From whom to why, understanding customer’s intention with the use of persona

The aim of this paper is to propose an alternative solution to the who segmentation. By using the persona tool, it has been possible to develop a why segmentation based on customers’ intention(s) – motivation(s). Following qualitative interviews, three personas have been created: the first persona is firstly interested by the hotel’s characteristics and services, the second persona is attracted firstly by the place where the hotel is located, and finally, the third persona is looking for both elements. To conclude the paper suggests implications for hotel’s managers and proposes a model regarding the quality of the hotel’s experience

Industrie hôtelière et avis en ligne : Etude des usages dans le but de comprendre les attentes des consommateurs à travers leurs parcours expérientiels

Internet has modified our ways of living and our consumption habits – information, products and services. Nowadays, it is very easy to use the Internet in order to answer to a question or to satisfy a desire. Internet’s users know it and use Internet as a decision helper. The word-of-mouth tends to be digitalized. Today, a future client or a future user doesn’t need to ask its relatives to receive a feedback, he/she can directly go to the Internet to get thousands, millions of users’ comments on their lived experiences. One of the main industries impacted by the digitalized word-of-mouth is the tourism industry. Websites like TripAdvisor have become comments’ windows where users can find the information they need in order to plan their trips and especially make a choice. The Y generation is very interesting regarding the Internet development and will be analysed in a qualitative study. Their members – born between 1977 and 1997 – grown up with the Internet emergence and have taken over its functions methodologies. In this context, companies must consider these new ways of living and consuming

Rotational sensitivity of the "G-Pisa" gyrolaser

G-Pisa is an experiment investigating the possibility to operate a high sensitivity laser gyroscope with area less than $1 \rm m^2$ for improving the performances of the mirrors suspensions of the gravitational wave antenna Virgo. The experimental set-up consists in a He-Ne ring laser with a 4 mirrors square cavity. The laser is pumped by an RF discharge where the RF oscillator includes the laser plasma in order to reach a better stability. The contrast of the Sagnac fringes is typically above 50% and a stable regime has been reached with the laser operating both single mode or multimode. The effect of hydrogen contamination on the laser was also checked. A low-frequency sensitivity, below $1 \rm Hz$, in the range of $10^{-8} \rm {(rad / s)/ \sqrt{Hz}}$ has been measured.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures, presented at the EFTF-IFCS joint conference 200

A tunable rf SQUID manipulated as flux and phase qubit

We report on two different manipulation procedures of a tunable rf SQUID. First, we operate this system as a flux qubit, where the coherent evolution between the two flux states is induced by a rapid change of the energy potential, turning it from a double well into a single well. The measured coherent Larmor-like oscillation of the retrapping probability in one of the wells has a frequency ranging from 6 to 20 GHz, with a theoretically expected upper limit of 40 GHz. Furthermore, here we also report a manipulation of the same device as a phase qubit. In the phase regime, the manipulation of the energy states is realized by applying a resonant microwave drive. In spite of the conceptual difference between these two manipulation procedures, the measured decay times of Larmor oscillation and microwave-driven Rabi oscillation are rather similar. Due to the higher frequency of the Larmor oscillations, the microwave-free qubit manipulation allows for much faster coherent operations.Comment: Proceedings of Nobel Symposium "Qubits for future quantum computers", Goeteborg, Sweden, May 25-28, 2009; to appear in Physica Script

Association of the mtDNA m.4171C>A/MT-ND1 mutation with both optic neuropathy and bilateral brainstem lesions

Background: An increasing number of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutations, mainly in complex I genes, have been associated with variably overlapping phenotypes of Leber’s hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON), mitochondrial encephalomyopathy with stroke-like episodes (MELAS) and Leigh syndrome (LS). We here describe the first case in which the m.4171C>A/MT-ND1 mutation, previously reported only in association with LHON, leads also to a Leigh-like phenotype. Case presentation: A 16-year-old male suffered subacute visual loss and recurrent vomiting and vertigo associated with bilateral brainstem lesions affecting the vestibular nuclei. His mother and one sister also presented subacute visual loss compatible with LHON. Sequencing of the entire mtDNA revealed the homoplasmic m.4171C>A/MT-ND1 mutation, previously associated with pure LHON, on a haplogroup H background. Three additional non-synonymous homoplasmic transitions affecting ND2 (m.4705T>C/MT-ND2 and m.5263C>T/MT-ND2) and ND6 (m.14180T>C/MT-ND6) subunits, well recognized as polymorphisms in other mtDNA haplogroups but never found on the haplogroup H background, were also present. Conclusion: This case widens the phenotypic expression of the rare m.4171C>A/MT-ND1 LHON mutation, which may also lead to Leigh-like brainstem lesions, and indicates that the co-occurrence of other ND non-synonymous variants, found outside of their usual mtDNA backgrounds, may have increased the pathogenic potential of the primary LHON mutation

Repurposing of promoters and enhancers during mammalian evolution.

Promoters and enhancers-key controllers of gene expression-have long been distinguished from each other based on their function. However, recent work suggested that common architectural and functional features might have facilitated the conversion of one type of element into the other during evolution. Here, based on cross-mammalian analyses of epigenome and transcriptome data, we provide support for this hypothesis by detecting 445 regulatory elements with signatures of activity turnover (termed P/E elements). Most events represent transformations of putative ancestral enhancers into promoters, leading to the emergence of species-specific transcribed loci or 5' exons. Distinct GC sequence compositions and stabilizing 5' splicing (U1) regulatory motif patterns may have predisposed P/E elements to regulatory repurposing, and changes in the U1 and polyadenylation signal densities and distributions likely drove the evolutionary activity switches. Our work suggests that regulatory repurposing facilitated regulatory innovation and the origination of new genes and exons during evolution

Valor preditivo da punção liquórica (tap test) na hidrocefalia de pressão normal

Eighteen patients (mean age of 66.5 years) with normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH) underwent a ventriculo-peritoneal shunt surgery. Prior to operation a cerebrospinal fluid tap-test (CSF-TT) was performed with measurements of gait pattern and psychometric functions (memory, visuo-motor speed and visuo-constructive skills) before and after the removal of 50 ml CSFby lumbar puncture (LP). Fifteen patients improved and 3 were unchanged after surgery. Short duration of disease, gait disturbance preceding mental deterioration, wide temporal horns and small sulci on CT-scan were associated with good outcome after shunting. There was a good correlation between the results of CSF-TT and shunt surgery (X² = 4,11 ,phi = 0.48, p < 0.05), with gait test showing highest correlation (r = 0.99, p = 0.01). In conclusion, this version of CSF-TT proved to be an effective test to predict improvement after shunting in patients with NPH.Este estudo visa melhorar o valor diagnóstico e preditivo da punção liquórica (tap test, TT) na hidrocefalia de pressão normal (HPN), particularmente nos casos em que os dados clinicos e de neuroimagem são inconclusivos e não permitem uma decisão cirúrgica segura. Dezoito pacientes (média de idade = 66.5 anos) com HPN foram submetidos a derivação (shunt) ventriculo-peritoneal. O TT era realizado antes da cirurgia, consistindo na análise quantitativa da marcha e funções cognitivas (memória, rapidez perceptivo-motora e habilidade vísuo-construtiva) antes e depois da retirada de 50 ml de liquor via punção lombar. Quinze pacientes melhoraram e 3 permaneceram inalterados após a cirurgia. Curta duração da doença, distúrbio da marcha precedendo a deterioração mental, dilatação dos cornos temporais e apagamento (ou redução) dos sulcos corticais na tomografia computadorizada cerebral estavam associados a bons resultados pós-operatórios. Houve boa correlação entre os resultados do TT e os do shunt (X² = 4.11, phi = 0.48, p < 0.05), principalmente no teste da marcha (r = 0.99, p = 0.01). Esta versão do TT liquórico mostrou-se efetiva na prediçâo da melhora pós-operatória em pacientes com HPN.17918