SMS Advertising in India: Is TAM a Robust Model for Explaining Intention?

This study examined mobile users’ intentions to receive SMS advertising in India using Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) as research framework. 242 respondents completed a structured questionnaire; measuring their responses for the TAM’s five constructs viz. perceived utility, perceived ease of use, perceived trust, attitude and intention. Using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) both measurement model and structural model testing was done to analyze the data. Findings indicated that specified TAM model contributed to 81.8% of variance in the intention to receive SMS advertising and was a valid model in explaining the intention to receive SMS advertising. Study further indicated that perceived utility was much better predictor of attitude towards SMS advertising than perceived ease of use and perceived trust. Study suggested marketers that to increase acceptance of SMS advertising they should focus more on increasing utility of SMS ads, so that users would develop positive attitudes towards SMS advertising

Optimal Fair Scheduling in S-TDMA Sensor Networks for Monitoring River Plumes

Underwater wireless sensor networks (UWSNs) are a promising technology to provide oceanographers with environmental data in real time. Suitable network topologies to monitor estuaries are formed by strings coming together to a sink node.This network may be understood as an oriented graph. A number of MAC techniques can be used in UWSNs, but Spatial-TDMA is preferred for fixed networks. In this paper, a scheduling procedure to obtain the optimal fair frame is presented, under ideal conditions of synchronization and transmission errors. The main objective is to find the theoretical maximum throughput by overlapping the transmissions of the nodes while keeping a balanced received data rate from each sensor, regardless of its location in the network. The procedure searches for all cliques of the compatibility matrix of the network graph and solves a Multiple-Vector Bin Packing (MVBP) problem. This work addresses the optimization problem and provides analytical and numerical results for both the minimum frame length and the maximum achievable throughput

Optimal scheduling and fair servicepolicy for STDMA in underwater networks with acoustic communications

In this work, a multi-hop string network with a single sink node is analyzed. A periodic optimal scheduling for TDMA operation that considers the characteristic long propagation delay of the underwater acoustic channel is presented. This planning of transmissions is obtained with the help of a new geometrical method based on a 2D lattice in the space-time domain. In order to evaluate the performance of this optimal scheduling, two service policies have been compared: FIFO and Round-Robin. Simulation results, including achievable throughput, packet delay, and queue length, are shown. The network fairness has also been quantified with the Gini index

Nuevo método para determinar la proporción de esmectita dioctaédrica en sedimentos y suelos mediante análisis termogravimétrico

1 página, 2 figuras.-- Comunicación presentada en la XXVII Reunión de la Sociedad Española de Mineralogía, celebrada en Jaén entre el 11 y 14 de Septiembre de 2007.Peer reviewe

Preliminary study of the impact of Guadalhorce river mouth channeling (Málaga, Spain) on groundwater and related wetlands

Se trata de resultados preliminares que se están obteniendo en el Bajo Guadalhorce, en el marco de la tesis doctoral del primer firmanteIn riverine areas, many anthropogenic actions (modification of natural water courses, burying or channeling works, etc.) have been commonly applied worldwide to prevent floods in rivers, having negative environmental impacts on their dependent ecosystems. In the Guadalhorce River mouth (Málaga, Southern Spain), channeling works -including the splitting of the main channel into two branches before arriving to the sea- were conducted to reduce the flood risk in the surrounding urbanized areas near to the Mediterranean coast. In the framework of the monitoring program of the Guadalhorce Delta Wetlands, located between the branches of the ending river stretch, measurements of electrical conductivity in wetland water and groundwater table were performed, as well as the sampling of both water types. The results show a progressive increasing in the mineralization of wetland water, reaching values 50 times higher than the original ones. In the underlying aquifers, the mineralization of groundwater is generally less variable and lower than the recorded in the eighties and nineties, when a salt intrusion episode occurred. Before the river channel modification, the water flow from the aquifer to the wetlands and toward the river in its mouth was deduced. Today, the wetlands recharge locally the Quaternary aquifer and, consequently, induce the groundwater flow towards the both branches of the river and Mediterranean Sea. The variation of the morphodynamics in the Guadalhorce River mouth and the associated changes in land use have caused significant impacts on ground and surface water and their dependent wetlands.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Rare earth element signature modifications induced by differential acid alteration of rocks in the Iberian Pyrite Belt

The efficient use of REE as tracers of weathering processes requires further data acquisition to establish robust connections between mechanisms, mineral assemblages and REE concentration patterns. Here, results are provided corresponding to rocks from four locations in the Iberian Pyrite Belt that were altered with different intensity by sulfuric fluids. The acidic alteration was mild (pH 5–7) in Calañas and El Villar, while strong (pH below 3 to 5) in Quebrantahuesos and Tharsis. The main REE reservoir before alteration were phyllosilicates (and plagioclase/feldspar in El Villar only). Mild alteration generated mainly kaolinite while illite and some plagioclase/feldspar were preserved. Mildly altered rocks approximately preserved the relative REE concentrations of their precursors, interpreted as indicating a low fluid/rock ratio environment where binding sites in minerals outnumbered those in fluids. Strong acid alteration produced alunite, jarosite, beudantite and goethite, with partial illite preservation. Where illite and/or goethite were major minerals, this alteration generated REE patterns enriched in light REE over heavy REE or did not modify the relative REE concentrations of the original rock. However, samples where REE concentrations were controlled by alunite or jarosite had LREE > > HREE. In alunite the maximum concentration corresponded to Nd and Sm. In jarosite concentrations decreased from La to Lu, except that a positive Eu anomaly was preserved from the precursor. These REE concentration patterns are interpreted as due to crystallographic factors, controlled by the best fit of REE with charge 3+ in the 12-fold coordination site of K in jarosite and alunite. This site is larger in jarosite and fits La best, whereas the smaller site in alunite best fits Nd and Sm. Goethite REE signature is variable, perhaps due to two formation routes, (1) silicates ➔ goethite and (2) silicates ➔ jarosite ➔ goethite. Our interpretations of REE concentration in alunite, jarosite and goethite are novel and provide new routes to further develop REE as tracers of acid alteration processes

Synthesis of Enantiopure Oxygen- and Nitrogen-Containing Heterocycles by Diastereoselective Ring-Closing Metathesis Reaction in Perhydro-1,3-benzoxazine Derivatives

Producción CientíficaDiastereoselective ring‐closing metathesis reactions on chiral trienic perhydro‐1,3‐benzoxazines derived from (−)‐8‐aminomenthol featuring two diastereotopic olefin chains is described. The diastereochemical outcome of the cyclization appeared to be dependent on the length and position of the olefin chains in perhydro‐1,3‐benzoxazine, the degree of substitution of the double bonds and the ruthenium catalyst used. After separation of the diastereomers, and removal of the chiral auxiliary, enantiopure oxygen‐ and nitrogen‐containing heterocycles were obtained.Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (Project FEDER-CTQ2014-59870-P)Junta de Castilla y León (Ref. Project FEDER-VA115P17

“Señora, no espere que un día de hospital cure 40 años de mala vida”: morte, emoções e fronteira

Este artigo é produto de mais de sete anos de pesquisa sobre gênero, sexualidade, dinheiro, Estado e fronteiras na cidade de Tabatinga (AM), na tríplice fronteira entre o Brasil, a Colômbia e o Peru. Proponho uma reflexão sobre a produção emocional da fronteira e sobre a fronteira como materialização performativa de determinadas gramáticas emocionais. Através da narrativa fortemente implicada no adoecimento e morte da Carmelo, “patrona” de um prostíbulo transfronteiriço naquela cidade, argumento que adoecer e rumar-se à morte implica para algumas pessoas um doloroso processo de sujeição e periferização, atravessado por uma testagem derradeira dos circuitos e gramáticas afetivas através das quais se produziu a vida. Tal processo implica atualizações e performatizações de emoções que podem estar relacionadas com a construção mito-conceitual da Fronteira.This article is a result of over 7 years of research on gender, sexuality, money, State and borderlands in Tabatinga city (AM), at the triple border region between Brazil, Colombia and Peru. I propose a reflection on the emotional production of the broder/frontier and about it as a performative materialization of specific emotional grammars. Through the strongly implicated narrative of the illness and death of Carmelo, a transborder brothel “madam” in that town, I claim that to sicken and direct into death implies in a painful process of submission and peripherization for some people, crossed by a final testing of circuits and affective grammars through which life built itself. Such process implies in effectuation and enacting of emotions that can be related to the myth-conceptual construction of Border

El Sistema de garantía interna de calidad: ¿Instrumento o símbolo de calidad de la enseñanza universitaria?

[SPA] Esta comunicación tiene por objeto analizar la función del Sistema de Garantía Interna de Calidad concebido como mecanismo de gestión de la calidad de los títulos oficiales que imparten los centros universitarios. En primer lugar, se caracteriza su función instrumental originaria, al amparo de los principios de la teoría gerencialista, los cuales prevalecen en el ámbito de la política educativa y los programas que emanan de ella. En segundo lugar, se cuestiona tal racionalidad instrumental desde los postulados de las teorías institucionales que incorporan al análisis organizativo perspectivas más sociológicas (culturales y ambientalistas), poniendo de relieve la función simbólica del Sistema de Garantía de Calidad y, como consecuencia de ello, la desconexión entre su estructura formal y la actividad técnica que entraña dentro de los centros de educación superior. Se definen la organización como institución y el proceso de institucionalización, así como los factores y condiciones que influyen en la desconexión (particularmente la presión del ambiente institucional, la naturaleza de las metas educativas, y el estado de la tecnología práctica). Finalmente, se discuten las implicaciones que esa desconexión plantea en relación con la calidad de la enseñanza universitaria y la innovación docente. [ENG] This paper aims to analyze the role of System Internal Quality Assurance designed as a mechanism to ensure quality management of the official titles that provide universities. First, his original instrumental function is characterized under the principles of management theory, which prevail in mainstream educational policy and programs emanating from it. Second, the instrumental rationality is questioned from the postulates of institutional theories that incorporate your organizational analysis more sociological perspectives (cultural and environmental), highlighting the symbolic role of System Internal Quality Assurance and, consequently, the decoupling between formal structure and technical activity involved in the higher education institution. The organization as an institution and the institutionalization process are defined, and the factors and conditions that influence whether decoupling (particularly the pressure of the institutional environment, the nature of the educational goals, the state of practice technology). Finally, implications that this decoupling raises in relation to the quality of university teaching and teaching innovation are discussed

Entre Nilce, a prostituta, e Isabel, a Princesa. Sobre redes, relações e arcabouços libertários.

Pretendo com esse artigo avançar na compreensão antropológica da prostituição feminina. Afirmo que quando falamos da prostituição, ou quando se criam ou se operam políticas públicas a seu respeito, não se pode pensar em indivíduos exóticos e clandestinos, nem se podem apagar suas diferenças. Trata-se de sistemas de relações largos, amplos e complexos dos quais apresento algumas características e algumas transformações em Porto Alegre, Brasil, nos últimos trinta anos. Gênero, classe, sexualidade, formas de trabalho, família e parentesco (relatedness) são elementos destacados na compreensão de tais transformações. Finalmente, chamo a atenção sobre um tipo de conceitualização dessas redes, baseada na díade exploração/indignidade, que promove a sua criminalização e abolição. Esse artigo é derivado da minha tese doutoral em Antropologia Social, defendida em abril de 2010 na Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul. Uso-me livremente de algumas idéias oferecidas por Whyte (2005) e por Latour (2008) no seu esforço por colocar as redes e os grupos no centro do olhar antropológico.Palavras chave: Prostituição. Redes. Parentesco. Between Nilce, the prostitute, and Isabel, the princess. On networking, relations and libertarian scaffolds. AbstractMy aim, in this article, is to advance in an anthropological comprehension of women's prostitution. I propose that, when talking about prostitution, or when public policies concerning it are created and operated, we can neither think of it as foreign and exotic individuals, nor erase their differences. We are dealing with long, wide and complex systems of relations, whose characteristics and transformations over the last 30 years in Porto Alegre, Brasil, I present here. Gender, class, sexuality, labor forms, family and relatedness are highlighted elements in these transformations' comprehension. Finally, I explore a kind of conceptualization of those networks, based on exploration/indignity dyad, one which promotes its criminalization and abolition. This article derives from my doctoral thesis in Social Anthropology, defended on April 2010 at the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul. I also use, freely, some ideas offered by Whyte (2005) and by Latour (2008) in their effort to put network conceptualizations at the core of contemporaneous anthropological production.Keywords: Prostitution. Network. Kinship