A Research Proposal: The Relationship between Customer Satisfaction and Consumer Loyalty

The purpose of this research is to study the relationship between customer satisfaction and consumer loyalty and apply its relationship into all the market industries including products and services, particularly in financial institutions. Preliminary sample data (N=80) will be collected from faculties and students at Johnson and Wales University of all ethnicities, national and international students. The hypothesis of the study is developed as H1: There is a significant positive relationship between customer loyalty and customer satisfaction. A t-test for independent samples is used to address the hypothesis. The discussion of the study indicated that there is a significant positive relationship between customer loyalty and customer satisfaction, however, it is important to fully understand that the loyalty which is the main goal of each industry is very hard to achieve and is not very easy to be reached by industries due to the customer satisfaction which is very hard to reach by itself, and the service quality as well. There are many other variables that can affect the consumer loyalty such as the high level of competition among today’s companies and the fast track of technological advancement. These reasons indicate that companies should work hard because loyalty is a fleeting issue, today’s loyal customer would not be tomorrow’s loyal customer

Monitoring and Landscape Quantification of Uncontrolled Urbanisation in Oasis Regions: The Case of Adrar City in Algeria

Nowadays, uncontrolled urbanisation is one of the major problems facing Algerian oasis regions. The monitoring and evaluation of its landscape transformations remain a key step for any oasis sustainability project. This study highlights the evolution of spatial growth in the city of Adrar in southern Algeria during the period 1986-2016 by establishing a Spatio-temporal mapping and landscape quantification. The methodological approach is based on a multi-temporal analysis of Landsat satellite images for 1986, 1996, 2006 and 2016, and the application of landscape metrics. The results show two opposite spatial trends: significant growth of built-up areas against an excessive loss of palm groves. The landscape metrics allowed the identification of a progressive fragmentation process characterising the palm groves. Thus, the findings of this study show the utility of satellite imagery and landscape metrics approach for monitoring urbanisation patterns and assessing their impacts on oasis ecosystems

Evaluating the time of the visual scene and its relationship to the values of some biochemical variables in the performance of the main section of the spiking and blocking skills in the volleyball

The biomechanical examination is worried about contemplating development and adds to expanding the degree of specialized players because of the utilization of present-day programming for kinematic investigation and the innovation of mechanical gadgets that have added to improve the specialized exhibition capacities of the players and the mentors follow the logical establishments in the improvement of execution strategies and assessment of the visual scene, and this visual kinematic measure in the divisions of a second expects us to Consider and assessing their planning and body development conditions in the fundamental segment of the two aptitudes and creating mathematical qualities that give an image of execution at these significant minutes as expected. The investigation meant to distinguish the assessment of the hour of the visual scene and its relationship with the estimations of some biochemical factors in the exhibition of the fundamental segment of the abilities to spike and impeding with volleyball. The exploration issue is the speed of development of the rival player and the ball and the trouble of focusing on it during self-survey by the mentor, explaining perspectives identified with centring consideration, knowing where the ball arrived from the stomach, the development of the player's arm, and picking the kind of hit or impeding the ball and its course. The two analysts utilized the spellbinding technique by the strategy for looking over on an example of the Iraqi public cooperative individuals for the year (2019-2020), and the main ends are that the player who plays out the of obstructing and pounding strikes and has an evaluation of the right visual scene can hit and repulse the ball because of the development of the arms and hands towards the ball well

Suppression of Glomerulonephritis in NZB/NZW Lupus Prone Mice by Adoptive Transfer of Ex Vivo Expanded Regulatory T Cells

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease of unknown cause characterized by expansion of autoreactive lymphocytes. Regulatory T cells (Tregs) are a component of the normal immune system and contribute to the maintenance of peripheral tolerance. Treg abnormalities have been associated with several autoimmune diseases and there is interest in the role of Tregs in SLE. We previously demonstrated that transfer of expanded CD4+CD25+CD62LHI Tregs slows the development of lupus in (NZBxNZW)F1 (B/W) mice. However in the absence of Treg specific surface antigens, cell purification remains a compromise between the breadth and purity of the population isolated. Importantly, purified populations always contain Foxp3− effector T cells (Teffs) that theoretically could exacerbate autoimmunity in the recipient. Here we explore the impact of transferring the more comprehensive, but less pure Treg subset defined by CD4+CD25+ expression on development of murine lupus. All cells were FACS sorted and expanded prior to adoptive transfer. Development of proteinuria and survival were measured. We found that exogenous expansion of CD4+CD25+ cells produced a population containing 70–85% CD4+Foxp3+Tregs. Expanded Tregs had higher CTLA-4 and Foxp3 expression, increased in vitro suppression capacity, and prolonged in vivo survival as compared to freshly isolated cells. Adoptive transfer of expanded CD4+CD25+ Tregs inhibited the onset of glomerulonephritis and prolonged survival in mice. Importantly the population of Teff contained within the adoptively transferred cells had reduced survival and proliferation capacity as compared to either co-transferred Tregs or transferred Teffs expanded in the absence of Tregs. These studies demonstrate that adoptive transfer of expanded CD4+CD25+Foxp3+Tregs has the capacity to inhibit the onset of murine lupus and that this capacity is significant despite transfer of co-cultured Teff cells. These data indicate that when co-expanded with regulatory T cells, exogenously activated Teffs from autoimmune patients may not pose a significant risk of promoting disease

Myth in C.S.Leiws’sPrince Caspian: The Return to Narnia

Prince Caspian: The Return to Narniais part of C.S.Lewis’s mythical world in the Chronicles of Narnia (1950-1954).Lewis considers myth as a fundamental resource for his writings whether they are theological or literary ones. His adherence to myth comes from his belief in the validity of myth, even pagan one, to trace the development of human religious and imaginative thinking. Myth for Lewis, as for his other friends in the Inklings, is the primitive type of religion which paves the way to the present religions.In this story, Lewis addresses, through the world of Narnia, the skeptics in their faith who are obsessed by love of power and authority as he silencesthe rivers and trees, and kills off most of the talking beings. Lewis draws on his real attitudes towards peoples’ inclinations to materialistic way of life who forget their belief and commitment towards religion. This paper is part of an M.A. thesis entitled “The Use of Myth in C.S.Lewis’sThe Chronicles of Narnia” prepared at the University of Al-Qadisiya, College of Education, Department of English. Keywords: myth, Narnia, Inkling, Caspian and Asla

Buckling Analysis of CNTRC Curved Sandwich Nanobeams in Thermal Environment

none6siThis paper presents a mathematical continuum model to investigate the static stability buckling of cross-ply single-walled (SW) carbon nanotube reinforced composite (CNTRC) curved sandwich nanobeams in thermal environment, based on a novel quasi-3D higher-order shear deformation theory. The study considers possible nano-scale size effects in agreement with a nonlocal strain gradient theory, including a higher-order nonlocal parameter (material scale) and gradient length scale (size scale), to account for size-dependent properties. Several types of reinforcement material distributions are assumed, namely a uniform distribution (UD) as well as X- and O- functionally graded (FG) distributions. The material properties are also assumed to be temperature-dependent in agreement with the Touloukian principle. The problem is solved in closed form by applying the Galerkin method, where a numerical study is performed systematically to validate the proposed model, and check for the effects of several factors on the buckling response of CNTRC curved sandwich nanobeams, including the reinforcement material distributions, boundary conditions, length scale and nonlocal parameters, together with some geometry properties, such as the opening angle and slenderness ratio. The proposed model is verified to be an effective theoretical tool to treat the thermal buckling response of curved CNTRC sandwich nanobeams, ranging from macroscale to nanoscale, whose examples could be of great interest for the design of many nanostructural components in different engineering applications.openAhmed Amine Daikh; Mohammed Sid Ahmed Houari; Behrouz Karami; Mohamed A. Eltaher; Rossana Dimitri; Francesco TornabeneAmine Daikh, Ahmed; Sid Ahmed Houari, Mohammed; Karami, Behrouz; Eltaher, Mohamed A.; Dimitri, Rossana; Tornabene, Francesc

Treatment of lupus nephritis with abatacept: the Abatacept and Cyclophosphamide Combination Efficacy and Safety Study

OBJECTIVE: To assess the efficacy and safety of a 24-week course of abatacept in the treatment of active lupus nephritis and to assess the potential of abatacept to induce clinical tolerance, defined as sustained clinical quiescence of lupus nephritis after discontinuation of immunosuppressive therapy. METHODS: Patients with active lupus nephritis (n = 134) were enrolled in a randomized, double-blind phase II add-on trial in which they received either abatacept or placebo in conjunction with the Euro-Lupus Nephritis Trial regimen of low-dose cyclophosphamide (CYC) followed by azathioprine (AZA). The primary efficacy outcome was the frequency of complete response at week 24. Thereafter, patients who met either complete or partial response criteria continued blinded treatment through week 52. During this phase of the study, subjects in the abatacept treatment group in whom a complete response was achieved at week 24 discontinued immunosuppressive therapy other than prednisone (10 mg/day). RESULTS: There were no statistically significant differences between groups with respect to the primary outcome or any of the secondary outcomes, including measures of safety. A complete response was achieved in 33% of the subjects in the treatment group and in 31% of the subjects in the control group at week 24. Fifty percent of the subjects in the treatment group who met complete response criteria and therefore discontinued immunosuppressive therapy at week 24 maintained their complete response status through week 52. CONCLUSION: The addition of abatacept to a regimen of CYC followed by AZA did not improve the outcome of lupus nephritis at either 24 or 52 weeks. No worrisome safety signals were encountered

Knowledge Sharing and its Role in Achieving Competitive Advantage for the Healthy Organizations Exploratory Research in the Women and Obstetrics Hospital / Holy Karbolaa

تناول البحث موضوع التشارك المعرفي ودوره في تحقيق الميزة التنافسية للمنظمات الصحية, وسعى البحث إلى تحقيق عدة أهداف كان من أبرزها (معرفة مدى أهمية التشارك المعرفي والميزة التنافسية للمنظمة كونها من المتغيرات الحيوية المهمة لحياة المنظمات كافة, ومنها المنظمات الصحية, وتشخيص طبيعة علاقات الارتباط والتأثير بين التشارك المعرفي والميزة التنافسية في المستشفى المبحوثة) .      ونظراً لأهمية القطاع الصحي ودوره في تلبية المتطلبات الصحية وضمان السلامة فقد تم إجراء البحث في (مستشفى النسائية والتوليد / كربلاء المقدسة), حيث طبق البحث على عينة تبلغ (85) شخصاً من العاملين في مناصب وظيفية متعددة ضمن الملاك الإداري للمستشفى المبحوثة.      وقد استند البحث في إطاره العملي على الاستبانة لاكتساب البيانات والمعلومات, ولمعالجة تلك البيانات والمعلومات إستعمل الباحثون مجموعة من الأساليب الإحصائية وهي (اختبار Cronbach Alpha, والمتوسط الحسابي الموزون, والانحراف المعياري, ومعامل الإختلاف, وشدة الإجابة, ومعامل الارتباط, والانحدار الخطي البسيط, ومعامل التفسير R2, واختبار F, وإختبارT ) .      وقد خلص البحث إلى عدد من الإستنتاجات من أهمها (اهتمام المستشفى المبحوثة بكل المتغيرات والأبعاد موضوع البحث, وجود علاقات ارتباط وتأثير بين متغيرات البحث كافة بأبعادها الفرعية), كما توصل البحث إلى عدة توصيات, أهمها (ضرورة توجه قيادة المستشفى المبحوثة نحو تقليص العوائق والقيود والحواجز التي تحول دون نقل المعرفة وتبادلها بين كافة أقسام وأفراد المستشفى وتوفير المتطلبات المهنية الضرورية لذلك على المستوى البشري والتكنولوجي) .The research topic tackled knowledge sharing and its role in achieving competitive advantage for the healthy organizations, The research sought to achieve several objectives, the most important of which was (Knowledge of the importance of knowledge sharing and the competitive advantage of the organization as one of the vital variables important to the life of all organizations, including health organizations, And diagnose the nature of relationships of the correlation and effect between the knowledge sharing and competitive advantage In the surveyed hospital .      Due to the importance of the health sector and its role in meeting the health and safety requirements, The research was carried out in (The Women and Obstetrics Hospital / Holy Karbolaa), where the research was conducted on a sample of (85) people working in various positions within the administrative staff of the surveyed hospital .      The research was based in its practical framework on the questionnaire to acquire data and information. In order to process these data and information, the researchers used a set of statistical methods (Alpha Cronbach test, weighted mean, standard deviation, variance coefficient, response strength, correlation coefficient, simple linear regression, Interpretation coefficient R2 , F test, and T test) .          The study concluded with a number of conclusions, the most important of which are (the interest of the hospital in all variables and the dimensions of the research subject, The existence of correlation and effect relationships between all search variables with their sub-dimensions), The research also led to several recommendations, the most important of which is the (necessity of directing the hospital leadership to reduce the Obstacles, constraints and barriers that prevent the transmission, exchange and participation of knowledge among all departments and people of the hospital, and provide the necessary professional requirements at the human and technological leve