Clustering and networking among small independent hotels: developments over ten years

This paper reports on networking activities amongst a cluster of independent hotels with a view to analysing key variables in network development for SMEs. A comparative, longitudinal element is introduced by reference to an earlier study of the same phenomenon, ten years earlier. Of particular interest is the influence of various forms of social capital in the development of informal networks and the inter-play between co-operation and competition over time. Given the time gap between the two studies, the effect of sectoral changes on network development is also examined. The research revisits and extends a previous study of many of the same hotels which were investigated in 1995 over their formal and informal links that were found to be influenced by such factors across two classifications - the business as unit (proximity, perceptions of quality) and the individual respondent (personal social networks and ethnicity). Extending that analysis, social capital concepts and relevant references to embedded networks and kinship groups and co-operative game rules will be introduced in this paper. A highly concentrated population of small, independent hotels in Central London had been identified in the previous research project and it is from this sample that the current research drew and extended its own sample of hotels. With such a high number of hotels in the area a mixture of ‘snowball’ sampling and self-selection was successfully employed. Of the original 29 hotels, 22 have been re-interviewed and complemented by another 19. Of the remainder of the original sample, several had subsequently merged or failed to survive the intervening period. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with owner-managers in all cases using a structured questionnaire that replicated as much as possible of the original questionnaire, with both open and closed questions to allow some individual expression on relevant topics. The quantitative data obtained will be analysed using UCINET software to generate visual representations of networks alongside statistical and cluster analyses. Both academic and policy implications are likely to arise from this research, such as novel insights from such an unique periodic comparison of networks development, the influence of social capital on (formal and informal) network activities and the changing influence and consolidation of hotel groups through mergers and franchising

Australian Ground Stone Hatchets: Their Design and Dynamics

The general purpose tool of the Australian Aborigines, usually known as a stone axe, is more correctly termed a hatchet since it conforms to the design requirements of a tool made for one-handed use. Similar implements not so conforming appear to be special purpose tools. A geometrical feature common to all these tools and perhaps to other types is the 'median plane' which determines the position of the edge and governs some of its operational properties. Some dynamical features of stone hatchet heads, the design of handles for them and their security of mounting are examined and compared with the features of modern steel hatchets

Studies in biochemical micro-analysis: Part I. the determination of lactic acid in muscle; Part II. a method for the estimation of glycerol in blood

The ordinary method for the estimation of lactic acid in muscle etc. appears to give results which are too high owing to interference by methylglyoxal. A method is described for its removal by distillation prior to treatment with copper sulphate and lime.Copper sulphate and lime do not remove methylglyoxal but convert it into some substance which may be a polymeride and which is oxidised by acid potassium permanganate to acetaldehyde. No other substance has been detected among the oxidation products of the hypothetical polymeride but the amount of bisulphite bound corresponds to about one and a half molecules of acetaldehyde per molecule of methylglyoxal.The modified method gives results in muscle about 10% lower than the standard method

A Geographical Location Model for Targeted Implementation of Lure-and-Kill Strategies Against Disease-Transmitting Mosquitoes in Rural Areas

Outdoor devices for luring and killing disease-transmitting mosquitoes have been proposed as potential com- plementary interventions alongside existing intra-domiciliary methods namely insecticide treated nets and house spraying with residual insecticides. To enhance effectiveness of such outdoor interventions, it is essential to optimally locate them in such a way that they target most of the outdoor mosquitoes. Using odour-baited lure and kill stations (OBS) as an example, we describe a map model derived from: 1) com-munity participatory mapping conducted to identify mosquito breeding habitats, 2) entomological field studies conducted to estimate outdoor mosquito densities and to determine safe distances of the OBS from human dwellings, and 3) field surveys conducted to map households, roads, outdoor human aggregations and landmarks. The resulting data were combined in a Ge- ographical Information Systems (GIS) environment and analysed to determine optimal locations for the OBS. Separately, a GIS-interpolated map produced by asking community members to rank different zones of the study area and show where they expected to find most mosquitoes, was visually compared to another map interpolated from the entomological survey of outdoor mosquito densities. An easy-to-interpret suitability map showing optimal sites for placing OBS was produced, which clearly depicted areas least suitable and areas most suitable for locating the devices. Comparative visual interpretation of maps derived from interpolating the community knowledge and entomological data revealed major similarities between the two maps. Using distribution patterns of human and mosquito populations as well as characteristics of candidate outdoor interventions, it is possible to readily determine suitable areas for targeted positioning of the interventions, thus improve effectiveness. This study also highlights possibilities of relying on community knowledge to approximate areas where mosquitoes are most abundant and where to locate outdoor complementary interventions such as odour-baited lure and kill stations for controlling disease-transmitting mosquitoes.\u

Shaping plasmon beams via the controlled illumination of finite-size plasmonic crystals

Plasmonic crystals provide many passive and active optical functionalities, including enhanced sensing, optical nonlinearities, light extraction from LEDs and coupling to and from subwavelength waveguides. Here we study, both experimentally and numerically, the coherent control of SPP beam excitation in finite size plasmonic crystals under focussed illumination. The correct combination of the illuminating spot size, its position relative to the plasmonic crystal, wavelength and polarisation enables the efficient shaping and directionality of SPP beam launching. We show that under strongly focussed illumination, the illuminated part of the crystal acts as an antenna, launching surface plasmon waves which are subsequently filtered by the surrounding periodic lattice. Changing the illumination conditions provides rich opportunities to engineer the SPP emission pattern. This offers an alternative technique to actively modulate and control plasmonic signals, either via micro- and nano-electromechanical switches or with electro- and all-optical beam steering which have direct implications for the development of new integrated nanophotonic devices, such as plasmonic couplers and switches and on-chip signal demultiplexing. This approach can be generalised to all kinds of surface waves, either for the coupling and discrimination of light in planar dielectric waveguides or the generation and control of non-diffractive SPP beams

Equity of Inpatient Health Care in Rural Tanzania:\ud A Population- and Facility-Based Survey

To explore the equity of utilization of inpatient health care at rural Tanzanian health centers through the use of a short wealth questionnaire.Methods: Patients admitted to four rural health centers in the Kigoma Region of Tanzania from May 2008 to May 2009 were surveyed about their illness, asset ownership and demographics. Principal component analysis was used to compare the wealth of the inpatients to the wealth of the region’s general population, using data from a previous population-based survey. Among inpatients, 15.3% were characterized as the most poor, 19.6% were characterized as very poor, 16.5% were characterized as poor, 18.9% were characterized as less poor, and 29.7% were characterized as the least poor. The wealth distribution of all inpatients (p < 0.0001), obstetric inpatients (p < 0.0001), other inpatients (p < 0.0001), and fee-exempt inpatients (p < 0.001) were significantly different than the wealth distribution in the community population, with poorer patients underrepresented among inpatients. The wealth distribution of pediatric inpatients (p = 0.2242) did not significantly differ from the population at large. The findings indicated that while current Tanzanian health financing policies may have improved access to health care for children under five, additional policies are needed to further close the equity gap, especially for obstetric inpatients.\u

Boundary effects in finite size plasmonic crystals: Focusing and routing of plasmonic beams for optical communications

Plasmonic crystals, which consist of periodic arrangements of surface features at a metal-dielectric interface, allow the manipulation of optical information in the form of surface plasmon polaritons. Here we investigate the excitation and propagation of plasmonic beams in and around finite size plasmonic crystals at telecom wavelengths, highlighting the effects of the crystal boundary shape and illumination conditions. Significant differences in broad plasmonic beam generation by crystals of different shapes are demonstrated, while for narrow beams, the propagation onto the smooth metal film is less sensitive to the crystal boundary shape. We show that by controlling the boundary shape, the size and the excitation beam parameters, directional control of propagating plasmonic modes and associated beam parameters such as angular beam splitting, focusing power and beam width can be efficiently achieved. This provides a promising route for robust and alignment-independent integration of plasmonic crystals with optical communication components

Social Networking in Academic Libraries: The Possibilities and the Concerns

The goal of this article is to examine the use of the major social networking tools in academic libraries in the United States. Since college students are heavy users of social networking, such efforts provide academic libraries with outreach possibilities to students who do not use the physical library. The paper also examines the concerns about their use both from students and within the academic library

Algorithmic approach to adiabatic quantum optimization

It is believed that the presence of anticrossings with exponentially small gaps between the lowest two energy levels of the system Hamiltonian, can render adiabatic quantum optimization inefficient. Here, we present a simple adiabatic quantum algorithm designed to eliminate exponentially small gaps caused by anticrossings between eigenstates that correspond with the local and global minima of the problem Hamiltonian. In each iteration of the algorithm, information is gathered about the local minima that are reached after passing the anticrossing non-adiabatically. This information is then used to penalize pathways to the corresponding local minima, by adjusting the initial Hamiltonian. This is repeated for multiple clusters of local minima as needed. We generate 64-qubit random instances of the maximum independent set problem, skewed to be extremely hard, with between 10^5 and 10^6 highly-degenerate local minima. Using quantum Monte Carlo simulations, it is found that the algorithm can trivially solve all the instances in ~10 iterations.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure