Consumer reactance against loyalty programs

Purpose - Although relationship marketing has developed into the prevailing marketing paradigm, it frequently encounters resistance from the demand side. Both management practitioners and academics indicate that at least some consumers show reactance against loyalty programs, i.e. against tactical instruments of relationship marketing. Nevertheless, relationship marketing has widely neglected reactance theory. This paper attempts to close this gap. Design/methodology/approach - Based on the fundamental principles of loyalty programs and reactance theory the paper presents a set of hypotheses on the determinants and effects of situational consumer reactance against loyalty programs. It tests these hypotheses on the basis of 388 face-to-face interviews with bookstore customers. These interviews include a between-subject manipulation on the reactance effect of economic, social-psychological, and contractual bonding potentials. To test the proposed hypotheses, the paper applies structural equation modeling with PLS. Findings - As expected, contractual bonds provoked reactance effects, while social-psychological bonds neither increased reactance, nor the perceived utility of the program. Economic bonds raised perceived utility up to a certain threshold level, from which the reactance effect dominated thereafter. Practical implications - As a consequence, a cautious and limited application of customer loyalty programs is advisable. The developed consumer reactance scale can help managers to evaluate the effects of planned or implemented customer retention measures. Originality/value - This is the first attempt to investigate situational reactance in a loyalty program setting. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Study of Healthcare Personnel with Influenza and other Respiratory Viruses in Israel (SHIRI): study protocol

Abstract Background The Study of Healthcare Personnel with Influenza and other Respiratory Viruses in Israel (SHIRI) prospectively follows a cohort of healthcare personnel (HCP) in two hospitals in Israel. SHIRI will describe the frequency of influenza virus infections among HCP, identify predictors of vaccine acceptance, examine how repeated influenza vaccination may modify immunogenicity, and evaluate influenza vaccine effectiveness in preventing influenza illness and missed work. Methods Cohort enrollment began in October, 2016; a second year of the study and a second wave of cohort enrollment began in June 2017. The study will run for at least 3 years and will follow approximately 2000 HCP (who are both employees and members of Clalit Health Services [CHS]) with routine direct patient contact. Eligible HCP are recruited using a stratified sampling strategy. After informed consent, participants complete a brief enrollment survey with questions about occupational responsibilities and knowledge, attitudes, and practices about influenza vaccines. Blood samples are collected at enrollment and at the end of influenza season; HCP who choose to be vaccinated contribute additional blood one month after vaccination. During the influenza season, participants receive twice-weekly short message service (SMS) messages asking them if they have acute respiratory illness or febrile illness (ARFI) symptoms. Ill participants receive follow-up SMS messages to confirm illness symptoms and duration and are asked to self-collect a nasal swab. Information on socio-economic characteristics, current and past medical conditions, medical care utilization and vaccination history is extracted from the CHS database. Information about missed work due to illness is obtained by self-report and from employee records. Respiratory specimens from self-collected nasal swabs are tested for influenza A and B viruses, respiratory syncytial virus, human metapneumovirus, and coronaviruses using validated multiplex quantitative real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction assays. The hemagglutination inhibition assay will be used to detect the presence of neutralizing influenza antibodies in serum. Discussion SHIRI will expand our knowledge of the burden of respiratory viral infections among HCP and the effectiveness of current and repeated annual influenza vaccination in preventing influenza illness, medical utilization, and missed workdays among HCP who are in direct contact with patients. Trial registration NCT03331991 . Registered on November 6, 2017.https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/146186/1/12879_2018_Article_3444.pd

How Good is Good Enough? Image Quality Issues When Using Modern Graphics Technology in Embedded Displays

ABSTRACT: Embedded displays are used for presenting mission or safety critical information to vehicle and weapons systems operators. They must be displayable on different display media types at varying resolutions, and must be readable in different conditions, from night-dimmed through direct sunlight and cloud deck whiteout. Legacy display symbology, especially in military systems, can be cluttered and difficult to use, and exhibits poor image quality artifacts such as aliased lines. The advent of modern embedded graphics systems (EGS) using OpenGL has enabled much more quality and quantity of information to be presented than ever before. This information ranges from enhanced 2D and 3D situational awareness data to improved graphical schematic displays. The introduction of OpenGL technologies, such as texture mapping and fonts, primitive and full scene antialiasing, gouraud shading, transparency, stencil masking, and video texturing has created new challenges for display symbology designers, especially in the areas of maintaining readability and display usefulness while exploiting new graphics technologies. In this paper we examine issues related to image quality in modern OpenGL based EGS, focusing on font, point and, line quality, display contrast, antialiasing, texture quality, and blending. We will examine the tradeoffs of using different advanced OpenGL techniques in terms of enhanced awareness and presentation, less distraction from undesirable artifacts, and reduced contrast and readability from an expanded color set. 1

ome/bioformats: v6.12.0-m1

Bio-Formats is a Java library for reading and writing data in life sciences image file formats. It is developed by the Open Microscopy Environment. Bio-Formats is released under the GNU General Public License (GPL); commercial licenses are available from Glencoe Software