Isn’t it only for me? Unearned Preferential Treatment and Loyalty Program Customer Responses: A perspective of psychological contract violation

This study aims to answer the question of how service firms’ practice of unearned preferential treatment, where non-loyalty-based free upgrades are given at random, may be negatively affecting the firm’s loyalty program customers who have earned such preferential treatments through past efforts (e.g., time, money, or repeat purchase) and to identify potential underlying psychological mechanisms. To do so, this dissertation consists of three experiment studies that examine how loyalty program customer’s witnessing unearned preferential treatment towards non-program customers in the social servicescape influences their perceptions and subsequent behaviors, based on psychological contract theory as a fundamental theoretical background

Eagle Scouts: Merit beyond the Badge

Previous studies have shown that participation in Scouting produces better citizens.6 And, there is no shortage of examples or anecdotal accounts that would affirm these findings. Surprisingly, however, there is very little scientific evidence to confirm the prosocial benefits associated with Scouting or earning the rank of Eagle Scout. Thus, the central question of this study is to determine if participation in Scouting and ultimately becoming an Eagle Scout is associated with prosocial behavior and positive youth development that carries over into young adulthood and beyond

Incipient plasticity and fully plastic contact behavior of copper coated with a graphene layer

Cu coated with a graphene layer increases the elastic modulus from 163.4 GPa to 176.7 GPa, as analyzed for the initial elastic loading during nanoindentation by the Hertzian contact theory. This is attributed to stiffening, due to the ultra-high elastic modulus of the graphene layer, and the compressive in-plane residual stresses in the Cu surface volume introduced by the lattice mismatch between graphene and Cu. The graphene layer induces incipient plasticity, manifested by pop-in events during nanoindentation loading, at shallower indentation depths. This could be due to the compressive in-plane residual stress in the Cu surface volume; however, this compressive stress does not significantly change the critical resolved shear stress for the incipient plasticity. Even in the fully plastic contact region, at an indentation depth of 100 nm, the graphene layer affects the stress distribution underneath the indenter, resulting in a lower pile-up height. When considering this reduced pile-up height, the graphene layer is found to enhance elastic modulus by 5%, whereas it has no effect on hardness

Vav1 inhibits RANKL-induced osteoclast differentiation and bone resorption

Vav1 is a Rho/Rac guanine nucleotide exchange factor primarily expressed in hematopoietic cells. In this study, we investigated the potential role of Vav1 in osteoclast (OC) differentiation by comparing the ability of bone marrow mononuclear cells (BMMCs) obtained from Vav1-deficient (Vav1−/−) and wild-type (WT) mice to differentiate into mature OCs upon stimulation with macrophage colony stimulating factor and receptor activator of nuclear kappa B ligand in vitro. Our results suggested that Vav1 deficiency promoted the differentiation of BMMCs into OCs, as indicated by the increased expression of tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase, cathepsin K, and calcitonin receptor. Therefore, Vav1 may play a negative role in OC differentiation. This hypothesis was supported by the observation of more OCs in the femurs of Vav1−/− mice than in WT mice. Furthermore, the bone status of Vav1−/− mice was analyzed in situ and the femurs of Vav1−/− mice appeared abnormal, with poor bone density and fewer number of trabeculae. In addition, Vav1-deficient OCs showed stronger adhesion to vitronectin, an αvβ3 integrin ligand important in bone resorption. Thus, Vav1 may inhibit OC differentiation and protect against bone resorption

Influence of prediction approaches for spatially-dependent air pollution exposure on health effect estimation

Background: Air pollution studies increasingly estimate individual-level exposures from area-based measurements by using exposure prediction methods such as nearest monitor and kriging predictions. However, little is known about the properties of these methods for health effects estimation. This simulation study explores how two common prediction approaches for fine particulate matter (PM2.5) affect relative risk estimates for cardiovascular events in a single geographic area. Methods: We estimated two sets of parameters to define correlation structures from 2002 PM2.5 data in the Los Angeles (LA) area and selected additional parameters to evaluate different correlation features. For each structure, annual average PM2.5 was generated at 22 existing monitoring sites and 2,000 pre-selected individual locations in LA. Associated survival time until cardiovascular event was simulated for 10,000 hypothetical subjects. Using PM2.5 generated at monitoring sites, we predicted PM2.5 at subject locations by nearest monitor and kriging interpolation. Finally, relative risks (RRs) of the effect of PM2.5 on time to cardiovascular event were estimated. Results: Health effect estimates for cardiovascular events had higher or similar coverage probability for kriging compared to nearest monitor exposures. The lower mean square error of nearest monitor prediction resulted from more precise but biased health effect estimates. The difference between these approaches dramatically moderated when spatial correlation increased and geographical characteristics were included in the mean model. Conclusions: When the underlying exposure distribution has a large amount of spatial dependence, both kriging and nearest monitor predictions gave good health effect estimates. For exposure with little spatial dependence, kriging exposure was preferable but gave very uncertain estimates

Temperature dependence of Mott transition in VO_2 and programmable critical temperature sensor

The temperature dependence of the Mott metal-insulator transition (MIT) is studied with a VO_2-based two-terminal device. When a constant voltage is applied to the device, an abrupt current jump is observed with temperature. With increasing applied voltages, the transition temperature of the MIT current jump decreases. We find a monoclinic and electronically correlated metal (MCM) phase between the abrupt current jump and the structural phase transition (SPT). After the transition from insulator to metal, a linear increase in current (or conductivity) is shown with temperature until the current becomes a constant maximum value above T_{SPT}=68^oC. The SPT is confirmed by micro-Raman spectroscopy measurements. Optical microscopy analysis reveals the absence of the local current path in micro scale in the VO_2 device. The current uniformly flows throughout the surface of the VO_2 film when the MIT occurs. This device can be used as a programmable critical temperature sensor.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

The Three Strikes Policy in Korean Copyright Act 2009: Safe or Out?

Korea has grown to be one of the Internet powers in a short period. Because of insufficient copyright protection, Korea recently revised the Korean Copyright Act to reinforce protection of copyright and promote sound distribution of copyrighted works. The new law allows the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism to issue orders and the Korea Copyright Commission to issue recommendations. Orders and recommendations are distinguished by the subject of the issuance and the legal force. Orders and recommendations enable online service providers to delete or stop transmission of illegal reproductions, give warning notices to infringers, or suspend the account of repetitive infringers. The “three strikes” policy is controversial and has raised several constitutional concerns. First, the suspension of the repeat infringer’s account may be an unconstitutional violation of the infringer’s freedom of speech. Second, an executive agency’s decision to issue a correction order could be an unconstitutional violation of the separation of powers. The final concern is that the policy violates the principles of due process. This Article examines the “three strikes” policy, the constitutional concerns regarding the policy, and possible policy revisions for more effective copyright protection