Toward a contagion-based model of mobile banking adoption

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to address the following question: Can a bank capitalize on its well-established self-service technologies (SSTs) in order to entice customers to adopt a newly introduced SST, namely, mobile banking More specifically, it proposes an integrative model that simultaneously investigates the transference effects of attitudes, trust and the contagious influences of social pressures on mobile banking adoption intentions. Design/methodology/approach: Structural equation modeling is applied to data collected from banks' clients who are actually non-users of mobile banking. Findings: The results indicate that attitude toward and trust in mobile banking along with coercive, normative and mimetic pressures are key antecedents to mobile banking adoption intentions. In addition, attitudes toward automated teller machines (ATMs) and online banking significantly predict attitude toward mobile banking. The results also support the effects of trust in ATMs as well as trust in online banking on trust in mobile banking. Moreover, predicted differences in the relative effects of attitude and trust are supported. Particularly, attitude toward online banking has a stronger impact on attitude toward mobile banking compared to the impact of attitude toward ATMs. In the same vein, the effect of trust in online banking on mobile banking is significantly stronger than the effect of trust in ATMs. Practical implications: The study's results hint at some practical and worthwhile guidelines for banks that can be leveraged in communication campaigns aiming at boosting the adoption rates of mobile banking. Banks can take advantage of the transference effects of the established attitudes toward and trusting beliefs in their mature SSTs as well as the contagious social influences in inducing the adoption of a newly introduced SST. Originality/value: The present study represents a first step toward generating new insights into the role of the joint effects of attitudes, trust and social influences in the adoption of a new SST

Le chevalier C. Sallustius Forensis Sextilianus : sa carrière et son retour à Simitthus accompagné de sa famille

Latin epitaph recently discovered in Sidi Assem in the hinterland of colonia Simitthus reveals the name and the equestrian career of C. Sallustius Forensis Sextilianus. The onomastic approach makes it possible to know his two sons attested for a long time in this city. The onomastic sequence of the first (?) Sallustius Forensis Sextilianus brought up among the Costoboques (CIL VIII, 14667) was made possible through the epitaph of the father. The second, C. Sallustius Forensis Dignianus, bears the agnomen Costobius (CIL VIII, 25679). The most important contribution of this new epitaph is nevertheless elsewhere. Thanks to his career, we know that he had moved to Lower Moesia as a tribune of the prima legio italica based in Nouae and not as an employee in the marble quarries as assumed by the polish scholar J. Kolendo in 1978. This new datum, which I situate chronologically at the end of the reign of Trajan and the reign of Hadrian, is capable of changing our perception of the Costoboci who were only seen through the filter of Greco-Latin authors giving an image of hostiles and repellents. The date 170-171 AD, commonly accepted by all historians as being the first entry of the Costoboci in history can therefore only be appropriate at the beginning of the great hostilities against Rome. After a long journey of three stages, C. Sallustius Forensis Sextilianus returned to his hometown Simitthus with his family to end his life there and have his final resting place.Une épitaphe latine récemment découverte à Sidi Assem dans l’arrière-pays de la colonia Simitthus révèle le nom et la carrière équestre de C. Sallustius Forensis Sextilianus. L’approche onomastique permet de connaître ses deux fils attestés de longue date dans cette ville. La séquence onomastique du premier ( ?) Sallustius Forensis Sextilianus élevé chez les Costoboques (CIL VIII, 14667) a été rendue possible à travers l’épitaphe du père. Le second, C. Sallustius Forensis Dignianus, porte l’agnomen Costobius (CIL VIII, 25679). L’apport le plus important de cette nouvelle épitaphe est néanmoins ailleurs. Grâce à son cursus, nous savons qu’il s’était déplacé jusqu’en Mésie inférieure en tant que tribun de la prima legio italica basée à Nouae en Mésie inférieure et non comme employé dans les carrières de marbre comme le supposait le savant polonais J. Kolendo en 1978. Cette nouvelle donnée, que je situe chronologiquement vers la fin du règne de Trajan et le règne d’Hadrien, est à même de changer notre perception des Costoboques qui n’étaient vus qu’à travers le filtre des auteurs gréco-latins donnant une image d’hostiles et de répulsifs. La date 170-171 ap. J.-C, communément admise par tous les historiens comme étant la première entrée des Costoboques dans l’histoire ne peut convenir donc qu’au début des grandes hostilités contre Rome. Après un long périple de trois étapes,  C. Sallustius Forensis Sextilianus a regagné sa ville natale Simitthus en compagnie de sa famille pour y finir sa vie et y avoir sa dernière demeure

Bulla Regia I: a new church and Christian cemetery

This paper reports the preliminary results from two short seasons of fieldwork that the Tunisian–British Bulla Regia Archaeological Report was able to undertake in September 2016 and 2017. In 2016, the work focused on a geophysical survey of the western cemetery and revealed a complex landscape of funerary enclosures and mausolea outside the protected boundaries of the site, likely to be of Roman date. In 2017, photogrammetric techniques were used to record and plan a Late Antique church and cemetery that was discovered during a rescue excavation in 2010. The church consists of three naves and a series of funerary annexes, which contained burials covered by mosaic or stone epitaphs, including those marking the graves of two bishops and two priests. The church is surrounded by an extensive cemetery with a variety of different tomb types, such as mosaic caissons and simple stepped masonry tombs. The mosaics, inscriptions and finds (ceramics, glass, coins) support a fourth to sixth/seventh century date for the church and cemetery. // تقدم هذه الورقة تقرير عن النتائج الأولية لموسمين قصيرين من العمل الميداني استطاع مشروع بولاريجيا التونسي -البريطاني القيام بهما في سبتمبر 2016 و 2017. في عام 2016، ركز العمل على إجراء مسح جيوفيزيائي للمقبرة الغربية وقد كشف عن مشهد معقد من مَآوي جنائزية و أضرحة، خارج الحدود المحمية للموقع، من المرجح أن تكون من الحقبة الرومانية. عام 2017، تم استخدام تقنيات التصوير المساحي لتوثيق وإعداد مخططات لكنيسة ومقبرة تم اكتشافهما خلال عملية حفريات إنقاذيه في عام 2010. تتكون الكنيسة من ثلاثة أروقة ومجموعة من الملاحق الجنائزية التي تحتوي على مدافن تغطيها الفسيفساء أو النقوش الحجرية الرثائية، من ضمنها تلك الدالة على قبور أسقفين وقسيسين . وتحيط بالكنيسة مقبرة واسعة تضم مجموعة متنوعة من المقابر المختلفة، مثل صناديق الفسيفساء (mosaic caissons) ومقابر البناء التدرجي البسيط (simple stepped masonry). الفسيفساء والنقوش والاكتشافات الأخرى (من خزف وزجاج وقطع نقدية) تدعم تأريخ الكنيسة والمقبرة للقرن الرابع إلى القرن السادس / السابع الميلادي

Urban transformation in the Central Medjerda Valley (north-west Tunisia) in late antiquity and the middle ages: a regional approach

ecent scholarship on North African cities has done much to dispel earlier assumptions about late antique collapse and demonstrate significant continuity into the Byzantine and medieval periods. Yet urban changes did not affect North Africa evenly. Far less is known about the differing regional trajectories that shaped urban transformation and the extent to which pre-Roman and Roman micro-regions continued to share meaningful characteristics in subsequent periods. This article provides a preliminary exploration of regional change from the fourth to the eleventh century focused on a zone in the Central Medjerda Valley (Tunisia) containing the well-known sites of Bulla Regia and Chimtou. We place these towns in their wider historical and geographical setting and interrogate urban change by looking at investment in public buildings and spaces, religious buildings and housing, and ceramic networks. The process of comparison identifies new commonalities (and differences) between the sites of this stretch of the Medjerda River and provides a framework for understanding the many transformations of North African cities over the long late antiquity

Distribution of HLA-DRB1/DQB1 alleles and DRB1-DQB1 haplotypes among Tunisian patients with autoimmune hepatitis

Background: Autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) is a chronic inflammatory disease characterized by necrotic inflammation leading to hepatocyte destruction. The association of human leukocyte antigens (HLA) with AIH development and onset is not fully elucidated especially in the Tunisian population.Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the association of HLA class II alleles and DRB1-DQB1 haplotypes with AIH in Tunisian population.Patients and Methods: A total of 30 AIH patients and 60 healthy controls were included in the study. HLA class II typing was performed by Single-specific-primer polymerase chain reaction (PCR-SSP) technique.Results: Among 13 DRB1 and 5 DQB1 alleles resolved, our results show a positive association of HLADRB1 ⁄03 (38.3% vs. 21.6%, OR = 2.24, P = 0.028) and negative association of HLA-DRB1⁄11 (3.3% vs. 16.7%, P = 0.019). The analysis of DRB1-DQB1 haplotypes in cases and controls revealed 11-shared haplotypes with a frequency exceeding 1%. HLA-DRB1⁄11-DQB1⁄03 haplotype showed a decreased frequency in AIH patients (1.6% vs. 15.8%, P = 0.009) and may be considered as an haplotype of resistance to AIH.Conclusions: To our Knowledge, this is the first study performed to detect the HLA-DRB1 and DQB1 alleles associated with predisposition to AIH in Tunisian patients. The search for HLA predisposing genes to AIH may permit an earlier diagnosis allowing a better management and treatment of the disease in order to avoid liver transplantation

Simitthus / Chimtou, Tunesien. Die Arbeiten der Jahre 2016 bis 2018

The ancient town of Simitthus (today Chimtou, Tunisia), known for its important quarries of yellow Numidian marble (giallo antico), has been the object of archaeological research conducted jointly by the Tunisian National Heritage Institute and the German Archaeological Institute in Rome since 1965. This report presents a short overview on the activities at Chimtou in 2016–2018, which were primarily dedicated to publishing the results of the excavations conducted in the 1980s accompanied by measures of capacity building and site management

Isotopic evidence for human mobility in late antique Bulla Regia (Tunisia)

This paper represents the first isotopic study on late antique human mobility in North Africa, using the urban site of Bulla Regia in Tunisia as a case study. We also present the first values for bioavailable 87Sr/86Sr in northern Tunisia, analysing 63 plant and snail samples, as well as a simple method for the pre-processing of plants in the field to facilitate their export. Bulla Regia was a prominent Roman and late antique town situated on an important axis of transport and communication in North Africa and is therefore an ideal site to explore mobility in the region during this time period. Strontium (87Sr/86Sr) and oxygen (δ18OCarb) isotopic analysis of 22 late antique individuals from a Christian church and cemetery identified at least seven or eight non-locals, while comparative analysis of five Roman individuals from a funerary enclosure on the same site classified all but one of them as potential locals. Most non-local individuals exhibit 87Sr/86Sr values that match various areas of northern Tunisia, which supports regional mobility rather than long-distance migration, although when combined with the oxygen results, inter-regional mobility from an area with a warmer climate may be hypothesised for some individuals. Examination of the spatial distribution of non-local individuals in their cemetery setting reveals that they were privileged individuals, thus they may reflect the mobility of wealthier town-dwellers in late antiquity, particularly perhaps along the Carthage-Hippo route

Bulla Regia II : Excavations in the Christian cemetery

This paper reports the preliminary results from three seasons of excavations in the Christian cemetery by the Tunisian-British Bulla Regia Archaeological Project. In 2017-2019, excavations in, and around, the Late Antique church in the western cemetery uncovered a complex funerary landscape with a variety of different tomb types, including mosaic caisson tombs, simple masonry tombs, amphora tombs, and earthen graves and multiple funerary mensae. The mosaics, inscriptions and finds (ceramics, glass, coins) studied in 2022 support a fourth to seventh century date for the main period of use of the cemetery

La Missione Archeologica Tuniso-Italiana a Numluli: l’attività di ricerca del 2022

The first excavation campaign of the Tunisian-Italian INP-Uniss Archaeological Mission in Numluli has just ended and we already want to illustrate preliminarily here the research activity carried out last September in the site of the municipium. The excavation areas opened in the forum in front of the Capitolium and in an early Christian basilica on the western edge of the settlement have given remarkable results of which we are proposing here a first synthetic examination, together with the study of the inscriptions of the Roman town which is the other important line of the research.Si è da poco conclusa la prima campagna di scavo della Missione Archeologica Tuniso-Italiana INP-Uniss a Numluli e si vuole già illustrare qui preliminarmente l’attività di ricerca svolta nello scorso mese di settembre nel sito del municipium. Le aree di scavo aperte nella piazza del foro di fronte al Capitolium e in una basilica paleocristiana ai margini occidentali dell’abitato hanno dato notevoli risultati dei quali viene qui proposto un primo sintetico esame, insieme allo studio delle iscrizioni della città romana che costituisce l’altro importante filone della ricerca