Collective Consumer Incentive System

A system and process for creating a network of businesses to collectively grant and manage consumer incentives are disclosed. The system allows collaboration and management of joint promotion campaigns between business entities through the Web and mobile technology platforms. The system manages incentives for businesses, their networks and customers. It allows customers to search, find businesses and network with other customers. The customers can view and use incentives that are available to them. The system combines a social network concept for business with customer deals and incentives. It has the advantage of increased customer outreach through cross traffic and referrals between businesses in a network and increased efficiency with lowered cost in launching and managing a promotional campaign

COLLECTIVE CONSUMER INCENTIVE SYSTEM

A system and process for creating a network of businesses to collectively grant and manage consumer incentives are disclosed. The system allows collaboration and management of joint promotion campaigns between business entities through the Web and mobile technology platforms. The system manages incentives for businesses, their networks and customers. It allows customers to search, find businesses and network with other customers. The customers can view and use incentives that are available to them. The system combines a social network concept for business with customer deals and incentives. It has the advantage of increased customer outreach through cross traffic and referrals between businesses in a network and increased efficiency with lowered cost in launching and managing a promotional campaign

Investigating environmental accounting and its role in reducing environmental costs (case study : Iran Noubaft textile company)

Purpose - The aim of the present study was to investigate the environmental accounting and its role in reducing the costs, especially in Iranian textile companies. Design/methodology/approach - Information on variables was collected and measured by distributing the modified questionnaire of Graaf et al. (1998) among the managers and senior staff. Then, using regression analysis, the costs associated with environmental benefits were investigated. Findings - The results show that environmental costs have a significant relationship with the advantages of the environmental accounting. However, after analysis of the cost factors, the results did not show any significant relationship. Therefore, it is inferred that not only these factors affected the environmental benefits, but there are also other factors playing a role in this regard. Originality/value – This paper is the first paper of its kind to have been conducted in developing countries.peer-reviewe

Bond strength and adhesive interfacial micromorphology of self-adhesive resin cements : effect of reduced times of pre-etching

Although acid-etching could increase enamel bond strength of self-adhesive (SA) cements, it may lead to negative effect on dentin. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of shortening of phosphoric acid pre-etching duration on enamel/ dentin shear bond strength (SBS) and interfacial microstructure of Panavia SA Luting Plus (PASA) and Bifix SE (BXSE). For both enamel and dentin, effect of pre-etching time was significant (p<0.001); however, effect of cement brand and the interaction of two factors was significant only for dentin (p?0.008). Three pre-etching times increased SBS of both cements to enamel and BXSE to dentin. In case of dentin SBS of PASA, this improvement was significant only for 5 and 10 seconds (p<0.001). Adding acid-etching in the three times to both cements similarly improved interfacial adaptation, particularly for enamel. The evaluations of the biofilm elimination showed results that indicate that the 4% sodium hypochlorite group with positive pressure irrigation presented significant differences with the group that had irrigation with sodium hypochlorite activated with XP-endo Finisher and the chlorhexidine groups to 2% (P<0.05). Interfacial bond strength and adaptation of SA cements used in this study were improved following addition of enamel/dentin etching step for a short time. This was not exceeded for longer times than 5-second

Effects of Deformation Conditions on the Rolling Force during Variable Gauge Rolling

In this study, effects of different deformation conditions on the rolling force were studied during variable gauge rolling processes. To this end, variations of rolling forces with rolling times were analyzed at different roll diameters, absolute thickness reductions and friction coefficients. Considering the rolling force variations, an abrupt change in the outlet section of downward and outward rolling was observed at all deformation conditions. The experimental data, along with the results obtained from finite element method (FEM) simulations, revealed that this drop in the rolling force (DRF) is strongly dependent on the deformation conditions. It was found that the DRF value increases with increasing absolute thickness reduction, roll diameter and friction coefficient. Furthermore, dependency of contact length on the roll radius and wedge angle (slope of the thickness transition zone) was investigated. Accordingly, it was concluded that the variations of the DRF value can be mainly attributed to the changes in the contact length during variable gauge rolling. Moreover, slab method analysis was used to model the effects of deformation conditions on DRF

Multidimensional Structure for Definingthe Effect of Organizational Culture and Supply Chain Culture on Knowledge Sharing in Supply Chain of Automotive Industry: With Emphasis on Improving Supply Chain Performance

: One of the key aspects of knowledge management is organizational culture. Finding an appropriate culture and key indicators for culture in implementation and execution of knowledge management are one the most important matter in knowledge management implementation in any organization. So, the main purpose of this article was presenting a multidimensional structure for organizational culture and supply chain culture with the aim of effective knowledge sharing in supply chain of automotive industry of Iran. First, according to the literature review, key indicators for any dimension of multidimensional structure of the research were defined. Then, key indicators were revised, adjusted and modified by three industry experts and three college professors, so 4 questions and 5 hypotheses were offered. Next, that multidimensional structure has been assessed as a survey and cause-effect study in supply chains of Iran Khodro Company and Saipa Company.115 industry professionals have participated in this study. In the research, after testing co-linearity between variables, relations between different dimensions of the multidimensional structure have been assessed with the help of path analysis. Research findings showed that the multidimensional structure introduced in the study had an appropriate fitness in automotive industry. The results of path analysis also showed that the culture of the supply chain has had the greatest impact of Business culture. On the other hand, business culture had a strong but indirect effect on supply chain performance. And finally, the greatest effect of knowledge sharing and transferring was on non-financial performance of supply chain

Tc-99m Labeled HMPAO white Blood Cell Scintigraphy in a patient with Hip Prosthesis

Background The ability to follow the distribution and migration of biologically active cells in human is essential for the development of cell-based therapies and diagnostics. Nuclear medicine imaging is widely applied in clinic as an attractive technique for in vivo WBC and stem cell tracking. The aim of this study was to evaluate prosthesis infection of a 51 years old man with previous history of hip prosthesis in the left side 17 years ago, and pain in the left femur since 7 months ago using 99mTc-HMPAO labeled WBC.   Methods: After sterile isolation of patient's WBCs from RBC and Platelet, they were incubated with 30 mCi of 99mTc-HMPAO for 20 minutes. The labeled WBCs were isolated from 99mTc-HMPAO by centrifuge (450 g, 5 min) in sterile condition and reinjected to the patient. Planar Imaging was acquired (256 × 256 matrix, 5 min) two & four hours post injection.   Results: Planar images showed no uptake on the left femur (suspicious to infection) which excludes the patient from surgery replacement of the prosthesis.    Conclusion: Leukocyte scintigraphy with 99mTc-HMPAO has been a useful diagnostic method for three decades in the detection of bone infection, fever of unknown origin and suspicion of acute appendicitis.   Key Words: Leukocyte labeling, Hip prosthesis, 99mTc-HMPAO, Scintigraphy