EXAMINING THE CHARACTERISTICS OF SALES AGENT IN DEVELOPING LIFE INSURANCE CUSTOMER LOYALTY: A CASE STUDY OF STATE LIFE INSURANCE CORPORATION OF PAKISTAN

In insurance sector attracting and maintaining customer is too much difficult. Now a day’s flow of information is too much, so it will hard to get customer loyalty. Peoples are more informed and knowledgeable. The marketing department of insurance sector pay strong focus in attaining customer loyalty. This research is carried out to explore the relation of sales agent characteristics, relational selling behavior and relationship quality with customer loyalty. From the population cluster sampling method was used to select the sample. Total 500 questionnaire was sent to selected sample. The questionnaires were evaluated on SPSS and SmartPLS3. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to estimate discriminant validity, convergent validity and reliability. The reliability coefficient of sales agent characteristics was (0.869), relationship quality was (0.884), relational selling behavior was (0.860) and customer loyalty was (0,881)

Extraction and Characterization of Microcrystalline Cellulose from Lagenaria siceraria Fruit Pedicles

Microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) is a versatile polymer commonly employed in food, chemical, and biomedical formulations. Lagenaria siceraria (bottle gourd) fruit is consumed in many parts of the world, and its pedicle is discarded as waste. In the quest for a novel renewable source of the MCC, the present study investigates the extraction and characterization of MCC from the pedicle of Lagenaria siceraria fruits. The MCC was extracted by sequentially treating pedicles with water, alkali, bleaching (sodium chlorite), and dilute sulfuric acid (acid hydrolysis). The removal of associated impurities from pedicle fibers was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared analyses. The extracted MCC exhibited a characteristic crystalline structure of cellulose in X-ray diffraction with a 64.53% crystallinity index. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed the variation in the morphology of the fibers and the formation of MCC of approximately 100 µm. The thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) indicated higher thermal stability of MCC. MCC production from biowaste (pedicle) holds potential for application as an emulsifier, stabilizer, and thickener in the chemical, pharmaceutical, and food industries

Design and Experimental Analysis of Multiband Compound Reconfigurable 5G Antenna for Sub-6 GHz Wireless Applications

In this paper, a printed low-profile antenna with frequency and pattern reconfigurable functionality is designed in three modes. Each mode operates at different frequency bands and has several options available for pattern reconfiguration in these bands. The proposed antenna consists of eight pin-diode switches (S1 to S8). The switches S1 and S2, installed in the radiating patch, are used for frequency reconfigurability to control the operating bands of the antenna. The rest of the six switches (S3, S4, S5, S6, S7, and S8), loaded in the stubs on the rear side of the antenna, are used for pattern reconfiguration to control the main lobe beam steering. When all switches are off, the proposed antenna operates in a wideband mode, covering the 3.82-9.32 GHz frequency range. When S1 is on, the antenna resonates in the 3.5 GHz (3.09-4.17 GHz) band. When both S1 and S2 are on, the resonant band of the antenna is shifted to 2.5 GHz band (2.40-2.81 GHz). A very good impedance matching with a return loss of less than -10 dB is attained in these bands. The beam steering is done at each operating frequency by controlling the on and off states of the six pin-diode switches (S3, S4, S5, S6, S7, and S8). Depending on the state of the switches, the antenna can direct the beam in seven distinct directions at 4.2 GHz, 4.5 GHz, and 5 GHz. The main beam of the radiation pattern is steered in five different directions at 5.5 GHz, 3.5 GHz, and 2.6 GHz operating bands for the given state of the mentioned switches. The proposed antenna supports several sub-6 GHz 5G bands (2.6 GHz, 3.5 GHz, 4.2 GHz, 4.5 GHz, and 5 GHz) and can be used in handheld 5G devices

Nanocrytals-Mediated Oral Drug Delivery: Enhanced Bioavailability of Amiodarone

The aim of this study was to improve the saturation solubility, dissolution profile and oral bioavailability of amiodarone hydrochloride (AMH), a highly lipophilic drug. Stabilizer (Pluronic F-127)-coated AMH nanocrystals (AMH-NCs) were developed by a combination of antisolvent precipitation and homogenization techniques. The optimized formulation comprised pluronic F-127 and AMH at the concentration of 4% and 2% w/v, respectively. The particle size (PS), zeta potential (ZP) and polydispersity index (PDI) of the optimized formulation was found to be 221 ± 1.2 nm, 35.3 mV and 0.333, respectively. The optimized formulation exhibited a rough surface morphology with particles in colloidal dimensions and a significant reduction in crystallinity of the drug. AMH-NCs showed a marked increase in the saturation solubility as well as rapid dissolution rate when compared with the AMH and marketed product. The stability study displayed that the formulation was stable for 3 months, with no significant change in the PS, ZP and PDI. The in vivo pharmacokinetic study demonstrated the ability of AMH-NCs to significantly (p < 0.05) improve the oral bioavailability (2.1-fold) of AMH in comparison with AMH solution, indicating that the production of AMH-NCs using a combination of antisolvent precipitation and homogenization techniques could enhance the bioavailability of the drug

Betrixaban for first-line venous thromboembolism prevention in acute medically ill patients with risk factors for venous thromboembolism.

Compared to other direct oral anticoagulants, betrixaban has a longer half-life, smaller peak-trough variance, minimal renal clearance, and minimal hepatic Cytochrome P (CYP) metabolism. The Acute Medically Ill VTE Prevention with Extended Duration Betrixaban (APEX) trial evaluated the efficacy and safety of extended duration betrixaban compared to standard duration enoxaparin in acutely ill hospitalized patients. Areas covered: This article describes the role of betrixaban in the prevention of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in acutely ill medical patients. This article provides a consolidated summary of the primary APEX study findings as well as prespecified and exploratory substudies. This article also provides a review of the results of studies in which other direct factor Xa inhibitors have been evaluated in an extended duration regimen in this patient population. Expert commentary: While previous agents have demonstrated that extended duration VTE prophylaxis can be efficacious, betrixaban is the first agent to demonstrate efficacy without an increase in major bleeding. The totality of the data from the APEX trial supports extended duration betrixaban for VTE prophylaxis in the acute medically ill patient population. As such, betrixaban has been approved in the USA for extended VTE prophylaxis in at-risk acute medically ill patients