PENGARUH CITRA MEREK, KUALITAS PRODUK, DAN WORD OF MOUTH TERHADAP KEPUTUSAN PEMBELIAN SAMSUNG PADA MASYARKAT BATAM

Smartphones today are a mandatory requirement for everyone. Because it becomes a necessity, there is a lot of demand and supply in the community, because there are many enthusiasts there are also many manufacturers of competition in the world of communication tools. This research is a descriptive quantitative study to determine whether the brand image, product quality, word of mouth, on the purchasing decision of Samsung in Batam city. The population in this study are consumers who buy Samsung. The sample used is purposive sampling with lemeshow formula which has 100 respondents and is processed with SPSS (Statistical Package for The Social Science). The partial test results show that the brand image variable is not significant to the purchase decision, while the product quality and word of mouth variables are significant to the purchase decision. And the results of simultaneous testing of Brand Image, Product Quality, Word Of Mout have a positive and significant impact on purchasing decisions

Unethical Ministerial Practices Among Some Ghanaian Pastors

In recent times, ministerial misconduct of Ghanaian pastors has become rampant in print, electronic and social media. How do we explain these acts of indecency perpetrated under the guise of freedom of religion by some ministers that identify with Christianity? What accounts for these behaviours? And what could be done to prevent such strange practices from escalating to disaster proportions? To answer these questions, data were collected from published literature and media reports. The study argues that the consistent unethical practices, activities, and utterances of some Ghanaian pastors negatively affect Christian ministry in Ghana. Focusing on some of the unethical ministerial practices and initiatives undertaken by these pastors, this article investigates the reasons responsible for their occurrences and proffers remedial suggestions. The study draws attention to uncaring shepherds, the seared conscience of some pastors, easily manipulated congregations, sleeping shepherds and the high demand for deliverance services by congregants as possible reasons that bring about these unethical ministerial practices. Finally, the article contends that to achieve a desired transformative Christian ministry in Ghana, the Church must pay attention to the religious practices of some pastors and if possible, find a way to regulate them

Cytokine Profiles of Stimulated Blood Lymphocytes in Asthmatic and Healthy Adolescents Cross the School Year

T cell cytokines play an important role in mediating airway inflammation in asthma. The predominance of a Th2 cytokine profile, particularly interleukin (IL)-4 and IL-5, is associated with the pathogenesis and course of asthma. The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that a stressful life event alters the pattern of cytokine release in asthmatic individuals. Thirteen healthy controls and 21 asthmatic adolescents gave blood samples three times over a semester: midsemester, during the week of final examinations, and 2-3 weeks after examinations. Interferon-γ (IFN-γ), IL-2, IL-4, and IL-5 were measured from supernatants of cells stimulated with PHA/PMA for 24 h. Cells from asthmatic subjects released significantly more IL-5 during the examination and postexamination periods, whereas cells from healthy controls released significantly more IL-2 during the midsemester and examination periods, thereby indicating a bias for a Th2-like pattern in asthmatics and a Th 1-like pattern in healthy controls. IL-4 and IL-5 production showed a marked decrease during and after examinations in healthy controls, whereas this decline was absent in asthmatics. The ratios of IFN-γ:IL-4 and IFN-γ:IL-5 also revealed significant changes in the profile of cytokine release across the semester. These results indicate differential cytokine responses in asthmatics that may become pronounced during periods of cellular activation

The Role of Differential Diffusion during Early Flame Kernel Development under Engine Conditions -- Part I: Analysis of the Heat-Release-Rate Response

Although experimental evidence for the correlation between early flame kernel development and cycle-to-cycle variations (CCV) in spark ignition (SI) engines was provided long ago, there is still a lack of fundamental understanding of early flame/turbulence interactions, and accurate models for full engine simulations do not exist. Since the flame kernel is initiated with small size, i.e. with large positive curvature, differential diffusion is expected to severely alter early flame growth in non-unity-Lewis-number (${\mathrm{Le}\neq1}$) mixtures as typically used in engines. In this work, a DNS database of developing iso-octane/air flame kernels and planar flames has been established with flame conditions representative for stoichiometric engine part-load operation. Differential diffusion effects on the global heat release rate are analyzed by relating the present findings to equivalent flames computed in the ${\mathrm{Le}=1}$ limit. It is shown that in the early kernel development phase, the normal propagation velocity is significantly reduced with detrimental consequences on the global burning rate of the flame kernel. Besides this impact on the overall mass burning rate, the initial production of flame surface area by the normal propagation term in the flame area balance equation is noticeably reduced. By using the optimal estimator concept, it is shown that strong fluctuations in local heat release rate inherent to ${\mathrm{Le}\neq1}$ flames in the thin reaction zones regime are mainly contained in the parameters local equivalence ratio, enthalpy, and H-radical mass fraction. Differential diffusion couples the evolution of these parameters to the unsteady flame geometry and structure, which is analyzed in Part II of the present study (Falkenstein et al., Combust. Flame, 2019)

Association between protein-bound uremic toxins and asymptomatic cardiac dysfunction in patients with chronic kidney disease

Although the relationship between protein-bound uremic toxins (PBUTs) and cardiac structure and cardiac mortality in chronic kidney disease (CKD) has been studied in the past, the association between cardiac dysfunction and PBUTs has not yet been studied. We therefore evaluated the association between impaired peak cardiac performance and the serum free and total concentrations of potentially cardiotoxic PBUTs. In a cross-sectional study of 56 male CKD patients (stages 2⁻5 (pre-dialysis)) who were asymptomatic with no known cardiac diseases or diabetes we measured peak cardiac power (CPOmax), aerobic exercise capacity (VO2max), and echocardiographic parameters of cardiac morphology and evaluated their association with PBUTs. The serum total and free concentrations of indoxyl sulfate (IXS), p-cresyl sulfate (PCS), p-cresyl glucuronide, indole acetic acid, and hippuric acid showed significant negative correlation with CPOmax and VO2max. IXS and PCS were independently associated with CPOmax and VO2max even after controlling for eGFR. No correlation between left ventricular mass index (LVMI) and PBUTs was seen. The present study for the first time has demonstrated the association between subclinical cardiac dysfunction in CKD and serum levels of a panel of PBUTs. Further studies are required to evaluate the mechanism of cardiotoxicity of the individual uremic toxins

DMP: Detouring Using Multiple Paths against Jamming Attack for Ubiquitous Networking System

To successfully realize the ubiquitous network environment including home automation or industrial control systems, it is important to be able to resist a jamming attack. This has recently been considered as an extremely threatening attack because it can collapse the entire network, despite the existence of basic security protocols such as encryption and authentication. In this paper, we present a method of jamming attack tolerant routing using multiple paths based on zones. The proposed scheme divides the network into zones, and manages the candidate forward nodes of neighbor zones. After detecting an attack, detour nodes decide zones for rerouting, and detour packets destined for victim nodes through forward nodes in the decided zones. Simulation results show that our scheme increases the PDR (Packet Delivery Ratio) and decreases the delay significantly in comparison with rerouting by a general routing protocol on sensor networks, AODV (Ad hoc On Demand Distance Vector), and a conventional JAM (Jammed Area Mapping) service with one reroute

Regulation of tissue-dependent differences in CD8+ T cell apoptosis during viral infection

Virus-specific CD8+ T cells in the lymphoid organs contract at the resolution of virus infections by apoptosis or by dissemination into peripheral tissues, and those residing in nonlymphoid organs, including the peritoneal cavity and fat pads, are more resistant to apoptosis than those in the spleen and lymph nodes. This stability of memory T cells in the nonlymphoid tissues may enhance protection to secondary challenges. Here, we show that lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV)-specific CD8+ T cells in nonlymphoid tissues were enriched for memory precursors (expressing high levels of interleukin-7 receptor and low levels of killer cell lectin-like receptor G1 [IL-7Rhi KLRG1lo]) and had higher expression of CD27, CXCR3, and T cell factor-1 (TCF-1), each a marker that is individually correlated with decreased apoptosis. CD8+ T cells in the peritoneal cavity of TCF-1-deficient mice had decreased survival, suggesting a role for TCF-1 in promoting survival in the nonlymphoid tissues. CXCR3+ CD8+ T cells resisted apoptosis and accumulated in the lymph nodes of mice treated with FTY720, which blocks the export of lymph node cells into peripheral tissue. The peritoneal exudate cells (PEC) expressed increased amounts of CXCR3 ligands, CXCL9 and CXCL10, which may normally recruit these nonapoptotic cells from the lymph nodes. In addition, adoptive transfer of splenic CD8+ T cells into PEC or spleen environments showed that the peritoneal environment promoted survival of CD8+ T cells. Thus, intrinsic stability of T cells which are present in the nonlymphoid tissues along with preferential migration of apoptosis-resistant CD8+ T cells into peripheral sites and the availability of tissue-specific factors that enhance memory cell survival may collectively account for the tissue-dependent apoptotic differences. IMPORTANCE: Most infections are initiated at nonlymphoid tissue sites, and the presence of memory T cells in nonlymphoid tissues is critical for protective immunity in various viral infection models. Virus-specific CD8+ T cells in the nonlymphoid tissues are more resistant to apoptosis than those in lymphoid organs during the resolution and memory phase of the immune response to acute LCMV infection. Here, we investigated the mechanisms promoting stability of T cells in the nonlymphoid tissues. This increased resistance to apoptosis of virus-specific CD8+ T cells in nonlymphoid tissues was due to several factors. Nonlymphoid tissues were enriched in memory phenotype CD8+ T cells, which were intrinsically resistant to apoptosis irrespective of the tissue environment. Furthermore, apoptosis-resistant CD8+ T cells preferentially migrated into the nonlymphoid tissues, where the availability of tissue-specific factors may enhance memory cell survival. Our findings are relevant for the generation of long-lasting vaccines providing protection at peripheral infection sites