Measuring customer satisfaction and understanding customer effort in a B2B context

Our members asked us to investigate a number of aspects of Customer Satisfaction measurement in a Business-to-Business (B2B) context. Specific questions were:- What are the different metrics of customer satisfaction that are measured in a BTB relationship? Which are used the most? Which are the most effective? Do they vary by type of company? Are there new ways to measure customer satisfaction that more closely reflects their customer experience? What does customer effort mean in a B2B relationship? How do we identify where we are not easy to do business with? What do we have to do differently? Our approach to the subject was to review existing literature and previous research and then to conduct an exploratory qualitative review into the subject by conducting interviews with a range of B2B companies and a sample of their customers. The purpose behind the interviews was to try to answer the above questions and to identify if there were opportunities for more in-depth research in the future. The project demonstrates that the B2B companies compile and use a customer satisfaction rating for their business-to-business relationships but that there is little commonality between companies in both the full range of questions asked and the scales used for the individual questions. All of the companies use a mixture of global and dimensional measures (see literature review in section 2). There is some scope for manipulation of the customer satisfaction process in most companies so the results have to be treated with a degree of caution. However, the companies believe that they are getting good positive and negative feedback from the process so they see significant value from it. Where the customer satisfaction rating falls below an acceptable level, which differs by company, responses are shared with the customer as part of the regular relationship meeting and a monitored action plan is the normal result. In addition, in most cases, common issues are identified at company level and considered for improvement programs. The questions about customer effort showed that companies in general consider themselves more difficult to do business with than their customers do. Analysis of both company and customer views of what was ‘easy’ and what was ‘difficult’ about the relationship identified a number of interactions that could potentially be the subject of process improvement initiatives. It appears from this research that the inclusion of customer effort questions would benefit the customer satisfaction process for B2B companies and a number of best practise approaches were identified from this and previous research

Discrete event simulation tool for analysis of qualitative models of continuous processing systems

An artificial intelligence design and qualitative modeling tool is disclosed for creating computer models and simulating continuous activities, functions, and/or behavior using developed discrete event techniques. Conveniently, the tool is organized in four modules: library design module, model construction module, simulation module, and experimentation and analysis. The library design module supports the building of library knowledge including component classes and elements pertinent to a particular domain of continuous activities, functions, and behavior being modeled. The continuous behavior is defined discretely with respect to invocation statements, effect statements, and time delays. The functionality of the components is defined in terms of variable cluster instances, independent processes, and modes, further defined in terms of mode transition processes and mode dependent processes. Model construction utilizes the hierarchy of libraries and connects them with appropriate relations. The simulation executes a specialized initialization routine and executes events in a manner that includes selective inherency of characteristics through a time and event schema until the event queue in the simulator is emptied. The experimentation and analysis module supports analysis through the generation of appropriate log files and graphics developments and includes the ability of log file comparisons

The Quantum McKay Correspondence for polyhedral singularities

Let G be a polyhedral group, namely a finite subgroup of SO(3). Nakamura's G-Hilbert scheme provides a preferred Calabi-Yau resolution Y of the polyhedral singularity C^3/G. The classical McKay correspondence describes the classical geometry of Y in terms of the representation theory of G. In this paper we describe the quantum geometry of Y in terms of R, an ADE root system associated to G. Namely, we give an explicit formula for the Gromov-Witten partition function of Y as a product over the positive roots of R. In terms of counts of BPS states (Gopakumar-Vafa invariants), our result can be stated as a correspondence: each positive root of R corresponds to one half of a genus zero BPS state. As an application, we use the crepant resolution conjecture to provide a full prediction for the orbifold Gromov-Witten invariants of [C^3/G].Comment: Introduction rewritten. Issue regarding non-uniqueness of conifold resolution clarified. Version to appear in Inventione

Collider Signatures of SuperWIMP Warm Dark Matter

SuperWeakly-Interacting Massive Particles (superWIMPs) produced in the late decays of other particles are well-motivated dark matter candidates and may be favored over standard Weakly-Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) by small scale structure observations. Among the most promising frameworks that incorporate superWIMPs are R-parity conserving supersymmetry models in which the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP) is the gravitino or the axino. In these well-defined particle models, astrophysical observations have direct implications for possible measurements at future colliders.Comment: Contributed to the 2005 International Linear Collider Physics and Detector Workshop and 2nd ILC Accelerator Workshop, Snowmass, Colorado, 14-27 Aug 2005. 3 pages, LaTeX, 1 figur

Analysis of surface tris (2,3-dibromopropyl) phosphate on chlorobutyl rubber SCAPE suits

Tris (2,30-dibromopropyl) phosphate was used to confer flame retardant properties on butyl rubber formulations used in protective clothing such as the self-contained atmospheric protective ensembles (SCAPE suits) worn at Kennedy Space Center in support of Apollo, Skylab, and Apollo-Soyuz missions since 1966. Because tris (2,3-dibromopropyl) phosphate is mutagenic, surface concentrations of the compound in SCAPE suits were investigated as were as potential methods of removing or isolating it. Analytical procedures for determining surface concentrations of the tris compound on non-porous materials are described. Soap-and-water washing is the most efficient method of removing the compound from fabricated SCAPE suits and unused material

Thermal kinetic inductance detectors for ground-based millimeter-wave cosmology

We show measurements of thermal kinetic inductance detectors (TKID) intended for millimeter wave cosmology in the 200-300 GHz atmospheric window. The TKID is a type of bolometer which uses the kinetic inductance of a superconducting resonator to measure the temperature of the thermally isolated bolometer island. We measure bolometer thermal conductance, time constant and noise equivalent power. We also measure the quality factor of our resonators as the bath temperature varies to show they are limited by effects consistent with coupling to two level systems.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures. Submitted to Journal of Low Temperature Physic

Potential Applications of Active Antenna Technologies for Emerging NASA Space Communications Scenarios

AbstractThe National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is presently embarking on the implementation of far-reaching changes within the framework of both space and aeronautics communications architectures. For example, near earth relays are looking to transition from the traditional few large geostationary satellites to satellite constellations consisting of thousands of small low earth orbiting satellites while lunar space communications will require the need to relay data from many assets distributed on the lunar surface back to earth. Furthermore, within the aeronautics realm, satellite communications for beyond line of sight (BLOS) links are being investigated in tandem with the proliferation of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) within the urban air mobility (UAM) environment. In all of these scenarios, future communications architectures will demand the need to connect and quickly transition between many nodes for large data volume transport. As such, NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) has been heavily investigating the development of low cost phased array technologies that can readily address these various scenario conditions. In particular, GRC is presently exploring 5G-based beamformer technologies to leverage commercial timescale and volume production cycles which have heretofore not existed within the frequency allocations utilized for NASA applications. In this paper, an overview of the potential future applications of phased arrays being envisioned by NASA are discussed, along with technology feasibility demonstrations being conducted by GRC implementing low cost, 5G based beamformer technologies

Superconducting proximity effects in metals with a repulsive pairing interaction

Studies of the superconducting proximity effect in normal conductor/superconductor $(N/S)$ junctions almost universally assume no effective electron-electron coupling in the $N$ region. While such an approximation leads to a simple description of the proximity effect, it is unclear how it could be rigorously justified. We reveal a much more complex picture of the proximity effect in $N/S$ bilayers, where $S$ is a clean s-wave BCS superconductor and $N$ is a simple metal with a repulsive effective electron coupling. We elucidate the proximity effect behavior using a highly accurate method to self-consistently solve the Bogoliubov-deGennes equations. We present our results for a wide range of values of the interface scattering, the Fermi wave vector mismatch, the temperature, and the ratio $g$ of the effective interaction strengths in the $N$ and $S$ region. We find that the repulsive interaction, represented by a negative $g$, strongly alters the signatures of the proximity effect as can be seen in the spatial dependence of the Cooper pair amplitude and the pair potential, as well as in the local density of states near the interface.Comment: 12 pages, including 10 figures. To appear in Phys. Rev.

Acceleration Profiles and Processing Methods for Parabolic Flight

Parabolic flights provide cost-effective, time-limited access to "weightless" or reduced gravity conditions experienced in space or on planetary surfaces, e.g. the Moon or Mars. These flights facilitate fundamental research - from materials science to space biology - and testing/validation activities that support and complement infrequent and costly access to space. While parabolic flights have been conducted for decades, reference acceleration profiles and processing methods are not widely available - yet are critical for assessing the results of these activities. Here we present a method for collecting, analyzing, and classifying the altered gravity environments experienced during a parabolic flight. We validated this method using a commercially available accelerometer during a Boeing 727-200F flight with $20$ parabolas. All data and analysis code are freely available. Our solution can be easily integrated with a variety of experimental designs, does not depend upon accelerometer orientation, and allows for unsupervised and repeatable classification of all phases of flight, providing a consistent and open-source approach to quantifying gravito-intertial accelerations (GIA), or $g$ levels. As academic, governmental, and commercial use of space increases, data availability and validated processing methods will enable better planning, execution, and analysis of parabolic flight experiments, and thus, facilitate future space activities.Comment: Correspondence to C.E. Carr ([email protected]). 15 pages, 4 figures, 3 supplemental figures. Code: https://github.com/CarrCE/zerog, Dataset: https://osf.io/nk2w4