•This study explores antecedents of loyalty to branded applications (app) and brands.•The lens of affordance and service-dominant logic are used to build the research model.•Five app affordances are ...identified as antecedents of value-in-use (VIU).•VIU directly influences both app continuance intention and brand loyalty.•VIU also influences loyalty through brand competence and brand warmth.
The rise of mobile apps is compelling ambitious companies to rush to market their own branded apps in hopes of building customers’ brand loyalty. By applying service-dominant logic, the lens of affordance, and two brand perceptions (brand competence and brand warmth), this study explores critical determinants of app continuance intention and brand loyalty among app users. Five affordances of branded apps are linked to value-in-use, which contributes both directly and indirectly to the two loyalty-related outcomes, through either brand competence or brand warmth. Data collected from 634 app users support all proposed hypotheses. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
What is the role of information intermediaries in corporate governance? This paper examines equity analysts’ influence on managers’ earnings management decisions. Do analysts serve as external ...monitors to managers, or do they put excessive pressure on managers? Using multiple measures of earnings management, I find that firms followed by more analysts manage their earnings less. To address the potential endogeneity problem of analyst coverage, I use two instrumental variables based on change in broker size and on firm's inclusion in the Standard & Poor's 500 index, and I find that the results are robust. Finally, given the number of covering analysts, analysts from top brokers and more experienced analysts have stronger effects against earnings management.
Mesenchymal stem cells （MSCs）, the major stem cells for cell therapy, have been used in the clinic for approximately 10 years. From animal models to clinical trials, MSCs have afforded promise in the ...treatment of numerous diseases, mainly tissue injury and immune disorders. In this review, we summarize the recent opinions on methods, timing and cell sources for MSC administration in clinical applications, and provide an overview of mechanisms that are significant in MSC-mediated therapies. Although MSCs for cell therapy have been shown to be safe and effective, there are still challenges that need to be tackled before their wide application in the clinic.
Plasmonic color filtering and color printing have attracted considerable attention in recent years due to their supreme performance in display and imaging technologies. Although various color‐related ...devices are designed, so far very few studies have touched the topic of dynamic color generation. In this article, dynamic color generation is demonstrated by integrating plasmonic nanostructures with vanadium dioxide based on its tunable optical properties through insulator–metal transition. Periodic arrays of silver nanodisks on a vanadium dioxide film are fabricated to realize different colors, relying on the excitation of localized and propagating surface plasmons, and Wood's anomaly. By tuning spatial periodicity of the arrays and diameter of the silver nanodisks, various colors can be achieved across the entire visible spectrum. Further, using insulator–metal transition of vanadium dioxide, the colors can be actively tuned by varying temperature. The approach of dynamic color generation based on the phase transition of vanadium dioxide can easily realize diverse color patterns, which makes it beneficial for display and imaging technology with distinct advantages of multifunctionality, flexibility, and high efficiency.
Dynamic color generation is realized by integrating plasmonic nanostructures with vanadium dioxide based on its tunable optical properties through insulator–metal transition. Various colors can be designed across the visible spectrum via adjusting the spatial periodicity and nanodisk diameter of the silver‐nanodisk array, and the colors can be tuned dynamically by varying the temperature.
Given the dynamic and uncertain production environment of job shops, a scheduling strategy with adaptive features must be developed to fit variational production factors. Therefore, a dynamic ...scheduling system model based on multi-agent technology, including machine, buffer, state, and job agents, was built. A weighted Q-learning algorithm based on clustering and dynamic search was used to determine the most suitable operation and to optimize production. To address the large state space problem caused by changes in the system state, four state features were extracted. The dimension of the system state was decreased through the clustering method. To reduce the error between the actual system states and clustering ones, the state difference degree was defined and integrated with the iteration formula of the Q function. To select the optimal state-action pair, improved search and iteration update strategies were proposed. Convergence analysis of the proposed algorithm and simulation experiments indicated that the proposed adaptive strategy is well adaptable and effective in different scheduling environments, and shows better performance in complex environments. The two contributions of this research are as follows: (1) a dynamic greedy search strategy was developed to avoid blind searching in traditional strategy. (2) Weighted iteration update of the Q function, including the weighted mean of the maximum fuzzy earning, was designed to improve the speed and accuracy of the improved learning algorithm.
ABSTRACT
Branded mobile applications (apps) present one of the most promising opportunities for marketers to reach current and potential customers, sell products or services, and facilitate customer ...engagement with brands. This study aims to explore how branded apps influence consumers’ brand repurchase intention and continuance usage intention. Integrating the utilitarian view from information systems research and the view of consumer–brand engagement from marketing research, a complementary engagement path alongside the utilitarian path was devised and tested in order to elucidate consumer perceptions toward branded apps. Independent self‐construal and interdependent self‐construal moderate relationships along the utilitarian path and engagement path, respectively. Data collected from 637 respondents support most of the proposed hypotheses. Results show that the engagement path has more influence on continuance intention and equal influence on repurchase intention when compared to the utilitarian path. Findings show that apps users have different thoughts along each of the two paths, depending on their self‐construal. The study's findings also provide app designers and marketers with new perspectives on how to better design branded apps.
Ibis study adds to the growing research exploring the consequences of knowledge hiding in organizations. Drawing from the social exchange theory and the norm of reciprocity, this paper examines the ...direct and indirect—via distrust in supervisor—relationships between supervisor knowledge hiding (SKH) and supervisee organizational citizenship behavior directed at the supervisor (OCB-S) in the context of the Middle East. Using a supervisor-supervisee dyadic design, two-source data were obtained from 317 employees (local and foreign) of 41 Saudi firms. The findings suggest that supervisees' distrust in their supervisors mediates the significant and negative relationship between SKH and supervisees' OCB-S. Furthermore, the significant and positive relationship between SKH and distrust in supervisor is more pronounced for foreign workers than for local workers. This study provides empirical support and a better understanding of the existence and consequences of SKH for local and foreign workers and also discusses the theoretical and practical implications of the findings.
In the context of the worsening global climate change crisis, recent studies have highlighted the topic of net-zero emissions. Green bond policy as an important course of action to promote the green ...energy market is also attracting growing attention. This research thus focuses on whether green bond policy stimulates green innovation and green space, thus helping to achieve net-zero emissions. Based on data of cities in China, an empirical study is carried out and offers the following findings. First, green bond policy does directly foster green innovation and green space, and the results of robust tests show that the basic conclusion is reliable. This effect is also heterogeneous. Second, green bond policy encourages green innovation in different types of cities, but only does so for green space in cities with middle-level and high-level economic size and openness. Third, green bond policy indirectly promotes green innovation and green space by driving economic growth and increasing disposable income. Moreover, this effect is spatial. Fourth, green bond policy upholds local green innovation and green space, but hinders them in surrounding cities. Considering the direct effect and spillover effect together, the total effect is significantly positive. Lastly, the subsequent high-quality implementation of green bond policy is the key to further fostering green innovation and green space.
•Green bond policy can promote green innovation and green space.•Effect of green bond policy on green innovation and green space is heterogeneous.•Economic growth and disposable income are transmission mechanisms.•Green bond policy hinders green innovation and green space in surrounding cities.•Subsequent high-quality implementation of green bond policy is vital.
The prevalence of type 2 diabetes (T2D) has increased dramatically in recent decades, and there are increasing indications that dementia is related to T2D. Previous attempts to analyze such ...relationships principally relied on traditional multiple linear regression (MLR). However, recently developed machine learning methods (Mach-L) outperform MLR in capturing non-linear relationships. The present study applied four different Mach-L methods to analyze the relationships between risk factors and cognitive function in older T2D patients, seeking to compare the accuracy between MLR and Mach-L in predicting cognitive function and to rank the importance of risks factors for impaired cognitive function in T2D.
We recruited older T2D between 60-95 years old without other major comorbidities. Demographic factors and biochemistry data were used as independent variables and cognitive function assessment (CFA) was conducted using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment as an independent variable. In addition to traditional MLR, we applied random forest (RF), stochastic gradient boosting (SGB), Naïve Byer's classifier (NB) and eXtreme gradient boosting (XGBoost).
Totally, the test cohort consisted of 197 T2D (98 men and 99 women). Results showed that all ML methods outperformed MLR, with symmetric mean absolute percentage errors for MLR, RF, SGB, NB and XGBoost respectively of 0.61, 0.599, 0.606, 0.599 and 0.2139. Education level, age, frailty score, fasting plasma glucose and body mass index were identified as key factors in descending order of importance.
In conclusion, our study demonstrated that RF, SGB, NB and XGBoost are more accurate than MLR for predicting CFA score, and identify education level, age, frailty score, fasting plasma glucose, body fat and body mass index as important risk factors in an older Chinese T2D cohort.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Exosomes are cell-derived vesicles of 30 to 150 nm that contain diverse proteins, nucleic acids, and lipids. These vesicles facilitate effective intercellular communication and trigger profound ...environmental changes. In recent years, many studies have identified diverse roles for exosomes in tumor metastasis, a major cause of cancer-related deaths; furthermore, circulating tumor-derived exosomes can drive the initiation and progression of metastasis and determine the specific target organs affected. Fortunately, our growing understanding of exosomes and relevant modification technology have provided new ideas for potential treatment of tumor metastases. Here we review recent advances concerning the role of exosomes in metastasis, focusing on their regulatory mechanisms and therapeutic targeting in advanced cancer.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
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