Hotel Guest e-questionnaires: Implications for Feedback and Relationships

This paper examines the reliability and efficacy of hotel guest e-mail questionnaire compared to the paper questionnaire in the Asian Pacific context. Conducted inPerth,SingaporeandPenang, cities with mature hospitality and tourism industries and a representation of chain and independent deluxe hotels, this exploratory qualitative study examines hotelier views of e-mail guest communication derived from content analysis of guest questionnaires format and content and in-depth interviews with senior hoteliers. The findings indicated that e-questionnaires manifested as e-mails, as a direct replacement of the paper questionnaire, appear to be premature given divergent hotelier views and shortcomings in e-mail response administration. If properly executed, e-mail can play an increasingly important adjunct role to the paper guest questionnaire as a part of a multi-channel approach. The balance/relationship between ‘high tech’ and ‘high touch’ needs to be maintained: the latter can enhance the latter but should not undermine it.

Cutting through paradise: A political history of the Cross -Florida Barge Canal

The Cross-Florida Barge Canal, synonymous with boondoggle and waste, became the cause celebre of environmental activism in Florida of the late 1960s. Dramatic changes in Florida's and the nation's politics doomed the CFBC to failure. My purpose is to place in national context the important developments and personalities of Florida's most important environmental controversy. ^ The methodology involved a series of interviews with the most important actors in the canal drama and the environmental movement. Also utilized were regional collections in Florida Public Libraries, the Florida State Archives, personal papers housed at the University of Florida and Corps of Engineers documents. Results showed a clear connection between Florida activism and national environmental policy through the influence of key individuals. I concluded that the CFBC acted as a catalyst to Florida's environmental movement, serving as an indicator of a larger political change from the New Deal coalition to the Republican realignment of 1968. ^

Evaluation of the ECOSSE model for simulating soil organic carbon under Miscanthus and short rotation coppice-willow crops in Britain

Acknowledgements This work contributes to the ELUM (Ecosystem Land Use Modelling & Soil Carbon GHG Flux Trial) project, which was commissioned and funded by the Energy Technologies Institute (ETI). We acknowledge the E-OBS data set from the EU-FP6 project ENSEMBLES (http://ensembles-eu.metoffice.com) and the data providers in the ECA&D project (http://www.ecad.eu).

Genome-wide association of multiple complex traits in outbred mice by ultra low-coverage sequencing

We thank the High-Throughput Genomics Group at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute for the generation of the sequencing data. This work was funded by Wellcome Trust grant 090532/Z/09/Z (J.F.). Primary phenotyping of the mice was supported by the Mary Lyon Centre and Mammalian Genetics Unit (Medical Research Council, UK Hub grant G0900747 91070 and Medical Research Council, UK grant MC U142684172). D.A.B acknowledges support from NIH R01AR056280. The sleep work was supported by the state of Vaud (Switzerland) and the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF 14694 and 136201 to P.F.). The ECG work was supported by the Netherlands CardioVascular Research Initiative (Dutch Heart Foundation, Dutch Federation of University Medical Centres, the Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development, and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences) PREDICT project, InterUniversity Cardiology Institute of the Netherlands (ICIN; 061.02; C.A.R., C.R.B). Na Cai is supported by the Agency of Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) Graduate Academy. The authors wish to acknowledge excellent technical assistance from: Ayako Kurioka, Leo Swadling, Catherine de Lara, James Ussher, Rachel Townsend, Sima Lionikaite, Ausra S. Lionikiene, Rianne Wolswinkel and Inge van der Made. We would like to thank Thomas M Keane and Anthony G Doran for their help in annotating variants and adding the FVB/NJ strain to the Mouse Genomes Project.

Modelling Provenance of Sensor Data for Food Safety Compliance Checking

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Justice and prisons policy

The field of justice policy is, of course, a critical one for state activity – indeed, arguably it is the most important field of activity, as the state exercises its ability to develop and enforce its rules, including by depriving individuals of their liberty. Notwithstanding this, scholarship in the field was, for many years, dominated by experts coming from different perspectives of legal studies, rather than political science. Nowadays, that has shifted somewhat, as interest in the activity of constitutional courts in political systems has grown, inspired, for instance, by the work of Martin Shapiro, Alec Stone Sweet, R. Daniel Kelemen and many others (e. g. Shapiro 1988; Shapiro and Stone 1994; Stone Sweet 2000; Shapiro and Stone Sweet 2002; Kelemen 2006).

Data and Documentation

The primary aims of this survey were to assess household waste management practices; participation in waste diversion practices; knowledge of local waste management politics; willingness to participate in local decision making regarding the development of a local waste processing facility; attitudes and perceptions of waste, waste management policies, and waste management technologies.

El periodismo deportivo condicionado por la gestión comunicativa de los clubes de fútbol: el caso del FC Barcelona

Las relaciones entre los gabinetes de Comunicación de los clubes de fútbol y los periodistas deportivos se enmarcan en el modelo de Gieber y Johnson (1961) por el que el hecho de que ambos compartan objetivos comunes, donde los gabinetes de Comunicación necesitan que los medios publiquen determinadas informaciones y los periodistas precisan de noticias que publicar, provoca una pérdida de independencia por parte de los periodistas, ya que necesitan a esos departamentos como fuentes. En la actualidad, los departamentos de Comunicación de los clubes de fútbol, como el del FC Barcelona, se han constituido en gatekeepers. Esto ha acentuado las históricas diferencias que existen entre los periodistas y los profesionales de la comunicación corporativa, incrementado por el control informativo de estos departamentos lo que provoca constantes tensiones entre ambos.

Rightful Resistance in the Colombian conflict. A theoretical reflection based on a Peace Community

This article considers the opportunities of civilians to peacefully resist violent conflicts or civil wars. The argument developed here is based on a field-based research on the peace community San José de Apartadó in Colombia. The analytical and theoretical framework, which delimits the use of the term ‘resistance’ in this article, builds on the conceptual considerations of Hollander and Einwohner (2004) and on the theoretical concept of ‘rightful resistance’ developed by O’Brien (1996). Beginning with a conflict-analytical classification of the case study, we will describe the long-term socio-historical processes and the organizational experiences of the civilian population, which favoured the emergence of this resistance initiative. The analytical approach to the dimensions and aims of the resistance of this peace community leads to the differentiation of O`Brian’s concept of ‘rightful resistance’.

Measurement of fusional vergence: protocol for a systematic review

Introduction - No validated protocol exists for the measurement of the prism fusion ranges. Many studies report on how fusional vergence ranges can be measured using different techniques (rotary prism, prism bar, loose prisms and synoptophore) and stimuli, leading to different ranges being reported in the literature. Repeatability of the different methods available and the equivalence between them it is also important. In addition, some studies available do not agree in what order fusional vergence should be measured to provide the essential information on which to base clinical judgements on compensation of deviations. When performing fusional vergence testing the most commonly accepted clinical technique is to first measure negative fusional vergence followed by a measurement of positive fusional vergence to avoid affecting the value of vergence recovery because of excessive stimulation of convergence. Von Noorden recommend using vertical fusion amplitudes in between horizontal amplitudes (base-out, base-up, base-in, and base down) to prevent vergence adaptation. Others place the base of the prism in the direction opposite to that used to measure the deviation to increase the vergence demand. Objectives - The purpose of this review is to assess and compare the accuracy of tests for measurement of fusional vergence. Secondary objectives are to investigate sources of heterogeneity of diagnostic accuracy including: age; variation in method of assessment; study design; study size; type of strabismus (convergent, divergent, vertical, cycle); severity of strabismus (constant/intermittent/latent).

Fusional vergence measurements for eso versus exo deviations: is there a difference?

Purpose: The aims of this study were to compare angle of deviation, fusional vergence measurements and fusion reserve ratio between esophoria and exophoria. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed in children with best-corrected visual acuity of 0.0 LogMAR in either eye, compensated heterophoria within 10 prism dioptres (PD), full ocular rotations, presence of fusional vergence and stereopsis (60 seconds of arc or better). Fusional amplitudes were compared between angle of deviation (2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 PD) in esophoria and exophoria. The fusion reserve ratio was calculated (to assess the effect of the underlying angle of deviation) as fusional convergence divided by prism alternating cover test measurements. Results: Two-hundred and eleven children (7.65±1.16 years) were recruited to this study. Exophoria was most common for near (n=181; 85.8%) and distance (n=20; 9.5%). Esophoria was present in 22 children for near (10.4%) and in 1 child for distance (0.5%). No significant differences were found between fusional amplitudes and angle of deviation for near (p>0.05). Children with exophoria of 10PD had a slight, but not, significant (p=0.264) increase in fusional convergence from 2PD (19.95±5.09) to 10PD (26.67±5.77). In esophoric children the variation of fusional convergence was smaller from 2P (25.00±0.00) to 10PD (22.50±3.54) and non significant (p=0.185). The fusion reserve ratio was significantly smaller in children with higher deviations (i.e. 10PD) for both esophoria (p=0.003) and exophoria (p>0.001). The fusion reserve ratio ranged between 12.50 (2PD) and 2.25±0.35 (10PD) for esophoria and between 9.98±2.55 (2PD) and 2.67±0.58 (10PD) for exophoria. Conclusions: Angle of deviation is not an efficient measure to predict fusional amplitudes. The fusion reserve ratio appears to be a better measurement to assess the effect of the underlying angle of deviation on fusional convergence. More studies are necessary to understand better the relationship between fusion amplitudes and angle of deviation.

The Solar Spectrum in the Atacama Desert

The Atacama Desert has been pointed out as one of the places on earth where the highest surface irradiance may occur. This area is characterized by its high altitude, prevalent cloudless conditions and relatively low columns of ozone and water vapor. Aimed at the characterization of the solar spectrum in the Atacama Desert, we carried out in February-March 2015 ground-based measurements of the spectral irradiance (from the ultraviolet to the near infrared) at seven locations that ranged from the city of Antofagasta (on the southern pacific coastline) to the Chajnantor Plateau (5,100 m altitude). Our spectral measurements allowed us to retrieve the total ozone column, the precipitable water, and the aerosol properties at each location. We found that changes in these parameters, as well as the shorter optical path length at high-altitude locations, lead to significant increases in the surface irradiance with the altitude. Our measurements show that, in the range 0-5100 m altitude, surface irradiance increases with the altitude by about 27% in the infrared range, 6% in the visible range, and 20% in the ultraviolet range. Spectral measurements carried out at the Izana Observatory (Tenerife, Spain), in Hannover (Germany) and in Santiago (Chile), were used for further comparisons.

Experimentally Testing the Effect of Parent-Adolescent Conflict on HIV Risk, and Investigation of a Neurobiological Moderator of This Effect

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a condition in which immune cells become destroyed such that the body may become unable to fight off infections. Engaging in risk-taking behaviors (e.g., substance use) puts people at heightened risk for HIV infection, with mid-to-late adolescents at increasing risk (Leigh & Stall, 1993). Environmental and neurological reasons have been suggested for increased risk-taking among adolescents. First, family-level precursors such as parent-adolescent conflict have been significantly associated with and may pose risk for engaging in substance use and risk-taking (Duncan, Duncan, Biglan, & Ary, 1998). Thus, parent-adolescent conflict may be an important proximal influence on HIV risk behaviors (Lester et al., 2010; Rowe, Wang, Greenbaum, & Liddle, 2008). Yet, the temporal relation between parent-adolescent conflict and adolescent HIV risk-taking behaviors is still unknown. Second, at-risk adolescents may carry a neurobiological predisposition for engaging in trait-like expressions of disinhibited behavior and other risk-taking behaviors (Iacono, Malone, & McGue, 2008). When exposed to interpersonally stressful situations, their likelihood of engagement in HIV risk behaviors may increase. To investigate the role of parent-adolescent conflict in adolescent HIV risk-taking behaviors, 49 adolescents ages 14-17 and their parent were randomly assigned to complete a standardized discussion task to discuss a control topic or a conflict topic. Immediately after the discussion, adolescents completed a laboratory risk-taking measure. In a follow-up visit, eligible adolescents underwent electrophysiological (EEG) recording while completing a task designed to assess the presence of a neurobiological marker for behavioral disinhibition which I hypothesized would moderate the links between conflict and risk-taking. First, findings indicated that during the discussion task, adolescents in the conflict condition evidenced a significantly greater psychophysiological stress response relative to adolescents in the control condition. Second, a neurobiological marker of behavioral disinhibition moderated the relation between discussion condition and adolescent risk-taking, such that adolescents evidencing relatively high levels of a neurobiological marker related to sensation-seeking evidenced greater levels of risk-taking following the conflict condition, relative to the control condition. Lastly, I observed no significant relation between parent-adolescent conflict, the neurobiological marker of behavioral disinhibition and adolescent engagement in real-world risk-taking behavior.