An analysis of culture as a tourism commodity

The notion of culture has been the object of multidisciplinary studies attempting, with difficulty, to define this polyhedral social concept expressed in symbolic representations. Culture has a significant role in tourism functioning as an internationally promoted commodity, a role that has often been the subject of debates among academics concerned about the vilification of culture’s primary social role. This article analyzes the complexity of the concept of culture in combination with the characteristics of a product, as conceived in marketing, focusing on the levels of product theory from Kotler and Armstrong. The research is based on secondary data analysis in the discussion. This incorporates culture’s symbolic representations, its tangibility and intangibility, its multiplicity of interpretations and meanings, the ambiguous status of ownership by the buyer and its versatility to satisfy consumers’ needs while functioning as a unit of identification for a society. As a product culture presents a unique configuration with a construct of four different dimensions highlighting the need for special consideration in culture’s marketing process. The research could also be considered as a platform for future investigations on the subject and as supporting material in education

Limited life item management

Plans are available for age-sensitive hardware management. Control plan identifies shelf life or age control requirements for materials considered age sensitive, use sensitive, or time service or shelf life controlled items, and describes methods of arriving at age controls through adherence to detailed specifications

A Cross-Cultural and Cross-Gender Analysis of Compulsive Buying Behaviour's Core Dimensions

This study seeks to address the disagreement in the literature about compulsive buying behavior's (CBB) dimensional structure and tests for cross-cultural and cross-gender invariance in young British, Chinese, Czech and Spanish consumers using structural equation modelling. The results show that CBB has two compulsive dimensions: Compulsive Purchasing (CP), and Self-control Impaired Spending (SIS). These dimensions are cross-culturally invariant, although the influence of SIS on CBB is higher in more developed countries, particularly among females. The confirmation of the SIS dimension and the external validity of the CBB construct established through the cross-cultural invariance in CBB dimensions indicate that screening tools should be revised accordingly. The SIS dimension has possibly been previously misinterpreted as impulsive and/or as spontaneous buying and may explain the higher incidence of CBB among female consumers

Rethinking workplace learning in the digital world: a case study of Open Badges

The purpose of this collective case study was to explore digital badging in educational institutions as support for K-12 practitioners struggling to integrate technology into pedagogical practices. The researcher conducted a mixed-method study that captured perceptions about digital badges and follow-up interviews with selected badge users to explore their viewpoints further. The goal was to generate a detailed case description, identify participants’ self-assessment of technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK), and define those attributes that are deemed important or not useful to Open Badge Course earners that participated in the study. Ten individuals from a Northern California region completed the survey and four participated in an interview process. Results from the survey found that participants highly valued the convenience, accessibility, and ability to self-pace afforded by the course. They valued being able to set their own learning goals and to begin and work at their own level of expertise. The game-like features and personal achievement were motivating factors to earn and complete badges. The course experience allowed time for cumulative study to learn and implement technology into teaching. The course experience supported their understanding of technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK). The interviews provided detailed information regarding perceptions and experience with the Open Badge Course. Six themes emerged from thematic analysis of the interview data: affordances of course content and course design, recommendations to sustain and improve the course, challenges of course content and course design, ways experience impacted/changed teaching, motivation for learning, and ways experience impacted/changed learning. Participant responses indicated that modifications were necessary for the course to be effective. The areas of challenge included: a lack of timely assessment of learning, constraints from rigor and management of badge levels, lack of relevant or meaningful badges related to the grade level taught, and difficulties with mechanical/operational procedures to access and complete required activities. Facing obstacles are not unique to digital badge project developers. The challenges identified in this collective case study provide valuable information for developers in redesigning future iterations of digital badge systems. Recommendations include how development of similar systems for informal professional learning within formal institutions of learning can be effective

Genetic evaluation of calving traits in the United Kingdom

The consequences of complications during calving are currently costing the UK dairy cattle industry approximately £110 for a calving of moderate difficulty and £400 for one that is severe. With incidences of difficult first calvings reaching 24% and 4% for a moderate and severe difficult calving respectively, reducing calving complications would be of great benefit to the UK dairy cattle industry. This PhD evaluates (i) the importance, (ii) the most optimal way, and (iii) the potential consequences of genetically selecting for two main traits associated with calving complications, calving ease (CE) and stillbirth (SB). For this, approximately 50.000 first parity and 300.000 later parity national calving data records were kindly provided by two major milk recording organisations in the UK. The work carried out shows that detrimental effects following a difficult first calving are long-lasting as subsequent performance of both the dam and the calf involved is worsened. Fertility of the dam is negatively affected by a difficult calving resulting in an increased calving interval and decreased ability to conceive. A reduction in milk production of a veterinary assisted dam, compared to a non-assisted dam, was detected in the first part of lactation. Veterinary assisted born calves showed a significantly lower milk yield, compared to farmer assisted calves, throughout their first lactation as adult heifers suggesting that the physiological effects, or causes underlying a difficult birth, are long lived. The study advises that genetic parameters of calving traits are to be estimated with an extended sire multi-trait model (accuracy vs. practicality). On average, direct and maternal heritabilities for calving traits are low. A highly heritable indicator trait such as gestation length (GL) can aid in the estimation of genetic parameters for CE and SB although genetic correlations of these traits with GL are moderate. A significant negative genetic direct-maternal correlation was found for CE in first parity recommending farmers to consider both direct and maternal genetic merit for CE when making a selection decision. CE and SB are highly positively correlated traits. GL is maternally correlated to SB in first parity and directly to CE in later parities, both correlations are positive. Estimated genetic correlations with other important traits in dairy cattle breeding show that CE and GL are both directly and maternally related to important selection traits which need to be taken into account if implementation into breeding indices occurs. Results advise limiting the use of GL to benefit the prediction of parameters for low heritable calving traits rather than selecting on GL itself. Genetic correlations suggest that individuals born easily are genetically prone to high milk yield and have reduced fertility in first lactation. Difficult calving heifers are likely to be associated with being wide and deep and high producing animals with a reduced ability to subsequently conceive. Individuals that are born relatively early are associated with good genetic merit for milk production. And finally, individuals carrying their young longer are genetically associated with being wide and large animals that were born relatively early themselves. Lastly, an extension of the current univariate genomic model to a bivariate model, which allows for a possible genetic direct-maternal covariance, shows that improvement in accuracy of genomic breeding values can be gained from use of a bivariate genomic model for maternal traits such as CE. Further development of the model is however recommended prior to the publication of genomic proofs for CE or any other maternal trait. Genetic selection can serve as a tool in the reduction of difficult calvings. The results of this thesis serve to let this happen in a controlled and sustainable manner