The future of research and development in the UK gas industry

A review of the need for publicly funded research in a privatised gas industry

Still minding the gap? Reflecting on transitions between concepts of information in varied domains

This conceptual paper, a contribution to the tenth anniversary special issue of information, gives a cross-disciplinary review of general and unified theories of information. A selective literature review is used to update a 2013 article on bridging the gaps between conceptions of information in different domains, including material from the physical and biological sciences, from the humanities and social sciences including library and information science, and from philosophy. A variety of approaches and theories are reviewed, including those of Brenner, Brier, Burgin and Wu, Capurro, Cárdenas-García and Ireland, Hidalgo, Hofkirchner, Kolchinsky and Wolpert, Floridi, Mingers and Standing, Popper, and Stonier. The gaps between disciplinary views of information remain, although there has been progress, and increasing interest, in bridging them. The solution is likely to be either a general theory of sufficient flexibility to cope with multiple meanings of information, or multiple and distinct theories for different domains, but with a complementary nature, and ideally boundary spanning concepts

Terrorism and the World Economy

Published as an article in: European Economic Review, 2008, vol. 52, issue 1, pages 1-27.terrorism, growth, FDI, international diversification

One transition, many transitions? A corpus-based study of societal sustainability transition discourses in four civil society’s proposals

When the civil society makes ‘transition’ its label, it cannot be assumed that different civil society actors share compatible varieties of localist or radical transformationists discourses. This study has comparatively analyzed the discourses in four civil society sustainability transition proposals using a corpus-based methodology. We found that the proposals are similar as they identify the economy as an object and an entry point for transition, frame the economy as embedded in the socio–ecological system, ascribe agency to grassroots movements for transitions from the bottom–up. We also found crucial differences among the discourses regarding the role of the State, the degree of reform or radical innovation, the degree of imaginative character of the sustainability vision, the degree of opposition to capitalism. We suggest that insights on how the civil society employs notions of transition with respect to the themes of politics, emotions and place can help advance theorizations and practices of societal sustainability transitions led by the civil society

TRAVEL AND TOURISM COMPETITIVENESS OF THE WORLD’S TOP TOURISM DESTINATIONS: AN EXPLORATORY ASSESSMENT

In the recent years, competitiveness has become one of the common conceptsemployed to approach and describe the sustainable development of the travel and tourism industry.Competitiveness of the travel and tourism industry, like of the tourist destinations, is defined takinginto consideration a set of reference elements related to the major dimensions of the industry, suchas the business environment, infrastructure, laws and regulations, and resources available. The paper assesses the competitiveness of the travel and tourism industry in the World’s top25 tourist destinations based on the methodology and the specific results provided in the Travel andTourism Competitiveness Report and taking into consideration the most representative performanceindicators of this industry, international tourist arrivals and international tourist receipts, providedby the World Tourism Organization.travel and tourism, tourist destinations, competitiveness

Inclusivity between digital trade, human development, and environmental quality: moderating role of green innovations in BRICS countries

This research investigates the role of digital trade, human development, globalization, and green innovations on ecological footprints (EFP) for BRICS countries. Unlike the earlier studies, this research expands the empirical contribution while examining the moderating effect of green technologies on the relationship between stated explanatory variables and EFP. Initially, we testify the presence of cross-sectional dependence, unit root tests, cointegration, and slope heterogeneity and subsequently apply cross-sectionally augmented autoregressive distributed lags (CS-ARDL) using annual data from 1995 to 2019. The empirical findings exhibit the significance of digital trade, human development, and green technology innovations in complementing low EFP in the long run. However, globalization tends to increase ecological footprints. Moreover, the findings in the short run provide a symmetrical (positive/negative) effect of stated explanatory variables on EFP; however, their marginal impact is lower. Additionally, the moderating effect of green technologies on the relationship between digital trade and EFP and between human development and EFP is significantly negative, supplementing the existing association. Therefore, an inclusive digital and human development policy is imperative to ensure sustainable ecology

One transition, many transitions? A corpus-based study of societal sustainability transition discourses in four civil society’s proposals

When the civil society makes ‘transition’ its label, it cannot be assumed that different civil society actors share compatible varieties of localist or radical transformationists discourses. This study has comparatively analyzed the discourses in four civil society sustainability transition proposals using a corpus-based methodology. We found that the proposals are similar as they identify the economy as an object and an entry point for transition, frame the economy as embedded in the socio–ecological system, ascribe agency to grassroots movements for transitions from the bottom–up. We also found crucial differences among the discourses regarding the role of the State, the degree of reform or radical innovation, the degree of imaginative character of the sustainability vision, the degree of opposition to capitalism. We suggest that insights on how the civil society employs notions of transition with respect to the themes of politics, emotions and place can help advance theorizations and practices of societal sustainability transitions led by the civil society

New economy : assessment of the institutionalization of an emerging paradigm and academic field through inquiry into prominent boundary organizations

It is increasingly acknowledged that in order to reach global and regional sustai nabi l ity goals, economic growth and consumption levels in wealthy developed nations will need to stabilize or reverse. Organizations and projects of a wide variety have emerged and expanded to take on this challenge, and shape the so-called, new economy . The purpose of this research is to gain a clearer picture of the impacts of efforts to develop a shared new-economy knowledge framework on the broader sustai nabi l ity conversation, and to assess the intellectual institutionalization of same. This thesis focuses in on the influence of four U.S.-based organizations with missions centered on developing and promoting a new economy as a solution to intertwined systems-level crises. Data was collected through interviews of nine individuals affiliated with new economy organizations via telephone using a semi-standard questionnaire. Analysis showed a paradigm, rooted in decades-old economic ideas, emerging but underdeveloped. To date, it has not had any noticeable influence on mainstream sustai nabi l ity discourse or dominant economic thinking, and remains politically irrelevant. Recent events present the thrust for a scaling-up of efforts to fully-develop the theoretical framework, a viable model, and proceed with steps to further institutionalize the field. Strategic action, including a concerted branding and messaging effort, and improved coordination with outside groups is recommended so that the paradigm can progress with institutionalization, and garner increased funding and popular relevancy

Terrorism and social media: global evidence

The study assesses the relationship between terrorism and social media from a cross section of 148 countries with data for the year 2012. The empirical evidence is based on Ordinary Least Squares, Negative Binomial and Quantile regressions. The main finding is that there is a positive relationship between social media in terms of Facebook penetration and terrorism. The positive relationship is driven by below-median quantiles of terrorism. In other words, countries in which existing levels of terrorism are low are more significantly associated with a positive Facebook-terrorism nexus. The established positive relationship is confirmed from other externalities of terrorism: terrorism fatalities, terrorism incidents, terrorism injuries and terrorism-related property damages. The terrorism externalities are constituents of the composite dependent variable