E-service failure and recovery strategy in times of crisis: effect on peer attitudes, expectation and future intention

JEL classification: M0This study analyses the impact of the critical issues on Travel and Tourism e-service failure and explores specifically how peer-to-peer accommodation business can cope with the potential collapse in demand caused by global crises. The purpose is to examine the impact of peer-to-peer accommodation’s recovery offer on revisiting intentions and relationships termination in light of justice-, fairness-, and attribution theory. In this vein, the main aim is to develop a theoretical model which is underpinned by an understanding of the consequences of e-service failure and the effectiveness of recovery strategies for business competitiveness. To gauge peer perceptions of peer-to-peer accommodations, we employed a mixed-method approach. Alongside 17 interviews with peers and industry experts, a survey involving 404 peer-to-peer accommodation users was conducted. Structural equation modelling was applied to unravel the intricate relationships and influences at play. The findings suggest that managers and service providers need to focus on timely recovery and building stronger relationships with peers, to increase repurchase intention and post-recovery satisfaction and to better front the crises times. This could be implemented efficiently via the platform of social media. This study offers specific theoretical and practical implications by providing a fair recovery strategy to result in the satisfaction of both parties.Università degli Studi di Salerno within the CRUI-CARE Agreement

Digital transformation and tourist experience co-design: Big social data for planning cultural tourism

Digital transformation has completely changed the demand/offering interaction in the travel industry, as well as largely affecting the customer journey. In this direction, “big social data” and user-generated content have become key sources of well-timed and rich knowledge supporting data driven decision approaches addressed the managing of complex relationships. Based on this theoretical framework, the paper suggests how to apply “big social data” in the tourist experience co-design, providing an increased value for the visitors and a better decision making approach for managers. In this respect, the field analysis concentrated specifically on user-generated content regarding the Pompeii Archaeological Site (P.A.S.), to trace valuable insights for the tourist experience. Based on double stage of research – netnographic analysis and a supplementary online survey – the study aimed to detect: (a) tourist perception on the P.A.S.; (b) random chat on the part of internet users (tourists and other browsers, not necessarily visitors) on the topic of the P.A.S.; (c) the main characteristics of the P.A.S. that attract internet user attention; (d) the main topics debated by influencers/opinion leaders managing online discussions on the P.A.S. managerial and theoretical implications were investigated highlighting the main limitations of the study as well

The AMT1 Arginine Methyltransferase Gene Is Important for Plant Infection and Normal Hyphal Growth in Fusarium graminearum

Arginine methylation of non-histone proteins by protein arginine methyltransferase (PRMT) has been shown to be important for various biological processes from yeast to human. Although PRMT genes are well conserved in fungi, none of them have been functionally characterized in plant pathogenic ascomycetes. In this study, we identified and characterized all of the four predicted PRMT genes in Fusarium graminearum, the causal agent of Fusarium head blight of wheat and barley. Whereas deletion of the other three PRMT genes had no obvious phenotypes, the Δamt1 mutant had pleiotropic defects. AMT1 is a predicted type I PRMT gene that is orthologous to HMT1 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The Δamt1 mutant was slightly reduced in vegetative growth but normal in asexual and sexual reproduction. It had increased sensitivities to oxidative and membrane stresses. DON mycotoxin production and virulence on flowering wheat heads also were reduced in the Δamt1 mutant. The introduction of the wild-type AMT1 allele fully complemented the defects of the Δamt1 mutant and Amt1-GFP fusion proteins mainly localized to the nucleus. Hrp1 and Nab2 are two hnRNPs in yeast that are methylated by Hmt1 for nuclear export. In F. graminearum, AMT1 is required for the nuclear export of FgHrp1 but not FgNab2, indicating that yeast and F. graminearum differ in the methylation and nucleo-cytoplasmic transport of hnRNP components. Because AMT2 also is a predicted type I PRMT with limited homology to yeast HMT1, we generated the Δamt1 Δamt2 double mutants. The Δamt1 single and Δamt1 Δamt2 double mutants had similar defects in all the phenotypes assayed, including reduced vegetative growth and virulence. Overall, data from this systematic analysis of PRMT genes suggest that AMT1, like its ortholog in yeast, is the predominant PRMT gene in F. graminearum and plays a role in hyphal growth, stress responses, and plant infection

Chronic Viral Infection and Primary Central Nervous System Malignancy

Primary central nervous system (CNS) tumors cause significant morbidity and mortality in both adults and children. While some of the genetic and molecular mechanisms of neuro-oncogenesis are known, much less is known about possible epigenetic contributions to disease pathophysiology. Over the last several decades, chronic viral infections have been associated with a number of human malignancies. In primary CNS malignancies, two families of viruses, namely polyomavirus and herpesvirus, have been detected with varied frequencies in a number of pediatric and adult histological tumor subtypes. However, establishing a link between chronic viral infection and primary CNS malignancy has been an area of considerable controversy, due in part to variations in detection frequencies and methodologies used among researchers. Since a latent viral neurotropism can be seen with a variety of viruses and a widespread seropositivity exists among the population, it has been difficult to establish an association between viral infection and CNS malignancy based on epidemiology alone. While direct evidence of a role of viruses in neuro-oncogenesis in humans is lacking, a more plausible hypothesis of neuro-oncomodulation has been proposed. The overall goals of this review are to summarize the many human investigations that have studied viral infection in primary CNS tumors, discuss potential neuro-oncomodulatory mechanisms of viral-associated CNS disease and propose future research directions to establish a more firm association between chronic viral infections and primary CNS malignancies

Demographic, clinical and antibody characteristics of patients with digital ulcers in systemic sclerosis: data from the DUO Registry

OBJECTIVES: The Digital Ulcers Outcome (DUO) Registry was designed to describe the clinical and antibody characteristics, disease course and outcomes of patients with digital ulcers associated with systemic sclerosis (SSc). METHODS: The DUO Registry is a European, prospective, multicentre, observational, registry of SSc patients with ongoing digital ulcer disease, irrespective of treatment regimen. Data collected included demographics, SSc duration, SSc subset, internal organ manifestations, autoantibodies, previous and ongoing interventions and complications related to digital ulcers. RESULTS: Up to 19 November 2010 a total of 2439 patients had enrolled into the registry. Most were classified as either limited cutaneous SSc (lcSSc; 52.2%) or diffuse cutaneous SSc (dcSSc; 36.9%). Digital ulcers developed earlier in patients with dcSSc compared with lcSSc. Almost all patients (95.7%) tested positive for antinuclear antibodies, 45.2% for anti-scleroderma-70 and 43.6% for anticentromere antibodies (ACA). The first digital ulcer in the anti-scleroderma-70-positive patient cohort occurred approximately 5 years earlier than the ACA-positive patient group. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides data from a large cohort of SSc patients with a history of digital ulcers. The early occurrence and high frequency of digital ulcer complications are especially seen in patients with dcSSc and/or anti-scleroderma-70 antibodies

Aggression, anxiety and vocalizations in animals: GABA A and 5-HT anxiolytics

A continuing challenge for preclinical research on anxiolytic drugs is to capture the affective dimension that characterizes anxiety and aggression, either in their adaptive forms or when they become of clinical concern. Experimental protocols for the preclinical study of anxiolytic drugs typically involve the suppression of conditioned or unconditioned social and exploratory behavior (e.g., punished drinking or social interactions) and demonstrate the reversal of this behavioral suppression by drugs acting on the benzodiazepine-GABA A complex. Less frequently, aversive events engender increases in conditioned or unconditioned behavior that are reversed by anxiolytic drugs (e.g., fear-potentiated startle). More recently, putative anxiolytics which target 5-HT receptor subtypes produced effects in these traditional protocols that often are not systematic and robust. We propose ethological studies of vocal expressions in rodents and primates during social confrontations, separation from social companions, or exposure to aversive environmental events as promising sources of information on the affective features of behavior. This approach focusses on vocal and other display behavior with clear functional validity and homology. Drugs with anxiolytic effects that act on the benzodiazepine-GABA A receptor complex and on 5-HT 1A receptors systematically and potently alter specific vocalizations in rodents and primates in a pharmacologically reversible manner; the specificity of these effects on vocalizations is evident due to the effectiveness of low doses that do not compromise other physiological and behavioral processes. Antagonists at the benzodiazepine receptor reverse the effects of full agonists on vocalizations, particularly when these occur in threatening, startling and distressing contexts. With the development of antagonists at 5-HT receptor subtypes, it can be anticipated that similar receptor-specificity can be established for the effects of 5-HT anxiolytics.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/46351/1/213_2005_Article_BF02245590.pd

SEGMENTATION BY CHARACTER TRAITS: A PRELIMINARY EMPIRICAL ASSESSMENT FOR TOURISM SECTOR PRODUCTS

When we speak of mass consumption nowadays, in actual fact, we mean a cultural sphere capable of generating a specific perspective of the world, a system of values and a framework of personalities, peculiar to the functions of the system of demand; this implies going beyond the idea of the consumer “as a product of and from the organisation”, so as to reflect on the concept of individual identity, in that it is a relevant component in interpreting consumer behaviour, within an interacting circuit. Of course, as has been widely demonstrated, research of consumer behaviour, i.e. the personality, appears to guide what he consumes. However, this variable as far as the context of behaviour is concerned, cannot be separated from the degree of choice exerted that derives from individual necessity to survive in a specific context-environment, and the part, on the contrary, connected to characteristics which are more intrinsic and personal, but also more stable over time. In actual fact, distinctive traits organically structured, or, in other words, natural distinctive features that cannot be easily modified for example in a person’s character. In particular, character traits specify and distinguish people, constituting a “basic item”, an original and congenital structure or framework that cannot be altered by individual choice. Therefore, consumer behaviour can be considered the essence of three interacting spheres: 1) natural distinctive features of the individual, which are not easily altered; 2) personality, the complex of mental, moral and intellectual qualities that distinguish the actor; 3) the social environment, in which a person lives. Amongst these, distinctive traits elements capable of inspiring more stable consumer behaviour emerge. Accordingly, the results of our research establish that since characteristic traits represent an objective limit, intrinsic to the actor’s personality as regards choice, they constitute a fixed sphere, and, as such can more or less guarantee a sort of continuity in consumer behaviour. Consequently, by identifying distinctive characteristic traits, peculiar to the consumer, (e.g. Jung Test about personality) permanent features of mass consumption can be defined, or, in other words, consumer behaviour that is less discontinuous over time and therefore able to generate a lasting and defendable competitive advantage for the organisations. During the field research phase we have assessed the conceptual validity of our model identifying tourist behaviour as an observed variable and its characteristic traits, duly classified, as a latent variable. Applied research will be developed with specific reference to tourism service products since they are the ultimate expression of life style, in the face of which, it is possible to identify an individual generating characteristic trait

The impact of GDPR on brands responsibility. Between a "new normal" customer-centricity and the risk of reputational damage

Even though privacy and security of customers’ private data have always been major priorities for the firms, the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation came up with new and significant challenges. In this light, by analysing the key features, a stronger brand responsibility and above all a “response-ability” are suggested in ensuring that customers’ data are treated with the respect and trust they deserve, with evident effects on customer care and brand reputation