Do Better Customers Utilize Electronic Distribution Channels: The Case of PC Banking

Firms are increasingly implementing electronic distribution strategies to augment existing physical infrastructure for product and service delivery. However, to date there has been little systematic study on how these distribution channels affect customer profitability. In this study, we explore the revenue enhancement potential for electronic delivery in retail banking by comparing customers who utilize personal-computer based home banking ("PC Banking) to other bank customers. Our results, based on case studies and detailed customer data from four institutions, suggest that while PC banking customers appear to be more profitable, most of the differences are due to unobservable characteristics of these customers that were present before PC banking was adopted. Demographic characteristics and changes in customer behavior following the adoption of the product account for only a small fraction of the overall differences. We conclude that, at least to date, the primary potential value of the product is in the retention of high value customers rather than cost savings or incremental sales. Our results also suggest that it is important to distinguish behavioral changes from pre-existing customer characteristics when evaluating the impact of added electronic delivery channels.

Energy Loss from a Moving Vortex in Superfluid Helium

We present measurements on both energy loss and pinning for a vortex terminating on the curved surface of a cylindrical container. We vary surface roughness, cell diameter, fluid velocity, and temperature. Although energy loss and pinning both arise from interactions between the vortex and the surface, their dependences on the experimental parameters differ, suggesting that different mechanisms govern the two effects. We propose that the energy loss stems from reconnections with a mesh of microscopic vortices that covers the cell wall, while pinning is dominated by other influences such as the local fluid velocity.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figure

Methodologies for self-organising systems:a SPEM approach

We define ’SPEM fragments’ of five methods for developing self-organising multi-agent systems. Self-organising traffic lights controllers provide an application scenario

Process Variation as a Determinant of Service Quality and Bank Performance: Evidence from the Retail Banking Study

Conventional wisdom in retail banking states that firm performance is dependent on higher average process performance. This paper refutes conventional wisdom and provides empirical evidence, which demonstrates that low process variation contributes significantly to firm performance. More specifically, this paper examines the effect of process variation, caused by process variability, on service quality and financial performance, as measured by customer satisfaction and price-to-earnings ratio. This paper estimates process variation and reveals large variation in rocesses, reflecting large variation in firm strategy and process design. The data is from the

Frequency Of Development Of Connective Tissue Disease In Statin-Users Versus Nonusers

Statins have pleiotropic properties that may affect the development of connective tissue diseases (CTD). The objective of this study was to compare the risk of CTD diagnoses in statin users and nonusers. This study was a propensity score-matched analysis of adult patients (30 to 85 years old) in the San Antonio military medical community. The study was divided into baseline (October 1, 2003 to September 30, 2005), and follow-up (October 1, 2005 to March 5, 2010) periods. Statin users received a statin prescription during fiscal year 2005. Nonusers did not receive a statin at any time during the study. The outcome measure was the occurrence of 3 diagnosis codes of the International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision, Clinical Modification consistent with CTD. We described co-morbidities during the baseline period using the Charlson Comorbidity Index. We created a propensity score based on 41 variables. We then matched statin users and nonusers 1:1, using a caliper of 0.001. Of 46,488 patients who met study criteria (13,640 statin users and 32,848 nonusers), we matched 6,956 pairs of statin users and nonusers. Matched groups were similar in terms of patient age, gender, incidence of co-morbidities, total Charlson Comorbidity Index, health care use, and medication use. The odds ratio for CTD was lower in statin users than nonusers (odds ratio: 0.80; 95% confidence interval: 0.64 to 0.99; p = 0.05). Secondary analysis and sensitivity analysis confirmed these results. In conclusion, statin use was associated with a lower risk of CTD. Published by Elsevier Inc.Pharmac

Bridging the ensemble Kalman and particle filters

In many applications of Monte Carlo nonlinear filtering, the propagation step is computationally expensive, and hence the sample size is limited. With small sample sizes, the update step becomes crucial. Particle filtering suffers from the well-known problem of sample degeneracy. Ensemble Kalman filtering avoids this, at the expense of treating non-Gaussian features of the forecast distribution incorrectly. Here we introduce a procedure that makes a continuous transition indexed by γ∈[0,1] between the ensemble and the particle filter update. We propose automatic choices of the parameter γ such that the update stays as close as possible to the particle filter update subject to avoiding degeneracy. In various examples, we show that this procedure leads to updates that are able to handle non-Gaussian features of the forecast sample even in high-dimensional situation

Analysis and correction of the magnetic field effects in the Hybrid Photo-Detectors of the RICH2 Ring Imaging Cherenkov detector of LHCb

The Ring Imaging Cherenkov detectors of the LHCb experiment at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN are equipped with Hybrid Photo-Detectors. These vacuum photo-detectors are affected by the stray magnetic field of the LHCb magnet, which degrades their imaging properties. This effect increases the error on the Cherenkov angle measurement and would reduce the particle identification capabilities of LHCb. A system has been developed for the RICH2 Ring Imaging Cherenkov detector to perform a detailed characterisation of the magnetic distortion effects. It is described, along with the methods implemented to correct for these effects, restoring the optimal resolution.Comment: 16 pages, 11 figure

Mantle heterogeneity during the formation of the North Atlantic Igneous Province: Constraints from trace element and Sr-Nd-Os-O isotope systematics of Baffin Island picrites

Sr-Nd-Os-O isotope and major and trace element data from ~62 Ma picrites from Baffin Island constrain the composition of mantle sources sampled at the inception of North Atlantic Igneous Province (NAIP) magmatism. We recognize two compositional types. Depleted (N-type) lavas have low 87Sr/86Sri (0.702990–0.703060) and 187Os/188Osi (0.1220–0.1247) and high 143Nd/144Ndi (0.512989–0.512999) and are depleted in incompatible elements relative to primitive mantle. Enriched (E-type) lavas have higher 87Sr/86Sri (0.703306–0.703851) and 187Os/188Osi (0.1261–0.1303), lower 143Nd/144Ndi (0.512825–0.512906), and incompatible element concentrations similar to, or more enriched than, primitive mantle. There is also a subtle difference in oxygen isotope composition; E-type lavas are marginally lower in δ18Oolivine value (5.16–4.84‰) than N-type lavas (5.15–5.22‰). Chemical and isotopic variations between E- and N-type lavas are inconsistent with assimilation of crust and/or subcontinental lithospheric mantle and appear to instead reflect mixing between melts derived from two distinct mantle sources. Strontium-Nd-O isotope compositions and incompatible trace element abundances of N-type lavas suggest these are largely derived from the depleted upper mantle. The 187Os/188Osi ratios of N-type lavas can also be explained by such a model but require that the depleted upper mantle had γOs of approximately −5 to −7 at 62 Ma. This range overlaps the lowest γOs values measured in abyssal peridotites. Baffin Island lava compositions are also permissive of a model involving recharging of depleted upper mantle with 3He-rich material from the lower mantle (Stuart et al., Nature, 424, 57–59, 2003), with the proviso that recharge had no recognizable effect on the lithophile trace element and Sr-Nd-Os-O isotope composition. The origin of the enriched mantle component sampled by Baffin Island lavas is less clear but may be metasomatized and high-temperature-altered recycled oceanic lithosphere transported within the proto Iceland plume. Differences between Baffin Island lavas and modern Icelandic basalts suggest that a range of enriched and depleted mantle sources have been tapped since the inception of magmatism in the province. Similarities between Baffin Island lavas erupted and those of similar age from East and West Greenland also suggest that the enriched component in Baffin Island lavas may have been sampled by lavas erupted over a wide geographic range

Zapotec and Mixe use of Tropical Habitats for securing medicinal plants in MéXico

Medicinal plants are essential in the medical systems of the Mixe and Zapotec. In this study ethno-ecological strategies, employed by the two neighboring Indian groups in Mexico, for obtaining medicinal plants are analyzed. The indigenous classification of the environment is notably different from the Western one and distinguishes six dissimilar principal "zones” or land use types. Most ethnomedically important species are cultivated in the "house garden” or gathered in the community or its immediate surroundings. The house garden, for example, contributes 31.8% and 26.2% of all medical taxa for the Mixe and Zapotec, respectively. These ethnobotanical data on the indigenous uses indicate that anthropogenic types of vegetation yield the largest percentage of medicinal tax