James W. Gerard: His image of imperial Germany, 1913-1918

The subject of this study was a typical, if in some respects well qualified, U.S. ambassadorial appointee for his time, the early twentieth century: an attorney, judge, and politician who served competently in his one diplomatic assignment, in Berlin, before returning to private life.—Ed.

A imagem a ser consumida : política visual, imaginação espacial e as estéticas dos vídeos turísticos no estado do Espírito Santo

Atreladas a uma estética própria e “efeitos de verdade” (PELLEJERO, 2008), as videografias turísticas acabam por compor linguagens fartamente informativas sobre aquilo que se quer dizer sobre os lugares. Suas cenas são as apontadas para propagandear uma imagem a ser consumida, delas esperam-se o melhor ângulo a ser fotografado, experiências únicas e roteiros alternativos e naturais para se conhecer o lugar. Sendo assim, são as imagens turísticas, na atualidade, linguagens potentes para se entender as narrativas sobre os lugares, suas imaginações espaciais, bem como as construções de ficções sobre determinada realidade. Uma vez envolvidas as produções de ficções hegemônicas, os vídeos turísticos e as imaginações espaciais que temos deles podem promover modos cristalizados de se pensar o espaço; distanciando-se dos propósitos de entender o espaço a partir das suas conexões-desconexões e multiplicidade de trajetórias (MASSEY, 2008). Nesse contexto, essa pesquisa tem como objetivo principal discutir como os vídeos turísticos, em especial dois vídeos da atual campanha da Secretaria de Turismo do Espírito Santo, “Descubra o Espírito Santo”, apresentam uma imaginação espacial. Também seguem como interesse: refletir e analisar a política visual e a estética das videografias turísticas; entender e analisar a produção de uma ficção para construção e mobilização de uma imaginação espacial e estudar autores e produções videográficas que se dedicaram a pensar possibilidades outras de mobilizar e desterritorializar uma imaginação espacial e as estéticas videográficas.

The effects of place of residence on tourist motivations: a revised case of the Urban Quadrangle of Minho

This study seeks to capture the underlying reasons for the travel decisions of residents of the Urban Quadrangle of Minho (composed of the municipalities of Barcelos, Braga, Guimarães, and Vila Nova de Famalicão). The aim of the research is three-fold. Firstly, the study identifies the push and pull motivational factors of residents of the Urban Quadrangle of Minho. Secondly, the study examines whether there are differences between the tourist motivations of residents of the four different municipalities of the Urban Quadrangle. Finally, the study investigates if there are any differences in the motivations of those who choose national and international destinations. The methodology comprises quantitative research based on questionnaires administered in 2012 to residents of the Urban Quadrangle of Minho. A principal component factor analysis is employed to identify six push and seven pull factors. The comparison of the mean scores of these factors across municipalities and across residents that choose national and international destinations reveals that the most valued and least valued factors are common to all four municipalities and both groups of residents (that choose national and international destinations).

The effects of place of residence on tourist motivations: the case of Urban Quadrangle of Minho

The aim of this preliminary study is three-fold. Firstly, the study identifies the push and pull motivational factors of residents of the Urban Quadrangle of Minho. Secondly, the study examines whether there are differences between the tourist motivations of residents of the four different municipalities. Finally, the study investigates if there are any differences in the motivations of those who choose national and international destinations.

Tourist motivation of the residents of the Urban Quadrilátero of Minho: a gender analysis

Women are increasingly active in the participation and consumption of tourism, representing a strong and unique market segment. Knowledge of the needs and preferences of female tourists represents a key success factor in the tourism industry. This preliminary study seeks to capture the underlying reasons for the travel decisions of the residents of the Urban Quadrilátero of Minho, investigating their tourist motivations from a gendered perspective. Insight on tourism motivation may be an important policy tool for tourism planners and managers in the development of products and marketing strategies. The empirical analysis is undertaken based on questionnaires administered in 2012 to residents of the Urban Quadrilátero of Minho. Preliminary results do not reveal significant gender differences in the importance that the local residents place on various tourism motivation factors.

An image processing application for quantification of protein aggregates in Caenorhabditis elegans

Protein aggregation became a widely accepted marker of many polyQ disorders, including Machado-Joseph disease (MJD), and is often used as readout for disease progression and development of therapeutic strategies. The lack of good platforms to rapidly quantify protein aggregates in a wide range of disease animal models prompted us to generate a novel image processing application that automatically identifies and quantifies the aggregates in a standardized and operator-independent manner. We propose here a novel image processing tool to quantify the protein aggregates in a Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) model of MJD. Confocal mi-croscopy images were obtained from animals of different genetic conditions. The image processing application was developed using MeVisLab as a platform to pro-cess, analyse and visualize the images obtained from those animals. All segmenta-tion algorithms were based on intensity pixel levels.The quantification of area or numbers of aggregates per total body area, as well as the number of aggregates per animal were shown to be reliable and reproducible measures of protein aggrega-tion in C. elegans. The results obtained were consistent with the levels of aggrega-tion observed in the images. In conclusion, this novel imaging processing applica-tion allows the non-biased, reliable and high throughput quantification of protein aggregates in a C. elegans model of MJD, which may contribute to a significant improvement on the prognosis of treatment effectiveness for this group of disor-ders

Planning Considerations for Tourism in the Minho-Lima Region (Northwest Portugal)

In administering their territories, most local municipalities aim to preserve their natural, historical and ethnographical resources while simultaneously using them to increase revenue and employment. In order to efficiently promote the products and services available and attract tourists, decision makers, private and public, need to know and incorporate tourists’ preferences in their marketing strategies. In this chapter we illustrate the use of stated preferences as an instrument to identify national and foreign tourists’ preferences regarding the products and services that the touristic destination of the Minho-Lima region (Northwest Portugal) should offer. As a starting point, we have taken the three general groups of touristic resources mentioned above as attributes. We take Ponte de Lima, a municipality in this region that has a strong cultural tourism potential as an example to identify possible future tourism scenarios for this territory. We believe the previously identified methodology can be a valuable instrument in the identification of the strengths and weaknesses of the selected territory and, thus, support the decision making process behind its future tourist development and marketing strategies.

The host-tourist interaction in a world heritage site: the case of Guimarães

Guimarães, in the northwest of Portugal, is a city of strong symbolic and cultural significance and its nomination by UNESCO as world heritage, in 2001, enlarged its tourism potential. In this paper we present a few results of a survey that envisaged capturing the Guimarães residents’ perceptions of tourism impacts and their attitudes towards tourists. Specifically, one analyzes the type of relationship that exists between some socio-demographic groups and the perceived tourism impacts, as well as their socio-characteristics and the existing level of interaction between residents and tourists. The survey was implemented between January and March 2010 to a convenience sample of 540 inhabitants of the municipality of Guimarães resulting in 400 questionnaires with complete data. For this, we made use of various statistical techniques. Using a factorial analysis, we can conclude that the three factors used explain 52.3% of the variance contained in the original variables obtained from the survey. By another side, using a logit model in the analysis and taking as the dependent variable the frequent or very frequent contact with tourists, we found that only the variables referred to perceived positive impacts of tourism, education and the place of residence in urban areas have shown to be statistically significant. We are aware of the multiple ways the issue of residents’ perceptions and attitudes towards tourism can be approached and of the difficulties to get useful policy-oriented insights. This paper is a step in that trail.

Automated image analysis of lung branching morphogenesis from microscopic images of fetal rat explants

Background: Regulating mechanisms of branching morphogenesis of fetal lung rat explants have been an essential tool for molecular research. This work presents a new methodology to accurately quantify the epithelial, outer contour and peripheral airway buds of lung explants during cellular development from microscopic images. Methods: The outer contour was defined using an adaptive and multi-scale threshold algorithm whose level was automatically calculated based on an entropy maximization criterion. The inner lung epithelial was defined by a clustering procedure that groups small image regions according to the minimum description length principle and local statistical properties. Finally, the number of peripheral buds were counted as the skeleton branched ends from a skeletonized image of the lung inner epithelial. Results: The time for lung branching morphometric analysis was reduced in 98% in contrast to the manual method. Best results were obtained in the first two days of cellular development, with lesser standard deviations. Non-significant differences were found between the automatic and manual results in all culture days. Conclusions: The proposed method introduces a series of advantages related to its intuitive use and accuracy, making the technique suitable to images with different lightning characteristics and allowing a reliable comparison between different researchers.

Destinos turísticos transfronteiriços: uma abordagem ao consumidor

Tourism activities are among the most relevant drivers for economical growth and development in various economies. Every year, competition increases tourist destinations (Farhangmehr & Simões, 1999), making it an increasingly complex and geographically diverse range of activities (Pearce, 1991).Such relevance is reflected in the proliferation of studies in the overall area known as tourism, under various perspectives and backgrounds. Previous studies conducted in such contexts suggest that cross-border regions are an attractive and desirable idea, yet requiring further theoretical and empirical research (Studzieniecki & Mazurek, 2007). The new configuration of many cross-border regions calls for a debate on issues concerning its development, raising up important dimensions, such as, organization and planning of common tourism destinations. In particular, there is still a gap in the understanding of destination management in cross-border regions and the customer profile and motivations. Overall this research aims at attaining a deeper understanding of the profile and behavior of consumers in tourism settings, addressing the predisposition for the destination. To address our question we will take an interdisciplinary perspective bringing together inputs from areas, such as, marketing, tourism and local/regional economics. We developed a theoretical model entailing the following constructs: involvement, place attachment, destination satisfaction and loyalty. We then establish potential the relationships among these variables. We suggest that involvement has a positive and direct effect in the two dimensions of place attachment, as well as indirectly, through the construct of satisfaction. Additionally, satisfaction has a direct effect on destination loyalty. Implications for future research are presented.

Automated image analysis of lung branching morphogenesis

Regulating mechanisms of branchingmorphogenesis of fetal lung rat explants have been an essential tool formolecular research.This work presents a new methodology to accurately quantify the epithelial, outer contour, and peripheral airway buds of lung explants during cellular development frommicroscopic images. Methods.Theouter contour was defined using an adaptive and multiscale threshold algorithm whose level was automatically calculated based on an entropy maximization criterion. The inner lung epithelium was defined by a clustering procedure that groups small image regions according to the minimum description length principle and local statistical properties. Finally, the number of peripheral buds was counted as the skeleton branched ends from a skeletonized image of the lung inner epithelia. Results. The time for lung branching morphometric analysis was reduced in 98% in contrast to themanualmethod. Best results were obtained in the first two days of cellular development, with lesser standard deviations. Nonsignificant differences were found between the automatic and manual results in all culture days. Conclusions. The proposed method introduces a series of advantages related to its intuitive use and accuracy, making the technique suitable to images with different lighting characteristics and allowing a reliable comparison between different researchers.

The role of cultural mega events in the enhancement of city’s image attributes: differences between engaged and attendee participants

In a time of fierce competition between regions, an image serve as a basis to develop a strong sense of community, which fosters trust and cooperation that can be mobilized for regional growth. A positive image and reputation could be used in the promotional activities of the region benefiting all the stakeholders as a whole. Mega cultural events are frequently used to attract tourists and investments to a region, but also to enhance the city’s image. This study adopts a marketing/communication perspective of city’s image, and intends to explain how the image of the city is perceived by their residents. Specifically, we intend to compare the perceptions of residents that effectively participated in the Guimarães European Capital of Culture (ECOC) 2012 (engaged residents), and the residents that only assisted to the event (attendees). Several significant findings are reported and their implications for event managers and public policy administrators presented, along with the limitations of the study.

Cultural mega-events and the enhancement of a city's image: differences between engaged participants and attendees

A city’s image can serve as the basis upon which to develop a strong sense of community. This, in turn, fosters trust and cooperation which may attract tourists and investment, and drive regional economic growth. One strategy to enhance a city’s image is to host cultural mega-events. This study focuses on Guimarães, one of the European Capitals of Culture of 2012, and adopts a marketing communication perspective to explore issues of city image. The objective of the study reported was to understand whether images of Guimarães improved after it hosted the cultural mega-event. To attain this goal, we compare the perceptions of residents who participated in the event (engaged participants) and attendees. Several significant findings are reported and their implications for event managers and public policy administrators are presented, along with the limitations of the study.

Evaluating the Guimarães 2012 European Capital of Culture: National and International Tourists’ Behaviors and Perceptions

In 2012, Guimarães hosted the European Capital of Culture (ECOC). An evaluation of this event was needed because public, private, and community funds were involved. This analysis considers tourists as external and independent stakeholders who assessed the cultural activities developed during the event as well as the attributes of the city. The main objectives of the research conducted were to assess the visitors` motivations during the hosting of the Guimarães ECOC 2012, their perceptions towards the city and if national and international visitors kept different perceptions of it. For two months, in the summer of 2012, a survey was applied to 390 visitors. The results revealed that hosting the 2012 ECOC was a major contribution towards attracting new visitors to the city (though many of the visitors stayed only for a short period of time). Based on tourists’ perceptions, the tangible heritage was clearly detached from the set of attributes associated to Guimarães, whereas the intangible heritage was less noted. The Portuguese tourists seem to be more prone to value the tangible heritage than the foreign tourists. Overall, Guimarães received a very positive evaluation relating to the city’s image and, as stated by tourists, visiting it was declared to be highly recommended. Following the obtained empirical results, the need for changing the city’s promoted image emerges, which has been too centered on its tangible heritage. In doing so, it is believed that there will be longer overnight stays by visitors.

A model of destination competitiveness/sustainability: Brazilian perspectives

This paper reviews the understanding I have gained from several years of research, and from several more years of ongoing discussions with industry leaders regarding the nature of competitiveness among tourism destinations. This understanding has been captured, in summary form, in the model of Destination Competitiveness/Sustainability (Ritchie and Crouch, 2003). This model contains seven (7) components which we have found to play a major role, from a policy perspective, in determining the competitiveness/sustainability of a tourism destination. In addition to the valuable understanding which these seven components provide from a policy perspective, the specific elements of each the major components provide a more useful/practical guidance to those who are responsible for the ongoing management of a DMO (Destination Management Organization). With this overview in mind, this paper will provide a detailed review and explanation of the model that I have developed with colleague, Dr. Geoffrey I. Crouch of Latrobe University in Melbourne, Australia. Based on previous presentations throughout the world, it has proven very helpful to both academics and practitioners who seek to understand the complex nature of tourism destination competitiveness/sustainability.