1,354,242 research outputs found
Exploring small area demand for grocery retailers in tourist areas
No full textNewing, A., Clarke, G.P. and Clarke, M. 2014. Exploring small area demand for grocery retailers in tourist areas. Tourism Economics, 20(2), pp.407-427This paper uses data from a major loyalty card scheme to draw insights about the characteristics of grocery expenditure by tourists. The authors explore the volume, value and composition of store based visitor expenditure using consumer data from the loyalty card scheme. They focus on grocery spending at selected stores in Cornwall, a popular tourist destination in South West England. Theloyalty card data provide a valuable source rarely available for academic investigations. The authors are able to analyse visitor spend by socio-economic and geodemographic characteristics, drawing a range of comparisons with residential demand from within the store catchment areas. They demonstrate that visitor grocery expenditure is complex and varies by store, destination and type of customer. The paper presents evidence to suggest that the current approaches used to estimate sales uplift and local-level economic impact from visitor demand are unable to account for the complexities of this form of expenditure. Based on these insights, the authors recommend that sophisticated modelling is employed to estimate the impact of visitor expenditure
A summary of case study findings on the implementation of international commitments on traditional forest related knowledge
No full text
The role of digital trace data in supporting the collection of population statistics – the case for smart metered electricity consumption data
No full textDebates over the future of the United Kingdom’s traditional decadal census have led to the exploration of supplementary data sources which could support the provision of timely and enhanced statistics on population and housing in small areas. This paper reviews the potential value of a number of commercial datasets before focusing on high temporal resolution household electricity load data collected via smart metering. We suggest that such data could provide indicators of household characteristics that could then be aggregated at the census output area level to generate more frequent official small area statistics. These could directly supplement existing census indicators or even enable development of novel small area indicators. The paper explores this potential through preliminary analysis of a ‘smart meter-like’ dataset and, when set alongside the limited literature to date, the results suggest that aggregated household load profiles may reveal key household and householder characteristics of interest to census users and national statistical organisations. The paper concludes that complete coverage, quasi-real time reporting and household level detail of electricity consumption data in particular could support the delivery of population statistics and area based social indicators and we outline a research programme to address these opportunities
Electricity consumption and household characteristics: Implications for census-taking in a smart metered future
No full textThis paper assesses the feasibility of determining key household characteristics based on temporal load profiles of household electricity demand. It is known that household characteristics, behaviours and routines drive a number of features of household electricity loads in ways which are currently not fully understood. The roll out of domestic smart meters in the UK and elsewhere could enable better understanding through the collection of high temporal resolution electricity monitoring data at the household level. Such data affords tremendous potential to invert the established relationship between household characteristics and temporal load profiles. Rather than use household characteristics as a predictor of loads, observed electricity load profiles, or indicators based on them, could instead be used to impute household characteristics. These micro level imputed characteristics could then be aggregated at the small area level to produce ‘census-like’ small area indicators. This work briefly reviews the nature of current and future census taking in the UK before outlining the household characteristics that are to be found in the UK census and which are also known to influence electricity load profiles. It then presents descriptive analysis of two smart meter-like datasets of half-hourly domestic electricity consumption before reporting on the results from a multilevel modelling-based analysis of the same data. The work concludes that a number of household characteristics of the kind to be found in UK census-derived small area statistics may be predicted from particular load profile indicators. A discussion of the steps required to test and validate this approach and the wider implications for census taking is also provided
Adopting emerging integration technologies in organisations
No full textThis thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.A review of the innovation and diffusion literature indicates a considerable amount of research, where attention is given to a range of features which may support integration technologies adoption. However, some literature suggests that the findings derived from the study of large enterprises cannot be generalised and applied in SMEs due to the distinct characteristics of SMEs. Although the adoption of integration technologies is recognised as being different between large and small companies, the literature on its adoption by SMEs remains limited. Nevertheless, in existing work, there is a lack of studies emphasising the reasons why SMEs and large companies take the decision to adopt integration technologies, focusing specifically on the different factors.
This thesis therefore identifies the significant differences in the way that SMEs and large companies approach integration technologies, based on the existing literature, theoretical diffusion theories, and resource-based theory. In doing so, the parameters that can be used to explain the adoption of integration technologies in SMEs and large firms are identified, as nature of organisations, company size, integration needs, adoption factors for SMEs and large organisations, and time. Additionally, adoption factors are found and classified into three categories: adoption factors explicit to SMEs, adoption factors explicit to large organisations, and common factors. Based on this, a conceptual model is introduced to explain the different factors that influence adoption between SMEs and large organisations.
The empirical contexts of the research are one project on integration technologies adoption, and four case studies on a large firm and three SMEs, which are analysed using an interpretive and qualitative research approach. The evidence suggests that the empirical data complement the identified dimensions nature of organisations, integration needs, company size and time. The empirical data also confirm that the current integration technologies adoption factors reported in the literature can be classified into common factors, factors explicit to SMEs, and factors explicit to large firms, to support a more comprehensive view of this area. An additional factor perceived future prospect has been considered as an influence on adoption in large organisations. The findings of this research can be useful to guide analysts and researchers in determining critical aspects of the complex issues involved for integration technologies adoption, and lead to suggestions for further valid research
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
No full textThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
No full text“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Interdisciplinary training in environmental conservation: definitions, progress and future directions
No full textThe development of interdisciplinary approaches to
environmental conservation is obviously related to
interdisciplinary training in undergraduate and postgraduate
conservation-oriented degree programmes.
This paper therefore examines interdisciplinary
training in environmental conservation, with a focus on
conservation biology. The specific objectives are: (1) to
analyse debates about the nature of ‘interdisciplinarity’
in conservation biology; (2) to examine the status
of interdisciplinary training in current academic
programmes in conservation biology; and (3) to
make recommendations in terms of interdisciplinary
or other non-natural science content that should
be prioritized for inclusion in the curriculum. The
term ‘interdisciplinarity’ has been used in relation to
conservation training to refer to (1) any social science
content; (2) vocational skills training; (3) integrative
or practice-based exercises, sometimes with no
indication of disciplinary content; (4) the (variously
defined) ‘human dimensions’ of conservation, and
(5) interaction between different academic disciplines
(usually crossing the natural science–social science
divide). In terms of training, the natural sciences
have remained predominant in almost all reported
academic programmes, but there now appears to be
more coverage of non-natural science issues than
previously. However the lack of consistency in the
use of terms makes it difficult to assess progress.
Further debate about curriculum development in
conservation would be aided greatly by recognizing
the distinction between the different aspects of
non-natural science training, and treating each of
them in its own right. Most degree programmes in
environment-related disciplines specialize to varying
degrees either in the natural sciences or the social
sciences, and a comprehensive programme covering
both of these in depth is likely to be problematic.
However, some understanding of different disciplinary
?Correspondence: Dr Helen Newing Tel: + 44 1227 827034 Fax:
+ 44 1227 827289 e-mail: [email protected]
perspectives is increasingly important in a career
in environmental conservation, and it is argued
that, as a minimum, a primarily natural sciencebased
undergraduate programme in environmental
conservation should include: (1) an introduction to
social science perspectives on the environment; (2)
basic training in social science methods, research
design and science theory; (3) vocational skills
training, to the extent that it can be built into
existing curricular components; and (4) integrative
problem-solving tasks that can be used in relation
to any or all of the above. A similar list could be
constructed for social science-based environmental
degree programmes, incorporating somebasic training
in natural science perspectives. Postgraduate training
programmes are more varied in what they aim to
achieve in terms of disciplinary breadth; they can
develop students’ existing specialist expertise, offer
supplementary training to allow students to increase
the disciplinary breadth of their expertise, or focus on
the issue of interdisciplinarity itself
- …
