Does B2C online logistics service quality impact urban logistics?

This paper reports on an in-progress research study regarding the impact of business to consumer (B2C) online logistics service quality (OLSQ) for shopper satisfaction and loyalty on urban logistics across the UK, France and Germany to also investigate country-specific differences of consumer online shopping behaviour and channel strategies. A two-stage approach is adopted consisting of firstly of qualitative research conducted with managers at the producer/retailer interface and secondly a quantitative survey stage targeting consumers as online shoppers to determine how their expectations of OLSQ and associated activities influence their satisfaction and ongoing loyalty. This study should contribute theoretically by considering a B2C setting for OLSQ, which is the final aspect of point-of-origin to point-of-consumption, as most general literature on these topics has been dominated by business to business (B2B) logistical designs, and also identify any discrepancies between consumer expectations or behaviour as it may affect urban logistics solutions. Further, this study should contribute practically by providing managers with an understanding of the components of OLSQ considered critical by consumers

New public management reform in European countries: The retreat of the state from telecommunication services

In the post war period, telecommunications - being services of 'general economic interest' - were initially managed by public administrative bodies in many Western European countries. With the rise of New Public Management (NPM) in the 1980s, these bodies were often transformed into public corporations or joint stock companies. Following corporatisation, the provision and the management of these services of general economic interest was gradually transferred to private actors. This paper analyses whether privatisation, as part of NPM reforms, has benefited the consumer. We have, therefore, compiled data on privatisation in the telecommunication sector for 15 European countries from 1980 to 2006. The data set covers the corporatisation process, as well as the transfer of the service provision to the private sector. Three empirical findings stand out: first, the reform processes have differed widely from each other. Second, it's not just the transfer of ownership to the private sector that has ensured efficiency gains and increased consumer benefits; corporatisation has done this as well. Third, efficiency gains have been transferred to the consumer, especially at the beginning of the reform process. -- In der Nachkriegszeit wurden Telekommunikationsdienstleistungen in vielen westeuropäischen Ländern zumeist von Verwaltungseinheiten bereitgestellt. Mit dem Aufkommen des New Public Managements (NPMs) in den 1980er Jahren wurden diese Verwaltungseinheiten in öffentlich-rechtliche Unternehmen oder Aktiengesellschaften umgewandelt (=formelle Privatisierung) und anschließend stückweise an private Akteure übertragen (=materielle Privatisierung). Dieser Beitrag untersucht, ob die Konsumenten von diesen Privatisierungsmaßnahmen profitieren konnten. Zur Beantwortung dieser Frage wurde ein vollständig neuer Paneldatensatz zusammengestellt, mit dem die Privatisierung im Telekommunikationssektor für 15 europäische Länder von 1980 bis 2006 abgebildet werden kann. Der Datensatz umfasst erstmals sowohl formelle als auch materielle Privatisierungsschritte. Drei empirische Ergebnisse sind besonders hervorzuheben. Erstens, der Privatisierungsprozess unterscheidet sich teilweise erheblich zwischen den Ländern. Zweitens, die Konsumenten konnten nicht nur vom Verkauf von Unternehmensanteilen profitieren, sondern auch von formellen Privatisierungsmaßnahmen. Drittens, Effizienzgewinne wurden insbesondere am Anfang des Reformprozesses an die Konsumenten weitergegeben.

Canonical formalism for simplicial gravity

We summarise a recently introduced general canonical formulation of discrete systems which is fully equivalent to the covariant formalism. This framework can handle varying phase space dimensions and is applied to simplicial gravity in particular.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, based on a talk given at Loops '11 in Madrid, to appear in Journal of Physics: Conference Series (JPCS

Neural signals encoding shifts in beliefs

Dopamine is implicated in a diverse range of cognitive functions including cognitive flexibility, task switching, signalling novel or unexpected stimuli as well as advance information. There is also longstanding line of thought that links dopamine with belief formation and, crucially, aberrant belief formation in psychosis. Integrating these strands of evidence would suggest that dopamine plays a central role in belief updating and more specifically in encoding of meaningful information content in observations. The precise nature of this relationship has remained unclear. To directly address this question we developed a paradigm that allowed us to decompose two distinct types of information content, information-theoretic surprise that reflects the unexpectedness of an observation, and epistemic value that induces shifts in beliefs or, more formally, Bayesian surprise. Using functional magnetic-resonance imaging in humans we show that dopamine-rich midbrain regions encode shifts in beliefs whereas surprise is encoded in prefrontal regions, including the pre-supplementary motor area and dorsal cingulate cortex. By linking putative dopaminergic activity to belief updating these data provide a link to false belief formation that characterises hyperdopaminergic states associated with idiopathic and drug induced psychosis