Season-aware Attraction Recommendation Method with Dual-trust Enhancement

Attraction recommendation plays an essential role in tourism. For example, it can relieve information overload for tourists and increase sales for tourism operators. When making travel decisions, tourists depend heavily on the personal preferences and suggestions from people they trust. However, most existing attraction recommendation methods focus on the tourist preferences for topics of attractions, yet overlook the seasonality in topic preferences. Additionally, extant studies are generally based on a single type of trust, which may represent trust relations inaccurately. In order to overcome these issues, we propose a novel season-aware attraction recommendation method based on the seasonal topic preferences and dual-trust relations. Firstly, we capture tourists’ seasonal topic preferences by analyzing their travel histories along two dimensions: time and attraction. Secondly, we develop a dual-trust relationship (DTR) model based on familiarity-based trust and similarity-based trust, in contrast to existing studies that purely focus on a single type of trust. Thirdly, we propose a novel season-aware attraction recommendation method named SAR-DTR. In a specific season, it predicts ratings based on both topic preferences in the given season and suggestions from tourists they trust. To demonstrate the superiority of the proposed method to other approaches, an empirical study with real-world data was conducted. The experimental results regarding both prediction and recommendation performance are reported

A controlled evaluation of a comprehensive mental skills program for Ncaa and youth club swimmers

Previous studies have established that mental skills training is an effective intervention for improving performance in athletes. Relaxation, imagery, and mental preparation interventions have demonstrated efficacy in the improvement of athletic performance. However, relaxation combined with imagery is more effective than either one alone. Similarly, past studies have indicated mental preparation interventions may be more effective in the improvement of athletic performance when combined with other interventions. In team sports such as swimming, optimum performance has been found to improve cohesion. However, whether cohesion leads to improvements in sports performance is undetermined. In this study, a multiple baseline across team sports methodology was utilized to evaluate the effectiveness of cohesion and multi-component interventions in swim performance. The study included thirty-nine NCAA swimmers, and twelve Youth Club swimmers. Results indicated that the cohesion intervention appeared to enhance swim trial times for males, and female youth swimmers. However, this intervention did not appear to influence trial times for NCAA women. Interestingly, the relationship between cohesion and swim performance did not appear to be a direct one. Although improvements in swim trial performance were noted for males and youth swimmers consequent to the implementation of the multi-component intervention, the evaluation of this component was not controlled. Thus, the latter result must be interpreted with caution. Study implications are discussed in light of these results

Co-creating a smart tourism local service system in rural areas: a case study from south

Dissertation presented as the partial requirement for obtaining a Master's degree in Information Management, specialization in Information Systems and Technologies ManagementThe most recent trends show an increase in the urbanization of cities, and, consequently, inner territories become more depopulated, business activities get closed, services get reduced and the overall services become poor and not able to offer quality offers to visitors (Bolay, 2020). According to (United Nations, 2019), by 2050 more than three out of four people will be living in urban areas. Nowadays, many studies have addressed the evolution and features of Smart Cities (Van Dijk & Teuben, 2015) and tourism is also one of those spheres that got digitally transformed by Smart Cities (Khan, Woo, Nam, & Chathoth, 2017). One of the features of smart applications is the possibility to let the user be a driver of value in creating and sharing contents (Kontogianni & Alepis, 2020). However, the explosion of smart solutions enabled by the latest technological innovations has been mostly contextualized in urban environments while fewer solutions have been developed in less urbanized rural areas (Steyn & Johanson, 2010). The methodology used employs the merging of two of the core contemporary service research approaches: Service Science and Service-Dominant logic; the first offers an organizational framework to generate and integrate value co-creation in terms of a smart service systems (Polese, Botti, Grimaldi, Monta & Vesci, 2018). For the same purpose, but differently, the second proposes a different layout called service ecosystems (Vargo & Lusch, 2016). This combination of approaches overcomes individual model limitations by setting an integrated model that can be employed to hypercompetitive and experience-based sectors (Polese, Botti, Grimaldi, Monta & Vesci, 2018), and that was adopted by using a case study methodology, relying on semi-structured interviews

Mindfulness Program for Student Athletes

Student athletes face challenging situations during their time at college which can cause their experience to be a negative one if they are not fully supported. This can be due to several factors; most athletes face an immense amount of pressure to succeed in the classroom as well as in their sport. Also, many athletes are moving away from home for the first time and this can be a daunting feeling. They are expected to manage all of these challenges, and if mishandled, it can lead to an overwhelming amount of negative stress resulting in an unsuccessful time as a student athlete. Furthermore, the intensity and pressure of their sport can be detrimental to other areas of their life. Many of these young athletes do not possess the leadership skills necessary to manage these tasks and remain in a healthy state of mind. My recommendation is not to take away these challenges, but rather offer support systems which empower student athletes to be able to manage the struggles they encounter in university settings. This mindfulness program enables people to be present and aware of themselves, acknowledge what their body is saying to them, and take action in a calm focused way to move into a healthy state of mind. My program offers communication at the individual and group level, techniques to be present, manage stress, and motivate positive thoughts which create pathways for successful experiences. Mindfulness practices are new to sports and are not currently applied to college athletics; however, the stress and challenges associated with being a student athlete are ever present. Therefore, I argue that college programs/coaches need to provide support systems which help their students be successful. This would then become a platform whereby they could succeed athletically, academically, personally, and prepare them for life outside of college

Eye quietness and quiet eye in expert and novice golf performance: an electrooculographic analysis

Quiet eye (QE) is the final ocular fixation on the target of an action (e.g., the ball in golf putting). Camerabased eye-tracking studies have consistently found longer QE durations in experts than novices; however, mechanisms underlying QE are not known. To offer a new perspective we examined the feasibility of measuring the QE using electrooculography (EOG) and developed an index to assess ocular activity across time: eye quietness (EQ). Ten expert and ten novice golfers putted 60 balls to a 2.4 m distant hole. Horizontal EOG (2ms resolution) was recorded from two electrodes placed on the outer sides of the eyes. QE duration was measured using a EOG voltage threshold and comprised the sum of the pre-movement and post-movement initiation components. EQ was computed as the standard deviation of the EOG in 0.5 s bins from –4 to +2 s, relative to backswing initiation: lower values indicate less movement of the eyes, hence greater quietness. Finally, we measured club-ball address and swing durations. T-tests showed that total QE did not differ between groups (p = .31); however, experts had marginally shorter pre-movement QE (p = .08) and longer post-movement QE (p < .001) than novices. A group × time ANOVA revealed that experts had less EQ before backswing initiation and greater EQ after backswing initiation (p = .002). QE durations were inversely correlated with EQ from –1.5 to 1 s (rs = –.48 - –.90, ps = .03 - .001). Experts had longer swing durations than novices (p = .01) and, importantly, swing durations correlated positively with post-movement QE (r = .52, p = .02) and negatively with EQ from 0.5 to 1s (r = –.63, p = .003). This study demonstrates the feasibility of measuring ocular activity using EOG and validates EQ as an index of ocular activity. Its findings challenge the dominant perspective on QE and provide new evidence that expert-novice differences in ocular activity may reflect differences in the kinematics of how experts and novices execute skills

The Influence of a Professional Sport Team’s Philanthropic Initiative on Fans’ Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Participation Intention

Within corporate social responsibility (CSR) research, there has been significant evidence of the positive impacts that CSR could bring to businesses. However, few studies, especially in the context of sport, have focused on how CSR benefits an actual social cause. Therefore, through a three-article format, the overall purpose of the dissertation is to examine how a professional sport team could use its CSR as a social marketing strategy to increase its fans’ willingness to participate in the team’s CSR program in contributing to a specific social cause. Specifically, Article 1 assesses whether CSR participation intention significantly differs among fans with varying psychological connection levels to a sport team. Article 2 examines how fans’ trust in a sport team increases their CSR participation intention, especially among fans with a low psychological connection to a sport team. Lastly, Article 3 investigates how fans’ perceived CSR authenticity plays a significant role in the overall study findings. The study findings: (a) demonstrate that fans are more likely to participate in a sport team’s CSR program when they are aware of the philanthropic activity engaged by the team and that CSR participation intention was higher for fans more loyal to the team, (b) provide evidence that enhancing fans’ trust in the team helps increase CSR participation intention, especially among those having a lower psychological connection to the sport team, and (c) emphasize the importance of authenticity within a sport team’s CSR initiative, where fans develop trust in the team to a similar extent for all fan groups, thus, increasing the likelihood for fans to participate in the team’s CSR program

A critical analysis of gardens as a resource for tourism and recreation in the UK

Merged with duplicate record 10026.1/765 on 07.20.2017 by CS (TIS)Garden visiting has become a popular leisure pursuit in recent years. Within a tourism and recreation context, scant research exists on the subject of gardens as recreational resources and the manner in which they are presented to and consumed by the public. This thesis explores the scope and nature of gardens as tourism and recreation resources in the UK. The thesis examines the conceptual foundations of the garden, in order to establish what reasons explain predisposition towards garden visiting, and why gardens provide a desirable environment in which people want to spend leisure time. The activity of garden visiting is analysed using a two-dimensional approach, which takes into account the supply of gardens open to the public and the demand for garden visits. In this respect, the supply-side relates to the perceptions of garden owners/mangers, while the demand aspect is linked with the outlook of garden visitors. Uniting these two perspectives yields an intriguing area of research, that of the visitor experience, how that experience is perceived and managed, and which elements are crucial in its formation. Understanding the visitor experience is a critical for operators of garden attractions, in line with all attractions. This thesis presents the results of two surveys, one of garden owners/managers (n=546) and one of garden visitors (n=593). Data analysis provides a source of information on the range and characteristics of gardens open to the public, approaches to managing the visitor experience and issues for owners/managers in relation, to operating a garden visitor attraction as well as visitors characteristics, motivations; behaviour and perceptions of the garden experience. The data generated allows the identification of a range of themes and implications for the operators of garden attractions, in particular those issues that will influence future development

Exploring narrative transportation in a literary heritage tourism context : the role and Influence of authenticity

The primary focus of this thesis is the development of narrative transportation theory. Narrative transportation has been acknowledged as the immersive experience associated with reading for pleasure. This was later extended to include re-enactments (Escales, 2004), media (Green, Brock and Kaufman, 2004), education (Moyer-Guse, 2008), video games (Baranowski et al., 2008) and social media (Van Laer and De Ruyter, 2010). This discussion, whilst interesting, has failed to explore the full depth of application of the theory. As such, this thesis seeks to explore the conceptual breadth of the concept and offers support for an extension of the current conceptualisation. Insights from the well-developed field of authenticity will be used to enhance the discussion on and understanding of narrative transportation. Whilst there has been much discussion on the conceptualisation of authenticity (Pearce and Moscardo, 1985; Handler and Saxton, 1988; Bruner, 1994; Selwyn, 1996a, 1996b; Wang, 1999), there has been less exploration into visitor perceptions of authenticity and how the form of authenticity influences the visitor experience. The thesis seeks to explore narrative transportation and its conceptual breadth of application by investigating the motivations for visiting literary heritage sites and the interactions that occur amongst visitors. Specifically, the research focuses on the antecedents affecting participation, the resulting impact on engagement and the post-experience evaluation. The research adopts a case-study approach and utilises access at two literary attractions. One of these, Shakespeare’s Birthplace, is internationally known; the other, Sarehole Mill, is associated with J.R.R. Tolkien, author of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. The findings are informed by a two-year period of data collection, including an archival search, a document analysis, semi-structured interviews and small focus groups. The findings offer a full understanding of the variables that affect engagement and participation at literary heritage sites amongst a range of participants. The primary contributions of this study are to the development of narrative transportation theory. Narrative-transportation theory has been reconceptualised as cyclical – not linear, as previously suggested – and new elements have been identified, including a post-narrative-transportation effect. Several insights into the supporting theory of authenticity have also emerged; namely, elected authenticity, the role of costumed guides as a tangible hybrid, and a new perspective on the relationship between alienation and the search for the authentic. The development of the dual longitudinal focus-group approach offers a new development and dimension for discussion within the methodology literature. The relevance of these findings extends beyond the literary heritage setting to the wider tourism industry and service sector, where brand stories, identities and engagement with consumers are crucial