Northumbria University

About: Northumbria University is a education organization based out in Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Context (language use) & Population. The organization has 5624 authors who have published 17423 publications receiving 381949 citations. The organization is also known as: University of Northumbria at Newcastle.

The internet, consumer empowerment and marketing strategies

Abstract: – Arguing that increasing use of information and communication technologies (ICT) is shifting market power from suppliers to consumers, the ensuing consumer empowerment is presented as an unintended consequence of marketing. Marketing implications arising from this consumer empowerment are examined in terms of a process where control and management by suppliers over consumer access and enablement are increasingly difficult., – Consumer empowerment is examined historically, using quality gap analysis to capture an ongoing power struggle between consumers and suppliers. This draws out the limitations of current marketing and management strategies. The different forms of marketing challenges in this new environment are discussed., – The role of marketing strategies in fostering controlled consumer empowerment is reflected in the development of information‐based consumer‐centric marketing strategies that seek to enable and control delegation. In designing such strategies, consumers' familiarity with and use of ICT are both strengthened and widened, emphasising the uncontrolled nature of the consumer empowerment process., – The approach is literature‐based, focussing on the ICT enabled process. It does not address the psychology of empowerment. Since, consumer empowerment may imply switching suppliers in search of better value propositions, business cannot afford to ignore it, justifying the need for further research of both elements., – Marketing strategy rests on a control premise and the analysis of the consumer empowerment process implies that current customer‐centric strategies are operating under a false premise. There is a need to regain control over the marketing process, that is, to either manage the technological empowerment of consumers, or to devise new strategies cognisant of the possibility that such technological empowerment cannot be managed. The valuation of consumer loyalty in this environment rises significantly., – An historical perspective to consumer empowerment exposes the tensions between suppliers and consumers arising from ICT usage. A separation of consumer access and enablement from control and management by suppliers is shown to have important marketing strategy design implications.

Differential effects of strength training leading to failure versus not to failure on hormonal responses, strength, and muscle power gains

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine the efficacy of 11 wk of resistance training to failure vs. nonfailure, followed by an identical 5-wk peaking period of maximal strength and power training for both groups as well as to examine the underlying physiological changes in basal circulating anabolic and catabolic hormones. Forty-two physically active men were matched and then randomly assigned to either a training to failure (RF; n = 14), nonfailure (NRF; n = 15), or control groups (C; n = 13). Muscular and power testing and blood draws to determine basal hormonal concentrations were conducted before the initiation of training (T0), after 6 wk of training (T1), after 11 wk of training (T2), and after 16 wk of training (T3). Both RF and NRF resulted in similar gains in 1-repetition maximum bench press (23 and 23%) and parallel squat (22 and 23%), muscle power output of the arm (27 and 28%) and leg extensor muscles (26 and 29%), and maximal number of repetitions performed during parallel squat (66 and 69%). RF group experienced larger gains in the maximal number of repetitions performed during the bench press. The peaking phase (T2 to T3) after NRF resulted in larger gains in muscle power output of the lower extremities, whereas after RF it resulted in larger gains in the maximal number of repetitions performed during the bench press. Strength training leading to RF resulted in reductions in resting concentrations of IGF-1 and elevations in IGFBP-3, whereas NRF resulted in reduced resting cortisol concentrations and an elevation in resting serum total testosterone concentration. This investigation demonstrated a potential beneficial stimulus of NRF for improving strength and power, especially during the subsequent peaking training period, whereas performing sets to failure resulted in greater gains in local muscular endurance. Elevation in IGFBP-3 after resistance training may have been compensatory to accommodate the reduction in IGF-1 to preserve IGF availability.

Saying, Seeing and Acting: The Psychological Semantics of Spatial Prepositions

Abstract: Our use of spatial prepositions carries an implicit understanding of the functional relationships both between objects themselves and human interaction with those objects. This is the thesis rigorously explicated in 'Saying, Seeing and Acting'. It aims to account not only for our theoretical comprehension of spatial relations but our ability to intercede with efficacy in the world of spatially related objects. Only the phenomenon of functionality can adequately account for what even the simplest of everyday experiences show to be the technically problematic, but still meaningful status of expressions of spatial location in contentious cases. The terms of the debate are established and contextualised in Part One. In the Second Section, systematic experimental evidence is drawn upon to demonstrate specific covariances between spatial world and spatial language. The authors go on to give an original account of the functional and geometric constraints on which comprehension and human action among spatially related objects is based. Part Three looks at the interaction of these constraints to create a truly dynamic functional geometric framework for the meaningful use of spatial prepositions. Fascinating to anyone whose work touches on psycholinguistics, this book represents a thorough and incisive contribution to debates in the cognitive psychology of language.

Review of job shop scheduling research and its new perspectives under Industry 4.0

Abstract: Traditional job shop scheduling is concentrated on centralized scheduling or semi-distributed scheduling. Under the Industry 4.0, the scheduling should deal with a smart and distributed manufacturing system supported by novel and emerging manufacturing technologies such as mass customization, Cyber-Physics Systems, Digital Twin, and SMAC (Social, Mobile, Analytics, Cloud). The scheduling research needs to shift its focus to smart distributed scheduling modeling and optimization. In order to transferring traditional scheduling into smart distributed scheduling (SDS), we aim to answer two questions: (1) what traditional scheduling methods and techniques can be combined and reused in SDS and (2) what are new methods and techniques required for SDS. In this paper, we first review existing researches from over 120 papers and answer the first question and then we explore a future research direction in SDS and discuss the new techniques for developing future new JSP scheduling models and constructing a framework on solving the JSP problem under Industry 4.0.