Research on the Influence Mechanism of Virtual CSR Co-creation on Consumer Identity

With the development of Internet marketing, virtual CSR co-creation has attracted the attention of enterprises. This paper explores the influence mechanism of different routes of interactivity of virtual CSR co-creation on consumer identity by introducing interaction theory and self-construal theory. The experimental results show that routes of interactivity have a positive impact on consumer identity, and experiential route has a stronger impact on consumer identity. Routes of interactivity and self-construal have an interactive effect on consumer identity: When virtual CSR co-creation is structural route, the interdependent self show a higher consumer identity; On the contrary, when virtual CSR co-creation is experiential route, the independent self show a higher consumer identity. The results also indicate that CSR perception plays a mediating role in the interaction effect between routes of interactivity and self-construal on consumer identity

The Content Influence Mechanism of the Behavior of Poverty Alleviation Crowdfunding Users: An Empirical Study of A Chinese Crowdfunding Platform

Poverty alleviation crowdfunding is an E-commerce + Agriculture + Crowdfunding innovative mode, which promotes the targeted poverty alleviation and rural economic development in China. Previous researches mainly focus on non-content elements (e.g., the number of comments and praise) while publications are rarely related to content elements. We suggest that content elements (e.g., text of products) also have an important role in helping users to make different decisions (i.e., purchasing or donating). We select antipoverty programs in JD as a sample and adopt the linear regression model to analyze the influence of text type on the behavior of crowdfunding users. Specifically, the experimental results indicate that the emotion text (ET) make users tend to donate while the product text (PT) make users tend to purchase. This study will help project sponsors to achieve better effects on poverty alleviation by adjusting the ratio of ET to PT

The Influence of Consumer-Based Mechanism on CSR Purchasing: Role of Assortment Structure

We investigated the cognitive effects of assortment structures on consumer purchases based on CSR information. This research work studies the effects of two prevalent assortment structures that are based on benefits, that provide consumers with easily obtainable CSR information, and that increase their purchases. The result confirms the perceived similarity between a target product and a product’s CSR image projected in the media. Clarifying this causal relationship, a benefit-based assortment structure is shown to have a significant effect on the global mindset of consumers, who probably find a similarity between the stimulus and CSR. In contrast, an attribute-based assortment structure can stimulate the local mindset of consumers, who perhaps find more differences between the stimulus and CSR. These findings show the impact of assortment structures on consumer choice and propose the use of strategic assortment structure to enhance brand evaluation

Association of brain morphology and phenotypic profile in patients with unruptured intracranial aneurysm

IntroductionStudies have found a varying degree of cognitive, psychosocial, and functional impairments in patients with unruptured intracranial aneurysms (UIAs), whereas the neural correlates underlying these impairments remain unknown.MethodsTo examine the brain morphological alterations and white matter lesions in patients with UIA, we performed a range of structural analyses to examine the brain morphological alterations in patients with UIA compared with healthy controls (HCs). Twenty-one patients with UIA and 23 HCs were prospectively enrolled into this study. Study assessment consisted of a brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan with high-resolution T1-weighted and T2-weighted imaging data, a Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), and laboratory tests including blood inflammatory markers and serum lipids. Brain MRI data were processed for cortical thickness, local gyrification index (LGI), volume and shape of subcortical nuclei, and white matter lesions.ResultsCompared to the HCs, patients with UIA showed no significant differences in cortical thickness but decreased LGI values in the right posterior cingulate cortex, retrosplenial cortex, cuneus, and lingual gyrus. In addition, decreased LGI values correlated with decreased MoCA score (r = 0.498, p = 0.021) and increased white matter lesion scores (r = −0.497, p = 0.022). The LGI values were correlated with laboratory values such as inflammatory markers and serum lipids. Patients with UIA also showed significant regional atrophy in bilateral thalami as compared to the HCs. Moreover, the LGI values were significantly correlated with thalamic volume in the HCs (r = 0.4728, p = 0.0227) but not in the patients with UIA (r = 0.11, p = 0.6350).DiscussionThe decreased cortical gyrification, increased white matter lesions, and regional thalamic atrophy in patients with UIA might be potential neural correlates of cognitive changes in UIA

The PsbQ protein is required in Arabidopsis for photosystem II assembly/stability and photoautotrophy under low light conditions

RNA interference was used to simultaneously suppress the expression of the two genes that encode the PsbQ proteins of Photosystem II (PS II) in Arabidopsis thaliana, psbQ-1 (At4g21280) and psbQ-2 (At4g05180). Two independent PsbQ-deficient plant lines were examined. These plant lines produced little detectable PsbQ protein. Under normal growth light conditions, the wild type and mutant plants were visually indistinguishable. Additionally, analysis of steady state oxygen evolution rates and chlorophyll fluorescence characteristics indicated little alteration of photosynthetic capacity in the mutant plants. No loss of other PS II proteins was evident. Interestingly, flash oxygen yield analysis performed on thylakoid membranes isolated from the mutant and wild type plants indicated that the oxygen-evolving complex was quite unstable in the mutants. Furthermore, the lifetime of the S2 state of the oxygen-evolving complex appeared to be increased in these plants. Incubation of the wild type and mutant plants under low light growth conditions led to a significantly stronger observed phenotype in the mutants. The mutant plants progressively yellowed (after 2 weeks) and eventually died (after 3-4 weeks). The wild type plants exhibited only slight yellowing after 4 weeks under low light conditions. The mutant plants exhibited a large loss of a number of PS II components, including CP47 and the D2 protein, under low light conditions. Additionally, significant alterations of their fluorescence characteristics were observed, including an increased FO and decreased FV, yielding a large loss in PS II quantum efficiency (FV/FM). Analysis of QA- decay kinetics in the absence of 3-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-1,1-dimethyl urea indicated a defect in electron transfer from QA- to QB, whereas experiments performed in the presence of this herbicide indicated that the recombination rate between QA- and the S2 state was strongly retarded. These results indicate that the loss of the PsbQ protein induces significant changes in Photosystem II function, particularly in low light-grown plants, and that the PsbQ protein is required for photoautotrophic growth under low light conditions. © 2006 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc

The PsbP protein, but not the PsbQ protein, is required for normal thylakoid architecture in Arabidopsis thaliana

Interfering RNA was used to suppress the expression of the genes At1g06680 and At2g30790 in Arabidopsis thaliana, which encode the PsbP-1 and PsbP-2 proteins, respectively, of Photosystem II. A phenotypic series of transgenic plants was recovered that expressed intermediate and low amounts of PsbP. Earlier we had documented significant alterations in a variety of Photosystem II parameters in these plant lines [Yi, X., Liu, H., Hargett, S. R., Frankel, L. K., Bricker, T. M. (2007). The PsbP protein is required for photosystem II complex assembly/stability and photoautotrophy in Arabidopsis thaliana. J. Biol. Chem. 34, 24833-24841]. In this communication, we document extensive defects in the thylakoid membrane architecture of these plants. Interestingly, strong interfering RNA suppression of the genes encoding the PsbQ protein (At4g21280 and At4g05180) was found to have no effect on the architecture of thylakoid membranes. © 2009 Federation of European Biochemical Societies

Alkylating HIV-1 Nef - a potential way of HIV intervention

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Nef is a 27 KDa HIV-1 accessory protein. It downregulates CD4 from infected cell surface, a mechanism critical for efficient viral replication and pathogenicity. Agents that antagonize the Nef-mediated CD4 downregulation may offer a new class of drug to combat HIV infection and disease. TPCK (N-α-p-tosyl-L-phenylalanine chloromethyl ketone) and TLCK (N-α-p-tosyl-L-lysine chloromethyl ketone) are alkylation reagents that chemically modify the side chain of His or Cys residues in a protein. In search of chemicals that inhibit Nef function, we discovered that TPCK and TLCK alkylated HIV Nef.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Nef modification by TPCK was demonstrated on reducing SDS-PAGE. The specific cysteine residues modified were determined by site-directed mutagenesis and mass spectrometry (MS). The effect of TPCK modification on Nef-CD4 interaction was studied using fluorescence titration of a synthetic CD4 tail peptide with recombinant Nef-His protein. The conformational change of Nef-His protein upon TPCK-modification was monitored using CD spectrometry</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Incubation of Nef-transfected T cells, or recombinant Nef-His protein, with TPCK resulted in mobility shift of Nef on SDS-PAGE. Mutagenesis analysis indicated that the modification occurred at Cys55 and Cys206 in Nef. Mass spectrometry demonstrated that the modification was a covalent attachment (alkylation) of TPCK at Cys55 and Cys206. Cys55 is next to the CD4 binding motif (A₅₆W₅₇L₅₈) in Nef required for Nef-mediated CD4 downregulation and for AIDS development. This implies that the addition of a bulky TPCK molecule to Nef at Cys55 would impair Nef function and reduce HIV pathogenicity. As expected, Cys55 modification reduced the strength of the interaction between Nef-His and CD4 tail peptide by 50%.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our data suggest that this Cys55-specific alkylation mechanism may be exploited to develop a new class of anti HIV drugs.</p