Gardiner, MT - Visitor Perceptions, Image, and Spending, 2013

This study assesses the image and perceptions of Gardiner by visitors as well as their reasons for visiting Gardiner and spending patterns within the town. Visitors to Gardiner were primarily in the town to eat and drink, shop, drive through and get fuel; average daily spending was $178. Visitors, both in open-ended and structured responses noted that Gardiner was a friendly and welcoming community, and a fun place. Respondents also believed, however, that there was room for improvement with services available such as food and shopping opportunities. Visitors have many opinions about Gardiner, some positive and some negative. Gardiner is in a unique position, as the original entrance to the world\u27s first national park, to take control of what they like about their town and make sure the positive qualities of the people and place are sustained and improved for the future generations of both visitors and residents

Comparative Analysis of Resident and Visitor Community Image: Gardiner, Montana

The Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research conducted two separate studies related to the perception and image of Gardiner during 2013: Resident image and nonresident image. The resident study focused on image and quality of life as perceived by those currently living in Gardiner. That study found areas of improvements as well as what they like about their community. The nonresident study found that visitors were mostly positive about the image Gardiner portrays to the visitor and shows the amount of dollars spent in Gardiner. The purpose of this report was to compare the 18 image variables asked in both the resident and nonresident studies to understand similarities and differences in image of Gardiner by residents and nonresidents

Gardiner, MT - A Community Tourism Development Case Study: Resident Perceptions

The purpose of this study was to assess quality of life and image perceptions of Gardiner by residents, as well as their support/attachment to their community. A door-to-door survey was administered in June, 2013. The survey was completed by 209 Gardiner residents for a 60% response rate. The positive image held by Gardiner residents is a community that is friendly, supportive, and has a unique and rich heritage. On the negative side, the community is one with roads that are not well maintained, has little parking available, and has a lack of retail shopping opportunities. Residents were asked to identify quality of life attributes important to them, and then to indicate how satisfied they were on those quality of life attributes. In an importance/satisfaction matrix, 18 attributes emerged as areas needing improvement for Gardiner

Acoustic characterization of crack damage evolution in sandstone deformed under conventional and true triaxial loading

We thank the Associate Editor, Michelle Cooke, and the reviewers, Ze'ev Reches and Yves Guéguen, for useful comments which helped to improve the manuscript. We thank J.G. Van Munster for providing access to the true triaxial apparatus at KSEPL and for technical support during the experimental program. We thank R. Pricci for assistance with technical drawings of the apparatus. This work was partly funded by NERC award NE/N002938/1 and by a NERC Doctoral Studentship, which we gratefully acknowledge. Supporting data are included in a supporting information file; any additional data may be obtained from J.B. (e-mail: [email protected]).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Perspective: tobacco manufacturers are now compensating states for smoking-related costs: how will this affect the economy?

Smoking out the social and economic benefits of the 1998 tobacco settlement for Massachusetts.Tobacco industry ; Medical care, Cost of

Use of strategies to improve retention in primary care randomised trials: a qualitative study with in-depth interviews

Objective To explore the strategies used to improve retention in primary care randomised trials.<p></p> Design Qualitative in-depth interviews and thematic analysis.<p></p> Participants 29 UK primary care chief and principal investigators, trial managers and research nurses.<p></p> Methods In-depth face-to-face interviews.<p></p> Results Primary care researchers use incentive and communication strategies to improve retention in trials, but were unsure of their effect. Small monetary incentives were used to increase response to postal questionnaires. Non-monetary incentives were used although there was scepticism about the impact of these on retention. Nurses routinely used telephone communication to encourage participants to return for trial follow-up. Trial managers used first class post, shorter questionnaires and improved questionnaire designs with the aim of improving questionnaire response. Interviewees thought an open trial design could lead to biased results and were negative about using behavioural strategies to improve retention. There was consensus among the interviewees that effective communication and rapport with participants, participant altruism, respect for participant's time, flexibility of trial personnel and appointment schedules and trial information improve retention. Interviewees noted particular challenges with retention in mental health trials and those involving teenagers.<p></p> Conclusions The findings of this qualitative study have allowed us to reflect on research practice around retention and highlight a gap between such practice and current evidence. Interviewees describe acting from experience without evidence from the literature, which supports the use of small monetary incentives to improve the questionnaire response. No such evidence exists for non-monetary incentives or first class post, use of which may need reconsideration. An exploration of barriers and facilitators to retention in other research contexts may be justified.<p></p&gt

Gardiner, Montana: Resident Perceptions Before and After Development

Infrastructure development for the 2016 celebration of the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service in Gardiner, Montana and the north entrance to Yellowstone, provided a unique opportunity to compare resident and visitor attitudes, image and spending before and after development. This report provides the resident study results. Significant differences in image, quality of life attributes, and tourism support were found between the two years pointing to both positive and negative outcomes

Delay Discounting as an Index of Sustainable Behavior: Devaluation of Future Air Quality and Implications for Public Health

Poor air quality and resulting annual deaths represent significant public health concerns. Recently, rapid delay discounting (the devaluation of future outcomes) of air quality has been considered a potential barrier for engaging in long term, sustainable behaviors that might help to reduce emissions (e.g., reducing private car use, societal support for clean air initiatives). Delay discounting has been shown to be predictive of real world behavior outside of laboratory settings, and therefore may offer an important framework beyond traditional variables thought to measure sustainable behavior such as importance of an environmental issue, or environmental attitudes/values, although more research is needed in this area. We examined relations between discounting of air quality, respiratory health, and monetary gains and losses. We also examined, relations between discounting and self-reported importance of air quality and respiratory health, and nature relatedness. Results showed rapid delay discounting of all outcomes across the time frames assessed, and significant positive correlations between delay discounting of air quality, respiratory health, and monetary outcomes. Steeper discounting of monetary outcomes relative to air quality and respiratory health outcomes was observed in the context of gains; however, no differences in discounting were observed across losses of monetary, air quality, and respiratory health. Replicating the sign effect, monetary outcomes were discounted more steeply than monetary losses. Importance of air quality, respiratory health and nature relatedness were significantly and positively correlated with one another, but not with degree of delay discounting of any outcome, demonstrating the need for more comprehensive measures that predict pro-environmental behaviors that might benefit individuals and public health over time. These results add to our understanding of decision-making, and demonstrate alarming rates of delay discounting of air quality and health. These results implicate a major public health concern and potential barriers to individual and societal behavior that reduce pollution and emissions for conservation of clean air

Physical properties of seismogenic Triassic evaporites in the northern Appennines (Central Italy)

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The permeability and elastic moduli of tuff from Campi Flegrei, Italy: implications for ground deformation modelling

The accuracy of ground deformation modelling at active volcanoes is a principal requirement in volcanic hazard mitigation. However, the reliability of such models relies on the accuracy of the rock physical property (permeability and elastic moduli) input parameters. Unfortunately, laboratory-derived values on representative rocks are usually rare. To this end we have performed a systematic laboratory study on the influence of pressure and temperature on the permeability and elastic moduli of samples from the two most widespread lithified pyroclastic deposits at the Campi Flegrei volcanic district, Italy. Our data show that the water permeability of Neapolitan Yellow Tuff and a tuff from the Campanian Ignimbrite differ by about 1.5 orders of magnitude. As pressure (depth) increases beyond the critical point for inelastic pore collapse (at an effective pressure of 10–15 MPa, or a depth of about 750 m), permeability and porosity decrease significantly, and ultrasonic wave velocities and dynamic elastic moduli increase significantly. Increasing the thermal stressing temperature increases the permeability and decreases the ultrasonic wave velocities and dynamic elastic moduli of the Neapolitan Yellow Tuff; whereas the tuff from the Campanian Ignimbrite remains unaffected. This difference is due to the presence of thermally unstable zeolites within the Neapolitan Yellow Tuff. For both rocks we also find, under the same pressure conditions, that the dynamic (calculated from ultrasonic wave velocities) and static (calculated from triaxial stress-strain data) elastic moduli differ significantly. The choice of elastic moduli in ground deformation modelling is therefore an important consideration. While we urge that these new laboratory data should be considered in routine ground deformation modelling, we highlight the challenges for ground deformation modelling based on the heterogeneous nature (vertically and laterally) of the rocks that comprise the caldera at Campi Flegrei