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It is predicted that significant and ongoing investment in M-Commerce platforms and application development by commercial entities will fundamentally change consumers' shopping and web browsing behaviours. However, the evolving behaviour of Smart Phone users is somewhat tempered by concerns over M-Payments. If Smart Phones are to reach their full M-Commerce potential, the ability of consumers to transact and pay for products/services through these devices in an easy, safe and reliable manner must be addressed. In response, this paper contributes a theoretical model and empirically tests the model to explore Irish consumers' perceptions of using Smart Phones to make M-Payments for products/services. The findings present conclusive evidence that trust is the most powerful factor influencing consumers' willingness to use Smart Phones to make M-Payments. While perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use influence the payment decision, their impact is much lower. Mobile self-efficacy and personal innovativeness have almost no direct impact. The paper concludes that irrespective of individuals' high levels of personal innovativeness or mobile self-efficacy and irrespective of whether Smart Mobile Media Services are perceived as useful and easy to use, consumers will not make M-Payments, until they are convinced that Smart Phone M-Payment systems are safe and reliable. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Introduction Rabies lyssavirus causes a fatal neuroinfection with ca. 60000 human victims annually. Numerous species are reported to be susceptible to rabies virus, among them all mammalia and some birds. Such a broad taxonomic susceptibility to this pathogen might be explained via highly conservative molecular mechanisms, involved in virus attachment and infection development. There are 5 proteins, which are described to be cellular receptors for rabies virus, among them historically first nAChRα1 with delicately mapped binding site for rabies virus (RVBS) in T. californica. We hypothesize that RVBS in cholinergic structures might be highly conservative among species, explaining a broad susceptibility to rabies in numerous animals. Materials and methods All available orthologs of nAChRα1 (n=120), including invertebrates D. melanogaster and S. pistillata were downloaded from UniProt. The sequences were divided in 4 groups according to their taxonomy: Mammalia, Aves, Reptilia et Amphibia and Pisces. The multiple sequence alignment (MSA) of T-32 peptide (nAChRα1 rabies virus binding site in Torpedo californica) and α1-subunit orthologs was prepared in order to identify RVBS in different species. MSA was completed via Unipro UGENE V. 35 free software, using MAFFT algorithm. After identification of homologous regions in orthologs their sequences of 32 residues were taxonomically arranged in 4 groups. MSA of the 32-peptides was completed for each group, generating consensus sequences for Mammalia, Aves, Reptilia et Amphibia and Pisces, named M-32, A-32, RA-32 and P-32 respectively. Secondary and tertiary structures of 32-peptides was predicted via Jpred 4 and I-TASSER servers. The further step was in prediction of rabies virus glycoprotein (RVG), the key viral molecule for virus internalization, using the same servers. After obtaining the PDB model of RVG, molecular docking was completed in order to identify binding manner of 32-peptides with RVG via Hex 8.0.0. Results RVBS in nAChRα1 is highly conservative in evolution with 75% identic residues and 4 ultraconservative domains. 32-peptides, corresponding to the RVBS fold similarly and bind to RVG in the same manner. Conclusion Our in silico investigations suggest high conservativity of nAChRα1 in different animals, giving a reason for infectivity of Rabies lyssavirus in a wide range of species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the analysis of dispersion equation for transverse waves in magnetized electron–positron–ion plasma in which electrons and positrons are counter streaming parallel to the magnetic field. The dispersion relation is derived through the separate spin evolution-quantum hydrodynamic (SSE–QHD) model. We find that the electron–positron dynamics taking account of the SSE for each species reveals the existence of new stable modes with no classical counterpart. Further, we report for the first time the existence of a new positron streaming driven transverse mode. The streaming effect enhances the instability in the electron–positron–ion plasma as compared to the electron–ion plasma. Moreover, it is found that both the positron imbalance and the streaming effects enhance the instability while the spin polarization suppresses it. The relevance of the present work for astrophysical e–p–i plasmas is also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background & Aims Although proctitis is the most limited form of ulcerative colitis, it causes unpleasant symptoms. Topical mesalamine, the standard treatment, is not always effective. We conducted a randomized phase 2 trial to determine the efficacy and safety of 2 doses of a budesonide suppository vs mesalamine suppositories vs combined budesonide and mesalamine suppositories for proctitis. Methods We performed a prospective, double-blind, double-dummy, multicenter trial in 337 patients with active proctitis to compare the efficacies of 4 different suppository treatments. Patients were randomly assigned to groups given 2 mg budesonide suppositories (2 mg BUS; n = 89 patients), 4 mg BUS (n = 79), 1 g mesalamine suppositories (1 g MES; n = 81), or the combination of 2 mg BUS and 1 g MES (n = 88). The study was performed from November 2013 through July 2015 at 36 study sites in Europe and Russia. The primary end point was the time to resolution of clinical symptoms, defined as the first of 3 consecutive days with a score of 0 for rectal bleeding and stool frequency. Results The mean time to resolution of symptoms in the 4 mg BUS (29.8 days) and combination of 2 mg BUS and 1 g MES (29.3 days) groups resembled that of the standard 1 g MES treatment (29.2 days), but was significantly longer in the 2 mg BUS group (35.5 days). Furthermore, proportions of patients with deep, clinical, and endoscopic remission, as well as mucosal healing, were similar among the 1 g MES, 4 mg BUS, and combination therapy groups, but significantly lower in the group that received 2 mg BUS. No safety signals were observed, and the patients' treatment acceptance was high (67%–85% of patients). Conclusions In a multicenter randomized trial, we found that the efficacy and safety of 4 mg BUS in treatment of active proctitis did not differ significantly from those of 1 g MES. Budesonide suppositories offer an alternative therapy to mesalamine for topical treatment of proctitis. Clinicaltrialsregister.eu no: 2012-003362-41. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The shrinkage of the WC nanopowders with increased oxygen content during Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) was shown to be limited by the grain boundary diffusion with abnormally low activation energy. It was found that the reduction of the SPS activation energy may originate from the effect of oxygen on the diffusion permeability of the grain boundaries in tungsten carbide at the intensive compaction stage as well as from an abnormal grain growth at the high-temperature sintering stage. The kinetics of SPS of the WC-W 2 C–WO 3 –W nanopowders at the intense compaction stage is controlled by the sintering rate of the oxide particles with simultaneous transformation of these ones into the W 2 C particles and then, at the high-temperature sintering stage – by the plastic flow of the W 2 C particles in the presence of tungsten ones. The ceramic specimens with high density (98–99%) and ultrafine grained structure (mean grain size < 0.3 μm) having an increased hardness H v = 30.5 GPa at minimum Palmquist fracture toughness ~ 6.5 MPa m1/2 were obtained by SPS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The competitor hydrogen bonds are studied in the first examples of mercury complexes with SP(NHR) 3 ligands. The potential acceptors contributing the hydrogen bond assemblies are S, π and Cl, which have moderate/weak acceptor capabilities. The Cl/CH 3 groups used in the ligands/complexes have the same volume but different electronic properties. [Display omitted] • The first HgII—SP(NHR) 3 structures. • Competitor hydrogen-bond acceptors. • NMR, IR, AIM, NBO, RDG and HS analyses. • Conformational studies in Cl/CH 3 -substituted benzyl moieties. • Comparison of experimental and theoretical results. The phosphorothioic triamides (4-Cl-C 6 H 4 CH 2 NH) 3 P(S) (I) and (4-CH 3 -C 6 H 4 CH 2 NH) 3 P(S) (II) were synthesized to study their coordination behaviors towards Hg(II) cation. The resulting complexes, [(4-Cl-C 6 H 4 CH 2 NH) 3 P(S)] 2 Hg 2 Cl 4 (III) and [(4-CH 3 -C 6 H 4 CH 2 NH) 3 P(S)] 2 Hg 2 Cl 4 (IV), are the first examples of mercury complexes with SP(NHR) 3 ligands characterized by X-ray crystallography. The presence of NH/CH units and some potential competitor acceptors with moderate/weak acceptor capabilities (sulfur, chlorine and π system) provides the opportunity to study the hydrogen bond elements of (I), (III) and (IV), structurally and of all four compounds theoretically. The strengths of inter- and intramolecular hydrogen bonds were assessed by quantum chemical calculations (Atoms In Molecules (AIM), and Natural Bond Orbital (NBO)), and the internal interactions were further examined by reduced density gradient (RDG) analysis. The differences/similarities of structures were addressed in the view point of geometry, conformations related to flexible substituted benzyl moieties, crowding in the structures and non-bonded contacts, stabilization of four-membered Hg 2 Cl 2 rings and some topics related to solution nuclear magnetic resonance studies (chemical shifts and coupling constants). The similarity of structures investigated allowed for a precise assignment of vibrational frequencies. A survey of the Hg—S P segment in the Cambridge Structural Database shows that the Hg—S bond lengths in (III) and (IV) are among the smallest Hg—S bonds in the structures with the thiophosphoryl-holding ligands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transparent ytterbium-doped yttria ceramics, 2 at.% Yb:Y 2 O 3 , were fabricated by hot uniaxial pressing in vacuum at 1550 °C/50 MPa followed by a two-stage Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIPing) at 1200–1400 °C/100 MPa, using nanopowders obtained by self-propagating high-temperature synthesis (with lithium fluoride serving as a sintering aid). The addition of LiF during the powder synthesis markedly changed the morphology of powders, and at the stage of hot pressing, drastically reduced the carbon contamination of ceramics, as well as stimulated sintering without formation of the liquid phase. The spectroscopic properties of ceramics were studied. The stimulated-emission cross-section for Yb3+ ions is 0.90 × 10−20 cm2 at 1030.4 nm and the luminescence lifetime is 797 μs. A continuous-wave 2 at.% Yb:Y 2 O 3 ceramic laser generated an output power of 735 mW at 1027–1034 nm with a slope efficiency of 64.5% and a laser threshold of 0.28 W. • Yb:Y 2 O 3 ceramic is produced by HPing and two-stage HIPing at 1200–1400 °C/100 MPa. • Lithium fluoride is used as a sintering aid improving the optical quality of ceramics. • The microstructure, spectroscopic and laser properties of Yb:Y 2 O 3 ceramic are studied. • The stimulated-emission cross-section for Yb3+ ions is 0.90 × 10−20 cm2 at 1030.4 nm. • Yb:Y 2 O 3 ceramic laser generated 735 mW at 1027–1034 nm with a 64.5% slope efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Chronic pain affects approximately 7.6 million Canadians and access to care remains an issue. The Power Over Pain (POP) Portal offers immediate access to evidence-based resources ranging from low- (e.g. education, self-management), to high- (e.g. individual counseling) intensity. We explored the POP Portal's acceptability, usability, and perceived usefulness among patients newly referred to a tertiary care pain clinic., Methods: We used a descriptive, qualitative approach with a prospective cohort of 60 adult patients recently referred to The Ottawa Hospital Pain Clinic. Patients were offered an orientation session and asked to participate in a seven-week follow-up interview. Data were thematically analyzed in an iterative process, whereby responses were reviewed and coded by two members of the research team., Results: Of the 60 patients referred to the POP Portal by clinic clerks, 45 participated in the orientation session, and 40 completed a four-week follow-up. All 40 patients had used the POP Portal and recommended that we continue to offer the POP Portal to patients awaiting care. We identified overarching themes of acceptability (five subthemes), usability (ten subthemes), accessibility (three subthemes), and patient value of the POP Portal (three subthemes). This includes (1) the POP Portal provides easy access to chronic pain resources; (2) the POP Portal is helpful in developing an understanding of chronic pain; and (3) improvements to the POP Portal are needed to increase usability and foster a user-friendly experience., Conclusions: The POP Portal offers accessible and diverse resources for people living with pain awaiting a tertiary care consultation; however, patients would like to see resources specific to diagnosis. Improvements are suggested to allow greater increase the POP Portal usability., Competing Interests: The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article., (© The Author(s) 2024.)

Although lead scoring is an essential component of lead management, there is a lack of a comprehensive literature review and a classification framework dedicated to it. Lead scoring is an effective and efficient way of measuring the quality of leads. In addition, as a critical Information Technology tool, a proper lead scoring model acts as an alleviator to weaken the conflicts between sales and marketing functions. Yet, little is known regarding lead scoring models and their impact on sales performance. Lead scoring models are commonly categorized into two classes: traditional and predictive. While the former primarily relies on the experience and knowledge of salespeople and marketers, the latter utilizes data mining models and machine learning algorithms to support the scoring process. This study aims to review and analyze the existing literature on lead scoring models and their impact on sales performance. A systematic literature review was conducted to examine lead scoring models. A total of 44 studies have met the criteria and were included for analysis. Fourteen metrics were identified to measure the impact of lead scoring models on sales performance. With the increased use of data mining and machine learning techniques in the fourth industrial revolution, predictive lead scoring models are expected to replace traditional lead scoring models as they positively impact sales performance. Despite the relative cost of implementing and maintaining predictive lead scoring models, it is still beneficial to supersede traditional lead scoring models, given the higher effectiveness and efficiency of predictive lead scoring models. This study reveals that classification is the most popular data mining model, while decision tree and logistic regression are the most applied algorithms among all the predictive lead scoring models. This study contributes by systematizing and recommending which machine learning method (i.e., supervised and/or unsupervised) shall be used to build predictive lead scoring models based on the integrity of different types of data sources. Additionally, this study offers both theoretical and practical research directions in the lead scoring field., Competing Interests: Conflict of interestThe authors declare that they have no conflict of interest., (© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2023, Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.)

Traditional quantum hydrodynamics of Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) is restricted by the continuity and Euler equations. The quantum Bohm potential (the quantum part of the momentum flux) has a nontrivial part that can evolve under quantum fluctuations. The quantum fluctuations are the effect of the appearance of particles in the excited states during the evolution of BEC mainly consisting of the particles in the quantum state with the lowest energy. To cover this phenomenon in terms of hydrodynamic methods, we need to derive equations for the momentum flux and the current of the momentum flux. The current of the momentum flux evolution equation contains the interaction leading to the quantum fluctuations. In the dipolar BECs, we deal with the long-range interaction. Its contribution is proportional to the average macroscopic potential of the dipole-dipole interaction (DDI) appearing in the mean-field regime. The current of the momentum flux evolution equation contains the third derivative of this potential. It is responsible for the dipolar part of quantum fluctuations. Higher derivatives correspond to the small scale contributions of the DDI. The quantum fluctuations lead to the existence of the second wave solution. The quantum fluctuations introduce the instability of the BECs. If the dipole-dipole interaction is attractive, but being smaller than the repulsive short-range interaction presented by the first interaction constant, there is the long-wavelength instability. There is a more complex picture for the repulsive DDI. There is the small area with the long-wavelength instability that transits into a stability interval where two waves exist.

Background: The objective of this research is to examine, conceptualize, and empirically validate a model of mobile health (mHealth) impacts on physicians' perceived quality of care delivery (PQoC)., Methods: Observational quasi-experimental one group posttest-only design was implemented through the empirical testing of the conceptual model with nine hypotheses related to the association of task and technology characteristics, self-efficacy, m-health utilization, task-technology fit (TTF), and their relationships with PQoC. Primary data was collected over a four-month period from acute care physicians in The Ottawa Hospital, Ontario, Canada. The self-reported data was collected by employing a survey and distributed through the internal hospital channels to physicians who adopted iPads for their daily activities., Results: Physicians' PQoC was found to be positively affected by the level of mHealth utilization and TTF, while the magnitude of the TTF direct effect was two times stronger than utilization. Additionally, self-efficacy has the highest direct and total effect on mHealth utilization; in the formation of TTF, technological characteristics dominate followed by task characteristics., Conclusion: To date, the impact of utilized mHealth on PQoC has neither been richly theorized nor explored in depth. We address this gap in existing literature. Realizing how an organization can improve TTF will lead to better PQoC.

The study of one-dimensional coordination polymers {Hg 2 Cl 4 L 1 } n (1), {HgBr 2 L 1 } n (2) and {Hg 2 Cl 4 L 2 } n (3) (L 1 = (S)P(OC 2 H 5 ) 2 NHC 6 H 4 NHP(S)(OC 2 H 5 ) 2 and L 2 = (S)P(OC 2 H 5 ) 2 NC 4 H 8 NP(S)(OC 2 H 5 ) 2 ) is the first such structural study of Hg(ii) coordination polymers with (O) 2 (N)PS-based ligands. The mercury atoms adopt a distorted trigonal pyramidal environment, Hg(Cl) 3 (S) for 1 and 3 and Hg(Br) 2 (S) 2 for 2, and the difference observed in the stoichiometry of mercury halide to the thiophosphoramide ligand in 1 and 3 with respect to the one in 2 is a result of the formation of the Hg 2 Cl 2 ring, however, the molar ratio 2 : 1 of HgX 2 (X = Cl and Br) to ligand was used for the preparation of all three complexes. The strengths of mercury-sulfur and mercury-halide covalent bonds are evaluated by theoretical calculations (QTAIM and NBO) which show their principally electrostatic nature with a partial covalent contribution. The energies of interactions building supramolecular assemblies and intramolecular interactions, i.e. NHCl, NHBr, CHCl, CHBr, CHO, CHS and CHπ, are theoretically evaluated. The characteristic structural features arising from the aromatic/aliphatic linkers in the ligands and chloride/bromide attached to mercury are investigated by Hirshfeld surface analysis and fingerprint plots.

Regardless of potential benefits and better outcomes, adoption of shared decision-making between a patient and providers involved in his/her care is still in its infancy. This paper intends to fill this gap by formalizing shared decision-making, situating it as part of team-based care delivery, and incorporating workflow concepts allowing for identification of shared decision-making tasks. We accomplish that by creating novel shared decision-making ontology which constitutes the first step required in the development of a decision support system for shared decision-making. The proposed ontology formally defines and describes the key concepts and relations in the shared decision-making domain and lays the foundation for the formalization and support of the patient management process. We illustrate the applicability of the proposed ontology by creating its instantiation for the complex patient management scenario involving shared decision-making about the treatment of metastatic spinal cord compression.

Social information systems (SISs) will play a key role in healthcare systems' transformation into collaborative patient-centered systems that support care delivery across the entire continuum of care. SISs enable the development of collaborative networks andfacilitate relationships to integrate people and processes across time and space. However, we believe that a "connectivity" issue, which refers to the scope and extent of system requirements for a SIS, is a significant challenge of SIS design. This paper's contribution is the development of the Social Information System Connectivity Framework for supporting SIS design in healthcare. The framework has three parts. First, it defines the structure of a SIS as a set of social triads. Second, it identifies six dimensions that represent the behaviour of a SIS. Third, it proposes the Social Information System Connectivity Factor as our approximation of the extent of connectivity and degree of complexity in a SIS.

Participatory medicine refers to the equal participation of patients and interdisciplinary healthcare team (IHT) members as part of care delivery. Facilitating workflow execution is a significant challenge for participatory medicine because of the need to integrate IHT members into a common workflow. A further challenge is that patient preferences should be considered when executing a workflow. To date there is limited research on supporting patient workflow as part of participatory medicine practices. To address that shortcoming we used a two-phase approach to develop a framework for participatory medicine that integrates different IHT members and workflows including the incorporation of patient preferences about care delivery options. Our framework uses a domain ontology to define the patient, IHT concepts and relations, as well as a workflow for operationalizing participatory medicine via an IHT. Proof of concept of the proposed framework is illustrated with a palliative care pain management case study.

The asymmetric unit of the title compound, [Sb(C6H5)3(C10H9O3)2]·C6H6, contains one organometallic mol-ecule and one benzene mol-ecule that is disordered over two sets of sites with an occupancy ratio of 0.556 (15):0.444 (15). The Sb(V) atom is in a distorted trigonal-bipyramidal environment with the carboxyl-ate O atoms in axial positions and phenyl C atoms in the equatorial plane. As a result of additional Sb⋯O inter-actions, one of the C-Sb-C angles is widened to 140.19 (6)°.