Exploring the Role of Cities in Electrifying Passenger Transportation

Key Takeaways1. The electrification of passenger vehicles should be one part of a city’s transportation plan. Shifting from internal combustion engine vehicles to plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) can improve urban air quality, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and reduce energy consumption.2. Recent studies show that electric vehicle awareness is low even in mature markets; cities should promote electric vehicles to residents by leveraging existing promotional campaigns.3. Various financial and non-financial incentives can effectively encourage electric vehicle uptake, including: free, discounted, or preferential-location parking; free or reduced road and bridge tolls; and allowing electric vehicles to drive in bus or carpool lanes.4. Several cities are restricting or planning to restrict the access that internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs) have to certain areas. If these restrictions apply to most (or all) passenger ICEVs, they can promote PEV purchase and use in cities.5. Infrastructure development in cities should follow the same fundamental approach as that used outside of cities. The priority should be ensuring that PEV owners and prospective PEV buyers have access to charging at or near home. Workplace and public charging should be developed for those who cannot access charging at or near home.6. Cities should be strategic in their approach, first identifying the goals they want to achieve, and then exploring what steps they can take to meet these goals. The steps available will likely differ between cities due to the different ways in which roads, parking, and any other vehicle infrastructure is governed

Determinants of technology adoption in the retail trade industry - the case of SMEs in Spain

This paper analyzes the determinants of small and medium-sized enterprises’ technology adoption in the retail trade industry. From the theoretical perspective, two types of influential factors are differentiated in this respect: the personal characteristics of the manager/business owner and the business’s organizational characteristics. The empirical analysis is based on a survey of 268 small and medium-sized enterprises in the Spanish retail trade sector. A logistic regression specification is used as an econometric method. The results indicate that both the acquisition of new technical and electronic equipment and the obtaining of new software are affected by the two types of determinants previously pointed out. The manager/business owner’s entrepreneurial motivation and educational background have significant influences on technology adoption in this type of companies. Furthermore, being part of a business group, carrying out training activities for the employees and inter-firm cooperation also positively influence technology adoption in the retail trade industry

Implementing a learning technology strategy: top-down strategy meets bottom-up culture

Using interview-based 'insider case study' research, this paper outlines why the University of Salford has adopted a Learning Technologies Strategy and examines the factors which are likely to lead to its successful implementation. External reasons for the adoption focused on the need to: respond to 'increased Higher Education (HE) competition', meet student expectations of learning technology use, provide more flexibility and access to the curriculum, address the possible determining effect of technology and establish a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) presence in this 'particular area of the HE landscape'. Internal drivers centred on the need to: continue a 'bottom-up' e-learning pilot project initiative, particularly given that a VLE is a 'complex tool' which requires effective strategic implementation, and promote the idea that learning technology will play an important role in determining the type of HE institution that the University of Salford wishes to become. Likely success factors highlighted the need to: create 'time and space' for innovation, maintain effective communication and consultation at all levels of the organization, emphasize the operational aspects of the strategy, establish a variety of staff development processes and recognize the negotiatory processes involved in understanding the term 'web presence' in local teaching cultures. Fundamentally, the paper argues that policy makers should acknowledge the correct 'cultural configuration' of HE institutions when seeking to manage and achieve organizational change. Thus, it is not just a question of establishing 'success factors' per se but also whether they are contextualized appropriately within a 'correct' characterization of the organizational culture

Using the Values-Practice Framework to adopt lifetime optimising behaviours: the case of maintenance

The influence that consumers have on the lifespan of products has attracted increased attention in recent years. Studies have provided an overall understanding of the factors that influence consumer attitudes and behaviours towards product longevity, categorised around the physical properties of a product, and individual and societal characteristics. However, such studies do not yet adequately explain how people could adopt product lifetime optimising behaviours. To fill this gap, the paper analyses a range of studies on what influences product lifetimes, focusing on maintenance activities. It proposes the use of the Values-Practice framework derived from two theoretical positions, social psychology and social practice theory, to consider how to facilitate the adoption of lifetime optimising behaviours. To build this framework, it analyses studies that classify factors influencing attitudes and behaviours towards product lifetimes and then links these to the ‘meaning’, ‘competence’ and ‘material’ elements of practice. The framework could be used as a tool to aid designers under stand the different elements and factors that engage people in maintenance activities. The paper concludes by considering the research requirements for the future application of the framework

Report on the Evaluation of EVS Usage and Trends at the University of Hertfordshire : February to June 2014

The Electronic Voting Systems (EVS) evaluation project for iTEAM has investigated the current level of engagement in the use of EVS across the institution in 2014. It has built on the work and outputs of the JISC supported Evaluating Electronic Voting Systems (EEVS) project in 2011-12 and the work of the iTEAM project through 2011-2013. It offers an up-to-date examination of the trends in EVS adoption and the breadth and nature of EVS use across the different academic schools. The project adopted a mixed-methods approach to evaluate usage and engagement. The starting point was a desk study to examine the existing data on numbers of EVS handsets purchased by academic schools in 2011, 2012 and 2013 and registered across the University and to explore the details from the School reports previously submitted to iTEAM. Sources of data included Information Hertfordshire and the iTEAM archive. Quantitative surveys were drawn up and information requests for student numbers were made to Senior Administrative Managers (SAM). A series of interviews were held with School-based academics including EVS Champions and Associate Deans for Learning and Teaching. Three purchasing trends for EVS handsets by different Schools were found:- slow decrease in HUM, LAW and PAM, moderate increase in BS, EDU and HSK and rapid increase in CS, ET and LMS. In terms of levels of EVS usage in 2013 -14 four different patterns emerged among the schools. These showed: slow increase (CS, LMS and PAM), slow decrease (BS, ET, EDU and HUM), rapid decrease (LAW) and no change (CA and HSK). The EVS purchasing and usage trends comply with the figures given by Rogers for his technology adoption model. Some schools are characterised by successful ongoing EVS use over several years while other school strategies for EVS, which had showed promise early on, have faltered in their use. There was some evidence that academics in STEMM subjects are more likely to engage willingly with EVS use where larger groups are taught, but this is not yet in evidence across all the STEMM groups at this university. Furthermore good practice exists and flourishes across non-STEMM subjects as well. The strategies for successful School-based EVS embedding and continued use include the following three hallmarks:- •Top-down management support for purchasing of handsets and including training for academics and administrators, and alignment with the School teaching and learning strategy. •The existence of a core of innovators and early adopters of technology including the local EVS champions, who are willing to actively engage with their fellow colleagues in sharing the potential of EVS technology. •An engagement with the pedagogical implications for changing and developing practice that the greater use of formative or summative polling and questioning requires. The immediate future of classroom technologies such as EVS offers two main directions. Firstly, there is the continuation of adopting ‘institutionally provided’ handheld devices. This is a low-cost method that can be used easily and flexibly. The other options for classroom polling rely on sufficient wifi availability in the teaching rooms and/or mobile phone signal strength/network availability and capacity. It is anticipated that the capacity issue will present fewer barriers for adoption in future, and that the future of the classroom response systems is inevitably linked to the widespread use of mobile technologies by students

The driving factors of continuance online shopping: Gender differences in behaviour the case of Saudi Arabia

This study proposes a revised technology acceptance model that integrates expectation confirmation theory to measure gender differences with regard to continuance online shopping intentions in Saudi Arabia. The 465-respondent sample consists of 68.8% women and 31.4% men. A structural equation model confirms model fit. Perceived usefulness, enjoyment, and subjective norms are determinants of online shopping continuance in Saudi Arabia. Both male and female groups are equivalent. The structural weights are also largely equivalent, but the regression paths from perceived usefulness to subjective norms and to continuous intention are not invariant between men and women. The model was operationally generalized across the whole of Saudi Arabia. This research moves beyond online shopping intentions and includes factors affecting online shopping continuance. The research model explains 65% of the intention to continue shopping online. This research suggests that online strategies cannot ignore either the direct and indirect gender differences on continuance intentions in Saudi Arabia. The model can be generalized across Saudi Arabia

Towards a human resources management approach in supply chain management

Supply chain management (SCM) has grown as a discipline since the field attracted attention in the 1980s. However, it is observed that effective implementation of SCM is limited because the current focus is too task-based and information-centric. The concept is often conflated, in practice, with subcontractor management, where numerical flexibility is pertinent. At the same time, consideration of human resources management (HRM) in SCM has been limited. Strategic fit within supply chains tends to emphasise taskbased numerical flexibility, rather than genuine consideration and development of human resources. On the other hand, HRM has, until recently, rarely taken into account interorganisational characteristics that typify the construction industry. Therefore, this research intends to plug the gap by examining the use of human resources in construction supply chains, with a view of developing good practice for HRM in construction SCM. To achieve this, a two-phase research methodology comprising a scoping phase and case study phase will be ensued