Purpose: Whereas investments in new attractions continue to rise within the theme park industry, knowledge regarding the effects of new attractions on theme park performance and attendance remains scarce. In order to isolate these effects, the purpose of this paper is to present the results of an econometric study explaining the variance in theme park visitor numbers and quantifying the effects of new attractions on theme park attendance. Design/methodology/approach: The paper is based on an econometric study, in which models were produced for four European theme parks. No pooled modelling was used, meaning that four different models were created; one for each participating theme park. Various variables affecting theme park attendance were identified and quantified, and subsequently the effects of new attractions on visitor numbers were isolated. Findings: Findings indicate that all new attractions opened at Park D during the research period have had a positive long-term influence on attendance. This positive influence lasted for no more than two years. No significant short-term influence was found. There were significant differences in effect between new attractions which could not yet be explained. Research limitations/implications: The research by design only takes into account the economic effects of new attractions and disregards all environmental and socio-cultural effects. Even though the research provides an accurate approximation of the effects of new attractions on attendance, this effect should, according to the author, not be perceived as a stand-alone effect yet as a part of a complex system. A situational approach taking into account several other situational as well as qualitative factors would do the complex reality more justice than a, even though effective, simplified and general approach. Practical implications: Industry operators can now use the econometric model presented in this paper to determine the effects of new attractions on their theme park's attendance and use this knowledge to further fine-tune their investment policy. Originality/value: The paper presents the first econometric model successful at isolating and quantifying a new attraction's effect on theme park attendance and can thus be a valuable tool in perfecting one's investment policy. The paper furthermore includes a brief introduction to a situational approach of determining a new attraction's effects on theme park performance.
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In this handbook we would like to inform (future) social and public professionals about the results of our extensive comparative research on welfare state reforms in Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Spain, Sweden, The Netherlands and UK. The research reveals how reforms take place in local practice and gives insights on the implications of social policies on people’s lives. Social policies are defined as social investment in human lives. We evaluated the implementation of social investment policies in practice and studied 20 innovative cases, 2 in each of the above-mentioned countries. Starting from these professional practices, we would like to give (future) professionals more insights in the realities of system change and the new perspectives that come out of it.
Demographic changes, such as the ageing of society and the decline of the birth rate, are gradually leading to the loss of valuable knowledge and experience in the Dutch Labour market. This necessitates an explicit focus on workers' sustainable employment so that they can add value to the organisation throughout their career. This study looks into the way in which the workers' motivation might affect their investments into their own sustainable employment. It was conducted in a major industrial service provider, Sitech Services. The conclusion is that intrinsic motivation plays an important role in both younger and older employees, and that the younger workers undertake more action in order to give physical form to their sustainable employment than their older colleagues.
A-das-PK; een APK-straat voor rijhulpsystemen Uit recent onderzoek en vragen vanuit de autobranche blijkt een duidelijke behoefte naar goed onderhoud, reparatie en borging van de werking van Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), vergelijkbaar met de reguliere APK. Een APK voor ADAS bestaat nog niet, maar de branche wil hier wel op te anticiperen en haar clientèle veilig laten rijden met de rijhulpsystemen. In 2022 worden 30 ADAS’s verplicht en zal de werking van deze systemen ook gedurende de levensduur van de auto gegarandeerd moeten worden. Disfunctioneren van ADAS, zowel in false positives als false negatives kan leiden tot gevaarlijke situaties door onverwacht rijgedrag van het voertuig. Zo kan onverwacht remmen door detectie van een niet bestaand object of op basis van verkeersborden op parallelwegen een kettingbotsing veroorzaken. Om te kijken welke gevolgen een APK heeft voor de autobranche wil A-das-PK voor autobedrijven kijken naar de benodigde apparatuur, opleiding en hard- en software voor een goed werkende APK-straat voor ADAS’s, zodat de kansrijke elementen in een vervolgonderzoek uitgewerkt kunnen worden.
The energy transition is a highly complex technical and societal challenge, coping with e.g. existing ownership situations, intrusive retrofit measures, slow decision-making processes and uneven value distribution. Large scale retrofitting activities insulating multiple buildings at once is urgently needed to reach the climate targets but the decision-making of retrofitting in buildings with shared ownership is challenging. Each owner is accountable for his own energy bill (and footprint), giving a limited action scope. This has led to a fragmented response to the energy retrofitting challenge with negligible levels of building energy efficiency improvements conducted by multiple actors. Aggregating the energy design process on a building level would allow more systemic decisions to happen and offer the access to alternative types of funding for owners. “Collect Your Retrofits” intends to design a generic and collective retrofit approach in the challenging context of monumental areas. As there are no standardised approaches to conduct historical building energy retrofits, solutions are tailor-made, making the process expensive and unattractive for owners. The project will develop this approach under real conditions of two communities: a self-organised “woongroep” and a “VvE” in the historic centre of Amsterdam. Retrofit designs will be identified based on energy performance, carbon emissions, comfort and costs so that a prioritisation strategy can be drawn. Instead of each owner investing into their own energy retrofitting, the neighbourhood will invest into the most impactful measures and ensure that the generated economic value is retained locally in order to make further sustainable investments and thus accelerating the transition of the area to a CO2-neutral environment.
Logistics represents around 10-11% of global CO2 emissions, around 75% of which come from road freight transport. ‘The European Green Deal’ is calling for drastic CO2 reduction in this sector. This requires advanced and very expensive technological innovations; i.e. re-design of vehicle units, hybridization of powertrains and automatic vehicle technology. Another promising way to reach these environmental ambitions, without excessive technological investments, is the deployment of SUPER ECO COMBI’s (SEC). SEC is the umbrella name for multiple permutations of 32 meter, 70 tons, road-train combinations that can carry the payload-equivalent of 2 normal tractor-semitrailer combinations and even 3 rigid trucks. To fully deploy a SEC into the transport system the compliance with the existing infrastructure network and safety needs to be guaranteed; i.e. to deploy a specific SEC we should be able to determine which SEC-permutation is most optimal on specific routes with respect to regulations (a.o. damage to the pavement/bridges), the dimensions of specific infrastructures (roundabouts, slopes) and safety. The complexity of a SEC compared to a regular truck (double articulation, length) means that traditional optimisation methods are not applicable. The aim of this project is therefore to develop a first methodology enabling the deployment of the optimal SEC permutation. This will help transport companies (KIEM: Ewals) and trailer manufactures (KIEM: Emons) to invest in the most suitable designs for future SEC use. Additionally the methodology will help governments to be able to admit specific SEC’s to specific routes. The knowledge gained in this project will be combined with the knowledge of the broader project ENVELOPE (NWA-IDG). This will be the start of broader research into an overall methodology of deploying optimal vehicle combinations and a new regulatory framework. The knowledge will be used in master courses on vehicle dynamics.
