Knowledge transfer in a tourism destination: the effects of a network structure

Tourism destinations have a necessity to innovate to remain competitive in an increasingly global environment. A pre-requisite for innovation is the understanding of how destinations source, share and use knowledge. This conceptual paper examines the nature of networks and how their analysis can shed light upon the processes of knowledge sharing in destinations as they strive to innovate. The paper conceptualizes destinations as networks of connected organizations, both public and private, each of which can be considered as a destination stakeholder. In network theory they represent the nodes within the system. The paper shows how epidemic diffusion models can act as an analogy for knowledge communication and transfer within a destination network. These models can be combined with other approaches to network analysis to shed light on how destination networks operate, and how they can be optimized with policy intervention to deliver innovative and competitive destinations. The paper closes with a practical tourism example taken from the Italian destination of Elba. Using numerical simulations the case demonstrates how the Elba network can be optimized. Overall this paper demonstrates the considerable utility of network analysis for tourism in delivering destination competitiveness.Comment: 15 pages, 2 figures, 2 tables. Forthcoming in: The Service Industries Journal, vol. 30, n. 8, 2010. Special Issue on: Advances in service network analysis v2: addeded and corrected reference

Controlled switching between paramagnetic and diamagnetic Meissner effect in Pb/Co nanocomposites

A hybrid system which consists of a superconducting (SC) Pb film (100 nm thickness) containing $\sim$1 vol% single domain ferromagnetic (FM) Co particles of mean-size $\sim$4.5 nm reveal unusual magnetic properties: (i) a controlled switching between the usual diamagnetic and the unusual paramagnetic Meissner effect in field cooling as well as in zero-field cooling experiments (ii) amplification of the positive magnetization when the sample enters the SC state below T$_c$. These experimental findings can be explained by the formation of spontaneous vortices and the possible alignment of these vortices due to the foregoing alignment of the Co particle FM moments by an external magnetic field.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Network Analysis Methods for Modelling Tourism Inter- Organizational Systems

This chapter discusses the emerging network science approach to the study of complex adaptive systems and applies tools derived from statistical physics to the analysis of tourism destinations. The authors provide a brief history of network science and the characteristics of a network as well as different models such as small world and scale free networks, and dynamic properties such as resilience and information diffusion. The Italian resort island of Elba is used as a case study allowing comparison of the communication network of tourist organizations and the virtual network formed by the websites of these organizations. The study compares the parameters of these networks to networks from the literature and to randomly created networks. The analyses include computer simulations to assess the dynamic properties of these networks. The results indicate that the Elba tourism network has a low degree of collaboration between members. These findings provide a quantitative measure of network performance. In general, the application of network science to the study of social systems offers opportunities for better management of tourism destinations and complex social systems

High coercivity induced by mechanical milling in cobalt ferrite powders

In this work we report a study of the magnetic behavior of ferrimagnetic oxide CoFe2O4 treated by mechanical milling with different grinding balls. The cobalt ferrite nanoparticles were prepared using a simple hydrothermal method and annealed at 500oC. The non-milled sample presented coercivity of about 1.9 kOe, saturation magnetization of 69.5 emu/g, and a remanence ratio of 0.42. After milling, two samples attained coercivity of 4.2 and 4.1 kOe, and saturation magnetization of 67.0 and 71.4 emu/g respectively. The remanence ratio MR/MS for these samples increase to 0.49 and 0.51, respectively. To investigate the influence of the microstructure on the magnetic behavior of these samples, we used X-ray powder diffraction (XPD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM). The XPD analysis by the Williamson-Hall plot was used to estimate the average crystallite size and strain induced by mechanical milling in the samples

Dynamics of vortex fronts in type II superconductors

UBL - phd migration 201

Dynamics and stability of vortex-antivortex fronts in type II superconductors

The dynamics of vortices in type II superconductors exhibit a variety of patterns whose origin is poorly understood. This is partly due to the nonlinearity of the vortex mobility which gives rise to singular behavior in the vortex densities. Such singular behavior complicates the application of standard linear stability analysis. In this paper, as a first step towards dealing with these dynamical phenomena, we analyze the dynamical stability of a front between vortices and antivortices. In particular we focus on the question of whether an instability of the vortex front can occur in the absence of a coupling to the temperature. Borrowing ideas developed for singular bacterial growth fronts, we perform an explicit linear stability analysis which shows that, for sufficiently large front velocities and in the absence of coupling to the temperature, such vortex fronts are stable even in the presence of in-plane anisotropy. This result differs from previous conclusions drawn on the basis of approximate calculations for stationary fronts. As our method extends to more complicated models, which could include coupling to the temperature or to other fields, it provides the basis for a more systematic stability analysis of nonlinear vortex front dynamics.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figure

Training-induced inversion of spontaneous exchange bias field on La1.5Ca0.5CoMnO6

In this work we report the synthesis and structural, electronic and magnetic properties of La1.5Ca0.5CoMnO6 double-perovskite. This is a re-entrant spin cluster material which exhibits a non-negligible negative exchange bias effect when it is cooled in zero magnetic field from an unmagnetized state down to low temperature. X-ray powder diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and magnetometry results indicate mixed valence state at Co site, leading to competing magnetic phases and uncompensated spins at the magnetic interfaces. We compare the results for this Ca-doped material with those reported for the resemblant compound La1.5Sr0.5CoMnO6, and discuss the much smaller spontaneous exchange bias effect observed for the former in terms of its structural and magnetic particularities. For La1.5Ca0.5CoMnO6, when successive magnetization loops are carried, the spontaneous exchange bias field inverts its sign from negative to positive from the first to the second measurement. We discuss this behavior based on the disorder at the magnetic interfaces, related to the presence of a glassy phase. This compound also exhibits a large conventional exchange bias, for which there is no sign inversion of the exchange bias field for consecutive cycles

Exchange-spring behavior in bimagnetic CoFe2O4/CoFe2 nanocomposite

In this work we report a study of the magnetic behavior of ferrimagnetic oxide CoFe2O4 and ferrimagnetic oxide/ferromagnetic metal CoFe2O4/CoFe2 nanocomposites. The latter compound is a good system to study hard ferrimagnet/soft ferromagnet exchange coupling. Two steps were used to synthesize the bimagnetic CoFe2O4/CoFe2 nanocomposites: (i) first preparation of CoFe2O4 nanoparticles using the a simple hydrothermal method and (ii) second reduction reaction of cobalt ferrite nanoparticles using activated charcoal in inert atmosphere and high temperature. The phase structures, particle sizes, morphology, and magnetic properties of CoFe2O4 nanoparticles have been investigated by X-Ray diffraction (XRD), Mossbauer spectroscopy (MS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) with applied field up to 3.0 kOe at room temperature and 50K. The mean diameter of CoFe2O4 particles is about 16 nm. Mossbauer spectra reveal two sites for Fe3+. One site is related to Fe in an octahedral coordination and the other one to the Fe3+ in a tetrahedral coordination, as expected for a spinel crystal structure of CoFe2O4. TEM measurements of nanocomposite show the formation of a thin shell of CoFe2 on the cobalt ferrite and indicate that the nanoparticles increase to about 100 nm. The magnetization of nanocomposite showed hysteresis loop that is characteristic of the exchange spring systems. A maximum energy product (BH)max of 1.22 MGOe was achieved at room temperature for CoFe2O4/CoFe2 nanocomposites, which is about 115% higher than the value obtained for CoFe2O4 precursor. The exchange-spring interaction and the enhancement of product (BH)max in nanocomposite CoFe2O4/CoFe2 have been discussed.Comment: 9 pages, 10 figure