Perceptions of innovation-based relationship marketing (PIRM) in the Sri Lankan retail banking sector: A qualitative study.

The purpose of this research is to investigate the “Perceptions of Innovation based Relationship Marketing” (PIRM) model based on evidence from four retails banks in Sri Lanka. From the bankers’ perspectives, the PIRM model focuses on how product innovation, process innovation and organizational innovation lead to improving relationship marketing. This research used qualitative methods using sixteen in-depth interviews in four retail banks in Sri Lanka. Four bankers were interviewed from each bank. The theory building case study approach has been adopted together with cross-case synthesis. The qualitative thematic analysis showed that bankers rely on three dimensions of innovation: product innovation, process innovation and organizational innovation, perceiving those to promote the improvement of relationship marketing. From the retail banking perspective, the PIRM model may enable better understanding of customer retention and acting as a way of promoting innovative sustainable competitive advantage

Effects of salmon farming on benthic Crustacea

Scotland is the largest aquaculture producer in the European Union and utilizes almost all of its fjords for salmon culture. Recent UK policy has encouraged the movement of farm cages away from enclosed sites to areas with strong tidal flow because salmon farms are known to cause organic-enrichment of muddy substrata in areas with low tidal flow. This has resulted in a spate of applications to site cages over coralline algal gravel beds (termed maerl) that are usually strongly tidal and provide habitat for a diverse array of benthic Crustacea. In 2003 we studied the effects of farm waste on benthic crustaceans from a large salmon farm in Shetland that had been situated above a maerl bed since 1991. Annual monitoring reports showed a die-back of living maerl, periods of anoxia and an accumulation of organic material on the seabed within 25 m of the cages. Assessments of crustacean assemblages, quantified using 0.5-mm-sieved replicate (n = 5 per site) core samples, showed significant reductions in biodiversity near the farm. Some scavengers (e.g., the amphipod Socarnes erythrophthalmus) were far more abundant near the cages than at distances &gt;75 m from the cages, but many small crustaceans (e.g., the tanaids Leptognathia breviremis, Typhlotanais microcheles and Psudoparatanais batei; the cumaceans Nannastacus unguiculatus, Cumella pygmaea and Vaunthompsonia cristata; and the amphipod Austrosyrrhoe fimbriatus) were impoverished near the cages. We found that benthic Crustacea were significantly impacted by the salmon farm, despite the presence of strong currents, probably due to the combined effects of organic wastes and the use of toxins to combat parasitic copepods. We recommend that "fallowing", whereby farm cages are moved between sites to allow benthic recovery, is not carried out at sites where long-lived biogenic habitats such as maerl occur because this will likely increase the area of habitat degradation. </jats:p

Online store brand experience impacting on online brand trust and online repurchase intention: The moderating role of online brand attachment

The scope of this research is to examine the impact of online store brand experience on online brand trust and online repurchase intention. Additionally, the study tests whether online brand attachment moderates these influences. Data was gathered in two cites in Pakistan and path relationships in the theoretical model were analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling. The study results confirm that onlinebrand attachment and online brand experience have a direct relationship with online brand trust and online repurchase intention. Conclusively, online brand attachment significantly moderates the two relationships between a) online brand experiences and online brand trust and b) online brand experiences and online repurchase intention.The study provides insights for online retail store managers to focus on improving the online experience for its customers in order to promote online brand trust and online repurchase intentions

Direct measurement of general quantum states using weak measurement

Recent work [J.S. Lundeen et al. Nature, 474, 188 (2011)] directly measured the wavefunction by weakly measuring a variable followed by a normal (i.e. `strong') measurement of the complementary variable. We generalize this method to mixed states by considering the weak measurement of various products of these observables, thereby providing the density matrix an operational definition in terms of a procedure for its direct measurement. The method only requires measurements in two bases and can be performed `in situ', determining the quantum state without destroying it.Comment: This is a later and very different version of arXiv:1110.0727v3 [quant-ph]. New content: a method to directly measure each element of the density matrix, specific Hamiltonians to weakly measure the product of non-commuting observables, and references to recent related wor

Spinning Characteristics of the XN2Y-1 Airplane Obtained from the Spinning Balance and Compared with Results from the Spinning Tunnel and from Flight Tests

Report presents the results of tests of a 1/10-scale model of the XN2Y-1 airplane tested in the NACA 5-foot vertical wind tunnel in which the six components of forces and moments were measured. The model was tested in 17 attitudes in which the full-scale airplane had been observed to spin, in order to determine the effects of scale, tunnel, and interference. In addition, a series of tests was made to cover the range of angles of attack, angles of sideslip, rates of rotation, and control setting likely to be encountered by a spinning airplane. The data were used to estimate the probable attitudes in steady spins of an airplane in flight and of a model in the free-spinning tunnel. The estimated attitudes of steady spin were compared with attitudes measured in flight and in the spinning tunnel. The results indicate that corrections for certain scale and tunnel effects are necessary to estimate full-scale spinning attitudes from model results

Spinning Characteristics of Wings III : a Rectangular and Tapered Clark Y Monoplane Wing with Rounded Tips

An investigation was made to determine the spinning characteristics of Clark Y monoplane wings with different plan forms. A rectangular wing and a wing tapered 5:2, both with rounded tips, were tested on the N.A.C.A. spinning balance in the 5-foot vertical wind tunnel. The aerodynamic characteristics of the models and a prediction of the angles of sideslip for steady spins are given. Also included is an estimate of the yawning moment that must be furnished by the parts of the airplane to balance the inertia couples and wing yawing moment for spinning equilibrium. The effects on the spin of changes in plan form and of variations of some of the important parameters are discussed and the results are compared with those for a rectangular wing with square tips. It is concluded that for a conventional monoplane using Clark Y wing the sideslip will be algebraically larger for the wing with the rounded tip than for the wing with the square tip and will be largest for the tapered wing. The effect of plan form on the spin will vary with the type of airplane; and the provision of a yawing-moment coefficient of -0.025 (i.e., opposing the spin) by the tail, fuselage, and interference effects will insure against the attainment of equilibrium on a steady spin for any of the plan forms tested and for any of the parameters used in the analysis

Wind-tunnel Investigation of Effect of Yaw on Lateral-stability Characteristics I : Four N.A.C.A. 23012 Wings of Various Plan Forms with and Without Dihedral

Four N.A.C.A. 23012 wings were tested at several angles of yaw in the N.A.C.A. 7- by 10-foot wind tunnel. All the wings have rounded tips and, in plan form, one is rectangular and the others are tapered 3:1 with various amounts of sweep. Each wing was tested with two amounts of dihedral and with partial-span split flaps. The coefficients of lift, drag, and pitching moment are given for all the models at zero yaw. The coefficients of rolling moment, yawing moment, and side force are given for the rectangular wing at all values of yaw tested. The rate of change in the coefficients with angle of yaw is given in convenient form for stability calculations

Apseudomorph tanaidaceans (Crustacea: Peracarida) from mud-volcanoes in the Gulf of Cadiz (North-east Atlantic)

Faunal collections from mud-volcano sites in the Gulf of Cadiz, at depths between 355 and 3061 m, have revealed a high diversity (and in some cases high density) of tanaidaceans. A previous paper has described some of the tanaidomorph species found. Records of apseudomorph species from deep-sea chemosynthetic habitats are almost non-existent. The present study reports on seven apseudomorph species from five different genera from this material; two of the species, one in each of the genera Sphyrapus and Pseudosphyrapus are new to science, although there was insufficient material available to describe fully the Pseudosphyrapus species. Two of the other species are reported herein for only the second time. A neo-type is erected for Apseudes setiferus Bacescu, and a lectotype for Sphyrapus malleolus Norman & Stebbing; these two, plus Atlantapseudes nigrifrons Bacescu and Fageapseudes retusifrons Richardson are redescribed. The habitus of Apseudes grossimanus is figured. None of the taxa appear to show any morphological features specifically adapted to the peculiar habitat around mud-volcanoes. The genus Collossella is relegated to the synonymy of Fageapseudes. The non-chemosynthetic-habitat-associated species Apseudes coriolis is moved to Taraxapseudes.EC - GOCE-CT-2005-511234 HERMESEC - 226354 HERMIONETraining Through Research Programme IOC-UNESCOCensus of Marine Life Project COMARGEMNiSW grant 2PO4C 089 29