2,532 research outputs found
Tourist Activity and Destination Brand Perception: The Case of Cape Town, South Africa
A respondent-completed questionnaire in Cape Town, South Africa was used to check how the activities that tourists enjoyed in Cape Town relate to how they perceive this destination using brand descriptive variables (brand essence, brand image and brand loyalty). 200 questionnaires were received for bivariate and multivariate analyses. This study finds that although tourists found most activities in Cape Town enjoyable; nature and outdoor, food and wine, and shopping enjoyment have more impact in determining the general experience satisfaction of tourists, than beach, and surprisingly, history and cultural activities. Nonetheless, tourists generally perceive Cape Town quite positively. From analyses, this study strongly suggests that the brand position statement for Cape Town should revolve around unique and diverse tourists' attractions in Cape Town, and the memorable experience with which tourists go home from Cape Town. The brand position statement should be linked to Cape Town tourism integrated marketing communications. This study can assist tourism business owners in Cape Town to evaluate and improve tourism offerings to meet the expectations of visitors, contributing to visitors forming a positive perception towards Cape Town. The findings have implications for similar destinations in the developing economies
Optimal design of nanoplasmonic materials using genetic algorithms as a multi-parameter optimization tool
An optimal control approach based on multiple parameter genetic algorithms is
applied to the design of plasmonic nanoconstructs with pre-determined optical
properties and functionalities. We first develop nanoscale metallic lenses that
focus an incident plane wave onto a pre-specified, spatially confined spot. Our
results illustrate the role of symmetry breaking and unravel the principles
that favor dimeric constructs for optimal light localization. Next we design a
periodic array of silver particles to modify the polarization of an incident,
linearly-polarized plane wave in a desired fashion while localizing the light
in space. The results provide insight into the structural features that
determine the birefringence properties of metal nanoparticles and their arrays.
Of the variety of potential applications that may be envisioned, we note the
design of nanoscale light sources with controllable coherence and polarization
properties that could serve for coherent control of molecular or electronic
dynamics in the nanoscale.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures. submitted to J. Chem. Phy
A conceptual framework and exploratory model for health and social intervention acceptability among African adolescents and youth
Intervention acceptability has become an increasingly key consideration in the development, evaluation and implementation of health and social interventions. However, to date this area of investigation has been constrained by the absence of a consistent definition of acceptability, comprehensive conceptual frameworks disaggregating its components, and few reliable assessment measures. This paper aims to contribute to this gap, by proposing a conceptual framework and exploratory model for acceptability with a specific priority population for health and developmental interventions: adolescents and youth in Africa. We document our multi-staged approach to model development, comprising both inductive and deductive components, and both systematic and interpretative review methods. This included thematic analyses of respective acceptability definitions and findings, from 55 studies assessing acceptability of 60 interventions conducted with young people aged 10â24 in (mainly Southern and Eastern) Africa over a decade; a consideration of these findings in relation to Sekhon et al.âs Theoretical Framework of Acceptability (TFA); a cross-disciplinary review of acceptability definitions and models; a review of key health behavioural change models; and expert consultation with interdisciplinary researchers. Our proposed framework incorporates nine component constructs: affective attitude, intervention understanding, perceived positive effects, relevance, perceived social acceptability, burden, ethicality, perceived negative effects and self-efficacy. We discuss the rationale for the inclusion and definition of each component, highlighting key behavioural models that adopt similar constructs. We then extend this framework to develop an exploratory model for acceptability with young people, that links the framework components to each other and to intervention engagement. Acceptability is represented as an emergent property of a complex, adaptive system of interacting components, which can influence user engagement directly and indirectly, and in turn be influenced by user engagement. We discuss opportunities for applying and further refining or developing these models, and their value as a point of reference for the development of acceptability assessment tools
Perceptibility of barriers and threats to successful and sustainable restoration of Heritage Buildings. A perspective of UKâs heritage practitioners
Purpose of this paper
The research set out to examine whether, among heritage practitioners, there is unanimity as well as
notable discrepancies in what they perceive as the barriers and threats to the successful and
sustainable restoration of heritage buildings.
Design/methodology/approach
The study collected data from 87 practitioners. These included professional building surveyors,
conservation officers, designers, main heritage as well as specialist heritage subcontractors. This
heterogeneous sample was subject to the same research instrument. The data generated was chiefly
non-parametric.
Findings
Principally, the notable barriers explored are âPrognosisâintervention barriersâ. These are represented
by a lack of knowledge about the principles of conservation and repair; followed by inconsistent repair
standards. Even among the most dexterous heritage practitioners, the study noted a marked variation
in the prognosis of structural failure as well as routine inconsistencies in the defects diagnosis
methods. These challenges are contemporaneous within the sector as the likes of Historical England,
(as custodians of Ancient Monuments) are continually seeking long term, and in some cases imminent
interventional solutions. It is worrisome, however, to note that the custodians themselves are trapped
in paralysis as the cycle between episodes of intervention become longer. The corollary is that,
throughout the UK, most grade 1, grade II* and Ancient Monument structures are making the ârisk
registerâ: too many buildings, face the threat of being lost foreover.
Research limitations
The study concludes that a wider UK sample will be needed. This is because some of the applied
technologies, preferred by practictioners, are not widely practised, especially in a sector where
planning consent and wholesome depature from established principles, the local siginifcance attached
to buildings are not only inimitable but demand solutions which are intagible and incomparable.
Practical implications
Within the heritage sector, the ongoing concerns about the slow rate of sustainable restoration merits
considerable attention. Likewise, the challenges intrisic in the technical heritage doctrines such as
âreversibilityâ should in turn, be embraced as offering sustainable low carbon retrofit solutions. Indeed,
by putting emphasis on the âreversibilityâ ethos, a multi-perspective analysis unveils the fact that
among practitioners, a sense of optimism is generally lacking. The study concludes that the sector
lacks âcan-doâ attitudes. As a result, it is diffuclt to innovate and to find solutions to the inexorable cycle
of disrepair and the enormous restoration bill, currently estimated to run into several billions of Pound
sterling. Sadly, locked-in with this, is the enormous high carbon foot print due to the ensuing
restoration and repair activity
Protease resistance of ex vivo amyloid fibrils implies the proteolytic selection of disease-associated fibril morphologies
Several studies recently showed that ex vivo fibrils from patient or animal tissue were structurally different from in vitro formed fibrils from the same polypeptide chain. Analysis of serum amyloid A (SAA) and A beta-derived amyloid fibrils additionally revealed that ex vivo fibrils were more protease stable than in vitro fibrils. These observations gave rise to the proteolytic selection hypothesis that suggested that disease-associated amyloid fibrils were selected inside the body by their ability to resist endogenous clearance mechanisms. We here show, for more than twenty different fibril samples, that ex vivo fibrils are more protease stable than in vitro fibrils. These data support the idea of a proteolytic selection of pathogenic amyloid fibril morphologies and help to explain why only few amino acid sequences lead to amyloid diseases, although many, if not all, polypeptide chains can form amyloid fibrils in vitro
Feasibility of detecting single atoms using photonic bandgap cavities
We propose an atom-cavity chip that combines laser cooling and trapping of
neutral atoms with magnetic microtraps and waveguides to deliver a cold atom to
the mode of a fiber taper coupled photonic bandgap (PBG) cavity. The
feasibility of this device for detecting single atoms is analyzed using both a
semi-classical treatment and an unconditional master equation approach.
Single-atom detection seems achievable in an initial experiment involving the
non-deterministic delivery of weakly trapped atoms into the mode of the PBG
cavity.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure
Restricted Isometries for Partial Random Circulant Matrices
In the theory of compressed sensing, restricted isometry analysis has become
a standard tool for studying how efficiently a measurement matrix acquires
information about sparse and compressible signals. Many recovery algorithms are
known to succeed when the restricted isometry constants of the sampling matrix
are small. Many potential applications of compressed sensing involve a
data-acquisition process that proceeds by convolution with a random pulse
followed by (nonrandom) subsampling. At present, the theoretical analysis of
this measurement technique is lacking. This paper demonstrates that the th
order restricted isometry constant is small when the number of samples
satisfies , where is the length of the pulse.
This bound improves on previous estimates, which exhibit quadratic scaling
Instantons and Killing spinors
We investigate instantons on manifolds with Killing spinors and their cones.
Examples of manifolds with Killing spinors include nearly Kaehler 6-manifolds,
nearly parallel G_2-manifolds in dimension 7, Sasaki-Einstein manifolds, and
3-Sasakian manifolds. We construct a connection on the tangent bundle over
these manifolds which solves the instanton equation, and also show that the
instanton equation implies the Yang-Mills equation, despite the presence of
torsion. We then construct instantons on the cones over these manifolds, and
lift them to solutions of heterotic supergravity. Amongst our solutions are new
instantons on even-dimensional Euclidean spaces, as well as the well-known
BPST, quaternionic and octonionic instantons.Comment: 40 pages, 2 figures v2: author email addresses and affiliations adde
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