Report on Expert Interviews

This short report represents a summary of the analysis conducted so far on the GfK Panel Data. The focus was on the main three types of raw meat: chicken, pork, beef, as well as three categories of processed food products: liver paste, cold cuts and sausages. The aim was to look at the market indicators for each one of the six sub-categories, out of which market share and penetration were considered to be the most important. Besides these two indicators, I also included some extra calculations for each category, which can be analysed further and more in-depth if needed. One of the desired outcomes of the analyses was to identify companies and brands that were successful in each sub-category. Unfortunately, due to the generally low market shares of the organic products, the number of options was limited. Beef and pork were two categories where no brands were registered in the original product and sales Files. In the chicken category there was only one brand registered between 2006 and 2010, however, the market shares were extremely low for this category. There were only one or two households buying organic chicken products. The processed meat sub-categories both had a few companies registered. However, the diversity isn’t large. Still, it is good to notice that in the three sub-categories there were two companies that were most present: Farre Food and Hanegal. Market shares were generally low for all six sub-categories. Organic beef, pork and liver paste were the only categories to reach market shares of over 1%, while organic chicken had the lowest market shares of all. The trends were generally fluctuating over time. The highest market shares for liver paste, pork, chicken and beef were registered in 2007. All these four categories had much lower market shares in 2009, but it is interesting to notice that in the same year, organic cold cuts and sausages registered the highest market shares. Except for chicken, all market shares dropped in 2010 compared to 2009. Penetration levels had a clear descending trend for organic beef and liver paste, whereas for the other subcategories the levels fluctuated. Organic chicken and sausage generally had an ascending trend, while organic pork and cold cuts usually had descending trends in penetration levels. The highest penetration rates were registered in 2006 for liver paste, beef and cold cuts and in 2008 for sausages, chicken and pork. Out of all the six sub-categories that were analysed, organic beef has had the highest market shares and highest penetration rates, even though the figures were lower and lower every year. Regarding the average price paid/100 gr of meat products, we notice that in the organic category there is more fluctuation than in the conventional category, meaning that the price of organic products varies more between years. According to the analysis, the price difference between the organic and the conventional options in a sub-category is clearly notices in the processed meat category, but it is not as well defined for chicken, pork and beef. There are some limitations regarding the analysis of the panel data. On the one hand, these are due to the fact that there are some incompatibilities between the product file and the sales file regarding the identification of products as being organic or not. On the other hand, some of the products were registered as “unknown”, meaning that they are neither analysed as being organic, nor as being conventional, but as being a separate category. It is considered however that due to the fact that the results of the analysis are so small, the correction of these errors would not change the numbers significantly

Vulnerability reduction of infrastructure reconstruction projects

Various infrastructure segments of numerous countries have been repeatedly subjected to natural and man-made disasters. The potential reason of damaging infrastructure facilities and their services is resultant disaster risks due to natural or man-made hazards connect with vulnerable infrastructure facilities and vulnerable communities. The simplest way to prevent or mitigate disaster losses is addressing vulnerabilities. The main study based on which this paper was compiled aimed at exploring and investigating the vulnerabilities of infrastructures and communities benefited from infrastructures and possible solutions to overcome them. This paper presents the literature review conducted on vulnerabilities of infrastructures and empirical evidence collated on best possible DRR strategies to overcome such vulnerabilities of infrastructures. The main study was conducted using case study strategy and the expert interviews. This paper is entirely based on the data collated from the expert interviews conducted in Sri Lanka and United Kingdom. The expert interviews discovered various DRR strategies to overcome the vulnerabilities of the infrastructure project

Identifying higher capability maturity KPAs of construction organisations; Model refinement through expert interviews

Process improvement has been identified as a mechanism of achieving the much needed performance improvements within the construction industry. Despite the concerns of being an industry with unique characteristics, construction has borrowed some process improvement principles from other industries such as software. However, while process capability maturity has been identified as an important aspect of process improvements in many disciplines construction shows a clear research gap in that area. Among the few capability maturity based process improvement initiatives within the construction industry, there is a clear necessity to investigate what are the higher capability maturity level dynamics of construction process improvements. Addressing this requirement, this paper discusses a model to identify construction higher capability maturity

Assessing the Reliability and Validity of Expert Interviews

Testing the reliability of experts should be a key element of expert interviews. Using the Condorcet Jury Theorem, it is shown that expert reliability can provide an indication of the validity of expert-opinion data. The theoretical framework is applied to expert-interview data collected in the Domestic Structures and European Integration (DOSEI) project. Special attention is paid to the role of ‘leading’ experts and salient issues. Evaluating the DOSEI data, the main findings are that (i) with some exceptions, there are acceptable levels of inter-expert agreement, (ii) whether the leading expert is included or not does not make a large difference to expert agreement, and (iii) experts are more in agreement on salient issues

Failure factors of AI projects: results from expert interviews

In the last few years, business firms have substantially invested into the artificial intelligence (AI) technology. However, according to several studies, a significant percentage of AI projects fail or do not deliver business value. Due to the specific characteristics of AI projects, the existing body of knowledge about success and failure of information systems (IS) projects in general may not be transferrable to the context of AI. Therefore, the objective of our research has been to identify factors that can lead to AI project failure. Based on interviews with AI experts, this article identifies and discusses 12 factors that can lead to project failure. The factors can be further classified into five categories: unrealistic expectations, use case related issues, organizational constraints, lack of key resources, and, technological issues. This research contributes to knowledge by providing new empirical data and synthesizing the results with related findings from prior studies. Our results have important managerial implications for firms that aim to adopt AI by helping the organizations to anticipate and actively manage risks in order to increase the chances of project success

Failure factors of AI projects: results from expert interviews

In the last few years, business firms have substantially invested into the artificial intelligence (AI) technology. However, according to several studies, a significant percentage of AI projects fail or do not deliver business value. Due to the specific characteristics of AI projects, the existing body of knowledge about success and failure of information systems (IS) projects in general may not be transferrable to the context of AI. Therefore, the objective of our research has been to identify factors that can lead to AI project failure. Based on interviews with AI experts, this article identifies and discusses 12 factors that can lead to project failure. The factors can be further classified into five categories: unrealistic expectations, use case related issues, organizational constraints, lack of key resources, and technological issues. This research contributes to knowledge by providing new empirical data and synthesizing the results with related findings from prior studies. Our results have important managerial implications for firms that aim to adopt AI by helping the organizations to anticipate and actively manage risks in order to increase the chances of project success

Different perceptions of adaptation to climate change: a mental model approach applied to the evidence from expert interviews

We argue that differences in the perception and governance of adaptation to climate change and extreme weather events are related to sets of beliefs and concepts through which people understand the environment and which are used to solve the problems they face (mental models). Using data gathered in 31 in-depth interviews with adaptation experts in Europe, we identify five basic stakeholder groups whose divergent aims and logic can be related to different mental models they use: advocacy groups, administration, politicians, researchers, and media and the public. Each of these groups uses specific interpretations of climate change and specifies how to deal with climate change impacts. We suggest that a deeper understanding and follow-up of the identified mental models might be useful for the design of any stakeholder involvement in future climate impact research processes. It might also foster consensus building about adequate adaptation measures against climate threats in a society

Relief for Psychiatric Patients in Malaysia: Results from expert interviews

This study aims to 1) identify and describe agencies’ role in helping psychiatric patients and 2) evaluate whether there is a synergy in building a concrete framework for the patients. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight mental health experts. The data were transcribed, and thematic analysis was performed using NVivo software. Findings revealed that empowering the patients was one of the strategies to assist them. Nevertheless, the multisectoral collaboration did not translate well within the aid networks despite the efforts by the government agencies to bridge their services to the patients. Keywords: Psychiatric Care, Aid Agencies, Integration Strategy, Collaboration Networks eISSN: 2398-4287 © 2022. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., U.K. This is an open-access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer-review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians/Africans/Arabians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/ebpj.v7i20.344

Defining acoustical heritage: A qualitative approach based on expert interviews

The interdisciplinary study of acoustics/sound and heritage occurs in different countries and cultures, but there is no uniform consensus on the terminology and definitions of the field. This study aims to explore the definition of acoustical heritage. The study used structured interviews with experts from different cultures and different disciplines and analyzed the interview data in detail through thematic analysis. The five themes are: different terminology, subjects in acoustical heritage, possible categories of acoustical heritage, value of acoustical heritage, and challenges of acoustical heritage preservation. Based on individual definitions of acoustical heritage proposed by experts and through detailed analysis and discussion, this paper proposes a multidimensional definition of acoustical heritage