Estimating the economic value of Mount Buffalo National Park with the travel cost and contingent valuation models

The Mount Buffalo National Park is the oldest national park in Victoria, Australia. There has been a rapid increase in the number of visitors to the park during the last decade and park management has been a concern, especially in the light of declining budgetary allocations and potential damage due to the increased visitor numbers. Policy options to increase park revenue remain unclear because of a lack of information on demand parameters and user costs. This study estimates the economic value of the park using the travel cost method (TCM) and the contingent valuation method (CVM). The TCM gives higher consumer surplus (CS) than the CVM. The CS shows that the economic value of the park is high and that there are opportunities to introduce innovative fee schemes to enhance its revenue. Present entry fee systems do not capture the economic value of the park.

If the price is right : vagueness and values clarification in contingent valuation

The use of willingness to pay to value the benefits of health care is increasing. Much of this work assumes that health preferences are well formed or complete and readily revealed if the right question is asked in the right way. We examined this assumption, seeking evidence in a mixed-methods study that explored the meaning and implications of vague responses to a payment-scale based willingness to pay exercise.

One-half of the sample said that their vagueness meant that their maximum willingness to pay was actually greater than the amount that they had previously said it was. Thirty percent agreed that they would probably pay £10 more than a sum that they had previously said they would most definitely not pay, if they found this to be the cost of the vaccine. Interview data supported the view that the payment scale had failed to elicit the maximum willingness to pay and that some participants used the information on cost to help clarify their values, in contrast to the theory underpinning willingness to pay. The results suggest a need to consider values-clarification in health economic evaluations. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Contingent valuation in health care and the persistence of embedding effects without the warm glow

This paper reports a test of the presence of embedding effects in a health care contingent valuation study. A within-subject, mixed qualitative–quantitative approach was used to identify and explain the presence of embedding in estimates of willingness to pay for vaccinations. Embedding effects persisted despite controlling for known causes and did so even among respondents who perceived the effect to be anomalous. Results from the qualitative interviews suggest that embedding effects arise for varied reasons but might be indicative of incomplete preferences. It is questionable, however, whether survey techniques can be better designed to encourage values clarification.

Research methodologies for planning ecotourism and nature conservation

Ecotourism is an important niche market in the world tourism industry. It is becoming increasingly popular as an alternative to mass tourism. The emergence of ecotourism was facilitated by the environmental damage associated with mass tourism. Ecotourism is defined in many ways and there is no consensus as to its exact meaning. However, a number of salient elements, such as environmental conservation, maintenance of biodiversity, a satisfying experience for the visitors, study and appreciation of nature and sustainable community development, are included in many definitions. Tourism creates negative environmental externalities in the form of environmental damage. Such adverse effects can have serious implications for the tourism industry because they damage the very natural resource that forms the raw material for ecotourism. Ecotourism ventures should thus be properly planned and implemented and carefully monitored. Proper planning of ecotourism is hampered by the paucity of relevant qualitative and quantitative information. The use of analytical tools such as the Contingent Valuation Method, carrying capacity, decision analysis techniques with which multiobjective and uncertain consequences can be analysed, and other management strategies, such as the Safe Minimum Standard, can be useful in enabling better planning of ecotourism. Ecotourism can thus enhance the opportunities for better management of natural resources while providing a satisfying experience for the visitor.

Nursing handover : it's time for a change

Nursing handover is a common part of nursing practice that is fundamental to safe patient care. Despite this, the literature provides little direction on the best way to conduct handover. This project aimed to examine nurses' perceptions of handover and to determine the strengths and limitations of the handover process. A staff survey was distributed to nurses in all inpatient wards at a metropolitan tertiary hospital. A total of 176 nurses responded to the staff survey. The findings revealed conflicting opinions about the effectiveness of the handover process; although a number of nurses were positive about current handover practice, indicating they were provided with sufficient information about patients and given opportunity to clarify patient care information, other nurses identified aspects of handover that could be improved. These included: the subjectivity of handover information, the time taken to conduct handover, repetition of information that could be found in the patients' care plans, and handing over of information by a nurse who has not cared for the patient. Some attention needs to given to addressing the perceived weaknesses associated with the handover process.

Threshold dynamic time warping for spatial activity recognition

Non-invasive spatial activity recognition is a difficult task, complicated by variation in how the same activities are conducted and furthermore by noise introduced by video tracking procedures. In this paper we propose an algorithm based on dynamic time warping (DTW) as a viable method with which to quantify segmented spatial activity sequences from a video tracking system. DTW is a widely used technique for optimally aligning or warping temporal sequences through minimisation of the distance between their components. The proposed algorithm threshold DTW (TDTW) is capable of accurate spatial sequence distance quantification and is shown using a three class spatial data set to be more robust and accurate than DTW and the discrete hidden markov model (HMM). We also evaluate the application of a band dynamic programming (DP) constraint to TDTW in order to reduce extraneous warping between sequences and to reduce the computation complexity of the approach. Results show that application of a band DP constraint to TDTW improves runtime performance significantly, whilst still maintaining a high precision and recall.

Reducing youth screen time: Qualitative metasynthesis of findings on barriers and facilitators.

An integrated perspective on the relevant qualitative findings on the experience of screen time in youth can inform the development of hypotheses to be tested in future research and can guide the development of interventions to decrease sedentary behavior. The purpose of this qualitative metasynthesis was to explore parent, youth, and educational professionals' perceptions of barriers to, and facilitators of, reducing youth screen time.

Biomechanical studies: science (f)or common sense?

 Introduction: It is our impression that many biomechanical studies invest substantial resources studying the obvious: that more and larger metal is stronger. The purpose of this study is to evaluate if a subset of biomechanical studies comparing fixation constructs just document common sense. Methods: Using a web-based survey, 274 orthopaedic surgeons and 81 medical students predicted the results of 11 biomechanical studies comparing fracture fixation constructs (selected based on the authors' sense that the answer was obvious prior to performing the study). Sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy were calculated according to standard formulas. The agreement among the observers was calculated by using a multirater kappa, described by Siegel and Castellan. Results: The accuracy of predicting outcomes was 80% or greater for 10 of 11 studies. Accuracy was not influenced by level of experience (i.e., time in practice and medical students vs. surgeons). There were substantial differences in accuracy between observers from different regions. The overall categorical rating of inter-observer reliability according to Landis and Koch was moderate (k = 0.55; standard error (SE) = 0.01). Conclusion: The results of a subset of biomechanical studies comparing fracture fixation constructs can be predicted prior to doing the study. As these studies are time and resource intensive, one criterion for proceeding with a biomechanical study should be that the answer is not simply a matter of common sense. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Price divergence from fundamental value and the value relevance of accounting information

By employing two alternative measures of fundamental value, we reexamine the value relevance of accounting information over time. Consistent with some recent studies, we do not find evidence on the temporal decline in R 2s of conventional value-relevance regressions when the stock price is replaced by these measures as the dependent variable. Further, our results show that the divergence between fundamental value and the prevailing stock price (a) increases over time and (b) is associated with measures of noise trading and other arbitrage risks and costs. Additional analyses also reveal that proxies measuring the extent of noise trading increase over time. Overall, we do not find evidence that there is a loss over time in the value relevance of accounting information with respect to fundamental value. More importantly, we show that measures of price divergence are associated with noise trading as well as other arbitrage costs and risks (such as transaction costs and information uncertainty) that prohibit market prices from converging to fundamental values.

Family structure and children's television viewing and physical activity

Objectives: This study aimed to examine how physical activity (PA) and television (TV) viewing time of children varied according to family structure.

Methods: In 2001, 5- to 6-yr-old (N = 296) and 10- to 12-yr-old (N = 919) children and their parents were recruited from 19 state elementary schools in Melbourne, Australia. Children's PA was objectively assessed using accelerometers worn for 8 d. Sociodemographic and family structure information and time spent watching TV was collected via questionnaire completed by parents.

Results: ANCOVA revealed that, after controlling for socioeconomic status and age of child, boys without any siblings spent more minutes per day watching TV (153.2 +/- 71.3) compared with those who have siblings (129.0 +/- 64.4, P < 0.05). There were also significant differences in TV viewing time between boys with one sibling (125.5 +/- 59.9), two siblings (141.9 +/- 70.1), or three or more siblings (111.6 +/- 62.6, P < 0.001). Girls from single-parent families (145.7 +/- 85.1) spent significantly more minutes per day watching TV compared with girls from two-parent families (125.1 +/- 67.7, P < 0.05). Girls with siblings spent more minutes per day in PA (148.3 +/- 67.7) compared with those who were an only child (131.0 +/- 58.9, P < 0.05). There were significant interactions between parental status and having a sibling, with PA, and also with TV viewing for girls and between parental status and having a brother with PA for boys. There were also significant interactions between having an older sibling and child's sex with PA and between number of siblings and sex with TV viewing.

Conclusions: Family structure may be an important source of influence on children's PA and TV viewing time. Aspects of family structure interact differently with PA and TV viewing, suggesting interventions may need to be tailored with consideration of the family structure of children.

The decomposition of housing market variations : a panel data approach

Purpose – This paper develops a new decomposition method of the housing market variations to analyse the housing dynamics of the Australian eight capital cities.
Design/methodology/approach – This study reviews the prior research on analysing the housing market variations and classifies the previous methods into four main models. Based on this, the study develops a new decomposition of the variations, which is made up of regional information, homemarket information and time information. The panel data regression method, unit root test and F test are adopted to construct the model and interpret the housing market variations of the Australian capital cities.
Findings – This paper suggests that the Australian home-market information has the same elasticity to the housing market variations across cities and time. In contrast, the elasticities of the regional information are distinguished. However, similarities exit in the west and north of Australia or the south and east of Australia. The time information contributes differently along the observing period, although the similarities are found in certain periods.
Originality/value – This paper introduces the housing market variation decomposition into the research of housing market variations and develops a model based on the new method of the housing market variation decomposition.

A point-based representation for intervals

Information about time or space is often expressed in terms of points or intervals, and the relations between points and intervals. The interval based representations fall into two distinct classes based on: (i) closure and (ii) minimal representation of the domain. The advantage of closure based representation is the minimal search time at the expense of time to construct the representation, and the storage requirement. Minimal representation optimises storage required, at the expense of construction and search time. Intervals can be represented in terms of their end points. The information about points can be effectively represented using the closure approach but intervals cannot be represented with their endpoints using a point algebra system.

This paper proposes a point based system of representation for interval relations that does not perform closure. Point information is represented in terms of the known relationships between points. The costs of such a representation lies between the expense of closure and minimisation. The time taken for search and construction is better than for minimisation but not as good as for closure. Respectively, the space used is better than for closure but not as good as for minimisation

Antecedents and consequences of service quality in a higher education context : A qualitative research approach

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to report on the perception of students in regard to critical antecedents, dimensions and consequences of service quality with an aim to develop a theoretical model in the context of a university in Australia.

Design/methodology/approach – This research used focus group discussions with 19 students who had been studying in undergraduate and postgraduate level programs at an Australian university.

Findings – The findings show that the critical antecedents to perceived service quality are information and past experience. There are three aspects of perceived service quality, namely, academic, administrative and facilities. Student satisfaction and student trust are found to have direct and positive relationships with perceived service quality as consequences; and brand performance and behavioural intention are found to have indirect relationships with perceived service quality mediated through satisfaction and trust.

Originality/value – This paper found three separate themes and their relationships with service quality in the context of a university. These themes are: information, past experience and brand performance. Perceived service quality was found playing an important role in this theoretical model. The model provides a good explanation of university brand performance and students' behavioural intentions.

Evaluation of community participation for the development of culture-based fisheries in village reservoirs of Sri Lanka

In this paper, an attempt is made to identify the socioeconomic characteristics of a community that influence the development and management of culture-based fisheries in village reservoirs of Sri Lanka. Socioeconomic data were collected from 46 agricultural farming communities associated with 47 village reservoirs in Sri Lanka. Principal component analysis indicated that scores of the first principal component were positively influenced by socioeconomic characteristics that are favorable for making collective decisions. These included leadership of the officers, age of the group, percentage of active members of the group, percentage of kinship of the group, percentage of common interest of the group, and percentage of participation of the group. The size of the group had a negative effect on the first principal component. The principal component scores of communities were positively related to willingness to pay (P < 0.001). The communities with socioeconomic characteristics favoring collective decision making were in favor of culture-based fisheries. Homogeneity of group characteristics facilitated successful development of culture-based fisheries.

The crack up

This work explored the potential for virtual, CG characters, 3D stereoscopic imagery and providing contextual imagery and text via smart device during a live performance to re-frame contemporary dance practices within a digital visual environment. The work explored the aesthetic and creative affordances of this approach. Live dancers and virtual performers were set against 3D projected landscapes demonstrating the potential of hybrid live/virtual performance. A ground-breaking interactive app enhanced the performance experience with real-time virtual landscapes. The work formed a major outcome of Discovery Project DP120101695 Building innovative capacity in Australian dance through new visualisation technologies.