How to Design International Loyalty Programs

Despite the growing importance of customer loyalty programs in marketing practice, research about international loyalty programs is few and far between. Especially the issue of whether loyalty programs can be standardized across countries has not been addressed so far. Hence, this paper investigates whether it is feasible to standardize loyalty program design in countries with different cultural dimensions. We conducted an online experiment with customers in four countries (Australia, Germany, South Korea, U.S.) to examine how benefits that are provided by loyalty programs are perceived by different customer groups in these cultural environments. Particularly social and confidence benefits were perceived differently suggesting the need to adapt loyalty program designs. We also found that if a country is characterized by individualism, customers are more strongly attracted by program loyalty. However, this does not necessarily translate into brand loyalty

miR-199a-3p and miR-214-3p improve the overall survival prediction of muscle- invasive bladder cancer patients after radical cystectomy

To improve the clinical decision-making regarding further treatment management and follow-up scheduling for patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) after radical cystectomy (RC), a better prediction accuracy of prognosis for these patients is urgently needed. The objective of this study was to evaluate the validity of differentially expressed microRNAs (miRNAs) based on a previous study as prognostic markers for overall survival (OS) after RC in models combined with clinicopathological data. The expression of six miRNAs (miR-100-5p, miR-130b-3p, miR-141-3p, miR-199a-3p, miR-205-5p, and miR-214-3p) was measured by RT-qPCR in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue samples from 156 MIBC patients who received RC in three urological centers. Samples from 2000 to 2013 were used according to their tissue availability, with follow-up until June 2016. The patient cohort was randomly divided into a training (n = 100) and test set (n = 56). Seventy-three samples from adjacent normal tissue were used as controls. Kaplan–Meier, univariate and multivariate Cox regression, and decision curve analyses were carried out to assess the association of clinicopathological variables and miRNAs to OS. Both increased (miR-130b-3p and miR-141-3p) and reduced (miR-100-5p, miR-199a- 3p, and miR-214-3p) miRNA expressions were found in MIBC samples in comparison to nonmalignant tissue samples (P < 0.0001). miR-199a-3p and miR-214-3p were independent markers of OS in Cox regression models with the significant clinicopathological variables age, tumor status, and lymph node status. The prediction model with the clinicopathological variables was improved by these two miRNAs in both sets. The predictive benefit was confirmed by decision curve analysis. In conclusion, the inclusion of both miRNAs into models based on clinical data for the outcome prediction of MIBC patients after RC could be a valuable approach to improve prognostic accuracy

Investigating the Associations among Overtime Work, Health Behaviors, and Health: A Longitudinal Study among Full-time Employees

# The Author(s) 2010. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com Background It has often been suggested that high levels of overtime lead to adverse health outcomes. One mechanism that may account for this association is that working overtime leads to elevated levels of stress, which could affect worker’s behavioral decisions or habits (such as smoking and lack of physical activity). In turn, this could lead to adverse health. Purpose The present study examined this reasoning in a prospective longitudinal design. Data from the prospective 2-year Study on Health at Work (N=649) were used to test our hypotheses. Methods Structural equation analysis was used to examine the relationships among overtime, beneficial (exercising, intake of fruit and vegetables) and risky (smoking and drinking) health behaviors, and health indicators (BMI and subjective health). Results Working overtime was longitudinally related with adverse subjective health, but not with body mass

Earth Virtualization Engines (EVE)

To manage Earth in the Anthropocene, new tools, new institutions, and new forms of international cooperation will be required. Earth Virtualization Engines is proposed as an international federation of centers of excellence to empower all people to respond to the immense and urgent challenges posed by climate change

Mitochondrial physiology

As the knowledge base and importance of mitochondrial physiology to evolution, health and disease expands, the necessity for harmonizing the terminology concerning mitochondrial respiratory states and rates has become increasingly apparent. The chemiosmotic theory establishes the mechanism of energy transformation and coupling in oxidative phosphorylation. The unifying concept of the protonmotive force provides the framework for developing a consistent theoretical foundation of mitochondrial physiology and bioenergetics. We follow the latest SI guidelines and those of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) on terminology in physical chemistry, extended by considerations of open systems and thermodynamics of irreversible processes. The concept-driven constructive terminology incorporates the meaning of each quantity and aligns concepts and symbols with the nomenclature of classical bioenergetics. We endeavour to provide a balanced view of mitochondrial respiratory control and a critical discussion on reporting data of mitochondrial respiration in terms of metabolic flows and fluxes. Uniform standards for evaluation of respiratory states and rates will ultimately contribute to reproducibility between laboratories and thus support the development of data repositories of mitochondrial respiratory function in species, tissues, and cells. Clarity of concept and consistency of nomenclature facilitate effective transdisciplinary communication, education, and ultimately further discovery

Mitochondrial physiology

As the knowledge base and importance of mitochondrial physiology to evolution, health and disease expands, the necessity for harmonizing the terminology concerning mitochondrial respiratory states and rates has become increasingly apparent. The chemiosmotic theory establishes the mechanism of energy transformation and coupling in oxidative phosphorylation. The unifying concept of the protonmotive force provides the framework for developing a consistent theoretical foundation of mitochondrial physiology and bioenergetics. We follow the latest SI guidelines and those of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) on terminology in physical chemistry, extended by considerations of open systems and thermodynamics of irreversible processes. The concept-driven constructive terminology incorporates the meaning of each quantity and aligns concepts and symbols with the nomenclature of classical bioenergetics. We endeavour to provide a balanced view of mitochondrial respiratory control and a critical discussion on reporting data of mitochondrial respiration in terms of metabolic flows and fluxes. Uniform standards for evaluation of respiratory states and rates will ultimately contribute to reproducibility between laboratories and thus support the development of data repositories of mitochondrial respiratory function in species, tissues, and cells. Clarity of concept and consistency of nomenclature facilitate effective transdisciplinary communication, education, and ultimately further discovery

Earth Virtualization Engines (EVE)

To manage Earth in the Anthropocene, new tools, new institutions, and new forms of international cooperation will be required. Earth Virtualization Engines is proposed as an international federation of centers of excellence to empower all people to respond to the immense and urgent challenges posed by climate change

Practical Demands: Experienced Teachers Employed in Academic Teacher Training Reflect on the Theory and Practice of Teaching at Universities

Die Frage nach dem Verhältnis von Theorie und Praxis gehört zu einem Dauerthema in der wissenschaftlichen Lehrerbildung. In ihrem 2018 erschienenen Band Praxisparolen weisen Wenzl, Wernet &amp; Kollmer den Wunsch von Lehramtsstudierenden nach mehr Praxis zurück, da dieser nur einem studentischen Unbehagen gegenüber dem Universitären entspringe, aber letztlich inhaltlich leer bleibe. Die Herstellung von Praxisbezügen führe zudem zu einer Entwissenschaftlichung der akademischen Lehre. In diesem Beitrag schließen wir an diesen Diskurs an und nehmen eine Gegenposition ein, indem die Wahrnehmungen und Überzeugungen derjenigen rekonstruiert werden, die in besonderer Weise für die Herstellung von Praxisbezügen in der Ersten Phase der Lehrerbildung zuständig sind: berufserfahrene Lehrer_innen im Hochschuldienst. Dazu wurden im Rahmen einer Sekundäranalyse drei für das Theorie-Praxis-Thema einschlägige Sequenzen aus Interviews mit Lehrer_innen im Hochschuldienst ausgewählt und mit der Methode der Objektiven Hermeneutik ausgewertet. Im Ergebnis zeigt sich eine Sinnstruktur der Parallelisierung von wissenschaftlicher Theorie und schulpraktischer Erfahrung. Berufserfahrene Lehrer_innen bedienen nicht den Wunsch nach bloßem Rezeptwissen, sondern zeigen in der Lehrerbildung die Relevanz von Theorie und Wissenschaft aus einer praktischen Perspektive auf.The question of how to interconnect theory and practice never gets old in academic teacher training. In 2018, Wenzl, Wernet &amp; Kollmer rejected the student teachers’ request for a more practical approach to teacher training in their publication Praxisparolen [Buzzwords about Practice]. As an empty buzzword, the request for more practice stands, the authors argued, for the inconvenience of student teachers struggling with their academic obligations. A more practical approach would devalue academic teacher training. In this article, we enter this discourse opposing Wenzl et al.’s point of view by reconstructing the perceptions and convictions of those who embody practical relevance in the first phase of teacher training: professionally experienced teachers working in academic teacher training. After conducting interviews with some of them, we took three sequences allowing for a secondary analysis concerning the subject of interconnecting theory and practice. These interviews were evaluated by using an objective-hermeneutical approach. Our results show that experienced teachers in academic teacher training tend to parallelize scientific theory and practical school experience. They don’t comply with the students’ request for simple practical guidelines in academic teacher training, but reintegrate the relevance of theory and scientific research from a practical perspective

How to Design International Loyalty Programs

Despite the growing importance of customer loyalty programs in marketing practice, research about international loyalty programs is few and far between. Especially the issue of whether loyalty programs can be standardized across countries has not been addressed so far. Hence, this paper investigates whether it is feasible to standardize loyalty program design in countries with different cultural dimensions. We conducted an online experiment with customers in four countries (Australia, Germany, South Korea, U.S.) to examine how benefits that are provided by loyalty programs are perceived by different customer groups in these cultural environments. Particularly social and confidence benefits were perceived differently suggesting the need to adapt loyalty program designs. We also found that if a country is characterized by individualism, customers are more strongly attracted by program loyalty. However, this does not necessarily translate into brand loyalty