Social perception of rural tourism impact: A case study

Rural tourism is based on the natural and cultural resources in an area that make it unique, with people as the main drivers. The main objective of this paper is to know the social perception about rural tourism impact in the Cinco Villas region (Aragon, Spain), analysing its evolution and effect on the territory. The theoretical approach is based on concepts such as rural tourism and its different elements from the perspective of sustainable local endogenous development. The research method chosen is the study case based on the Cinco Villas region. A combination of qualitative and quantitative instruments was used to research and achieve the aims of this study. A documentary analysis of the last ten years based on secondary data from institutional database sources was conducted. Primary data have been compiled from two different sources: semi-structured interviews with political leaders and tourism business people and participatory observation in focus groups

How do we increase public understanding of the benefits provided by SUDS?

Background to researchRecent Scottish Government policy is to develop Scotland as the world’s first Hydro Nation which places more emphasis on water as central to our national identity. This agenda isincreasing the international profile of Scotland’s skills and experience in supporting the good stewardship of water resources. There is a need to increase awareness among thepublic of the benefits that water provides and how our actions can help protect and improve them. Successful legislative and policy reform have been responsible for sustainable urbandrainage systems (SUDS) becoming commonplace in Scotland. There is a deficit of understanding surrounding the multiple benefits which SUDS can offer communities such as pollutioncontrol, flood prevention, enhancement of biodiversity and wildlife habitats. Conveying an understanding of benefits to those who live within close proximity to SUDS can help lendacceptance to these innovative green technologies that are replacing traditional forms of drainage.Objectives of researchKey CREW objectives are to develop a hydro literacy programme that:(a) increases public understanding of the benefits water provides and issues involved in its management(b) increase science engagement through community outreach/public education(c) support Scottish water policy.This project was a public outreach activity that targeted primary and secondary school children located to the north of Dundee where there are excellent examples of SUDS. The key objective was to raise awareness of the Hydro Nation agenda with a scope that was twofold: explain the urban water cycle; and promote awareness and understanding of the local SUDS and related benefits. To realise these objectives we had to ensure alignment of the science, environmental, engineering and social aspects related to SUDS with the curriculum forexcellence and which contributed to general science experiences and outcomes.Key findings and recommendationsDissemination of the Hydro Nation Agenda and the benefits of SUDS were delivered to a total of 106 children (ages 3-10) and 14 adults. Based on feedback, the outreach programmeto schools was deemed an unquestionable success by the Local Authority, teachers and school children alike. This was due to a strategic approach taken for the development anddelivery of a ‘water and SUDS’ learning package that included a variety of mechanisms and activities to fit the time available and suit the knowledge level of the target audiences. Thisfacilitated engagement, enthusiasm, knowledge retention and empowerment – learning whilst also having fun. Evaluation of feedback, and with hindsight, recommendations for improvingfuture outreach initiatives to school children and local community groups include:• Timing is crucial to ensure alignment with the curriculum, particularly secondary schools.• Hands on sessions including experiments and digital technology related to local real world issues combined with local walks were powerful strategies that provided a direct and personal connection that engaged, promoted and embedded learning concepts and new terminology.• Future roll out of the initiative would be beneficial to integrate the SUDS learning package materials with current lesson plans; specifically delivery of a practical legacy teaching asset that could be up scaled/rolled out across Scotland.• The Community Group session was put together quickly with limited time. This was beneficial for the Group regarding imminent dialogue with Dundee City Council planners however a more organised session and discussion would have enhanced understanding of current best practice SUDS.<br/

A NeISS collaboration to develop and use e-infrastructure for large-scale social simulation

The National e-Infrastructure for Social Simulation (NeISS) project is focused on developing e-Infrastructure to support social simulation research. Part of NeISS aims to provide an interface for running contemporary dynamic demographic social simulation models as developed in the GENESIS project. These GENESIS models operate at the individual person level and are stochastic. This paper focuses on support for a simplistic demographic change model that has a daily time steps, and is typically run for a number of years. A portal based Graphical User Interface (GUI) has been developed as a set of standard portlets. One portlet is for specifying model parameters and setting a simulation running. Another is for comparing the results of different simulation runs. Other portlets are for monitoring submitted jobs and for interfacing with an archive of results. A layer of programs enacted by the portlets stage data in and submit jobs to a Grid computer which then runs a specific GENESIS model program executable. Once a job is submitted, some details are communicated back to a job monitoring portlet. Once the job is completed, results are stored and made available for download and further processing. Collectively we call the system the Genesis Simulator. Progress in the development of the Genesis Simulator was presented at the UK e- Science All Hands Meeting in September 2011 by way of a video based demonstration of the GUI, and an oral presentation of a working paper. Since then, an automated framework has been developed to run simulations for a number of years in yearly time steps. The demographic models have also been improved in a number of ways. This paper summarises the work to date, presents some of the latest results and considers the next steps we are planning in this work

Corporate ethical identity as determinant of firm performance : a test of the mediating role of stakeholder satisfaction

In this article, we empirically assess the impact of the Corporate Ethical Identity (CEI) on the firm's financial performance. Drawing on formulation of both normative and instrumental stakeholder theory, we argue that firms with a strong ethical identity achieve greater degree of stakeholder satisfaction, which in turn, positively influence the firms' financial performance. We further analyze two different dimensions of the CEI of firms: corporate revealed ethics and corporate applied ethics. Our results indicate that while revealed ethics has informational worth and enhance shareholder value, applied ethics has a positive impact through the improvement of stakeholder satisfaction. However, revealed ethics by itself (i.e. decoupled from ethical initiatives) is not sufficient to boost economic performance

Misunderstood: The Matthew Shepherd Hate Crime and its Intercultural Implications

The increasing vocalization by both supporters and opponents of homosexual rights has launched the topic into the spotlight, reenergizing a vibrant discussion that personally affects millions of Americans and which will determine the direction in which U.S. national policy will develop. This essay serves as a continuation of this discussion, using the Matthew Shepherd Hate crime, which occurred in October of 1998, as a focal point around which a detailed analysis of homophobia and masculinity in American culture will emerge

Using importance and performance analysis to direct emerging rural destination development

Stakeholders' role in developing new tourist destinations is significant, especially in emerging destinations where the villagers or community needs to be involved. Accordingly, the research purpose is to explain stakeholders' appropriateness attributes in terms of importance and performance. Therefore, we surveyed with various institutions eight tourist stakeholders with a sample size of 65 units. The analytical tool used IPA, which used a Cartesian diagram to show attributes position. The result showed that the area (I) improvement should focus on tourist information and communication, and area (II) should be maintained; natural, transportation, destination activity, village involvement, and village government role. Furthermore, area III is the low priority due to the high performance: accommodation and culinary. Finally, the ignore area (IV) is the activity package, tourism networking, transparencies program, finance support, and human resource competence. Hence the main problem of the stakeholder holder's perspective is the coordination program. The local government could consider stakeholder's flexibility practice to enhance the destination by addressing each attribute to different stakeholders to be their functions. They must update them with contextual and relevant things about rural destinations

Hearing from Those We Seek to Help: Nonprofit Practices and Perspectives in Beneficiary Feedback

For nonprofit organizations, hearing from the beneficiaries they seek to serve is an important practice for planning, implementing, and evaluating their programs and services. But does this feedback and an understanding of intended beneficiaries' needs reach foundation funders and influence their funding and strategic decision-making?To answer this question, CEP investigated what nonprofits are doing to hear from those they seek to help and whether their leaders believe their foundation funders are tuned in to the needs of their intended beneficiaries. The data reveals that most nonprofits are collecting and using feedback from their beneficiaries to improve their programs and services, but nonprofit leaders believe most of their foundation funders lack a deep understanding of their intended beneficiaries' needs. The research shows that this matters. Nonprofit leaders believe foundations' lack of understanding of their beneficiaries' needs is reflected in their funding priorities and programmatic strategies, and that nonprofits believe foundations can benefit from deeper engagement with beneficiary feedback