Segment Of Demand Research Articles

Deciphering carbon dioxide fluxes and interactions in the Ganga river Basin of South Asia

Anthropogenic influences significantly modify the hydrochemical properties and material flow in riverine ecosystems across Asia, potentially accounting for 40–50% of global emissions. Despite the pervasive impact on Asian rivers, there is a paucity of studies investigating their correlation with carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. In this study, we computed the partial pressure of CO2 (pCO2) using the carbonate equilibria-based model (pCO2SYS) and examined its correlation with hydrochemical parameters from historical records at 91 stations spanning 2013–2021 in the Ganga River. The investigation unveiled substantial spatial heterogeneity in the pCO2 across the Ganga River. The pCO2 concentration varied from 1321.76 μatm, 1130.98 μatm, and 1174.33 μatm in the upper, middle, and lower stretch, respectively, with a mean of 1185.29 μatm. Interestingly, the upper stretch exhibited elevated mean pCO2 and FCO2 levels (fugacity of CO2: 3.63 gm2d−1) compared to the middle and lower stretch, underscoring the intricate interplay between hydrochemistry and CO2 dynamics. In the context of pCO2 fluctuations, nitrate concentrations in the upper segment and levels of biological oxygen demand (BOD) and dissolved oxygen (DO) in the middle and lower segments are emerging as crucial explanatory factors. Furthermore, regression tree (RT) and importance analyses pinpointed biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) as the paramount factor influencing pCO2 variations across the Ganga River (n = 91). A robust negative correlation between BOD and FCO2 was also observed. The distinct longitudinal patterns of both parameters may induce a negative correlation between BOD and pCO2. Therefore, comprehensive studies are necessitated to decipher the underlying mechanisms governing this relationship. The present insights are instrumental in comprehending the potential of CO2 emissions in the Ganga River and facilitating riverine restoration and management. Our findings underscore the significance of incorporating South Asian rivers in the evaluation of the global carbon budget.

Omni-Channel Distribution: A Transshipment Modeling Perspective

In our work, we develop a specialized optimization technique that adapts the general linear programming Transshipment model to the ever-growing needs of Omni-Channel distribution in Supply Chain Management. With the rapid adoption of “smart” mobile technologies, customers now acquire merchandise across multiple channels and devices. As a result, retailers are challenged with downstream operational complexities. Fulfillment of customer orders now changes the placement and amount of independent demand inventory organizations may hold. Our research integrates the use of Hub or Fulfillment Centers, locations where sellers fill customer orders placed through e-commerce, as an additional segment of demand. This adaptation to the optimization of Transshipment can result in significant benefits to the firm’s logistics presence, customer retention, and profit.

Trends in passenger transport optimisation

AbstractThe growing number and complexity of modern megalopolises, where several millions of inhabitants request efficient transport services, pose colossal challenges to urban mobility. To capture the ever‐increasing demand for mobility without further deteriorating the traffic congestion, it is essential that the resources available are used as efficiently as possible. Besides, the traditional means of transport (train, metro, bus, taxi), each responds to a particular segment of the global demand for mobility. Nowadays, transport planners can take advantage of the progress in information technologies and optimisation methods to design modern services that integrate and coordinate different means of transport. These services are potentially capable of capturing additional segments of mobility demand and, as an outcome, reduce the usage of private vehicles. Building upon these general ideas, a growing number of researchers have studied various forms of transport flexibility as well as the integration among different means of transport. This survey provides an overview of the trends emerging from contributions from the operational research literature on urban passenger transportation. We have analysed the literature according to the dimensions of flexibility and integration of the transport service studied. For each of the application areas identified, we convey the main trends studied, summarise the most relevant solution approaches and outline some open research directions that deserve particular attention.

The Potential of Travel Bloggers in Marketing Tourist Destinations: The Example of The “A Blogger for Italy” Platform

The study analyses the role of the travel blogger as a contemporary expression of tourism marketing. In the new digital reality, travel bloggers perform the intermediary function between destination and customer that in the offline world has long been performed by traditional tour operators and travel agents. The message of these influencers can be much more effective than the expensive advertising campaigns implemented by tourism organizations through traditional marketing channels. Establishing a connection between travel bloggers and tour operators, therefore becomes a crucial strategy for exploiting the potential offered by the ITC in the field of tourism promotion. Within this vision, and as an example of good practice, the study illustrates the digital platform "A blogger for Italy" which is one of the first attempts to create, at a national level, a structured network between travel bloggers and tour operators. The study suggests that travel bloggers can become ambassadors of territoriality especially with reference to places away from the usual mass tourism routes and for which a growing segment of tourism demand shows renewed interest.

Sustainable and accessible tourism in natural areas: a participatory approach

ABSTRACT An emerging segment of tourism demand is represented by accessible tourism, i.e. tourism activated in public spaces in the absence of any kind of barrier (architectural, cultural, sensorial, attitudinal, communicational and informational barriers) and, from a business competitiveness point of view, accessibility represents the precondition of any sustainable tourism policy and strategy. In this paper, we concentrate on tourism accessibility for people with disabilities. In particular, to better understand and overcome all obstacles that could impede travellers with special needs from enjoying their tourism experience, in literature is argued that the entire process of defining guidelines to improve tourism accessibility should follow a participatory approach from drafting to implementation. Therefore, to plan services for disabled people in addition to the mandatory requirements, our aim for the present paper is to apply a participatory approach involving stakeholders in the definition of a trademark specification. The experiment was applied to a protected natural area, namely the Gargano National Park (Southern Italy). Results confirm the relevance of adopting a participatory approach to involve stakeholders in the definition of a trademark specification granting disabled tourists with a wider accessibility to protected areas.

Demand, business profitability and competitiveness in the cableway system: A multidimensional framework

The paper provides a theoretical framework on demand for cableway system, business profitability and competitiveness between mountain areas, including novel elements such as on-line customer satisfaction. Through an in-depth literature review, three important theoretical constructs and core determinants have been identified and further validated by a Structural Equation Model (SEM) using continuous indicators either as observable variables or as latent variables. The results show that the cableway supply in the Italian Aosta Valley Region, as a case study representing the typical alpine biodiverse region, is based on a shade public intervention. The success of the cableway system depends mainly on a loyal segment of demand, on middle/high income and on multi-elastic prices policy. Furthermore, the results provide evidence of possible cooperative competition (or win-win co-opetition) amongst agents.

Characterization of Birdwatching Demand Using a Logit Approach: Comparative Analysis of Source Markets (National vs Foreign).

Simple SummaryNature tourism, which includes birdwatching, has experienced a significant boom in recent years, becoming a highly attractive tourist typology. The economic benefit it generates for the destinations in which it develops is accompanied by a greater awareness in society about the importance of conserving its natural resources, which is materialized in a greater channeling of investments aimed at ensuring the correct conservation of natural heritage. Therefore, birdwatching has become a highly sustainable tourist product, with which a beneficial interaction between humans and the environment is achieved. In order to achieve these objectives, it is necessary to know exhaustively what the target market is like, that is, the profile of the birdwatcher; what are their sociodemographic characteristics, how do they behave at their destination, or what characteristics influence a greater probability of doing this practice. The purpose of this work is to identify the main characteristics of the demand in a territory that, due to its excellent endowment of natural resources, can become a priority destination for this type of tourism, the Extremadura region (Spain).Birdwatching is a tourism activity that relates closely to protected natural spaces and that helps contribute to the balance between economic, social and environmental aspects of sustainability. In some European countries (the United Kingdom, Germany, Holland), this recreational activity has a large number of followers, making it a new segment of tourist demand with great possibilities for growth. The objective of this study is to identify the main characteristics of the demand for birdwatching in one of the European territories having a high resource supply, as is the case with Extremadura (Spain). To do this, a logit modelization has been proposed in order to estimate the probability of going birdwatching in the region, based on a random sample of over 3000 tourists that visited the region in 2017. This characterization of birdwatching demand was carried out using variables such as gender, age, type of travel, type of lodging, and assessment of tourism services. Given that the national and the foreign demand of this tourism modality may present distinct behaviors, and therefore, specific characterizations, a structural change test (Chow test) was also conducted in order to determine to what extent these two segments of demand, based on the source markets, have (or do not have) distinguishing features.

Towards an Automated, Fast and Interpretable Estimation Model of Heating Energy Demand: A Data-Driven Approach Exploiting Building Energy Certificates

Energy performance certification is an important tool for the assessment and improvement of energy efficiency in buildings. In this context, estimating building energy demand also in a quick and reliable way, for different combinations of building features, is a key issue for architects and engineers who wish, for example, to benchmark the performance of a stock of buildings or optimise a refurbishment strategy. This paper proposes a methodology for (i) the automatic estimation of the building Primary Energy Demand for space heating ( P E D h ) and (ii) the characterization of the relationship between the P E D h value and the main building features reported by Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs). The proposed methodology relies on a two-layer approach and was developed on a database of almost 90,000 EPCs of flats in the Piedmont region of Italy. First, the classification layer estimates the segment of energy demand for a flat. Then, the regression layer estimates the P E D h value for the same flat. A different regression model is built for each segment of energy demand. Four different machine learning algorithms (Decision Tree, Support Vector Machine, Random Forest, Artificial Neural Network) are used and compared in both layers. Compared to the current state-of-the-art, this paper brings a contribution in the use of data mining techniques for the asset rating of building performance, introducing a novel approach based on the use of independent data-driven models. Such configuration makes the methodology flexible and adaptable to different EPCs datasets. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed methodology can estimate the energy demand with reasonable errors, using a small set of building features. Moreover, the use of Decision Tree algorithm enables a concise interpretation of the quantitative rules used for the estimation of the energy demand. The methodology can be useful during both designing and refurbishment of buildings, to quickly estimate the expected building energy demand and set credible targets for improving performance.

Selling Strategic Information in Digital Competitive Markets

This paper investigates the strategies of a data broker in selling information to one or to two competing firms that can price-discriminate consumers. The data broker can strategically choose any segment of the consumer demand (information structure) to sell to firms that implement third-degree price discrimination. We show that the equilibrium profits of the data broker are maximized when (1) information identifies the consumers with the highest willingness to pay; (2) consumers with a low willingness to pay remain unidentified; (3) the data broker sells two symmetrical information structures. The data broker therefore strategically sells partial information on consumers in order to soften competition between firms. Extending the baseline model, we prove that these results hold under first-degree price-discrimination.

Selling Strategic Information in Digital Competitive Markets

This paper investigates the strategies of a data broker in selling information to one or to two competing firms that can price-discriminate consumers. The data broker can strategically choose any segment of the consumer demand (information structure) to sell to firms that implement third-degree price-discrimination. We show that the equilibrium profits of the data broker are maximized when (1) information identifies the consumers with the highest willingness to pay; (2) consumers with a low willingness to pay remain unidentified; (3) the data broker sells two symmetrical information structures. The data broker therefore strategically sells partial information on consumers in order to soften competition between firms. Extending the baseline model, we prove that these results hold under first-degree price-discrimination.

Eskişehir İlinde Havayolu Yolcu Potansiyelinin Belirlenmesi Üzerine Bir Karar Ağacı Uygulaması

Airline companies do not operate flights all routes. Making decision about operating a route depends on profitability of the route which has to be revealed in advance. In order to reveal profitability, demand of the route must be known. This research, which is rare in its area of research-development, aims to measure potential airline demand in Eskisehir and reveal data for initiation of direct flights which contribute the city both economically and socially. Decision tree model is used in the research. This model allows segmentation of population in terms of airline demand potential. In conclusion, segment of high level airline demand is determined in line with variables of purpose of travel and transportation budget.

Extending the bidding format to promote demand response

We propose an extended bidding structure to allow more realistic demand characteristics and behaviors to be expressed via flexible bids. In today's ISO-run energy markets, demand bid formats are all separable over time. However, a significant and growing segment of demand can be shifted across time and therefore has no way to bid its true valuation of consumption. We propose additional bid types that allow deferrable, adjustable and storage-type loads to better express their value, and thus elicit demand response in the most natural way – via direct participation in the market. We show that the additional bid types are easily incorporated into the existing market with no technological barrier and that they preserve the market's efficiency and incentive-compatibility properties. Using real market data, we give a numerical demonstration that the extended bid format could substantially increase social welfare, and also present additional insight on storage expansion scenarios.

Innovative Valuing of the Cultural Heritage Assets. Economic Implication on Local Employability, Small Entrepreneurship Development and Social Inclusion

Local development based on innovative entrepreneurship forms represents one of the niche opportunities for economic recovery. This approach is more adequate for a new EU member state with lower level of economic development and an unequal valuing of local potential for growth, like Romania. Local development in generally less developed areas is facing the challenge of being innovative, promoting a business model based on cooperation between stakeholders and public-private partnership. Digital technologies and social media are having a big impact, with a wide variety of economic, social and cultural activities. The old model of cultural consumption is no longer attractive as we have many possibilities for getting information about heritage assets without on-site visit. Therefore, there is a new and increasing segment of demand for cultural consumption–for active persons willing to get information, knowledge and to interact emotional and cognitive with visited places. In digital era, young people have the best expertise to explore the online world and to come with new and successful business ideas, to support new consumption with ITC devices. Therefore, the present challenge is to create incentives for participatory on-site cultural consumption as recreational learning, based on new cognitive content, on innovative comparison or association of the old and new information about heritage assets. Based on human cognitive architecture, the authors developed a qualitative research on supply-side of the cultural heritage innovative products by empower the consumption model based on participation and increasing cognitive-emotional accessibility. The main results of the survey, conducted in cultural areas from seven SEE countries, were analysed from the perspective of local integrated business development based on specific employment and entrepreneurship profile.

Profiling bicycle tourists: a case of Croatia

Purpose – The purpose of the primary research is to gather information about the behaviour of bicycle tourism demand. Primarily by studying domestic bicycle tourists, the research results were expected to provide valuable market parameters, comparable with the determinants of previous relevant studies. Design and Methodology – Research was carried out by surveying different segments of bicyclists, recognized in earlier conceptual contributions. Electronic data collection techniques were applied. The online questionnaire was distributed to chosen respondents in the form of the link included in a personal message on a certain social network. A personal approach ensured a high response rate. The nature of research design resulted in a descriptive research, although some of its characteristics could be considered as exploratory. Findings – This paper is the first attempt to study the Croatian segment of the bicycle tourism demand. As far as the attributes common to both national and international research are concerned, it is possible to argue the similarities and differences of demand profiles. Value – Until there is a uniform approach to monitoring the phenomenon at the European level, the profiling of demand in bicycle tourism makes it possible to compare the specific findings with current trends. This research applies a somewhat different perspective than the existing ones – enabling more insight into the cycling-related behaviour in the home area and on vacation. As part of the international demand for bicycle tourism, knowledge about the behaviour of one particular national market contributes to the general state of the research.

Complementarity in the development of rural tourism with the development of thermal baths, spa and wellness tourism

Serbia has a long tradition in thermal baths tourism development. In the second half of the twentieth century, this branch of tourism attracted a significant segment of tourist demand, both domestic and foreign. However, due to difficult business conditions in the nineties, its infrastructure became outdated. This resulted in negative trends in tourism development and a negative image appeared in the tourism market. On the other hand, rural tourism is a relatively new form of tourism. In Serbia, it started developing from the 1970ies. A significant interim in this form of tourism was also noticed during the nineties. Today, these two forms of tourism are emphasized as the development chance of Serbian tourism and economy in diverse development-strategic documents by the Government and the departmental ministry. The conceptual approach to these forms of tourism is used in this work, in order to scope the possibilities of their complementary development. What is primarily borne in mind is the resource basis that Serbia possesses for their development, but also the newer tendencies and trends on the tourism market. Expectations are that a synergic cooperation of these forms of tourism would ensure better results, and Serbia would position itself higher on the international tourism market.

Models for Effective Deployment and Redistribution of Bicycles Within Public Bicycle-Sharing Systems

We develop practical operations research models to support decision making in the design and management of public bicycle-sharing systems. We develop a network flow model with proportionality constraints to estimate the flow of bicycles within the network and the number of trips supported, given an initial allocation of bicycles at each station. We also examine the effectiveness of periodic redistribution of bicycles in the network to support greater flow, and the impact on the number of docks needed. We conduct our numerical analysis using transit data from train operators in Singapore. Given that a substantial proportion of passengers in the train system commute a short distance—more than 16% of passengers alight within two stops from the origin—this forms a latent segment of demand for a bicycle-sharing program. We argue that for a bicycle-sharing system to be most effective for this customer segment, the system must deploy the right number of bicycles at the right places, because this affects the utilization rate of the bicycles and how bicycles circulate within the system. We also identify the appropriate operational environments in which periodic redistribution of bicycles will be most effective for improving system performance.

Sustainable tourism and the emergence of new environmental norms

Since 1990s environmental protection and awareness became major issues. Consumers are more and more aware of environmental issues and conscious of existing pollution caused by mass tourism. Consequently a new segment of demand desiring sustainable tourism products have appeared, enhancing service providers to offer this type of products. This paper analyzes the evolution of service provider’s offer adapting to demand preferences modification. Using a theoretical framework, it explains how environmental quality standards become general norms in tourism industry. By analyzing cases of monopoly and duopoly, it considers different possible frameworks and strategic choices that may be implemented by the incumbent. Though, it explains the role of supply in the emergence of new environmental norms.

Changing demographics in Japan's national parks; towards a targeted marketing strategy for nature-based tourists

Trends from Japan and other post-industrial countries suggest visitor demand for nature-based tourism (NBT) destinations such as national parks, which rocketed in the post-war period, has peaked and is now in decline. This has adverse implications for funding and natural resource management. One suggested counter strategy is targeted marketing based on commercial techniques, but this relies on accurate knowledge of the market to maintain current segments and attract new ones.This paper employs a ‘market leader’ case study approach to investigate visitors to Kamikochi, a gateway to the North Japan Alps whose long conservation pedigree, and proximity to urban areas, ensures it can fulfil both ‘protection’ and ‘promotion’ criteria. The focus was on the Day Hiker (Dh) segment of visitor demand, deemed desirable from a managerial perspective, because they were shown to stay longer, visit more frequently and have a greater interaction with nature. The aims were to identify the composition of Kamikochi’sDh visitor segment, and cross analyse the results to provide practical information for national park managers. Following on from a 2007 survey, 391 usable semi-structured questionnaires were collected between July 10th and September 10th 2009, from participants in guided tours at Kamikochi, a response rate of 31%. Results show the ‘market leader’ segment consisted of pairs or small groups of well-educated, wealthy ‘baby-boomers’ from Kanto; 55% were aged 50 or over, and 59% came from the greater Tokyo metropolitan area. These KantoDhs tended to be repeat visitors (66.0%) who stayed for 2 nights or more (55.1%), thus surpassing the bench mark set by previous research. However, the results provided a snapshot of visitor demand unbalanced not only by urban area, but also gender, age and income; hence further research is needed to explain the dominance of female, elderly and wealthy visitors. One logical explanation is that these segments are already being targeted by travel agencies, as suggested by the 42% who came to Kamikochi as part of a package tour. If so, then it raises the question of why marketing is being outsourced to travel agencies rather than conducted via joint campaigns that incorporate a range of stakeholders.Thus although the need for targeted marketing is clear, some significant barriers to marketing NBT resources exist, including diverse objectives, mixed land ownership and insufficient funding. Transparent goals, combined with ongoing visitor segment monitoring, are thus two vital steps towards a targeted NBT marketing strategy.

The “Young” Consumer Perception of Functional Foods in Italy

We analysed the role of acceptance of functional foods (FFs) focusing on the preferences expressed by three distinct groups of young Italian consumers. FFs represent an innovation both in terms of technology and marketing for Italian food companies, and the segment of young consumers would appear especially interested in them. Our results showed that a different cultural education, hence the degree of knowledge cumulated by young consumers, is a key element in the preference for, and perception of FFs. This implies the need to identify differentiated marketing strategies for firms seeking to reach this segment of FF demand in Italy.

Revenue management for low-cost providers

Low-cost providers have emerged as important players in many service industries, the most predominant being low-cost, or the so-called discount airlines. This paper presents models and results leading toward understanding the revenue management outlook for a discount pricing firm. A framework and model is formulated specifically for the airline industry, but is generalizable to low-cost providers in similar revenue management settings. We formulate an optimal pricing control model for a firm that must underprice to capture a segment of exogenous demand. Two specific model formulations are considered: a continuous deterministic version, and a discrete stochastic version. Structural results are derived for the deterministic case, providing insight into the general form of optimal underpricing policies. The stochastic results support the structural insight from the deterministic solution, and illuminate the effect of randomness on the underpricing policies.