Search results

The purpose of this paper is to explore the distinctive challenges faced by female travellers (Roma, Sinti and Gypsy) in starting their own business.

The paper details a pilot “start your own business” programme that was delivered in Ireland to 12 women from the traveller community.

Four distinct categories of entrepreneurship barriers faced by female travellers were recognised: self‐esteem, traveller identity, welfare trap and family responsibilities.

The findings are based on just one programme and so no general conclusions can be drawn.

The paper identifies the successes and failures of the programme, plus it highlights the future steps that need to be taken to bring appropriate entrepreneurship support to traveller women who experience triple discrimination – discrimination as women, as travellers and as traveller women.

Very little is known about female travellers in terms of entrepreneurship activity and so this is a significant addition to a very small body of knowledge.

The challenge for drug and health promotion services is to keep up‐to‐date with the dynamics of drug use patterns and trends both nationally and within certain groups (Kilpatrick, 2000). The traveller community present with lower but similar levels and patterns of drug use than the general population, but are particularly vulnerable to early onset of drug use and problematic substance use relating to their life circumstances. Drug use in the traveller community is facilitated and mediated by a combination of risk and resilience factors, which include lack of education, unemployment, comprised health and poor housing conditions.The research aimed to provide an explorative account of the issue of drug use in the traveller community and consisted of focus groups (N=12) of travellers (N=57) with a gender balance (47/53%) based on self‐selection and volunteerism. The focus groups (4‐5 individuals) were predominantly peer‐accompanied where a traveller guided the facilitation of the traveller focus groups and were also gender based. The focus groups incorporated the following key themes relating to the travellers and drug use; traveller culture and drug use, drug availability and dealing, gender differences in drug use, types of drugs used, reasons for drug use, levels of drug related knowledge, attitude to drug use, drug taking contexts and patterns, problematic drug use in the traveller community, drug awareness, perceptions of risk and experiences of drug treatment and community services.The travellers indicated increased drug availability in recent years. Some members of their community were dealing in and using drugs, as a result of unemployment, lack of education, depression, and increasing contact with the settled community. This has lead to a fragmentation of traveller culture. Traveller men are at heightened risk of substance dependency in terms of increased contact with drugs such as cocaine, speed, hash and ecstasy. In contrast, traveller women reported prescription medication abuse. The travellers described a fear of problematic drug use within their communities coupled with concern in terms of discriminatory experiences with health and drug services, lack of awareness of current service provision and the lack of culturally appropriate drug education material and addiction counseling.

Multiutility tunnel (MUT) has been recognised as a more sustainable method to place underground utilities than the traditional directly buried (DB) method. However, the implementation of MUT is hindered because of high initial construction costs and the difficulty to demonstrate its benefits, especially social benefits that are hard to be quantified. To address the limitation, this paper aims to quantify and compare both economic costs and traveller loss (i.e. an important part of social costs) of the MUT and DB method.

An agent-based model (ABM) is developed, which considers attributes and actions of vehicles, interactions between vehicles and interactions between vehicles and the road network. The ABM is used to estimate traveller loss by comparing traveller time when the MUT and DB method is adopted, respectively. The traveller loss is combined with economic costs to estimate and compare the LCC of the MUT and DB method. To verify the ABM-based approach, it is implemented in an MUT project in Shanghai, China.

Results of the study indicate: (1) When the DB method is adopted, periodic E&Rs cause severe traffic congestion and substantial traveller loss. (2) When traveller loss is not included in the LCC estimation, the DB method has a lower LCC in most scenarios. (3) When traveller loss is included, the relative LCC of MUT and the time it takes to cover the LCC of the MUT and DB method is largely reduced. Thus, when social costs are considered, MUT will bring more benefits than the DB method.

Previous studies on comparing the MUT and DB method focus on investigating economic costs, while other costs, e.g. social costs, are not well addressed quantitatively. Besides, current studies of traveller loss estimation lack consideration of factors such as unique attributes, actions and interactions of vehicles and the network. Hence, this paper applies an ABM-based approach to involve these factors and produce more reliable estimation of traveller loss than existing approaches. Moreover, by integrating traveller loss into LCC analysis, this paper helps to understand the benefits of MUT thus assisting decision-making in selecting utilities placement methods.

Ring spinning is the most widely used spinning method at present. In the spinning, ring and traveller are the two important components of the twisting process. The properties of ring and traveller have a direct relationship with the yarn qualities and spinning speed. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to study the mutual relationships of flange ring and traveller system by taking the 6802-type traveller with rectangular structure, BU-type traveller with toxoplasma structure and 772-type traveller with corrugated structure as examples.

First, the theoretical calculation models of force and inclinations of the traveller are given, and calculation methods of corresponding key parameters referred in the models are presented. Then, by using SolidWorks software, models of the three kinds of traveller straddling on the PG1-4254 type ring are built, and the traveller and ring are simulated by using ADAMS software. By using MATLAB software, the force and inclinations of the traveller during the rotation around ring are simulated. Finally, the spinning experiments are made.

It is shown that the abrasion of 6802-type traveller is the most serious, and corresponding yarn evenness and hairiness is the worst. The abrasion of BU-type traveller is the slightest, and corresponding yarn evenness is the best. The yarn spins by using 772-type traveller has the least hairiness.

In the paper, the mutual relationships of flange ring and traveller system have been studied. For giving analysis of force and inclinations of the traveller, calculation methods of the key common parameters are presented. By using SolidWorks software, the physical models of the three kinds of traveller straddling on the PG1-4254 type ring are built. And then, the force and inclinations of the traveller during the rotation around ring are simulated by using MATLAB software. At last, the spinning experiments are made to analyse the simulation results.

The purpose of this paper is to look at the impact of social exclusion on mental health in Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller (GRT) communities and make suggestions for services needed to address it. The context of significant financial cuts in public sector budgets in the UK and change in the commissioning landscape mean there are significant risks of these vulnerable communities falling even further behind.

The authors, both currently engaged in clinical practice, draw on mental health and social work perspectives to review key areas in which social exclusion impacts on the life chances of members of GRT communities. Some examples of good current provision are included as is a case study which illustrates the problematic social context in contemporary relations between traditional Gypsy/Travellers and the settled community, and the impact on family life.

Research findings from contemporary studies are cited, which show members of these communities suffer significant inequalities in all health and social spheres.

The GRT communities have not been listed in census categories until this year (2011).

The paper will hopefully contribute to raising public awareness, and support members of the community in participation in policy and decision making.

This paper arises out of interdisciplinary collaboration between a psychiatrist and a social worker with the support of the voluntary sector. The discussion highlights the gaps in commissioning arrangements and hitherto poor support for health and social care needs of the GRT communities.

The American business traveller is a very important customer in the lodging industry. Because of this it is essential that the lodging industry understands the expectations and demographic make‐up of this group of individuals. Presents the responses of 433 American business travellers obtained from a national survey. Divides the respondents into two categories: the frequent business traveller who was away from home on at least ten overnight business trips, and the infrequent business traveller who was away from home overnight less than ten times (at least once). Gives a demographic profile of the total sample of business travellers, frequent business travellers and infrequent business travellers. Compares the same three groups with regard to how important a total of 56 services and amenities that may be provided by a lodge are in selecting lodging accommodation.

In this paper, findings from a detailed literature review (which was commissioned in March 2002 by Queen Margaret University College, UK) on Gypsy/Travellers’ health are presented as well as suggestions on where “gaps” exist in related empirical research. The review found that much of the existing research is out of date and found few thorough empirical studies of the health of Gypsy/Traveller communities in Scotland. The authors found that a predominant focus within the literature concerns health beliefs and cultural practices, with far less discussion about the material problems of poverty and social exclusion which affect Traveller communities. Emphasis is given in this paper to problems of access, health inequalities and wider concerns with social inclusion/exclusion. The authors identify the main challenges for health promotion among Gypsy/Traveller families in Scotland and argue that a key route to tackling social exclusion may lie in adopting a community development approach.

Travellers are consistently found to have poorer health outcomes and health status than other minority ethnic groups. Very few studies have examined alcohol use among Travellers, but some indicate that their drinking patterns are changing. This study aims to explore alcohol use, health needs and health service access within an Irish Traveller population in England with a view to identifying themes for further study.

A qualitative exploratory pilot study was carried out using an oral life history approach. Ten individuals were interviewed along with two professionals working closely with the Traveller group.

While improvements in general health and access to healthcare were widely reported, many Travellers were concerned about the effects of leaving behind their nomadic lifestyle to living more “settled” lives. This change was felt to bring young male Travellers, in particular, into contact with the risky drinking behaviours of non‐Travellers and away from the monitoring and informal controls traditionally accompanying their former nomadic lifestyle.

These findings may not generalise to other Traveller groups; they draw on a small sample of Travellers living in “settled” accommodation. The sample was limited to discussions with older Travellers and further research is needed among younger generations to explore how health related behaviours and alcohol use may be changing.

This study highlights potential pathways for young male Travellers to become “youth at risk” importantly through involvement in alcohol and drug use. It should be of value to health policy makers and health/support workers in contact with Traveller communities.

This study investigated an appended belief-attitude-intention (BAI) model, which included two antecedent beliefs of attitude and two marketing factors as additional determinants of air traveller behavioural intentions towards low-cost airlines (LCAs). The hypothesized relationships were compared across different behaviouristic groups based on flying frequency, travel purpose and travel party size.

Survey data from 331 air travellers intercepted at a major international airport in Thailand were analysed using structural equation modelling and bootstrapping multiple-group comparisons to investigate the hypothesized mediation and moderation effects.

Results indicate that behavioural intention towards LCAs is largely influenced by perceived price, followed by attitude towards LCAs and subjective norm and not determined by airport accessibility. Antecedent beliefs of perceived service quality and uncertainty avoidance influence behavioural intention, as mediated by attitude towards LCAs. The role of subjective norm varied among air traveller groups.

Managers can manage price perceptions by focusing on LCA affordability and they should closely scrutinize these air traveller behaviouristic groups to identify opportunities to appeal to the distinctive cognitive responses of traveller segments.

This study tested an appended BAI model across three different air traveller behavioural characteristics, a multi-group analytical approach that can reveal meaningful implications, yet has been underused in LCA research.

This paper aims to investigate the relationship between destination brand equity and tourist's revisit intention towards health tourism destinations. The study also examines the mediating effect of destination brand association between destination-based brand equity and travellers' revisit intention for health tourism destinations.

A survey instrument is used to examine the relationships in the proposed model using the co-variance-based structural equation modelling (SEM) technique. The collected primary data from two hundred forty-six respondents (n = 246) are analysed to test the relationship amongst exogenous, mediating, moderating and endogenous constructs articulated in the proposed structural model.

Empirical findings reveal that destination brand equity influences the revisit intention of a traveller for health tourism via destination brand association. The perceived trust, reliability and soft issues of a traveller moderate the relationship between destination brand equity and destination brand association. Enduring travel involvement also proves a significant moderation effect on the relationship between destination brand association and the revisit intention of a traveller for a health tourism destination.

This paper is an initial attempt to develop and empirically examine a conceptual model of the intention of a traveller to revisit a health tourism destination in a dynamic process of information search using the data collected from current travellers after medical tourism-related trips. Results suggest that stakeholders must focus on hedonic and utilitarian factors of the destination that are recognised by travellers to encourage revisit for medical tourism.

Although there have been numerous studies on health tourism. However, to the best of the authors' knowledge, this research is a pioneer in the healthcare tourism literature that links destination brand equity, brand association and revisit intention of a traveller for health tourism. These findings extend the knowledge of how healthcare tourism that is embedded with destination brand equity and destination brand association. The study findings potentially benefit the marketers for gaining competitive advantages through considering the experience of a traveller.