Latent Demand Research Articles

Leveraging App Technology to Measure the Impact of Transportation Disadvantage: The Development of MyAmble

Widely used data-collection methods fail to fully capture the lived experiences and un-met travel demands of marginalized populations and those at disproportionate risk of experiencing transportation disadvantage (TD). This study describes an interdisciplinary collaboration between social work, civil ­engineering, and computer science on the development of a transportation data collection tool, MyAmble. The theoretical framework of social exclusion was used as part of the study design in order to better understand the process of marginalization as a result of inability to participate in wider society, in part through lack of transportation. Thus, MyAmble augments the best practices in transportation daily diary research using features designed to characterize and quantify latent travel demand among individuals experiencing TD, as well as the subjective impact of lack of transportation on quality of life and well-being. MyAmble includes several innovations – a daily digital trip planning that captures latent demand, a text-messaging based qualitative interview tool, a self-guided travel history survey, and a challenge logger. We describe the design process and implementation that occurred during a five-day pilot test and present a case study. Finally, findings from the case study suggest that MyAmble was able to successfully capture planned, unplanned, and unserved trips as well as the lived experiences of TD.

DEBATE EPISTEMOLÓGICO PARA O ENTENDIMENTO DA PESQUISA FEMINISTA CONSTRUCIONISTA SOCIAL

Abstract: In this article, we aim to establish a dialogue between social constructionist and feminist research, highlighting similarities and possible tensions. Our discussion is based on the suggestion of dividing feminist research into three moments: empiricist, standpoint and postmodern. We suggest that the interface between social constructionist and postmodern feminist research proposes the problematization of universal truths, based on the notion of the social construction of realities. The epistemological proposition of this interface is political and relational, it potentiates practices by expanding possible themes and research methods, with a special interest in the effects of oppressive discourses on everyday life. The main contribution of this article is to invite the scientific community to approach feminist social movements, recognizing their latent and urgent demands for the transformation of society.

Demand Exploration of Automated Mobility On-Demand Services Using an Innovative Simulation Tool

The prospect of automated mobility on-demand (AMoD) services in urban areas has highlighted critical challenges surrounding the sustainable development of urban mobility. To address this gap, we created an improved simulation tool by combining SimMobility’s demand simulator with the hybrid meso-micro supply model of Aimsun Next. A realistic and city-scale examination of AMoD using such an advanced simulation tool can address the limitations identified in the literature and significantly promote the understanding of AMoD services. In this paper, we demonstrate the use of our improved simulation tool and focus on demand exploration of AMoD services in the Tel-Aviv metropolitan area. We employ an activity-and agent-based framework, for both single and shared AMoD rides, and explore 6 service cost scenarios and its impact on demand elasticities, mode choice, travel patterns and AMoD use by population groups. Our results indicate that there is no existing latent demand in Tel-Aviv metropolitan area and the extent of mode shifts from active modes and public transportation to AMoD is neglectable. This is due to AMoD services average travel costs, which is high as compared to all other modes, even with the largest fare reduction examined. Furthermore, it was found that AMoD demand, as a single service, is more elastic than when AMoD is shared, as cost elasticities drops as fare reduction increases. Unlike other modes of transportation, the maximum number of AMoD trips is obtained for trips between 10 to 20 kilometers, while young riders and full-time students are responsible for most of AMoD trips.

The idea of a city for people as a factor in the localization of protest voting in new residential complexes

The gradual formation of income segregation in the post-Soviet city leads to the localization of protest voting. New residential complexes are significant spatial elements of this process. The new housing attracts citizens with similar income levels and perception of the quality of the living environment, empowering urban segregation. Moreover, the gap between expected and experienced urban life is usually observed in the new housing, supported by frequent practices of deceptive marketing and concluding real estate transactions long before the construction is over. Following that, the discrepancy between the character of the urban environment inside and outside the residential complex forces the localization of protest voting within the new housing. The key concept in explaining that kind of a protest vote localization is “city for people”. The external attributes of the city for people, including safety, accessibility, sustainability, are promoted by developers as part of marketing campaigns and shape a latent demand from the buyers. However, the systematic lack of these claimed elements in new residential complexes leads residents to political protest and focus on the political component of the city for people. Citizens adopt a critical attitude towards the infringement of the rights of residents by developers and urban administration and a request for equal participation in city management. The paper critically observes the case of protest voting in the residential complex «Ya - Romantik» in St Petersburg. The significant lack of infrastructure empowers citizens there to manifest political claims and exercise solidarity. Also the prospective locations of the protest voting are discussed.

Recent advances in data-driven wireless communication using Gaussian processes: A comprehensive survey

Data-driven paradigms are well-known and salient demands of future wireless communication. Empowered by big data and machine learning techniques, next-generation data-driven communication systems will be intelligent with unique characteristics of expressiveness, scalability, interpretability, and uncertainty awareness, which can confidently involve diversified latent demands and personalized services in the foreseeable future. In this paper, we review a promising family of nonparametric Bayesian machine learning models, i.e., Gaussian processes (GPs), and their applications in wireless communication. Since GP models demonstrate outstanding expressive and interpretable learning ability with uncertainty, they are particularly suitable for wireless communication. Moreover, they provide a natural framework for collaborating data and empirical models (DEM). Specifically, we first envision three-level motivations of data-driven wireless communication using GP models. Then, we present the background of the GPs in terms of covariance structure and model inference. The expressiveness of the GP model using various interpretable kernels, including stationary, non-stationary, deep and multi-task kernels, is showcased. Furthermore, we review the distributed GP models with promising scalability, which is suitable for applications in wireless networks with a large number of distributed edge devices. Finally, we list representative solutions and promising techniques that adopt GP models in various wireless communication applications.

People-Powered Planning: Planning from the bottom up in a top-down system

This paper is concerned with spatial policy in Ireland. It adopts an historical lens to help explain why Ireland currently finds itself at the bottom of the European league table with regard to local governance. After categorising the Irish political and planning system as highly centralised, bureaucratic and linear, the paper uses a case study of the Moycullen village plan to show an alternate path towards place development in Ireland. This case study sets out to contrast the desire of a people to collaborate in the authorship of their place with the top down nature of spatial planning in Ireland. By making clear the methods and results of the project, this paper highlights the latent demand that exists in a community that is subject to national planning system that reduces their ability to affect change. Through the use of some innovative approaches, this project has sought to fire the geographic imaginary of a people with respect to their place.

COVID-19 as a window of opportunity for cycling: Evidence from the first wave

Across the world, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced people to reconsider their habits in terms of how they work, how they interact with each other, and of their mobility. During lockdowns, mobility was in general significantly reduced. Means of collective transportation were used much less, and people preferred means of individual transport. Evidence from some cities suggests that people turned to cycling as a resilient and reliable option with a small risk of contagiousness. This spike in demand led some governments to respond by opening additional bike lanes, reducing the fees of bike-sharing systems, banning cars on selected streets, or giving monetary incentives for the purchase of new bikes. We analyze the bike traffic in Basel and Zurich, two major Swiss cities. Throughout the pandemic, no specific measure to promote cycling was implemented in any of the two cities; we can thus see latent demand patterns exposed when conditions change. As cycling depends on the season and weather, we incorporate these data and correct the traffic counts hereby. We can identify a distinct change in cycling traffic over the course of the day. During the lockdown period, relatively more traffic is observed in the afternoon, possibly associated with leisure activities. Furthermore, there is a short-term drop in the corrected cycling traffic and a fast recovery, demonstrating cycling as a resilient transport mode. Soon bike traffic reached pre-lockdown levels, but no significant increase could be identified, possibly attributed to the absence of explicit policy measures. We furthermore survey a panel of bike policy experts to identify policy actions that could be taken in Basel and Zurich to increase bike usage. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupts life as we know it, leading people to reconsider their travel choices. Given authorities' desire to increase bike usage, it represents a window of opportunity to test new policy measures, increase bike trips of active cyclists, and attract new cyclists. As long as this window is open, people are susceptible to policy measures to reconsidering past choices. However, if no policy measures are conducted during the pandemic, as in the case study, it is likely that bike usage is not increased in the long run. Authorities are well-advised to take this opportunity to strengthen cycling and to lead to a more resilient, accessible, safe, and sustainable urban transport system.

Information shocks and pharmaceutical firms’ marketing efforts: Evidence from the Chantix black box warning removal

We study how pharmaceutical firm marketing responds to a regulatory decision that represents a positive information shock about drug safety. In the context of the smoking cessation drug Chantix, we estimate the effects of a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) decision to remove the drug's black box warning on two forms of marketing: monetary and in-kind payments to physicians (detailing) and direct-to-consumer advertising. Using identification strategies that leverage geographic variation in latent demand for smoking cessation therapy and the targeted nature of the information shock, we find that the removal of the warning significantly increased Chantix-related detailing payments and increased expenditures on national television advertising of Chantix. Understanding these firm-level strategic promotion responses is important, as they have implications for the dissemination of new drug information and the behaviors of physicians and consumers.

Cooking in the margins: Exploring the role of liquefied petroleum gas for refugees in low-income countries

Framed by the United Nation's 'Clean Energy Challenge' to achieve universal energy access for all (SDG7) for the world's 82 million forcibly displaced persons, we focus on the role of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) in delivering clean cooking solutions for refugees and host communities in resource-poor countries. Notwithstanding scepticism towards LPG among the majority of Western donors, we summarise evidence to indicate the latent market demand for LPG among refugees, as a cleaner, safer and lower-carbon technology option compared to the baseline scenario in most circumstances. Further, we argue that LPG offers a culturally appropriate and in many cases commercially viable solution in low-income hosting contexts, including rural areas, where host governments promote LPG in national energy access policy and planning. To this end, we argue the case for a Global LPG Market Creation Fund for displaced populations and nearby host communities, to kick-start investment in commercially oriented business models.

Tenure transitions at the edges of ownership: Reinforcing or challenging the status quo?

This paper provides an empirical overview of housing tenure transitions in Australia, the UK and the USA during a period of unprecedented economic instability in 2001–2017. Focusing on the neglected theme of episodic homeownership, we profile those who straddle the tenure divide by moving into and out of renting from time to time. Using panel data we model this ‘churn’ in three jurisdictions, showing that even the dislocation of a global financial crisis does not eclipse the independent impact of life events during rental spells. We find that whatever individuals bring from prior ownership, shocks occurring during a rental spell – unemployment, loss of a partner, additional dependent children – can be sufficient to prevent return. Churning is also health- and age-selective, adding ‘drop-out’ among the old to ‘lock-out’ for the young as a policy concern. Even those who successfully regain owner-occupation increase their credit and investment risks without necessarily improving their housing position. Overall ‘churners’ are a diverse constituency whose life chances are powerfully shaped by episodic ownership: what they share is time spent in an unacknowledged, under-instituted space between tenures where there is latent demand for innovative financial services and untapped potential for radical policy shifts.

A Data Mining Practical Approach to Inventory Management and Logistics Optimization

The latent demand to optimize costs and customer service has been fostered in the current economic situations, characterized by high competitiveness and disruption in supply chains, placing inventories as a vital sector with significant potential to implement improvements in firms. Inventory management that is done correctly has a favorable impact on logistics performance indexes. Warehousing operations account for around 15% of logistics expenditures in terms of dollars. This article employs a method based on the Partitioning Around Medoids algorithm that incorporates, in a novel way, the application of a strategy for locating the optimal picking point based on cluster classification, taking into account the qualitative and quantitative factors that have the greatest impact or priority on inventory management in the company. The results obtained with this model improve the routes of distributed materials based on the identification of their characteristics such as the frequency of collection and handling of materials, allowing for the reorganization and expansion of storage capacity of the various SKUs, moving from a classification by families to a cluster classification. This article shows a suggestion for a warehouse distribution design using data mining techniques, which uses indicators and key qualities for operational success for a case study in a corporation, as well as an approach to improve inventory management decision-making.

Marketing researches and promotion works of art in the fine art’s marketing

The purpose of the article. Research and analysis of marketing technology algorithms by means of market segmentation in fine arts marketing. The methodology of the study is to apply comparative, empirical, and theoretical methods. This methodological approach allows us to analyze the processes of segmentation of the fine arts market with the subsequent use of research results in the marketing processes of promoting works of art from artist to consumer. The scientific novelty consists in expanding the notions about the research of marketing processes in the art market. The article establishes that in the second half of the XX century - at the beginning of the XXI century in the art market very actively and effectively were used and are used marketing models and technologies. But professional scientific activity, scientific researches in the field of art market marketing have been conducted and are conducted insufficiently. Therefore, it can be stated that artistic creativity is the area of meticulous attention of large, small, and medium-sized businesses, which, in turn, created the art market, but still has not attracted specialists in this field of sociological, economic, marketing sciences. Scientific, research work on the positioning of works of art aims to determine the main market qualities of works of art, their recognizability for further promotion of works in the markets using advertising and other marketing mechanisms. The main purpose of the article: analysis of the specifics of the realization of classical marketing technologies (marketing researches, positioning of works of fine art) in the marketing of fine arts. Conclusions. The analysis of the problems of using traditional marketing technologies in art marketing carried out in the article gives grounds to state that such technologies are used in the art market, but they differ significantly from other market areas. Besides, due regard should be paid to the effectiveness of marketing technologies in the art market. Note that such traditional marketing technology as marketing researches is insufficiently used in the marketing of fine arts. Technology deserves special attention in art marketing. The technology of positioning works of art and artists deserves special attention in art marketing. The positioning of works of art in the implementation of the marketing approach allows the market to implement such strategies to meet the demand for works of art as: negative demand, lack of demand, latent demand, declining demand, irregular demand, full demand, excessive demand, unwanted demand.

R&D and Innovation Collaboration between Universities and Business—A PLS-SEM Model for the Spanish Province of Huelva

In the last decade we have witnessed a growing amount of interest for developing better ‘exchange’ between universities, research centres and technology parks and companies, governments and other institutions. The biggest aim of those projects is, on the one hand, to make sure that valuable research does not stay hidden in the ivory tower of academia, and, on the other, that there are clear indications for what kinds of solutions are needed in the market. Due to the lack of empirical research in the topic, the focus of this paper is to establish and explain which factors determine the demand for technological services and how they can contribute to the promotion of greater university–business collaboration in R&D and innovation. To achieve that goal, we applied the PLS-SEM (Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling) method in order to create a theoretical model, which was then verified through the application of the CTA (Confirmatory Tetrad Analysis) with the purpose of evaluating whether the specification of the chosen measurement model based on the theoretical rationale was supported by data. The test run was performed on 96 companies from the Spanish region of Huelva. It showed that only four of the considered factors, namely influence of the environment, market conditions, technology adoption decision and economic characteristics of the company, constituted 65.76% of the variance of the endogenous latent Demand for Technological Services. We believe that thanks to the proposed model and its adaptivity, it is possible to design relevant policies and undertakings aimed at promoting the research-business collaboration at the regional, national and international levels.

Does choice change preferences? An incentivized test of the mere choice effect

Widespread evidence from psychology and neuroscience documents that previous choices unconditionally increase the later desirability of chosen objects, even if those choices were uninformative. This is problematic for economists who use choice data to estimate latent preferences, demand functions, and social welfare. The evidence on this mere choice effect, however, exhibits serious shortcomings which prevent evaluating its possible relevance for economics. In this paper, we present a novel, parsimonious experimental design to test for the economic validity of the mere choice effect addressing these shortcomings. Our design uses well-defined, monetary lotteries, all decisions are incentivized, and we effectively randomize participants’ initial choices without relying on deception. Results from a large, pre-registered online experiment find no support for the mere choice effect. Our results challenge conventional wisdom outside economics. The mere choice effect does not seem to be a concern for economics, at least in the domain of decision making under risk.

Mobile money demand in utility bill payments: A WTP estimates from Ethiopia

ABSTRACT The study assess mobile money demand for utility bill payments and identify factors that affect its adoption in Ethiopia. We use data from urban household survey and dichotomous choice experiment that randomly offer a range of prices for using mobile money to pay utility bills. We find that households are willing to pay a higher price to use mobile money than the actual price charged by current mobile money service providers for the payment of goods and services. However, demand is sensitive to price changes. Our findings suggest strong latent demand for mobile money in processing payments.

Can nudging overcome procrastinating on preventive health investments?

A fundamental puzzle about human behavior is low investment in preventive health inputs. Present-biased preferences have frequently been put forth as a theoretical explanation for this, but with limited empirical evidence supporting it, especially in developing countries. We extend our previous analysis of a field experiment testing advertising strategies to increase demand for a potentially life-saving preventive health technology, voluntary medical male circumcision. Offering compensation of US$10 conditional on a complement to the procedure, a short counseling session at a providing clinic, tripled uptake of the procedure. This is consistent with the idea that subsidizing a complement encouraged procrastinating men with latent demand to invest in preventive health. In addition, framing the basic advertisement using the statement “Are you tough enough?” doubled uptake.

The M-LED platform: advancing electricity demand assessment for communities living in energy poverty

Globally about 800 million people live without electricity at home, over two thirds of which are in sub-Saharan Africa. Planning electricity access infrastructure and allocating resources efficiently requires a careful assessment of the diverse energy needs across space, time, and sectors. Because of data scarcity, most country or regional-scale electrification planning studies have however assumed a spatio-temporally homogeneous (top-down) potential electricity demand. Poorly representing the heterogeneity in the potential electricity demand across space, time, and energy sectors can lead to inappropriate energy planning, inaccurate energy system sizing, and misleading cost assessments. Here we introduce M-LED, a Multi-sectoral Latent Electricity Demand geospatial data processing platform to estimate electricity demand in communities that live in energy poverty. The platform shows how big data and bottom-up energy modelling can be leveraged together to represent the potential electricity demand with high spatio-temporal and sectoral granularity. We apply the methodology to Kenya as a country-study and devote specific attention to the implications for water-energy-agriculture-development interlinkages. A more detailed representation of the demand-side in large-scale electrification planning tools bears a potential for improving energy planning and policy.

Social Impact Analysis of Various Road Capacity Expansion Options: A Case of Managed Highway Lanes

AbstractManaged lanes (MLs) offer public infrastructure owners a key policy lever for reducing the financial burden of road expansion while managing induced travel demand. ML’s impact varies depend...

EXPLORATION OF LATENT DEMAND FOR CRAUDSHIPPING SERVICE USING FACTOR ANALYSIS

This paper presents the experimental study results on exploring the latent demand for crowdshipping service. Factor analysis has been used as the key methodology to reveal the basic attributes of the demand. Given the absence of crowdshipping-based services in Ukraine we focused on evaluation the intentions of online shoppers to use the proposed delivery system. To do this we used five-point Likert scale to evaluate 15 statements in regard to pros and cons attitudes towards crowdshipping. Pros online shopping behavior has been considered as the basic component to promote the crowdshipping service. In this case the formed statements for pros crowdshipping have been described the time, cost, ecology, flexibility of the proposed delivery service. In turn the anti-online shopping intentions have been presented with enjoy of physical stores visiting, social interaction needs, browsing the products and etc. As the results of the factor analysis, we revealed four factors and one of them has been identified as “ProCrowdShoppers”. This factor covers 38 % of variance for all data of the study. Such a high value allows us to make conclusion about high potential of crowdshipping deployment in Ukraine. The second factor has been identified as “Con_sustainable_shoppers” which covered people that do not care about ecology during the delivery fulfilment. This group allowed us to make conclusion that ecological problem and sustainable city development paradigm did not penetrate yet all social groups. The second factor covers 12 % of variance for data that should be taken into account when the crowdshipping service will be deployed in Ukrainian cities. The third factor has been identified as “Store_lovers” covering 8.99 % of variance. And the fourth factor was revealed as “Windows_shoppers”. So, the third and the fourth factors reflect the people’s intentions to remain shopping in the physical stores. The total variance covered by these two factors is 16.26 %. Summarizing we can say that crowdshipping has a high opportunity to be deployed in Ukrainian cities. To become widely used it should be grounded on flexible, reliable and ecologically friendly basis. Along with that the time saving should also be provided to compete with commercial delivery services.

Business models for sustainable commercialisation of digital healthcare (eHealth) innovations for an increasingly ageing population

A rapidly aging population, combined with restrictions on public spending, is creating strong latent demands for eHealth. For many older people, institutionalised inpatient care is not only expensive, but also less attractive than their being cared for in their own homes. eHealth innovations offer promising new avenues that will allow health and social care systems to cope with these challenges and improve the quality of life for older people. However, the user uptake of eHealth is surprisingly low, and successful deployment is not guaranteed unless the interests of key stakeholders are better addressed. While many previous studies have addressed technological aspects of eHealth innovations, the business models underpinning these innovations are often overlooked. This study thus examines the key characteristics of eHealth market from the dual perspectives of business model and information systems success model to contribute to more sustainable and scalable market development of eHealth innovations. A multiple-case study design based on 20 UK and 13 international cases in combination with expert workshops was used to formulate the main barriers and challenges for the commercialisation of eHealth innovations in UK and propose frameworks for more sustainable eHealth innovations. The implications for both management practice and policy are also discussed.