ERP Usage in Banking: An Exploratory Survey of the World's Largest Banks

ABSTRACT

As banking is currently considered a non-typical area for ERP usage, the authors conducted a survey on anticipated benefits, potential disadvantages and implementation success associated with ERP adoption in banking. The results indicate that, despite a predominant usage of ERP systems in back-office areas, banks see ERP systems as a long-term strategic investment to support organizational effectiveness.     

Increased sleep pressure reduces resting state functional connectivity

Object

In humans, even a single night of partial sleep deprivation (PSD) can have a negative impact on cognition and affective processing, suggesting that sleep pressure represents a basic physiological constraint of brain function. Among the spontaneously fluctuating resting state networks, the default mode network (DMN) and its anticorrelated network (ACN) hold key functions in segregating internally and externally directed awareness. Task fMRI after sleep deprivation has revealed altered activation patterns in both networks. We hypothesized that effects of PSD in these intrinsically coupled networks can be detected by resting state fMRI.

Methods

We obtained 6-minute echoplanar imaging time series (1.5 Tesla) during eyes-closed, wakeful-resting experiments from 16 healthy volunteers after normal sleep and after PSD. We used independent component and cross-correlation analysis to study functional connectivity (fc), focusing on the DMN and ACN.

Results

After PSD, focal reductions of auto-correlation strength were detected in the posterior and anterior midline node of the DMN and in the lateral parietal and insular nodes of the ACN. Cross-correlation analysis confirmed reduced cortico-cortical connectivity within and between the DMN and ACN.

Conclusions

Increased sleep pressure is reflected in reduced fc of main DMN and ACN nodes during rest. Results have implications for understanding perceptual and cognitive changes after sleep deprivation and are relevant to clinical studies on conditions in which increased sleep propensity is present.     

Functional and proliferative effects of repeated low‐dose oral administration of furan in rat liver

Scope: Furan, a food contaminant formed during heat processing, induces hepatocellular tumors in rodents and high incidences of cholangiocarcinomas in rats even at the lowest dose (2 mg/kg b.w.) administered. Initial estimates suggested that human intake of furan may be as high as 3.5 μg/kg b.w./day, indicating a relatively narrow margin of exposure. The aim of this study was to establish dose–response data for cytotoxicity, regenerative cell proliferation and secondary oxidative DNA damage in livers of male F344 rats treated with furan at doses ≤2 mg/kg b.w. for 28 days. Methods and results: No significant signs of hepatotoxicity other than a mild, dose‐dependent increase in serum cholesterol and unconjugated bile acids, and no evidence of oxidative DNA damage were seen. Histopathological alterations and proliferative changes were restricted to subcapsular areas of the left and caudate liver lobes. Conclusion: Although statistically significant effects were only seen at the 2 mg/kg b.w. dose during the course of our study, a ～two and ～threefold increase in 5‐bromo‐2′‐deoxyuridine labeling index was observed at 0.1 and 0.5 mg/kg b.w., respectively, suggesting that chronic exposure to doses even below 2 mg/kg b.w. may cause proliferative changes in rat liver and highlighting the need to assess furan carcinogenicity at lower doses.     

Influence of Initial High Shearing on Electrical and Rheological Properties and Formation of Percolating Agglomerates for MWCNT/Epoxy Suspensions

We report on shear‐induced nanotube agglomerate formation in low viscous multiwalled carbon nanotube/epoxy suspensions during steady shear rate step tests. A combined setup allows monitoring of the electrical, rheological, and optical properties of the system. High initial shearing was found to be necessary to achieve the insulator‐to‐conductor transition as well as low shear rate viscosity enhancement. Depending on the applied pre‐shear, conductivity improvement of about four orders of magnitude was observed. Different morphologies for shear‐induced agglomerates were detected before and after high shear. The critical minimal shear rate for the system was determined and a simple model using phase separation due to high shear forces is proposed.

     

"DNA traffic lights": concept of wavelength-shifting DNA probes and application in an aptasensor

Add it and see it: The concept of "DNA traffic lights" for wavelength-shifting DNA probes has a great potential in the application of biosensors, for example, in DNA aptamers. A visual color change in the DNA aptasensor fluorescence from green to red occurs after specific target binding.     

All Solution‐Processed Chalcogenide Solar Cells – from Single Functional Layers Towards a 13.8% Efficient CIGS Device

Solution processing of inorganic thin films has become an important thrust in material research community because it offers low‐cost and high‐throughput deposition of various functional coatings and devices. Especially inorganic thin film solar cells – macroelectronic devices that rely on consecutive deposition of layers on large‐area rigid and flexible substrates – could benefit from solution approaches in order to realize their low‐cost nature. This article critically reviews existing deposition approaches of functional layers for chalcogenide solar cells with an extension to other thin film technologies. Only true solutions of readily available metal salts in appropriate solvents are considered without the need of pre‐fabricated nanoparticles. By combining three promising approaches, an air‐stable Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ thin film solar cell with efficiency of 13.8% is demonstrated where all constituent layers (except the metal back contact) are processed from solutions. Notably, water is employed as the solvent in all steps, highlighting the potential for safe manufacturing with high utilization rates.     

Finding auxetic frameworks in periodic tessellations

It appears that most models for micro-structured materials with auxetic deformations were found by clever intuition, possibly combined with optimization tools, rather than by systematic searches of existing structure archives. Here we review our recent approach of finding micro-structured materials with auxetic mechanisms within the vast repositories of planar tessellations. This approach has produced two previously unknown auxetic mechanisms, which have Poisson's ratio νss=-1 when realized as a skeletal structure of stiff incompressible struts pivoting freely at common vertices. One of these, baptized Triangle-Square Wheels, has been produced as a linear-elastic cellular structure from Ti-6Al-4V alloy by selective electron beam melting. Its linear-elastic properties were measured by tensile experiments and yield an effective Poisson's ratio νLE≈-0.75, also in agreement with finite element modeling. The similarity between the Poisson's ratios νSS of the skeletal structure and νLE of the linear-elastic cellular structure emphasizes the fundamental role of geometry for deformation behavior, regardless of the mechanical details of the system. The approach of exploiting structure archives as candidate geometries for auxetic materials also applies to spatial networks and tessellations and can aid the quest for inherently three-dimensional auxetic mechanisms.     

Periodic open-cell foams: Pressure drop measurements and modeling of an ideal tetrakaidecahedra packing

Periodic open-cell foams of ideal tetrakaidecahedron geometry were manufactured by selective electron beam melting (SEBM) and characterized with respect to the morphological parameters, namely strut diameter, window diameter and porosity. The pressure drop over these periodic foam samples of different pore size and porosity was determined experimentally. The basic form of the Ergun equation (which contains no empirical coefficients) was modified to develop a new correlation for the prediction of the pressure drop in periodic open-cell foams of ideal tetrakaidecahedron geometry. The correlation was successfully validated by the experimental results of the pressure drop measured for the periodic open-cell foam samples. With the new correlation it is possible to predict the pressure drop in periodic open-cell foams by using only two geometrical parameters, namely the open porosity and the window diameter.The applicability of the new correlation for a large range of porosities was examined by comparing the experimental and simulated friction factors for the porous media with both high (foam structure) and low porosities (packed beds) for a large range of the Reynolds number. It was demonstrated that the correlation can successfully predict the pressure drop of foam structures as well as packed beds.     

Development and Standardization of Testing Equipment and Methods for Spacer Fabrics

Applied Composite Materials - Spacer fabrics are three-dimensional textile structures consisting of two textile cover surfaces and a spacer thread. Up to now, spacer fabrics have been tested...     

Spatial variation of nitrogen mineralization as a guide for variable application of nitrogen fertilizer to cereal crops

The site specific management of variable rate nitrogen (N) fertiliser application to crops is a cost-effective system that optimises outputs and reduces environmental impact. However, its implementation requires information on the spatial variability of soil and crop variables and, especially, of the N supply from the soil, measured as the available N and the N mineralized from organic matter. The objective of this study was to obtain the spatial structure of the variation of net N mineralization, within the field scale in a cereal cropping system, in order to improve site specific N management. A nested sampling survey was conducted in the field using scales of variation at 1.5, 4.5, 13.5, 40.5 and 121.5 m, arranged in hierarchical order with n = 96 samples. Samples were collected in autumn and spring and N mineralization measured by aerobic incubation. The components of variance of the N mineralized were calculated using residual maximum likelihood and used to produce an approach to the variogram. The within-field spatial variation was almost all (92–93%) encompassed by the scales of variation measured, all occurring within 40.5 m in both seasons. However, there was a significant amount of fine scale variation at 1.5 m in autumn and 4.5 m in spring. These results will guide future spatial sampling of the N supply, and soil monitoring in general.