Tourism in the Caribbean: competitiveness, upgrading, linkages and the role of public private partnerships (PPP) and public policy

The main purpose of this paper is to explore and analyze the contributions that publicprivate partnerships and public policy have made in the development of tourism in the Caribbean as tools for enhancing competitiveness in the Caribbean tourism industry. The paper explores these contributions mainly in the context of the upgrading strategies that Caribbean countries have pursued over the past 15 years or so and using the lens of the tourism value chain and tourism cluster approach. The paper also analyzes the potential roles that public-private partnerships and public policy will continue to play in the future especially in the process of building linkages between the tourism sector and other sectors in order to increase net benefits from tourism to the Region. This paper is divided into five sections. In Section I, we define public-private partnerships (PPP) and describe the areas in tourism where PPP are most widely used, the tools used to implement PPP in tourism and the various forms of PPP. Economic arguments are then laid to motivate PPP as a determinant of tourism competitiveness using the tourism value-chain and tourism cluster approach. Specific case examples illustrating the contributions of PPP and public policy towards increasing tourism competitiveness are provided at a regional level and for specific areas in Sections II and III respectively. Section IV summarizes findings from the previous two sections and discusses ways to enhance the effectiveness of PPP and public policy in Caribbean tourism for increased competitiveness. Section V analyzes a few of the challenges that the Caribbean tourism sector is facing. The final section proposes new areas of intervention for PPP and public policy as tools for enhancing competitiveness in the Caribbean tourism sector in order to assist the region in addressing these challenges.

Tourism in the Caribbean: competitiveness, upgrading, linkages and the role of public private partnerships (PPP) and public policy

The main purpose of this paper is to explore and analyze the contributions that publicprivate partnerships and public policy have made in the development of tourism in the Caribbean as tools for enhancing competitiveness in the Caribbean tourism industry. The paper explores these contributions mainly in the context of the upgrading strategies that Caribbean countries have pursued over the past 15 years or so and using the lens of the tourism value chain and tourism cluster approach. The paper also analyzes the potential roles that public-private partnerships and public policy will continue to play in the future especially in the process of building linkages between the tourism sector and other sectors in order to increase net benefits from tourism to the Region. This paper is divided into five sections. In Section I, we define public-private partnerships (PPP) and describe the areas in tourism where PPP are most widely used, the tools used to implement PPP in tourism and the various forms of PPP. Economic arguments are then laid to motivate PPP as a determinant of tourism competitiveness using the tourism value-chain and tourism cluster approach. Specific case examples illustrating the contributions of PPP and public policy towards increasing tourism competitiveness are provided at a regional level and for specific areas in Sections II and III respectively. Section IV summarizes findings from the previous two sections and discusses ways to enhance the effectiveness of PPP and public policy in Caribbean tourism for increased competitiveness. Section V analyzes a few of the challenges that the Caribbean tourism sector is facing. The final section proposes new areas of intervention for PPP and public policy as tools for enhancing competitiveness in the Caribbean tourism sector in order to assist the region in addressing these challenges.

Scattered organization of the histone multigene family and transposable elements in Synbranchus

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Intrinsic organization of the suprachiasmatic nucleus in the capuchin monkey

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Physical activity, adiposity and hypertension among patients of public healthcare system

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Evolution and genomic organization of muscle microRNAs in fish genomes

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Organization of Sporulated Oocysts of Eimeria funduli in the Gulf Killifish, Fundulus grandis

Oocysts of Eimeria funduli were studied by transmission electron microscopy in naturally-infected livers of the Gulf killifish, Fundulus grandis. Tissues were cryo-processed because membranous structures in the oocyst appear to hinder routine fixation and embedment. The oocyst wall (about 25 nm thick) was adjacent to the host cell and consisted of an outer membrane that limited the host cell cytoplasm and an inner membrane separated from the outer membrane by a narrow space. In some specimens, dense material was applied to the inner face of the inner membrane. Individual sporocysts were surrounded by a membranous "veil" (about 25 nm thick) that consisted of two unit membranes. Sporopodia, projections of the sporocyst wall, supported the veil. The sporocyst wall (130-150 nm thick) consisted of two layers, a thin electron-lucent outer layer (about 10 nm thick) and a thick electron dense inner layer (about 130 nm thick). Depending on the plane of section, the inner layer had transverse striations with periods of 3 to 4 nm or 12 to 15 nm. A narrow fissure, broadest at the anterior pole of the sporocyst, extended about one-third the length of the sporocyst wall. The posterior pole of the sporocyst was characterized by a bulbous swelling. Although this swelling resembled a Stieda body in light microscopic preparations, ultrastructurally, the swelling was a knoblike thickening in the sporocyst wall and did not plug a gap in this wall

Survey of Staff and Organization of Private Secondary School Libraries in Ondo West Local Government Area of Ondo State

The teacher-librarian and organization of private secondary school libraries in Ondo West Local Government Area of Ondo State was the focus of the study. A structured questionnaire was the instrument used for data collection. Copies of questionnaires were administered to staff of six school libraries surveyed. The study revealed that none of the staff were professionally qualified, which resulted in poor and haphazard organization of the resources in all the schools surveyed. Recommendations were made to improve library services, including pr

The People's Hour and the Social Gospel: George Howard Gibson's Gilded Age Search for an Organization of the Kingdom of God

Previous studies of the Social Gospel movement have acknowledged the fact that Social Gospelers were involved in multiple social reform movements during the Gilded Age and into the Progressive Era. However, most of these studies have failed to explain how the reform experiences of the Social Gospelers contributed to the development of the Social Gospel. The Social Gospelers’ ideas regarding the need to transform society and their strategies for doing so were largely a result of their personal experiences as reformers and their collaboration with other reformers. The knowledge and insight gained from interaction with a variety of reform methods played a vital role in the development of the ideology and theology of the Social Gospel. George Howard Gibson is exemplary of the connections between the Social Gospel movement and several other social reform movements of the time. He was involved in the Temperance movement, was a member of both the Prohibition Party and the People’s Party, and co-founded a Christian socialist cooperative colony. His writings illustrate the formation of his identity as a Social Gospeler as well as his attempts to find an organization through which to realize the kingdom of God on earth. Failure to achieve the changes he desired via prohibition encouraged him to broaden his reform goals. Like many Midwestern Social Gospelers Gibson believed he had found “God’s Party” in the People’s Party, but he rejected reform via the political system once the Populists restricted their attention to the silver issue and fused with the Democratic Party. Yet his involvement with the People’s Party demonstrates the attraction many Social Gospelers had to the reforms proposed in the Omaha Platform of 1892 as well as to the party’s use of revivalistic language and emphasis on producerism and brotherhood. Gibson’s experimentation with a variety of ways to achieve the kingdom of God on earth provides new insight into the experiences and contributions of lay Social Gospelers. Adviser: Kenneth J. Winkle

Availability of processed foods in the perimeter of public schools in urban areas

Objective: To assess the availability of food in relation to their degree of industrial processing and the types of food stores in the perimeters of elementary schools. Method: This is a cross-sectional study. 82 food stores located within a 500 m radius buffer of three public schools located in three distinct regions with different socioeconomic levels in the municipality of Santos, state of Sao Paulo, Brazil, were assessed. All streets within a 500-meter radius of the schools were covered, geographic coordinates were recorded and information about the stores and food items available were collected by direct observation and interview with store managers. Available food items were classified in relation to their degree of industrial processing as ultra-processed foods and minimally processed foods. Kernel's density maps were used to assess the degree of agglomeration of stores near the schools. Results: The stores that offered mostly ultra-processed foods were significantly closer to schools than those who offered mostly minimally processed foods. There was a significant difference between the availability of processed food in different types of stores and between the three regions assessed. Conclusions: The data found by this work evidences that children who attend the three public schools assessed are exposed to an environment that encourages the consumption of ultra-processed foods through easier access of these products in the studied stores.

THE INTERNATIONAL CLASSIFICATION OF PUBLIC HEALTH NURSING PRACTICES - CIPESC (R): A PEDAGOGICAL TOOL FOR EPIDEMIOLOGICAL STUDIES

The CIPESC (R) is a tool that informs the work of nurses in Public Health and assists in prioritizing their care in practice, management and research. It is also a powerful pedagogical instrument for the qualification of nurses within the Brazilian healthcare system. In the teaching of infectious diseases, using the CIPESC (R) assists in analyzing the interventions by encouraging clinical and epidemiological thinking regarding the health-illness process. With the purpose in mind of developing resources for teaching undergraduate nursing students and encouraging reflection regarding the process of nursing work, this article presents an experimental application of CIPESC (R), using meningococcal meningitis as an example.

Novel organization of the mitochondrial genome in the deep-sea coral, Madrepora oculata (Hexacorallia, Scleractinia, Oculinidae) and its taxonomic implications

Madrepora is one of the most ecologically important genera of reef-building scleractinians in the deep sea, occurring from tropical to high-latitude regions. Despite this, the taxonomic affinities and relationships within the genus Madrepora remain unclear. To clarify these issues, we sequenced the mitochondrial (mt) genome of the most widespread Madrepora species, M. oculata, and compared this with data for other scleractinians. The architecture of the M. oculara mt genome was very similar to that of other scleractinians, except for a novel gene rearrangement affecting only cox2 and cox3. This pattern of gene organization was common to four geographically distinct M. oculata individuals as well as the congeneric species M. minutiseptum, but was not shared by other genera that are closely related on the basis of cox1 sequence analysis nor other oculinids, suggesting that it might be unique to Madrepora. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.