Search results

This study aims to examine current key debates on learning technologies in the everyday life of lecturers and explores their experiences of learning technologies.

The research adopted a mixed method ethnographic approach to explore the perceptions of academics at a new university in the UK. The narrative and image data was collected via 30 interviews and an online forum and then subjected to grounded theory analysis. This study presents the findings of the study and discusses aspects of quality and meaningful engagement by academic staff with learning technologies in a higher education environment.

Analysis of the data revealed the central concepts of paradigms, paradoxes and professionalism. The diversity of perspectives of staff and students, skills, motivations and capabilities is fundamental to developing, supporting and promoting the innovative use of e‐learning and learning technologies in learning, teaching and assessment.

This study examined the reality of lecturers’ relationships with learning technologies in everyday life and the diversity of those lived experiences in relation to social change and educational ideologies. This study is, therefore, significant and adds to knowledge and understanding of academics’ perspectives which Hanson claims have previously been neglected. This research also contributes to previous studies of e‐learning and Actor Network theory (ANT).

Describes a team‐building training session for ten members of the UK medical affairs and regional medical advisors division of international pharmaceutical company Takeda.

Explains the reasons for the session, the form it took and the results it achieved.

Details two activities – sculpting a horse's head from a block of ice and designing, making and branding chocolates – which formed the basis of the session.

Reveals that team members learned a lot about themselves and each other during the activities. Participants reported feeling closer as a team and communication within the group is now more relaxed.

Highlights the importance of teams “getting away from the work environment” for a while to carry out team‐building activities.

Describes a successful team‐building event carried out in a small division of an international pharmaceutical company.

Time was when we librarians were howling at “twopenny” libraries. Not having the enterprise to display what should be our better and more enduring books in street windows, to give our libraries the impact of a good bookshop, we grew pale before the garish shows of tuck publications in cheap‐jacks' twopenny corner booths. Our dumps then, the slur on librarianship, infuriated me. I protested. The shivering stopped. Soon we saw, we now see, these no‐longer twopenny booths as dingy shops hinting at furtive merchandise. We did not understand, we do not yet understand, that whoever grovels to the mob, will die by the mob; a fact librarians, as well as cheap‐jacks, should remember, for no library has ever won credit or got thanks for its tuck.

This study aims to estimate the pass-through rate of the increases in the excise tax and TCF tax on tobacco in Vietnam. This study seeks to shed light on how the tax burden is split between consumers and producers and inform policy discussions in the country. Using panel micro-level data collected from three waves of a nationwide retailer's survey, this study provides an evidence-based pass-through estimation for tobacco tax in Vietnam and contributes to the understanding of tax policy on smoking and smoking-related issues.

Following increases in the excise tax and TCF tax on tobacco in 2019, the differential effect of the tax hike on the “treatment group” (domestic cigarettes) versus the “control group” (illicit cigarettes) using a difference-in-difference (DID) analysis has been studied. The study utilized unique longitudinal retailers’ data on cigarettes prices in Vietnam from 2018 to 2019 to estimate the tax pass-through rate for some of the most popular factory-made cigarette brands.

This study found evidence of an over-shifting of cigarette taxes on smokers. Specifically, it discovered that the tax increase is absorbed more by low-priced brand smokers compared to premium brand users due to (1) the limited increase in prices under a pure ad valorem system and (2) the way the Vietnamese currency is denominated. Additionally, there is evidence of cushioning to mitigate price shock on consumers as the real prices increase gradually over the period of one year after the tax change.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to collect and analyze a unique panel micro-level data from three waves of a nationwide retailers’ survey, which captures the changes in marketing and pricing strategies of the tobacco industry in Vietnam before and after an increase in excise tax in 2019. The results of this study could be used as a reference for future policymakers in considering increasing taxes on tobacco.

The significance of social media in our lives is manifold. The tourism sector closely interacts with existing and potential tourists through social media, and therefore, social media analytics (SMA) play a critical role in the uplift of the sector. Hence, this review focus on the role of SMA in tourism as discussed in different studies over a period of time. The purpose of this paper to present the state of the art on social media analytics in tourism.

The review focuses on identifying different SMA techniques to explore the trends and approaches adopted in the tourism sector. The review is based on 83 papers and discuss the studies related to different social media platforms, the travelers' reactions to a particular place and how the tourism experience is enriched by the way of SMA.

Findings indicate different sentiments associated with tourism and provides a review of tourists’ use of social media for choosing a travel destination. The various analytical approaches, areas such as social network analysis, content analysis, sentiment analysis and trend analysis were found most prevalent. The theoretical and practical implications of SMA are discussed. The paper made an effort to bridge the gap between different studies in the field of tourism and SMA.

SMA facilitate both tourists and tourism companies to understand the trends, sentiments and desires of tourists. The use of SMA offers value to companies for designing quick and adequate services to tourists.

Geographic information systems (GIS) makes use of geographic data, such as streets, store points, and block or neighborhood areas, and attribute data, such as population, income levels, competition, and store sales, by integrating the two into a powerful spatial query. The techniques utilized include geographic mapping, digital mapping, aerial photographs, etc. Along with the convenience of using GIS, there are some concerns about privacy and security of the data and information. This paper addresses the security concerns related to this emerging technology.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the application of documentation and recording techniques for World Heritage conservation using the case studies of the Petra Archeological Park (PAP) in Jordan and the Silk Roads Cultural Heritage Information System (CHRIS) in Central Asia. In the PAP case study, these techniques could aid in the assessment of risks faced by World Heritage properties and threats to the integrity of the Outstanding Universal Values (OUV). With respect to the Silk Roads CHRIS case study the Geospatial Content Management System (Geo‐CMS) proposed aims to improve information management and collaboration among all stakeholders.

Integrated surveying techniques and information management systems together with active stakeholder participation can be used as conservation and management tools. In the case of PAP, using a systematic documentation tool (MEGA‐J) to conduct site condition and risk assessment of cultural heritage and combining photographs, maps and GPS measurements within a GIS platform allows for identifying the location and intensity of risks, and the degree of vulnerability within the PAP boundaries and buffer zone. In the Silk Roads CHRIS project the Geo‐CMS brings together data from different fields, e.g. geography, geology, history, conservation, to allow for a holistic approach towards documentation, protection and management of a number of diverse sites to be combined in serial transnational World Heritage.

The study provides insight into how digital technologies can aid in heritage documentation and conservation, including stakeholder involvement and training. Moreover, by means of the two case studies it can be shown that a combination of digital technologies allows for an efficient mapping of buffer zones and risks and how a Geo‐CMS can form a common platform to manage large quantities of information of different origin and make it accessible to stakeholders in transnational projects.

This paper discusses the use of digital technology and the participation of stakeholders in heritage conservation and documentation when dealing with complex World Heritage properties, e.g. serial transnational and archaeological ensembles at high risk.

In this study, the behavior of a multi-story flat plate structure during fire exposure is investigated using numerical simulations conducted with using ABAQUS software.

A three-dimensional finite element model is then carried out on the RC flat slab structure exposed to standard ISO-834 fire at different location arrangements. The model examines mid-span deflection, shear demand on the columns, bending moment and the membrane action of the floor slab.

The latter plays a main role to increase the capability and ductility of the slab at longer fire exposure to compensate the reduction in the flexural capacity. Also, shear demand in columns becomes bigger in cases of more than one surrounding slab exposed to fire at the same time.

This work focuses on the influence of the horizontal force on columns due to thermal expansion of slab which should be taken into account in the design of multistory multi-bay building considering it the same as the resulted horizontal force from the wind and seismic effect, the traveling fire and the restraint effect.