Using SERVQUAL in health libraries across Somerset,Devon and Cornwall

This study provides the results of a survey conducted in the autumn of 2001 by ten NHS library services across Somerset, Devon and Cornwall. The aim of the project was to measure the service quality of each individual library and to provide an overall picture of the quality of library services within the south-west peninsula. The survey was based on SERVQUAL, a diagnostic tool developed in the 1980s, which measures service quality in terms of customer expectations and perceptions of service. The survey results have provided the librarians with a wealth of information about service quality. The service as a whole is perceived to be not only meeting but also exceeding expectations in terms of reliability, responsiveness, empathy and assurance. For the first time, the ten health library services can measure their own service quality as well as benchmark themselves against others.     

Influence of different types of exercise on the expression of haem oxygenase-1 in leukocytes

Haem-oxygenase-1 (HO-1) is an antioxidant stress protein that is mainly induced by reactive oxygen species, inflammatory cytokines and hyperthermia. We assessed the influence of different types of exercise on HO-1 expression in leukocytes of the peripheral blood in three groups of male participants: a short exhaustive run above the lactate steady state (n = 15), eccentric exercise (n = 12) and an intensive endurance run (half-marathon, n = 12). Blood samples were taken at rest and up to 24 h after exercise. Blood lactate concentration after exercise was 9.0 +/- 2.1, 3.8 +/- 1.6 and 5.1 +/- 2.2 mmol x l(-1) (mean +/- s) for the exhaustive run, eccentric exercise and half-marathon groups, respectively (P < 0.05). Creatine kinase concentration was highest 24 h after exercise: 133 +/- 91, 231 +/- 139 and 289 +/- 221 U x l(-1) for the exhaustive run, eccentric exercise and half-marathon groups, respectively (P < 0.05). The maximal increase in leukocyte counts after exercise was 11.5 +/- 19.2, 6.2 +/- 1.4 and 14.7 +/- 2.1 x 10(9) x l(-1). There was no change in HO-1 as a result of the short exhaustive run or the eccentric exercise, whereas the half-marathon had a significant stimulatory effect on HO-1-expression in lymphocytes, monocytes and granulocytes (P < 0.001) using flow cytometry analyses. In conclusion, eccentric exercise alone or short-term heavy exercise are not sufficient to stimulate the antioxidative stress protein HO-1 in peripheral leukocytes     

Attributions in explanations of risk estimates

In the spring of 1993, nearly 40 percent of Milwaukee-area residents experienced a nationally publicized outbreak of cryptosporidium, a parasite that infested the metropolitan drinking water supply. Using open-ended survey data gathered from 610 adult residents in the wake of that outbreak, this study looks at factors related to the ways in which people make sense of their quantitative personal risk estimates. The concepts of informal reasoning and attribution aided this endeavor. Analysis of open-ended comments about the risk of getting ill from a waterborne parasite indicated that explanations of personal risk were consistent with predictions made by attribution theory. Good outcomes, which included having remained healthy during the outbreak, were associated with a greater likelihood that respondents would attribute causation to themselves, while one specific bad outcome, having experienced the illness, was associated with a greater likelihood that respondents would attribute causation externally. This study also examined predictors of whether respondents employed probabilistic language in those attributions. Analysis indicated that income was positively related to the use of probability-oriented language, while age and race were negatively related to the use of such language (i.e., persons of color and older individuals were less likely to use such language).     

Perceived control of anxiety and its relationship to self-confidence and performance

This study examined performers' retrospective explanations of the relationship between anxiety symptoms, self-confidence, and performance. Interviews were used to determine how the presence of symptoms and the accompanying directional interpretation affected performance in six elite and six subelite swimmers. Causal networks revealed that perceived control was the moderatingfactor in the directional interpretation of anxiety and not the experience of anxiety symptoms alone. Symptoms perceived to be under control were interpreted to have facilitative consequences for performance; however, symptoms not under control were viewed as debilitative. Increases or decreases in self-confidence wereperceived to improve or lower performance. Findings reveal how cognitive and somatic information was processed, what strategies were adopted, and how this series of events related to performance.     

Self-controlled feedback: does it enhance learning because performers get feedback when they need it?

This paper examines whether self-controlled feedback schedules enhance learning, because they are more tailored to the performers' needs than externally controlled feedback schedules. Participants practiced a sequential timing task. One group of learners (self-control) was provided with feedback whenever they requested it, whereas another group (yoked) had no influence on the feedback schedule. The self-control group showed learning benefits on a delayed transfer test. Questionnaire results revealed that self-control learners asked for feedback primarily after good trials and yoked learners preferred to receive feedback after good trials. Analyses demonstrated that errors were lower on feedback than no-feedback trials for the self-control group but not for the yoked group. Thus, self-control participants appeared to use a strategy for requesting feedback. This might explain learning advantages of self-controlled practice.     

Exerted effort and performance in climbing among boys: the influence of achievement goals,perceived ability,and task difficulty

In achievement contexts such as sport, achievement goal theory assumes that an individual's major concern is to demonstrate competence. However, competence may be expressed in two ways: as task and ego involvement (Nicholls, 1989). Seventy-eight boys (M age = 13.6 years) performed five climbing courses, and the influence of achievement goals, perceived ability, and task difficulty on effort and performance was studied. According to the achievement goal theory: (a) task-involved boys exerted more effort and performed better than ego-involved boys; and (b) exerted effort was determined by an interaction of one's achievement goal, perceived ability (PA), and task difficulty. Ego-high PA boys and task-low PA boys exerted the most effort on the moderate course; ego-low PA boys exerted least effort on the moderate and very difficult courses. Finally, task-high PA boys exerted more effort on the most difficult courses. The motivational processes underlying these findings are discussed.     

Kinematic and kinetic comparisons between American and Korean professional baseball pitchers

The purpose of this study was to quantify and compare kinematic, temporal, and kinetic characteristics of American and Korean professional pitchers in order to investigate differences in pitching mechanics, performance, and injury risks among two different cultures and populations of baseball pitchers. Eleven American and eight Korean healthy professional baseball pitchers threw multiple fastball pitches off an indoor throwing mound positioned at regulation distance from home plate. A Motion Analysis three-dimensional automatic digitizing system was used to collect 200 Hz video data from four electronically synchronized cameras. Twenty kinematic, six temporal, and 11 kinetic variables were analyzed at lead foot contact, during the arm cocking and arm acceleration phases, at ball release, and during the arm deceleration phase. A radar gun was used to quantify ball velocity. At lead foot contact, the American pitchers had significantly greater horizontal abduction of the throwing shoulder, while Korean pitchers exhibited significantly greater abduction and external rotation of the throwing shoulder. During arm cocking, the American pitchers displayed significantly greater maximum shoulder external rotation and maximum pelvis angular velocity. At the instant of ball release, the American pitchers had significantly greater forward trunk tilt and ball velocity and significantly less knee flexion, which help explain why the American pitchers had 10% greater ball velocity compared to the Korean pitchers. The American pitchers had significantly greater maximum shoulder internal rotation torque and maximum elbow varus torque during arm cocking, significantly greater elbow flexion torque during arm acceleration, and significantly greater shoulder and elbow proximal forces during arm deceleration. While greater shoulder and elbow forces and torques generated in the American pitchers helped generate greater ball velocity for the American group, these greater kinetics may predispose this group to a higher risk of shoulder and elbow injuries.