Paving the Way for Digital Transformation: Investigate Customer Experiences of Using Mobile Apps

Background: Mobile apps have become a critical channel for retailers to interact with their customers and digitalize shopping behaviors in the customer journeys. In the transition of digital transformation, convenience stores have launched mobile apps to interact with and particularly collecting data from their customers. It is critical to investigate customer experiences in using mobile apps because it paves the way for successful digital transformation. This paper aims to investigate the customer experiences of convenience stores’ mobile apps from the online reviews. Method: This study proposed a mobile apps quality model as the theoretical framework to empirically test the online reviews of mobile apps. Large volumes of online reviews generated by customers provide important strategic values for business and service design for mobile apps. This paper collected 40,521 online reviews of two leading convenience stores in Taiwan and analyzed with text analysis and qualitative analysis. Results: Applying text analysis and qualitative analysis, this paper identified the critical quality attributes of mobile apps in the convenience stores that need to be improved. In addition, software quality is the major concern that 7-11 Open Point needs to improve, followed by service quality and information quality respectively. Software quality is also the major concern that FamilyMart app needs to improve the customer experiences, followed by service quality and information quality. Moreover, customer dissatisfaction primarily resulted from problems in software quality and information quality. Instead, convenience, ease of use, and practicability of mobile apps lead to customer satisfaction. Conclusion: The results demonstrate that software quality, information quality, and service quality are critical dimensions in affecting customer experiences in using mobile apps. Although different mobile apps may have different priorities of quality attributes that are needed to be improved, these improvements of mobile apps help to enhance customer experiences and accelerate digital transformation of the convenience stores

More than just engaging? TikTok as an effective learning tool.

With the growing popularity of social media, educators have been adopting social media platforms, such as TikTok, for learning purposes. Whilst the effectiveness of TikTok to increase learner engagement has been demonstrated, there was little evidence indicating the effectiveness of TikTok on actual learner performance through formal graded assessments. This study is one of the first attempts to investigate the effects of TikTok as a learning tool on learner performance. The findings from a controlled experiment indicate that TikTok had a beneficial impact on the learner\u27s performance as well as self-perceived engagement in an introductory statistics course

Cooperative non-orthogonal multiple access with physical layer network coding

Physical layer network coding (PNC) has been proposed for information exchange between a pair of users assisted by a relay. However, the spectral efficiency of PNC reduces when the number of user pairs increases due to the requirement of orthogonal channels for multi-pair operation. This paper proposes the use of cooperative non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) and PNC to improve the spectral efficiency and outage performance of multi-pair information exchange. Specifically, a cognitive radio inspired NOMA is considered. The quality of service of the primary user pair is guaranteed through dynamic power allocation policy, while the secondary user pair is served on best effort basis. The simulation result shows that the proposed cognitive radio inspired NOMA scheme with PNC achieves higher spectral efficiency and better outage performance if compared with the existing orthogonal multiple access schemes with PNC

Design of PDC Controllers by Matrix Reversibility for Synchronization of Yin

This paper investigates the synchronization of Yin and Yang chaotic T-S fuzzy Henon maps via PDC controllers. Based on the Chinese philosophy, Yin is the decreasing, negative, historical, or feminine principle in nature, while Yang is the increasing, positive, contemporary, or masculine principle in nature. Yin and Yang are two fundamental opposites in Chinese philosophy. The Henon map is an invertible map; so the Henon maps with increasing and decreasing argument can be called the Yang and Yin Henon maps, respectively. Chaos synchronization of Yin and Yang T-S fuzzy Henon maps is achieved by PDC controllers. The design of PDC controllers is based on the linear invertible matrix theory. The T-S fuzzy model of Yin and Yang Henon maps and the design of PDC controllers are novel, and the simulation results show that the approach is effective

Protein kinase A-dependent Neuronal Nitric Oxide Synthase Activation Mediates the Enhancement of Baroreflex Response by Adrenomedullin in the Nucleus Tractus Solitarii of Rats

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Adrenomedullin (ADM) exerts its biological functions through the receptor-mediated enzymatic mechanisms that involve protein kinase A (PKA), or neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS). We previously demonstrated that the receptor-mediated cAMP/PKA pathway involves in ADM-enhanced baroreceptor reflex (BRR) response. It remains unclear whether ADM may enhance BRR response via activation of nNOS-dependent mechanism in the nucleus tractus solitarii (NTS).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Intravenous injection of phenylephrine was administered to evoke the BRR before and at 10, 30, and 60 min after microinjection of the test agents into NTS of Sprague-Dawley rats. Western blotting analysis was used to measure the level and phosphorylation of proteins that involved in BRR-enhancing effects of ADM (0.2 pmol) in NTS. The colocalization of PKA and nNOS was examined by immunohistochemical staining and observed with a laser confocal microscope.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We found that ADM-induced enhancement of BRR response was blunted by microinjection of NPLA or Rp-8-Br-cGMP, a selective inhibitor of nNOS or protein kinase G (PKG) respectively, into NTS. Western blot analysis further revealed that ADM induced an increase in the protein level of PKG-I which could be attenuated by co-microinjection with the ADM receptor antagonist ADM_22-52or NPLA. Moreover, we observed an increase in phosphorylation at Ser1416 of nNOS at 10, 30, and 60 min after intra-NTS administration of ADM. As such, nNOS/PKG signaling may also account for the enhancing effect of ADM on BRR response. Interestingly, biochemical evidence further showed that ADM-induced increase of nNOS phosphorylation was prevented by co-microinjection with Rp-8-Br-cAMP, a PKA inhibitor. The possibility of PKA-dependent nNOS activation was substantiated by immunohistochemical demonstration of co-localization of PKA and nNOS in putative NTS neurons.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The novel finding of this study is that the signal transduction cascade that underlies the enhancement of BRR response by ADM in NTS is composed sequentially of cAMP/PKA and nNOS/PKG pathways.</p

Sibling recurrence risk ratio analysis of the metabolic syndrome and its components over time

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to estimate both cross-sectional sibling recurrence risk ratio (λ(s)) and lifetime λ(s )for the metabolic syndrome and its individual components over time among sibships in the prospectively followed-up cohorts provided by the Genetic Analysis Workshop 13. Five measures included in the operational criteria of the metabolic syndrome by the Adult Treatment Panel III were examined. A method for estimating sibling recurrence risk with correction for complete ascertainment was used to estimate the numerator, and the prevalence in the whole cohort was used as the denominator of λ(s). RESULTS: Considerable variability in the λ(s )was found in terms of different time-points for the cross-sectional definition, the times of fulfilling the criterion for lifetime definition, and different components. Obesity and hyperglycemia had the highest cross-sectional λ(s )of the five components. Both components also had the largest slopes in the linear trend of the lifetime λ(s). However, the magnitudes of the lifetime λ(s )were similar to that of the mean cross-sectional λ(s), which were <2. The results of nonparametric linkage analysis showed only suggestive evidence of linkage between one marker and lifetime diagnosis of low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and metabolic syndrome, respectively. CONCLUSION: The λ(s )of the metabolic syndrome and its components varies substantially across time, and the λ(s )of lifetime diagnosis was not necessarily larger than that of a cross-sectional diagnosis. The magnitude of λ(s )does not predict well the maximum LOD score of linkage analysis

Application of Rat In Situ Single-pass Intestinal Perfusion in the Evaluation of Presystemic Extraction of Indinavir Under Different Perfusion Rates

Background/PurposeFirst-pass effect has been an important concern for oral pharmaceuticals. An in vivo system was developed for measuring different concentrations of pharmaceuticals in the portal vein and hepatic vein (via the inferior vena cava) for delineating presystemic metabolism under different perfusion rates by using indinavir as an exemplary agent.MethodsAn in situ single-pass intestinal perfusion technique was modified from previous studies to concomitantly obtain portal and hepatic venous bloods. Portal and hepatic venous samples were simultaneously taken from rats at appropriate time points using the perfusion model of 1 mg/mL indinavir at flow rates of 0.05, 0.1, 0.5 and 1.0 mL/min. The indinavir concentrations were assayed by binary-gradient high-pressure liquid chromatography with UV detection.ResultsThe mean indinavir concentrations in portal vein concentration−time profiles at different perfusion times under various flow rates were all higher than those obtained for hepatic veins. At flow rates of 0.5 and 1.0 mL/min, in particular, the area under the curve (AUC) and maximal concentration (C max) of indinavir absorption were significantly different between portal veins and hepatic veins (p < 0.05), indicating considerable hepatic involvement in the presystemic extraction of indinavir. The system also has potential for use when estimating the hepatic extraction ratio (E H) and hepatic clearance (Cl H).ConclusionThis in vivo approach could provide another useful tool for improving our basic understanding of the absorption kinetics and hepatic metabolism of pharmaceuticals under development and facilitating the clinical application of such

Introduction of a strong temperature-sensitive phenotype into enterovirus 71 by altering an amino acid of virus 3D polymerase

AbstractIn 1998, an enterovirus 71 (EV71) epidemic in Taiwan resulted in 78 deaths; however, the molecular basis of EV71 pathogenicity remains poorly understood. Comparison of the deduced amino acid sequences in 3D polymerases of EV71clinical isolates showed the T251V or T251I substitution from 1986 and 1998 outbreaks. An EV71 replicon system showed that introducing an I251T mutation did not affect luciferase activities at 35 °C when compared with wild type; however, lower luciferase activities were observed when they were incubated at 39.5 °C. In addition, the I251T mutation in the EV71 infectious clone not only reduced viral replication at 39.5 °C in vitro but also decreased the virulence of the mouse adaptive strain MP4 in neonatal mice in an i.p. infection model. Therefore, these results suggested that the threonine at position 251 results in a temperature sensitivity phenotype of EV71 which may contribute to the attenuation of circulating strains