Developing a brand performance measure for financial services brands

With no universal approach for measuring brand performance, we show how a consumer-based brand measure was developed for corporate financial services brands. Churchill's paradigm was adopted. A literature review and 20 depth interviews with experts suggested that brand loyalty, consumer satisfaction and reputation constitute the brand performance measure. Ten financial services organisations provided access to their consumers. Following a postal survey, 600 questionnaires were analysed through principal components analysis to identify the consumer-based measure. Further testing revealed this to be a valid and reliable brand performance measure.

The Huntington's Disease health-related Quality of Life questionnaire (HDQoL): a disease-specific measure of health-related quality of life

Hocaoglu MB, Gaffan EA, Ho AK. The Huntington's disease health-related quality of life questionnaire: a disease-specific measure of health-related quality of life. Huntington's disease (HD) is a genetic neurodegenerative disorder characterized by motor, cognitive and psychiatric disturbances, and yet there is no disease-specific patient-reported health-related quality of life outcome measure for patients. Our aim was to develop and validate such an instrument, i.e. the Huntington's Disease health-related Quality of Life questionnaire (HDQoL), to capture the true impact of living with this disease. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the full spectrum of people living with HD, to form a pool of items, which were then examined in a larger sample prior to data-driven item reduction. We provide the statistical basis for the extraction of three different sets of scales from the HDQoL, and present validation and psychometric data on these scales using a sample of 152 participants living with HD. These new patient-derived scales provide promising patient-reported outcome measures for HD.

Designing and implementing livestock value chain studies: a practical aid for Highly Pathogenic and Emerging Disease (HPED) control

Value chain studies, including production system and market chain studies, are essential to value chain analysis, which when coupled with disease risk analysis is a powerful tool to identify key constraints and opportunities for disease control based on risk management in a livestock production and marketing system. Several production system and market chain studies have been conducted to support disease control interventions in South East Asia. This practical aid summarizes experiences and lessons learned from the implementation of such value chain studies in South East Asia. Based on these experiences it prioritizes the required data for the respective purpose of a value chain study and recommends data collection as well as data analysis tools. This practical aid is intended as an adjunct to the FAO value chain approach and animal diseases risk management guidelines document. Further practical advice is provided for more effective use of value chain studies in South and South East Asia as part of animal health decision support.

The economic theory of international business: a supply chain perspective

This paper proposes a way of addressing unresolved issues in international business theory by modelling the multinational enterprise as a coordinator of supply chains. It identifies a new market seeking strategy that is an alternative to conventional strategies such as exporting, licensing and FDI, and analyses the conditions under which it will be adopted by firms. The new strategy involves the off-shoring of production and the out-sourcing of R&D, and is implemented through co-operation between a source country firm and a host country firm.

The effect of the molecular weight on the electro-optic properties of methacrylate-based side-chain liquid crystal polymers

A series of methacrylate-based side-chain liquid crystal polymers has been prepared with a range of molecular weights. For the high molecular weight polymers a smectic phase is observed with a very narrow nematic range; however, for low molecular weight polymers only the nematic phase is observed. A marked reduction in the glass transition temperature, TSN and TNI is observed with a reduction in the molecular weight. The orientational order parameters for these polymers in the liquid crystal phase have been determined using infra-red dichroism. It is found that the higher the molecular weight of the polymer, the greater is the threshold voltage of the electro-optic response and the lower the order parameter. The increase in the threshold voltage with increasing molecular weight may be related to the intrinsic curvature elasticity and hence to the coupling between the mesogenic units and the polymer backbone.

Liquid crystalline elastomers: the relationship between macroscopic behaviour and the level of backbone anisotropy

Nematic monodomain liquid crystalline elastomers have been prepared through in situ cross-linking of an acrylate based side-chain liquid crystalline polymer in a magnetic field. At the nematic–isotropic transition, the sample is found to undergo an anisotropic shape change. There is found to be an increase in dimensions perpendicular — and a decrease parallel — to the director, this is consistent with alignment of the polymer backbone parallel to the direction of mesogen alignment in the nematic state. From a quantitative investigation of this behaviour, we estimate the level of backbone anisotropy for the elastomer. As second measure of the backbone anisotropy, the monodomain sample was physically extended. We have investigated, in particular, the situation where a monodomain sample is deformed with the angle between the director and the extension direction approaching 90°. The behaviour on extension of these acrylate samples is related to alternative theoretical interpretations and the backbone anisotropy determined. Comparison of the chain anisotropy derived from these two approaches and the value obtained from previous small-angle neutron scattering measurements on deuterium labelled mixtures of the same polymer shows that some level of chain anisotropy is retained in the isotropic or more strictly weakly paranematic state of the elastomer. The origin and implications of this behaviour are discussed.

Wide-angle X-ray scattering for swollen and glassy poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate)

The wide angle X-ray scattering from glassy poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (1) is presented together with that obtained from oriented and swollen samples. The scattering is compared with that previously reported for poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and the structure discussed in relation to this polymer. The chain conformation is similar to that of PMMA, although some measure of molecular interlocking appears to reduce the main interchain peak while correlated regions of inaccessible free volume between the substantial side groups are held responsible for the main peak at s = 1,25 Å−1.

The effect of the spacer length on the nature of coupling in side chain liquid crystals polymers and elastomers

Side chain liquid crystal polymers and elastomers exhibit a rich phase behaviour which arises from the antagonistic influences of the entropically disordered polymer chain configuration and the long range orientational ordering of the mesogenic units. This competition arises since the natural macroscopic phase separation is inhibited by the inherent chemical connectivity of the system. At the heart of this connectivity is the spacer link and we consider here its influence on the phase behaviour. In particular we consider a series of elastomers in which the number of alkyl units in the spacer is systematically varied from 2 to 6. The lengthening of the coupling spacer is accompanied by an alternation of the sign of coupling between the polymer chain and the mesogenic unit. These results demonstrate the dominating influence of the so-called hinge effect in determining the phase behaviour. In addition to the alternation of the sign there is some decrease in the magnitude of the coupling with increasing spacer length.

Coupling between mesogenic units and polymer backbone in side-chain liquid crystal polymers and elastomers

The levels of alignment of the mesogenic units and of the polymer backbone trajectory for polyacrylate based nematic side-chain liquid crystal polymers and elastomers were evaluated by using wide angle X-ray and small angle neutron scattering procedures. The X-ray scattering measurements show that substantial levels of preferred orientation of the mesogenic units may be introduced through magnetic fields for uncrosslinked polymers and through mechanical extension for liquid crystal elastomers. Small angle neutron scattering measurements show that for highly aligned samples an anisotropic polymer backbone trajectory is observed in which the envelope is slightly extended by ∼ 10% in the direction parallel to the axis of alignment of the mesogenic units. The sense of this coupling differs from that recorded for other uncrosslinked side-chain liquid crystal polymers. Possible mechanisms to account for this anisotropy and its relationship to the properties of liquid crystal elastomers are discussed. The observed deformation behaviour of the liquid crystal elastomer is non-affine and this appears to confirm the dominating influence of the liquid crystal order of the side chains on the mechanical properties of these novel networks.

A detailed single chain model for molten poly(tetrafluoroethylene) from a novel structure refinement technique on neutron scattering data

We present a new methodology that couples neutron diffraction experiments over a wide Q range with single chain modelling in order to explore, in a quantitative manner, the intrachain organization of non-crystalline polymers. The technique is based on the assignment of parameters describing the chemical, geometric and conformational characteristics of the polymeric chain, and on the variation of these parameters to minimize the difference between the predicted and experimental diffraction patterns. The method is successfully applied to the study of molten poly(tetrafluoroethylene) at two different temperatures, and provides unambiguous information on the configuration of the chain and its degree of flexibility. From analysis of the experimental data a model is derived with CC and CF bond lengths of 1.58 and 1.36 Å, respectively, a backbone valence angle of 110° and a torsional angle distribution which is characterized by four isometric states, namely a split trans state at ± 18°, giving rise to a helical chain conformation, and two gauche states at ± 112°. The probability of trans conformers is 0.86 at T = 350°C, which decreases slightly to 0.84 at T = 400°C. Correspondingly, the chain segments are characterized by long all-trans sequences with random changes in sign, rather anisotropic in nature, which give rise to a rather stiff chain. We compare the results of this quantitative analysis of the experimental scattering data with the theoretical predictions of both force fields and molecular orbital conformation energy calculations.

Side-chain liquid crystalline elastomers: the relationship between the orientational ordering of the polymer backbone and the length of the coupling chain

The influence of cross-linking on the phase behaviour of a series of side-chain liquid crystalline elastomers has been studied. For samples cross-linked in the temperature range corresponding to the nematic phase, the phase transition was shifted compared to that observed when an identical sample was cross-linked in the isotropic phase. This shift represented a stabilisation of the nematic phase in the former case, in line with theoretical expectations. By utilising a novel, slow cross-linking method, which allows the polymer backbone to take up an equilibrium conformation prior to network formation, it proved possible to monitor the shifts in phase transition temperature as a function of the length of the methylene chain coupling the mesogenic units to the polymer backbone. The results obtained are related to the backbone anisotropy and indicate that the level of orientational order of the polymer in the nematic phase backbone increases with a reduction in the length of the coupling chain.