Marketing library services to children and young people

This paper discusses the future of Schools Library Services in the North West region of England based on a research project recently undertaken by the Centre for the Public Library and Information in Society at the University of Sheffield on behalf of MLA North West. The research has revealed somewhat of an identity crisis for Schools Library Services in the region, encouraged by educational policy, changing public library service priorities and subsequent issues surrounding service perceptions, awareness and ownership. The research has revealed a desire within the sector for a more visible alignment of Schools Library Services within the empirical services to children and young people agenda. Particular opportunities exist within the literacy development remit, building upon best practice examples in the region concerning reader development projects and family learning initiatives. Recommendations include the formation of a regional professional network designed to promote a seamless library service to children from early years to young adulthood including staff training, advocacy and proactive service marketing under a strong and identifiable regional brand

Quasi-random simulation of discrete choice models

We describe the properties of (t,m,s)-nets and Halton draws. Four types of (t,m,s)-nets, two types of Halton draws, and independent draws are compared in an application of maximum simulated likelihood estimation of a mixed logit model. All of the quasi-random procedures are found to perform far better than independent draws. The best performance is attained by one of the (t,m,s)-nets. The properties of the nets imply that two of them should outperform the other two, and our results confirm this expectation. The two more-accurate nets perform better than both types of Halton draws, while the two less-accurate nets perform worse than the Halton draws

Closed-Form Bayesian Inferences for the Logit Model via Polynomial Expansions

Articles in Marketing and choice literatures have demonstrated the need for incorporating person-level heterogeneity into behavioral models (e.g., logit models for multiple binary outcomes as studied here). However, the logit likelihood extended with a population distribution of heterogeneity doesn't yield closed-form inferences, and therefore numerical integration techniques are relied upon (e.g., MCMC methods). We present here an alternative, closed-form Bayesian inferences for the logit model, which we obtain by approximating the logit likelihood via a polynomial expansion, and then positing a distribution of heterogeneity from a flexible family that is now conjugate and integrable. For problems where the response coefficients are independent, choosing the Gamma distribution leads to rapidly convergent closed-form expansions; if there are correlations among the coefficients one can still obtain rapidly convergent closed-form expansions by positing a distribution of heterogeneity from a Multivariate Gamma distribution. The solution then comes from the moment generating function of the Multivariate Gamma distribution or in general from the multivariate heterogeneity distribution assumed. Closed-form Bayesian inferences, derivatives (useful for elasticity calculations), population distribution parameter estimates (useful for summarization) and starting values (useful for complicated algorithms) are hence directly available. Two simulation studies demonstrate the efficacy of our approach.Comment: 30 pages, 2 figures, corrected some typos. Appears in Quantitative Marketing and Economics vol 4 (2006), no. 2, 173--20

Practical solutions for sampling alternatives in large-scale models

Many large-scale real-world transport applications have choice sets that are so large as to make model estimation and application computationally impractical. The ability to estimate models on subsets of the alternatives is thus of great appeal, and correction approaches have existed since the late 1970s for the simple multinomial logit (MNL) model. However, many of these models in practice rely on nested logit specifications, for example, in the context of the joint choice of mode and destination. Recent research has put forward solutions for such generalized extreme value (GEV) structures, but these structures remain difficult to apply in practice. This paper puts forward a simplification of the GEV method for use in computationally efficient implementations of nested logit. The good performance of this approach is illustrated with simulated data, and additional insights into sampling error are also provided with different sampling strategies for MNL

Utjecaj sadržaja lijeka i veličine aglomerata na tabletiranje i oslobađanje bromheksin hidroklorida iz aglomerata s talkom pripremljenih kristalokoaglomeracijom

The objective of the investigation was to study the effect of bromhexine hydrochloride (BXH) content and agglomerate size on mechanical, compressional and drug release properties of agglomerates prepared by crystallo-co-agglomeration (CCA). Studies on optimized batches of agglomerates (BXT1 and BXT2) prepared by CCA have showed adequate sphericity and strength required for efficient tabletting. Trend of strength reduction with a decrease in the size of agglomerates was noted for both batches, irrespective of drug loading. However, an increase in mean yield pressure (14.189 to 19.481) with an increase in size was observed for BXT2 having BXH-talc (1:15.7). Surprisingly, improvement in tensile strength was demonstrated by compacts prepared from BXT2, due to high BXH load, whereas BXT1, having a low amount of BXH (BXH-talc, 1:24), showed low tensile strength. Consequently, increased tensile strength was reflected in extended drug release from BXT2 compacts (Higuchi model, R2 = 0.9506 to 0.9981). Thus, it can be concluded that interparticulate bridges formed by BXH and agglomerate size affect their mechanical, compressional and drug release properties.Cilj rada bio je praćenje utjecaja sadržaja bromheksidin hidroklorida (BXH) i veličine aglomerata na mehanička svojstva, kompresivnost i oslobađanje ljekovite tvari iz aglomerata pripravljenih kristalokoaglomeracijom (CCA). Optimizirani pripravci aglomerata (BXT1 i BXT2) pripravljeni CCA metodom pokazuju adekvatnu sferičnost i čvrstoću potrebnu za učinkovito tabletiranje. U oba pripravka se smanjenjem veličine aglomerata smanjivala i čvrstoća, neovisno o količini ljekovite tvari. Međutim, povećanje prosječnog tlaka s povećanjem veličine čestica primijećeno je u pripravku BXT2 s omjerom BXH-talk 1:15,7. Iznenađuje da su kompakti pripravljeni iz BXT2, s visokim sadržajem BXH, imali veću vlačnu čvrstoću, dok su BXT1 s niskim sadržajem BXH (BXH-talk, 1:24) imali manju čvrstoću. Veća vlačna čvrstoća imala je za posljedicu produljeno oslobađanje ljekovite tvari iz BXT2 (Higuchijev model, R2 = 0,9506 do 0,9981). Može se zaključiti da mostovi među česticama BXH i veličina aglomerata utječu na njihova mehanička i kompresivna svojstva te na oslobađanje ljekovite tvari

General Chemistry Student Attitudes and Success with Use of Online Homework: Traditional- Responsive versus Adaptive-Responsive

We investigated whether use of an adaptive-responsive online homework system (OHS) that tailors homework to students’ prior knowledge and periodically reassesses students to promote learning through practice retrieval has inherent advantages over traditional-responsive online homework. A quasi-experimental cohort control post-test-only design with nonequivalent groups and propensity scores with nearest neighbor matching (n = 6,114 pairs) was used. The adaptive system was found to increase the odds of a higher final letter grade for average, below average, and failing students. However, despite the learning advantages, students self-reported less favorable attitudes toward adaptive-responsive (3.15 of 5) relative to traditional-responsive OHS (3.31). Specific to the adaptive OHS, the following were found: (i) student attitudes were moderately and positively correlated (r = 0.36, p \u3c 0.01) to final letter grade, (ii) most students (95%) reported engaging in remediation of incorrect responses, (iii) a majority of students (69%) reported changes in study habits, and (iv) students recognized the benefit of using adaptive OHS by ranking its assignments and explanations or review materials as two of the top three most useful course aspects contributing to perceived learning. Instructors can use our findings to inform their choice of online homework system for formative assessment of chemistry learning by weighing the benefits, disadvantages, and learning pedagogies of traditional-responsive versus adaptive-responsive systems

High-Speed Rail Versus Air Transportation: Case Study of Madrid–Barcelona, Spain.

Travel time savings, better quality of the supplied services, greater comfort for the users, and improved accessibility are the main factors of success of High Speed Rail(HSR)links. This paper presents the results from a revealed and stated preference survey conducted to both HSR and air transport users in the Madrid Barcelona corridor. The data gathered from the stated preference survey was used to calibrate a modal choice model aiming at explaining competition between HSR and air transportation in the corridor. From the model, the authors obtain that prices and service frequency are the most important variables to compete with the other mode. In addition, they found that check-in and security controls at the airport are a crucial variable for the users in their modal choice. Other policies, such as the improvement of parking facilities at the train stations, play a secondary role