Internet Users\u27 Attitudes and e-Commerce Behaviors

According to Nua Internet Surveys 201 million people are using the Internet worldwide. The Internet has evolved from a communications tool for a select group of scientists to a commercial juggernaut that is predicted to change the way people buy and sell things across a number of industries. This research focuses on consumer behavior in this new medium. The Consumer Decision Process can be categorized into five sub-processes including: (a) Motivation and Need Recognition, (b) Information Search, (c) Alternatives Evaluation, (d) Purchase Decision and Purchase, and (e) Purchase Outcomes. This research considers nine Internet behaviors across these five consumer behavior processes. The behaviors studied include clicking on banner ads, reading e-mail advertisements, searching for product information in online stores and using search engines, using comparison engines and online reviews to evaluate alternatives, purchase products, and access online customer support via e-mail and web sites. Internet user attitudes and intention to use the Internet for each of the behaviors were studied within the theoretical constructs of the Theory of Reasoned Action. It was found that the attitudinal component of the Theory of Reasoned Action was consistently predictive of users\u27 intention to participate in all nine of the consumer behaviors during the 2000 holiday shopping season

Centering the Marginalized: The Impact of the Pandemic on Online Student Retention

During the pandemic, much of the focus of administrators and scholars has been on its impact on residential students and the sudden shift to online instruction. While justified, researchers have yet to focus on online students—who often represent marginalized communities in higher education—to ask whether they were impacted by factors related to the pandemic other than the modality shift. In this study, we examined how the first-year retention of online students was affected during the pandemic, and whether it differed from first-year residential students who transitioned online. We examined records of two student cohorts (Fall 2017 and Fall 2019) from a university to determine each cohort’s retention rate by modality. Holding other relevant factors constant, we found the COVID cohort of students were less likely to persist to the following Fall regardless of modality, although residential students were still much more likely to be retained overall. However, Black and Hispanic students were less likely to be retained across both modalities, and even Black residential students were more vulnerable to not returning than their White counterparts, suggesting that racial inequalities persist across learning modalities. We conclude by suggesting how one retention tool—financial aid—could be used to address the particular needs of online students to improve their retention

The Efficacy of a Manualized Group Treatment Protocol for Changing God Image, Attachment to God, Religious Coping, and Love of God, Others, and Self

This study compared the efficacy of a manualized group treatment protocol on God image and attachment to God to a manualized Christian Bible study and a waiting list control group in a sample of undergraduate college students attending a Christian college. Thirty students were randomly assigned to one of the treatment conditions and assessed with measures of God attachment, God image, religious coping, and general spiritual outcomes. It was hypothesized that significant God image and attachment change would occur among the God image treatment group participants only. In addition, it was hypothesized that significant religious coping and spiritual outcome change would occur within both groups compared to the waiting list control group. The results supported significant spiritual outcome changes in both groups but no significant God image/attachment change or religious coping change. Feedback from the group participants informed how manualized God image/attachment protocols may be modified in future research to improve outcomes for young college-age Christian participants

HLA-DR Alpha 2 Mediates Negative Signalling via Binding to Tirc7 Leading to Anti-Inflammatory and Apoptotic Effects in Lymphocytes In Vitro and In Vivo

Classically, HLA-DR expressed on antigen presenting cells (APC) initiates lymphocyte activation via presentation of peptides to TCR bearing CD4+ T-Cells. Here we demonstrate that HLA-DR alpha 2 domain (sHLA-DRα2) also induces negative signals by engaging TIRC7 on lymphocytes. This interaction inhibits proliferation and induces apoptosis in CD4+ and CD8+ T-cells via activation of the intrinsic pathway. Proliferation inhibition is associated with SHP-1 recruitment by TIRC7, decreased phosphorylation of STAT4, TCR-ζ chain & ZAP70, and inhibition of IFN-γ and FasL expression. HLA-DRα2 and TIRC7 co-localize at the APC-T cell interaction site. Triggering HLA-DR - TIRC7 pathway demonstrates that sHLA-DRα2 treatment inhibits proinflammatory-inflammatory cytokine expression in APC & T cells after lipopolysaccaride (LPS) stimulation in vitro and induces apoptosis in vivo. These results suggest a novel antiproliferative role for HLA-DR mediated via TIRC7, revise the notion of an exclusive stimulatory interaction of HLA-DR with CD4+ T cells and highlights a novel physiologically relevant regulatory pathway

The James Webb Space Telescope Mission

Twenty-six years ago a small committee report, building on earlier studies, expounded a compelling and poetic vision for the future of astronomy, calling for an infrared-optimized space telescope with an aperture of at least $4m$. With the support of their governments in the US, Europe, and Canada, 20,000 people realized that vision as the $6.5m$ James Webb Space Telescope. A generation of astronomers will celebrate their accomplishments for the life of the mission, potentially as long as 20 years, and beyond. This report and the scientific discoveries that follow are extended thank-you notes to the 20,000 team members. The telescope is working perfectly, with much better image quality than expected. In this and accompanying papers, we give a brief history, describe the observatory, outline its objectives and current observing program, and discuss the inventions and people who made it possible. We cite detailed reports on the design and the measured performance on orbit.Comment: Accepted by PASP for the special issue on The James Webb Space Telescope Overview, 29 pages, 4 figure

Plat book of Henry County, Illinois /

LeGear. Atlases of the United States, 4192Includes indexes, map of the United States, and map of Illinois

Plat book of Douglas Co., Illinois /

LeGear. Atlases of the United States, 4139Includes indexes.Annotations in pencil on some maps. DLCSigned in ink on table of contents page: J.M. Wagner. DL