Biomass residential heating: semantic structure and implications for advertising

For a business, knowing current stakeholder product knowledge is essential to infl uencing behaviour. What do consumers think and feel about biomass residential heating? An assessment of consumers’ semantic structure about a biomass residential heating product: pellet stove/furnace, reveals that consumers perceive the product as natural but laborious to maintain, and dirty/smelly. An exploratory analysis of the industry’s marketing communications suggests that the industry is not addressing the ‘ease-of-use’ issue

MARKET INTELLIGENCE FROM THE INTERNET: AN ILLUSTRATION USING THE BIOMASS HEATING INDUSTRY

Extant research on marketing strategy suggests that most companies underuse web intelligence as publicly available data on the Internet are considered hard to access and analyse. This paper demonstrates how biomass home heating businesses can utilise the Internet for data collection and business insights. The market structure of the biomass heating industry was identified using the Google Correlate algorithm. The production rule ‘that newer the product the higher is consumer search for the product’ was operationalised using the correlations of the concept ‘home heating equipment’. Intra-industry competition was assessed using Google’s brand impression analysis and firm behaviour and performance were modelled using a differential equation relating product sales to marketing expenditures. Empirical analysis reveals that the product form “biomass home heating” is growing, pellet stoves and fireplace inserts top the lists of “stove” searches, there are two competitive clusters of biomass firms and the marketing spending for the industry is well below its optimum level needed to increase and maintain sales

Heavy rainfall episode over Mumbai on 26 July 2005: Assessment of NWP guidance

In the present work a qualitative assessment of guidance from NCMRWF operational global and regional Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) systems in the episode of unprecedented rainfall over Mumbai has been attempted. This also consolidates and examines the predictions that were provided by some of the leading global operational centres. Some hindcast runs were also made with different initial conditions. It reveals that the use of very high resolution global and regional models with advanced data assimilation techniques (4D Var), that optimally utilizes information from satellite observations, could significantly enhance the usefulness of NWP guidance

Monitor Unit Verification for Radiotherapy Irregular Fields Based On the Clarkson Method Combined With In-House MLC Shaper Software

Introduction: In the present scenario, high precision-radiotherapy is delivered through Linear accelerators in which the dose delivery is achieved by delivering the proper monitor unit (MU). Treatment planning for the patients is carried out through treatment planning systems (TPS) in which the precise computation of MU is crucial. This TPS - calculated MU has to be verified using manual calculations for accurate dose delivery. In this study, we incorporated our in-house developed multi leaf collimator(MLC) shaper software and the well-known Clarkson method to compare the calculated MUs to the TPS-generated MUs.Material and Methods: Conformal treatment plans of various sites of 30 patients were randomly selected containing different MLC-shaped field sizes. All the fields were shaped using MLC (leaf width of 1cm, 40 pairs) in the TPS. MLC log files were exported and fed into the in-house shaper software to get crucial inputs for the Clarkson-based calculation. The Tissue Maximum Ratio(TMR) & Scatter Maximum ratio(SMR) were utilized in our investigation. The Clarkson MU calculation was compared with the TPS calculation method. Paired t-test was performed for the statistical significance.Results: The Clarkson method-based calculated had significant differences for all the esophageal cancers (p<0.05); however no significant difference was found in the other sites.Conclusion: The compared MUs were within the acceptable deviation with the TPS for Head & Neck, Prostrate and Cervical cancer. The estimated MUs had significant difference in non-homogenous medium. The shaper software can be further enhanced to receive MLC log files from the TPS

High nitrous oxide fluxes from rice indicate the need to manage water for both long- and short-term climate impacts

Global rice cultivation is estimated to account for 2.5% of current anthropogenic warming because of emissions of methane (CH4), a short-lived greenhouse gas. This estimate assumes a widespread prevalence of continuous flooding of most rice fields and hence does not include emissions of nitrous oxide (N2O), a long-lived greenhouse gas. Based on the belief that minimizing CH4 from rice cultivation is always climate beneficial, current mitigation policies promote increased use of intermittent flooding. However, results from five intermittently flooded rice farms across three agroecological regions in India indicate that N2O emissions per hectare can be three times higher (33 kg-N2O⋅ha−1⋅season−1) than the maximum previously reported. Correlations between N2O emissions and management parameters suggest that N2O emissions from rice across the Indian subcontinent might be 30–45 times higher under intensified use of intermittent flooding than under continuous flooding. Our data further indicate that comanagement of water with inorganic nitrogen and/or organic matter inputs can decrease climate impacts caused by greenhouse gas emissions up to 90% and nitrogen management might not be central to N2O reduction. An understanding of climate benefits/drawbacks over time of different flooding regimes because of differences in N2O and CH4 emissions can help select the most climate-friendly water management regimes for a given area. Region-specific studies of rice farming practices that map flooding regimes and measure effects of multiple comanaged variables on N2O and CH4 emissions are necessary to determine and minimize the climate impacts of rice cultivation over both the short term and long term

Critical review of strategic planning research in hospitality and tourism

Strategic planning remains one of the most popular management tools, but theoretical and empirical developments in the academic literature have been a slow burn. This paper addresses this gap and provides an up-to-date review of hospitality and tourism strategic planning research. We review strategic planning research from 1995 to 2013 in seven leading tourism academic journals, and adopt a modern and broad conceptualization of strategic planning. While there is some awareness of effective tourism strategic planning processes, academic research has not kept pace with practice. To stimulate a resurgence of research interest, we provide future research directions. We observe a methodological introspection and present some new research methodologies, which are critically important in researching the turbulent, chaotic and nonlinear tourism environment

An exploratory analysis of planning characteristics in Australian visitor attractions

This paper provides an exploratory analysis of the planning practices of 408 Australian attraction operators. The results indicate that attraction managers can be divided into four categories: those that do not engage in any formal planning, those that adopt a short-term planning approach, those that develop long-term plans, and those that use both short-term and long-term planning approaches. An evaluation of the sophistication of attraction planning showed a bipolar distribution. Attraction managers favored a planning horizon of three or five years, and were inclined to involve their employees in the planning process. Managers relied strongly on their own research and tourism industry intelligence when formulating business plans. The content of plans tended to focus on operational activities, financial planning and marketing. The study provides a benchmark for the comparison of attraction planning efforts in various contexts. © 2006 Asia Pacific Tourism Association

When Feedback Interventions Backfire: Why Higher Performance Feedback May Result in Lower Self-Perceived Competence and Satisfaction with Performance

In relative performance evaluation systems, appraisers may choose to adopt stricter or laxer evaluation criteria. When laxer (vs. stricter) criteria are used, higher absolute performance evaluations become easier (vs. harder) to achieve. Thus, each appraisee's absolute performance feedback and the mean of the distribution of absolute performance feedback are shifted upward (vs. downward). Yet, relative performance remains constant. When evaluation outcomes depend solely on relative performance, can the adoption of laxer (vs. stricter) criteria-leading to higher absolute performance feedback but no change in relative performance-influence appraisees' satisfaction with performance? Despite the ubiquity of such systems in organizations, research has not addressed this question. This article points to an important gap between practitioners' beliefs and research findings. We show that while most appraisers believe that higher absolute performance feedback will automatically result in more satisfaction with performance, the opposite may also happen. Specifically, we find that appraisees with a stronger (vs. weaker) chronic or contextual need to engage in social comparison are more satisfied with lower (vs. higher) absolute performance feedback. Overall, we demonstrate why and how feedback interventions in relative performance evaluation systems may backfire, and suggest a set of practical guidelines for maximizing appraisees' satisfaction with performance in such systems

The economic impact of canal cruising in the Hennepin Canal State Park, Illinois: a scenario analysis

Hennepin Canal State Park boasts healthy visitor numbers: in 2009, it attracted 1.25m visitors and since 2004, visitor levels to the park have increased at the rate of 2% per annum (compound annual growth rate (CAGR) = 2%). This is in spite of the overall negative growth in visitor numbers for the state parks in Illinois (-1.25% CAGR for the period 2004-2009). Key issue is whether to expand Hennepin Canal State Park's services to include canal cruising or boating. To address this question, plausible future scenarios for the park were constructed. These are: Positive: In order to benefit from the increases in visitor numbers, a state park has to provide quality services. Since customer attraction is a function of product mix and quality, only state parks with a vast product line (for example, trail-based recreation, water-based recreation, etc.) will survive. Hence, the industry concentration will be low. Developments in virtual technology will not impact visitor numbers. Negative: Increased competition from businesses in the leisure and recreational sectors, developments in virtual technology, and declining US market for state parks will decrease park revenues. Also, developments in virtual technology will make customers indifferent to the variety (product mix) of state park services. However, due to state funding (cf. Senate Bill 1566), industry concentration will be high. If canal cruising is enabled, given the positive scenario, it will generate $42.68mil in revenues during the first year of its operation. The impact of this revenue would be 1,284 full-time jobs mostly in the hospitality sector and the retail trade. In the case where developments in virtual technology, and declining US market for state parks make customers indifferent to the variety of services (negative scenario), introduction of canal cruising will still bring in revenues totaling$31.8mil in the very first year, and create 959 full-time jobs in the region. Finally, economic benefit assessment is only one part of the knowledge about the consequence of facilitating canal cruising. Research is needed to gauge social and ecological consequences of the decision

A simple planning technique of craniospinal irradiation in the eclipse treatment planning system

A new planning method for Craniospinal Irradiation by Eclipse treatment planning system using Field alignment, Field-in-Field technique was developed. Advantage of this planning method was also studied retrospectively for previously treated five patients of medulloblastoma with variable spine length. Plan consists of half beam blocked parallel opposed cranium, and a single posterior cervicospine field was created by sharing the same isocenter, which obviates divergence matching. Further, a single symmetrical field was created to treat remaining Lumbosacral spine. Matching between a inferior diverging edge of cervicospine field and superior diverging edge of a Lumbosacral field was done using the field alignment option. ′Field alignment′ is specific option in the Eclipse Treatment Planning System, which automatically matches the field edge divergence as per field alignment rule. Multiple segments were applied in both the spine field to manage with hot and cold spots created by varying depth of spinal cord. Plan becomes fully computerized using this field alignment option and multiple segments. Plan evaluation and calculated mean modified Homogeneity Index (1.04 and 0.1) ensured that dose to target volume is homogeneous and critical organ doses were within tolerance. Dose variation at the spinal field junction was verified using ionization chamber array (I′MatriXX) for matched, overlapped and gap junction spine fields; the delivered dose distribution confirmed the ideal clinical match, over exposure and under exposure at the junction, respectively. This method is simple to plan, executable in Record and Verify mode and can be adopted for various length of spinal cord with only two isocenter in shorter treatment time