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In the context of Brexit, this study aims to analyse whether the worsening of the UK’s image might have triggered: worse feelings towards the tourism workers and a decrease in the final intention to travel to the UK. This paper compares responses from high and low-context tourists to identify at which target the reactions are more intense.

Hypotheses were formulated in a general model based on the theory of reasoned action applied to Country Image in the tourism sector, comparing the model in high (150 responses) versus low-context (406 responses) scenarios. Structural equation modelling methodology was used.

The intention to travel to the UK worsens when two out of the three dimensions of country image worsen (aesthetical and functional) and also when feelings towards workers in this country worsen. Related to cross-cultural differences, the main effect on feelings towards workers comes from the normative dimension of the UK’s image, together with the aesthetic perception. Moreover, travellers’ intentions are influenced by functional and aesthetic perceptions of the country as well as feelings towards workers. High-context cultures showed a significantly stronger effect of the aesthetic dimension of the country on feelings towards workers.

This paper tries to advance the understanding of how feelings towards employees in the UK can determine future visits to this destination. In addition, some cultural differences may explain why low-context cultures are more affected by the worsening of the UK’s image after Brexit.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the change in the Italian and Spanish wage polarization degree in a time of economic crisis, taking into account the factors affecting labor force heterogeneity. Gender differences in the evolution of social fractures are considered by carrying out the analysis separately for males and females.

The approach by Palacios-Gonzánlez and García-Fernández (2012) on polarization is applied to the microdata provided by the EU Living Conditions Surveys (2007, 2010 and 2012). According to Palacios-Gonzánlez and García-Fernández’s approach, polarization is generated by two tendencies that contribute to the generation of social tension: the homogeneity or cohesion within group and the heterogeneity between groups. The following labor force characteristics are considered: gender, level of education, type of contract, occupational status and job status.

The results for Italy reveal a higher increase of polarization for women than for men from the perspective of the type of contract. In Spain, the wage polarization of women also increases more intensively compared to men from the perspectives of level of education, job status and occupational status, while in Italy the reduction of the wage polarization index by level of education can be related, above all, to an increase in overqualification of women.

While the empirical literature on polarization has made considerable investigation into employment and job polarization, this paper explores the rather less explored matter of wage polarization. Furthermore, particular attention is paid to the impact on polarization of the Great Recession.

The purpose of this study is twofold: to analyse the influence of both individual and environmental factors in order to explain alcoholic spending and to identify different groups of alcoholic beverage shoppers.

For the research, an online questionnaire was distributed among 1,023 Spanish participants of age more than 18 years. Multivariance techniques were used for analysis, and the results show significant influence of specific motivational domains, brand awareness, perceived culture, socio-demographic variables and purchasing environment. With these results, a cluster analysis was carried out identifying seven groups of alcoholic beverage shoppers.

This research confirmed the influence of both individual and environmental factors, and the authors have identified seven different groups of alcoholic beverage shoppers: prosperous, social, non-conformist, postmodern, communities, controllers and planners. This led to the consideration of various management implications, which would boost the success of the beverage industry.

The originality of this research focuses on identifying different cluster of shoppers who purchase alcoholic beverages and on revealing the characteristics of each identified cluster. Based on the exact profile proposed, the alcoholic beverage industry should design more appropriate marketing strategies to achieve competitive advantage and to reinforce purchasing because in today’s markets, there are fewer and fewer situations where a mass marketing approach is feasible.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the performance of a modified EWMA control chart (γEWMA control chart), which considers data distribution and incorporate its correlation structure, simulating in-control and out-of-control processes and to select an adequate value for smoothing parameter with these conditions.

This paper is based on a simulation approach using the methodology for evaluating statistical methods proposed by Morris et al. (2019). Data were generated from a simulation considering two factors that associated with data: (1) quality variable distribution skewness as an indicator of quality variable distribution; (2) the autocorrelation structure for type of relationship between the observations and modeled by AR(1). In addition, one factor associated with the process was considered, (1) the shift in the process mean. In the following step, when the chart control is modeled, the fourth factor intervenes. This factor is a smoothing parameter. Finally, three indicators defined from the Run Length are used to evaluate γEWMA control chart performance this factors and their interactions.

Interaction analysis for four factor evidence that the modeling and selection of parameters is different for out-of-control and in-control processes therefore the considerations and parameters selected for each case must be carefully analyzed. For out-of-control processes, it is better to preserve the original features of the distribution (mean and variance) for the calculation of the control limits. It makes sense that highly autocorrelated observations require smaller smoothing parameter since the correlation structure enables the preservation of relevant information in past data.

The γEWMA control chart there has advantages because it gathers, in single chart control: the process and modelling characteristics, and data structure process. Although there are other proposals for modified EWMA, none of them simultaneously analyze the four factors nor their interactions. The proposed γEWMA allows setting the appropriate smoothing parameter when these three factors are considered.

This paper aims to determine the stage of the life cycle where the trucks of a waste collection fleet from a Colombian city are located through a reliability approach. The reliability analysis and the evaluation of curve of operational costs allow to know the moment in which it is necessary to make decisions regarding an asset, its maintenance or possible replacement.

For a dataset presented as maintenance work orders, the time to failures (TTFs) for each vehicle in the fleet were calculated. Then, a probability density function for those TTFs was fitted to locate each vehicle in a region of the bathtub curve and to calculate the reliability of the whole fleet. A general functional analysis was also developed to understand the function of the vehicles.

It was possible to determine that the largest proportion of the fleet was in the final stage of the life cycle, in this sense, the entire fleet represent critical assets which in most of cases could be worth replacement or overhaul.

In this study, an address is exposed for the identification of critical equipment by reliability and statistical analysis. This analysis is also integrated with the maintenance management process. This is a broadly interested topic since it allows to support the maintenance and operational decision-making process, indicating the focus of resource allocation all over the entire asset life cycle.

Because access to new technologies is unequally distributed, there has been considerable discussion in Australia and elsewhere about the growing gap, the “digital divide,” between the information-rich and information-poor (Bolt & Crawford, 2000; Castells, 2001; Companie, 2001; Gordon, 2001; Haywood, 1998; Negroponte, 1996; Nixon, 2001). Most schools have incorporated computers and Internet access into classrooms, partly in response to concerns about the gap between technology “haves” and “have nots” (Facer et al., 2001). Such concerns have led to high-profile information technology policy initiatives in the USA (Lentz, 2000; US Department of Commerce, 1999), U.K. (Selwyn, 2000), Australia (Foster, 2000) and other nations. Many families have invested in computer systems at home in order to provide their children with access to the growing body of information available through technology. Similarly, in an attempt to “redress the balance between the information rich and poor” by providing “equal access to the World Wide Web” (Virtual Communities, 2002), the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), Virtual Communities (a computer/software distributor) and Primus (an Internet provider) in late 1999 formed an alliance to offer relatively inexpensive computer and Internet access to union members in order to make “technology affordable for all Australians” (Virtual Communities, 2002).

The purpose of the Building Everyday Life programme is to improve parenting outcomes through better sharing of family responsibilities and to encourage a strong sense of solidarity and community.

Data have been obtained from the pre-test and post-test applications, respectively, using two instruments: the Inventory of Parenting and Family Life Patterns and Resources, and the Final Evaluation Questionnaire for parents. The authors also use these tools to evaluate the degree to which the changes are maintained six months after the completion of the programme. Participants in the study comprised a group of 35 individuals that included parents in nuclear families and single mothers. The assessment process involved three stages: a pre-test assessment, a qualitative report (summative assessment) and, finally, a post-test assessment at least six months after completion of the programme.

The results show lasting changes over time. Regarding domestic work, parents say that they are more aware of the need to achieve a fairer and more equal distribution of the tasks in question. Families also report that they have perceived changes in the dimensions of communication and conflict resolution. Bearing in mind the limited nature of the aforementioned changes, the results suggest the need for support processes over time, as well as the establishment of follow-up sessions with families.

The main contribution of the study is to show that the Building Everyday Life programme is effective and valuable in improving parental educational styles.

No matter how dominant a worldview is, there are always other ways of interpreting the world. (Littlebear, 2000, p. 79)

No matter how dominant a worldview is, there are always other ways of interpreting the world. (Littlebear, 2000, p. 79)

These words resonated with me when I first started my career in higher education in Canada 15 years after being a school teacher for much of my young adult life in México. Back then, in Mexico, I took for granted the way in which I lived my values. While there were instances and contexts where those values were challenged, it was not until I moved to Canada that I started redefining and reshaping my worldview, negotiating what was negotiable within me, and fighting to maintain my position in what was not negotiable. I am still learning to navigate the world of postsecondary education where I have learned that, as Siksika Elder Leroy Littlebear (2000) observes, “No one has a pure worldview that is 100 percent Indigenous or Eurocentric; rather, everyone has an integrated mind, a fluxing and ambidextrous consciousness” (p. 85). How then, do I show all of who I am when my position toward Indigenous history, culture, language, and values is informed by my own upbringing and experience and consequently might be perceived as “biased”?

This auto-ethnographic chapter addresses this question by presenting a case study where I reflect on Littlebear's (2000) observations on the fluidity of worldviews and the development of an “ambidextrous consciousness,” and how those principles have allowed me the space to be my authentic self despite the different ontological and axiological orientations I have encountered my work in higher education.