INVESTIGATING THE DEVELOPMENT OF BRAND LOYALTY IN BRAND COMMUNITIES FROM A POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY PERSPECTIVE

Chia-Wu Lin,Kai-Yu Wang,Shu-Hao Chang,Jin-An Lin 글로벌지식마케팅경영학회 2016 Global Marketing Conference Vol.2016 No.7

Brand communities have been increasingly used by marketers to build brands. A brand community can be defined as a “…group of consumers with a shared enthusiasm for the brand and a well-developed social identity, whose members engage jointly in group actions to accomplish collective goals and/or express mutual sentiments and commitments” (Bagozzi and Dholakia, 2006, p. 45). Recent research on brand communities has begun to identify the importance of consumers’ psychological processes in regard to developing successful brand communities. Based on the flow theory from positive psychology, we propose that flow could be generated by brand community characteristics and plays an important role in influencing brand community members’ attitudes toward the brand. Specifically, we propose a model that identifies brand community characteristics (i.e., community cohesiveness and information quality) that produce flow experience and how the flow experience impacts brand identification and brand loyalty. Members from 31 automobile brand communities participated in this survey study, and 580 validated questionnaires were returned. Structural Equation Model was used to test the research hypotheses. The results show that community cohesiveness and information quality positively directly influence brand identification and also indirectly influence brand identification via flow. Flow also positively influences members’ brand identification and, subsequently, impacts brand loyalty. The results from our research contribute to the branding, brand community, and flow theory literature.

Photocatalytic study of Zinc Oxide with bismuth doping prepared by spray pyrolysis

Lin, Tzu-Yang,Hsu, Yu-Ting,Lan, Wen-How,Huang, Chien-Jung,Chen, Lung-Chien,Huang, Yu-Hsuan,Lin, Jia-Ching,Chang, Kuo-Jen,Lin, Wen-Jen,Huang, Kai-Feng Techno-Press 2015 Advances in nano research Vol.3 No.3

The unintentionally doped and bismuth (Bi) doped zinc oxide (ZnO) films were prepared by spray pyrolysis at $450^{\circ}C$ with zinc acetate and bismuth nitrate precursor. The n-type conduction with concentration $6.13{\times}10^{16}cm^{-3}$ can be observed for the unintentionally doped ZnO. With the increasing of bismuth nitrate concentration in precursor, the p-type conduction can be observed. The p-type concentration $4.44{\times}10^{17}cm^{-3}$ can be achieved for the film with the Bi/Zn atomic ratio 5% in the precursor. The photoluminescence spectroscopy with HeCd laser light source was studied for films with different Bi doping. The photocatalytic activity for the unintentionally doped and Bi-doped ZnO films was studied through the photodegradation of Congo red under UV light illumination. The effects of different Bi contents on photocatalytic activity are studied and discussed. Results show that appropriate Bi doping in ZnO can increase photocatalytic activity.

CK2 phosphorylates AP-2α and increases its transcriptional activity

( Kai Qun Ren ),( Shuang Lin Xiang ),( Fang Li He ),( Wen Feng Zhang ),( Xiao Feng Ding ),( Yan Yang Wu ),( Li Ping Yang ),( Jian Lin Zhou ),( Xiang Gao ),( Jian Zhang ) 생화학분자생물학회(구 한국생화학분자생물학회) 2011 BMB Reports Vol.44 No.7

Transcription factor AP-2α involves in the process of mammalian embryonic development and tumorigenesis. Many studies have shown that AP-2α functions in association with other interacting proteins. In a two-hybrid screening, the regulatory subunit β of protein casein kinase 2 (CK2β) was identified as an interacting protein of AP-2α; we confirmed this interaction using in-vitro GST pull-down and in-vivo co-immunoprecipitation assays; in an endogenous co-immunoprecipitation experiment, we further found the catalytic subunit α of protein casein kinase 2 (CK2α) also exists in the complex. Phosphorylation analysis revealed that AP-2α was phosphorylated by CK2 kinase majorly at the site of Ser429, and such phosphorylation could be blocked by CK2 specific inhibitor 4,5,6,7-tetrabromobenzotriazole (TBB) in a dose-dependent manner. Luciferase assays demonstrated that both CK2α and CK2β enhanced the transcription activity of AP-2α; moreover, CK2β increased the stability of AP-2α. Our data suggest a novel cellular function of CK-2 as a transcriptional co-activator of AP-2α.

Intravenous Immunoglobulin to Suppress Progression in a Patient With Advanced Breast Cancer

Kai-Liang Lin,Ta-Chung Chao,Ming-Han Chen 한국유방암학회 2022 Journal of breast cancer Vol.25 No.3

Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) is used to treat various diseases and has anticancer effects that suppress metastases in animal models of sarcoma and melanoma. However, these effects have been observed in a limited number of clinical cases. We report the case of a patient with metastatic breast cancer in which long-term IVIG treatment stopped disease progression in the absence of salvage chemotherapy. The patient was treated with IVIG for the treatment of immune thrombocytopenia. Surprisingly, the lung and brain metastases were stabilized, and the patient achieved a progression-free interval of 29 months. More cases are needed to investigate and confirm the efficacy of IVIG in solid tumors in the future.

Multi-Attribute Data Fusion for Energy Equilibrium Routing in Wireless Sensor Networks

( Kai Lin ),( Lei Wang ),( Keqiu Li ),( Lei Shu ) 한국인터넷정보학회 2010 KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Syst Vol.4 No.1

Data fusion is an attractive technology because it allows various trade-offs related to performance metrics, e.g., energy, latency, accuracy, fault-tolerance and security in wireless sensor networks (WSNs). Under a complicated environment, each sensor node must be equipped with more than one type of sensor module to monitor multi-targets, so that the complexity for the fusion process is increased due to the existence of various physical attributes. In this paper, we first investigate the process and performance of multi-attribute fusion in data gathering of WSNs, and then propose a self-adaptive threshold method to balance the different change rates of each attributive data. Furthermore, we present a method to measure the energy-conservation efficiency of multi-attribute fusion. Based on our proposed methods, we design a novel energy equilibrium routing method for WSNs, viz., multi-attribute fusion tree (MAFT). Simulation results demonstrate that MAFT achieves very good performance in terms of the network lifetime.

Elevated plasma YKL-40 level is found in the dogs with cancer and is related to poor prognosis

Kai-Chung Cheng,Jih-Jong Lee,Shang-Lin Wang,Chun-Yu Lin,Ching-Tien Tseng,Chen-Si Lin,Albert Taiching Liao 대한수의학회 2019 Journal of Veterinary Science Vol.20 No.5

YKL-40, a secreted glycoprotein, may serve as an autoantigen, which mediates multipleinflammatory diseases and cancers. A high YKL-40 serum level is correlated with metastasisand poor survival in a variety of human cancers. However, the role of YKL-40 in dogs is stillunder evaluation. Herein, we examined the associations between plasma YKL-40 level andYKL-40 autoantibody (YAA) titers with malignancy and prognosis in canine cancer. Plasmalevels of YKL-40 in healthy dogs (n = 20) and in dogs (n = 82) with cancer were evaluatedusing enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Our results indicated that plasma YKL-40 levelswere significantly higher (p < 0.01) in dogs with cancer than in healthy dogs. A significantdecrease in the YAA titers was detected in the dogs with cancer when compared with thoseof the healthy dogs (p < 0.05), although the change was not correlated with the YKL-40levels. Among the dogs with cancer, plasma YKL-40 levels in the dogs that later relapsed orhad metastasis were significantly higher than in the dogs with no signs of relapse (p < 0.01)or metastasis (p <0.05). The relapse and metastasis rates were significantly higher in thehigh YKL-40 group (> 180 pg/mL) than in the low YKL-40 group (< 180 pg/mL). The resultsimply that plasma YKL-40 levels might have the potential to be developed as a marker ofmalignancy progression and prognosis in canine cancers.

Anisotropic In-plane Resistivity and Magnetoresistance of the Detwinned BaFe2As2

Lin Jiao,Zong Fa Weng,Xue Yan Tang,Lu Kai Guo,Tian Shang,Lin Yang,Hui Qiu Yuan,Yu Ying Wu,Zheng Cai Xia 한국물리학회 2013 THE JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY Vol.63 No.3

We have measured the electrical resistivity and the magnetoresistance of detwinned BaFe2As2single crystals in fields up to 16 Tesla. The temperature dependence of the resistivity shows acounterintuitive anisotropic behavior in the ab-plane, likely arising from the effect of the nematicsusceptibility. Little magnetoresistance is observed at temperatures above the structural/magnetictransition, below which a huge in-plane magnetoresistance with an anisotropy is detected.

Study the Thermal Behaviours for Asphalt Concrete Mixed with Basic Oxygen Furnace Slags

( Huan-lin Luo ),( Deng-fong Lin ),( Show-ing Shieh ),( Yi-hong Liu ),( Yu-kai Wang ) 한국폐기물자원순환학회(구 한국폐기물학회) 2019 ISSE 초록집 Vol.2019 No.-

In Taiwan, the basic oxygen furnace (BOF) slags are characterized as porous material and with better heat insulation than that of the natural aggregates. The BOF slags have been applied to the pavement as parts of the natural aggregate replacement. The asphalt concrete (AC) with the BOF slags replacements were well recognized and performed. In this study, parts of natural aggregates were replaced by the BOF slags in the AC helping resolve the gradual shortage of the natural resources and save energy and reduce the produce of carbon. In this study, parts of the natural aggregates were replaced by the coarse and fine BOF slags in the construction of AC. Because the thermal insulation and heat absorption are different between BOF slags and natural aggregates, the infrared thermal conductivity measuring instrument was applied to obtain the surface temperatures presented as thermal infrared images in AC. Then, the infrared temperature distribution images were obtained by using the image transformation techniques. The results show that the thermal conductivity for the AC containing with fine BOF slag was larger than that for the coarse BOF slag. The BOG slag replacement in AC helped improve the thermal insulation in AC. Moreover, the temperature was more uniformly distributed for AC with the fine BOF slag than that for the coarse BOF slag replacement. However, the coarse BOF slag was better in the preserve of energy for AC than that of the fine BOF slag.

Abstracts : Session 5 ; Disease Related Insights of Skin Barrier-1 : Corticosteroids, Psychological Stress, and Dermatitis

( Tzu Kai Lin ),( Juan Luis Santiago ) 한국피부장벽학회 2013 한국피부장벽학회지 Vol.15 No.2

Dry environmental conditions induce a variety of pathological modifications in skin such as epidermal proliferation and inflammation, which are involved in the physiopathology of atopic dermatitis. Environmental dryness also induces cortisol secretion in the epidermis, which correlates with IL-1β synthesis in keratinocytes. This local production of cortisol might modulate inflammation and content the flares in chronic dermatitis. In fact, corticosteroids are widely used in the treatment of different inflammatory dermatoses by dermatologists. Psychological stress (PS) is well recognized to increase the plasma glucocorticoid (GC) levels in humans. Not only the stress-induced delay of barrier repair, but also the increase in plasma GC could be blocked by pretreatment with chlorpromazine, a tranquilizer. When mice were treated with the GC receptor antagonist, RU-486, baseline TEWL or barrier recovery rate were not altered. These results suggest that the stress-induced increase in GC might explain the impairment in skin barrier. Since increased endogenous GC production is induced by a variety of different stressors, including trauma, surgery, infection, and inflammation, it is likely that barrier homeostasis will be compromised in a wide variety of situations. Because PS has been preserved along evolution, there should be some advantage on health and survival. In fact, acute PS might provide some benefits decreasing the intensity of the early inflammatory response. Atopic dermatitis, psoriasis, and irritant dermatitis are the most common inflammatory dermatoses. All of them have been recently characterized as skin barrier disorders with a primary or secondary skin barrier defect. On the other hand, PS has been associated with exacerbation and propagation of some of them, such as psoriasis or atopic dermatitis. PS compromises both epidermal permeability and the expression of antimicrobial peptides (AMP). Systemic or topical corticosteroid (TCS) also decrease AMP levels in the epidermis, explaining the pathological mechanism involved in PS-induced skin barrier defects. According to these results, we should consider these negative effects on skin barrier when we use TCS in inflammatory dermatoses. In fact, even a short-term administration of either systemic or TCS to mice induced not only a delay in barrier recovery, but also abnormal stratum corneum integrity and cohesion. Thus, TCS might affect skin making it more vulnerable to a new inflammatory flare (e.g., rebound phenomenon), remarking the new interest about a more physiological approach in the management of chronic inflammatory dermatoses with skin barrier-repair therapies.

TOSS: Telecom Operations Support Systems for Broadband Services

Yuan Kai Chen,Chang Ping Hsu,Chuang Hua Hu,Rong Syh Lin,Yi Bing Lin,Jian Zhi Lyu,Wudy Wu,Heychyi Young 한국정보처리학회 2010 Journal of information processing systems Vol.6 No.1