RCAAP Repository

Understanding urban change in particular for larger regions has been a great demur in both regional planning and geography. One of the main challenges has been linked to the potential of modelling urban change. The absence of spatial data and size of areas of study limit the traditional urban monitoring approaches, which also do not take into account visualization techniques that share information with the community. This is the case of the Golden Horseshoe in southern Ontario in Canada, one of the fastest growing regions in North America. An unprecedented change on the urban environment has been witnessed, leading to an increased importance of awareness for future planning in the region. With a population greater than 8 million, the Golden Horseshoe is steadily showing symptoms of becoming a mega-urban region, joining surrounding cities into a single and diversified urban landscape. However, little effort has been done to understand these changes, nor to share information with policy makers, stakeholders and investors. These players are in need of the most diverse information on urban land use, which is seldom available from a single source. The spatio-temporal effect of the growth of this urban region could very well be the birth of yet another North American megacity. Therefore, from a spatial perspective there is demand for joint collaboration and adoption of a regional science perspective including land cover and spatio-temporal configurations. This calls forth a novel technique that allows for assessment of urban and regional change, and supports decision-making without having the usual concerns of locational data availability. It is this sense, that we present a spatial-retrofitting model, with the objective of (i) retrofitting spatial land use based on current land use and land cover, and assessing proportional change in the past, leading to four spatial timestamps of the Golden Horseshoe’s land use, while (ii) integrating this in a multi-user open source web environment to facilitate synergies for decision-making. This combined approach is referred to as a regional-spatial-retrofitting approach (RSRA), where the conclusions permit accurate assessment of land use in past time frames based on Landsat imagery. The RSRA also allows for a collective vision of regional urban growth supporting local governance through a decision-making process adhering to Volunteered Geographic Information Systems. Urban land use change can be refined by means of contribution from end-users through a web environment, leading to a constant understanding and monitoring of urban land use and urban land use change.

India has in the last decade become of the fastest growing entrepreneurial landscapes in the world. With a total population of almost 1.2 billion inhabitants, it has developed from a rural economy into a highly competitive market. This study analyses the spatial configuration across the country from a regional perspective, offering an assessment of the spatial autocorrelation of business as to understand the spatial configuration of what I define as a regional-spatial business landscape. In this study, the patterns of distribution of all the registered Indian businesses are assessed counting a total of 6500 registered businesses from 1850 to 2010, which were geocoded and imported into a Geographic Information System environment. A geostatistical analysis is conducted measuring business growth and performance at a national level by means of a Global Moran’s I calculation and followed by assembling a Local Getis-Ord for regional assessment of correlation of road networks. These local spatial statistics reveal clustering of hot spots within threshold distances of road concentrations, suggesting a positive relation between location of businesses and concentration of road networks. The agglomeration of Indian businesses becomes defined by the importance of road infrastructures to allow commutes and interaction of businesses. As a result, it becomes possible to see that India’s business landscape is far from homogenous, and responds well to Weber’s theory of industrial agglomeration, while predicting possible interfirm collaboration. These business hubs in the business landscape are assessed at national level through spatial autocorrelation and then regionally diagnosed by identifying hot spots of business location given business density, and bringing to light the precise location of India’s business hubs from a spatial business landscape perspective at present.

Urban sprawl and growth has experienced increased concern in geographic and environmental literature. Preceding the existence of robust frameworks found in regional and urban planning, as well as urban geography and economics, the spatial properties of allocation of urban land use are still far from being completely understood. This is largely due to the underlying complexity of the change found at the spatial level of urban land use, merging social, economic and natural drivers. The spatial patterns formed, and the connectivity established among the different subsets of land-use types, becomes a complex network of interactions over time, helping to shape the structure of the city. The possibility to merge the configuration of land-use with complex networks may be assessed elegantly through graph theory. Nodes and edges can become abstract representations of typologies of space and are represented into a topological space of different land use types which traditionally share common spatial boundaries. Within a regional framework, the links between adjacent and neighboring urban land use types become better understood, by means of a KamadaKawai algorithm. This study uses land use in Lisbon over three years, 1990, 2000 and 2006, to develop a Kamada-Kawai graph interpretation of land-use as a result of neighboring power. The rapid change witnessed in Lisbon since the nineties, as well as the availability of CORINE Land Cover data in these three time stamps, permits a reflection on anthropogenic land-use change in urban and semi-urban areas in Portugal’s capital. This paper responds to (1) the structure and connectivity of urban land use over time, demonstrating that most of the agricultural land is stressed to transform to urban, gaining a central role in future. (2) Offer a systemic approach to land-use transitions generating what we call spatial memory, where land use change is often unpredictable over space, but becomes evident in a graph theory framework, and (3) advance in the geovisual understanding of spatial phenomena in land use transitions by means of graph theory. Thus, the structure of this combined method enables urban and landscape to have a better understanding of the spatial interaction of land-use types within the city, promoting an elegant solution to rapid geovisualization for land-use management in general.

The challenge of measuring at municipal level tourism density has been a daunting task for both statisticians and geographers. The reason of this is enforced by the fact that administrative areas, such as municipalities, tend to be large spatial administrative units, sharing a large demographic asymmetry of tourist demand within the municipality. The rationale is that geographic characteristics such as coastal line, climate and vegetation, play a crucial role in tourist offer, leaning towards the conclusion that traditional census at administrative level are simply not enough to interpret the true distribution of tourism data. A more quantifiable method is necessary to assess the distribution of socio-economic data. This is developed by means of a dasymetric approach adding on the advantages of multi-temporal comparison. This paper adopts a dasymetric approach for defining tourism density per land use types using the CORINE Land Cover dataset. A density map for tourism is calculated, creating a modified areal weighting (MAW) approach to assess the distribution of tourism density per administrative municipality. This distribution is then assessed as a bidirectional layer on the land use datasets for two temporal stamps: 2000 and 2006, which leads to (i) a consistent map on a more accurate distribution of tourism in Algarve, (ii) the calculation of tourism density surfaces, and (iii) a multi-locational and temporal assessment through density crosstabulation. Finally a geovisual interpretation of locational analysis of tourism change in Algarve for the last decade is created. This integrative spatial methodology offers unique characteristics for more accurate decision making at regional level, bringing an integrative methodology to the forefront of linking tourism with the spatio-temporal clusters formed in rapidly changing economic regions.

Consumption values have received little attention in the tourism literature, comparing to such determinants of the consumer behavior as motivations, pull and push factors, satisfaction, quality, or destination image, etc. This study attempts to analyze consumption values and their types, and the influence that they have on the destination decision making and, particularly, on the destination choice. Current work brings new insights about the role of consumption values in detrmining preferences toward tourist destinations. Study findings justify the multidimensional nature of the consumption value, and demonstrate that every value dimension has a certain degree of importance for a tourist, which, to a big extent, can determine the destination choice.

Nowadays brand personality is admitted to be one of the essential parts of brand strategy. It has also become a popular aspect of destination branding due to the fact that destinations are constantly competing for visitors attention in various ways. The term of branding has been first applied to marketing of services or places since the 1990’s. Later on it was broadened and utilized by specialists in the field of tourism marketing. Tourism brand personality is a relatively new one and there are only few works devoted to brand personality of countries as tourism destinations. Keeping in mind the novelty of the research area, this study was planned as exploratory in nature. The stated goal of the research is: to identify the brand personality attributes ascribed to Portugal by the Russian-speaking market and compare the possible existing differences of attributes among the subgroups of the study (actual visitors and possible future visitors). The results of this research might be interesting to the local officials and to business representatives as it highlights the main attributes of Portugal brand personality from the Russian speaking people’s point of view.

There are many reasons contributing to the achievement of Malaysia for being rank as top 10 most visited destinations in the world for the last four years. Among the factors are structures, resources, strategy, policy and leadership. In order to identify how Malaysia manage to be at this rank, a study was carried out on destination branding of Malaysian tourism from destination marketers’ perspectives. The objectives are to identify tourism marketing messages that influence international tourists desire to visit Malaysia and to examine destination marketing agencies attitude towards building “Brand Malaysia” in tourism products. The subject of this research is the most recent promotion involving a new brand entitled “Malaysia Truly Asia” and examines the initiative within the framework of the country’s destination branding and destination image development strategies. An assessment of the part played by destination branding in Malaysian tourism industry at large forms the wider context for the study and conclusions of more general relevance are drawn from the particularities of the case. A quantitative research method is used to examine the attitude of destination marketers towards the awareness on marketing mix used in creating “Brand Malaysia” tourism branding. A total of 300 questionnaires were distributed to travel agencies based on purposive convenient sampling.

Andalusia (Spain) has become one of the world’s leading regions for receiving golf tourists. In recent years there has been a constant increase in the number of golf courses; as a result an institutional context is developing in respect of environment protection that is conditioning the behaviour of companies operating sports/tourism facilities of this type. In the present study we analyse this organizational context from the perspective of the Institutional Theory; we propose possible future scenarios by simulating the evolution of the normative pressures in respect of environmental protection. For this we have applied the statistical technique of Partial Least Squares. The simulation by means of the ceteris paribus criterion has demonstrated for us that an increase of the normative pressures would not substantially modify the results of our original model. We believe that the relatively weak influence of this type of pressure may be because the wide social debate generated in that Spanish region on the sustainability of sports facilities of this type, has propitiated a substantial body of legislation that has conditioned the environmental behaviour of golf courses. Therefore, the best way to obtain legitimacy and social acceptance is still by complying with the law.

The main purpose of this paper is to understand how residents perceive tourism impacts. Based on the review of the literature in the area of tourism, in particular with regard to its development and to the residents’ perceptions and attitudes towards this phenomenon, we studied the case of the municipality of Loulé, a privileged area of the tourist destination Algarve. The study adopts the residents’ point of view, a perspective still with much to explore when it comes to tourism. It analyses the relationship between variables such as the perception of social, economic, cultural and environmental impacts in people’s personal lives and in the area of residence, type and frequency of contact with tourism, professional and economic dependence on tourism and demographic characteristics. The results show that although residents identify, as the literature suggests, negative impacts of tourism, in general, they also acknowledge the importance of the tourism development in their area of residence and in their personal lives. It is noted that residents perceive tourism impacts differently according to professional and economic dependence on tourism activity, the proximity of the place of residence to the main tourist area and the frequency and type of contact with tourism. Demographic factors are not the most significant in explaining the perception of tourism impacts. The results of the study reinforce the importance of considering the residents’ perceptions vis-à-vis the tourism as a decisive factor in the sustainable development of tourism destinations, being thus residents one of the key stakeholders in the context of a holistic and integrated approach to tourism planning and development.

The study tests the relationship between motivation, satisfaction, and loyalty using a structural equation model. Data have been collected through a questionnaire applied to visitors attending a local festival, Castro Marim Medieval Fair, which hosts every year between 45.000 and 60.000 visitors. Results show that satisfaction towards controlled variables of the event within the venue’s boundaries, such as animation, gastronomy, and handicraft, influences visitors’ overall satisfaction towards the event. On the other hand, they also reveal a direct relationship between overall satisfaction and loyalty. The study contributes to a better understanding of visitors’ behaviour and provides useful guidance to festival ideation and design.

This article reviews state-of-the-art findings on care and quality from published research from 2003-2014 in Germany, specifically from the perspective of the elderly. It is based on a larger project on care and quality in Germany that was funded by the Hans Böckler Foundation. The study provides a much needed overview of current issues on quality and care in light of increased pressure to address care and changes in German social policy. Although quality also encompasses conditions for professional care work and informal carers, this article focuses on the elderly as recipients of care, their perspectives and the ways in which they are involved in their care. Research on care quality from the perspective of the elderly is highlighted in the following themes: 1) the rights of the elderly to quality care 2) elderly perception of satisfaction and quality of outcomes of care, 3) documentation of care as quality control and time, 4) active aging and 5) equality of access. Results show that long-term care rights are more clearly defined and expanded, but enforcement problems are present. Satisfaction with care is traced to good communication with carers, but time for care is scarce. Active aging has become a central focus of care and more research on equal access is needed. The article outlines strengths and weaknesses in German quality care provision as well as learning effects for other countries.

Background: Although evidence demonstrates that physical activity beneficially influences major chronic illnesses, older adults remain sedentary. Many interventions to increase physical activity intend to reduce disease complications as well as improve quality of life by enhancing physical function in our even more aging society. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to summarize knowledge on randomized controlled trials studying the effects of physical activity interventions on quality of life in the elder population. Methods: Randomized controlled trials, systematic reviews or meta-analysis were searched in the Pubmed data base. Search terms: “quality of life”, “intervention” and “physical activity” were used to identify English written articles, with humans older than 65 years. Results: From the initial screening of 234 titles, only 5 articles met the inclusion criteria and were included in the final analysis. Conclusions: Physical activity interventions seem to have a slight effect on physical function and in improving quality of life of people aged 65 and over. More intervention studies involving physical activity in older people should include measures of quality of life as primary outcome, as well as a standardization of measures would help to compare results and enlarge the evidence base in this area.

Several studies have demonstrated how physical activity in older people benefits their physical fitness, health and well-being. The relation between physical activity and perceived functional capacity and health is yet to be considered. This study is a quantitative research design that investigated the improvement of the physical-functional fitness and the perception of the functional capacity and health of an elderly group participating in a waterbased exercise program (hydrotherapy). The data was collected in three different moments of the exercise program through a battery of tests of physical-functional fitness established by Batista and Sardinha (2005) and a questionnaire adapted from SABE project (Lebrão and Duarte, 2003). Twenty-six elderly persons (23 women and 3 men) aged between 60 and 84 years old participated in a 31-week hydrotherapy program (twice a week; 45 minutes by session). Friedman test was used for assessing statistical differences between the physicalfunctional fitness and the questionnaire responses in each of the three evaluation moments. Results revealed that this program was enough to improve the physical-functional fitness of the elderly, as well as the perception they had about their health and ability to perform activities of daily living.

In this paper we focused on the experiences of ageing from the perspective of elderly people. Our main aims were to explore their perceptions and representations about the ageing experience and to analyse if their conceptions are closer to positive social representations of active ageing or to ageist social assumptions. Thirty-five females (mean age of 80 years) and seven males (mean age of 73 years) participated in this study, recruited in a network of institutions run by the city council of Setubal. Data collection was conducted with structured interviews and the obtained transcriptions were submitted to qualitative thematic analysis. With this analytic approach it was possible to identify dominant themes in participants’ discourses. Results show that elderly perceive and represent the process of ageing according to a binary perspective, displaying both positive and negative dimensions. Even if the ageing experience is described according to a positive perspective, it is also anchored on ageist social constructions. Thus the positive social representations of ageing expressed through active ageing discourses are still not fully assimilated and integrated on people’s self-perceptions and identities.

Migrants’ and their family members’ living conditions in origin and destination countries have come to depend very much on how they cope with the laws and legal systems that affect them. Attached to the importance of acquiring a legal status, there are specific areas of juridical and administrative regulation that are of enormous interest for older people living in a family context of migration, such as pensions and the capacity to move to be closer to loved ones. Based on qualitative research with people aged 50 and over in Spain, Peru and Morocco, the article explores older individuals´responses to the legal frameworks, and, especially, inquires on the practices that help them benefit from or overcome the laws. It reveals that, as a result of states’ unclear legal actions, together with the desire to overcome barriers in these specific areas, interviewees are forced to act against or at least partially behind the law.

This paper presents the story of a Norwegian man in his mid-70s, primary caretaker for his wife who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease. Focus is on the cooperation with home-based public health-care services. The case is part of a larger qualitative research project on the topic. The story has come into being through narrative interviews followed up with telephone conversations and is analyzed with Antonovsky’s Sense of Coherence as a frame of reference. Three topics are highlighted: 1) The carer’s journey during the time of his wife’s illness; 2) His description and construction of meaning and ways of coping; 3) The interaction between him as a caregiver and professional health workers. The research project aims to highlight the rationality of caring facing the organizational/ bureaucratic framework conditions of home-based public health care. As the caregiver is watching his loved one being changed into someone who is unrecognizable he needs to adjust to a new reality of which a working relationship with home-based public health care is an element. Concerning the latter, a very important factor is the respect for the uniqueness of the couple’s story and situation, as well as the acknowledgement of the caregiver’s expertise – or lack thereof.

The proliferation of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) with particular emphasis on internet have been rapidly adapted to tourism, where new opportunities for design and marketing strategies for destinations are being explored in both physical and virtual environments. Furthermore, the process of designing strong brands and facilitating positive and memorable experiences are central activities concerning destinations aiming to become more competitive. Accordingly, Destinations Marketing Organizations (DMOs) are now exploring ICT and new forms of human interactions with a view to offer new opportunities for visitors to engage in the process of co-creating enhanced destination experiences in a technology-based environment. Considering that ICT both contribute to the process of designing innovative destination experiences and support enhanced individuals’ experiences before, during and after the trip, the purpose of this paper is to explore the role of ICT in the marketing and brand design of destination experiences.

The present work aims at analyzing the profiles of social networks’ users, having accomplished an online questionnaire. A sample of 230 cases was obtained (limited to a deadline of a thesis that combined this study with another about enterprises’ involvement in social networks). From the socio-demographic data obtained (age, time of day in social networks, level of education and occupational status) there are different behaviors. The results highlight the need of harnessing the potential of recruitment and business partnerships/projects through social networks. This is important because the vast majority of respondents use these platforms for more than one year and a significant percentage accesses them every day. Another issue is that mobile phone connection has a significant expression, thus relevant for ubiquitous business or work applications. Regarding the actions performed, besides seeing/ sending messages as the most usually done, searching for knowledge (new contents) is also expressive what is relevant for innovative initiatives. Regarding the motivation factors, it is interesting that besides communication with friends and meeting old friends, the use of such platforms for professional relations has high importance what corroborates some potentials mentioned.

This paper endeavours to research about simulation/serious games exploration within University of Algarve (Portugal), namely Cesim SimBrand for Marketing Simulation (course unit). A total amount of 30 learners participated in this study through a mixed survey (openended and closed-ended queries). The empirical evidences exhibit interesting outcomes: (i) a response rate of 50 percent; (ii) these tools increase learning engagement, although it is essential to be more realistic; (iii) teamwork seems to be a controversial topic; (iv) learners had a positive experience; however, some feel unprepared before their usage (prior knowledge). Hence, this survey provides a good platform for future research and approaches how to promote a better exploration of simulation/serious games. To conclude, this manuscript will be divided into six sections: (i) the 5W’s of game-based learning; (ii) research (statement of the problem, aims/objectives, philosophical approach and data collection/analysis); (iii) diagnosis (game deliver and learners’ pre-perception); (iv) findings (learners’ profile, awareness, experiences and preparation); (v) limitations and future work (methodological limitations and tools/analysis upgrade); and, (vi) conclusions.

The present study addresses the communication between professionals of information technology (IT) and its users in the corporate environment of Curitiba (Brazil). The main aim was to analyze communication problems and implications for management and marketing. Empirical research examined responses from a sample of IT professionals with some professional experience in the area and academic level, as well as responses from a sample of IT users (making use of technology in that corporate environment). The questionnaires were available online, and the SPSS software was used for data processing. Results allow us to infer that, in the sample studied, problems in communication between IT professionals and the services’ users do exist. Data obtained reflect a need for formal training by the professionals to serve customers, manage their careers and use technology on behalf of users in order to improve business management practice. Professionals must be clear with users, to create confidence. Also, it was evident that respondent users consider technology as a basic tool, and they expect professionals to share and explain their actions toward the machine or system. This research makes some implications obvious in relation to communication processes in the IT field for management and marketing.