The innovative behaviour of tourism firms

Tourism is a growing and an extremely competitive sector. To be competitive, tourism firms need do innovate, responding to the more and more demanding tourist. Nonetheless, research on this field is limited and insufficient. In Portugal, the tourism sector is a highly strategic sector for the Portuguese economy, but there is no evidence on how Portuguese tourism firms innovate. This paper presents a thesis proposal with the aim to provide empirical evidence of the innovative behaviour of Portuguese tourism firm. Trough a direct survey on all the Portuguese tourism firms we intent to investigate firms’ innovativeness and their determinants and then compare the results with data from Danish and Spanish tourism firms. The literature on innovation in services and in tourism, in particular Sunbdo et al. (2007) taxonomy of tourism firms, provides us a guide to our investigation. It is also our aim to contribute with additional findings on the process of innovation in the tourism industry.Innovation, Tourism Industries, Portugal

Development and validation of an instrument to measure perceived service quality of an academic library in Costa Rica

Service management involves the responsibility of ensuring the effectiveness of business operations in terms of meeting customer requirements. A good service is judged not only by meeting customer requirements but also by the way the customers perceive and interpret the received service. To know how effective the service is, the quality of the service can be measured. For this aim it is necessary to target actual service elements to improve and to weigh the evaluation of service elements relative to the importance that customers place on them. The literature shows that service quality outcome and measurement are dependent on the type of service setting, situation, needs and other factors. General instruments to measure perceived service were developed in the context of main dimensions proposed by general service quality models. However, it is important to develop new instruments which are directly targeted to the context reality. Based upon conceptual models the goal of this study is to target actual service elements that customers from an academic library in Costa Rica deem important. Using the identified elements the dimensions of service quality are developed and validated to measure user perceived service. It was discussed how appropriable knowledge on quality service can spurred the innovative capacity to improve library services

Landscape-scale population dynamics: field observations and modelling of Puya hamata, a flagship plant from the Andes

Important ecological processes happen over long periods of time and at the landscape scale. Effective conservation of biodiversity and management of natural resources and ecosystem services requires an understanding of these processes. Unfortunately, it is often impractical to conduct appropriate long-term, landscape-scale studies. Modelling offers an alternative approach. Complete ecosystems are too complex to model practically, but simulations of simplified systems provide useful insights of practical value. LandBaSE-P is an individual-based model for Puya hamata that provides information about impacts of fire on ecological processes in the páramo of the Reserva Ecológica El Ángel, Ecuador. Puya hamata is a flagship plant affected by fires and plays a key role in a number of ecological processes. This research found Puya hamata germinated much more frequently after fires, can form large aggregations of single recruitment cohorts, suffers very low mortality (with and without fires) once established, and lives up to 28 years. The spatial aggregation of Puya hamata plants reduced effective reproductive output, consistent with the theory that pollinator behaviour around large groups of Puya plants reduces cross-pollination, leading to inbreeding depression and poorer seed viability and germination. Puya hamata’s population structure can be an indicator of recent fire regime. LandBaSE-P simulations showed that population size is not affected by rare, long-distance seed dispersal. However, in the simulations of páramo grasslands, Puya relative germination is maintained in high numbers by burning. Puya hamata has an important role in ecology and biodiversity. The model LandBaSE-P is a complementary tool for conservation and sustainable land management. This thesis shows how fieldwork combined with laboratory studies and modelling, can provide a good understanding of complex dynamics of real-world populations, and generate ideas for management and future research.Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACyT

La generación de capital social en el sistema educativo no universitario : un análisis del desarrollo comunitario de las escuelas de Cataluña

La presente investigación tiene como objetivo el estudio de los fenómenos comunitarios en el contexto del sistema educativo no universitario de Cataluña. Para ello, tras revisar los resultados de algunas aproximaciones realizadas anteriormente, se presenta un modelo de análisis basado en la teoría del capital social. De acuerdo con la distinción fundamental entre el capital social vinculante y aquél que tiende puentes, así como con la consideración de los diferentes ámbitos de actividad cotidiana de las escuelas (el aula y la escuela como contextos, así como sus respectivas relaciones con la comunidad local), se presentan los resultados obtenidos a partir de una muestra representativa de centros de educación primaria y secundaria de Cataluña. Para concluir, se discute la necesidad de considerar al propio desarrollo comunitario en el contexto escolar, no como un instrumento, sino como un fin en sí mismo.The present research intends to study the community phenomena in the context of the non-university, Catalonian education system. Therefore, once the results of certain previous approximations have been revised, we present an analysis model based on the social capital theory. Together with the fundamental distinction between bonding and bridging social capital, and with the relevance of the varied circumstances of everyday life in schools (the classroom and the school contexts, and their respective connections to the local community), we present results from a representative sample of primary and secondary education centers from Catalonia (Spain). To conclude, we discuss the necessity to consider the community building in the schools not as an instrument, but as an end itself

Single Stellar Populations in the Near-Infrared - I. Preparation of the IRTF spectral stellar library

We present a detailed study of the stars of the IRTF spectral library to understand its full extent and reliability for use with Stellar Population (SP) modeling. The library consist of 210 stars, with a total of 292 spectra, covering the wavelength range of 0.94 to 2.41 micron at a resolution R = 2000. For every star we infer the effective temperature (Teff), gravity (logg) and metallicity ([Z/Zsun]) using a full-spectrum fitting approach in a section of the K band (2.19 to 2.34 micron) and temperature-NIR colour relations. We test the flux calibration of these stars by calculating their integrated colours and comparing them with the Pickles library colour-temperature relations. We also investigate the NIR colours as a function of the calculated effective temperature and compared them in colour-colour diagrams with the Pickles library. This latter test shows a good broad-band flux calibration, important for the SP models. Finally, we measure the resolution R as a function of wavelength. We find that the resolution increases as a function of lambda from about 6 angstrom in J to 10 angstrom in the red part of the K-band. With these tests we establish that the IRTF library, the largest currently available general library of stars at intermediate resolution in the NIR, is an excellent candidate to be used in stellar population models. We present these models in the next paper of this series.Comment: 17 pages, 19 figures. Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysic