Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and E-Commerce

Technology has drastically changed how businesses operate. Internet and the subsequent “E-Commerce,” have granted customers more bargaining power than ever. Thus, Continuous Customer Relationship and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) become the goal for customer retention. CRM, if performed correctly, allows creative marketing people to gain insights from information for new product ideas or new promotional campaigns and turn them into profits. CRM has extended beyond sales and marketing to include functions such as finance, R&D, channel partners, and even customers. This paper discusses the concept of customer-centric approach in CRM and its components. The current CRM market, key players, and trends are also reviewed

Development of a Military Uniform Size System Using Hybrid Support Vector Clustering with a Genetic Algorithm

Military uniforms serve as an essential symbol for servicemen and an important image of national and military dignity. The current military uniform size system in Taiwan, which features various types of military uniforms based on the body sizes of servicemen, was formulated in 1986. This size classification system includes numerous groups and is too complex, leading to inventory overstock, increased inventory cost and warehouse staff workload, and a waste of national defense resources. This study used support vector clustering (SVC) with genetic algorithm (GA) models to improve the upper garment size system for uniforms. The SVC technique was employed to classify sizes, and the GA technique was used to determine optimal parameter values for the SVC model. This paper developed an upper garment size system that can increase the fit of uniforms to servicemen’s body sizes and reduce the number of size groups, thereby alleviating warehouse staff workload and inventory cost

An overview of research on revenue management: current issues and future research

The paper provides a comprehensive review of the recent development of revenue management in different industries. We discuss research on different revenue management strategies including pricing, auctions, capacity control, overbooking and forecasting. Related issues such as economic concerns, customer perception, competition and consolidation, implementation, performance evaluation, and common techniques and approaches used for solving revenue management problems are also discussed. Finally, we give our suggestion on some important areas that warrant further research.revenue management; yield management; research; review; strategies; pricing; auctions; capacity control; overbooking; forecasting; economic concerns; customer perception; competition; consolidation; implementation; performance evaluation.

Single-cell RNA-seq identifies a PD-1^hi ILC progenitor and defines its development pathway

© 2016 Macmillan Publishers Limited, part of Springer Nature. All rights reserved. Innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) functionally resemble T lymphocytes in cytotoxicity and cytokine production but lack antigen-specific receptors, and they are important regulators of immune responses and tissue homeostasis. ILCs are generated from common lymphoid progenitors, which are subsequently committed to innate lymphoid lineages in the α-lymphoid progenitor, early innate lymphoid progenitor, common helper innate lymphoid progenitor and innate lymphoid cell progenitor compartments. ILCs consist of conventional natural killer cells and helper-like cells (ILC1, ILC2 and ILC3). Despite recent advances, the cellular heterogeneity, developmental trajectory and signalling dependence of ILC progenitors are not fully understood. Here, using single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) of mouse bone marrow progenitors, we reveal ILC precursor subsets, delineate distinct ILC development stages and pathways, and report that high expression of programmed death 1 (PD-1 hi ) marked a committed ILC progenitor that was essentially identical to an innate lymphoid cell progenitor. Our data defined PD-1 hi IL-25R hi as an early checkpoint in ILC2 development, which was abolished by deficiency in the zinc-finger protein Bcl11b but restored by IL-25R overexpression. Similar to T lymphocytes, PD-1 was upregulated on activated ILCs. Administration of a PD-1 antibody depleted PD-1 hi ILCs and reduced cytokine levels in an influenza infection model in mice, and blocked papain-induced acute lung inflammation. These results provide a perspective for exploring PD-1 and its ligand (PD-L1) in immunotherapy, and allow effective manipulation of the immune system for disease prevention and therapy.Link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Characterization and enzymatic degradation of Sup35NM, a yeast prion-like protein

Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) are believed to be caused by an unconventional infectious agent, the prion protein. The pathogenic and infectious form of prion protein, PrPSc, is able to aggregate and form amyloid fibrils, very stable and resistant to most disinfecting processes and common proteases. Under specific conditions, PrPSc in bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) brain tissue was found degradable by a bacterial keratinase and some other proteases. Since this disease-causing prion is infectious and dangerous to work with, a model or surrogate protein that is safe is needed for the in vitro degradation study. Here a nonpathogenic yeast prion-like protein, Sup35NM, cloned and overexpressed in E. coli, was purified and characterized for this purpose. Aggregation and deaggregation of Sup35NM were examined by electron microscopy, gel electrophoresis, Congo red binding, fluorescence, and Western blotting. The degradation of Sup35NM aggregates by keratinase and proteinase K under various conditions was studied and compared. These results will be of value in understanding the mechanism and optimization of the degradation process