SOCIAL COMMERCE: THE CRITICAL ROLE OF ARGUMENT STRENGTH AND SOURCE DYNAMISM OF EWOM

Due to the increasing popularity of social media, social commerce has been emerging as a new form of e-commerce. As a driving force of the popularity and growth of social commerce, electronic wordof-mouth (eWOM) plays an important role during the process of consumers’ purchase decision making in social commerce. There are adequate studies that have offered a broad view on what makes the helpfulness perception of eWOM. However, little research has investigated the effect of argument strength and source dynamism of eWOM. Drawing on Stimulus–Organism–Response (S–O–R) model and Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM), an integrated research model is proposed and tries to explore the impact of argument strength and source dynamism of eWOM on consumers’ affective response and cognitive response and how do they affect the formation of consumers’ purchasing intention. We expect that our study can make a contribution to theoretical development and provide some guidance for retailers to carry out a better management strategy of eWOM

Primary Channel Gain Estimation for Spectrum Sharing in Cognitive Radio Networks

In cognitive radio networks, the channel gain between primary transceivers, namely, primary channel gain, is crucial for a cognitive transmitter (CT) to control the transmit power and achieve spectrum sharing. Conventionally, the primary channel gain is estimated in the primary system and thus unavailable at the CT. To deal with this issue, two estimators are proposed by enabling the CT to sense primary signals. In particular, by adopting the maximum likelihood (ML) criterion to analyze the received primary signals, a ML estimator is first developed. After demonstrating the high computational complexity of the ML estimator, a median based (MB) estimator with proved low complexity is then proposed. Furthermore, the estimation accuracy of the MB estimation is theoretically characterized. By comparing the ML estimator and the MB estimator from the aspects of the computational complexity as well as the estimation accuracy, both advantages and disadvantages of two estimators are revealed. Numerical results show that the estimation errors of the ML estimator and the MB estimator can be as small as $0.6$ dB and $0.7$ dB, respectively.Comment: Submitted to IEEE Transactions on Communication

Decreasing the uncertainty of atomic clocks via real-time noise distinguish

The environmental perturbation on atoms is the key factor restricting the performance of atomic frequency standards, especially in long term scale. In this letter, we demonstrate a real-time noise distinguish operation of atomic clocks. The operation improves the statistical uncertainty by about an order of magnitude of our fountain clock which is deteriorated previously by extra noises. The frequency offset bring by the extra noise is also corrected. The experiment proves the real-time noise distinguish operation can reduce the contribution of ambient noises and improve the uncertainty limit of atomic clocks.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, 1 tabl

Conversion of furan derivatives for preparation of biofuels over Ni-Cu/C catalyst

Conversions of furfural and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural as model components in bio-oil were investigated over Ni-Cu/C catalyst with formic acid as hydrogen donor in isopropanol solvent to produce biofuels. The effects of reaction temperature, feed ratio, and reaction time were studied. A high yield of 2-methylfuran up to 91 mol% was obtained from furfural in 8 h at 200 degrees C, and under same conditions 80 mol% yield of 2,5-dimethylfuran could also be obtained from 5-hydroxymethylfurfural in 6 h. The results verified the catalyst performance and the availability of the reaction conditions for producing biofuels from furan derivatives.</p

Lentiviral-Mediated shRNA Silencing of PDE4D Gene Inhibits Platelet-Derived Growth Factor-Induced Proliferation and Migration of Rat Aortic Smooth Muscle Cells

Phosphodiesterase 4D (PDE4D) is a member of the large superfamily of phosphodiesterases. PDE4D polymorphisms have been found to associate with ischemic stroke. Proliferation and migration of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) play a critical role in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. In this study, infection of VSMCs with lentivrius particles carrying shRNA direct against PDE4D significantly inhibited platelet-derived growth factor-induced VSMC proliferation and migration, and the inhibitory effects were not associated with global intracellular cAMP level. Our results implicate that PDE4D has an important role in VSMC proliferation and migration which may explain its genetic susceptibility to ischemic stroke

A Highly Controllable Electrochemical Anodization Process to Fabricate Porous Anodic Aluminum Oxide Membranes

Due to the broad applications of porous alumina nanostructures, research on fabrication of anodized aluminum oxide (AAO) with nanoporous structure has triggered enormous attention. While fabrication of highly ordered nanoporous AAO with tunable geometric features has been widely reported, it is known that its growth rate can be easily affected by the fluctuation of process conditions such as acid concentration and temperature during electrochemical anodization process. To fabricate AAO with various geometric parameters, particularly, to realize precise control over pore depth for scientific research and commercial applications, a controllable fabrication process is essential. In this work, we revealed a linear correlation between the integrated electric charge flow throughout the circuit in the stable anodization process and the growth thickness of AAO membranes. With this understanding, we developed a facile approach to precisely control the growth process of the membranes. It was found that this approach is applicable in a large voltage range, and it may be extended to anodization of other metal materials such as Ti as well.Hong Kong Research Grant Council [612113]; Hong Kong Innovation Technology Commission [ITS/362/14FP]; Fundamental Research Project of Shenzhen Science &amp; Technology Foundation [JCYJ20130402164725025]; National Natural Science Foundation of China [61574005]; Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions [PAPD]SCI(E)[email protected]; [email protected]

Fusion characterization of biomass ash

The ash fusion characteristics are important parameters for thermochemical utilization of biomass. In this research, a method for measuring the fusion characteristics of biomass ash by Thermo-mechanical Analyzer, TMA, is described. The typical TMA shrinking ratio curve can be divided into two stages, which are closely related to ash melting behaviors. Several characteristics temperatures based on the TMA curves are used to assess the ash fusion characteristics. A new characteristics temperature, T-m, is proposed to represent the severe melting temperature of biomass ash. The fusion characteristics of six types of biomass ash have been measured by TMA. Compared with standard ash fusibility temperatures (AFT) test, TMA is more suitable for measuring the fusion characteristics of biomass ash. The glassy molten areas of the ash samples are sticky and mainly consist of K-Ca-silicates. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.</p

De novo assembly of potential linear artificial chromosome constructs capped with expansive telomeric repeats

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Artificial chromosomes (ACs) are a promising next-generation vector for genetic engineering. The most common methods for developing AC constructs are to clone and combine centromeric DNA and telomeric DNA fragments into a single large DNA construct. The AC constructs developed from such methods will contain very short telomeric DNA fragments because telomeric repeats can not be stably maintained in <it>Escherichia coli</it>.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We report a novel approach to assemble AC constructs that are capped with long telomeric DNA. We designed a plasmid vector that can be combined with a bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) clone containing centromeric DNA sequences from a target plant species. The recombined clone can be used as the centromeric DNA backbone of the AC constructs. We also developed two plasmid vectors containing short arrays of plant telomeric DNA. These vectors can be used to generate expanded arrays of telomeric DNA up to several kilobases. The centromeric DNA backbone can be ligated with the telomeric DNA fragments to generate AC constructs consisting of a large centromeric DNA fragment capped with expansive telomeric DNA at both ends.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We successfully developed a procedure that circumvents the problem of cloning and maintaining long arrays of telomeric DNA sequences that are not stable in <it>E. coli</it>. Our procedure allows development of AC constructs in different eukaryotic species that are capped with long and designed sizes of telomeric DNA fragments.</p

Tetra­kis(1-ethyl-3-methyl­imidazolium) β-hexa­cosa­oxidoocta­molybdate

The title compound, (C6H11N2)4[Mo8O26] or (emim)4[β-Mo8O26] (emim is 1-ethyl-3-methyl­imidazolium), was obtained from the ionic liquid [emim]BF4. The asymmetric unit contains two [emim]+ cations and one-half of the [β-Mo8O26]4− tetra­anion, which occupies a special position on an inversion centre. The β-[Mo8O26]4− tetra­anion features eight distorted MoO6 coordination octa­hedra linked together through bridging O atoms