Trust and Reputation Modelling for Tourism Recommendations Supported by Crowdsourcing

Tourism crowdsourcing platforms have a profound influence on the tourist behaviour particularly in terms of travel planning. Not only they hold the opinions shared by other tourists concerning tourism resources, but, with the help of recommendation engines, are the pillar of personalised resource recommendation. However, since prospective tourists are unaware of the trustworthiness or reputation of crowd publishers, they are in fact taking a leap of faith when then rely on the crowd wisdom. In this paper, we argue that modelling publisher Trust & Reputation improves the quality of the tourism recommendations supported by crowdsourced information. Therefore, we present a tourism recommendation system which integrates: (i) user profiling using the multi-criteria ratings; (ii) k-Nearest Neighbours (k-NN) prediction of the user ratings; (iii) Trust & Reputation modelling; and (iv) incremental model update, i.e., providing near real-time recommendations. In terms of contributions, this paper provides two different Trust & Reputation approaches: (i) general reputation employing the pairwise trust values using all users; and (ii) neighbour-based reputation employing the pairwise trust values of the common neighbours. The proposed method was experimented using crowdsourced datasets from Expedia and TripAdvisor platforms.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Imagine being off-the-grid: Millennials' Perceptions of Digital-Free Travel

The blurred boundaries between home and away facilitated by the ubiquitous connectivity have resulted in restlessness in private life, even on holiday. Disconnecting from technology on holiday could potentially contribute to travellers’ psychological sustainability. This article aims to theorise the perceptions of millennials towards digital-free travel (DFT). We interviewed 17 millennials and applied the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) qualitatively to uncover deep insights into their perceptions. Millennials in the research believe that DFT is beneficial for their well-being, but also have concerns regarding social expectations, technology dependence and environmental support. This article firstly contributes towards the psychological sustainability from the perspective of digital well-being in tourism. Second, the qualitative use of UTAUT in a technology disconnection setting is novel. Finally, the study contributes to the empirical understanding of DFT from the aspect of millennials’ perceptions. The study proposes that mental “away” should be aligned with physical “away” by reducing technology use to achieve psychological sustainability on holiday

Surgical knot tightening: how much pull is necessary?

PURPOSE: High-strength sutures allow tightening of a suture knot beyond the strength of the surgeon, possibly inflicting skin damage through the gloves. This study was undertaken to evaluate whether such effort is useful and how much tensioning on a surgical knot is necessary. METHODS: Three different suture materials were tested: No. 2 Vicryl™, FibreWire™, and PDS™. First, the force spontaneously applied on sutures during experimental knot tightening ("tying load") was measured in fifteen experienced surgeons. Second, with each suture material, surgical square knots were tied with increasing, standardized loads (range 0.5-50 N) using a custom-made apparatus. Thereby, knot seating after tying was evaluated, and by loading the knots to failure, evaluation for failure mode and failure load was performed. RESULTS: FibreWire™ 5-throw square knots always failed by complete slipping of all knots (resolving), independent on the tying load. A nonlinear decrease of knot slippage and increased failure load were seen with increasing tying loads for all sutures. Major differences were seen between 0.5 and 10 N for FibreWire™ (slippage: 25 mm) and PDS™ (99.6 mm), whereas Vicryl™ showed major differences (22.7 mm) between 0.5 and 2 N. Increasing the tying load from 10 to 50 N decreased the mean knot slippage from 12 (FibreWire™, ±2.6 SD), 9 (PDS™, ±1.8 SD) and 8 (Vicryl™, ±1.3 SD) mm to 6 (±2.9 SD), 3 (±1.5 SD) and 4 mm (±0.9 SD), respectively. CONCLUSION: Slippage and self-seating of the knots under load is unavoidable even with highest tying loads. Relatively minor but possibly important differences can be seen for tying loads exceeding 2 N (Vicryl™) and 10 N (PDS™ and FibreWire™) for failure load and knot slippage. But also with a tying load of 50 N, a minimal slippage of approximately 3 mm seems unavoidable for all suture types. However, it is important to state that intense tightening does not prevent knot resolution and is only necessary in clinical situations that demand very tight sutures. Numbers and proper appliance of throws are more relevant than tying strength to reach the maximum failure load

The influences and consequences of being digitally connected and/or disconnected to travellers

© 2017, The Author(s).Technological progress and tourism have worked in tandem for many years. Connectivity is the vehicle that drove the goal of technologically enhanced tourism experiences forward. This study, through an exploratory qualitative research identifies the factors that boost and/or distract travellers from obtaining a digitally enhanced tourism experience. Four factors can boost and/or distract travellers from being connected: (1) hardware and software, (2) needs and contexts, (3) openness to usage, and (4) supply and provision of connectivity. The research also analyses the positive and/or negative consequences that arise from being connected or disconnected. A Connected/Disconnected Consequences Model illustrates five forms of positive and/or negative consequences: (1) availability, (2) communication, (3) information obtainability, (4) time consumption, and (5) supporting experiences. A better understanding of the role and consequence of connectivity during the trip can enhance traveller experience

High salt reduces the activation of IL-4- and IL-13-stimulated macrophages

A high intake of dietary salt (NaCl) has been implicated in the development of hypertension, chronic inflammation, and autoimmune diseases. We have recently shown that salt has a proinflammatory effect and boosts the activation of Th17 cells and the activation of classical, LPS-induced macrophages (M1). Here, we examined how the activation of alternative (M2) macrophages is affected by salt. In stark contrast to Th17 cells and M1 macrophages, high salt blunted the alternative activation of BM-derived mouse macrophages stimulated with IL-4 and IL-13, M(IL-4+IL-13) macrophages. Salt-induced reduction of M(IL-4+IL-13) activation was not associated with increased polarization toward a proinflammatory M1 phenotype. In vitro, high salt decreased the ability of M(IL-4+IL-13) macrophages to suppress effector T cell proliferation. Moreover, mice fed a high salt diet exhibited reduced M2 activation following chitin injection and delayed wound healing compared with control animals. We further identified a high salt-induced reduction in glycolysis and mitochondrial metabolic output, coupled with blunted AKT and mTOR signaling, which indicates a mechanism by which NaCl inhibits full M2 macrophage activation. Collectively, this study provides evidence that high salt reduces noninflammatory innate immune cell activation and may thus lead to an overall imbalance in immune homeostasis

Measurement of the branching ratio of the decay Ξ0→Σ+μ−νˉμ\Xi^{0}\rightarrow \Sigma^{+} \mu^{-} \bar{\nu}_{\mu}

From the 2002 data taking with a neutral kaon beam extracted from the CERN-SPS, the NA48/1 experiment observed 97 $\Xi^{0}\rightarrow \Sigma^{+} \mu^{-} \bar{\nu}_{\mu}$ candidates with a background contamination of $30.8 \pm 4.2$ events. From this sample, the BR($\Xi^{0}\rightarrow \Sigma^{+} \mu^{-} \bar{\nu}_{\mu}$) is measured to be $(2.17 \pm 0.32_{\mathrm{stat}}\pm 0.17_{\mathrm{syst}})\times10^{-6}$

First Observation and Measurement of the Decay K+- -> pi+- e+ e- gamma

Using the full data set of the NA48/2 experiment, the decay K+- -> pi+- e+ e- gamma is observed for the first time, selecting 120 candidates with 7.3 +- 1.7 estimated background events. With K+- -> pi+- pi0D as normalisation channel, the branching ratio is determined in a model-independent way to be Br(K+- -> pi+- e+ e- gamma, m_eegamma > 260 MeV/c^2) = (1.19 +- 0.12_stat +- 0.04_syst) x 10^-8. This measured value and the spectrum of the e+ e- gamma invariant mass allow a comparison with predictions of Chiral Perturbation Theory.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures. Accepted for publication in Phys.Lett.

Empirical parameterization of the K+- -> pi+- pi0 pi0 decay Dalitz plot

As first observed by the NA48/2 experiment at the CERN SPS, the \p0p0 invariant mass (M00) distribution from \kcnn decay shows a cusp-like anomaly at M00=2m+, where m+ is the charged pion mass. An analysis to extract the pi pi scattering lengths in the isospin I=0 and I=2 states, a0 and a2, respectively, has been recently reported. In the present work the Dalitz plot of this decay is fitted to a new empirical parameterization suitable for practical purposes, such as Monte Carlo simulations of K+- -> pi+- pi0 pi0 decays.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures

Observation of the rare decay K_S -> pi^0mu^+mu^-

A search for the decay K_S -> pi^0mu^+mu^- has been made by the NA48/1 Collaboration at the CERN SPS accelerator. The data were collected during 2002 with a high-intensity K_S beam. Six events were found with a background expectation of 0.22^+0.18_-0.11 event. Using a vector matrix element and unit form factor, the measured branching ratio is B(K_S -> pi^0mu^+mu^-)=[2.9^+1.5_-1.2(stat)+/-0.2(syst)]x10^{-9}.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures, 4 tables. To be published in Physics Letters

Immune cells control skin lymphatic electrolyte homeostasis and blood pressure

The skin interstitium sequesters excess Na+ and Cl- in salt-sensitive hypertension. Mononuclear phagocyte system (MPS) cells are recruited to the skin, sense the hypertonic electrolyte accumulation in skin, and activate the tonicity-responsive enhancer-binding protein (TONEBP, also known as NFAT5) to initiate expression and secretion of VEGFC, which enhances electrolyte clearance via cutaneous lymph vessels and increases eNOS expression in blood vessels. It is unclear whether this local MPS response to osmotic stress is important to systemic blood pressure control. Herein, we show that deletion of TonEBP in mouse MPS cells prevents the VEGFC response to a high-salt diet (HSD) and increases blood pressure. Additionally, an antibody that blocks the lymph-endothelial VEGFC receptor, VEGFR3, selectively inhibited MPS-driven increases in cutaneous lymphatic capillary density, led to skin Cl- accumulation, and induced salt-sensitive hypertension. Mice overexpressing soluble VEGFR3 in epidermal keratinocytes exhibited hypoplastic cutaneous lymph capillaries and increased Na+, Cl-, and water retention in skin and salt-sensitive hypertension. Further, we found that HSD elevated skin osmolality above plasma levels. These results suggest that the skin contains a hypertonic interstitial fluid compartment in which MPS cells exert homeostatic and blood pressure-regulatory control by local organization of interstitial electrolyte clearance via TONEBP and VEGFC/VEGFR3-mediated modification of cutaneous lymphatic capillary function