How gun control policies influence consumers’ service businesses evaluations

Purpose Given the growing prevalence of gun control policies in service settings, this study aims to investigate how the adoption of a gun control policy by a service businesses influences consumers’ evaluations of the service businesses. Design/methodology/approach Three experiments were conducted to examine how the adoption of a gun control policy by a service businesses influences consumers’ brand favorability of that service businesses and how value congruence (i.e. the alignment between a consumer’s own personal values and perceptions of the brand’s values) is the underlying mechanism. Findings This study documents several major findings. First, the authors find that the adoption of a gun control policy by a service businesses increases consumers’ brand favorability. Second, the authors highlight a boundary condition to this effect, such that a gun control policy actually decreases consumers’ brand favorability for people high (vs low) in support for gun rights. Third, the authors show that value congruence is the psychological process underlying these effects. Fourth, the authors generalize the focal effects to a real-world brand and demonstrate that the adoption of a gun control policy increases brand favorability for consumers low (vs high) in patronage behavior of the brand. Finally, the authors find that a pioneer brand strategy in the adoption of a gun control policy significantly increases brand favorability, whereas a follower brand strategy in the adoption of such a policy is less effective. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is the first to provide critical insight to service businesseses as to how their position regarding guns influences consumers’ evaluations of the service businesses.

Understanding Scientific Literacy and Pedagogy Competence: A Critical Insight into Religious Integration Thinking Skills

This study aims to examine the scientific literacy and pedagogical competence on the ability to comprehend the religious integration amongst Islamic education pre-service teachers. This research used a quantitative approach involving 156 participants from several universities. Data were obtained through conducting survey. Data analysis was performed with bivariate correlation. Based on the data analysis carried out, the finding showed that the significant correlation between scientific literacy skills and pedagogy competence to the ability of religious integration thinking skills within Islamic religious content and values. This is based on the value of sig. (2-tailed) between X1 (Science Literacy) to the integration ability obtained that the value of 0,000, which means <0.05. This data proves that there is a significant correlation between the ability of scientific literacy skills and pedagogy skills to the ability of science integration comprehension amongst the Islamic education pre-service teachers. Received: 2 September 2021 / Accepted: 30 October 2021 / Published: 3 January 2022

Molecular Recognition and Shape Studies of 3- and 4-Substituted Diarylamide Quasiracemates

Families of quasiracemic materials constructed from 3- and 4-substituted chiral diarylamide molecular frameworks were prepared, where the imposed functional group differences systematically varied from H to CF3–9 unique components for each isomeric framework. Cocrystallization from the melt via hot stage thermomicroscopy using all possible racemic and quasiracemic combinations probed the structural boundaries of quasiracemate formation. The crystal structures and lattice energies (differential scanning calorimetry and lattice energy calculations) for many of these systems showed that quasienantiomeric components organize with near inversion symmetry and lattice energetics closely resembling those found in the racemic counterparts. This study also compared the shape space of pairs of quasienantiomers using an in silico alignment-based method to approximate the differences in molecular shape and provide a diagnostic tool for quasiracemate prediction. Comparing these results to our recent report on related 2-substituted diarylamide quasiracemates shows that functional group position can have a marked effect on quasiracemic behavior and provide critical insight to a more complete shape space, essential for defining molecular recognition processes.

Mechanisms underlying melanoma invasion as a consequence of MLK3 loss

Invasive melanoma is an aggressive form of skin cancer with high incidence of mortality. The process of invasion is a crucial primary step in the metastatic cascade, yet the mechanisms involved are still under investigation. Here we document a critical role for MLK3 (MAP3K11) in the regulation of melanoma cell invasion. We report that cellular loss of MLK3 in melanoma cells promotes cell invasion. Knock down of MLK3 expression results in the hyperactivation of ERK, which is linked to the formation of a BRAF/Hsp90/Cdc37 protein complex. ERK hyperactivation leads to enhanced phosphorylation and inactivation of GSK3β and the stabilization of c-Jun and JNK activity. Blocking of ERK and JNK signaling as well as Hsp90 activity downstream of MLK3-silencing significantly reduces melanoma invasion. Furthermore, our studies show that ERK activation in the aforementioned context is coupled to MT1-MMP transcription as well as the TOM1L1-dependent localization of the membrane protease to invadopodia at the invasive front. These studies provide critical insight into the mechanisms that couple MLK3 loss with BRAF hyperactivation and its consequence on melanoma invasion.

Critical Insight into Defects in Malaysia Hospital Buildings Maintenance Management

Healthcare buildings require efficient maintenance management to afford patients, visitors, and other users of hospital buildings such as healthcare professionals a serene and safe environment that accelerates wellbeing and provides maximum comfort. To achieve this goal, hospital buildings must adopt effective maintenance management approaches and services. Apart from ensuring the safety of the environment, users of the buildings must be satisfied with the quality of available services, particularly, those offered to patients. Against this backdrop, this study assesses the effects of defects on hospital buildings and analyzes the practicality of maintenance best practices such as sufficient allocations of funds and appropriate management of resources (including time and labor) towards the improvement of the prevalent status quo. This is important because the maintenance practices employed in hospitals intrinsically impact the performance of the hospital buildings as a result of defects. Survey questionnaires were administered to users of hospital buildings in Malaysia. The most significant defects reported concerned Algae on concrete floors, weather and climate conditions, and sanitary appliance & fittings damages. These defects depreciate the appearance, functionality and utility of hospital buildings thereby lessening their performance and efficiency. Therefore, this study asserts the pertinence of reevaluating the maintenance management approaches employed towards the rectification of the highlighted defects in hospital buildings across Malaysia. The study posits the adoption of systemic proactive maintenance procedures to preempt decay, causalities and reduce cost implications.

Using Ultrasound-Based Multilayer Perceptron to Differentiate Early Breast Mucinous Cancer and its Subtypes From Fibroadenoma

ObjectivesMucinous breast cancer (MBC), particularly pure MBC (pMBC), often tend to be confused with fibroadenoma (FA) due to their similar images and firm masses, so some MBC cases are misdiagnosed to be FA, which may cause poor prognosis. We analyzed the ultrasonic features and aimed to identify the ability of multilayer perceptron (MLP) to classify early MBC and its subtypes and FA.Materials and MethodsThe study consisted of 193 patients diagnosed with pMBC, mMBC, or FA. The area under curve (AUC) was calculated to assess the effectiveness of age and 10 ultrasound features in differentiating MBC from FA. We used the pairwise comparison to examine the differences among MBC subtypes (pure and mixed types) and FA. We utilized the MLP to differentiate MBC and its subtypes from FA.ResultsThe nine features with AUCs over 0.5 were as follows: age, echo pattern, shape, orientation, margin, echo rim, vascularity distribution, vascularity grade, and tumor size. In subtype analysis, the significant differences were obtained in 10 variables (p-value range, 0.000–0.037) among pMBC, mMBC, and FA, except posterior feature. Through MLP, the AUCs of predicting MBC and FA were both 0.919; the AUCs of predicting pMBC, mMBC, and FA were 0.875, 0.767, and 0.927, respectively.ConclusionOur study found that the MLP models based on ultrasonic characteristics and age can well distinguish MBC and its subtypes from FA. It may provide a critical insight into MBC preoperative clinical management.

Cellular and Molecular Mechanism of Liver Fibrosis: A Critical Insight

Diseases are there, some are curable but certain diseases are life threatening. The dreadfulness of liver fibrosis created much attention in 21st century among pharmaceutical researchers. Usually liver fibrosis is asymptomatic and patients with advanced cirrhosis symptoms will have limited scope for reversibility. Recognition of asymptomatic individuals by considering them as critical is the fundamental step to control the liver-related morbidity and mortality. By reviewing the previous mortality analysis around the globe it is reported that liver fibrosis is the second leading cause of mortality in US, fifth most common cause of death in Germany, UK as well as tenth most frequent cause of fatality in India and around 10 lakh patients are diagnosed globally in every year. Liver fibrosis often leads to cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma and progress towards liver failure which results due to excessive deposition of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins, especially collagen type-1 contributed by hepatic stellate cells. The current study is based on for analyzing the molecular basis of liver fibrosis so that, it will be helpful for finding its route cause in cellular level which will guide as a future direction for developing new theranostic approaches for the early diagnosis of liver fibrosis.