Empirical Study of the Influence of Consumer Relationship Proneness on Customer Loyalty in Service Context

Xi Feng,Mingli Zhang,Jianhua Ye 보안공학연구지원센터 2015 International Journal of u- and e- Service, Scienc Vol.8 No.4

Consumer relationship proneness (CRP) reflects a consumer’s relatively stable and conscious tendency to engage in relationships. This study takes CRP as an important consumer individual trait and examines the influence of CRP on customer loyalty in service environment from perspective of relational benefits (i.e. confidence benefits, social benefits, special treatment benefits). Concept model is proposed to explain the influence. Then SEM (structural equation modeling) is used to analyze the data collected from online survey to test the proposed model. Empirical results show that CRP has direct influence on customer loyalty. The results also show that CRP indirectly relates to customer loyalty via its impact on perceived confidence benefits and social benefits. This study deepens the understanding about the importance of CRP and provides insights into development and implement of customer relationship management and relationship marketing for service enterprises.

An analytical model of the additional confining stress in a prestress-reinforced embankment

Xinyu Ye,Fangxu Li,Wuming Leng,Xi Ai,Hossein Moayedi,Qishu Zhang 국제구조공학회 2023 Smart Structures and Systems, An International Jou Vol.31 No.5

Using a device composed of two lateral pressure plates (LPPs) and a steel reinforcement bar to apply horizontal pressure on slope surfaces, a newly developed prestress-reinforced embankment (PRE) is proposed, to which can be adopted in strengthening railway subgrades. In this study, an analytical model, which is available of calculating additional confining stress (<i>σ</i>_H) at any point in a PRE, was established based on the theory of elasticity. In addition, to verify the proposed analytical model, three dimensional (3D) finite element analyses were conducted and the feasibility in application was also identified and discussed. In order to study the performance of the PRE, the propagation of <i>σ</i>_H in a PRE was analyzed and discussed based on the analytical model. For the aim of convenience in application, calculation charts were developed in terms of three dimensionless parameters, and they can be used to accurately and efficiently predict the <i>σ</i>_H in a PRE regardless of the embankment slope ratio and LPP side length ratio. Finally, the potential applications of the proposed analytical model were discussed.

Nanoarchitectonics of tannic acid based injectable hydrogel regulate the microglial phenotype to enhance neuroplasticity for poststroke rehabilitation

Zongjian Liu,Shulei Zhang,Yuanyuan Ran,Huimin Geng,Fuhai Gao,Guiqin Tian,Zengguo Feng,Jianing Xi,Lin Ye,Wei Su 한국생체재료학회 2023 생체재료학회지 Vol.27 No.00

Background Stroke is the second leading cause of mortality and disability worldwide. Poststroke rehabilitation is still unsatisfactory in clinics, which brings great pain and economic burdens to stroke patients. In this study, an injectable hydrogel in which tannic acid (TA) acts as not only a building block but also a therapeutic drug, was developed for poststroke rehabilitation. Methods TA is used as a building block to form an injectable hydrogel (TA gel) with carboxymethyl chitosan (CMCS) by multivalent hydrogen bonds. The morphology, rheological properties, and TA release behavior of the hydrogel were characterized. The abilities of the TA gel to modulate microglial (BV2 cells) polarization and subsequently enhance the neuroplasticity of neuro cells (N2a cells) were assessed in vitro. The TA gel was injected into the cavity of stroke mice to evaluate motor function recovery, microglial polarization, and neuroplasticity in vivo. The molecular pathway through which TA modulates microglial polarization was also explored both in vitro and in vivo. Results The TA gel exhibited sustainable release behavior of TA. The TA gel can suppress the expression of CD16 and IL-1β, and upregulate the expression of CD206 and TGF-β in oxygen and glucose-deprived (OGD) BV2 cells, indicating the regulation of OGD BV2 cells to an anti-inflammatory phenotype in vitro. This finding further shows that the decrease in synaptophysin and PSD95 in OGD N2a cells is effectively recovered by anti-inflammatory BV2 cells. Furthermore, the TA gel decreased CD16/iNOS expression and increased CD206 expression in the periinfarct area of stroke mice, implying anti-inflammatory polarization of microglia in vivo. The colocalization of PSD95 and Vglut1 stains, as well as Golgi staining, showed the enhancement of neuroplasticity by the TA gel. Spontaneously, the TA gel successfully recovered the motor function of stroke mice. The western blot results in vitro and in vivo suggested that the TA gel regulated microglial polarization via the NF-κB pathway. Conclusion The TA gel serves as an effective brain injectable implant to treat stroke and shows promising potential to promote poststroke rehabilitation in the clinic.

Transcriptional analysis of Pieris rapae in response to P. rapae granulovirus

Hai-Jian Huang,Tong-Qiang Zhang,Qiao Lin, Jian-Hui Ye,Chuan-Xi ZHANG,Bao-Qin Zhang 한국응용곤충학회 2018 Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology Vol.21 No.2

Pieris rapae granulovirus (PrGV) is an important pathogen that has been exploited as a microbial insecticide to control agriculture pests. They can specifically infect cabbage butterfly (Pieris rapae), causing a series of pathological symptoms. In this infected P. rapae at 6 h and 72 h. As a result, a series of host genes were significantly modulated following PrGV infection, including those correlated with exoskeleton, ribosome, heat shock protein (HSP), proteasome, oxidation-reduction and apoptosis. Taken together, our study unveiled the P. rapae response to PrGV at different time point and provided a potential strategy for pest management.

Comparative Analysis of the Genomes of Bombyx mandarina and Bombyx mori Nucleopolyhedroviruses

Yi-Peng Xu,Zheng-Pei Ye,Chang-Ying Niu,Yan-Yuan Bao,Wen-Bing Wang,Wei-De Shen,Chuan-Xi Zhang 한국미생물학회 2010 The journal of microbiology Vol.48 No.1

The Bombyx mandarina nucleopolyhedrovirus (BomaNPV) S1 strain can infect the silkworm, Bombyx mori,but is significantly less virulent than B. mori nucleopolyhedrovirus (BmNPV) T3 strain. The complete nucleotide sequence of the S1 strain of BomaNPV was determined and compared with the BmNPV T3 strain. The circular, double stranded DNA genome of the S1 strain was 126,770 nucleotides long (GenBank accession no. FJ882854), with a G+C content of 40.23%. The genome contained 133 potential ORFs. Most of the putative proteins were more than 96% identical to homologs in the BmNPV T3 strain, except for bro-a, lef-12,bro-c, and bro-d. Compared with the BmNPV T3 strain, however, this genome did not encode the bro-b and bro-e genes. In addition, hr1 lacked two repeat units, while hr2L, hr2R, hr3, hr4L, hr4R, and hr5 were similar to the corresponding hrs in the T3 strain. The sequence strongly suggested that BomaNPV and BmNPV are variants with each other, and supported the idea that baculovirus strain heterogeneity may often be caused by variation in the hrs and bro genes.

Phase separation phenomena and thermodynamics of octylphenol polyoxyethylene ether in micellar solutions: Effect of high concentration of inorganic salts and linear correlation

Dan Ni Li,Jing Huang,Zhao Hua Ren,Rui Sheng,Zheng Bo Qian,Bei Bei Li,Xiao Feng Quan,Ye Xi Zhang,Jun Ru Wang,Huan Tian 한국공업화학회 2021 Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Vol.99 No.-

The phase separationphenomena or cloud points (CP) behaviorof nonionic octylphenol polyoxyethylene etherwith oxyethylene glycol ether unit of 15 (OP-15) were investigated in aqueous micellar solutions containinghigh concentrations of inorganic salts including NaCl, KCl, MgCl2, CaCl2, BaCl2, AlCl3, FeCl3, Na2SO4and Na2SiO3. The change in CP induced by salts and its mechanism are discussed theoretically. In aqueous solutionscontaining high concentration of salt, for thefirst time the linear relationship between CP and saltconcentrationiswellestablishedtocharacterizethedepressionofCP.Basedonpseudophaseseparationmodel,thermodynamic parameters are estimated and adopted to further describe the phase separation process andthe interactions between OP-15 molecules or the OP-15/water interactions. Thermodynamic parametersincluding standard Gibbs energy change (DG0CP), enthalpy change (DH0CP) and entropy change (DS0CP)indicate that the additions of different salts result in the change in entropy-driven nonspontaneousprocess of phase separation. These data, which are from the compensation temperatures and the changeof molar heat capacity, also prove that different ions induce the change in the interactions betweensurfactant molecules or the surfactant–water interaction and thus affect the depression of CP. Thesefindings help with understanding the effect of inorganic salts, especially the high concentration of salt, onCP of nonionic surfactant and then broadening the application of nonionic surfactant based on CP such asthe extraction of biomaterials in biological samples derived from animals or plants, etc.