A three country comparison of internet marketing

This paper provides information on business use of the Internet (Net) and World Wide Web (Web) across three countries viz Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom (UK), and explores reasons for observed differences in use. The study reports that UK firms are more likely to use the Internet in relationship management than are Australasian firms. The conclusion drawn is that while there is less sophisticated business use of the Internet by Australasian companies relative to UK companies, this is but one reason for lower household penetration of the Internet and lower online purchasing levels.<br /

Development and storage characteristics of shrimp (Solenocera crassicornis) based snack food using extrusion technology

An attempt was made to develop nutrient rich extruded snacks from lesser utilized protein rich shrimp (Solenocera crassicornis) flour using twin screw extruder. The extruded were in order to fried and packed in to High Density Polyethelene (HDPE). The extruded were analyzed for physical, texture profile, proximate composition and sensory characteristics at the interval of 10 days for 50 days of storage (DOS). The experiment shows the physical property like expansion ratio (mm) and texture profile characteristics such as hardness (gmF) and crispiness (gm) were not affected at the end of storage period. Among the different studies, the product made from rice/shrimp T1 based extruded scored as higher as 5 (out of 5) by sensory evaluation for all attributes. Consequently, all the extruded were maintained the physical properties, nutritional quality and overall acceptability. This research demonstrated that shrimp flour at 15% can be successfully incorporated for development of extruded were: expansion ratio 3.32, 2.75 and 3.06 (mm), crispiness 291, 252 and 210 (gm), protein 12.69, 18.74 and 15.09 (%), enegy value 540, 489 and 524 (Kcal), TPC 0.36, 0.34 and 0.34 (log cfu/gm) in rice T1, wheat T2 and corn T3 based extruded respectively. Overall, the quality assessment of extruded were not changed significantly (P&gt;0.05) throughout study

User needs elicitation via analytic hierarchy process (AHP). A case study on a Computed Tomography (CT) scanner

Background: The rigorous elicitation of user needs is a crucial step for both medical device design and purchasing. However, user needs elicitation is often based on qualitative methods whose findings can be difficult to integrate into medical decision-making. This paper describes the application of AHP to elicit user needs for a new CT scanner for use in a public hospital. Methods: AHP was used to design a hierarchy of 12 needs for a new CT scanner, grouped into 4 homogenous categories, and to prepare a paper questionnaire to investigate the relative priorities of these. The questionnaire was completed by 5 senior clinicians working in a variety of clinical specialisations and departments in the same Italian public hospital. Results: Although safety and performance were considered the most important issues, user needs changed according to clinical scenario. For elective surgery, the five most important needs were: spatial resolution, processing software, radiation dose, patient monitoring, and contrast medium. For emergency, the top five most important needs were: patient monitoring, radiation dose, contrast medium control, speed run, spatial resolution. Conclusions: AHP effectively supported user need elicitation, helping to develop an analytic and intelligible framework of decision-making. User needs varied according to working scenario (elective versus emergency medicine) more than clinical specialization. This method should be considered by practitioners involved in decisions about new medical technology, whether that be during device design or before deciding whether to allocate budgets for new medical devices according to clinical functions or according to hospital department