A Review on Modern Distributed Computing Paradigms: Cloud Computing, Jungle Computing and Fog Computing

The distributed computing attempts to improve performance in large-scale computing problems by resource sharing. Moreover, rising low-cost computing power coupled with advances in communications/networking and the advent of big data, now enables new distributed computing paradigms such as Cloud, Jungle and Fog computing.Cloud computing brings a number of advantages to consumers in terms of accessibility and elasticity. It is based on centralization of resources that possess huge processing power and storage capacities. Fog computing, in contrast, is pushing the frontier of computing away from centralized nodes to the edge of a network, to enable computing at the source of the data. On the other hand, Jungle computing includes a simultaneous combination of clusters, grids, clouds, and so on, in order to gain maximum potential computing power.To understand these new buzzwords, reviewing these paradigms together can be useful. Therefore, this paper describes the advent of new forms of distributed computing. It provides a definition for Cloud, Jungle and Fog computing, and the key characteristics of them are determined. In addition, their architectures are illustrated and, finally, several main use cases are introduced

How to prevent tourists from canceling when a disaster hits the destination: promising measures, crisis-resistant target segment and leveraging peer-to-peer networks.

Natural disasters and terrorism that hit tourist destinations can negatively affect tourism demand. The drop in tourism demand following crises is specifically critical to tourism dependent economies. To reduce the negative effect of such events, preventative measures have to be implemented by tourist destinations. Using open-ended questions, the present study directly asks tourists what measures would prevent them from canceling in the event of an earthquake or a terrorist attack hitting their planned destination. From the wide range of reported preventative measures, several broad themes emerged, the two most frequent of which are: guarantee of safety and provision of up-to-date safety information. Certain markets, such as the Visiting Friends and Relatives Market, emerge as being more “immune” against cancellations in the aftermath of a natural disaster than other segments, making them particular suitable market segments to target during the destination recovery stage. The qualitative setting led to new avenues for destination recovery including involvement of residents in destination recovery using peer-to-peer networks

Residents open their homes to tourists when disaster strikes

Residents are key stakeholders of tourism destinations. Yet, to date, no study has investigated if and how residents can contribute to destination recovery when a disaster hits. The emergence of peer-to-peer networks offers an efficient platform for residents to open their homes to displaced tourists. Such help is particularly critical if key tourist infrastructure is severely damaged. But are residents willing to open their homes and help in other ways? The present study adopts a scenario-based survey research design, including Australians who live in tourism regions and Australian tourists. Results indicate that (1) segments of residents willing to support the tourism industry in disaster situations exist, and (2) tourists are willing to accept residents’ offers of support. The more immediate the emergency, the higher the willingness to help and accept help. These insights point to the potential of involving residents in destination recovery efforts

Current state and development of Airbnb accommodation offer in 167 countries

The paper examines the size, structure, distribution, dynamics, and use of Airbnb accommodation offer in 167 countries. Web-scrapping Airbnb website in fall 2018 and 2019 resulted in a datasets on 5.7 million listings, including 3.6 million active listings which have been rented out (reviewed) during the last year. Listings are divided into four groups based on types of properties and numbers of offers hosted by one platform user. The results show that the platform is most commonly used to rent out entire apartments by multi-hosts. The numbers of Airbnb listings in countries depend on the level of economic development and size of inbound tourism. One third of Airbnb supply is located in big cities, another one third near seacoasts. Airbnb offer grows most quickly in its relatively new markets, while in primary urban destinations of some European countries it is stable or decreases. The offer of professional hosts is growing more quickly than of peer-to-peer hosts. Differences in the frequency of use and prices of listings exaggerate the geographical unevenness in benefits and impacts of Airbnb activity. Airbnb supply is not a uniform segment of tourist accommodation and its effects on destinations should be considered in relation to territorial context

Clinical features of pregnant women in Iran who died due to COVID-19

Background: To evaluate the clinical presentation of pregnant women in Iran who died due to COVID-19. Methods: Data were evaluated of pregnant women who died following a laboratory diagnosis of COVID-19. The data were obtained from electronic medical records. Additionally, a questionnaire was completed for each patient, including demographic, clinical, laboratorial, imaging, and treatment data. In case of missing information, a member of the research team contacted the first-degree relatives via phone. Results: Of 32 pregnant women who tested positive for COVID-19, 15 were enrolled into the study (mean age 30.0 ± 5.0 years). The mean time from first symptoms to death was 12 ± 7.0 days. Pre-existing comorbidities were seen in six patients. The main presentations at admission were fatigue and coughing, but most of the women had a fever below 38 °C. Increased white blood cell count and neutrophils were noticeable. A significant drop of saturation of O2 with ground glass and consolidation seen in both lungs were prominent. The most common complications were acute respiratory distress syndrome followed by respiratory failure. Conclusion: Computed tomography findings, O2 pressure, and regular blood assessment may be considered suitable indicators for the surveillance of patients. © 2020 International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetric

How handwriting reduces negative online ratings

This research investigates whether handwriting during the tourism experience reduces subsequent negative and extreme online rating scores. We portray that handwriting, due to a more deeply rooted elaboration of information, activates emotional empathy. Study 1, a field experiment in the hospitality context, suggests that handwriting reduces the extremeness of subsequent online rating scores. Study 2 compares handwritten vs. typed comments and complements the initial findings by clarifying the mediating role of emotional empathy on this relationship. We discuss the boundary conditions for the effect and offer practical implications on how to nudge tourists to reduce negative online rating scores. Hotel operators should use their enhanced emotional bonding with tourists when competing with peer-to-peer operators

Essays on reducing vulnerability of tourism destinations to unpredictable crises

Tourism destinations are vulnerable to the occurrence of unpredictable critical events. Critical events range from natural to human-induced events and are increasing in number. Tourism destinations are vulnerable because unpredictable critical events cause drops in tourism demand. Drops in tourist numbers lead to loss of revenue for the affected destinations and negatively impact on tourism businesses and the local community. Therefore, developing strategies to reduce the vulnerability of tourism destinations to crises is critical. Despite a growing body of work on tourism crisis management, little research has focused on developing marketing strategies towards developing resilience. Previous research introduces measures to strengthen tourists’ confidence to travel following a critical event. However, much of this work is descriptive in nature. The tourism crisis management literature highlights the importance of collaboration of different tourism stakeholders. Yet, no study has investigated involvement of residents in tourism crisis management. The current PhD research consists of a number of studies. The first study proposes targeting tourists who are more resistant to crises as a proactive strategy to reduce crisis-vulnerability of tourism destinations. Results of the first study indicate that crisis resistant tourists exist and have distinct characteristics which can be used for targeting them. Results from a second study – which investigates the effectiveness of measures that destinations can take to prevent cancelations – show that the effectiveness of measures varies across different kinds of crises and tourists. In a third study, the potential of peer-to-peer networks to help out in times of a crisis hitting a tourist destination is investigated. Results indicate that residents of tourism destinations are willing to help in times of crisis by opening up their homes and accommodating tourists, especially in the initial emergency situation. There is also evidence of tourists being willing to accept such offers made by residents. Overall it can be concluded from all studies conducted as part of this PhD that tourism destinations can adopt a range of strategies to protect themselves from demand drops following crises. The identified strategies have the potential to help tourism destinations to be more resilient. Targeting crisis-resistant tourists and shaping networks of supportive residents to help with the provision of effective prevention measures are strategies which can reduce and possibly prevent negative consequences of tourism crises

Preventing tourists from canceling in times of crises

Tourism destinations experiencing a crisis are vulnerable to trip cancelations and sudden drops in demand. Little is known about trip cancelations and how to prevent them. Specifically, it is unclear whether the effectiveness of different prevention approaches varies across crises and tourists segments. Using a conjoint design, the present study investigates the comparative stated effectiveness of different prevention approaches in situations where different crises hit a destination. Results indicate that certain prevention actions indeed have the potential to reduce cancelations. The most effective approach is change of accommodation-especially so when combined with an upgrade-followed by information updates and finally the provision of security devices or security staff. The effectiveness of approaches varies across tourists and crises

Crisis-resistant tourists

Despite the negative impact of unexpected events-such as 9/11 and the Global Financial Crisis-on the tourism industry, and despite substantial research into managing crises in tourism, little is known about tourists who are most needed in such situations: crisis-resistant tourists. In this study, crisis-resistant tourists are defined and theoretically conceptualized. Empirical results indicate that segments of tourists resistant to external or internal crisis events indeed exist and-as theoretically postulated-demonstrate higher levels of risk propensity and resistance to change. In contrast, risk shifting is not associated with being a crisis-resistant tourist. An initial profile of crisis-resistant tourists is provided, offering guidance to the tourism industry on how to identify and communicate with this highly attractive market segment