Understanding tourist behaviour in terms of activeness and intra-destination movement patterns for managing tourism experience

The dissertation is focusing on the demand side of tourism, in particular on tourists’ consumption of a destination and on the conceptualization of their decision process during visitation. Travel behaviour can be related to and motivated by several factors and the analysis of these factors allows a better understanding of tourists’ movements and activity participation. This information can be used for creating customized tourism products that can bring additional benefits to the tourists and the destination. In this context, destination cards are analysed in the thesis which are integrated products to facilitate tourists in their consumption by offering public transport usage and entrance to activities and attractions at the destination. The dissertation is divided into four chapters and refers to four research articles; three of them are published in refereed journals and one of them is presented in an edited book. The first article investigates the relation among motivation with variables introduced for the first time in this study, namely activeness indicators and destination card requirements. In addition, it attempts to identify the customer profile of destination cards. The second paper models the correlated choices of the spatial extent of the visited destination and the selection of transport modes, and determines the influential variables in this context applying bivariate probit models. The third article investigates the existence of spatial or product clustering in consumption with destination cards and looks for the discriminating factors among the clusters. Finally, the fourth paper reviews and elaborates theories on movement patterns and their influencing factors. The implications of the thesis are beneficial for destination marketing organizations, regional transport authorities and tourism operators

Dynamics of "leaking" Hamiltonian systems

In order to understand the dynamics in more detail, in particular for visualizing the space-filling unstable foliation of closed chaotic Hamiltonian systems, we propose to leak them up. The cutting out of a finite region of their phase space, the leak, through which escape is possible, leads to transient chaotic behavior of nearly all the trajectories. The never-escaping points belong to a chaotic saddle whose fractal unstable manifold can easily be determined numerically. It is an approximant of the full Hamiltonian foliation, the better the smaller the leak is. The escape rate depends sensitively on the orientation of the leak even if its area is fixed. The applications for chaotic advection, for chemical reactions superimposed on hydrodynamical flows, and in other branches of physics are discussed

Factors Influencing the Investor's Decision in Syrian Initial Public Offering Market: A Survey Study

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of company industry, IPO timing, owners’ reputation and marketing efforts in investor's decision in Syrian initial public offering market IPOs Design/Methodology/Approach: A questionnaire survey was administered to 270 investors in Damascus Securities Exchange. Some descriptive statistics and One-Sample tests were used to analyze the data and test the hypotheses. Findings: The research found that investor's decision is influenced significantly by IPO timing, owner’s reputation and marketing efforts in the Syrian IPOs market. Implications/Originality/Value: This research presents that Syrian companies can use these factors as an approach to increase the quality of their IPO, on another hand, financial regulators can enhance the IPO control process, adding to the results that can contribute to understanding marketing-finance interface and behavioral finance literature

Efficiency of different marker systems for genotype fingerprinting and for genetic diversity studies in barley (Hordeum vulgare L.)

AbstractGenetic relationships between 38 barley genotypes were determined with the aid of 36 RAPD, 54 STS and 26 SSR markers. The dendrogram groups showed high coincidence with growth habit and ear type. There were significant correlations between the Jaccard coefficients obtained using the matrices of each single marker type and their combined matrix. When the varieties were grouped using markers with above-average Polymorphic Information Content (PIC) values, the same groups were obtained as when using all markers, outlining their usefulness for estimating diversity between the varieties. Three RAPD or four SSR primers were sufficient to distinguish all the barley varieties from each other. The applicability of the various types of primers differed. The STS markers could best be used for estimating relationships between the varieties and the SSR markers for distinguishing genotypes from each other, while RAPD markers could be employed both for estimating the relationships between varieties and for variety identification

Effects of substrate, ceramic thickness, translucency, and cement shade on the color of CAD/CAM lithium-disilicate crowns

The aim of this in vitro study was to evaluate the effects of substrate colors, different levels of ceramic thickness and translucency, and cement shades on the color difference from a reference color of lithium-disilicate crowns.A premolar tooth preparation was made on a study model for 1.0 and 1.5 mm thick full-ceramic crowns. Digital impressions were taken (3Shape TRIOS) and crowns designed in a CAD program (DentalDesigner). Shade A1 crowns were milled (Everest, Kavo) from high-translucency (HT) and low-translucency IPS e.max (Ivoclar Vivadent) blocks. Twelve substrates were made of different colors and materials (Natural Die Material, Co-Cr, zirconia, and gold-colored alloy). Three different shades of try-in pastes were used to simulate the effect of cements (Variolink Esthetic try-in paste; Ivoclar). Shade measurement was done three times for each crown by a spectrophotometer (VITA Easyshade Advance); averages were compared to a reference crown (A1, HT, 1.5 mm, ND2 abutment, neutral try-in paste) with ΔE00 (CIEDE2000, according to the CIE latest standard) calculated.All the examined parameters influenced the ΔE00 of the crowns. The weakest effect was exerted by the try-in paste.All examined parameters influenced the final color of e.max CAD lithium-disilicate ceramic crowns.Matching the shade of ceramic crowns to the natural tooth color is a great challenge in dentistry. To meet patients' increasing esthetical expectations, CAD/CAM methods are very popular for full-ceramic crowns. However, several factors such as the shade of the abutment, luting cement color, ceramic thickness, and translucency may influence the final color. Our objective was to measure the optical effect of these factors on the final shade of CAD/CAM lithium-disilicate ceramic crowns

Effect of drought on yield components of maize hybrids (Zea mays L)

When investigating drought tolerance, it must not be forgotten that drought stress is a complex phenomenon ex¬hibiting quite different characters in different years and locations. For this reason, the plant response to drought is also a complex process. In our study, 83 maize hybrids originating from various countries were investigated over a period of two years, under irrigated and non-irrigated conditions. The drought tolerance of plants in the non-irrigated plots was analysed in terms of flowering synchrony and yield components. It could be concluded from the results that in response to long-term water deficit the period between tasselling and silking became longer, while the analysis of yield components revealed the greatest reductions in the number of kernels per ear and in the proportion of seed set. As the degree of proterandry increased, there was a decline in the grain yield, confirming that the analysis of this trait could be a way of predicting drought tolerance. Considerable differences in drought tolerance were observed between the genetic materials included in the analysis, suggesting the presence among these parental lines and hybrids of genotypes resistant to long-term water deficit, suitable for cultivation under dry conditions. An analysis of correlations between the traits revealed that proterandry should be treated as a priority trait when investigating drought stress tolerance, as better predictions can be made of both drought tolerance and potential yields, leading to more reliable selection for higher yields

Comparison of adipose tissue derived genes in endogenous Cushing’s syndrome versus diet-induced obesity

Introduction: Dysregulation of adipokine secretion and action is a characteristic feature of obesity and a key clinical feature of Cushing’s syndrome (CS). We have investigated whether endogenous glucocorticoid excess influences adipose tissue-derived gene expression. Material and methods: mRNA expression of adipokines; adiponectin, resistin, tumour necrosis factor-a, interleukin-6 (IL-6), angiotensinogen (AGT), plasminogen activator inhibitor type 1, retinol binding protein 4, visfatin, and cystatin C was assessed by quantitative real-time RT-PCR in visceral adipose tissue removed during abdominal surgery of eight patients with CS, and six control patients. Results: We did not find any significant difference in the investigated genes; however, the almost significant overexpression of AGT and underexpression of IL-6 might be noteworthy (p = 0.06 in both cases). Conclusions: No significant differences were found in the expression of the investigated genes known as cardiometabolic risk factors. This indicates that there are no major differences between endogenous hypercortisolism or diet-induced obesity regarding the expression of adipokines involved in cardiometabolic disorders. However, the difference in AGT and IL-6 expression might be included in pathways affecting fat distribution in C

Artificial Neural Network Correlation and Biostatistics Evaluation of Physiological and Molecular Parameters in Healthy Young Individuals Performing Regular Exercise

Studies support that regular physical activity (PA) decelerates senescence-related decline of physiological and molecular parameters in the elderly. We have addressed the other end of this spectrum: healthy and young, inactive individuals participated in a 6- month long personal trainer-guided lifestyle program. We have measured physiological and molecular parameters (differentiating high- and low responders) and their correlation with PA (sedentary status). Cluster analysis helped to distinguish individuals with high- or low PA and differentiate high- and low-responders of each parameter. The assessed cardiovascular parameters (heart rate, blood pressure, 6-min walking distance, relative VO2max), body composition parameters (body fat and muscle mass percentage) metabolic parameters (glucose, insulin, HDL, LDL), immune parameters (cortisol, CRP, lymphocyte counts, hTREC) all showed improvement. Artificial neural network analysis (ANN) showed correlation efficiencies of physiological and molecular parameters using a concept-free approach. ANN analysis appointed PA as the mastermind of molecular level changes. Besides sedentary status, insulin and hTREC showed significant segregation. Biostatistics evaluation also supported the schism of participants for their sedentary status, insulin concentration and hTREC copy number. In the future ANN and biostatistics, may predict individual responses to regular exercise. Our program reveals that high responder individuals of certain parameters may be low responders of others. Our data show that moderate regular PA is essential to counteract senescence in young and healthy individuals, despite individual differences in responsiveness. Such PA may not seem important in the everyday life of young and healthy adults, but shall become the base for healthy aging

Claudin expression in pulmonary adenoid cystic carcinoma and mucoepidermoid carcinoma

Background: Although the expression of tight junction protein claudins (CLDNs) is well known in common histological subtypes of lung cancer, it has not been investigated in rare lung cancers. The aim of our study was to examine the expression of different CLDNs in pulmonary salivary gland tumors.Methods: 35 rare lung cancers including pathologically confirmed 12 adenoid cystic carcinomas (ACCs) and 23 mucoepidermoid carcinomas (MECs) were collected retrospectively. Immunohistochemical (IHC) staining was performed on formalin fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) tumor tissues, and CLDN1, -2, -3, -4, -5, -7, and -18 protein expressions were analyzed. The levels of immunopositivity were determined with H-score. Certain pathological characteristics of ACC and MEC samples (tumor grade, presence of necrosis, presence of blood vessel infiltration, and degree of lymphoid infiltration) were also analyzed.Results: CLDN overexpression was observed in both tumor types, especially in CLDN2, -7, and -18 IHC. Markedly different patterns of CLDN expression were found for ACC and MEC tumors, especially for CLDN1, -2, -4, and -7, although none of these trends remained significant after correction for multiple testing. Positive correlations between expressions of CLDN2 and -5, CLDN3 and -4, and CLDN5 and -18 were also demonstrated. Tumors of never-smokers presented lower levels of CLDN18 than tumors of current smokers (p-value: 0.003).Conclusion: This is the first study to comprehensively describe the expression of different CLDNs in lung ACC and MEC. Overexpression of certain CLDNs may pave the way for targeted anti-claudin therapy in these rare histological subtypes of lung cancer