Ceramic Microtubes from Preceramic Polymers

A novel process for the production of ceramic microtubes involving the microextrusion of preceramic polymers was studied. Microtubes with a wide range of inner and outer diameters and several centimeters long were produced from two silicone resins. A coextrusion approach was also used to extend the forming capability of the technique. The addition of carbon black resulted in electrically conductive silicon oxycarbide (SiOC) ceramic microtubes. SiOC microtubes possessed a high bending strength, ranging from ∼30–1100 MPa.     

Is It Possible to Retain Customer Loyalty When a Service Has Failed?

This article aims to analyze the impact of recovery on loyalty in the context of a service chain characterized by the e‐quality–perceived value–loyalty relationship. A sample of 91 out of 1,201 respondents claimed to have had service problems with an online travel agency website. A causal model to test relationships was performed using structural equations modeling, and it was found that data fit with the proposed model. The really important point to retaining customers is quality. It is not so clear that the recovery effort might affect loyalty. Our findings underpin some previous stream of literature confirming that recovery does not always affect loyalty. Although the literature has not reached a consensus in this topic, we add new elements in this debate.     

Reviews

MARK FRESKO CONSULTANCY. Sources of digital information. British Library R&D Report 6102. London: British Library Research and Development Department, 1994. No ISBN given. No price indicated. 260 pp.

CHRIS CLARE and GORDON STUTELEY. Information systems — strategy to design. London: Chapman and Hall, 1995. ISBN 0 412 576708. £16.99.

POPE, IVAN. Internet UK. Hemel Hempstead: Prentice Hall International, 294 pp. ISBN 013 190950, £19.95. SCHOFIELD, SUE. UK Internet book. Wokingham: Addison‐Wesley, 301 pp. ISBN 0201 42766 4, £19.95.

RIMMER, STEVE. Planet Internet. New York: Windcrest, 1995. ISBN 0 8306 24724. £22.95 (pbk).

JILL H. ELLSWORTH and MATTHEW V. ELLSWORTH. The Internet business book. London: John Wiley & Sons, 1994. $22.95, 376pp. ISBN 0 471058092.

JOHN S. QUARTERMAN and SMOOT CARL‐MITCHELL. The e‐mail companion: communicate effectively via the Internet and other global networks. Addison‐Wesley, 1994. 318 pp. ISBN 0 201 40658 6. $19.95.

McCLURE, C.R., MOEN, W.E. and RYAN, J. Libraries and the Internet/NREN: perspectives, issues and challenges. London: Mecklermedia 1994. $35.00. ISBN 0 89736 824 7. McCLURE, C.R., BERTOT, J.C., and ZWEIZIG, D.L. Public libraries and the Internet: study results, policy issues and recommendations. Washington: National Commission on Libraries and Information Science, 1994. No price or ISBN given.

FRANCES BLOMELEY. Networks and network services: a user's guide. Immediate Publishing, 1994. ISBN 1–89831–00–03. 246 pp. £14.95.

NEIL SMITH (ed) ibraries, networks and Europe: a European networking study. British Library Research and Development Department, 1994. (LIR Series 101) 91 pp. ISBN 0 7123 3295 2. £25. (Distributed by Turpin Distribution Services Ltd, Blackhorse Road, Letchworth, Herts. SG6 1HN).

ALAN BRYANT. Creating successful bulletin board systems. Addison‐Wesley, 1994. ISBN 0–201–62668–3. $39.95.

Directory of electronic journals, newsletters and academic discussion lists. 4th ed. Compiled by Lisabeth A. King and Diane Kovacs, edited by Ann Okerson. Washington, DC: Association of Research Libraries, 1994. 575 pp. ISSN 1057–1337. $54 (paperback), $33 (ARL members).

THE BRITISH LIBRARY and ELECTRONIC PUBLISHING SERVICES LTD. Electronic publishing practice in the UK: LIR Report 95. University Press, Cambridge, 1994. 185 pp. ISBN 0 7123 3280 4. £30.00. (Distributed by Turpin Distribution Services, Blackhorse Road, Letchworth S96 1HN).

INTERNET WORLD'S On Internet 94: an international guide to electronic journals, newsletters, texts, discussion lists, and other resources on the Internet. edited by Tony Abbott with a Preface by Daniel P. Dem. Westport, London: Mecklermedia, 1994. £29.50 $45.00. ISBN 0–88736–929–4.

S. BANG. The Internet unleashed. Indianapolis: SAMS Publishing, 1994. $44.95. ISBN 0 672 30466 X.

GAIL K. DICKINSON, Selection and evaluation of electronic resources. Libraries Unlimited, 1994. ISBN 1 56308 098 2. £22.50.     

Development of an operational fitness test for the Royal Air Force

Since 2002, the Royal Air Force (RAF) has been working towards developing role-related physical tests for use as an operational fitness test (OFT). The purpose of this study was to establish reliability of the OFT (comprising four tests), investigate gym-based tests as predictors of performance and establish performance standards. Fifty-eight RAF personnel performed the OFT on three occasions. A separate cohort carried out fitness and anthropometric tests before performing the OFT, by way of establishing performance predictors. Documented evidence and views of an expert panel were used to determine OFT standards. Reliability ranged from moderate to good for three tests, with one test (Dig) showing poor reliability. The 95% limits of agreement for the prediction models ranged from good to poor (6.7-34.2%). The prediction models were not sufficiently accurate to estimate confidently OFT performance, but could be used as a guide to quantify likely outcome and training needs.     

Truth-Telling Reservations

We present a mechanism for reservations of bursty resources that is both truthful and robust. It consists of option contracts whose pricing structure induces users to reveal the true likelihoods that they will purchase a given resource. Users are also allowed to adjust their options as their likelihood changes. This scheme helps users save cost and the providers to plan ahead so as to reduce the risk of under-utilization and overbooking. The mechanism extracts revenue similar to that of a monopoly provider practicing temporal pricing discrimination with a user population whose preference distribution is known in advance.     

The development of a formative scenario-based computer assisted assessment tool in psychology for teachers: The PePCAA project

Formative computer assisted assessment has become increasingly attractive in Higher Education where providing useful feedback to large numbers of students can be difficult. However, the nature of such assessments has often been limited to objective questions such as multiple-choice. This paper reports on the development and initial trialling of a more innovative, formative use of computer assisted assessment in a Higher Education context. The European funded PePCAA (Pedagogical Psychology Computer Assisted Assessment) project developed a series of scenario-based computer-delivered formative assessments of pedagogical psychology for teachers and trainee teachers, using a range of software features, including the addition of confidence measurement. The project had a two-fold aim: to provide a tool to improve understanding of pedagogical psychology and to explore the potential of more innovative techniques of computer assisted assessment to motivate students and to assess deeper learning. The combination of computer-delivered formative assessment with innovative question styles and confidence ratings is believed to be unique for pedagogical psychology. Scenarios were based on realistic classroom situations and focused on problem solving or on utilising best practice. The PePCAA Learning Assessment Circle (PLAC) provided a framework for indexing the kinds of processes required of users. In the UK, small scale trialling involved a total of 23 teacher trainees such that each assessment was attempted by about seven participants. Participants completed evaluation questionnaires after each assessment. Responses from learners indicated that the UK scenarios were generally very well received and had at least partly achieved the aim of stimulating deeper learning. Transfer of assessments between countries proved more difficult than expected. The next stage of development should be to conduct a larger pilot, thus allowing full investigation of the reliability and validity of the assessments. There is also scope for further development of the PePCAA approach and for its application in other subjects.     

Applications of wavelet data reduction in a recommender system

Memory-based collaborative filtering (CF) recommender systems have emerged as an effective technique for information filtering. CF recommenders are being widely adopted for e-commerce applications to assist users in finding and selecting items of interest. As a result, the scalability of CF recommenders presents a significant challenge; one that is particularly resilient because the volume of data these systems utilize will continue to increase over time. This paper examines the impact of discrete wavelet transformation (DWT) as an approach to enhance the scalability of memory-based collaborative filtering recommender systems. In particular, a wavelet transformation methodology is proposed and applied to both synthetic and real-world recommender ratings. For experimental purposes, the DWT methodology’s effect on predictive accuracy and calculation speed is evaluated to compare recommendation quality and performance.     

Characterisation of flucloxacillin and 5-hydroxymethyl flucloxacillin haptenated HSA in vitro and in vivo

Flucloxacillin is a synthetic penicillin used in the treatment of Staphylococcal infections. Adverse reactions to the drug are believed to arise through covalent modification of proteins, with tissue damage occurring secondary to an immune reaction. Serum proteins have been shown by adduct-specific antibodies to be modified by flucloxacillin, but the nature and sites of modification have not been characterised. Here, in vitro studies on HSA have shown by MS that the modification of protein lysine residues occurs in a dose-, time- and site-dependent manner. Affinity, cation exchange and reversed phase chromatography prior to MS revealed in vivo modification of HSA with flucloxacillin in tolerant patients, with up to nine modified lysine residues being detected in each patient, and with modification of Lys190 and Lys212 being detected in 8/8 patients. It was also revealed for the first time that plasma proteins could be modified with the 5-hydroxymethyl metabolite of flucloxacillin, and that essentially the same Lys residues were targeted by both the parent drug and its metabolite. This study provides a detailed characterisation of sites of chemical modification of an endogenous target and reveals candidate peptides for T-cell and antibody assays of flucloxacillin hypersensitivity.     

Insights into virus capsid assembly from non-covalent mass spectrometry

The assembly of viral proteins into a range of macromolecular complexes of strictly defined architecture is one of Nature's wonders. Unraveling the details of these complex structures and the associated self-assembly pathways that lead to their efficient and precise construction will play an important role in the development of anti-viral therapeutics. It will also be important in bio-nanotechnology where there is a plethora of applications for such well-defined macromolecular complexes, including cell-specific drug delivery and as substrates for the formation of novel materials with unique electrical and magnetic properties. Mass spectrometry has the ability not only to measure masses accurately but also to provide vital details regarding the composition and stoichiometry of intact, non-covalently bound macromolecular complexes under near-physiological conditions. It is thus ideal for exploring the assembly and function of viruses. Over the past decade or so, significant advances have been made in this field, and these advances are summarized in this review, which covers the literature up to the end of 2007.