The Politics of Property in Planning: Hezbollah's Reconstruction of Haret Hreik (Beirut,Lebanon) as Case Study

This research looks at post‐2006‐war reconstruction of the southern suburbs of Beirut under the auspices of Hezbollah (the Islamic resistance movement in Lebanon). The project was widely acclaimed as an alternative to current neoliberal planning practices in the Middle East and beyond. Based on a critical reading of the conception of property issues in this planning project, the article argues that this reconstruction presents a new geometry or alternative to the mainstream configuration of neoliberal urbanism, rather than a departure from its precepts. The reason for this is that the adopted language of property corresponds closely with the conception of property advocated by neoliberal planning, one that enshrines private, individual ownership as sacred and desirable and that works to strengthen its model in the city. I further argue that the ‘neoliberal planning regime’ within which Hezbollah's urban intervention occurs is not accidental; rather, it is necessary for the party's control of this space's future and for consolidating its territory in the city. It is hence expected that Hezbollah's planning in the city will produce the same decried effects as neoliberal planning elsewhere in the city rather than usher an innovative, progressive model of planning.     

Revisiting Attributes: How Important Is Green in the Consumer Selection of Hotel Rooms?

Consumers’ buying behavior is not always consistent with their positive attitude, particularly toward environmentally friendly products. In a survey of 197 travelers, the relative importance consumers ascribe to the attribute of green was assessed. Through a multi-methods study involving interviews, focus groups discussions, and forced-choice experiments that simulate market buying situation, it was found that consumers’ selection of hotel rooms is still much dictated by traditional choice factors. Through a conjoint analysis, it was found that consumers highly prioritized the price attribute. The green attribute was assigned a low relative importance of 4% among the respondents. Managerial and theoretical implications are discussed.     

Assessing recreation carrying capacity of the environment attributes based on visitors’ willingness to pay

Recreation carrying capacity (RCC) is one of the most important indictors used in measuring the usage limits for the forest park resources. However, the consensus has not been reached with respect to the RCC’s content and its measuring metrics. In this paper, we attempt to establish a new RCC theoretical framework based on the demand theory of the tourism product characteristics. In the process, the choice experiment and orthogonal design methods are used in questionnaire designs and the conditional Logit model is used for parameter estimates. More than 700 park visitors are surveyed for data collection at the Shenyang National Forest park of Liaoning province in China. The primary park attributes being considered encompass vegetation, coverage, water quality, number of rubbish on the park trail path, admission fees, and congestion. The carrying capacity threshold for each specific attribute is identified.     

Analysis of congress destinations' competitiveness using importance performance competitor analysis

To be competitive and successful in congress tourism, destinations must learn which congress tourism-related attributes are important and how they perform against their main competitors. This study identifies the importance and performance of destination attributes in Antalya, Turkey, and compares the position of these attributes to those of its main rival in congress tourism, ?stanbul. Importance performance competitor analysis results show that, according to domestic participants, Antalya has to focus on “sight-seeing and cultural attractions” and “outside entertainment.” For international participants, “climate,” “choice of meeting and housing properties,” and “suitability of conference facilities” exhibit higher performance in Antalya than ?stanbul.     

Effects of time pressure,type of shopping,and store attributes on consumers’ satisfaction with grocery shopping

The aim of this study is to investigate whether satisfaction with grocery stores is affected by type of grocery shopping in conjunction with time pressure, and which attributes are important for satisfaction. Fictitious grocery stores are constructed according to a fractional factorial design by varying access, price level, supply quality/range, and service quality. In an Internet survey, 1023 Swedish consumers rated satisfaction with major vs. fill-in shopping imagining they were under high or low time pressure. The results showed that satisfaction is higher for fill-in shopping than major shopping, that time pressure has no effect on satisfaction, and that price level, service quality, and product quality/range are more important for satisfaction with major shopping, whereas access is more important for satisfaction with fill-in shopping. It is also found that the importance of attributes for satisfaction depends on type of shopping more than on individual characteristics.     

The first space hotel employees: Human resources challenges in a post-terrestrial paradigm

ABSTRACT

This article discusses some of the issues regarding the first employees to work in a space hotel. As space hotels initially will be vastly different to existing hotels on Earth, it is important to question what human resource challenges this will raise for hospitality workers and providers. To assist reflection on this issue, the notions of space tourism and space tourist are explored, and a definition of a space hotel is included to create product and service boundaries. Plausible futures methodology is used to create five main human resource considerations and concludes by suggesting this sector is largely unexplored.     

Modelling property values in Nigeria using artificial neural network

Unreliable and inaccurate property valuation has been associated with techniques currently used in property valuation. A possible explanation for these findings may be due to the utilisation of traditional valuation methods. In the current study, an artificial neural network (ANN) is applied in property valuation using the Lagos metropolis property market as a representative case. Property sales transactions data (11 property attributes and property value) were collected from registered real estate firms operating in Lagos, Nigeria. The result shows that the ANN model possesses a good predictive ability, implying that it is suitable and reliable for property valuation. The relative importance analysis conducted on the property attributes revealed that the number of servants’ quarters is the most important attribute affecting property values. The findings suggest that the ANN model could be used as a tool by real estate stakeholders, especially valuers and researchers for property valuation.     

以素质教育为目标构建高职实践育人体系

素质教育是现代职业教育体系的重要目标。这一目标的实现要依赖于与之相适应的成熟的实践育人体系建设。实践育人作为育人工作理念,在高职院校人才培养过程中其体系的构建应更多地联系高职院校的育人实际,科学地设定目标、选择路径、建立机制,更高效地实现高等职业院校的高技能人才培养目标。     

The influence of top management team traits on corporate financial performance in the US

This article aims to study the effect of human capital on the financial performance of the most admired American firms. Human capital is measured in terms of the demographic attributes and the diversity of top managers. The use of panel linear multiple regressions reveals that the most successful firms are characterized by coherent and homogeneous top management teams with moderate tenure and excellent wages. Moreover, the heterogeneity of managers is recommended for fairly young top management teams and for larger firms operating in a turbulent environment. Copyright © 2014 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The antecedents of memorable tourism experiences: The development of a scale to measure the destination attributes associated with memorable experiences

Providing visitors with memorable tourism experiences (MTEs) is important for achieving success in the highly competitive tourism marketplace. To support destination managers, this paper developed a scale instrument that conceptualizes the attributes of destinations associated with MTEs. Following a rigorous scale development procedure, this study identified a 10-dimensional construct that affects MTEs. The data support this dimensional structure of the attributes of destinations affecting MTEs and the internal consistency and the validity (i.e., content, construct, convergent, and discriminant) of the scale. The theoretical and managerial implications of the study's results are discussed.