From Farm-to-Fork to Fork-to-Farmer: advancing Permatourism in North Carolina

The erosion of opportunities afforded by manufacturing and tobacco farming in North Carolina towards the end of the last century has lead politicians to ponder tourism, in lack of other credible economic development plan. Top-down approaches fueled by foreign investment are often preferred, but they have failed to engage locals in the tourism economy. Sometimes, counter-hegemonic grassroots tourism microenterprises strive to co-exist, but structural constraints as well as community heterogeneity impede their success. Permatourism is thus proposed as a new paradigm in tourism development, by standing up for grassroots microentrepreneurship and community voice, while acknowledging the outstanding opportunities afforded by corporate-driven, top-down investment. In addition, I will seek empirical validation of Permatourism in the context of Fork to Farmer, a statewide tourism and community development initiative, featuring celebrated chefs and providers of farm experiences, that follows some of the guidelines and recommendations of this model

Exponential behavior of the interlayer exchange coupling across non-magnetic metallic superlattices

It is shown that the coupling between magnetic layers separated by non-magnetic metallic superlattices can decay exponentially as a function of the spacer thickness $N$, as opposed to the usual $N^{-2}$ decay. This effect is due to the lack of constructive contributions to the coupling from extended states across the spacer. The exponential behavior is obtained by properly choosing the distinct metals and the superlattice unit cell composition.Comment: To appear in Phys. Rev.

The Effect on Foreign Direct Investment of Membership in the European Union

This article explores the impact of EU membership on foreign direct investment (FDI). It analyses empirically how the effects of such deep integration differ from other forms and investigates what drives these effects. Using a structural gravity framework on annual bilateral FDI data for almost every country in the world from 1985 to 2018, we find EU membership leads to about 60 per cent higher FDI investment into the host economy from outside the EU, and around 50 per cent higher intra‐EU FDI. Moreover, we find that the effect of EU membership on FDI is larger than from membership of the North American Free Trade Agreement, the European Free Trade Association and the Southern Common Market, and that the single market is the cornerstone of this differential impact

Entrepreneurship in tourism education: a self-efficacy approach

This paper is a report of a study to measure changes in tourism e-microentrepreneurial self-efficacy (TeMSE) in undergraduate students after attending an introductory survey course on tourism management. Given that high entrepreneurial self-efficacy is associated with enterprise success, enhancing levels of TeMSE is warranted to grow a more just tourism economy in a sector largely controlled by profit-oriented large corporations. This need is stronger among women, who may doubt their entrepreneurial competences due to stereotyped gender-role socialization. Consequently, universities have become aware of the importance of developing entrepreneurial potential, and are focusing on equipping students with skills and abilities necessary to pursue their own microenterprises. Accordingly, we developed a battery of hands-on learning tools to enhance efficacy beliefs in tourism entrepreneurial skills. Analysis of pre-post data suggests improvements only in the Pursuing Innovation dimension of TeMSE. Moreover, unlike previous research, we found no evidence of baseline lower self-efficacy among females

Home-based rehabilitation of the shoulder using auxiliary systems and artificial intelligence: an overview

Advancements in modern medicine have bolstered the usage of home-based rehabilitation services for patients, particularly those recovering from diseases or conditions that necessitate a structured rehabilitation process. Understanding the technological factors that can influence the efficacy of home-based rehabilitation is crucial for optimizing patient outcomes. As technologies continue to evolve rapidly, it is imperative to document the current state of the art and elucidate the key features of the hardware and software employed in these rehabilitation systems. This narrative review aims to provide a summary of the modern technological trends and advancements in home-based shoulder rehabilitation scenarios. It specifically focuses on wearable devices, robots, exoskeletons, machine learning, virtual and augmented reality, and serious games. Through an in-depth analysis of existing literature and research, this review presents the state of the art in home-based rehabilitation systems, highlighting their strengths and limitations. Furthermore, this review proposes hypotheses and potential directions for future upgrades and enhancements in these technologies. By exploring the integration of these technologies into home-based rehabilitation, this review aims to shed light on the current landscape and offer insights into the future possibilities for improving patient outcomes and optimizing the effectiveness of home-based rehabilitation programs.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Toward the operationalization of Tourism e-Microentrepreneurial Self-Efficacy

With the emergence of websites like People-First Tourism, Airbnb and Vayable, there is a growing number of microentrepreneurs selling accommodation, transportation and experiences directly to prospective customers. These individuals are thought to be different from most entrepreneurs because they are known to be motivated by non-economic drivers such as freedom, passion, or lifestyle, rather than solely by a desire for rapid revenue growth. Accordingly, given that tourism microentrepreneurs have different goals as well as business models relative to typical entrepreneurs, we identified the need to adapt entrepreneurial self-efficacy measures to the specific context of tourism e-microentrepreneurship. Accordingly we developed the Tourism e-Microentrepreneurial Self-Efficacy (TeMSE) scale, a 13-item scale that provides insights into individuals’ beliefs in their ability to successfully perform the various microentrepreneurial roles and tasks in the tourism e-business sector

Co-construction of knowledge through Participatory Action Research: People-First Tourism methodology and research tools

People-First Tourism (P1t) research examines the role of tourism microentrepreneurship on equity and sustainability among people with vulnerable livelihoods. Studying the subaltern carries inherent challenges, which can be best addressed through PAR methodologies. Accordingly, P1t research includes tourism microentrepreneurs as partners in the research process so that they participate in a process of conscientization that helps them identify forces undermining their livelihoods. Our involvement with participants develops gradually as we coach them and collect data. This process earn us entry to more in-depth insights and stronger-inference longitudinal findings. In addition, P1t is associated with a social venture that sells experiences provided by participating microentrepreneurs. Consequently, in addition to expected project impacts on policy, P1t is generating direct benefits to the participants’ livelihoods. In this presentation we will discuss the PAR methodology guiding P1t and will train session participants on how to use some of the P1t research tools

Resisting socioeconomic apartheid through tourism microentrepreneurship in Bahía de Banderas — Puerto Vallarta

Despite receiving harsh criticisms from academia, the model of enclave tourism continues to be widely implemented by transnational conglomerates. Accordingly, enclave mass tourism development, materialized in the form of all-inclusive, self-contained resorts, may create apparent socioeconomic apartheid at destinations, through removing locals from tourist spaces where host-guest exchanges are most likely to occur. However, preliminary results from a qualitative study being conducted in Bahía de Banderas — Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, suggest that despite adverse conditions, microentrepreneurs are still able to glean some economic opportunities. Microentrepreneurs must be extremely judicious in how they choose to take advantage of available opportunities; there seems to be a thin line between moderate success on the one hand and total failure on the other, with immediate repercussions in their livelihoods

Interaction of new fluorescent 2-quinolinone and coumarin derivatives with phospholipid monolayers and lipid vesicles

RICI4 - Book of AbstractsFCT-Portugal, QREN and FEDER/COMPETE through CFUM, CQ-UM, Project PTDC/QUI/81238/2006 and Post-doc. grant of Ana S. Abreu (SFRH/BPD/24548/2005