Online Recommendation System - The Potential And Possibilities Of World -Of- Mouth On The Internet

In recent years, the unprecedented growth in web technology has enabled web users to attain a more active role in communicating via the Internet. Not only can web users obtain information through the Internet, they can now also post information online. As a result, consumers' electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) communication can be easily disseminated through Web 2.0 applications such as online discussion forums, electronic bulletin board systems, newsgroups, blogs, review sites, and social networking sites

An Integrative Approach to the Identification of Arabidopsis and Rice Genes Involved in Xylan and Secondary Wall Development

Xylans constitute the major non-cellulosic component of plant biomass. Xylan biosynthesis is particularly pronounced in cells with secondary walls, implying that the synthesis network consists of a set of highly expressed genes in such cells. To improve the understanding of xylan biosynthesis, we performed a comparative analysis of co-expression networks between Arabidopsis and rice as reference species with different wall types. Many co-expressed genes were represented by orthologs in both species, which implies common biological features, while some gene families were only found in one of the species, and therefore likely to be related to differences in their cell walls. To predict the subcellular location of the identified proteins, we developed a new method, PFANTOM (plant protein family information-based predictor for endomembrane), which was shown to perform better for proteins in the endomembrane system than other available prediction methods. Based on the combined approach of co-expression and predicted cellular localization, we propose a model for Arabidopsis and rice xylan synthesis in the Golgi apparatus and signaling from plasma membrane to nucleus for secondary cell wall differentiation. As an experimental validation of the model, we show that an Arabidopsis mutant in the PGSIP1 gene encoding one of the Golgi localized candidate proteins has a highly decreased content of glucuronic acid in secondary cell walls and substantially reduced xylan glucuronosyltransferase activity

The impact of Transformational Leadership and the Mediating Effect of Employees’ Perception of Organizational Change on Affective, Normative and Continuance Commitment

In today’s dynamic business environment, organizational change is essential to remain continuously competitive in the changing environment.Despite the high awareness of the importance of change, statistics revealed that only one-third of organizational change efforts can be considered successful.Thus, this research aimed at studying how transformational leadership is able to influence employees’ perception of the change and impact the different levels of commitment towards change in a multinational company in Malaysia.The partial least squares of structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) approach was deployed to validate and examine the research theoretical framework, and conduct the hypothesis testing.The result reveals transformational leadership and employees’ perception of the changes to be highly predictive of the employees’ commitment (affective, normative, and continuance commitment) with regard to the organizational changes.It also indicates that employees’ perception of the change has a significant mediating effect on the relationship between transformational leadership and affective, normative, and continuance commitment. Hence, management must be sensitive to employees’ reaction for the change initiatives to be successful and it is noteworthy for management to understand the employees’ perception of the changes, support their needs to cope with the changes in their effort to overcome these resistances

Impact of Transformational Leadership and the Mediating Effect of Employees' Perception of Organizational Change on Affective, Normative and Continuance Commitment

Purpose: The purpose of this research paper is to study the influence of transformational leadership on employees' perception of the change and the impact of the different levels of commitment towards change in a semi-conductor multinational company in Malaysia. Design/Methodology/Approach: The partial least squares of structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) approach was deployed to validate and examine the research theoretical framework, and conduct the hypothesis testing. Findings: The result reveals transformational leadership and employees' perception of the changes to be highly predictive of the employees' commitment with regard to the organizational changes. It also indicates that employees' perception of the change has a significant mediating effect on the relationship between transformational leadership and affective, normative, and continuance commitment. Implications/Originality/Value: Management must be sensitive to employees' reaction for the change initiatives to be successful and it is noteworthy for management to understand the employees' perception of the changes, support their needs

Acceleration of generalized hypergeometric functions through precise remainder asymptotics

We express the asymptotics of the remainders of the partial sums {s_n} of the generalized hypergeometric function q+1_F_q through an inverse power series z^n n^l \sum_k c_k/n^k, where the exponent l and the asymptotic coefficients {c_k} may be recursively computed to any desired order from the hypergeometric parameters and argument. From this we derive a new series acceleration technique that can be applied to any such function, even with complex parameters and at the branch point z=1. For moderate parameters (up to approximately ten) a C implementation at fixed precision is very effective at computing these functions; for larger parameters an implementation in higher than machine precision would be needed. Even for larger parameters, however, our C implementation is able to correctly determine whether or not it has converged; and when it converges, its estimate of its error is accurate.Comment: 36 pages, 6 figures, LaTeX2e. Fixed sign error in Eq. (2.28), added several references, added comparison to other methods, and added discussion of recursion stabilit

Set Pseudophasors to Stun for Flow Cytometry

Study of signal transduction in live cells benefits from the ability to visualize and quantify light emitted by fluorescent proteins (XFPs) fused to different signaling proteins. However, because cell signaling proteins are often present in small numbers, and because the XFPs themselves are poor fluorophores, the amount of emitted light, and the observable signal in these studies, is often small. An XFP's fluorescence lifetime contains additional information about the immediate environment of the fluorophore that can augment the information from its weak light signal. Here, we constructed and expressed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae variants of Teal Fluorescent Protein (TFP) and Citrine that were isospectral but had shorter fluorescence lifetimes, ∼ 1.5 ns vs ∼ 3 ns. We modified microscopic and flow cytometric instruments to measure fluorescence lifetimes in live cells. We developed digital hardware and a measure of lifetime called a "pseudophasor" that we could compute quickly enough to permit sorting by lifetime in flow. We used these abilities to sort mixtures of cells expressing TFP and the short-lifetime TFP variant into subpopulations that were respectively 97% and 94% pure. This work demonstrates the feasibility of using information about fluorescence lifetime to help quantify cell signaling in living cells at the high throughput provided by flow cytometry. Moreover, it demonstrates the feasibility of isolating and recovering subpopulations of cells with different XFP lifetimes for subsequent experimentation