11/2016, available online: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0267257X.2016.1255440 The advent of what we call, “The Corporate Marketing Internet Revolution” necessitates a radical rethinking of marketing practice and scholarship. As such, mindful of the importance of the internet, and in particular, the Internet of Things (IoT) phenomena this article formally introduces and elucidates the Internet of Total Corporate Communications (IoTCC) notion. Moreover, it particularises the nature and importance of quaternary (fourth-order) total corporate communications. To date, the total corporate communications effects of the Corporate Internet Marketing Revolution has not been accorded importance in the extant literature. As such, this article seeks to address this omission.

Research Purpose: Employees, who are at the interface between customers and brands, play a crucial role in shaping consumers’ brand experiences that facilitate subjective and psychological meaning processes (Gambetti and Graffigna, 2015; Prahaland and Ramaswamy, 2004). The role of employees has been made more important as corporate branding involves multiple stakeholders who interact with employees across an organisation, whose behaviours influence and shape brand experiences of those stakeholders through their social interactions within the network. Hence, involving employees in brand value co-creation in the first instance could lead to positive brand experiences in different brand-stakeholder encounters.

This study breaks new ground becomes it (i): considers a non-western (a Chinese) corporate heritage brand and (ii): for the first time within the corporate heritage brand/corporate heritage canon, adopts an explicit consumer perspective. . Significantly–taking an overt corporate heritage/corporate heritage brand stance- this empirical study reveals why a corporate heritage brand such as Tong Ren Tang (TRT) – founded in 1669-is highly meaningful to consumers from one generation to another. The researchers marshal the first four of Balmer’s (2013) criteria of corporate heritage entities in order to verify its corporate heritage credentials and explain its attractiveness to customers. As such, it was found that TRT is meaningfully linked to the past, present and prospective future (Balmer’s criterion of omni temporality); has durable and constant organisational traits (Balmer’s criterion of institutional trait consistency); has customer and stakeholder faithfulness for a minimum of three generations (Balmer’s criterion of tri-generational loyalty); and has acquired meaningful non corporate role identities vis-à-vis Chinese national identity and China’s imperial identity (Balmer’s criterion of augmented role identities). TRT was found to be attractive to consumers owing to its core and augmented role identities following Balmer’s (2013) augmented role identity theoretical perspective. These findings explain why Tong Ren Tang has endured and flourished from one generation to another and accounts for its celebrated status within China and the wider Chinese diaspora.