Fitting the bike to the chain: An analysis of transitions towards households integration of multi-modal cycling

This study explores the integration of cycling with public transport (Cycling-PT) from a household perspective. Varied household types were reflected in the individuals and families who participated in fourty-seven interviews and small group discussions in Nottingham and Leeds. Participants were recruited at railway stations, bike hubs and via activist and bicycle user groups and other gatekeeper organisations in the voluntary, local authority and education sectors between June 2016 and January 2017. Drawing on literature from the Activity Approach (AA), Mobility Biographies and structuration theory, an interview topic guide was used during individual interviews and small group discussions, supported by visual cue cards. Additional visual elicitation methods supported a second phase of discussions with individuals and families, the participants assembling 3D Styrofoam models of railway stations, using miniature Lego characters to recreate scenarios of journeys when they had combined Cycling-PT. Together, these methods provided insight into the variability of household travel behaviour over the life-course, mental models and reflexive processes. Interviews with eight family groups who took part with their children revealed how Cycling-PT had enabled the everyday activities of families through specialisation of roles for childcare and employment. Benefits to households included access to employment, particularly for people unable to drive. Time-savings over using buses to access rail journeys contrasted with more divided opinions on cost savings. Families integrated taking children to daycare, or school, with regular combined Cycling-PT commutes, carried by bicycle and train with their parents. Adolescent children travelling independently to visit relatives during school holidays. Childcare provision was influential in family travel decisions, collecting children at the end of the working day acting to constrain the combination of Cycling-PT. Parents valued secure storage for bicycles (and other mobility devices) at nurseries, schools, transport hubs and workplaces. Qualitative thematic analysis of interview transcripts using NVivo revealed beliefs and related to physical activity shared within households that had motivated the combination of cycling with PT. Participants associated improved mood with the integration of cycling with PT, the combined modes enabling the transition between work or study and household activities. Bicycle parking at PT hubs complemented carriage of bicycles on board trains to enable a full range of activities to be achieved. Workplace facilitation included flexible, or negotiated working arrangements, changing facilities, storage and showers for cyclists, salary-sacrifice bicycle purchase schemes and supportive colleagues. These findings have implications for policy, transport design, and offer directions for future research

Transnational mobility and European belonging : a demos without an ethnos?

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

What It’s Like to Ride a Bike: Understanding Cyclist Experiences

Cyclists can make important contributions to transport policy, if only we ask them. This thesis explores how people experience cycling in three case study cities – Perth, Melbourne and Utrecht. Cyclists were recruited for semi-structured and go-along interviews. The key findings indicate that the combination of traditional and mobile methods yield valuable information for developing understandings of the embodied experience of cycling, which can be used to inform policy and guide the creation of sustainable cities

Creating a framework for eliciting consumer satisfaction in Second Life

A thesis submitted to the University of Bedfordshire in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of PhilosophyUsing consumer satisfaction as an example of complex communication and a virtual world as a mediating platform, a novel framework for eliciting consumer satisfaction has been developed. Consumer satisfaction is a key element for business success, while the elicitation of satisfaction perceptions from consumers can help vendors to assess and to improve their business performance. The objectives here are: how consumer satisfaction is defined, understood and measured; how virtual worlds function, both as a platform and a product; how users typically perceive their experiences in virtual worlds; and how consumer satisfaction metrics can be translated into a virtual environment. Second Life is used as an enabling technology for gathering requirements as well as for the construction, refinement and validation of the framework. Second Life is a virtual world, a multi-user, 3D, immersive environment, which has its own internal economy. The choice of using this social virtual world was due to Second Life being a resilient and widely used platform. The main contribution of this thesis is a framework that can be used to identify and categorise the complex and inter-related factors that affect the use of Second Life in terms of consumer satisfaction perceptions. Another contribution here is a novel approach to Search Engine trend analysis, which focuses on the number or search results returned as opposed to the number of queries for a given search phrase. Based on the research conducted by the author and knowledge gained from the literature, a framework has been developed which identifies interrelated components that provide a wider context to perceive the user experience of Second Life. The approach taken by the framework enables it to be used as a means to comprehend Second Life both as a product and as a platform. A Straussian Grounded Theory approach was taken to data gathering, analysis and interpretation in the context of the framework; further refinements are made to the framework as a consequence of emergent themes revealed through the process of analysing the gathered data. Guidance is given in brief as to how the framework can be adapted to reveal consumer satisfaction perceptions from other internet based services

Practical, appropriate, empirically-validated guidelines for designing educational games

There has recently been a great deal of interest in the potential of computer games to function as innovative educational tools. However, there is very little evidence of games fulfilling that potential. Indeed, the process of merging the disparate goals of education and games design appears problematic, and there are currently no practical guidelines for how to do so in a coherent manner. In this paper, we describe the successful, empirically validated teaching methods developed by behavioural psychologists and point out how they are uniquely suited to take advantage of the benefits that games offer to education. We conclude by proposing some practical steps for designing educational games, based on the techniques of Applied Behaviour Analysis. It is intended that this paper can both focus educational games designers on the features of games that are genuinely useful for education, and also introduce a successful form of teaching that this audience may not yet be familiar with

EXPLORING THE CONSEQUENCES OF SHOPPER-FACING TECHNOLOGIES: THEIR EFFECT ON SHOPPER EXPERIENCES AND SHOPPING OUTCOMES

Just as technology has influenced nearly every facet of the modern consumer’s life, it is also significantly changing how those consumers shop and how it influences their purchase decisions. Understanding how technology impacts these shoppers within the retail environment is crucial for retail managers who are expected to deploy and manage these sources of continuous change. The purpose of this dissertation is to explore the phenomenon of shoppers experiencing technology in the retail environment. Specifically, our primary goal is to understand how shopper-facing technologies impact shoppers’ experiences and behaviors and subsequently affect outcome variables that matter to retailers. To that end, this dissertation includes two studies, an ethnography and survey, each with specific objectives designed to illuminate an increasingly common, yet under-researched phenomenon. The first study is an ethnography of shoppers in an office supply retailer context. In this study we explored emergent themes of shopper-facing technology use and how they affected shopper behaviors, perceptions, and strategies. A service channel decision tree was developed to explain the series of technology use decisions that shoppers made as they negotiated the shopping task and a framework of retail technology experience was created to explain the phenomenon, its consequences, the shopper dispositional traits that impact those consequences, and the strategies that shoppers employ as a result. The second study is a survey of recent shoppers designed to test a model of technology-induced shopper ambivalence. Measures were developed and tested from technology paradox theory to expose how technology engagement and technology readiness are associated with technology-induced shopper ambivalence and how this ambivalence drives surprising changes to hedonic and utilitarian shopping values. Contributions to theory, managerial implications, and future research opportunities are discussed within each study and a convergence of findings provides insights across both studies

The Web at 25 in the U.S.: Digital Life in 2025

This report is part of an effort by the Pew Research Center's Internet Project in association with Elon University's Imagining the Internet Center to look at the future of the Internet, the Web, and other digital activities. This is the first of eight reports based on a canvassing of hundreds of experts about the future of such things as privacy, cybersecurity, the "Internet of things," and net neutrality. In this case we asked experts to make their own predictions about the state of digital life by the year 2025. We will also explore some of the economic change driven by the spectacular progress that made digital tools faster and cheaper. And we will report on whether Americans feel the explosion of digital information coursing through their lives has helped them be better informed and make better decisions

Health (dis)equalities and social isolation and loneliness in the older people: a qualitative study

Demographic ageing is currently a major concern worldwide and has been growing at an accelerated pace, which is why it is important to reflect on the aspects that can be preponderant in the process of growing old. Therefore, this study aims to understand the perspective of elderly people in Póvoa de Varzim regarding the factors that influence (in)equality in health, as well as social isolation and loneliness. A qualitative study was carried out and a total of 37 participants were recruited to take part in 4 focus groups, using the intentional non-probabilistic sampling method. The focus groups were analyzed on the basis of thematic analysis. Findings show that the factors that seem to influence health inequalities are related to accessibility to health services (general functioning and appointments), as well as socioeconomic and demographic aspects, which are also at the heart of social isolation and loneliness, alongside community factors. These results have contributed to a better understanding of existing health inequalities and how older people perceive social isolation and loneliness, thus making it possible to understand the helical process inherent in the subject under study. In this way, it has allowed the development of possible actions and/or strategies at the level of policies and the organization of services and communities, in which the Occupational Therapist also plays a fundamental role that will contribute to a transformation of the ageing paradigm and the promotion of a healthy life for older people

Associations between social anxiety disorders and the social aspects of young people's internet and mobile phone use

This thesis investigates young people's use of the Internet and mobile phones, and focuses especially on associations between use of these technologies for communication purposes and social anxiety. First, two surveys are reported which examine the broad characteristics of young people’s Internet and mobile phone use. The first of these was conducted on paper and provides a general description of these activities amongst young people in the Teesside area of England. The second survey was conducted online with a population from a wider area and supports the paper survey. Together, the surveys indicate that there may be a small bias towards male use of and competence with the Internet. There may also be a small bias towards female use of mobile phones. Results concerning non-use of the Internet and mobile phones are also discussed. Reports of the surveys are followed by descriptions of a questionnaire study, also conducted in the Teesside area of England, which indicates that associations between the psychological conditions social anxiety and social phobia and use of the Internet and mobile phones, generally, and for communication purposes, are minimal. (However, small but significant associations are discussed). Finally, was conducted using Grounded Theory, is described. This reveals that that control over social interactions, sometimes in relation to transient, or situational, social anxiety, might be one important reason why young people like to use text-based Internet and mobile phone communication media to interact. It is concluded that whilst social anxiety as a psychological characteristic or trait may not be strongly related to young people s use of the Internet and mobile phones for communication purposes, young people may nevertheless sometimes use these technologies to manage situational social anxiety

Moving on : the role of transport in the everyday mobilities of children and young people in urban Australia

This grounded study explores the role of transport, broadly conceived, in shaping and differentiating the everyday mobilities of children and young people in contemporary urban Australia. Drawing on approaches from across urban, transport and children and young people’s geographies, and the sociology of mobilities, the research investigated the everyday travel of 82 children, aged 9 to 12 years, and 176 young people, aged 13 to 15 years, living in Blacktown, Western Sydney who described their use of transport to a range of educational, social, cultural and recreational activities. Blacktown epitomises many aspects of urban Australia. Blacktown is a local government area with a large, rapidly growing, comparatively youthful, culturally and socially diverse population of more than 300,000 people. It has a variety of urban forms and is serviced by a mix of public transport, local buses and rapid bus transit ways, and the metropolitan road and rail networks. The research was conducted in government schools (five secondary and three primary schools) located in five different neighbourhoods. The neighbourhoods were distinguished by their location in relation to the Blacktown city centre, urban form and socio-economic characteristics. The research adopted a child-focussed methodology and a mixed method design. A variety of quantitative and qualitative data was derived from classroom discussions, local area walking tours with photography, video recordings, individual drawings, maps, travel and activity diaries and interviews. From the materials produced this thesis illustrates how children and young people are negotiating their everyday mobilities afforded by the available transport network as well as by the dynamics of their own households. It argues that children’s and young people’s ‘everyday mobilities’ are irreducibly situated within the context of their households and urban spaces, which must be better understood and adequately addressed in policy and planning to achieve a more age-responsive, socially-inclusive urban transport policy and planning