A Simulation Model of Mobile Banking Acceptance by Bank Customers Using the System Dynamics Approach

Acceptance of new technology and developed products is one of the main interest of innovative organization’s managers. Service organizations create value for their customers through the development of new products and services and can earn profit from this. New products development lead to high R&D costs, and if the new products and services are not accepted by target customers, the expected profit will not be achieved. The purpose of the present research is to provide a deep insight about effective factors for mobile banks’ acceptance. Mobile-bank is an e-banking channel with the ability to earn income and profit as well as reduce the cost of operation for banks. So, understanding the effective factors as well as the dynamics in the process of acceptance and diffusion it by customers has importance for managers of banks. In this research, after reviewing the related literature about technology acceptance, and identifying the variables affecting the acceptance of mobile banking, a system dynamics model was presented which by representing the causal structure and simulation model, can analyze the dynamics of the acceptance process. The results of implementing the four scenarios were simulated and analyzed. The results show that the improvement of effective factors on the intention to use of customers is more effective than other policies, such as promotion advertising and development of new services and feature in the current mobile ban

A Novel and Sensitive Method for the Determination of Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin) in Urine and Pharmaceutical Samples Using an Aqueous Two-Phase Extraction

A novel, simple, and more sensitive spectrophotometric procedure has been developed for the determination of vitamin B2 (riboflavin) by an aqueous two-phase extraction (ATPE). An ATPE is formed mostly by water and does not require an organic solvent. Other ATPE components used in this study were the polymer, polyethylene glycol (PEG), and some salts such as Na2SO4 and Na2CO3. The method is based on the interaction between vitamin B2 (riboflavin) and sodium sulfate (Na2SO4) in an acidic medium (pH 6.4). The influences of effective parameters such as salt (type and concentration), polyethylene glycol (molecular weight and concentration), temperature, centrifuging time, and pH of the sample solution were studied and optimized. The linear range was 1.3–320 ng/mL (R2=0.9991; n=10) with the relative standard deviation (RSD) for 60 ng/mL 3.68%. The limit of detection (LOD) calculated from three times of standard deviation of blank were 0.2 ng/mL and recoveries from analysis of real samples between 94.82% and 103.98% were obtained for the determination of vitamin B2 (riboflavin) in urine and pharmaceutical samples

Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy Via the Spatially Resolved Technique Using Non-Gated Detector

We present a simple setup for laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy using the spatially resolved technique (SRLIBS). We show that, without any need for time-gated ICCD and pulse generator, the signal-to-background ratio is enhanced. We develop a homemade spectrograph with a movable slit located at its entrance to detect different parts of the plasma emission. For optimizing the position of the slit, we use the shadowgraphy technique to study the plasma expansion. In this low cost setup, with nanosecond laser pulses, we perform SRLIBS experiments on the plasma induced in air and iron. Our results show that the signal-to-background ratio for iron and air is enhanced up to 15 and 8 times, respectively

Preparation and Evaluation of Immunogenicity of Chitosan Nanoparticles Containing Tetanotoxin in Comparison with Freund\'s Adjuvant in Mouse Model for Improvement of Tetanus Vaccine after Subcutaneous Injection

Background and Objectives: Tetanus is a deadly zoonotic infectious disease. For nearly a century, tetanus vaccine has been produced and used. This study was carried out with the aim of preparation and evaluation of immunogenicity of chitosan nanoparticles containing tetanotoxin in comparison with Freund's adjuvant in mouse model for improvement of tetanus vaccine after subcutaneous onjection. Methods: In this experimental study, chitosan nanoparticles synthesis containing tetanus toxoid was performed using ionic gelation method. The morphology of nanoparticles was investigated using SEM and AFM, then, the nanoparticles were subcutaneously injected into mice and two weeks after the end of injection, blood was taken. Antibody titer was measured by indirect ELISA. Data were analyzed using one-way one-way ANOVA and Tukey test at significance level of p<0.05. Results: High-load antigen (uniform spherical morphology and the mean size of 144), were encapsulated in chitosan nanoparticles. After serum analysis, IgG antibody titer was significantly different between the mice that received antigen as nanoparticle and the control group, but no significant difference was observed in the antigen with Freund&rsquo;s adjuvant group. Conclusion: Based on the results of this study, tetanus toxoid injection using nanoproces is able to induce humoral immune response almost equal to Freund&rsquo;s adjuvant and can be an appropriate alternative

Predictors of Long-term Outcome in Patients with Acute Coronary Syndrome Undergoing Percutaneous Coronary Intervention: A single center registry (THCR)

Background: This study sought to access differences in long-term (9 months) outcomes between Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS) patients who undergo early intervention compared to Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI) in stable and refractory conditions. Methods: Data originated from Tehran Heart Center Registry- interventional cardiology (THCR-IC) and consisted of 1267 patients divided into two categories; 227 patients had features corresponding to acute coronary syndromes (17.9%) and 1040 patients suffered from stable angina (82.1%). They were admitted between April 3, 2003 and April 25, 2004. Results: The clinical success rate of PCI was higher in ACS (97% vs. 94%; P=0.037), while In-hospital complications were similar in both groups. During the follow-up period, clinical restenosis was not significantly different and the overall number of re-interventions caused by restenosis or progression was not more frequent in ACS patients. Also, 1.3% of ACS and 0.4% of SA patients died, but the difference was not statistically significant (P=0.16). Finally, Major Adverse Cardiac Events (MACE) showed no significant difference (5.2% vs. 3.9%; P=0.42). Multivariate analysis showed that female sex (OR=25.6; P=0.003) and previous history of PCI (OR=8.4; P=0.016) were the only strong independent risk factors for major adverse cardiac events. Analyzing ACS patient outcomes using Mantel-Hanzel analysis showed that the female sex was the only factor which strongly increased the incidence of MACE.Conclusion: Both ACS and SA patients who underwent coronary intervention had similar in-hospital and composite major adverse cardiac events, nevertheless female gender must be considered as an independent risk factor for major adverse cardiac events especially in patients with acute coronary syndrome who undergo PCI

Distinct cryo-EM Structure of α-synuclein Filaments derived by Tau

AbstractRecent structural studies of ex vivo amyloid filaments extracted from human patients demonstrated that the ex vivo filaments associated with different disease phenotypes adopt diverse molecular conformations distinct from those in vitro amyloid filaments. A very recent cryo-EM structural study also revealed that ex vivo α-synuclein filaments extracted from multiple system atrophy (MSA) patients adopt quite distinct molecular structures from those of in vitro α-synuclein filaments, suggesting the presence of co-factors for α-synuclein aggregation in vivo. Here, we report structural characterizations of α-synuclein filaments derived by a potential co-factor, tau, using cryo-EM and solid-state NMR. Our cryo-EM structure of the tau-promoted α-synuclein filament at 4.0 Å resolution is somewhat similar to one of the polymorphs of in vitro α-synuclein filaments. However, the N- and C-terminal regions of the tau-promoted α-synuclein filament have different molecular conformations. Our structural studies highlight the conformational plasticity of α-synuclein filaments, requiring additional structural investigation of not only more ex vivo α-synuclein filaments, but also in vitro α-synuclein filaments formed in the presence of diverse co-factors to better understand molecular basis of diverse molecular conformations of α-synuclein filaments.</jats:p