The contribution of fMRI in the study of visual categorization and expertise

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The cognitive neuroscience of visual working memory

Visual working memory allows us to temporarily maintain and manipulate visual information in order to solve a task. The study of the brain mechanisms underlying this function began more than half a century ago, with Scoville and Milner’s (1957) seminal discoveries with amnesic patients. This timely collection of papers brings together diverse perspectives on the cognitive neuroscience of visual working memory from multiple fields that have traditionally been fairly disjointed: human neuroimaging, electrophysiological, behavioural and animal lesion studies, investigating both the developing and the adult brain

Evaluation of the London City Strategy ESOL Pilot: final report (Research Report No 744)

A report of research carried out by Institute for Employment Studies on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions This report presents findings from research carried out by the Institute for Employment Studies as part of the evaluation of the London City Strategy Pathfinder English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Pilot. The research was commissioned by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). The two-year ESOL Pilot was designed to demonstrate how work-focused ESOL training provision can support access to sustainable employment for people who speak English as an additional language: the main target group was parents with ESOL needs who were in receipt of benefits or tax credits. The ESOL Pilot was located within the London City Strategy Pathfinder (CSP) areas of East and Southeast London and West London, which face typical inner-city problems of social deprivation and worklessness. They are also areas with large, well-established Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) communities with disproportionately high rates of unemployment. One of the main aims of the ESOL Pilot was, therefore, to address some of the key barriers to employment faced by members of these communities. This study took a primarily qualitative approach, consisting of an inception phase, followed by two waves of qualitative interviews with participants, provider staff and other stakeholders. In total, there were 175 interviews conducted during the course of the research: 104 with participants, 61 with providers and their partners and ten with stakeholders

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Evaluation: Diffusing CRM Benefits into Business Processes

Although CRM is one of the fastest growing management approaches being adopted across many organizations and particularly tourism and hospitality firms, the deployment of CRM applications has not always delivered the expected results while many CRM initiatives have failed. Consequently, the inability of CRM applications to deliver expected benefits has not only intensified the validity of previous findings and claims regarding the ICT productivity paradox, but it has also boosted current research. However, although the latter provides anecdotal evidence of the impact of ICT management practices on CRM effectiveness, there is a lack of empirical studies examining the relationship between CRM management and performance aspects. This study aims to fill in this gap by investigating the relation between firms’ CRM applications and exploitation with their ICT management practices and CRM benefits. The investigation and validation of the former are valuable, since it would enable managers to maximize CRM benefits by identifying and allocating the appropriate resources, time and efforts to CRM implementation. Relations are tested by gathering data from Greek tourism and hospitality companies. Findings provide useful practical suggestions for CRM evaluation and implementation strategies, while implications for future research are analyzed

e-Customer Relationship Management in the hotel sector: Guests\u27 perceptions of perceived e-service quality levels

The notion of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) has been shown to be a worthwhile strategy in many service industries. This coupled with Internet advances means that it is now possible and even beneficial to extend CRM practices on the Internet (eCRM) and integrate them with the offline CRM programme. eCRM has can boost guests\u27 satisfaction and patronage in the hospitality industry, as Internet business models have empowered guests with a great amount of information which, in turn, makes them more price sensitive, less brand loyal and more sophisticated. However, although research has concentrated so far on CRM and eCRM implementation and its operational requirements, CRM implications from the customer perspective have been ignored. This paper aims to fill in this gap by examining the impact of eCRM on guests\u27 perceptions of service quality on the Internet (e-service quality). It is advocated that eCRM enhances e-service quality by allowing guests to participate in service processes (e.g. service production, delivery, design) and so improving guests\u27 cognitive and emotional evaluations of service quality performances. Research propositions were tested by applying Critical Incident Analysis and conducting in-depth interviews with nine international hotel guests using eCRM. In general, findings mainly stressed the need to integrate eCRM with off line hotel strategies and operations providing several guidelines for further development and improvement of eCRM hotel practices. Future directions of research are also proposed

Geocollaborative Portals And Trip Planning: Users’ Perceptions Of The Success Of The Collaborative Decision Making Processes

As more and more travelers wish to create their personalised trip itineraries, the provision of geographical information and services on travel websites is an unavoidable necessity. The evolution of geoportals, geocollaborative portals and web 2.0 present numerous opportunities and services for making the trip planning process less complex and time consuming, more efficient and more social and collaborative for travelers and their travel companions. This paper aimed at exploring the use and impact of geocollaborative portals on the success of collaborative trip planning processes. To that end, the literature was reviewed for analyzing the functionality of geoportals and geocollaborative portals and demonstrating how these can support and facilitate the collaborative decision making processes for trip planning purposes. A framework for measuring the impacts of geoportals’ use on travellers’ collaborative decision making processes was developed and tested by collecting primary data through an experimental study based on students’ perceptions using Yahoo! Trip Planner for planning a group trip. The paper provides useful practical guidelines for designing the functionality of geoportals and/or geocollaborative portals for trip planning purposes

Unravelling the Impact of Information Communication Technology (ICT) on Restaurant Productivity

Despite the continuous increase of investment in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), research has not persuasively established corresponding productivity increases. In contrast, many studies investigating the ICT impact have found no significant relationships between productivity and ICT. However, several shortcomings have been identified in past studies, e.g. measurement errors, redistribution of impacts and mismanagement of ICT. This study proposes a methodology for assessing the ICT productivity impact that overcomes these shortcomings. The methodology is tested in a dataset of hotel restaurants in the UK by using a non-parametric technique called Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). Findings revealed that productivity gains do not accrue from ICT investments per se, but from the exploitation of ICT “informate” and networking capabilities. Suggestions for enhancing the productivity impact of ICT are provided

United States Air Force Applications of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS): A Delphi Study to Examine Current and Future UAS Autonomous Mission Capabilities

As UAS technology continues to grow and enable increased autonomous capabilities, acquisition and operational decision makers must determine paths to pursue for existing and emerging mission areas. The DoD has published a number of 25-year unmanned systems integration roadmaps (USIR) to describe future capabilities and challenges. However, these roadmaps have lacked distinguishable stakeholder perspectives. Following the USIRs concept, this research focused on UAS autonomy through the lens of UAS subject matter experts (SMEs). We used the Delphi method with SMEs from USAF communities performing day-to-day operations, acquisitions, and research in UAS domains to forecast mission capabilities over the next 20 years; specifically, within the context of increased UAS autonomous capabilities. Through two rounds of questions, the study provided insight to the capabilities SMEs viewed as most important and likely to be incorporated as well as how different stakeholders view the many challenges and opportunities autonomy present for future missions