The use of branding by trade publishers: An investigation into marketing the book as a brand name product

Publishing has traditionally been an introspective industry, and while this is gradually changing, there is a need for publishers to adopt a more market-led approach. This requires the development of branding strategies to increase levels of recognition and consumer loyalty among the book buying public. The nature of the book as a product presents difficulties in applying branding theory to the industry and this study provides an insight into the issues involved in branding the imprint and the author and examines how some trade publishers are addressing these issues. The study also examines the public perception of brands within the trade sector and examines how much impact publishers’ brands have made with the consumer.     

Brazilian Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations

This paper relates and analyses the experience of various Brazilian institutions organized in a consortium with the aim of providing integration and unified access, via a web gateway, to full-text electronic theses already available at different Brazilian universities. The rise and impact of free electronic academic publishing on scientific communication and the development of science is analyzed. The results of a pilot programme, developed under the coordination of IBICT, as well as technical and technological aspects of information system models adopted, are presented. Aspects such as metadata sets and formats, protocols for automatic gathering of metadata, union catalogue databases, user interfaces and integration with other Brazilian STI systems, are analyzed. Finally, future developments and the enlargement of the Brazilian Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations are discussed.     

体育旅游与2008年奥运会

体育旅游目前在我国尚属新兴的特色旅游，而举办2008年北京奥运会对我国体育旅游的快速发展，无疑是1个重要契机。本文分析了体育旅游的功能和在我国(主要是北京)开展体育旅游的优势和不足之处，试着提出一些使体育旅游和2008年奥运会获得双赢的发展对策。     

Evaluating research efficiency within National R&D Programmes

Relying on efficiency analysis, we evaluate to what extent policy makers have been able to promote the establishment of consolidated and comprehensive research groups to contribute to the implementation of a successful innovation system for the Spanish food technology sector, oriented to the production of knowledge based on an application model. Using data envelopment analysis techniques that allow calculation of a generalized version of the traditional distance function model for productive efficiency, we find pervasive levels of inefficiency and a typology of different research strategies. Among these, in contrast to what has been assumed, established groups do not play the pre-eminent benchmarking role; rather, partially oriented, specialized and “shooting star” groups are the most common patterns. These results correspond with an infant innovation system, where the fostering of higher levels of efficiency and the promotion of the desired research patterns are ongoing.     

Execution time, kinetics, and kinematics of the mae-geri kick: comparison of national and international standard karate athletes

Little is known of the performance characteristics of the shotokan karate mae-geri kick. The aim of this study was to compare the execution time, the lower limb kinetics and kinematics, and their respective repeatability in the mae-geri kick of karate athletes of two different standards. Seventeen adult black belt karate competitors (9 national and 8 international athletes) performed six kicks with their dominant lower limb on a striking surface, combining maximum force impact and velocity. Execution time of movement and lower limb kinematics were recorded with a high-speed camera. Maximum force at impact and the forces exerted on the ground were measured using three force plates. The duration of the kick was significantly shorter for international than for national standard athletes. However, no significant difference in the maximum impact force of the kick was observed between the two groups. In addition, significant kinematic differences were observed between the groups, with two angles of motion and one velocity peak occurring sooner in the kick movement for the international athletes, specifically for the knee joint. International athletes also performed the kick with a significantly higher repeatability for duration and kinematics, specifically during the pre-loading phase that precedes the attack phase. We conclude that the duration of the kick and repeatability of lower limb kinematics could be useful in selecting top-level karate athletes and monitoring their training status.