Exploring critical factors for choice of mobile service providers and its effectiveness on Malaysian consumers

From the late 1990 to till now the growth rate of Malaysian telecommunication sector is remarkable manner. Under this circumstances new players to these businesses soaring dramatic business competition. Nowadays they are trying to attract customers by offering aggressive marketing strategy for instance: price promotion. As competition is looming among the companies, it deems a necessity for them to learn the consumers’ inherent perceptions that can play significant factors in terms of choosing the tele-service providers. The aim of this study was to find out what were the factors that may have played significant role to select the telecommunication service providers. To accomplish the objectives, this research explains the related concepts and theories; revealed and synchronized literature on consumer perception. In general this research has an intention to develop a research framework grounded on a strong theoretical and literature review background. The survey instruments employed on Malaysian consumers included demographic background, price, service quality, product quality and availability, and promotional offers for consumer perception. Thus the structural equation modeling approach was necessary in order to examine the variables. The data analysis was conducted using SPSS and AMOS (Analysis of Moment Structure) with the software package for windows. From the result it is revealed that paths are related to the casual processes significantly. Among all the significant variables, from our result, Price is the most important among our respondents followed by Service quality, product quality and promotion. However, the findings of this study may provide needed feedback and contribute to the improvement of players’ strategy and their marketing program

The Role of Socioeconomic Status, Race, and Gender in Patient-Reported Outcomes Following Total Hip Arthroplasty

Background Disparities in total joint arthroplasty are well-documented. However, much of the research regarding disparities in vulnerable populations receiving total hip arthroplasty (THA) have focused on short-term outcomes. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of race, gender, and socioeconomic status (SES) on patient-reported outcomes six months following THA. Methods Electronic health record data were retrospectively analyzed for 269 individuals who underwent THA at a large urban hospital from 2013-16. Data retrieved included patient demographics, baseline health information, data regarding hospital length of stay when undergoing THA, post-operative complications, and patient-reported function, measured by the Harris Hip Score (HHS) at baseline (pre-operative) and six months post-operatively. Results Compared to White patients and male patients, non-White (p = .01) and female (p = .02) patients were lower-functioning prior to surgery. At six months post-operatively, White patients had significantly better function than non-White patients, (p = .05) and patients of higher SES had significantly better function than patients of lower SES (p = .05). Regression analyses revealed that, after controlling for race, gender, and SES, the only significant predictor of six-month improvement in HHS was the pre-operative HHS score (p \u3c .001). Conclusion These results indicate that female, non-White, and lower SES patients undergoing THA may have lower function pre-operatively and may not experience as much improvement in physical function post-operatively as their male, White, and higher SES counterparts. Further research is needed to determine if race, gender, and socioeconomic differences in pre-operative function lead to long-term disparities in function following THA, using larger sample sizes and outcomes beyond 6 months post-operatively

Cylindrical Magnetron Development for Nb₃sn Deposition via Magnetron Sputtering

Due to its better superconducting properties (critical temperature Tc~ 18.3 K, superheating field Hsh~ 400 mT), Nb3Sn is considered as a potential alternative to niobium (Tc~ 9.25 K, Hsh~ 200 mT) for superconducting radiofrequency (SRF) cavities for particle acceleration. Magnetron sputtering is an effective method to produce superconducting Nb3Sn films. We deposited superconducting Nb3Sn films on samples with magnetron sputtering using co-sputtering, sequential sputtering, and sputtering from a stoichiometric target. Nb3Sn films produced by magnetron sputtering in our previous experiments have achieved DC superconducting critical temperature up to 17.93 K and RF superconducting transition at 17.2 K. A magnetron sputtering system with two identical cylindrical cathodes that can be used to sputter Nb3Sn films on cavities has been designed and is under development now. We report on the design and the current progress on the development of the system

Sialidases Affect the Host Cell Adherence and Epsilon Toxin-Induced Cytotoxicity of Clostridium perfringens Type D Strain CN3718

Clostridium perfringens type B or D isolates, which cause enterotoxemias or enteritis in livestock, produce epsilon toxin (ETX). ETX is exceptionally potent, earning it a listing as a CDC class B select toxin. Most C. perfringens strains also express up to three different sialidases, although the possible contributions of those enzymes to type B or D pathogenesis remain unclear. Type D isolate CN3718 was found to carry two genes (nanI and nanJ) encoding secreted sialidases and one gene (nanH) encoding a cytoplasmic sialidase. Construction in CN3718 of single nanI, nanJ and nanH null mutants, as well as a nanI/nanJ double null mutant and a triple sialidase null mutant, identified NanI as the major secreted sialidase of this strain. Pretreating MDCK cells with NanI sialidase, or with culture supernatants of BMC206 (an isogenic CN3718 etx null mutant that still produces sialidases) enhanced the subsequent binding and cytotoxic effects of purified ETX. Complementation of BMC207 (an etx/nanH/nanI/nanJ null mutant) showed this effect is mainly attributable to NanI production. Contact between BMC206 and certain mammalian cells (e.g., enterocyte-like Caco-2 cells) resulted in more rapid sialidase production and this effect involved increased transcription of BMC206 nanI gene. BMC206 was shown to adhere to some (e.g. Caco-2 cells), but not all mammalian cells, and this effect was dependent upon sialidase, particularly NanI, expression. Finally, the sialidase activity of NanI (but not NanJ or NanH) could be enhanced by trypsin. Collectively these in vitro findings suggest that, during type D disease originating in the intestines, trypsin may activate NanI, which (in turn) could contribute to intestinal colonization by C. perfringens type D isolates and also increase ETX action

A project to assist Family Actions's Building Bridges practitioners with the use of the Index of Family Relations as an outcome measurement: final report

With support from DCSF’s Parenting Fund, Family Action commissioned a team of researchers from the University of East London to evaluate the utility of the Index of Family Relations (IFR) for continued use as an outcome measure to evaluate its work

Retigabine holds KV7 channels open and stabilizes the resting potential

The anticonvulsant Retigabine is a KV7 channel agonist used to treat hyperexcitability disorders in humans. Retigabine shifts the voltage dependence for activation of the heteromeric KV7.2/KV7.3 channel to more negative potentials, thus facilitating activation. Although the molecular mechanism underlying Retigabine\u27s action remains unknown, previous studies have identified the pore region of KV7 channels as the drug\u27s target. This suggested that the Retigabine-induced shift in voltage dependence likely derives from the stabilization of the pore domain in an open (conducting) conformation. Testing this idea, we show that the heteromeric KV7.2/KV7.3 channel has at least two open states, which we named O1 and O2, with O2 being more stable. The O1 state was reached after short membrane depolarizations, whereas O2 was reached after prolonged depolarization or during steady state at the typical neuronal resting potentials. We also found that activation and deactivation seem to follow distinct pathways, suggesting that the KV7.2/KV7.3 channel activity displays hysteresis. As for the action of Retigabine, we discovered that this agonist discriminates between open states, preferentially acting on the O2 state and further stabilizing it. Based on these findings, we proposed a novel mechanism for the therapeutic effect of Retigabine whereby this drug reduces excitability by enhancing the resting potential open state stability of KV7.2/KV7.3 channels. To address this hypothesis, we used a model for action potential (AP) in Xenopus laevis oocytes and found that the resting membrane potential became more negative as a function of Retigabine concentration, whereas the threshold potential for AP firing remained unaltered

A project to assist Family Action’s Building Bridges practitioners with the use of the Index of Family Relations as an outcome measurement (Final Report).

This report describes the methods and findings of a partnership project between Family Action practitioners and managers, and a research team led by Angela Harden and Eva Lloyd of the University of East London. Since 1999, Family Action has been providing services in a number of locations across England under the Building Bridges name, working with families affected by parental mental health problems and other complex needs. Since 2004, Building Bridges projects have been using four separate validated psychometric tools to measure family functioning, parental satisfaction, self‐esteem and depression in order to evaluate the impact of its services on outcomes for parents and their children: the Index of Family Relations (IFR); the Kansas Parental Satisfaction Scale; the Rosenberg Self‐Esteem Scale; and the Depression Rating Scale. Some years ago, the Building Bridges service model was independently evaluated (Morris, 2007). In the light of Family Action’s commitment to ongoing monitoring and evaluation of its work, a decision was taken to build on the findings of the 2007 evaluation. The focus selected for further research was an important cultural issue identified by Morris (2007: 25) regarding the appropriateness of the Index of Family Relations for black and minority ethnic (BME) communities, in particular Bangladeshi and Somali families. With support from DCSF’s Parenting Fund, Family Action commissioned a team of researchers from the University of East London to evaluate the utility of the IFR for continued use as an outcome measure to evaluate its work

Organization of the cpe Locus in CPE-Positive Clostridium perfringens Type C and D Isolates

Clostridium perfringens enterotoxin (encoded by the cpe gene) contributes to several important human, and possibly veterinary, enteric diseases. The current study investigated whether cpe locus organization in type C or D isolates resembles one of the three (one chromosomal and two plasmid-borne) cpe loci commonly found amongst type A isolates. Multiplex PCR assays capable of detecting sequences in those type A cpe loci failed to amplify products from cpe-positive type C and D isolates, indicating these isolates possess different cpe locus arrangements. Therefore, restriction fragments containing the cpe gene were cloned and sequenced from two type C isolates and one type D isolate. The obtained cpe locus sequences were then used to construct an overlapping PCR assay to assess cpe locus diversity amongst other cpe-positive type C and D isolates. All seven surveyed cpe-positive type C isolates had a plasmid-borne cpe locus partially resembling the cpe locus of type A isolates carrying a chromosomal cpe gene. In contrast, all eight type D isolates shared the same plasmid-borne cpe locus, which differed substantially from the cpe locus present in other C. perfringens by containing two copies of an ORF with 67% identity to a transposase gene (COG4644) found in Tn1546, but not previously associated with the cpe gene. These results identify greater diversity amongst cpe locus organization than previously appreciated, providing new insights into cpe locus evolution. Finally, evidence for cpe gene mobilization was found for both type C and D isolates, which could explain their cpe plasmid diversity

Ophthalmic Biomarker Detection Using Ensembled Vision Transformers -- Winning Solution to IEEE SPS VIP Cup 2023

This report outlines our approach in the IEEE SPS VIP Cup 2023: Ophthalmic Biomarker Detection competition. Our primary objective in this competition was to identify biomarkers from Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) images obtained from a diverse range of patients. Using robust augmentations and 5-fold cross-validation, we trained two vision transformer-based models: MaxViT and EVA-02, and ensembled them at inference time. We find MaxViT's use of convolution layers followed by strided attention to be better suited for the detection of local features while EVA-02's use of normal attention mechanism and knowledge distillation is better for detecting global features. Ours was the best-performing solution in the competition, achieving a patient-wise F1 score of 0.814 in the first phase and 0.8527 in the second and final phase of VIP Cup 2023, scoring 3.8% higher than the next-best solution