Can Social Disconnectedness Inhibit Online Trade? Examining the Effects of Digital Distance on Peer-to-peer Lending

The extant literature has shown that offline group proximity manifests in online peer-to-peer lending platforms, inhibiting online transactions in those markets. The findings of this research suggest that digital distance, as measured by the rate of Facebook friendship between country pairs, can also influence lending actions in bi-country lending. Building on a dataset from Kiva.org, we show that digital distance significantly and negatively affects bi-country lending actions, on top of other distance-related barriers discussed in the literature. The results also shed light on the role of government policies regarding local IT infrastructure and Internet freedom, revealing that greater levels of IT infrastructure and Internet freedom can compensate for the negative effect of digital distance on prosocial lending

Strengthening Digital Literacy in Determining the Attitude of Milenials in Online Shopping in SMA Yaspenmas

The use of digital media, which is currently a necessity for almost all human activities, creates many positive things that are useful for humans but also creates various negative consequences such as fraud, disturbed privacy and incorrect information (hoaxes) which are considered a serious problem in the digital era. . This indicates the low digital literacy of the community. The problems that arise are the large number of Internet users and the high frequency of people accessing information content and social media, especially among students and the millennial generation not accompanied by sufficient skills and knowledge which can result in losses for users, the rise of emerging online shopping applications is currently a phenomenon that changes the pattern of transactions from those that used to be offline now can be done by shopping, but this change in pattern has consequences for the seller and buyers in the form of losses and fraud that might occur if users of this application do not properly understand the ins and outs of it. This community service uses training and counseling methods as well as practices on how to use digital media as a way to shop online for students (students) so they can understand and be wise in utilizing digital media through increasing understanding of digital literacy with digital skills, digital culture, digital ethics, and digital safet

Utilization of Digital Marketing in Raising Brand and Trust for Spicy Porridge Products in Harapan Village SMEs New Sei Lepan District, Langkat Regency

The current problem in the production of this porridge is that sales are made only to the surrounding community. This happens because many people outside the region are not aware of the existence of the spicy porridge because no branding has been carried out and trust in the spicy porridge product is not yet strong. To overcome this, the solution offered to SME partners is by utilizing social media in building a brand image and finding the most suitable packaging through social media. These activities are carried out such as assistance in making social media and website creation, improving production management, Organizing Focus Group Discussion (FGD) activities in the form of socializing the use of social media, utilizing Viral Marketing social media by uploading as often as possible related to spicy porridge products and finally Hastag services. and Google Trends can be part of a strategy to increase sales. The results of the activity can be concluded that (1) this PKM activity is successful, it can increase the understanding of SME partners in utilizing information technology such as social media in building a brand image, (2) In solving problems related to porridge packaging, SME partners have been able to find attractive packaging with utilizing social media and (3) PKM activities are found to be fun and in accordance with their objectives, and participants will feel happier if this activity is continued with collaboration between the service team and SME partners

An analysis of effects of heterozygosity in dairy cattle for bovine tuberculosis resistance

Publication history: Accepted - 23 November 2017; Published online - 24 January 2018Genetic selection of cattle more resistant to bovine tuberculosis (bTB) may offer a complementary control strategy. Hypothesising underlying non-additive genetic variation, we present an approach using genome-wide high density markers to identify genomic loci with dominance effects on bTB resistance and to test previously published regions with heterozygote advantage in bTB. Our data comprised 1151 Holstein–Friesian cows from Northern Ireland, confirmed bTB cases and controls, genotyped with the 700K Illumina BeadChip. Genome-wide markers were tested for associations between heterozygosity and bTB status using marker-based relationships. Results were tested for robustness against genetic structure, and the genotypic frequencies of a significant locus were tested for departures from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Genomic regions identified in our study and in previous publications were tested for dominance effects. Genotypic effects were estimated through ASReml mixed models. A SNP (rs43032684) on chromosome 6 was significant at the chromosome-wide level, explaining 1.7% of the phenotypic variance. In the controls, there were fewer heterozygotes for rs43032684 (P < 0.01) with the genotypic values suggesting that heterozygosity confers a heterozygote disadvantage. The region surrounding rs43032684 had a significant dominance effect (P < 0.01). SNP rs43032684 resides within a pseudogene with a parental gene involved in macrophage response to infection and within a copy-number-variation region previously associated with nematode resistance. No dominance effect was found for the region on chromosome 11, as indicated by a previous candidate region bTB study. These findings require further validation with large-scale data.We are grateful for the financial support from the University of Edinburgh and the Roslin Institute, through the Principal's Career Development Scholarship (ST), and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council institute strategic project ISP3: BB/P013759/1 (JAW). We would also like to thank BBSRC for their support through CEDFAS initiative grants BB/E018386/1 (RS); EJG; SCB; JAW also received support through CEDFAS grants: BB/E018335/1 and 2; Animal Health Research Club grant BB/L004054/1; Institute Strategic Programme Grants (ISP3 Innate Immunity & Endemic Disease, BB/J004227/1; ISP1 Analysis and Prediction in Complex Animal Systems, BB/J004235/1; and ISP2 Control of Infectious Diseases, BB/P013740/1)

The cotton wall-associated kinase GhWAK7A mediates responses to fungal wilt pathogens by complexing with the chitin sensory receptors

Plant receptor-like kinases (RLKs) are important players in response to pathogen infections. Verticillium and Fusarium wilts, caused by Verticillium dahliae (Vd) and Fusarium oxysporum f. sp vasinfectum (Fov), respectively, are among the most devastating diseases in cotton (Gossypium spp). To understand the cotton response to these soil-borne fungal pathogens, we performed a genome-wide in silico characterization and functional screen of diverse RLKs for their involvement in cotton wilt diseases. We identified Gossypium hirsutum GhWAK7A, a wall-associated kinase, that positively regulates cotton response to both Vd and Fov infections. Chitin, the major constituent of the fungal cell wall, is perceived by lysin-motif-containing RLKs (LYKs/CERK1), leading to the activation of plant defense against fungal pathogens. A conserved chitin sensing and signaling system is present in cotton, including chitin-induced GhLYK5-GhCERK1 dimerization and phosphorylation, and contributes to cotton defense against Vd and Fov. Importantly, GhWAK7A directly interacts with both GhLYK5 and GhCERK1 and promotes chitin-induced GhLYK5-GhCERK1 dimerization. GhWAK7A phosphorylates GhLYK5, which itself does not have kinase activity, but requires phosphorylation for its function. Consequently, GhWAK7A plays a crucial role in chitin-induced responses. Thus, our data reveal GhWAK7A as an important component in cotton response to fungal wilt pathogens by complexing with the chitin receptors

Utilisation of an operative difficulty grading scale for laparoscopic cholecystectomy

Background A reliable system for grading operative difficulty of laparoscopic cholecystectomy would standardise description of findings and reporting of outcomes. The aim of this study was to validate a difficulty grading system (Nassar scale), testing its applicability and consistency in two large prospective datasets. Methods Patient and disease-related variables and 30-day outcomes were identified in two prospective cholecystectomy databases: the multi-centre prospective cohort of 8820 patients from the recent CholeS Study and the single-surgeon series containing 4089 patients. Operative data and patient outcomes were correlated with Nassar operative difficultly scale, using Kendall’s tau for dichotomous variables, or Jonckheere–Terpstra tests for continuous variables. A ROC curve analysis was performed, to quantify the predictive accuracy of the scale for each outcome, with continuous outcomes dichotomised, prior to analysis. Results A higher operative difficulty grade was consistently associated with worse outcomes for the patients in both the reference and CholeS cohorts. The median length of stay increased from 0 to 4 days, and the 30-day complication rate from 7.6 to 24.4% as the difficulty grade increased from 1 to 4/5 (both p < 0.001). In the CholeS cohort, a higher difficulty grade was found to be most strongly associated with conversion to open and 30-day mortality (AUROC = 0.903, 0.822, respectively). On multivariable analysis, the Nassar operative difficultly scale was found to be a significant independent predictor of operative duration, conversion to open surgery, 30-day complications and 30-day reintervention (all p < 0.001). Conclusion We have shown that an operative difficulty scale can standardise the description of operative findings by multiple grades of surgeons to facilitate audit, training assessment and research. It provides a tool for reporting operative findings, disease severity and technical difficulty and can be utilised in future research to reliably compare outcomes according to case mix and intra-operative difficulty

Dietary behavior and knowledge of dental erosion among Chinese adults

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Objectives</p> <p>To study the dietary behavior and knowledge about dental erosion and self-reported symptoms that can be related to dental erosion among Chinese adults in Hong Kong.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Chinese adults aged 25-45 years were randomly selected from a list of registered telephone numbers generated by computer. A telephone survey was administered to obtain information on demographic characteristics, dietary habits, dental visits, and knowledge of and presence of self-reported symptoms that can be related to dental erosion.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A total of 520 participants were interviewed (response rate, 75%; sampling error, ± 4.4%) and their mean age was 37. Most respondents (79%) had ever had caries, and about two thirds (64%) attended dental check-ups at least once a year. Respondents had a mean of 5.4 meals per day and 36% had at least 6 meals per day. Fruit (89%) and lemon tea/water (41%) were the most commonly consumed acidic food and beverage. When asked if they ever noticed changes in their teeth, most respondents (92%) said they had experienced change that can be related to erosion. However, many (71%) had never heard about dental erosion and 53% mixed up dental erosion with dental caries.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Hong Kong Chinese adults have frequent intake of food and many have experienced symptoms that can be related to dental erosion. Their level of awareness of and knowledge about dental erosion is generally low, despite most of them have regular dental check-ups. Dental health education is essential to help the public understand dental erosion and its damaging effects.</p

Constraints on the χ_(c1) versus χ_(c2) polarizations in proton-proton collisions at √s = 8 TeV

The polarizations of promptly produced χ_(c1) and χ_(c2) mesons are studied using data collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC, in proton-proton collisions at √s=8  TeV. The χ_c states are reconstructed via their radiative decays χ_c → J/ψγ, with the photons being measured through conversions to e⁺e⁻, which allows the two states to be well resolved. The polarizations are measured in the helicity frame, through the analysis of the χ_(c2) to χ_(c1) yield ratio as a function of the polar or azimuthal angle of the positive muon emitted in the J/ψ → μ⁺μ⁻ decay, in three bins of J/ψ transverse momentum. While no differences are seen between the two states in terms of azimuthal decay angle distributions, they are observed to have significantly different polar anisotropies. The measurement favors a scenario where at least one of the two states is strongly polarized along the helicity quantization axis, in agreement with nonrelativistic quantum chromodynamics predictions. This is the first measurement of significantly polarized quarkonia produced at high transverse momentum