Excess capacity,production technology and technical inefficiency in hospitality sector

This article examines the effects of excess capacity on the production cost and technical inefficiency of hotels and restaurants in Norway. The dataset includes a daily unbalanced panel of 94 hotels and restaurants from 2003 to 2014. To accommodate inefficiency, we use an input distance function (IDF). Inefficiency in the IDF means that if inputs are overused by k% then production cost is also increased by k%. We also allow inefficiency to differ across locations and regions by using them as determinants. The results indicate that excess capacity considerably affects the cost and increases inefficiency. The marginal effect on cost increases with excess capacity, but the effect on inefficiency sets in when it exceeds 50 percent. Furthermore, we find less overuse of inputs by firms in small metro towns and the Northern region causing them to be more efficient [except for the Southern and Western regions] than their counterparts.     

“西为中用·顺势利导”——生态雨水机埠 与合流制特点的老旧城区海绵改造

以常德市柏子园汇水片区为例，运用水力模型工 具，探讨在老城区现有末端生态雨水机埠情形下，通过优化设 置低影响开发(LID)设施和管网改造工程，从源头解决机埠合 流制溢流(CSO)污染的效果和可行性。根据棚户区较多、绿 地率少、土壤渗透性差、项目实施难度大等情况，进行项目方 案布置和LID措施选择；根据现状管网特征，进行近远期管网 改造方案和源头截流措施选择。采用典型年降雨数据进行连续 模拟，分析评估在老旧城区增设源头控制设施和中途管网改造 对既定末端机埠溢流水量及溢流频次的控制效果，并通过情景 方案比选，得出在现有土地使用条件下的最优海绵改造方案， 以期为类似合流制特点的区域提供参考和借鉴。     

A SWOT analysis of China's air cargo sector in the context of COVID-19 pandemic

This paper discusses the situation of China's air cargo sector facing the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on the expectation that it can go out of recession more easily than China's air passenger sector, this paper analyzes four aspects that are favorable and unfavorable for its further development: (1) strengths (China's sustainable economic basis and proliferating cargo suppliers), (2) weaknesses (insufficient cargo capacity and less business internationalization), (3) opportunities (top authority support, rising e-commerce demand, and new technological momentum), and (4) challenges (uncertain trade environment and increasing profitability pressure). Then this paper suggests strategies for China's air cargo suppliers to adapt to the pandemic.     

通识知识学习对学生就业能力培养的意义分析

日益激烈的人才竞争对学生的就业能力提出了新的、更高层次的要求,通识知识的学习是培养学生的人文素质和综合职业素质的重要途径和方法,本文通过对通识知识学习的深入分析,探讨了通识学习对于提高学生就业能力的影响和意义。     

城乡规划过程中实现可持续人居环境的探讨

本文首先介绍我国的城乡发展规划,具体阐述人居环境理念,继而基于人居环境理念,探讨如何实现城乡规划转型,同时按照我国可持续发展的基本要求,以住宅小区设计为例,探讨如何在城乡建筑设计的基础上创造经济、安全、和谐、宜居的人居环境。     

河北省着力改善两个环境面临的问题与对策建议

着力改善发展环境和生态环境具有十分重要的意义作用,目前河北省在着力改善两个环境的过程中存在一定的问题,需要采取措施积极解决。     

Convergence between satellite information and farmers’ perception of drought in rangelands of North-West Patagonia,Argentina

Drought is a complex natural hazard with social and environmental implications. Satellite information is increasingly used to support decision-makers in preventing or coping with the negative impacts of drought. The integration of local and scientific knowledge to support drought monitoring is still far from being the main procedure in the development of drought monitoring and early warning systems. This study aimed at assessing the degree of convergence between satellite information on the effect of droughts on rangeland vegetation, from time series analysis, and farmers’ perception of drought in North-West Patagonia, Argentina. We characterised the scientific evidence of drought in terms of duration, spatial distribution, most severe years and recovery for the period 2000–2018 by identifying inter-annual NDVI changes. Farmers’ perceptions and experiences of drought were studied with open-ending interviews, with respect to occurrence, duration and recovery for that period. Satellite information matched farmers’ perception of drought at a regional scale, emphasising the value of remote sensing tools in supporting regional policy decision-making. However, farmers’ perceptions and recall of past drought impacts were more diverse than satellite information at a local level, highlighting the need for knowledge integration at finer scales.     

Ecological Gentrification in Response to Apocalyptic Narratives of Climate Change: The Production of an Immuno-political Fantasy

Anxieties over the potential impacts of climate change, often framed in apocalyptic language, are having a profound, but little studied effect on the contemporary Western urbanscape. This article examines the ways in which current theorizations of ‘ecological gentrification’ express only half the process, describing how green space is used for social control, but not how ecology is used as a justification regime for such projects. As urbanites seek out housing and living practices that have a lower environmental impact, urban planners have responded by providing large-scale regeneration of the urbanscape. With the demand for this housing increasing, questions of inequality, displacement and dispossession arise. I ask whether apocalyptic anxiety is being enrolled in the justification regimes of these projects to make them hard to resist at the planning and implementation stages. The article shows that, in capitalizing on collective anxiety surrounding an apocalyptic future, these projects depoliticize subjects by using the empty signifier, ‘Sustainability’, leading them into an immuno-political relationship to the urbanscape. This leaves subjects feeling protected from both responsibility for, and the impacts of, climate change. Ultimately, this has the consequence of gentrification coupled with potentially worsening consumptive practices, rebound effects and the depoliticization of the environmentally conscious urbanite.     

A train of thought in product experientiality: Working memory,distraction, and inconsistencies in cue order effects

The sequence of informational cues and the level of distraction have an impact on the judgment of a product’s quality and preference. Two quasi-experimental studies (N_total = 340) investigate the influence of the force behind the processing of these cues – working memory (WM). Previous research found that, in the presence of a distractor, high WM individuals are more able to recall the initial cue, and thus derive their product judgment from the initial strong cue. Study 1 contradicts these findings and raises important methodological questions regarding the conceptualization of strong and weak cues. Specifically, commonly accepted strong cues (e.g., product reputation) might not influence consumers as expected. Additionally, in a sequence of product evaluation with high vs. low degree of experientiality, study 2 reveals that consumers tend to show a primacy effect that is stronger for higher levels of WM capacity. Moreover, in a sequence of assessing low vs. high degree of experientiality products, consumers reveal stronger recency effects, thus showing that WM reinforces this recency effect. Our findings have important implications for marketers by suggesting that consumers with high WMC are more able to process complex stimuli and retrieve previously presented information on a product quality. These consumers also have a higher tendency to retrieve more information from product scenarios with a high degree of experientiality.     

Expanding airport capacity of cities under uncertainty: Strategies to mitigate congestion

Airport capacity constraints are increasingly challenging the growth of air traffic. At the same time, decision-making about airport capacity investments is extremely complex, involving trade-offs. This paper’s objective is to optimise a privately owned airport system’s capacity investment decision in a city under demand uncertainty. Next to the investment size, our real options model incorporates the timing of the investment, as well as the cost of congestion. The results reveal that the larger a city’s initial airport capacity, the smaller its investment will relatively be and the lower the occupancy rate threshold at which investment will take place. We also show that, in case of a higher demand growth combined with more demand uncertainty, the city will benefit from a significantly larger investment, but made later at a higher occupancy rate. In this case, cities with a small initial capacity will sometimes even more than double current capacity. Higher airport charges and an increase in non-aeronautical revenues both lead to a later investment in more capacity, due to the increased project attractiveness. An increase in congestion costs results in a larger investment made earlier, in order to eliminate delays. Airport operational cost and capacity holding cost increases both lead to smaller investments.