Mobile technology and m-Commerce are transforming our digital economy to a mobile one, with new markets and mobile services worldwide. Today, the importance of communication and information access in a timely and efficient manner is critical for many industries: particularly those in rural and regional areas, due to their often limited Internet access and mobile coverage. This paper presents th...

Current mobile money systems provide users with hierarchical user interface and represent money as a positive rational numbers of the form 1, 3, 4.87...N. However, research indicates that rural communities that cannot read and write have a challenge entering such numbers in to mobile money system. Navigating through hierarchical text menu is also difficult to illiterate individuals. The present...

Policymakers are concerned that some rural hospitals have suffered significant losses under the Balanced Budget Act (BBA) of 1997 and that access to inpatient and emergency care may be at risk. This article projects that the median total profit margin for rural hospitals will fall from 4 percent in 1997 to between 2.5 and 3.7 percent after the BBA, Balanced Budget Refinement Act (BBRA) of 1999,...

BACKGROUND During the last two decades, the trend of out-of-pocket payments (OOP) for health services by Iranian households has been a matter of concern and it has exposed a significant proportion of them to catastrophic and impoverishing health expenditures. OBJECTIVES The current study aimed to investigate three objectives: First, the mean of out-of-pocket payments among Iranian households ...

background informal payments for health care, which are common in many countries, can have negative effects on health care access, equity and health status as they lead people to forgo or delay seeking care, or to sell assets to pay for care. many countries are putting reforms in place with the aim of reducing informal payments. in order to be successful, such policies should be informed by the...

In this article, data are presented on trends in the use of and program payments for inpatient short-stay hospital services to Medicare beneficiaries. The data on the services used by aged and disabled Medicare beneficiaries are presented for the years 1972 through 1988. The discussion is focused on trends in utilization and program payments resulting from the implementation of the Medicare pro...

In this paper technology policy of India which has evolved over the years have been introduced as following: Firstly, it is selective and seeks to protect local technology. Secondly, it seeks to reduce to direct costs and individual costs of technology imports by regulating the royalty rates, other payments, the duration and restrictive clauses. Thirdly, it discourages technology imports throug...

Companies across all sectors with increasingly smaller size rely on alliance relationships to bolster revenues during times of economic uncertainty. When forming alliances, large firms typically hire vendors such as investment banks to help identify potential alliance partners. However, small businesses with intention to build alliance find difficulties to search desired partners especially on ...