The Impact of COVID-19 on Restaurant Workers

The COVID-19 pandemic has hit many business sectors hard, none more so than the hospitality industry. Restaurant employees were already known to report high levels of depression and anxiety, as well as alcohol and drug use. How has the pandemic contributed to these problems? In the first study of its kind, Dr. Diego Bufquin, Dr. Jeong-Yeol Park and Dr. Robin Back from UCF Rosen College of Hospitality Management, along with two collaborators, examine the relationships between restaurant employees’ work status, mental health, substance use, and career turnover intentions during the pandemic

Diamonds: A Hotel\u27s Best Friend?

Independent rating systems are common in many industries but possibly not as important as they are in the hospitality industry, covering both restaurants (with their world renowned Michelin stars) and hotels. In the US, the leading rating organization is the AAA (American Automobile Association) with their Diamond rating scheme. Many studies have looked at the impact of the Diamond rating on the performance of a particular hotel, but this study by Rosen College of Hospitality Management researchers Dr. Michael Nalley, Dr. Jeong-Yeol Park and Dr. Diego Bufquin, takes a different perspective, looking at how a change in the Diamond rating affects hotel performance

The Wine Tourist: Motivations, Satisfaction and Behavioral Outcomes

What inspires someone to visit a winery? And why do they go back? Three professors from the Rosen College of Hospitality Management have been considering these questions with a particular focus on the world-renowned winery, Marques de Riscal, in Spain. Dr. Robin Beck, Dr. Diego Bufquin, and Dr. Jeon-Yeol Park examined customer revisit intentions, previous visits, motivation to visit, customer satisfaction levels, and the geographic proximity of a destination to their home

Estimation of utility weights for human papilloma virus-related health states according to disease severity

Scenarios for the different HPV-related health states. (DOCX 38 kb

Reliability Analysis on Flexural Behavior of FRP Bridge Decks

Design codes for the design of FRP bridge decks shall be established to promote the use of such innovative materials. For the purpose of preparing code provisions, reliability analyses were conducted to evaluate proper levels of safety and serviceability. Based on the results, several guidelines on design codes are suggested

Aruba\u27s Taxing Dilemma: Navigating Tourist Perceptions on Room Tax and Turnover Tax in Paradise

This study presents the second part of our assignment for the Aruba Tourism Authority (ATA). Our study investigated the effects of two tax proposals (a turnover tax rate increase from 6% to 7% and a room tax rate increase from 9.5% to 12.5%) on tourism demand. We used monthly time-series data on tourism arrivals from several markets, including the U.S., The Netherlands, and other markets. We also segmented the arrival data based on the accommodations used in Aruba (high-rise, low-rise, and other accommodations). We applied several procedures to prepare and test the data before applying an Autoregressive Distributed Lag model to estimate the short- and long-term effects. The short-term effects relate to temporary instability generated along the long-term (structural) impacts. In the case of Aruba’s tourism, the short-term would indicate temporary up or down changes in tourists arrivals, which will gradually settle down to more consistent growth in the number of visitors. The results of our findings are presented below in the form of several questions

Sound waves delay tomato fruit ripening by negatively regulating ethylene biosynthesis and signaling genes

AbstractRegulation of tomato fruit ripening may help extend fruit shelf life and prevent losses due to spoilage. Here, tomato fruit were investigated whether sound treatment could delay their ripening. Harvested fruit were treated with low-frequency sound waves (1kHz) for 6h, and then monitored various characteristics of the fruit over 14-days at 23±1°C. Seven days after the treatment, 85% of the treated fruit were green, versus fewer than 50% of the non-treated fruit. Most of the tomato fruit had transitioned to the red ripening stage by 14 days after treatment. Ethylene production and respiration rate were lower in the sound-treated than non-treated tomatoes. Furthermore, changes in surface color and flesh firmness were delayed in the treated fruit. To investigate how sound wave treatment effects on fruit ripening, the expression of ethylene-related genes was analyzed by quantitative real-time RT-PCR analysis. The expression level of several ethylene biosynthetic (ACS2, ACS4, ACO1, E4 and E8) and ripening-regulated (RIN, TAGL1, HB-1, NOR, CNR) genes was influenced by sound wave treatment. These results indicated that sound wave treatment delays tomato fruit ripening by altering the expression of important genes in the ethylene biosynthesis and ethylene signaling pathways

Fatal Ifosfamide-Induced Metabolic Encephalopathy in Patients with Recurrent Epithelial Ovarian Cancer: Report of Two Cases

Central nervous system (CNS) toxicity has been reported in approximately 10-30% of patients receiving intravenous infusions of ifosfamide. Encephalopathy is a rare but serious CNS adverse reaction in these patients, and although usually transient and reversible, may cause persistent neurological dysfunction or death. Clinical features range from fatigue and confusion to coma and death. Although methylene blue can be used to treat ifosfamide-induced neurotoxicity, including encephalopathy, its mechanism of action remains poorly defined. We describe here two patients with recurrent epithelial ovarian cancer who experienced fatal encephalopathy following ifosfamide/mesna treatment

Picture Quality and Sound Quality of OLED TVs

Unlike the past when cathode-ray tube (CRT) dominated display industry, many different types of flat panel displays (FPDs) are now leading the industry. Of these, organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display has recently become a next-generation display since this display is recognised as having advantages over other competing technologies in picture quality and form factor. With major attributes of picture quality considered, a series of evaluations based on objective measures was performed with an OLED TV compared to an LCD TV. OLED TV outperformed LCD TV 100 times in black, 20 times in colour contrast, 30% in dynamic range coverage, 50 times in local contrast and 20 times in viewing angle. In addition, sound quality of the OLED TV was assessed using both objective and subjective evaluation methods compared to conventional TV speakers since OLED panel speaker technology was recently commercialised. The OLED panel speaker showed better performance both in objective and subjective methods