Livestock vaccine adoption among poor farmers in Bolivia: Remembering innovation diffusion theory

The paper explores the low uptake of livestock vaccination among poor farming communities in Bolivia utilising core elements of the original innovation diffusion theory. Contrary to the recent literature, we found that vaccination behaviour was strongly Linked to social and cultural, rather than economic, drivers. While membership in a group increased uptake, the 'hot' and 'cold' distinctions which dictate health versus illness within Andean cosmology also played a role, with vaccination viewed as a means of addressing underlying imbalances. We concluded that uptake of livestock vaccination was unlikely to improve without knowledge transfer that acknowledges local. epistemologies for Livestock disease. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The potential for high performance design adoption in retail property portfolios

Growing legislative pressures and increasing stakeholder awareness of environmental issues are pushing the property market to consider high-performance, low-impact retail buildings. The office sector is relatively advanced in its apparent appreciation of such buildings; however, the retail sector is slow to recognize these benefits. In exploring the business case for high-performance design adoption in the retail sector, this paper examines the overlaps between office and retail sector benefits and considers the potential benefits peculiar to retailers. Barriers to high-performance design adoption are then addressed through case research, interviews with key representatives from the retail property market and a questionnaire survey of FTSE listed retail company property departments. The paper concludes that information gaps are a significant hindrance to high-performance property development and that they can be reduced, to some extent, by the forthcoming introduction of the BREEAM Retail environmental assessment tool. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

A review of the use of demonstration projects to achieve widespread adoption of innovative practices

The UK construction industry has embarked on one of the largest experiments in the implementation of innovative technologies and practices in its history. Following Rethinking Construction[1], generally known as the Egan Report, the Movement for Innovation was established with the aim of using demonstration projects as practical examples of innovation in order to encourage others to follow the example. The number of demonstration projects has exceeded the original plans and more are being added. This paper reviews the approach in terms of the practice of using demonstration projects to achieve widespread take up of innovation, the modifications to the programme and its management and considers future developments to improve its, effectiveness.

‘Anything can happen in the next half-hour’: Gerry Anderson’s transnational science fiction

Gerry Anderson’s 1960s puppet series have hybrid identities in relation to their medial, geographical, and production histories. This chapter ranges over his science fiction series from Supercar (1961) to Joe 90 (1968), arguing that Anderson’s television science fiction in that period crossed many kinds of boundary and border. Anderson’s television series were a compromise between his desire to make films for adults versus an available market for children’s television puppet programs, and aimed to appeal to a cross-generational family audience. They were made on film, using novel effects, for a UK television production culture that still relied largely on live and videotaped production. While commissioned by British ITV companies, the programs had notable success in the USA, achieving national networked screening as well as syndication, and they were designed to be transatlantic products. The transnational hero teams and security organisations featured in the series supported this internationalism, and simultaneously negotiated between the cultural meanings of Britishness and Americanness. By discussing their means of production, the aesthetic and narrative features of the programs, their institutional contexts, and their international distribution, this chapter argues that Anderson’s series suggest ways of rethinking the boundaries of British science fiction television in the 1960s.

Implementation of VR systems: a comparison between the early adoption of CAD and current uptake of VR

Use of new technologies, such as virtual reality (VR), is important to corporations, yet understanding of their successful implementation is insuf. ciently developed. In this paper a case study is used to analyse the introduction of VR use in a British housebuilding company. Although the implementation was not successful in the manner initially anticipated, the study provides insight into the process of change, the constraints that inhibit implementation and the relationship between new technology and work organization. Comparison is made with the early use of CAD and similarities and differences between empirical . ndings of the case study and the previous literature are discussed.