Chaos Theory as an Approach to Understanding MICE in Time of Crisis

MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions, and exhibitions), has generated high foreign exchange revenue for the economy worldwide. In Thailand, MICE tourists are recognized as ‘quality’ visitors, mainly because of their high-spending potential. Having said that, Thailand’s MICE sector has been influenced by a number of crises following September 11, 2001. Consequently, professionals in the MICE sector must be prepared to deal with such complex phenomena of crisis that might happen in the future. While a number of researches have examined the complexity of crises in the tourism context, there has been little focus on such issues in the MICE sector. As chaos theory provides a particularly good model for crisis situations, it is the aim of this paper to propose a chaos theory-based approach to the understanding of complex and chaotic system of the MICE sector in time of crisis.

Experimental tests of quantum nonlinear dynamics in atom optics

Cold atoms in optical potentials provide an ideal test bed to explore quantum nonlinear dynamics. Atoms are prepared in a magneto-optic trap or as a dilute Bose-Einstein condensate and subjected to a far detuned optical standing wave that is modulated. They exhibit a wide range of dynamics, some of which can be explained by classical theory while other aspects show the underlying quantum nature of the system. The atoms have a mixed phase space containing regions of regular motion which appear as distinct peaks in the atomic momentum distribution embedded in a sea of chaos. The action of the atoms is of the order of Planck's constant, making quantum effects significant. This tutorial presents a detailed description of experiments measuring the evolution of atoms in time-dependent optical potentials. Experimental methods are developed providing means for the observation and selective loading of regions of regular motion. The dependence of the atomic dynamics on the system parameters is explored and distinct changes in the atomic momentum distribution are observed which are explained by the applicable quantum and classical theory. The observation of a bifurcation sequence is reported and explained using classical perturbation theory. Experimental methods for the accurate control of the momentum of an ensemble of atoms are developed. They use phase space resonances and chaotic transients providing novel ensemble atomic beamsplitters. The divergence between quantum and classical nonlinear dynamics is manifest in the experimental observation of dynamical tunnelling. It involves no potential barrier. However a constant of motion other than energy still forbids classically this quantum allowed motion. Atoms coherently tunnel back and forth between their initial state of oscillatory motion and the state 180 out of phase with the initial state.

Events in Indonesia: exploring the limits to formal tourism trends forecasting methods in complex crisis situations

The desire to know the future is as old as humanity. For the tourism industry the demand for accurate foretelling of the future course of events is a task that consumes considerable energy and is of great significance to investors. This paper examines the issue of forecasting by comparing forecasts of inbound tourism made prior to the political and economic crises that engulfed Indonesia from 1997 onwards with actual arrival figures. The paper finds that current methods of forecasting are not able to cope with unexpected crises and other disasters and that alternative methods need to be examined including scenarios, political risk and application of chaos theory. The paper outlines a framework for classifying shocks according to a scale of severity, probability, type of event, level of certainty and suggested forecasting tools for each scale of shock. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Quantum entanglement and fixed-point bifurcations

How does the classical phase-space structure for a composite system relate to the entanglement characteristics of the corresponding quantum system? We demonstrate how the entanglement in nonlinear bipartite systems can be associated with a fixed-point bifurcation in the classical dynamics. Using the example of coupled giant spins we show that when a fixed point undergoes a supercritical pitchfork bifurcation, the corresponding quantum state-the ground state-achieves its maximum amount of entanglement near the critical point. We conjecture that this will be a generic feature of systems whose classical limit exhibits such a bifurcation.

Suppressing chaos via Lyapunov-Krasovskii's method

An algorithm for suppressing the chaotic oscillations in non-linear dynamical systems with singular Jacobian matrices is developed using a linear feedback control law based upon the Lyapunov-Krasovskii (LK) method. It appears that the LK method can serve effectively as a generalised method for the suppression of chaotic oscillations for a wide range of systems. Based on this method, the resulting conditions for undisturbed motions to be locally or globally stable are sufficient and conservative. The generalized Lorenz system and disturbed gyrostat equations are exemplified for the validation of the proposed feedback control rule. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Comparative proteomic analysis to study molecular events during gonad development in mice

Sex determination represents a critical bifurcation in the road of embryonic development. It is based on a finely regulated network of gene activity, as well as protein-protein interactions and activation or silencing of signaling pathways. Despite the identification of a number of critical genes, many aspects of the molecular cascade that drives the differentiation of the embryonic gonad into either a testis or an ovary remain poorly understood. To identify new proteins involved in this cascade, we employed two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and mass spectrometry to compare the protein expression profiles of fetal mouse testes and ovaries. Three proteins, hnRPA1, TRA1, and HSC71, were found to be expressed in a male-specific manner and this expression was confirmed by real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and in situ hybridization. Moreover, HSC71 was found to be hyperphosphorylated in male compared to female gonads, emphasizing the advantage of the proteomic approach in allowing the detection of posttranslational modifications.

Bifurcation analysis of a dynamic power system with SVC devices

Bifurcation analysis is a very useful tool for power system stability assessment. In this paper, detailed investigation of power system bifurcation behaviour is presented. One and two parameter bifurcation analysis are conducted on a 3-bus power system. We also examined the impact of FACTS devices on power system stability through Hopf bifurcation analysis by taking static Var compensator (SVC) as an example. A simplified first-order model of the SVC device is included in the 3-bus sample system. Real and reactive powers are used as bifurcation parameter in the analysis to compare the system oscillatory properties with and without SVC. The simulation results indicate that the linearized system model with SVC enlarge the voltage stability boundary by moving Hopf bifurcation point to higher level of loading conditions. The installation of SVC increases the dynamic stability range of the system, however complicates the Hopf bifurcation behavior of the system