Mobile-banking adoption by Iranian bank clients

This study provides insights into factors affecting the adoption of mobile banking in Iran. Encouraging clients to use the cell-phone for banking affairs, and negative trends in the adoption of this technology makes it imperative to study the factors affecting the adoption of mobile banking. Accordingly, this study builds a comprehensive theoretical model explaining mobile banking adoption. By incorporating 361 bank clients in Iran, eight latent variables of perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, need for interaction, perceived risk, perceived cost, compatibility with life style, perceived credibility and trust were examined. It was found that these constructs successfully explain adoption of mobile banking among Iranian clients. Adaptation with life style and trust were found to be the most significant antecedents explaining the adoption of mobile banking.     

Metal‐Organic‐Framework‐Coated Optical Fibers as Light‐Triggered Drug Delivery Vehicles

Physical delivery of anticancer drugs in controlled anatomic locations can complement the advances being made in chemo‐selective therapies. To this end, an optical fiber catheter is coated in a thin layer of metal organic framework UiO‐66 and the anticancer drug 5‐Fluorouracil (5‐FU) is deposited within the pores. Delivery of light of appropriate wavelength through the fiber catheter is found to trigger the release of 5‐FU on demand, offering a new route to localized drug administration. The system exhibits great potential with as much as 110 × 10^?6 m of 5‐FU delivered within 1 min from one fiber.     

Studying the thermodynamic parameters of disperse dyeing of modified polyethylene terephthalate sheets using hyperbranched polymeric additive as a nanomaterial

Thermodynamic parameters of disperse dyeing of modified PET sheets by various loads of a polyesteramide hyperbranched polymer are investigated in terms of standard affinity (?Δμ°), enthalpy change (ΔH°) and entropy change (ΔS°). The results show that the standard affinity of dye to the modified PET is higher than that to the virgin PET. The bath containing virgin PET displays the highest negative values of the ΔH° and ΔS°, while the bath containing the modified PET with 2% hyperbranched polymer shows the lowest negative values of them. Surface morphology and thermal properties of the samples are analyzed by AFM and DSC.     

Construction and characterization of poly(amide-ester-imide) nanocomposites containing N-trimellitylimido-l-leucine toughened with a combination of bioactive surface-grafted TiO2

This paper addressed production and characterization of novel type copolyester/titania (TiO₂) nanocomposites (NCs). First, the surface of TiO₂ was modified by chiral diacid monomer, N-trimellitylimido-l-leucine (TMIL) (1) as a coupling agent to form organomodified TiO₂ (O-TiO₂) nanoparticles (NPs). Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy confirmed the presence of coupling agent groups on the surface. Thereafter, a novel chiral poly(amide-ester-imide) (PAEI) was synthesized by step-growth polymerization of diacid monomer 1 with diol, N,N′-(1,3,5,7-tetraoxo-5,7-dihydropyrrolo[3,4-f]isoindole-2,6(1H,3H)-diyl)bis(4-hydroxybenzamide) (2) via tosyl chloride, pyridine and N,N-dimethyformamide as a condensing agent. The incorporation of O-TiO₂ NPs into the obtained PAEI provided an opportunity for the construction of polymer-based NCs with novel and powerful properties. The obtained NCs were premeditated using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), FT-IR spectra, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), X-ray diffraction; also the optical properties of the NCs were studied using ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy. The TEM and FE-SEM results showed that the NPs were dispersed homogeneously in PAEI matrix on the nanoscale. TGA data confirmed that the heat stability of the aforementioned NCs in the presence of O-TiO₂ NPs was improved.     

Fabrication of novel nanofiber scaffolds from gum tragacanth/poly(vinyl alcohol) for wound dressing application: In vitro evaluation and antibacterial properties

Gum tragacanth (GT) is one of the most widely used natural gums which has found applications in many areas because of its attractive features such as biodegradability, nontoxic nature, natural availability, higher resistance to microbial attacks and long shelf-life properties. GT and poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) were dissolved in deionized water in different ratios i.e., 0/100, 30/70, 60/40, 50/50, 40/60, 70/30, 0/100 mass ratio of GT/PVA. Nanofibers were produced from these solutions using electrospinning technique. The effect of different electrospinning parameters such as extrusion rate of polymer solutions, solution concentration, electrode spacing distance and applied voltage on the morphology of nanofibers was examined. The antibacterial activity of nanofibers and GT solution against Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa was examined and these nanofibers showed good antibacterial property against Gram-negative bacteria. FTIR data showed that these two polymers may be having hydrogen bonding interactions. DSC data revealed that the exothermic peak at about 194 °C for PVA shifted to a lower temperature in GT/PVA blend. Human fibroblast cells adhered and proliferated well on the GT/PVA nanofiber scaffolds. MTT assay was carried out on the GT/PVA nanofiber to investigate the proliferation rate of fibroblast cells on the scaffolds.     

Highly-Efficient Sulfonated UiO-66(Zr) Optical Fiber for Rapid Detection of Trace Levels of Pb2+

Lead detection for biological environments, aqueous resources, and medicinal compounds, rely mainly on either utilizing bulky lab equipment such as ICP-OES or ready-made sensors, which are based on colorimetry with some limitations including selectivity and low interference. Remote, rapid and efficient detection of heavy metals in aqueous solutions at ppm and sub-ppm levels have faced significant challenges that requires novel compounds with such ability. Here, a UiO-66(Zr) metal-organic framework (MOF) functionalized with SO3H group (SO3H-UiO-66(Zr)) is deposited on the end-face of an optical fiber to detect lead cations (Pb2+) in water at 25.2, 43.5 and 64.0 ppm levels. The SO3H-UiO-66(Zr) system provides a Fabry–Perot sensor by which the lead ions are detected rapidly (milliseconds) at 25.2 ppm aqueous solution reflecting in the wavelength shifts in interference spectrum. The proposed removal mechanism is based on the adsorption of [Pb(OH2)6]2+ in water on SO3H-UiO-66(Zr) due to a strong affinity between functionalized MOF and lead. This is the first work that advances a multi-purpose optical fiber-coated functional MOF as an on-site remote chemical sensor for rapid detection of lead cations at extremely low concentrations in an aqueous system.     

Thermal,thermomechanical, and morphological characterization of poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC)/ZnO nanocomposites: PVC molecular weight effect

Poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC)‐based nanocomposites containing 2 wt% zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles were prepared by solution casting and the effect of the PVC molecular weight (MW) on the morphology, thermal properties, and thermogravimetric behavior was studied. The addition of ZnO nanoparticles to PVCs of different MWs increased the glass transition temperature (T_g) of the resulting nanocomposites, the extent of which was dependent upon the MW of the PVC matrix. The nanocomposite samples exhibited broadened transition zones as compared with their unfilled PVC matrices. The extent of transition zone broadening was also controlled by the MW of the PVC matrix in the nanocomposites. In the absence of ZnO nanoparticles, the increase in MW of PVC had no effect on the breadth of the transition zone. The TGA results showed that the incorporation of ZnO nanoparticles into PVC matrices of different MWs accelerated the first stage weight loss via the nanoparticle catalytic effect through removal of HCL from the polymeric chains. The presence of ZnO nanoparticles lowered the second stage weight loss, and the char yield obtained for nanocomposites samples was significantly greater than that obtained for neat PVC samples. At low MWs, the presence of ZnO nanoparticles had no effect on the first stage of thermal degradation process. The presence of ZnO nanoparticles in the matrix in different nanocomposites was revealed by SEM observations, and the EDX analysis demonstrated a progressive improvement in the distribution and dispersion state of ZnO nanoparticles in the PVC‐based nanocomposites as the MW of PVC matrix gradually increased. J. VINYL ADDIT. TECHNOL., 25:E63–E71, 2019. © 2018 Society of Plastics Engineers