2,337 research outputs found

    Climate Change and Critical Agrarian Studies

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    Climate change is perhaps the greatest threat to humanity today and plays out as a cruel engine of myriad forms of injustice, violence and destruction. The effects of climate change from human-made emissions of greenhouse gases are devastating and accelerating; yet are uncertain and uneven both in terms of geography and socio-economic impacts. Emerging from the dynamics of capitalism since the industrial revolution — as well as industrialisation under state-led socialism — the consequences of climate change are especially profound for the countryside and its inhabitants. The book interrogates the narratives and strategies that frame climate change and examines the institutionalised responses in agrarian settings, highlighting what exclusions and inclusions result. It explores how different people — in relation to class and other co-constituted axes of social difference such as gender, race, ethnicity, age and occupation — are affected by climate change, as well as the climate adaptation and mitigation responses being implemented in rural areas. The book in turn explores how climate change – and the responses to it - affect processes of social differentiation, trajectories of accumulation and in turn agrarian politics. Finally, the book examines what strategies are required to confront climate change, and the underlying political-economic dynamics that cause it, reflecting on what this means for agrarian struggles across the world. The 26 chapters in this volume explore how the relationship between capitalism and climate change plays out in the rural world and, in particular, the way agrarian struggles connect with the huge challenge of climate change. Through a huge variety of case studies alongside more conceptual chapters, the book makes the often-missing connection between climate change and critical agrarian studies. The book argues that making the connection between climate and agrarian justice is crucial

    Spatial Interaction Models in a Big Data Grocery Retailing Environment

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    Grocery expenditure is responsible for around 10% of total household spend in the UK, making the grocery retail market worth over £200bn a year in 2021. The size of this market and the nature of retailing competition makes it important for retailers to make the right decisions. One such decision is the location of their stores for which there have been a number of changes in the location, format and channel of consumer interaction along with the methods that have been employed to determine new store location. In recent years it has been suggested that the spatial interaction model is the most appropriate method for estimating new store revenue and hence location. However, previous attempts to explore the performance of the spatial interaction model in grocery retailing have been limited by access to loyalty card data. In this thesis we show that these models are unable to account for the heterogeneity in store conditions and consumer behaviour to model total store revenue. Notably, we find that at the regional scale the size of the errors are such that these models are unlikely to be used consistently in practice for estimating store revenue or locating new stores. Furthermore, that the performance achieved in previous applications are unlikely to be consistently replicated. Thus our results demonstrate that the spatial interaction model in its current form is no longer appropriate for modelling grocery store revenue. It is anticipated that these results may become a starting point for the development and application of alternative forms of models and methods for predicting grocery retailing store revenue. Notably, such new methods must be able to account for recent changes in consumer behaviour such as convenience store shopping, multi-purpose trips and the growing influence of e-commerce, alongside changes in retailers interaction strategies

    The politics of content prioritisation online governing prominence and discoverability on digital media platforms

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    This thesis examines the governing systems and industry practices shaping online content prioritisation processes on digital media platforms. Content prioritisation, and the relative prominence and discoverability of content, are investigated through a critical institutional lens as digital decision guidance processes that shape online choice architecture and influence users’ access to content online. This thesis thus shows how prioritisation is never neutral or static and cannot be explained solely by political economic or neoclassical economics approaches. Rather, prioritisation is dynamically shaped by the institutional environment and by the clash between existing media governance systems and those emerging for platform governance. As prioritisation processes influence how audiovisual media services are accessed online, posing questions about the public interest in such forms of intermediation is key. In that context, this research asks how content prioritisation is governed on digital media platforms, and what the elements of a public interest framework for these practices might be. To address these questions, I use a within case study comparative research design focused on the United Kingdom, collecting data by means of semi-structured interviews and document analysis. Through a thematic analysis, I then investigate how institutional arrangements influence both organisational strategies and interests, as well as the relationships among industry and policy actors involved, namely, platform organisations, pay-TV operators, technology manufacturers, content providers including public service media, and regulators. The results provide insights into the ‘black box’ of content prioritisation across three interconnected dimensions: technical, market, and regulatory. In each dimension, a battle between industry and policy actors emerges to influence prioritisation online. As the UK Government and regulator intend to develop new prominence rules, the dispute takes on a normative dimension and gives rise to contested visions of what audiovisual services should be prioritised to the final users, and which private- and public-interest-driven criteria are (or should) be used to determine that. Finally, the analysis shows why it is crucial to reflect on how the public interest is interpreted and operationalised as new prominence regulatory regimes emerge with a variety of sometimes contradictory implications for media pluralism, diversity and audience freedom of choice. The thesis therefore indicates the need for new institutional arrangements and a public interest-driven framework for prioritisation on digital media platforms. Such a framework conceives of public interest content standards as an institutional imperative for media and platform organisations and prompts regulators to develop new online content regulation that is appropriate to changing forms of digital intermediation and emerging audiovisual market conditions. While the empirical focus is on the UK, the implications of the research findings are also considered in the light of developments in the European Union and Council of Europe initiatives that bear on the future discoverability of public interest media services and related prominence regimes

    30th European Congress on Obesity (ECO 2023)

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    This is the abstract book of 30th European Congress on Obesity (ECO 2023

    Tradition and Innovation in Construction Project Management

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    This book is a reprint of the Special Issue 'Tradition and Innovation in Construction Project Management' that was published in the journal Buildings
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