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Active transport to school: ideals and realities
No full textRates of cycling and walking to school, or active transport to school (ATS) have been in decline, in Ireland and across the ‘developed’ world, since the mid 1980’s. In particular, very few now cycle to school. At the same time, rates of childhood obesity have been rising. Also, many young people today do not get sufficient daily physical activity to benefit their health. Research with students, parents and teachers in a girls’ secondary school in co. Waterford over a nine-month period confirmed that road safety fears and lack of suitable infrastructure (e.g., bike paths, pedestrian crossings) are the most common reasons for lack of ATS. Increasing car use generates the traffic volumes that increases fear of road traffic accidents. This restricts young people’s independent travel, means less people in general walk and cycle, creates a greater social pressure to drive everywhere and creates greater fear of ‘strangers’. This leads to more parents chauffering their children from A to B, which, in turn, increases traffic volumes and fear of accidents. The case study also found that no girl cycled to school in Tramore and that attitudes to cycling were particularly negative. The girls’ greatest barrier to ATS in general was their perceived image. ATS was seen as awkward, dangerous, requiring effort, creating hassle and sweat. Car travel was seen as safer, more pleasant, less hassle, and didn’t ruin their ‘loo
Evaluation of a DTN Convergence Layer for the AX.25 Network Protocol
Get PDFThe AX.25 Link Access Protocol for Amateur Packet Radio is a data link layer protocol derived from the ITU-T X.25 data link pro- tocol with modifications for use by amateur radio operators. One of the authors has produced a prototype AX.25 connected mode DTN Convergence Layer (CL) based on the existing DTN2 reference im- plementation. Initial testing of this implementation was undertaken on Linux in order to compare the performance of the implementa- tion with the performance of native AX.25 links. Initial results ap- pear to indicate that the current prototype can be up to 25 percent more efficient than using the Linux TCP/IP over AX.25 implemen- tation in certain circumstances. The experimental results also re- veal situations where obvious improvements can still be made to the implementation
Augmentation of Macular Pigment Following Supplementation with All Three Macular Carotenoids: An Exploratory Study
Get PDFPurpose: At the macula, the carotenoids meso-zeaxanthin (MZ), lutein (L), and zeaxanthin (Z) are
collectively referred to as macular pigment (MP). This study was designed to measure serum and
macular responses to a macular carotenoid formulation.
Materials and Methods: Ten subjects were recruited into this study (five normal and five with early
age-related macular degeneration [AMD]). Subjects were instructed to consume a formulation
containing 7.3 mg of MZ, 3.7 mg of L, and 0.8 mg of Z everyday over an eight-week period. The
spatial profile of MP optical density (i.e., MPOD at 0.25°, 0.5°, 1°, and 1.75°) was measured using
customized heterochromatic flicker photometry, and a blood sample was collected at each study
visit in order to analyze serum concentrations of MZ, L, and Z.
Results: There was a significant increase in serum concentrations of MZ and L after two weeks of
supplementation (p < 0.05). Baseline serum carotenoid analysis detected a small peak eluting at
the same time as MZ in all subjects, with a mean ± SD of 0.02 ± 0.01 μmol/L. We report significant
increases in MPOD at 0.25°, 0.5°, 1°, and average MPOD across its spatial profile after just two
weeks of supplementation (p < 0.05, for all). Four subjects (one normal and three AMD) who had
an atypical MPOD spatial profile (i.e., central dip) at baseline had the more typical MPOD spatial
profile (i.e., highest MPOD at the center) after eight weeks of supplementation.
Conclusion: We report significant increases in serum concentrations of MZ and L following supplementation
with MZ, L, and Z and a significant increase in MPOD, including its spatial profile, after
two weeks of supplementation. Also, this study has detected the possible presence of MZ in human
serum pre-supplementation and the ability of the study carotenoid formulation to rebuild centra
How service organisations can best attract customer oriented service workers
No full textToday, the services sector accounts for over 70 per cent of employment and activity in OECD countries (OECD, 2009) with the Economic and Social Research Institute of Ireland (2010) reporting that almost two-thirds of the Irish workforce is employed directly in the services sector. Within service industries, service workers are central to the service delivery and their performance, inextricably linked to the performance of the service organisation (Grizzle et al., 2009). Prior research has demonstrated that customer orientation, “an employee’s tendency or predisposition to meet customer needs in an on the-job context” (Brown et al., 2002) is positively related to job satisfaction, organisational commitment, organisational citizenship behaviours (Donavan et al., 2004), performance (Brown et al., 2002) and organisation profitability (Grizzle et al., 2009). Given the importance of customer orientation to service organisations, it is surprising that existing literature has not to date investigated when customer oriented service workers are more or less likely to be attracted to service companies in the first instance. This project therefore aims to investigate why and under what conditions potential employees are more likely to be attracted to service organisations using a mixed method, multi-stage research design. Based on a review of the literature, in stage one, a series of focus groups and in-depth interviews with potential job applicants and managers involved in the recruitment of customer facing employees were undertaken to assess the salience of and gain further insight into the factors identified in the literature review thought to increase applications from customer oriented individuals. Factors identified were; an individual’s level of customer orientation (ICO), an organisation’s level of customer orientation (OCO), person-job fit (JF) and the amount of time spent in contact (CT) with customers. In stage two, an experimental research design was used to investigate the factors identified in stage one and to examine under what boundary conditions potential job applicants high in customer orientation are more or less likely to be attracted to service organisations. Findings demonstrate that individuals high in customer orientation have more favourable behavioural (acceptance of a lower salary, provision of an email address to receive further information about the company) and attitudinal intentions towards a service organisation (job pursuit intentions, perceptions of organisational attractiveness, interest in a job role with the company, interest in a career with the company); when there is (a) a high level of perceived organisation customer orientation, (b) where job fit is primed and (c) where employees are expected to spend a large proportion of time directly in contact with customers. This study contributes to our knowledge of why and when customer oriented workers are more or less likely to be attracted to service companies. It also has important implications for managers hopeful that potential employees low in customer orientation will screen themselves out for a potential customer facing role with the company; while individuals high in customer orientation will self select and proceed with an application to join the company, thus importantly helping managers to understand when customer oriented workers are best attracted to service companies
Reigniting the Regional Proposition
Get PDFThis report examines what is involved for the South East of Ireland to re-energise its community in order to develop a market proposition as basis for economic and social development. It is based on the conference held at waterford Institute of technology in September 2010. Inputs were provided by practicing business executives, local authorities, community groups, government departments, researchers and academics.
The report draws on the relationship with Newfoundland in Canada, a province with which there are deep rooted social and cultural connections.
It makes observations with respect to resource maps, development architecture, innovation, education and respinsibilities
Learning by doing: redesigning the learning support programme at WIT Libraries paper presented at LILAC (Library Information Literacy Annual Conference)
No full textDEFINING PROFESSIONALISM IN THE TOURISM CONTEXT
Get PDFThe Tourism Policy Review Group (TPRG) (2003, p. 54) has highlighted the need for the development of the professionalism of the Irish tourism industry, warning that “unless this is done across the industry as a whole, the status and credibility of education and training programmes will be called into question.” Yet, although there is a general academic consensus that professionalism is a prerequisite for success (cf. Smith and Westerbeek, 2004) and is seen as positively related to innovation (Sundbo et al., 2007) (which is perceived as essential to enhancing Irish tourism competitiveness (TPRG, 2003)), a review of the literature indicates that there is both a scarcity of knowledge on what tourism professionalism is and a lack of consistency in its use and meaning. For example, Smith and Westerbeek (2004, p. 39) have noted that the concept “has not commonly been addressed, and when it has, it has usually been concerned with broad assumptions and sociological interpretations.” Professionalism‟s multidimensional nature has been argued by Johnson et al. (2006) to involve: (1) altruism, (2) high quality standards, and (3) specialist skills – yet, how relevant and definitive is their conceptualisation in the tourism context? Both Johnson et al. (2006) and Sundbo et al. (2007) have argued that professionalism can be realised through education, hence the need for a precise conceptualisation of what professionalism actually is. Based on the foregoing, and in the tourism context, the purpose of the proposed paper is to identify the key dimensions of professionalism. Dimensionalising this concept is necessary to its evaluation and measurement in order to ensure that educational interventions to enhance professionalism are having a positive impact - a goal which is central to the authors‟ ongoing longitudinal study on improving the tourism sector‟s professionalism through education. This paper argues that altruism, the existence of a code of ethics, a body of knowledge and specialist skills are key dimensions of tourism professionalism
Building Entrepreneurship and Innovation through the Continuing Education of Micro and Small Tourism Enterprises
Get PDFThe Irish tourism industry is fragmented, composed mainly of micro/small businesses, and its owner/managers are lacking in innovativeness and competencies in such areas as marketing, knowledge management, information technology, quality assurance, pricing policy, innovation and management. As identified by Fáilte Ireland2 (2005; 2007), there is a need for increased professionalism and innovation in the industry – the agency sees education as key to their enhancement. While the larger tourism businesses benefit from a graduate management intake and continuing executive development, the owner of the small tourism operation is limited in their professional development. Indeed, literature highlights that continuing business education for owner/managers of micro/small businesses is problematic due to resource poverty, lack of appropriate and available tertiary tourism education, and that the foregoing is not confined to Ireland (cf. Jameson 2000; Billett 2001; Fáilte Ireland, 2005, 2007; Inui et al. 2006; Kelliher and Henderson 2006; Walker et al. 2007). In order to promote the professionalism and innovativeness of owner/managers of micro/small tourism enterprises, a degree program which satisfies the personal and professional development needs as well as the necessary knowledge requirements of the aforementioned cohort was developed by the authors‟ tertiary institute in collaboration with Fáilte Ireland; it is currently in its final stage of development. The programme‟s target launch date is September 2010 and involves delivering the program nation-wide.
This paper details the development of a contemporary framework which is based on an andragogical philosophy and problem-based learning approach. The mode of delivery is blended learning and learners are credited for recognised prior learning (RPL). Although the framework has been crafted for one particular programme, targeted at a particular sector, it is perceived that it should provide guidelines to other educators who are responsible for the development of higher education for learners who are owner/managers of micro/small business enterprises. The authors drew on and integrated varying streams of learning literature as well as integrating results from a longitudinal study involving major stakeholders in order to develop the framework. The framework underscores the criticality of the collaboration between educators and major stakeholders to ensure that higher education meets not only the knowledge needs of its targeted learners but also their generic skill needs