La fidélisation des clients à un courtier en valeurs mobilières en ligne : quels rôles pour les caractéristiques du site web et le marketing relationnel?

La fidélisation des clients occupe une place centrale en marketing. L'objectif principal de cette thèse est d'identifier les caractéristiques liées au site Web, tant fonctionnelles que relationnelles qui expliquent la fidélité des clients, et de déterminer les conducteurs qui contribuent à cette fidélité dans l'environnement du courtage en valeurs mobilières électronique. Le but est de développer une meilleure compréhension du phénomène dans le contexte du courtage en ligne. Pour évaluer la pertinence de notre question de recherche, et pour identifier les variables qui pourraient affecter la fidélité électronique, une méta-analyse descriptive de la littérature empirique, ainsi qu'une étude qualitative exploratoire auprès d'un échantillon de 10 investisseurs en valeurs mobilières sur Internet ont été effectuées. Les résultats montrent que les caractéristiques relationnelles du site Web, notamment la personnalisation de la relation en ligne, la qualité de la communication, les communautés virtuelles, la présence sociale et la qualité du support sont presque omises dans littérature en relation avec la fidélité en ligne et sont susceptibles d'influencer cette dernière. Ensuite, une conceptualisation et une mesure du concept central de la thèse « la fidélité en ligne » ont été développées sur la base de l'ancrage théorique d'Oliver (1997, 1999). Les données ont été collectées tout d'abord auprès d'un échantillon de 300 étudiants (enquête papier), puis auprès d'un échantillon de 424 investisseurs sur Internet (enquête en ligne). Les analyses des études exploratoires et confirmatoires attestent de la fiabilité et de la validité de l'échelle de mesure. Les résultats de l'enquête auprès des investisseurs en valeurs mobilières sur Internet montrent que : (1) la personnalisation de la relation en ligne, la qualité du support et du suivi en ligne et hors ligne et la sécurité/confidentialité sur le site Web augmentent la confiance et la satisfaction en ligne qui, à leur tour, affectent positivement la fidélité en ligne; (2) L'utilité d'une communauté virtuelle affecte positivement et indirectement la fidélité en ligne, par l'entremise de la confiance en ligne; (3) L'interactivité du site Web affecte positivement et indirectement la fidélité en ligne, à travers la satisfaction en ligne et (4) la présence sociale a un effet indirect négatif (par l'entremise de la confiance en ligne) sur la fidélité en ligne. Les résultats indiquent également que la personnalisation de la relation en ligne est le seul déterminant qui ait un effet direct et indirect sur la fidélité en ligne et joue un rôle important dans l'explication de cette dernière. Concernant la relation entre la fidélité attitudinale en ligne et la fidélité action des investisseurs, les résultats montrent que la fidélité attitudinale exerce un effet positif sur le nombre de personnes à qui les clients recommandent le courtier, sur leur fréquence de visites, sur le temps écoulé sur le site lors de chaque visite et sur la taille de l'investissement sur le site Web du courtier. À la lumière de ces résultats, des implications théoriques et managériales ont été proposées. \ud ______________________________________________________________________________ \ud MOTS-CLÉS DE L’AUTEUR : Fidélisation en ligne, Web 2.0, Courtage en valeurs mobilières, Courtage en ligne, Marketing relationne

Blockchain Technology Adoption: Implications and Challenges

According to the World Economic Forum, by 2025 10% of the world’s GDP (currently about $100 trillion) may be on blockchain. Blockchain technology is described as a distributed ledger technology (DLT) underpinned by five fundamental principles: decentralization, peer-to-peer transmission; transparency with pseudonymity; irreversibility of records; and computational logic. Despite blockchain’s transformative potential, it is unclear how Blockchain applications are implemented across industries and product/service categories. The purpose of the paper is to discuss the general challenges, risks, and implications related to blockchain implementation and adoption by the private and public sectors. We discuss how blockchain should overcome multiple barriers–technological, governance, organizational and social–for its widespread adoption. Mainly, the regulatory uncertainty, scalability and performance, interoperability, data privacy, security, legacy systems and the skills gap barriers to adoption are examined. Moreover, the socioeconomic implications of blockchain are discussed mainly the financial, economic, social and institutional impacts

Activation of LTRs from Different Human Endogenous Retrovirus (HERV) Families by the HTLV-1 Tax Protein and T-Cell Activators

Human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs) represent approximately 8% of our genome. HERVs influence cellular gene expression and contribute to normal physiological processes such as cellular differentiation and morphogenesis. HERVs have also been associated with certain pathological conditions, including cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. As HTLV-1 causes adult T-cell leukemia and HTLV-1-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP) and has been shown to modulate host gene expression mainly through the expression of the powerful Tax transactivator, herein we were interested in looking at the potential modulation capacity of HTLV-1 Tax on HERV expression. In order to evaluate the promoter activity of different HERV LTRs, pHERV-LTR-luc constructs were co-transfected in Jurkat T-cells with a Tax expression vector. Tax expression potently increased the LTR activity of HERV-W8 and HERV-H (MC16). In parallel, Jurkat cells were also stimulated with different T-cell-activating agents and HERV LTRs were observed to respond to different combination of Forskolin, bpV[pic] a protein tyrosine phosphatase inhibitor, and PMA. Transfection of expression vectors for different Tax mutants in Jurkat cells showed that several transcription factors including CREB appeared to be important for HERV-W8 LTR activation. Deletion mutants were derived from the HERV-W8 LTR and the region from −137 to −123 was found to be important for LTR response following Tax expression in Jurkat cells, while a different region was shown to be required in cells treated with activators. Our results thus demonstrated that HTLV-1 Tax activates several HERV LTRs. This raises the possibility that upregulated HERV expression could be involved in diseases associated with HTLV-1 infection

BIOSORPTION OF METHYLENE BLUE FROM WASTE WATER USING LEBANESE CYMBOPOGON CITRATUS (CITRONNELLE)

The objective of this study was to investigate the possibility of using Lebanese Cymbopogon citratus stem as an alternative adsorbent for the removal of methylene blue from aqueous solutions. Different parameters such as the effect of initial concentration, pH, adsorbent dose, contact time and temperature were studied. Maximum adsorption capacity (61%) of MB was obtained at PH=6 an initial concentration 200 mg/L after 24h and at 25 ˚C. The adsorption isotherm was better described by a Freundlich model rather than a Langmiur model. Based on these results, it can be concluded that the stems of Cymbopogon citratus is effective as an alternative adsorbent for MB remediation in waste water

BIOSORPTION OF METHYLENE BLUE FROM WASTE WATER USING LEBANESE CYMBOPOGON CITRATUS (CITRONNELLE)

The objective of this study was to investigate the possibility of using Lebanese Cymbopogon citratus stem as an alternative adsorbent for the removal of methylene blue from aqueous solutions. Different parameters such as the effect of initial concentration, pH, adsorbent dose, contact time and temperature were studied. Maximum adsorption capacity (61%) of MB was obtained at PH=6 an initial concentration 200 mg/L after 24h and at 25 ˚C. The adsorption isotherm was better described by a Freundlich model rather than a Langmiur model. Based on these results, it can be concluded that the stems of Cymbopogon citratus is effective as an alternative adsorbent for MB remediation in waste water

Metal concentrations in river water and bed sediments of the Lower Litani River Bassin, Lebanon

The distribution of pollutants in the Litani River is almost severe. It resulted from domestic, sewage, agricultural and industrial sources. In this study, the distribution of metals (Cu, Fe, Cd, Mg, Zn, Pb , Al, Ba, Ni, Mn, Ag and Cr) were measured in river water and the bed sediments of the Lower Litani River Basin (LLRB). The impacts of metals on the water quality were monitored during the rainy, mid rainy and dry season in the year 2012. The objectives of this study were first to identify possible sources of metals (i.e. geological and/or anthropogenic) and then to characterize the chemical behavior of these metals in water and bed sediments. Water and bed load sediments were sampled at six sites along the LLRB main watercourse, The metal concentrations in the river sediments were remarkably high, but varied between different sampling sites, and the concentrations in water were mainly within the permissible limits. The metal contents in bed sediment were highest during closure of summer period. By applying the principal component analysis applied to total and extractable metal contents as a tool for studying metal pollution in the LLRB, it was useful to distinguish between anthropogenic and natural sources

Physiochemical and Microbial Assessment of Water Quality in the Upper Litani River Basin, Lebanon

Water resources in Lebanon are witnessing serious challenges and reached depletion. One of the major challenges is the quality deterioration, which is accompanied with uncontrolled resources management, and thus the increasing demand. There are several consumption aspects, mainly the domestic, industrial and irrigation. Yet, exploitation of water resources in Lebanon implies both the surface and groundwater. However, surface water resources are most used due to the ease of exploitation processes, and more certainly water from rivers. Typically, the Litani River is the largest one in Lebanon. The river has been lately subjected to several aspects of deterioration in its quality. This includes the major physiochemical characteristics. This study aims to assess the seasonal variations in water quality in the Upper Litani River Basin, including the Qaraaoun Lake. Samples were collected from particular sites along the river, and at several dates during the years of 2010 and 2011. The carried analysis implies the physical (pH, T°, TDS, Ec), chemicals (Na+, Ca2+, Mg2+, Cl?, SO42?, NH3+, NO3?, PO42?, K+, BOD5 and COD, Heavy metals (Fe, Ni, Zn, Cu, Cr, Al, Ba, Pb, Mn) and microbiological parameters. This resulted numeric data are being compared with WHO guidelines. In addition, PCA was applied to evaluate the data accuracy. We can conclude that the variables used are very efficient and the dry season shows the worst water quality with nitrate, metal and microbial enrichments. Keywords: Water Contamination, Human Interference, Litani River, Principal Component Analysis

Synthesis by ATRP of Polystyrene-b-Poly(4-vinylpyridine) and Characterization by Inverse Gas Chromatography

A linear diblock copolymer [Polystyrene-b-Poly(4-vinyl-pyridine)] (PS-b-P4VP) was successfully prepared through Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization (ATRP). This synthesis is performed in two successive steps: using the (1-bromoethyl) benzene as initiatorand and Hexamethyl tris [2(dimethylamino)ethyl] amine as ligands in a protic solvent. The first step of the synthesis allows the realization of block polystyrene having a terminal function; however, Bromine (Br) permits the grafting of the second successive block P4VP. RMN -1H demonstrates that the P4VP block has been grafted onto the PS block. The molecular weight of PS-b-P4VP is determined by size exclusion chromatography, and its thermal stability is examined by TGA. The surface and the thermodynamic properties of this copolymer are studied by inverse gas chromatography (IGC). The new Hamieh Model shows that the synthesized copolymer PS-P4VP has an amphoteric behavior with rather very basic character that is six times stronger than acidic character (in Lewis terms), reflected the presence of acidic and basic groups in the structure of the PS-P4VP copolymer, more particularly the presence of benzenic, methyl and vinylpyridine groups

Synthesis of mono- and bi-layer zeolite films on alumina substrates

AbstractBilayer zeolite films ZSM-5/ZSM-5, ZSM-5/EMC-1 and NaY/ZSM-5 were synthesized on α-alumina plates. The bottom ZSM-5 or faujasite Y (NaY) zeolite layers were obtained by direct hydrothermal synthesis or by using a seeding step followed by a secondary growth method, respectively, while the secondary growth method was used for the synthesis of all the top zeolite layers. A complete characterization of the obtained materials is proposed using various techniques, such as X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray fluorescence and nitrogen sorption measurements. Continuous and highly crystallized bi-layer zeolite films with thicknesses around 11–18 μm were obtained

Elimination of micropollutants in activated sludge reactors with a special focus on the effect of biomass concentration

This study aimed to investigate the effects of sludge retention time (SRT), hydraulic retention time (HRT), and biomass concentration (CTSS) in activated sludge systems on removal of various micropollutants (MPs), covering a wide spectrum of biodegradability. The influence of biomass concentration on the classical pseudo-first-order rate constant was verified. Results showed that the removal rate constants were affected by both the HRT and SRT. The enhancement of the SRT increased the removal of all the MPs except for two macrolide antibiotics. Application of a higher HRT also improved MP removal, as was expected from the measured removal rate constants. More interesting, our results indicated that, logically, the increase of biomass concentration (expressed as total suspended solids CTSS) from 3 to 5 gTSS L−1 significantly enhanced the removal rate of the highly and moderately degradable compounds. Conversely, a further increase to 8 gTSS L−1 produced only an unexpected moderate effect, showing that the rate was not proportional to biomass concentration, contrary to what is generally postulated. Therefore, the use of classical kinetic models is questionable, since they do not cover the entire range of boundary conditions in activated sludge systems. This work opens new research paths and suggests potential improvements to processe