130,936 research outputs found
ORGANIZATIONAL ASPECT OF IMPLEMENTATION OF EMV TECHNOLOGY FOR DINERS CLUB CARD
Full text linkV diplomskem delu sem opisala in tako predstavila organizacijo uvedbe EMV-tehnologije v podjetju Erste Card, d. o. o. Poudarek je predvsem na organizaciji in ne na tehničnih in informacijskih podrobnostih uvedbe.
Ker je uvedba EMV-tehnologije v podjetju Erste Card, d. o. o., nov dejavnik, sem opisala ključne spremembe, ki so in bodo vplivale na organizacijo nekaterih delovnih procesov v različnih sektorjih.
Zaradi uvedbe EMV-tehnologije smo na nekaterih področjih organizirali dodatne dejavnosti, ki se bodo odvijale kot enkratni dogodki, s tem so mišljeni začetni razgovori na bankah in v procesnih centrih, priprava infrastrukture na POS-terminalih in programski opremi podjetja Erste Card, d. o. o., ter testiranja POS-terminalov. Tudi priprava novih pogodb, aneksov, navodil ter obveščanje trgovcev in obstoječih imetnikov o novi, pametni kartici Diners Club imajo v organizaciji uvedbe EMV-tehnologije značaj enkratnega dogodka.
Ostale nove dejavnosti pa bodo stalne, odvijale se bodo občasno ali vsakodnevno. Največ organizacijskih sprememb bo v Službi podpore prodaji, Službi plačilnega prometa, Službi operativnega tveganja in Službi mreže prodajnih mest. Spremenili se bodo procesi, vezani na reklamacije članov, certifikacijo novih POS-terminalov, izdelavo in distribucijo pametnih kartic ter operativno tveganje.
Naredili smo oceno učinkov, kjer smo ugotovili, da prevladujejo prednosti za podjetje. Slabosti, če jih lahko tako imenujemo, so ugotovljene predvsem za imetnike kartic, vendar v smislu njihove varnosti, saj je PIN ključni element, ki ga bodo potrebovali pri poslovanju s pametno kartico.
Prenos odgovornosti je glavni razlog uvedbe EMV-tehnologije v podjetju, saj bi, če te zahteve DCI ne bi izpolnili, v prihodnosti krili vse stroške zlorab v vseh franšizah, ki novo tehnologijo že uporabljajo.The goal of this diploma is to introduce organizational changes, sparked by introduction of EMV technology for Diners Club cards. The main focus is on organizational, much less on technical and informatical details of implementation.
EMV technology is a novelty for Erste Card, so we try to explain key changes, which will influence current organization of internal and some external processes, that are performed in different Sectors of our Company, during and after the project.
Because of the implementation of new, EMV Technology, we had to organize additional activities, which will only occur during the project. They include initial meetings and workshops with Banks and Process centers, improvements on infrastructure (POS terminals) and on software, both inside Erste Card and at our partners. Also important will be a thorough testing of new functionalities. Added to that, we will need to prepare new contracts and anexes, manuals with all the data about new, smart card for our merchants and so on.
Other activities will be permanent, they will be performed in different time intervals. Most affected departments will be Issuing, Finance, Credit Control and also Acquiring. Some of the processes will be changed, mostly Customers complaints, New POS Terminal certifications, production and distribution of new, Chip Cards and also operational risk procedures.
We did a raw estimation of all the impacts and found out that strenghts and oportunities outscore possible threats and weaknesses. Most problems are connected with Cardholders, but not by impacting their security. PIN is a key element that will make the new product safe for use.
For Erste Card d.o.o., liability shift is the main reason for implementation of EMV Technology. If we would not enhance current magnetic stripe cards, we would be under threat to cover all the expences for possible fraud, related to our portfolio of cards, against all franchises that are already using PIN and Chip technology
Etiology of Balkan endemic nephropathy and associated urothelial cancer
No full textBalkan endemic nephropathy (BEN) is a familial chronic tubulointerstitial disease with insidious onset and slow progression to terminal renal failure. Evidence has accumulated that BEN is an environmentally induced disease. There are three actual theories attempting to explain the environmental cause of this disease: (1) the aristolochic acid hypothesis, which considers that the disease is produced by chronic intoxication with Aristolochia, (2) the mycotoxin hypothesis, which considers that BEN is produced by ochratoxin A, and (3) the Pliocene lignite hypothesis, which proposes that the disease is caused by long-term exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and other toxic organic compounds leaching into the well drinking water from low-rank coals in the vicinity to the endemic settlements. Moreover, it was suggested that BEN risk is influenced by inherited susceptibility. Therefore, it has been expected that molecular biological investigations will discover genetic markers of BEN and associated urothelial cancer, permitting early identification of susceptible individuals who may be at risk of exposure to the environmental agents. Since kidney pathophysiology is complex, gene expression analysis and highly throughput proteomic technology can identify candidate genes, proteins and molecule networks that eventually could play a role in BEN development. Investigation of gene-gene and gene-environment interactions could be the content of further studies determining the precise risk for BEN. Copyright (C) 2006 S. Karger AG, Basel
MeSH term explosion and author rank improve expert recommendations
Full text linkInformation overload is an often-cited phenomenon that reduces the productivity, efficiency and efficacy of scientists. One challenge for scientists is to find appropriate collaborators in their research. The literature describes various solutions to the problem of expertise location, but most current approaches do not appear to be very suitable for expert recommendations in biomedical research. In this study, we present the development and initial evaluation of a vector space model-based algorithm to calculate researcher similarity using four inputs: 1) MeSH terms of publications; 2) MeSH terms and author rank; 3) exploded MeSH terms; and 4) exploded MeSH terms and author rank. We developed and evaluated the algorithm using a data set of 17,525 authors and their 22,542 papers. On average, our algorithms correctly predicted 2.5 of the top 5/10 coauthors of individual scientists. Exploded MeSH and author rank outperformed all other algorithms in accuracy, followed closely by MeSH and author rank. Our results show that the accuracy of MeSH term-based matching can be enhanced with other metadata such as author rank
Determination of thiopurine methyltransferase phenotype in isolated human erythrocytes using a new simple nonradioactive HPLC method
No full textGenetic polymorphism of the S-methylation pathway catalyzed by thiopurine methyltransferase (TPMT) is responsible for variation in the metabolism, toxicity, and therapeutic efficacy of thiopurine drugs. This paper describe a new simple, nonradioactive HPLC method for determination of TPMT activity in isolated erythrocytes (Ery), based on the conversion of 6-mercaptopurine (pH 7.5, 37degreesC) to 6-methylmercaptopurine (6-MMP) using S-adenosyl-L-methionine as methyl donor. The incubation step was stopped by a mixture of trichloroacetic acid/acetonitrile containing the internal standard 4-aminoacetophenone. 6-MMP was quantified by absorbance at 290 nm after chromatographic separation on a Zorbax SB-Phenyl column (5 mum, 4.6 x 250 mm) using mobile phases (flow rate 1.1 mL/min) consisting of acetonitrile, phosphate buffer pH 3.0, triethylamine, and dithiothreitol. The assay was linear up to 50 nmol/(mL Ery (.) h), and the detection limit was 0.3 nmol/(mL Ery (.) h). The extraction efficiency of 6-MMP was 95-103% (n = 3), and its analytic recovery ranged between 98.3% and 101.8% (n = 12). The within-day imprecision using pooled human erythrocytes (n = 12) was 4.4% at a TPMT activity of 14.3 nmol/(mL Ery (.) h) and 4.9% at 6.5 nmol/(mL Ery (.) h). The between-day imprecision (n = 12) was 6.8% and 7.5% nmol/(mL Ery (.) h), respectively. A very good agreement was found between TPMT activity determined with this method (y) and a widely used radiochemical procedure (x) (r = 0.94; n = 130; y = 0.502 + 0.946x; P < 0.05). Genotype analysis of all individuals with TPMT activity under 12.5 nmol/(mL Ery (.) h) revealed a genotype/phenotype concordance of 86%. The new HPLC method for determination of TPMT activity in Ery is a simple, rapid, and reliable nonradioactive procedure that can be successfully used for both research and routine clinical analysis
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
"Closing the R&D Gap, Evaluating the Sources of R&D Spending"
Full text linkBoth spending and tax policies have been implemented in the United States with the goal of stimulating private sector research and development (R&D). Karier questions whether current R&D policy, especially the research and experimentation tax credit, can contribute to closing the gap between nondefense expenditures on R&D in the United States and such expenditures in other countries, such as Japan and Germany. He also explores possible changes to our current R&D policy to make it more effective.
Phenotypic and genotypic analysis of thiopurine S-methyltransferase polymorphism in the Bulgarian population
No full textGenetic polymorphism of TPMT activity is an important factor responsible for large individual differences in thiopurine toxicity and therapeutic efficacy. The aim of this study was to determine the distribution of TPMT activity as well as the types and frequencies of mutant alleles in a Bulgarian population sample. TPMT activity was measured in 313 Bulgarians, using an established HPLC procedure. All individuals with TPMT activity less than 12.0 nmol/(mL Ery (.) h) (n = 76) were additionally genotyped using a color multiplex hybridization assay. The samples were tested for TPMT 2, 3A, 3B, 3C, 3D, 4, and 6 mutant alleles. TPMT activities varied from 1.1 to 24.0 nmol/(mL Ery (.) h) [mean 14.2 +/- 3.2 nmol/(mL Ery (.) h)]: 92.3% of the individuals investigated had high TPMT activity [>10 nmol/(mL Ery (.) h)], whereas 7.4% were intermediate [2.8-10 nmol/(mL Ery (.) h)], and 0.3% were low metabolizers [<2.8 nmol/(mL Ery (.) h)]. A significant gender-related difference in TPMT activity (P = 0.02) was observed with 6.2% higher values in men than in women. There was no significant correlation between age and enzyme activity (r = 0.06, P = 0.27). Genotype analysis revealed three mutant TPMT alleles: 2, 3A, and 3C. The frequency of these alleles among the TPMT-deficient individuals was 2.17%, 30.4%, and 2.17%, respectively. These data show a similar distribution of TPMT activity among the Bulgarian population investigated as in most other white populations with the frequency of intermediate metabolizers being somewhat lower (7.4% versus similar to11%) in the Bulgarians. The most common variant allele was TPMT-3A, as in other white populations
Phenotypic and genotypic analysis of thiopurine S-methyltransferase polymorphism in the Bulgarian population
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