1,368 research outputs found

    On the accuracy of GAIA radial velocities

    Get PDF
    We have obtained 782 real spectra and used them as inputs for 6700 automatic cross-correlation runs to the aim of investigating the radial velocity accuracy that GAIA could potentially achieve as function of spectral resolution and signal-to-noise ratio. We have explored the dispersions 0.25, 0.5, 1 and 2 Ang/pix (bracketing the 0.75 Ang/pix currently baselined for the 8490--8740 Ang GAIA range centered on the near-infrared CaII triplet) over S/N ranging from 10 to 110. We have carefully maintained the condition FWHM (PSF) = 2 pixels during the acquisition of the 782 input spectra, and therefore the resolutions that we have explored are 0.5, 1, 2 and 4 Ang corresponding to resolving powers R=17200, 8600, 4300 and 2150. We have investigated late-F to early-M stars (constituting the vast majority of GAIA targets), slowly rotating (V_{rot} sin i = 4 km/sec, as for field stars at these spectral types), of solar metallicity ( = -0.07) and not binary. The results are accurately described by the simple law: lg sigma = 0.6(lg S/N)^2 - 2.4(lg S/N) + 1.75(lg D) + 3, where sigma is the cross-correlation standard error (in km/sec) and D is the spectral dispersion (in Ang/pix). The spectral dispersion has turned out to be the dominant factor governing the accuracy of radial velocities, with S/N being less important and the spectral mis-match being a weak player. These results are relevant not only within the GAIA context but also to ground-based observers because the absence of telluric absorptions and proximity to the wavelengths of peak emission make the explored 8490--8740 Ang interval an interesting option for studies of cool stars with conventional telescopes.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures, 5 tables, in press in Baltic Astronom

    Hospitableness: driving Social Responsibility (SR) in hospitality businesses

    Get PDF
    This paper explores independent foodservice businesses' motivations for improving their SR, their implementation of socially responsible practices and the role hospitality plays in this. Investigating what motivates these foodservice businesses to adopt socially responsible practices is highly relevant for the industry (Brookes, et al., 2014; British Hospitality, 2017; Coles et al., 2013; Hawkins & Bohdanowicz, 2012; Sustainable Restaurant Association, 2013). It further supports a better understanding of what can encourage engagement with sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) across the whole hospitality industry (Lashley, 2016; Jones, et al., 2016; Farrington, et al., 2017; Cavagnaro, 2017). Interdisciplinary methodology and methods of research This research is inspired by a pluralistic understanding of CSR, as this is a broad, contested concept, adopted by a growing number of different members of society (Carroll, 1999; Carroll & Shabana, 2010; Dahlsrud, 2008); such approach recognises that CSR should be interpreted and adapted to various institutional environments, according to the actors' sets of values and ideologies (Aguinis & Glavas, 2012; Farrington, et al., 2017). Therefore, this specific research supports the use of the terminology social responsibility (SR) for small businesses, instead of CSR, in recognition of the key role played by the owner managers’ ethics and values in motivating small businesses’ engagement with CSR (Tomasella and Ali, 2016). Furthermore the study focuses on a specific business context, such as independent foodservice businesses in Britain: researching such context can highlight which specific personal and business values influence the understanding of SR among these small businesses. A qualitative methodology is a suitable research strategy for studying the phenomenon of SR in small businesses: with its flexibility, it allows to explore personal values and business values concurrently, to better understand the phenomenon of small business SR (Aguinis & Glavas, 2012; Lindgreen & Swaen, 2010; Spence, 2016). The related methods involve primary data collected through documents and semi-structured interviews of small businesses' owner-managers. The sample includes twenty-five small independent foodservice businesses, all operating within the same locality in the United Kingdom. The results revealed that the SR of these independent foodservice businesses is influenced by their hospitality business values, which are expression of the personal values of the business owner. The benevolent hospitableness of the owner is a form of self-actualisation and self-expression frequently found among small lifestyle hospitality and foodservice businesses (Lee-Ross & Lashley, 2010, p. 173; Lashley & Rowson, 2010; Ateljevic & Doorne, 2000; Lashley, et al., 2004; Carrigan, et al., 2017). The hospitality values of the owner influence the hospitableness of the business (Telfer, 2017; Wood, 2017), because the business owner of these lifestyle or family businesses prioritises personal hospitality values as motives in business, alongside profit motives. The hospitableness leads these small hospitality businesses to implement caring actions towards staff, clients and local 4th Presentation Session Room: DOG/1788 community; in the long term, the actions that are prioritised, are those contributing to increase branding and reputation of the business. Knowledge and local embeddedness also play a role in driving the long term implementation of SR actions, as it creates awareness about local issues, of economic, social or environmental nature. This confirms the importance of the context in which the small business operates in determining the nature of its SR practice. This research contributes to knowledge by identifying that the hospitableness of these businesses lifestyle and family businesses influences the implementation of SR actions. These businesses interpret hospitality as a social practice, inherently aimed at the fulfilment of human needs, therefore shaped by the values and needs of those involved in such exchange (Brotherton, 1999; Lashley, 2007; Lynch, et al., 2011; Wood, 2017). For these hospitality businesses, the hospitality SR practice is influenced by the cultural values and socio-economic factors of the people involved in the hospitality exchange. Therefore this work confirms that the nature of the corresponding small business hospitality SR practice overlaps with the concept of stakeholder theory (Freeman et al., 2010), because it is inherently oriented towards providing well-being to all the stakeholders engaged in the hospitality exchange (Lee-Ross & Lashley, 2010, p. 173; Lashley, 2016b)

    Spectroscopy and BVI photometry of the young open cluster NGC 6604

    Get PDF
    BVI photometry (from South Africa Astron. Obs.), Echelle high resolution spectroscopy and AFOSC integral field spectroscopy (from Asiago, Italy) of the young open cluster NGC 6604 are presented. Age, distance, reddening, membership, radial and rotational velocities are derived and discussed. An age of 5 million years, a distance of 1.7 kpc and a reddening E(B-V)=1.02 are found. The cluster radial velocity is in agreement with the Hron (1987) model for the Galaxy disk rotation. Pre-ZAMS objects are not present down to M_V = +1.5 mag.Comment: accepted in Astron.Astrophys.Suppl. Figure 2 is degraded in resolutio

    Sometimes I don’t have a pulse
 and I’m still alive! : Interviews with healthcare professionals to explore their experiences of and views on population-based digital health technologies

    Get PDF
    Open access via Sage agreement (waiting final approval) Funding: Global Health and Management - MSc Research Project Funding: The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This research was conducted as part of an MSc Research Project (Global Health and Management) and received ÂŁ500 research expenses bench fee (primary data collection). Acknowledgements: The primary author would like to thank Dr Heather May Morgan, main supervisor of the project, for the invaluable academic and professional support provided throughout all stages of this project. And Dr Iain Rowe and Dr Amy Arnold for their support during the initial stages of study design and launchPeer reviewedPublisher PD
    • 

    corecore