Risk Perceptions among Religiously Practicing Tourists: Are they Group Differentiated?

Religiousness and religious affiliation as a cultural phenomenon generating an array of travel risk perceptions has attracted only a handful of researchers so far. Using the case of the Ultra Orthodox Haredi community in Israel, we explored how belonging to a specific religious group within this community generates different risk perception constructs. Using the theoretical ‘Value Stretch’ model embedded into a ‘Nominal Group Technique’ methodology, we revealed that, generally, risk perceptions among religiously different Haredi groups are group differentiated. This is a result of various religious, cultural, social, and environmental differences, which characterise each Haredi subgroup. The findings call for further exploration of tourist subgroups’ cultural and religious backgrounds and their impact on shaping travel risk perceptions

BETWEEN MYTHS AND RISK PERCEPTION AMONG RELIGIOUS TOURISTS: THE CASE OF THE HAREDIM

Mitovi o ponašanju turista i načinima na koji percipiraju rizike dva su socio-kulturna konstrukta kojima se istraživanja u turizmu rijetko bave. Usto, nikad se nije istraživao njihov međusobni odnos kod religioznih turista koji su razapeti između svoje vjere u Boga i stvarnih turističkih okolnosti koje zahtijevaju nerizično odgovorno ponašanje. Ovaj rad nastoji ispuniti tu prazninu te istražuje mitove i percepcije rizika kod ultraortodoksnih haredskih Židova. Upotrebom metode nominalne grupe i modela s primjenjivim vrijednostima ovaj rad nastoji utvrditi na koji način ta zajednica percipira najveće opasnosti vezane uz putovanja te u kojoj mjeri te percepcije nalikuju na mitove o ponašanjima vezanima uz putovanja koji su stvoreni u sekularnom izraelskom društvu ili se od njih razlikuju. Rezultati pokazuju da je kod haredskih Židova percepcija opasnosti vezanih uz putovanja obično “vjersko-svjetovni hibrid”. Sastoji se od predodžbi o opasnostima koje prevladavaju među sekularnim turistima, ali i od nih koje proizlaze iz specifičnih socio-ekonomskih i logističkih ograničenja vezanih uz haredski način života.Myths about tourist behavior and tourists’ risk perception are two socio-cultural constructs rarely discussed in tourism research. Furthermore, their interrelations have never been discussed with respect to religious tourists who are caught between their trust in God and real tourist circumstances that require risk-free responsible behavior. This paper attempts to fi ll this gap by studying myths and risk perception of Ultra-Orthodox Jews known as Haredim. Using Nominal Group Technique and the Value Stretch model, the study unveiled this community’s main travel-related risk perceptions and to what extent they differ from or are similar to myths about travel behavior originated by the secular Israeli society. Findings show that travel-related Haredi risk perception is generally a “religio-secular hybrid.” It is composed of risk constructs prevailing among secular tourists but also of those that stem from the unique socio-economic, logistic and lifestyle constraints of the Haredim

Gene Expression Associated With Virus Resistance in Chickens

We used the powerful contemporary genetic technologies of micrarray and Q-PCR to test global gene expression in a unique population of birds after challenge with infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV). Identification of genes that have differential expression between resistant and susceptible birds helps to determine the mechanisms of host resistance to this virus and may be used to select breeding stock for greater innate resistance to viral infection

Genome-wide SNP scan of pooled DNA reveals nonsense mutation in FGF20 in the Scaleless line of featherless chickens

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Scaleless (<it>sc/sc</it>) chickens carry a single recessive mutation that causes a lack of almost all body feathers, as well as foot scales and spurs, due to a failure of skin patterning during embryogenesis. This spontaneous mutant line, first described in the 1950s, has been used extensively to explore the tissue interactions involved in ectodermal appendage formation in embryonic skin. Moreover, the trait is potentially useful in tropical agriculture due to the ability of featherless chickens to tolerate heat, which is at present a major constraint to efficient poultry meat production in hot climates. In the interests of enhancing our understanding of feather placode development, and to provide the poultry industry with a strategy to breed heat-tolerant meat-type chickens (broilers), we mapped and identified the <it>sc</it> mutation.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Through a cost-effective and labour-efficient SNP array mapping approach using DNA from <it>sc/sc</it> and <it>sc/+</it> blood sample pools, we map the <it>sc</it> trait to chromosome 4 and show that a nonsense mutation in <it>FGF20</it> is completely associated with the <it>sc/sc</it> phenotype. This mutation, common to all <it>sc/sc</it> individuals and absent from wild type, is predicted to lead to loss of a highly conserved region of the FGF20 protein important for FGF signalling. <it>In situ</it> hybridisation and quantitative RT-PCR studies reveal that <it>FGF20</it> is epidermally expressed during the early stages of feather placode patterning. In addition, we describe a dCAPS genotyping assay based on the mutation, developed to facilitate discrimination between wild type and <it>sc</it> alleles.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This work represents the first loss of function genetic evidence supporting a role for FGF ligand signalling in feather development, and suggests FGF20 as a novel central player in the development of vertebrate skin appendages, including hair follicles and exocrine glands. In addition, this is to our knowledge the first report describing the use of the chicken SNP array to map genes based on genotyping of DNA samples from pooled whole blood. The identification of the <it>sc</it> mutation has important implications for the future breeding of this potentially useful trait for the poultry industry, and our genotyping assay can facilitate its rapid introgression into production lines.</p

Microsatellite polymorphism between and within broiler populations

Two independent broiler chicken populations were genotyped with microsatellite markers to determine genetic polymorphisms within and among broiler populations. Birds were genotyped with primers from the US Poultry Genome Mapping Kits 1 and 2. The 59 primer sets selected for this study provided wide genomic coverage. All 59 primer sets amplified a polymerase chain reaction product in Population L, whereas 57 primer sets produced a product in Population C. The average allele number per line per microsatellite was 2.8 and 2.9 for Populations L and C, respectively. Considering the 57 primer pairs generating product in both lines, 72.3% of the total alleles were unique to one or the other population. This study illustrates the high polymorphism level in broiler populations of microsatellites amplified from primers developed from Red Jungle Fowl or White Leghorn sequences

Differences in Major Histocompatibility Complex Frequencies after Multitrait, Divergent Selection for Immunocompetence

White Leghorn chickens from lines selected for four immune-response traits (IR lines) were serotyped for B system alloantigens characterizing the haplotypes and genotypes to examine the effect of divergent selection for multitrait immunocompetence on MHC haplotype and genotype frequencies. The selected lines were derived from the Ottawa Strain 7. The selection index included four immunocompetence traits: antibody production against Mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG) and Pasteurella multocida, inflammatory response to phytohemagglutinin, and reticuloendothelial carbon clearance. The four lines include two replicates of high and low multitrait-immunocompetence lines. After four cycles of selection, significant differences (P \u3c .05) in several B system haplotype frequencies were observed, both among IR lines and between the IR lines and the Ottawa Strain 7. The B2 haplotype frequency was greater in all IR lines than in the Ottawa Strain 7. The B21 frequency was less in both high lines than in the Ottawa Strain 7. In comparisons among lines, frequencies of B21 were greater in both replicates of the low lines and the B12 and B19 frequencies were significantly greater (P \u3c .05) in the high lines. A gene substitution model showed effects (P \u3c .10) of specific haplotypes on MG and on the index. The B2 haplotype had a positive effect associated with MG. Haplotype B21 was positively associated with the multitrait index. Haplotype B13 had a negative effect on both MG and the index. Significant differences (P \u3c .01) in genotype frequencies were also noted among the IR lines. Associations between specific MHC haplotypes or genotypes and immune-response traits may offer insight into MHC-mediated mechanisms of disease resistance

Performance comparison of dwarf laying hens segregating for the naked neck gene in temperate and subtropical environments

This study compares laying performances between two environments of dwarf laying hen lines segregating for the naked neck mutation (NA locus), a selected dwarf line of brown-egg layers and its control line. Layers with one of the three genotypes at the NA locus were produced from 11 sires from the control line and 12 sires from the selected line. Two hatches produced 216 adult hens in Taiwan and 297 hens in France. Genetic parameters for laying traits were estimated in each environment and the ranking of sire breeding values was compared between environments. Laying performance was lower, and mortality was higher in Taiwan than in France. The line by environment interaction was highly significant for body weight at 16 weeks, clutch length and egg number, with or without Box-Cox transformation. The selected line was more sensitive to environmental change but in Taiwan it could maintain a higher egg number than the control line. Estimated heritability values in the selected line were higher in France than in Taiwan, but not for all the traits in the control line. The rank correlations between sire breeding values were low within the selected line and slightly higher in the control line. A few sire families showed a good ranking in both environments, suggesting that some families may adapt better to environmental change