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Fluctuations in the tender price index have an adverse effect on the construction sector and the economy at large. This is largely due to the positive relationship that exists between the construction industry and economic growth. The consequences of these variations include cost overruns and schedule delays, among others. An accurate forecast of the tender price index is good for controlling the uncertainty associated with its variation. In the present study, the efficacy of using an adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) for tender price forecasting is investigated. In addition, the Box–Jenkins model, which is considered a benchmark technique, was used to evaluate the performance of the ANFIS model. The results demonstrate that the ANFIS model is superior to the Box–Jenkins model in terms of the accuracy and reliability of the forecast. The ANFIS could provide an accurate and reliable forecast of the tender price index in the medium term (i.e. over a three-year period). This chapter provides evidence of the advantages of applying nonlinear modelling techniques (such as the ANFIS) to tender price index forecasting. Although the proposed ANFIS model is applied to the tender price index in this study, it can also be applied to a wider range of problems in the field of construction engineering and management.

Ramp meters in the Twin Cities were turned off for 8 weeks in the Fall of 2000. This paper analyzes traffic data collected in this experiment on travel time variability with and without ramp metering for several representative freeways during the afternoon peak period. Travel time variability is generally reduced with metering. However, it is found that ramp meters are particularly helpful for long trips relative to short trips. The annual benefits from reducing travel time variability with meters are estimated to be $33.1 million, compared to the annual ramp metering costs of $2.6 million in the Twin Cities metro area. Thus, the impact on travel time variability should be captured in future ramp metering benefit/cost analysis.

Travel time variability has generally been recognized as one of the most important attributes in travelers' route choice decisions. In fact, many empirical studies have indicated that both passengers and freight carriers are strongly averse to travel time variability, because it introduces uncertainty to their route choice decisions. In this chapter, we examine the effect of incorporating travel time variability and risk-taking behavior into the route choice models and its impact on the estimation of travel time reliability under demand and supply variations.

This chapter is building conceptual background of psychological risk for international tourists. Drawing on Place Attachment Theory, Moral Disengagement Theory, Followership Theory, Job Demands-Resources, Acculturation Theory and Goal Progress Theory of Rumination, this chapter proposes a framework of psychological risks with six psychological risks that tourists could encounter in foreign destination: destination detachment risk, moral disengagement risk, risk of false risk assessment, burnout risk, risk of loneliness and risk of rumination. High destination detachment could lead tourists to behave less environmentally friendly, while high moral disengagement could lead tourists to behave less ethically friendly. Followership to the influencers in social media could lead tourists to engage in risk-taking behaviours and false risk assessment, leading to burnout risk, risk of loneliness and risk of rumination, where negative autobiographical memory is created and forming memory-related distress when they arrive homes. Place detachment and moral disengagement risk local environmental and social health, while burnout, loneliness and rumination pose risks for the tourists' psychological health. Several studies propose suggestions for the destination manager and tourists to manage the risk effectively and adequately, including place attachment and moral engagement campaign, careful travel planning and social support.

As the hospitality industry is shifting its focus from service to experience, customers are becoming co-creators of the perceived value of a hospitality service because experiences customers obtained when consuming a hospitality service involve the participation of the customers. Thus, more research is needed to examine the relationships among consumer’s personal factors and their evaluations of hospitality services. This study developed and tested hypotheses that examined the effects of customers’ intrinsic characteristics on their evaluations of a restaurant service. Data were collected from college students in the United States (n = 220) and China (n = 254) using a scenario approach. Findings reveal that customers’ gender, personality, and cultural background had significant effects on their evaluations of a restaurant service. Specifically, female customers rated the same service higher than male customers on the reliability dimension of service quality and overall service quality; customers with personalities of extroversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and openness rated the service higher than customers with neuroticism personality on the responsiveness dimension; and customers in individualistic cultures rated the service higher than those in collectivistic cultures on most of the service evaluation measures. Implications of the study’s findings are discussed.

The focus of this chapter is the role of technology in diverse students’ active learning and interconnectedness in inclusive classrooms. The discussion is guided by the inclusive pedagogical approach in action (IPAA) framework, which is used as a tool for planning teaching and critical reflection. Inclusive education has previously considered the role of technology through the lens of Universal Design for Learning to inform how teachers plan instruction for students’ maximal accessibility, participation and engagement. We use the IPAA framework to build on and extend this by challenging teachers to also consider and incorporate technologies in innovative ways for students to collaborate with each other and build classroom relationships, as well as engaging with the curriculum on their own terms to make learning more meaningful.

The production of the ‘good life’ or the ‘less bad-life’ (Berlant, 2007, 2011), especially among generations of the Marcos dictatorship and the Epifanio de los Santos Avenue revolutions (henceforth, EDSA revolutions) in the Philippines, is animated by the ‘mobility imperative’ (Farrugia, 2016). The mobility imperative includes processes that encourage or demand mobility (Farrugia, 2016) for individuals and institutions. It figures in various ‘systems of practice’ (Levitt, 1998, 2001) among families in migrant-sending communities, government and corporations that magnify how migration is the ticket to better life (McKay, 2012) or its glorification as a heroic act (de los Reyes, 2013, 2014). Among the generations of the Martial Law and the EDSA revolutions, therefore, the ‘good life’ is hinged upon departure as professionals (e.g. nurses and engineers), workers in elementary occupations (e.g. construction and domestic workers) or mail-order brides or pen pals. Put simply, the good life in these generations is a function of remittances.

This chapter examines how the contemporary generation of young people construct the ‘good life’ in differential and new terms (de los Reyes, 2023; McKay & Brady, 2005) from previous generations. Using interviews and vision boards of left-behind children (15–18 years old), it argues that left-behind children critically appraise the ‘mobility imperative’. The chapter shows that there is a growing imagination of alternatives to the migration-induced good life among left-behind children, and therefore, they gradually refuse the ‘mobility imperative’. For them, the aspired good life consists of potentially being employees or entrepreneurs in their own villages and living a life with their own families (de los Reyes, 2019, 2020).

A cyberattack is an attempt by cybercriminals as individuals or organizations with unauthorized access using one or more computers and computer systems to steal, expose, change, disable or eliminate information, or to breach computer information systems, computer networks, and computer infrastructures. Cyberattackers gain a benefit from victims, which may be criminal such as stealing data or money, or political or personal such as revenge. In cyberattacks, various targets are possible. Some potential targets for businesses include business and customer financial data, customer lists, trade secrets, and login credentials.

Cyberattackers use a variety of methods to gain access to data, including malware such as viruses, worms, and spyware and phishing methods, man-in-the-middle attacks, denial-of-service attacks, SQL injection, zero-day exploit, and DNS tunneling.

Related to cyberattack, the term cyberwarfare is gaining popularity nowadays. Cyberwarfare is the use of cyberattacks by a state or an organization to cause harm as in warfare against another state's or organization's computer information systems, networks, and infrastructures.

Military, civil, and ideological motivations, or hacktivism can be used to launch a cyberwarfare. For these reasons, cyberwarfare may be used to conduct espionage, sabotage, propaganda, and economic disruption.

Considering highly digitalized business processes such as e-mails, digital banking, online conference, and digital manufacturing methods, damage of cyberwarfare to businesses and countries are unavoidable. As a result, developing strategies for defending against cyberattacks and cyberwarfare is critical for businesses. The concepts of cyberattack and cyberwarfare, as well as business strategies to be protected against them will be discussed in this chapter.

The theory of planned behavior (TPB) and place image have both been the foci of studies in understanding one’s intentional visit behavior in leisure research. Few studies, however, have ever attempted to differentiate the roles of attitude and image in predicting visitors’ intentional behaviors. This study is designed to fulfill this gap by examining the two concepts together in the context of responsible casino gaming. Based on the TPB and the concept of place image, a predicting model of visitor’s intentional behavior was posited and tested, based on a survey dataset collected in an American Midwest city. This study concluded that visitor’s attitude and perception of place image both play significant and distinctive roles in predicting visitor’s intentional behavior, and such perceptual discrepancies between attitude and image should be reflected and highlighted in leisure and marketing. Implications of this study in terms of leisure marketing are discussed.