International and domestic tourists' "a priori" and "in situ" image differences and the impact of direct destination experience on destination image: the case of Linz, Austria

A profound understanding of destination image and its determinants is of significance for destinations aiming to effectively position themselves in the tourism market. However, existing research on destination image formation has mainly focused on the “a priori” and “a posteriori” stages and paid only limited attention to the “in situ” stage. To fill in this gap, this study examines the effect direct destination experience and visitors’ nationality (domestic vs. international), have on both “pre-travel” and “in-situ” cognitive and affective elements of image. The study was conducted using 400 international and domestic visitors to Linz, Austria. The findings indicate that there are significant differences in the way domestic and international tourists perceive Linz as a tourist destination both prior and during the actual experience. The study also provides empirical evidence that direct destination experience plays a major role in destination image formation, irrespectively of individual’s nationality. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are also discussed

The impact of visitors' experience intensity on in-situ destination image formation

Purpose – This study aims to shed some light on destination image formation by exploring whether image is altered as a result of tourists’ experience intensity with a destination. Design/methodology/approach – A visitor experience intensity index was developed based on the amount of events and attractions visitors have already attended/visited or were planning to attend/visit during their stay. The data was collected using self-administered questionnaires and the total sample consisted of 400 tourists in Linz, Austria. Principal Component Analysis, MANOVA and Discriminant Analysis were applied to analyse the data. Findings – The findings indicate that the higher the experience intensity score, the more favourable the cognitive and affective evaluations of destination image, indicating that tourists’ experiences are central in the formation of the in-situ image. Research limitations/implications – The ‘level of psychological involvement’ with the destination should be considered by future studies, as this paper focused on level of experience intensity. Practical implications – This paper supports the effective and innovative solutions for place marketing and branding of tourist destinations such as promoting experiences that further enhance destination image. The study also assists places with bad reputation or negative image, like the selected case study (Linz, Austria), in repositioning themselves as attractive experience providers. Originality/value – The paper’s originality lies in applying ‘mere exposure theory’ in tourism and using an innovative way of measuring tourists’ experience through an intensity index. The study addresses a significant, but still neglected image determinant, that of experience intensity, contributing to a better understanding of the in situ destination image formation process

Роля на 18F-FDG ПЕТ/КТ в диагностичния алгоритъм при злокачествените епителни тумори на глава и шия

Туморите на глава и шия са хетерогенна група с разнообразна локализация. Епителните тумори на глава и шия, от които 90% са с плоскоклетъчна хистология, имат сходно развитие, което определя еднотипния диагностичен подход при тях. Целта на настоящия обзор е да направи преглед на литературните данни, касаещи ролята на 18F-FDG ПЕТ/КТ в диагностичния алгоритъм при злокачествени тумори на глава и шия. Проучванията сочат, че целотелесният хибриден образен метод има важна роля при нодално и далечно стадиране, рестадиране, преценка за терапевтичен подход, оценка ефекта от лечение, ранна визуализация на рецидиви, скринингова детекция на синхронни/метахронни тумори и далечни метастази, дори без клинична изява. При пациенти с доказани метастатични шийни лимфни възли с плоскоклетъчна хистология FDG-ПЕТ/КТ помага за водене на насочена биопсия (панендоскопия) и откриване на първично туморно огнище. По-голям брой от пациентите са в напреднал стадий при установяване на заболяването. Точното стадиранe с целотелесно FDG-ПЕТ/КТ изследване, ранна визуализация на далечни метастази и втори първичен тумор при пациенти с епителни злокачествени тумори на глава и шия позволява своевременна промяна на терапевтичния подход, избор на индивидуален терапевтичен план и своевременно лечение според нуждите на пациента

The Importance of Correlations and Fluctuations on the Initial Source Eccentricity in High-Energy Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions

In this paper, we investigate various ways of defining the initial source eccentricity using the Monte Carlo Glauber (MCG) approach. In particular, we examine the participant eccentricity, which quantifies the eccentricity of the initial source shape by the major axes of the ellipse formed by the interaction points of the participating nucleons. We show that reasonable variation of the density parameters in the Glauber calculation, as well as variations in how matter production is modeled, do not significantly modify the already established behavior of the participant eccentricity as a function of collision centrality. Focusing on event-by-event fluctuations and correlations of the distributions of participating nucleons we demonstrate that, depending on the achieved event-plane resolution, fluctuations in the elliptic flow magnitude $v_2$ lead to most measurements being sensitive to the root-mean-square, rather than the mean of the $v_2$ distribution. Neglecting correlations among participants, we derive analytical expressions for the participant eccentricity cumulants as a function of the number of participating nucleons, \Npart,keeping non-negligible contributions up to \ordof{1/\Npart^3}. We find that the derived expressions yield the same results as obtained from mixed-event MCG calculations which remove the correlations stemming from the nuclear collision process. Most importantly, we conclude from the comparison with MCG calculations that the fourth order participant eccentricity cumulant does not approach the spatial anisotropy obtained assuming a smooth nuclear matter distribution. In particular, for the Cu+Cu system, these quantities deviate from each other by almost a factor of two over a wide range in centrality.Comment: 18 pages, 10 figures, submitted to PR

System Size, Energy and Centrality Dependence of Pseudorapidity Distributions of Charged Particles in Relativistic Heavy Ion Collisions

We present the first measurements of the pseudorapidity distribution of primary charged particles in Cu+Cu collisions as a function of collision centrality and energy, \sqrtsnn = 22.4, 62.4 and 200 GeV, over a wide range of pseudorapidity, using the PHOBOS detector. Making a global comparison of Cu+Cu and Au+Au results, we find that the total number of produced charged particles and the rough shape (height and width) of the pseudorapidity distributions are determined by the number of nucleon participants. More detailed studies reveal that a more precise matching of the shape of the Cu+Cu and Au+Au pseudorapidity distributions over the full range of pseudorapidity occurs for the same Npart/2A value rather than the same Npart value. In other words, it is the collision geometry rather than just the number of nucleon participants that drives the detailed shape of the pseudorapidity distribution and its centrality dependence at RHIC energies.Comment: Submitted to Physical Review Letter

System size and centrality dependence of charged hadron transverse momentum spectra in Au+Au and Cu+Cu collisions at sqrt(s) = 62.4 and 200 GeV

We present transverse momentum distributions of charged hadrons produced in Cu+Cu collisions at sqrt(s) = 62.4 and 200 GeV. The spectra are measured for transverse momenta of 0.25 < p_T < 5.0 GeV/c at sqrt(s) = 62.4 GeV and 0.25 < p_T < 7.0 GeV/c at sqrt(s) = 200 GeV, in a pseudo-rapidity range of 0.2 < eta < 1.4. The nuclear modification factor R_AA is calculated relative to p+p data at both collision energies as a function of collision centrality. At a given collision energy and fractional cross-section, R_AA is observed to be systematically larger in Cu+Cu collisions compared to Au+Au. However, for the same number of participating nucleons, R_AA is essentially the same in both systems over the measured range of p_T, in spite of the significantly different geometries of the Cu+Cu and Au+Au systems.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let

Identified charged antiparticle to particle ratios near midrapidity in Cu+Cu collisions at sqrt(s) = 62.4 and 200 GeV

Antiparticle to particle ratios for identified protons, kaons and pions at sqrt(s) = 62.4 and 200 GeV in Cu+Cu collisions are presented as a function of centrality for the midrapidity region of 0.2 < eta < 1.4. No strong dependence on centrality is observed. For the / ratio at ~ 0.51 GeV/c, we observe an average value of 0.50 +/- 0.003_(stat) +/- 0.04_(syst) and 0.77 +/- 0.008_(stat) +/- 0.05_(syst) for the 10% most central collisions of 62.4 and 200 GeV Cu+Cu, respectively. The values for all three particle species measured at sqrt(s) = 200 GeV are in agreement within systematic uncertainties with that seen in both heavier and lighter systems measured at the same RHIC energy. This indicates that system size does not appear to play a strong role in determining the midrapidity chemical freeze-out properties affecting the antiparticle to particle ratios of the three most abundant particle species produced in these collisions.Comment: 5 Pages, 4 figures Made changes to the figures to include the panel numbers. Slight changes to the text. Updated data points from other experiment

System Size, Energy, Pseudorapidity, and Centrality Dependence of Elliptic Flow

This paper presents measurements of the elliptic flow of charged particles as a function of pseudorapidity and centrality from Cu-Cu collisions at 62.4 and 200 GeV using the PHOBOS detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). The elliptic flow in Cu-Cu collisions is found to be significant even for the most central events. For comparison with the Au-Au results, it is found that the detailed way in which the collision geometry (eccentricity) is estimated is of critical importance when scaling out system-size effects. A new form of eccentricity, called the participant eccentricity, is introduced which yields a scaled elliptic flow in the Cu-Cu system that has the same relative magnitude and qualitative features as that in the Au-Au system