Interactions and networks in Australian tourism

There are many participants in the tourism network who have vested interests in tourism development. These organizations include hotels, associations of hotels and hotel owners, inbound travel agents, travel wholesalers, tourism industry associations, airlines, cruise lines, tourism promotional agencies, regional and local tourism authorities, SME tourism businesses, conference and convention centres and many more. Individuals in the tourism industry intermittently change employment. They often remain in the industry and can move between types of organizations. Their contacts, associations and personal networks remain useful and indeed are utilized. The Interactive Approach postulated by the IMP Group proposes that both suppliers and manufacturers are often involved in close, long-lasting adaptive relationships. Firms within relationships must work together, share objectives, share information and also communicate clearly and precisely using a common language. Here relationship partners should have a similar point of view on the meaning of marketing strategy and related concepts including market segmentation, differentiation and competitive positioning.

This paper seeks to assess the nature, perspectives and characteristics of interactions in the tourism network in Australia. There are two stages of this research. The first stage obtained the perspectives of network participants on the challenges facing tourism, key growth segments, brand and promotional strategies and customer insights and satisfaction levels. Participants were also asked to provide advice to the national marketing organization on a range of developmental topics. The second stage of this research assesses the interaction patterns among network participants Network picture, network position, resource constellations, interaction, resources and activities, interdependence, adaptation, actor bonds, strategy and change are also assessed. The relationships are political and consultative in nature. There is much interdependence and possible conflict between the network participants. The national tourism body has particular skills in tourism planning and tourism research. They also have significant resources and the ability to influence inbound tourism patterns. This paper seeks to assess and understand the interactions within this network.

Best practice in a resource vacuum : responding to the accommodation needs of people with high, complex or changing support needs

This paper aims to identify current practice responses to the housing and support needs of people with high, complex or changing support needs. Case studies of current housing dilemmas and responses were provided by Annecto and Scope (Vic), and included data about the responses of other providers known to these agencies. The paper will first present case study data in three categories of accommodation: living independently (ie. living alone in self-rented or self-owned housing with or without formal support); living without a home (ie. living in non permanent or non secure housing); and living in the parental home and planning for change. The case studies are followed by a discussion of the key response strategies evident in each, and an analysis of significant ‘lessons’ for policy.

Foreign Direct Investment in Latin America and the Caribbean 2009

Includes bibliography.

Hand in hand: public endorsement of climate change mitigation and adaptation

This research investigated how an individual’s endorsements of mitigation and adaptation relate to each other, and how well each of these can be accounted for by relevant social psychological factors. Based on survey data from two European convenience samples (N = 616 / 309) we found that public endorsements of mitigation and adaptation are strongly associated: Someone who is willing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (mitigation) is also willing to prepare for climate change impacts (adaptation). Moreover, people endorsed the two response strategies for similar reasons: People who believe that climate change is real and dangerous, who have positive attitudes about protecting the environment and the climate, and who perceive climate change as a risk, are willing to respond to climate change. Furthermore, distinguishing between (spatially) proximal and distant risk perceptions suggested that the idea of portraying climate change as a proximal (i.e., local) threat might indeed be effective in promoting personal actions. However, to gain endorsement of broader societal initiatives such as policy support, it seems advisable to turn to the distant risks of climate change. The notion that “localising” climate change might not be the panacea for engaging people in this domain is discussed in regard to previous theory and research.

Cooperation & Competition Between Navigation Systems in the Rat Brain: The Role of the Hippocampus and Striatum During a Dissociative Maze Task

While many tend to think of memory systems in the brain as a single process, in reality several experiments have supported multiple dissociations of different forms of learning, such as spatial learning and response learning. In both humans and rats, the hippocampus has long been shown to be specialized in the storage of spatial and contextual memory whereas the striatum is associated with motor responses and habitual behaviors. Previous studies have examined how damage to hippocampus or striatum has affected the acquisition of either a spatial or response navigation task. However even in a very familiar environment organisms must continuously switch between place and response strategies depending upon circumstances. The current research investigates how these two brain systems interact under normal conditions to produce navigational behavior. Rats were tested using a task developed by Jacobson and colleagues (2006) in which the two types of navigation could be controlled and studied simultaneously. Rats were trained to solve a plus maze using both a spatial and a response strategy. A cue (flashing light) was employed to indicate the correct strategy on a given trial. When no light was present, the animals were rewarded for making a 90º right turn (motor response). When the light was on, the animals were rewarded for going to a specific goal location (place strategy). After learning the task, animals had a sham surgery or dorsal striatum or hippocampus damaged. In order to investigate the individual role of each brain system and evaluate whether these brain regions compete or cooperate for control over strategy, we utilized a within-animal comparisons. The configuration of the maze allowed for the comparison of behavior in individual animals before and after specific brain areas were damaged. Animals with hippocampal lesions showed selective deficits on place trials after surgery and learned the reversal of the motor response more rapidly than striatal lesioned or sham rats. Unlike previous findings regarding maze learning, animals with striatal lesions showed deficits in both place and response trials and had difficulty learning the reversal of motor response. Therefore, the effects of lesions on the ability to switch back and forth between strategies were more complex than previously suggested. This work may reveal important new insight on the integration of hippocampal and striatal learning systems, and facilitate a better understanding of the brain dynamics underlying similar navigational processes in humans.

STUDIES ON CHOLINERGIC FUNCTION AND MEMORY IN MICE (CHOLINOTOXINS, WORKING, REFERENCE MEMORY, RADIAL ARM MAZE)

Considerable evidence suggests that central cholinergic neurons participate in either acquisition, storage or retrieval of information. Experiments were designed to evaluate information processing in mice following either reversible or irreversible impairment in central cholinergic activity. The cholinergic receptor antagonists, atropine and methylatropine were used to reversibly inhibit cholinergic transmission. Irreversible impairment in central cholinergic function was achieved by central administration of the cholinergic-specific neurotoxins, N-ethyl-choline aziridinium (ECA) and N-ethyl-acetylcholine aziridinium (EACA).^ ECA and EACA appear to act by irreversible inhibition of high affinity choline uptake (proposed rate-limiting step in acetylcholine synthesis). Intraventricular administration of ECA or EACA produced persistent reduction in hippocampal choline acetyltransferase activity. Other neuronal systems and brain regions showed no evidence of toxicity.^ Mice treated with either ECA or EACA showed behavioral deficits associated with cholinergic dysfunction. Passive avoidance behavior was significantly impaired by cholinotoxin treatment. Radial arm maze performance was also significantly impaired in cholinotoxin-treated animals. Deficits in radial arm maze performance were transient, however, such that rapid and apparent complete behavioral recovery was seen during retention testing. The centrally active cholinergic receptor antagonist atropine also caused significant impairment in radial arm maze behavior, while equivalent doses of methylatropine were without effect.^ The relative effects of cholinotoxin and receptor antagonist treatment on short-term (working) memory and long-term (reference) memory in radial arm maze behavior were examined. Maze rotation studies indicated that there were at least two different response strategies which could result in accurate maze performance. One strategy involved the use of response algorithms and was considered to be a function of reference memory. Another strategy appeared to be primarily dependent on spatial working memory. However, all behavioral paradigms with multiple trails have reference memory requirements (i.e. information useful over all trials). Performance was similarly affected following either cholinotoxin or anticholinergic treatment, regardless of the response strategy utilized. In addition, rates of behavioral recovery following cholinotoxin treatment were similar between response groups. It was concluded that both cholinotoxin and anticholinergic treatment primarily resulted in impaired reference memory processes. ^

A fuzzy MCDA framework for safety assessment in the remediation of a uranium mill tailings site in Ukraine

The Pridneprovsky Chemical Plant was one of the largest uranium processing enterprises in the former USSR, producing a huge amount of uranium residues. The Zapadnoe tailings site contains most of these residues. We propose a theoretical framework based on multicriteria decision analysis and fuzzy logic to analyze different remediation alternatives for the Zapadnoe tailings, which simultaneously accounts for potentially conflicting economic, social and environmental objectives. We build an objective hierarchy that includes all the relevant aspects. Fuzzy rather than precise values are proposed for use to evaluate remediation alternatives against the different criteria and to quantify preferences, such as the weights representing the relative importance of criteria identified in the objective hierarchy. Finally, we suggest that remediation alternatives should be evaluated by means of a fuzzy additive multi-attribute utility function and ranked on the basis of the respective trapezoidal fuzzy number representing their overall utility.

An interactive method of fuzzy probability elicitation in risk analysis

Expert knowledge is used to assign probabilities to events in many risk analysis models. However, experts sometimes find it hard to provide specific values for these probabilities, preferring to express vague or imprecise terms that are mapped using a previously defined fuzzy number scale. The rigidity of these scales generates bias in the probability elicitation process and does not allow experts to adequately express their probabilistic judgments. We present an interactive method for extracting a fuzzy number from experts that represents their probabilistic judgments for a given event, along with a quality measure of the probabilistic judgments, useful in a final information filtering and analysis sensitivity process.

World War A: contemporary anarchists and extreme left perpetrators

While there are currently very few lone actor terrorists among modern anarchists and within the contemporary extreme left, the present lack of extreme left wing lone actor terrorists does not signify a lack of interest in violent solutions within this particular milieu. As the author will show, twenty-flrst century anarchism has considerable potential for lone actor terrorism. It would be imprudent to conclude that this once important ideological source of lone actor terrorism will not reappear again.

Strengthening the beating heart of the European economy. EPC Commentary, 29 September 2015

In an atmosphere of crisis, distrust and fragmentation, policy-makers in Brussels are mostly focused on fighting fire without having an ambitious vision for the future – in effect, muddling through, as has been the characteristic response in recent years. However, by remaining in crisis response mode, the European Union (EU) is failing to provide the basis for the compromise politics that can get the European system out of the current impasse: the EU needs to be engaged in a positive sum game to ensure that countries see an incentive for making deals.

A Common Refugee Integration Fund. EPC Commentary, 15 October 2015

The refugee crisis will be dominating discussions at the EU Summit. Cooperating with third countries, especially Turkey; border controls, hotspots, relocation and returns will all feature. These discussions reflect that the EU is in crisis response mode, attempting to deal with the sheer scale of the current flows and the rapidly evolving situation, as well as internal divisions.

Effective assertive behavior in the workplace: Responding to unfair criticism

A social rules perspective was employed to identify the elements of socially appropriate responses to unfair criticism in the workplace. Women generally endorsed for themselves response strategies based on stronger obligation and softer rights components, while men endorsed responses based on stronger personal rights expression and weaker obligation components. In support of the utility of a social rules approach to operationalizing context-specific expectations, behavioral responses based on gender and status-specific rules were evaluated as more effective on task, relationship, and self-respect dimensions than were rights-only, rights-plus-empathy, or submissive strategies. Results are discussed in terms of the development of a context-specific model of interpersonal competence and implications for interpersonal skills and assertion training.

The Use of Literature to Combat Bullying

Bullying is a pervasive phenomenon. This study examined what teachers think encourages bullying among young people, and what effects teachers believe reader response strategies would have on their students. The study found teachers implementing reader response strategies in discussing literature were able to influence behavior in students and reduce bullying.

Shifts of the psychometric function: distinguishing bias from perceptual effects.

Morgan, Dillenburger, Raphael, and Solomon have shown that observers can use different response strategies when unsure of their answer, and, thus, they can voluntarily shift the location of the psychometric function estimated with the method of single stimuli (MSS; sometimes also referred to as the single-interval, two-alternative method). They wondered whether MSS could distinguish response bias from a true perceptual effect that would also shift the location of the psychometric function. We demonstrate theoretically that the inability to distinguish response bias from perceptual effects is an inherent shortcoming of MSS, although a three-response format including also an "undecided" response option may solve the problem under restrictive assumptions whose validity cannot be tested with MSS data. We also show that a proper two-alternative forced-choice (2AFC) task with the three-response format is free of all these problems so that bias and perceptual effects can easily be separated out. The use of a three-response 2AFC format is essential to eliminate a confound (response bias) in studies of perceptual effects and, hence, to eliminate a threat to the internal validity of research in this area.

A indisciplina no 1.º ciclo: conceções e práticas dos professores

Relatório de Estágio apresentado à Escola Superior de Educação de Lisboa para obtenção de grau de mestre em Ensino do 1.º e 2.º ciclos do Ensino Básico