Postmodernizm ve Klan Pazarlaması: Dinsel Topluluklara Yönelik Bir Uygulama

The emergence of communities described as modern tribe in postmodern period has led to the occurrence of an alternative marketing approach – tribal marketing. The purpose of this study is to define the religious communities in Turkey in terms of modern tribe behaviors and to determine to what extent tribal marketing is applicable to the concerning communities. For this purpose, a questionnaire was administered to the community members selected by convenience sampling in Biga, Çanakkale. The results of analysis indicate that the community has characteristics of modern tribe to some extent although most of the members are not aware of symbolic values. On the other hand, the hypotheses intended to test behavioral differences regarding the level of membership types, affiliation of members to the community and whether they have adaptive behavior to the community were confirmed to a great extent. Yet the results also indicate that the adaptive behavior of members to the community does not reflect on their buying attitudes.Post modern dönemde modern klan olarak tanımlanan toplulukların ortaya çıkması, klan pazarlaması olarak tanımlanan alternatif bir pazarlama yaklaşımının doğmasına yol açmıştır. Bu çalışmanın amacı Türkiye’de faaliyet gösteren dinsel toplulukları, modern klan davranışları açısından tanımlamak ve klan pazarlamasının söz konusu topluluklara ne ölçüde uygulanabileceğini belirlemektir. Bu amaçla Çanakkale, Biga’da kolayda örnekleme yöntemiyle seçilen topluluk üyeleriyle anket yapılmıştır. Analiz sonuçları, topluluğun bir ölçüye kadar modern klan niteliklerine sahip olduğunu, ancak üyelerinin çoğunun sembolik değerlerden haberdar olmadığını göstermiştir. Diğer taraftan üyelik türlerine göre davranış farklılıkları, üyelerin topluluğa bağlılığı ve toplulukla uyumlu davranış gösterip göstermediklerine yönelik kurulan hipotezler büyük ölçüde doğrulanmıştır. Bununla birlikte sonuçlar, üyelerin topluluğa karşı gösterdikleri uyum davranışının satın almaya yönelik tutumlarına yansımadığını göstermiştir

Postmodernizm ve Klan Pazarlaması: Dinsel Topluluklara Yönelik Bir Uygulama

The emergence of communities described as modern tribe in postmodern period has led to the occurrence of an alternative marketing approach – tribal marketing. The purpose of this study is to define the religious communities in Turkey in terms of modern tribe behaviors and to determine to what extent tribal marketing is applicable to the concerning communities. For this purpose, a questionnaire was administered to the community members selected by convenience sampling in Biga, Çanakkale. The results of analysis indicate that the community has characteristics of modern tribe to some extent although most of the members are not aware of symbolic values. On the other hand, the hypotheses intended to test behavioral differences regarding the level of membership types, affiliation of members to the community and whether they have adaptive behavior to the community were confirmed to a great extent. Yet the results also indicate that the adaptive behavior of members to the community does not reflect on their buying attitudes.Post modern dönemde modern klan olarak tanımlanan toplulukların ortaya çıkması, klan pazarlaması olarak tanımlanan alternatif bir pazarlama yaklaşımının doğmasına yol açmıştır. Bu çalışmanın amacı Türkiye’de faaliyet gösteren dinsel toplulukları, modern klan davranışları açısından tanımlamak ve klan pazarlamasının söz konusu topluluklara ne ölçüde uygulanabileceğini belirlemektir. Bu amaçla Çanakkale, Biga’da kolayda örnekleme yöntemiyle seçilen topluluk üyeleriyle anket yapılmıştır. Analiz sonuçları, topluluğun bir ölçüye kadar modern klan niteliklerine sahip olduğunu, ancak üyelerinin çoğunun sembolik değerlerden haberdar olmadığını göstermiştir. Diğer taraftan üyelik türlerine göre davranış farklılıkları, üyelerin topluluğa bağlılığı ve toplulukla uyumlu davranış gösterip göstermediklerine yönelik kurulan hipotezler büyük ölçüde doğrulanmıştır. Bununla birlikte sonuçlar, üyelerin topluluğa karşı gösterdikleri uyum davranışının satın almaya yönelik tutumlarına yansımadığını göstermiştir

Standard immunosuppressive treatment reduces regulatory B cells in children with autoimmune liver disease

Introduction: Autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) is a chronic liver disease caused by a perturbed immune system. The scarcity of short- and long-term immune monitoring of AIH hampered us to comprehend the interaction between immunosuppressive medication and immune homeostasis. Methods and patients: We recruited children with AIH at the time of diagnosis and at the 1st, 3rd, 6th, 12th, 18th, and 24th months of immunosuppression (IS). We also enrolled children with AIH being on IS for >2 years. Children with drug-induced liver injury (DILI), and those receiving tacrolimus after liver transplantation (LT), were enrolled as disease/IS control subjects. Healthy children (HC) were also recruited. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were isolated from all participants. Healthy liver tissue from adult donors and from livers without inflammation were obtained from children with hepatoblastoma. By using flow cytometry, we performed multi-parametric immune profiling of PBMCs and intrahepatic lymphocytes. Additionally, after IS with prednisolone, tacrolimus, rapamycin, or 6-mercaptopurine, we carried out an in vitro cytokine stimulation assay. Finally, a Lifecodes SSO typing kit was used to type HLA-DRB1 and Luminex was used to analyze the results. Results: Untreated AIH patients had lower total CD8 T-cell frequencies than HC, but these cells were more naïve. While the percentage of naïve regulatory T cells (Tregs) (CD4+FOXP3lowCD45RA+) and regulatory B cells (Bregs, CD20+CD24+CD38+) was similar, AIH patients had fewer activated Tregs (CD4+FOXP3highCD45RA-) compared to HC. Mucosal-associated-invariant-T-cells (MAIT) were also lower in these patients. Following the initiation of IS, the immune profiles demonstrated fluctuations. Bregs frequency decreased substantially at 1 month and did not recover anymore. Additionally, the frequency of intrahepatic Bregs in treated AIH patients was lower, compared to control livers, DILI, and LT patients. Following in vitro IS drugs incubation, only the frequency of IL-10-producing total B-cells increased with tacrolimus and 6MP. Lastly, 70% of AIH patients possessed HLA-DR11, whereas HLA-DR03/DR07/DR13 was present in only some patients. Conclusion: HLA-DR11 was prominent in our AIH cohort. Activated Tregs and MAIT cell frequencies were lower before IS. Importantly, we discovered a previously unrecognized and long-lasting Bregs scarcity in AIH patients after IS. Tacrolimus and 6MP increased IL-10+ B-cells in vitro

Standard immunosuppressive treatment reduces regulatory B cells in children with autoimmune liver disease

IntroductionAutoimmune hepatitis (AIH) is a chronic liver disease caused by a perturbed immune system. The scarcity of short- and long-term immune monitoring of AIH hampered us to comprehend the interaction between immunosuppressive medication and immune homeostasis.Methods and patientsWe recruited children with AIH at the time of diagnosis and at the 1st, 3rd, 6th, 12th, 18th, and 24th months of immunosuppression (IS). We also enrolled children with AIH being on IS for >2 years. Children with drug-induced liver injury (DILI), and those receiving tacrolimus after liver transplantation (LT), were enrolled as disease/IS control subjects. Healthy children (HC) were also recruited. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were isolated from all participants. Healthy liver tissue from adult donors and from livers without inflammation were obtained from children with hepatoblastoma. By using flow cytometry, we performed multi-parametric immune profiling of PBMCs and intrahepatic lymphocytes. Additionally, after IS with prednisolone, tacrolimus, rapamycin, or 6-mercaptopurine, we carried out an in vitro cytokine stimulation assay. Finally, a Lifecodes SSO typing kit was used to type HLA-DRB1 and Luminex was used to analyze the results.ResultsUntreated AIH patients had lower total CD8 T-cell frequencies than HC, but these cells were more naïve. While the percentage of naïve regulatory T cells (Tregs) (CD4+FOXP3lowCD45RA+) and regulatory B cells (Bregs, CD20+CD24+CD38+) was similar, AIH patients had fewer activated Tregs (CD4+FOXP3highCD45RA-) compared to HC. Mucosal-associated-invariant-T-cells (MAIT) were also lower in these patients. Following the initiation of IS, the immune profiles demonstrated fluctuations. Bregs frequency decreased substantially at 1 month and did not recover anymore. Additionally, the frequency of intrahepatic Bregs in treated AIH patients was lower, compared to control livers, DILI, and LT patients. Following in vitro IS drugs incubation, only the frequency of IL-10-producing total B-cells increased with tacrolimus and 6MP. Lastly, 70% of AIH patients possessed HLA-DR11, whereas HLA-DR03/DR07/DR13 was present in only some patients.ConclusionHLA-DR11 was prominent in our AIH cohort. Activated Tregs and MAIT cell frequencies were lower before IS. Importantly, we discovered a previously unrecognized and long-lasting Bregs scarcity in AIH patients after IS. Tacrolimus and 6MP increased IL-10+ B-cells in vitro

Simple, extensible and flexible random key predistribution schemes for wireless sensor networks using reusable key pools

Sensor nodes are tiny, low-power, computationally limited and battery constrained electromechanical devices. A sensor node contains a sensing unit and a wireless communication unit. Sensor nodes are deployed over a field for sensing an event data in the environment and transfer it towards a base station over its wireless channel. In a typical application, vast amount of sensor nodes are deployed over a field which constitute a sensor network. Sensor nodes must be customized for a specific sensor network application before the deployment. This customization is needed not only for underlying networking application, but also for security related configurations. Random key predistribution mechanisms have been proposed to provide security for wireless sensor networks. In the literature, there are well known random key predistribution schemes. Some of these schemes are secure, but quite complex to apply in real-world applications due to their node-based customization requirements, while some other are easily applicable but they do not offer reasonable security. In this paper, we propose random key predistribution schemes for wireless sensor networks that provide varying ranges of security. The proposed schemes are easily applicable in real world scenarios due to their simplicity and relaxed node customization requirements. In this respect, our schemes provide a tradeoff. Moreover, our proposed schemes show a good extensibility property. We assume prior deployment knowledge. We examine performance of our schemes and compare them with well known random key predistribution schemes

Combined metabolic activators therapy ameliorates liver fat in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease patients

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) refers to excess fat accumulation in the liver. In animal experiments and human kinetic study, we found that administration of combined metabolic activators (CMAs) promotes the oxidation of fat, attenuates the resulting oxidative stress, activates mitochondria, and eventually removes excess fat from the liver. Here, we tested the safety and efficacy of CMA in NAFLD patients in a placebo-controlled 10-week study. We found that CMA significantly decreased hepatic steatosis and levels of aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, uric acid, and creatinine, whereas found no differences on these variables in the placebo group after adjustment for weight loss. By integrating clinical data with plasma metabolomics and inflammatory proteomics as well as oral and gut metagenomic data, we revealed the underlying molecular mechanisms associated with the reduced hepatic fat and inflammation in NAFLD patients and identified the key players involved in the host–microbiome interactions. In conclusion, we showed that CMA can be used to develop a pharmacological treatment strategy in NAFLD patients

Are Are Brand Value Reports Compatible with Financial Reports?

The purpose of this paper is to uncover whether brand value reports published by brand valuation organizations are compatible with the financial reports and whether brand value contributes to profitability and financial performance For this purpose four panel data model were built up to investigate the impact of brand value on profitability and performance The data belongs to food companies which are among Turkey s top 100 listed brands The data are collected from the brand valuation report and financial statements published between the years 2008-2018 Results of analysis indicate that there is no relationship between brand value and financial performance However the relations between brand value and profitability ratios are significant This paper conclude that financial statements and brand valuation reports are not sufficiently compatible with each other Additionally this paper suggests that Turkish firms should try to increase their brand strength