THE EFFECT OF FREQUENT FLYER PROGRAMS ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

Elektroniskā versija nesatur pielikumusBiežo lidojumu programmas (BLP) ir izveidotas kā populāri stimulēšanas plāni. Ņemot vērā pieaugošo izmaksu ietekmi uz aviācijas nozari, aizvien biežāk tiek apšaubīta BLP efektivitāte, lai iegūtu un noturētu aviokompāniju klientus. Šajā pētījumā novērtēti efektīvas BLP izstrādes noteicošie faktori, izmantojot jauktā modeļa pieeju, kas ietver tirgus analīzi, sistemātisku pārskatu, ekspertu intervijas un Vācijas Miles & More dalībnieku klientu aptauju (n = 502). BLP ietekmē visus klientu uzvedības ķēdes līmeņus. BLP elementi intensīvi mijiedarbojas: efektīva pakalpojumu, statusa un naudas balvu kombinācija maksimāli palielina ietekmi uz klientu; to kopīgi nosaka partneru tīkls, izpirkšanas iespējas, aviokompāniju drošība un kvalitāte. Lai uzrunātu šos klientus, aviokompānijām jāattīsta savas programmas un jāuztur BLP godīgums, nodrošinot pārredzamus un stabilus izpirkšanas nosacījumus un vispusīgu pakalpojumu paketi. Atslēgvārdi: biežo lidojumu programma, aviokompānija, klientu lojalitāte, klientu attiecību pārvaldība.Frequent flyer programs (FFP) have been established as popular incentive schemes. The effectiveness of FFP to gain and retain airline customers is increasingly questioned in the face of growing cost pressures in the aviation sector. This study evaluates determiners of effective FFP design in a mixed model approach, including market analysis, systematic review, expert interviews and a customer survey (n = 502) of Miles & More members in Germany. FFPs impact all levels of the customer behavior chain. FFP elements intensely interact: an effective combination of service, status and monetary awards maximizes customer impact; partner network, redemption options, airline safety and quality codetermine it. Airlines should develop their programs to appeal to these customers and maintain the perceived honesty of their FFP by transparent and steady redemption conditions and a comprehensive service package. Keywords: frequent flyer program, airline, customer loyalty, customer relationship management

Understanding the hierarchy governance choice of some wineries in Brazil - case study of 3 Brazilian wineries

A decisão da melhor estrutura de governança adotada pelas empresas tem sido objeto de estudo de diversas vertentes teóricas, muitas vezes, dissociadas. Assim, este estudo pretende contribuir para a compreensão dos múltiplos fatores que influenciam nas decisões de governança da empresa, a partir dos argumentos da Economia dos Custos de Transação; da Visão Baseada em Recursos e da Teoria dos Direitos de Propriedade. Para identificar alguns desses fatores, foram analisados ​​três casos na indústria do vinho brasileiro: Miolo, localizada no Vale dos Vinhedos (Sul do Brasil) e no Vale do Rio São Francisco (Nordeste do Brasil); Don Laurindo, localizada no Vale dos Vinhedos; e a Vinibrasil, localizada no Vale do Rio São Francisco. A maioria das vinícolas estudadas produz as uvas utilizadas na produção de vinho. Apenas a Miolo compra uma quantidade insignificante de uvas fora de sua produção. É importante observar que no Brasil, a produção de uva nestas regiões tem uma longa tradição e não é difícil comprar uma quantidade suficiente de uvas destinadas à produção de vinho. Identificou-se que a qualidade das uvas é fácil de ser medida e o custo de compra no mercado é mais barato do que a produção própria. Porém, as vinícolas argumentam que produzem a própria uva para garantir a qualidade das uvas e, consequentemente, do vinho produzido. Entretanto, o nível de especificidade dos ativos presentes na transação entre produtor de uva e vinícola parece, por si só, insuficiente para justificar o uso de forma de governança hierárquica. Assim, o objetivo do artigo é analisar as razões pelas quais essas vinícolas, em grande parte, dependem da forma de governança hierárquica para adquirir suas uvas. O que explica o uso de governança hierárquica, uma vez que tanto a especificidade de ativos como os problemas de mensuração parecem relativamente baixos?Este estudio tiene como objetivo contribuir a la comprensión de los múltiples factores que influyen en las decisiones de gobernanza de las empresas. Para identificar algunos de estos factores, se analizaron tres casos en la industria del vino brasileño: Miolo ubicada en Valle de los Viñedos (sur de Brasil) y en Vale do Rio São Francisco (nordeste de Brasil); Don Laurindo ubicada en Valle de los Viñedos, y ViniBrasil ubicada en Vale do Rio São Francisco. En su mayor parte, las tres empresas producen las uvas que utilizan para su producción de vino. Sólo Miolo compra una cantidad insignificante de las uvas fuera de su producción. Según los estándares brasileños, en estas regiones tiene una larga tradición de producción de uva, y no es difícil comprar suficiente cantidad de uvas para producir vino. Sin embargo, las bodegas están preocupadas también por la calidad de las uvas que se utilizan y la compra de uvas de alta calidad podrían ser tema crítico. Por otro lado, es fácil de medir la calidad de las uvas y el costo para comprar en el mercado es más barato que producir. Por otra parte, también el nivel de especificidad de los activos presentes en la transacción de productor de uva-bodeguero parece, por sí sola, insuficiente para justificar el uso de formas jerárquicas. Entonces, el objetivo del artículo es analizar las razones por las que estas bodegas dependen en gran medida de las formas jerárquicas para adquirir sus vendimiadores entradas. ¿Cómo se explica el uso de la gobernanza jerárquica, teniendo en cuenta que tanto los problemas de especificidad de activos y de medición parecen ser relativamente bajos?This study aims to contribute towards understanding the multiple factors, which influence firm's governance decisions. To identify some of these factors, three cases in the Brazilian wine industry were analyzed: Miolo located in Vale dos Vinhedos (South of Brazil) and in Vale do Rio São Francisco (Northeast of Brazil); Don Laurindo located in Vale dos Vinhedos; and ViniBrasil located in Vale do Rio São Francisco. For the most part, all three firms procure the grapes they use for their wine production in-house. Only Miolo purchases an insignificant amount of grapes outside of its production. By Brazilian standards, these regions have a long tradition of grape production and it is not difficult to purchase sufficient quantity of grapes to produce wine. However, the wineries are concerned also about the quality of the grapes they use and purchasing high-quality grapes might be critical issue. On the other hand, the quality of grapes is easily measured and the cost to buy in the market is cheaper than producing in-house. Furthermore, also the level of asset specificity present in the grape-grower-wine-producer transaction seems, by itself, insufficient to justify the use of hierarchical governance forms. Then, the aim of the article is to analyze the reasons why these wineries largely rely on hierarchy governance forms to procure their grape-inputs. What explains their use of hierarchy governance, given that both asset specificity and measurement problems appear to be relatively low

Peptidoglycan recognition in Drosophila is mediated by LysMD3/4

Microbial recognition is a key step in regulating the immune signaling pathways of multicellular organisms. Peptidoglycan, a component of the bacterial cell wall, exhibits immune stimulating activity in both plants and animals. Lysin motif domain (LysMD) family proteins are ancient peptidoglycan receptors that function in bacteriophage and plants. This report focuses on defining the role of LysMD-containing proteins in animals. Here, we characterize a novel transmembrane LysMD family protein. Loss-of-function mutations at the lysMD3/4 locus in Drosophila are associated with systemic innate immune activation following challenge, so we refer to this gene as immune active (ima). We show that Ima selectively binds peptidoglycan, is enriched in cell membranes, and is necessary to regulate terminal innate immune effectors through an NF-kB-dependent pathway. Hence, Ima fulfills the key criteria of a peptidoglycan pattern recognition receptor. The human Ima ortholog, hLysMD3, exhibits similar biochemical properties. Together, these findings establish LysMD3/4 as the founding member of a novel family of animal peptidoglycan recognition proteins

ESM-SnowMIP: assessing snow models and quantifying snow-related climate feedbacks

This paper describes ESM-SnowMIP, an international coordinated modelling effort to evaluate current snow schemes, including snow schemes that are included in Earth system models, in a wide variety of settings against local and global observations. The project aims to identify crucial processes and characteristics that need to be improved in snow models in the context of local- and global-scale modelling. A further objective of ESM-SnowMIP is to better quantify snow-related feedbacks in the Earth system. Although it is not part of the sixth phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6), ESM-SnowMIP is tightly linked to the CMIP6-endorsed Land Surface, Snow and Soil Moisture Model Intercomparison (LS3MIP)

Electrocardiographic Identification of Abnormal Ventricular Depolarization and Repolarization in Patients With Idiopathic Ventricular Fibrillation 11This study was supported by Grant 93.080 from The Netherlands Heart Foundation.22All editorial decisions for this article, including selection of referees, were made by a Guest Editor. This policy applies to all articles with authors from the University of California San Francisco.

AbstractObjectives. We sought to gain more insight into the arrhythmogenic etiology of idiopathic ventricular fibrillation (VF) by assessing ventricular depolarization and repolarization properties by means of various electrocardiographic (ECG) techniques.Background. Idiopathic VF occurs in the absence of demonstrable structural heart disease. Abnormalities in ventricular depolarization or repolarization have been related to increased vulnerability to VF in various cardiac disorders and are possibly also present in patients with idiopathic VF.Methods. In 17 patients with a first episode of idiopathic VF, 62-lead body surface QRST integral maps, QT dispersion on the 12-lead ECG and XYZ-lead signal-averaged ECGs were computed.Results. All subjects of a healthy control group had a normal dipolar QRST integral map. In patients with idiopathic VF, either a normal dipolar map (29%), a dipolar map with an abnormally large negative area on the right side of the thorax (24%) or a nondipolar map (47%) were recorded. Only four patients (24%) had increased QT dispersion on the 12-lead ECG and late potentials could be recorded in 6 (38%) of 16 patients. During a median follow-up duration of 56 months (range 9 to 136), a recurrent arrhythmic event occurred in 7 patients (41%), all of whom had an abnormal QRST integral map. Five of these patients had late potentials, and three showed increased QT dispersion on the 12-lead ECG.Conclusions. In patients with idiopathic VF, ventricular areas of slow conduction, regionally delayed repolarization or dispersion in repolarization can be identified. Therefore, various electrophysiologic conditions, alone or in combination, may be responsible for the occurrence of idiopathic VF. Body surface QRST integral mapping may be a promising method to identify those patients who do not show a recurrent episode of VF

Colon cancer-derived myofibroblasts increase endothelial cell migration by glucocorticoid-sensitive secretion of a pro-migratory factor

AbstractAngiogenesis is important in cancer progression and can be influenced by tumor-associated myofibroblasts. We addressed the hypothesis that glucocorticoids indirectly affect angiogenesis by altering the release of pro-angiogenic factors from colon cancer-derived myofibroblasts.Our study shows that glucocorticoids reduced prostanoids, urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) and angiopoietin-like protein-2 (ANGPTL2) levels, but increased angiogenin (ANG) in supernatant from human CT5.3hTERT colon cancer-derived myofibroblasts. Conditioned medium from solvent- (CMS) and dexamethasone (Dex)-treated (CMD) myofibroblasts increased human umbilical vein endothelial cell (HUVEC) proliferation, but did not affect expression of pro-angiogenic factors or tube-like structure formation (by HUVECs or human aortic ECs). In a HUVEC scratch assay CMS-induced acceleration of wound healing was blunted by CMD treatment. Moreover, CMS-induced neovessel growth in mouse aortic rings ex vivo was also blunted using CMD. The latter effect could be ascribed to both Dex-driven reduction of secreted factors and potential residual Dex present in CMD (indicated using a dexamethasone-spiked CMS control). A similar control in the scratch assay, however, revealed that altered levels of factors in the CMD, and not potential residual Dex, were responsible for decreased wound closure.In conclusion, our results suggest that glucocorticoids indirectly alter endothelial cell function during tumor development in vivo

In Vitro and In Situ Activity-Based Labeling of Fibroblast Activation Protein with UAMC1110-Derived Probes

Fibroblast activation protein (FAP) is a proline-selective protease that belongs to the S9 family of serine proteases. It is typically highly expressed in the tumor microenvironment (TME) and especially in cancer-associated fibroblasts, the main cell components of the tumor stroma. The exact role of its enzymatic activity in the TME remains largely unknown. Hence, tools that enable selective, activity-based visualization of FAP within the TME can help to unravel FAP’s function. We describe the synthesis, biochemical characterization, and application of three different activity-based probes (biotin-, Cy3-, and Cy5-labeled) based on the FAP-inhibitor UAMC1110, an in-house developed molecule considered to be the most potent and selective FAP inhibitor available. We demonstrate that the three probes have subnanomolar FAP affinity and pronounced selectivity with respect to the related S9 family members. Furthermore, we report that the fluorescent Cy3- and Cy5-labeled probes are capable of selectively detecting FAP in a cellular context, making these chemical probes highly suitable for further biological studies. Moreover, proof of concept is provided for in situ FAP activity staining in patient-derived cryosections of urothelial tumors.</jats:p

Power, Ownership and Tourism in Small Islands: evidence from Indonesia

This paper examines the political economy of tourism development in islands and uses Gili Trawangan, Indonesia as a case study. A longitudinal study drawing from fieldwork contributes to the discussion of how different types of power shape community development, and how the effects of hosting international tourism play an explicit role. Analysis using Barnett and Duvall’s Taxonomy of Power model reveals the interplay between the types of power over time and its effects on different actors. Results raise questions for Less Developed Countries, and particularly islands, concerning the social costs of using tourism for development

Meteorological and evaluation datasets for snow modelling at 10 reference sites: description of in situ and bias-corrected reanalysis data

International audienceAbstract. This paper describes in situ meteorological forcing and evaluation data, and bias-corrected reanalysis forcing data, for cold regions' modelling at 10 sites. The long-term datasets (one maritime, one arctic, three boreal, and five mid-latitude alpine) are the reference sites chosen for evaluating models participating in the Earth System Model-Snow Model Intercomparison Project. Periods covered by the in situ data vary between 7 and 20 years of hourly meteorological data, with evaluation data (snow depth, snow water equivalent, albedo, soil temperature, and surface temperature) available at varying temporal intervals. Thirty-year (1980–2010) time series have been extracted from a global gridded surface meteorology dataset (Global Soil Wetness Project Phase 3) for the grid cells containing the reference sites, interpolated to 1 h time steps and bias-corrected. Although the correction was applied to all sites, it was most important for mountain sites hundreds of metres higher than the grid elevations and for which uncorrected air temperatures were too high and snowfall amounts too low. The discussion considers the importance of data sharing to the identification of errors and how the publication of these datasets contributes to good practice, consistency, and reproducibility in geosciences. The Supplement provides information on instrumentation, an estimate of the percentages of missing values, and gap-filling methods at each site. It is hoped that these datasets will be used as benchmarks for future model development and that their ease of use and availability will help model developers quantify model uncertainties and reduce model errors. The data are published in the repository PANGAEA and are available at https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.897575