Customer satisfaction, training and TQM: a comparative study of Western and Thai hotels

Managers within the hospitality industry make frequent reference to TQM principles. The extent to which these principles are applied effectively within the human resource management area of hospitality however remains under-researched. By applying TQM principles, this paper focusses on the relationship between customer service and training drawing upon comparative data from Western and Thai hotels. The paper also examines the perceptions of staff towards of hotels' guest-orientation and the provision of quality guest services. The researchers found that guest assessments of the performance of hotel frontline staff depend on their services function (e.g., front-office, housekeeping). The service quality skills needed by frontline staff were also found to differ in the case of Western and Thai hotels. Such differences merit proper consideration on the part of managers within the major hotel chains. The various findings may assist hospitality managers to determine appropriate strategies for the enhancement of guest services particularly in cross-cultural settings

Returning to Learning: Adults' Success in College Is Key to America's Future

Provides an overview of research on adult learners' characteristics, risk factors, and needs at four-year institutions and in for-credit and non-credit courses, and what changes institutions and governments can implement to help adult students succeed

Mixing of Supersonic Streams

The Strutjet approach to Rocket Based Combined Cycle (RBCC) propulsion depends upon fuel-rich flows from the rocket nozzles and turbine exhaust products mixing with the ingested air for successful operation in the ramjet and scramjet modes. A model of the Strutjet device has been built and is undergoing test to investigate the mixing of the streams as a function of distance from the Strutjet exit plane. Initial cold flow testing of the model is underway to determine both, the behavior of the ingested air in the duct and to validate the mixing diagnostics. During the tests, each of the two rocket nozzles ejected up to two pounds mass per second into the 13.6 square inch duct. The tests showed that the mass flow of the rockets was great enough to cause the entrained air to go sonic at the strut, which is the location of the rocket nozzles. More tests are necessary to determine whether the entrained air chokes due to the reduction in the area of the duct at the strut (a physical choke), or because of the addition of mass inside the duct at the nozzle exit (a Fabri choke). The initial tests of the mixing diagnostics are showing promise

In Populo

While the Latin phrase in vitro and in vivo are well understood in the medical literature, neither term accurately describes the science performed at the level of the population by epidemiologists and others. In particular, results in a single organism can differ broadly from results in a population, for reasons from random error to herd immunity. We suggest that in populo, meaning literally “in the people”, can fill this gap in the literature, and urge its wide adoption

Fast Segmentation and High-Quality Three-Dimensional Volume Mesh Creation from Medical Images for Diffuse Optical Tomography

Multimodal approaches that combine near-infrared (NIR) and conventional imaging modalities have been shown to improve optical parameter estimation dramatically and thus represent a prevailing trend in NIR imaging. These approaches typically involve applying anatomical templates from magnetic resonance imaging/computed tomography/ultrasound images to guide the recovery of optical parameters. However, merging these data sets using current technology requires multiple software packages, substantial expertise, significant time-commitment, and often results in unacceptably poor mesh quality for optical image reconstruction, a reality that represents a significant roadblock for translational research of multimodal NIR imaging. This work addresses these challenges directly by introducing automated digital imaging and communications in medicine image stack segmentation and a new one-click three-dimensional mesh generator optimized for multimodal NIR imaging, and combining these capabilities into a single software package (available for free download) with a streamlined workflow. Image processing time and mesh quality benchmarks were examined for four common multimodal NIR use-cases (breast, brain, pancreas, and small animal) and were compared to a commercial image processing package. Applying these tools resulted in a fivefold decrease in image processing time and 62% improvement in minimum mesh quality, in the absence of extra mesh postprocessing. These capabilities represent a significant step toward enabling translational multimodal NIR research for both expert and nonexpert users in an open-source platform

Movement of Walleyes in Lakes Erie and St. Clair Inferred from Tag Return and Fisheries Data

Lake Erie walleyes Sander vitreus support important fisheries and have been managed as one stock, although preliminary tag return and genetic analyses suggest the presence of multiple stocks that migrate among basins within Lake Erie and into other portions of the Great Lakes. We examined temporal and spatial movement and abundance patterns of walleye stocks in the three basins of Lake Erie and in Lake St. Clair with the use of tag return and sport and commercial catchâ perâ unit effort (CPUE) data from 1990 to 2001. Based on summer tag returns, western basin walleyes migrated to the central and eastern basins of Lake Erie and to Lake St. Clair and southern Lake Huron, while fish in the central and eastern basins of Lake Erie and in Lake St. Clair were primarily caught within the basins where they were tagged. Seasonal changes in sport and commercial effort and CPUE in Lake Erie confirmed the walleye movements suggested by tag return data. Walleyes tagged in the western basin but recaptured in the central or eastern basin of Lake Erie were generally larger (or older) than those recaptured in the western basin of Lake Erie or in Lake St. Clair. Within spawning stocks, female walleyes had wider ranges of movement than males and there was considerable variation in movement direction, minimum distance moved (mean distance between tagging sites and recapture locations), and mean length among individual spawning stocks. Summer temperatures in the western basin often exceeded the optimal temperature (20â 23°C) for growth of large walleyes, and the migration of western basin walleyes might represent a sizeâ dependent response to warm summer temperatures. Cooler temperatures and abundant softâ rayed fish probably contributed to an energetically favorable foraging habitat in the central and eastern basins that attracted large walleyes during summer.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/141620/1/tafs0539.pd

Seasonal phosphatase activities of mosses from Upper Teesdale, northern England

Changes in tissue nutrient concentrations and surface phosphatase activities of eight moss species were measured over one year in terrestrial and semi-aquatic environments on Widdybank Fell, Upper Teesdale National Nature Reserve, northern England. Rates of phosphatase activity in apical regions of moss shoots differed markedly between species, but were generally greatest in the winter and least in the summer in most species. Mean values for phosphomonoesterase activity (umol para-nitrophenol g-1 d.wt h-1) ranged from 18.2 for Polytrichum commune to 85.8 for Palustriella commutata var. falcata. Mean phosphodiesterase activity ranged from 3.1 for Polytrichum commune to 86.2 for Hylocomium splendens. In contrast, tissue nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations remained relatively constant throughout the year. Phosphatase activities were negatively correlated with tissue phosphorus concentration for several species, although few relationships were detected between ambient nutrient concentrations and phosphatase activity, tissue nitrogen, or tissue phosphorus concentration. These results demonstrate that phosphatase activities can provide a sensitive indicator of nutrient stress in terrestrial and semi-aquatic mosses, notably in the ectohydric Hylocomium splendens. However, further studies at sites with a wide range of nutrient levels are required to determine whether the technique can be used to indicate ambient nutrient status

Fishing for ecosystem services

Ecosystems are commonly exploited and manipulated to maximize certain human benefits. Such changes can degrade systems, leading to cascading negative effects that may be initially undetected, yet ultimately result in a reduction, or complete loss, of certain valuable ecosystem services. Ecosystembased management is intended to maintain ecosystem quality and minimize the risk of irreversible change to natural assemblages of species and to ecosystem processes while obtaining and maintaining long-term socioeconomic benefits. We discuss policy decisions in fishery management related to commonly manipulated environments with a focus on influences to ecosystem services. By focusing on broader scales, managing for ecosystem services, and taking a more proactive approach, we expect sustainable, quality fisheries that are resilient to future disturbances. To that end, we contend that: (1) management always involves tradeoffs; (2) explicit management of fisheries for ecosystem services could facilitate a transition from reactive to proactive management; and (3) adaptive co-management is a process that could enhance management for ecosystem services. We propose adaptive co-management with an ecosystem service framework where actions are implemented within ecosystem boundaries, rather than political boundaries, through strong interjurisdictional relationships