Creating UGC Areas of Official Destination Websites: Is there a Recipe for Success? An Insight through Netnographic Research

An analysis of the existing literature has demonstrated the importance of word of mouth as a source of information for potential tourists and service consumers. The growth of the Internet and interactive websites has lead to the creation of online communities that serve as points of reference for word of mouth and in particular for independent, personal and experiential information. Recent articles have noted the growing interest of tourism companies and destinations to include UGC areas in their official websites to provide their users with these types of information and interactivity among each others. However, so far little research has been performed on the success factors of online communities. This paper wants to create a platform for further research on the topic. If destinations want to boost visits to their websites through UGS areas and create a “buzz” through positive word of mouth, it is necessary to know the correct ingredients for success. Some of these ingredients have been discovered through a netnographic analysis of an Italian virtual mountaineering community. The analysis has shown that some of the most important issues when creating online communities are the reliability of information, the ease of finding information and creating threads and posts, the constant appearance of interesting threads and discussions, the respect for other members, the passion of all of the active users for the same topics and a certain homogeneity within the users.virtual communities, netnography, electronic word of mouth, forums, information search

Adjuvant radiochemotherapy for gastric cancer. Should we use prognostic factors to select patients?

Radiotherapy has a not well-established role in the pre-operative and in the post-operative setting in gastric cancer (GC) patients. Randomized trials report controversial outcomes and impact on survival. In the D2 loco-regional node resection era, after a well-performed radical surgery, local treatment using radiotherapy combined to chemotherapy should be considered for locally advanced GC. Prognostic factors could help the better selection of subgroups that present high risk of loco-regional recurrence. Then, the addition of radiotherapy could improve the disease-free survival and also quality of life. There are no large prospective studies that have assessed specific factors predicting for recurrence or survival, but only retrospective series, some of them including high number of patients with homogeneous characteristics. In locally advanced GC adding radiotherapy to the post-operative chemotherapy seems to improve outcomes and quality of life. Prognostic factors such as T-stage, N-status, nodal ratio, and other histological factors should be considered to submit patients to post-operative combined treatment. Larger prospective series are necessary to investigate the role of combined chemoradiation after radical D2-resection, especially in locally advanced GC. Further prospective investigations are needed to suggest prognostic factors that have significant impact on survival and recurrence, improving the management and outcomes, particularly in locally advanced GC patients

Socio-spatial relations: an attempt to move space near society

There is a great effort to include relational attributes within a space perspective. This concerns two current interpretative tendencies: the first is related to the idea of de-territorialisation due to the high mobility of people and goods; the second is centred on the idea that social relations are increasingly loose and fragmented, giving rise to the ‘liquid society’. Approaches emphasising the importance of space and the strength of relations may counter such ideas by showing that many empirical cases are still interpretable by a robust combined socio-spatial perspective. The paper will take the polymorphic and structural approach of authors like Jessop, Brenner and Jones, paying special attention to the ‘quality’ of social relations according to a tradition that began with Simmel and Mauss, passed through Polanyi, and concluded with Godbout and Caillé. The paper illustrates the debate on the conjunction between space and relations, in particular through the view of Schatzki, elaborates on new or renewed patterns, and gives some examples of where such theoretical elaborations can be applied. The product is a typology of ‘socio-spatial relations’, while examples will be provided in regard to the issues of globalization, sustainability and governance.Nelle scienze sociali è in corso un grande sforzo per includere aspetti relazionali all’interno di una prospettiva spazialista. Ciò riguarda due recenti tendenze interpretative: la prima è legata all’idea di de-territorializzazione dovuta alla alta mobilità di persone e cose, la seconda è centrata sull’idea che le relazioni sociali siano progressivamente lasche e frammentate, dando luogo alla società liquida. Approcci che enfatizzano l’importanza dello spazio e la forza delle relazioni possono controbilanciare tali idee mostrando che molti casi empirici sono ancora interpretabili attraverso una robusta prospettiva che combina sociale e spaziale. Il testo considera l’approccio polimorfo e strutturale di autori come Jessop, Brenner and Jones, ponendo una particolare attenzione alla ‘qualità’ delle relazioni sociali secondo una tradizione che parte da Simmel e Mauss, passa attraverso Polanyi e giunge a Godbout e Caillé. Il testo illustra il dibattito sulla congiunzione fra spazio e relazioni, in particolare attraverso la visione di Schatzki, elabora poi un nuovo modello e descrive infine alcuni casi sui quali applicare tali spunti teorici. Il prodotto finale è una tipologia di relazioni socio-spaziali, applicate a tre questioni: globalizzazione, sostenibilità e governance

The anti-flood detention basin projects in northern Italy. New wine in old bottles?

An increased number of floods have affected the thick urban network located in Northern Italy. The towns traversed by the many rivers descending from the Alps and Apennines must address the problem of retarding water overflow. Detention basins have been envisaged as a good means to achieve more secure protection against floods for thick urban settings. In Italy, flood prevention policies have been partially decentralized to regions. In this study, the literature on political economy, policy analysis and governance is used to frame the planning and implementation of detention basins. Each approach raises questions on whether and how detention basins represent a return to hard water infrastructures. Three ongoing detention basin projects located in northern Italy have been chosen to illustrate the coalition of interests that support this policy of flood prevention. The selection of cases and their analysis are based on a comparative method considering both similarities and differences between detention basins. Although governance is highlighted in official documents regarding water policies, this approach has been followed to a very limited extent. The traditional policy community has been able to maintain leadership on projects, including a limited amount of new disciplines and expertise. Moreover, the emphasis on planning expertise creates some space for the governmentality approach. Overall, detention basins represent not a return to heavy infrastructures, but a continuation of traditional intervention methods with small greening changes. However, margins for a softer policy are possible through either recovering old containers/floodplains or developing a network of farm ponds and minor dikes

NEUTRON STUDY OF STRUCTURE AND DYNAMICS OF RIGID POLYMERS

The structure and the dynamics in two different classes of rigid polymers; ionomers and rigid luminescent polymers, have been investigated predominantly by neutron techniques. Rigidity of the backbones of both polymers affects their properties. For ionomers, it affects transport pathways, therefore, their applications for energy and separation membranes. In luminescent polymers, it determines the conformations of the chains and their electro-optical response. One group of the polymers consists of rigid hydrophobic para-phenylene backbone decorated with pendant phenyl side chains functionalized with sulfonic acid (SPP). The other family of polymers consists of poly para-phenyleneethynylene (PPE) backbone that becomes conjugated upon conformational constraints. The dynamic processes in an ionic network of rigid ionomers, SPP, and in spontaneously formed complex fluids of PPE were explored using quasi-elastic neutron scattering. The structure of PPEs in a good solvent and their collapsed conformations in poor solvent were investigated using small angle neutron scattering and atomic force microscopy techniques. Dynamics study of the complex network of SPP has shown that the polymer molecules in the membrane are not dynamic on the time resolution of the measurement. Water molecules, however, a solvent relevant to the applications of SPP, are confined and exhibit local jump dynamics. It is interesting to point that the water molecules remain dynamic well below its bulk freezing temperature. We found the strong dependence of water dynamics with temperature and hydration levels. Dynamics study of complex fluids of dinonyl PPE revealed that side chains of this polymer remain dynamic in its entire phase diagram including gel phase, micellar phase, and molecular solution. Finally, we studied polydots, PPE, confined to nano-dimensions in poor solvent. We found that structures and stability of polydots depend on concentration of parent polymer solution, temperature, solvent quality and nature of the substituents on the PPE backbone. Specifically, neutral PPE in water forms oblate shape polydots at lower concentration and spherical shape structure at higher concentration. The polydots remain stable at lower temperature (\u3c 80oC) and start to open up at higher temperature (\u3e 80oC) when collapsed in ethylene glycol. The polydots of ionizable PPE are found to have remarkable temperature stability compared to neutral analog, due to the presence of ionizable groups on the surface of the polydots

Green social cooperatives in Italy: a practical way to cover the three pillars of sustainability?

This article provides an introductory description of Italian green social cooperatives which are democratic nonprofit organizations specializing in the provision of environmental services. The background to this topic is the literature on the "third sector," usually called social entrepreneurship, and the "sociology of environment," mainly that part concerned with consumption and lifestyles. Green social cooperatives are a concrete attempt to unify the three pillars of sustainability. The analysis is divided into two parts. The first part highlights the challenges that the environmental crisis raises for social enterprises and considers three dimensions in particular: work integration, generalized or linear exchange, and the theory of the commons. The discussion reveals mismatches between the urgency of moving toward a sustainable world and the competences of social enterprises. The second part examines this asymmetry and uses the social cooperative, the main empirical expression of social enterprise in Italy, as its point of departure. The article proposes a typology with which to frame green social cooperatives and employs a qualitative approach to outline a concrete case for each type. The result is the emergence of a social area, at present decidedly underdeveloped and undersized, but with considerable potential for job creation and environmental services. The analysis demonstrates that social enterprises are interesting hybrids of economic and social sustainability, but to promote the environmental pillar of sustainability they must combine work and habitation (or production and consumption) according to a logic of sufficiency

Second Homes and the Need for Policy Planning

For years second home tourism has been an issue of discussion between tourist experts, real estate agents and politicians in both Mediterranean countries and Alpine destinations, however it has not raised much concern in academic circles. The aim of this paper is to analyze the second home phenomenon in order to acquire a better understanding of the overall situation and give an insight into the aspects and needs for policy planning. For this purpose South Tyrol has been taken as a case study, and a comprehensive overview of the situation has been determined through both quantitative and qualitative investigation on opinions and attitudes of second home owners, local residents, politicians, real estate agents. The outcome of this paper is a holistic picture of the phenomenon, which examines the positive and negative impacts and shows the need for public regulation through land use planning.Second Homes; Policy Planning; Economic Impacts; Tourism Development

Characterization of a σ54-Dependent Response Regulator, tepR, in the Rice-Pathogenic Bacterium Burkholderia Glumae and Development of Biocontrol Strategies for Bacterial Panicle Blight of Rice

Bacterial panicle blight, caused by Burkholderia glumae, is a major bacterial disease of rice in Louisiana. This bacterium contains several virulence factors required for disease development such as toxoflavin, lipase and flagella. In a genome-wide search for regulatory factors related to the virulence of B. glumae, tepR was identified as a negative regulator for toxoflavin production and found to encode a sigma 54-dependent response regulator. TepR is homologous to LuxO, a quorum-sensing signaling component of Vibrio spp. A markerless tepR deletion mutant of B. glumae 336gr-1, LSUPB401, produced more toxoflavin and showed higher lipase and protease activities compared to the wild type, 336gr-1. The phenotype of mutant LSUPB401 was complemented by a functional tepR clone, confirming that tepR is a novel negative regulator for toxoflavin production in B. glumae. In addition, LSUPB401 was more aggressive than the wild type in causing symptoms on rice panicles and onion bulb scales. However, LSUPB401 lost flagellar motility and hypersensitive reaction, suggesting positive roles of tepR in those phenotypes. These findings suggest that TepR promotes the cellular functions for initial host colonization. Ten bacterial strains showing antagonistic activities against B. glumae in an in vitro assay were detected from several thousand bacterial isolates obtained from the root region of rice grown at the Rice Research Station, Crowley, Louisiana. Those bacteria were identified as Bacillus, Paenibacillus and Pseudomonas based on the 16S rDNA sequences. Some isolates suppressed bacterial panicle blight significantly in both greenhouse and field conditions, therefore, are potential candidates for further biocontrol studies

Direct modeling techniques in the conceptual design stage in immersive environments for DfA&D

Due to the fast – growing competition of the mass – products markets, companies are looking for new technologies to maximize productivity and minimize time and costs. In the perspective of Computer Aided Process Planning (CAPP), companies want to optimize fixture design and assembly planning for different goals. To meet these demands, the designers' interest in Design for Assembly and Disassembly is growing considerably and is increasingly being integrated into the CAPP. The work described in this thesis aims to exploit immersive technologies to support the design of mating elements and assembly / disassembly, by developing a data exchange flow between the immersive environment and the modeling environment that provides the high – level modeling rules, both for modeling features and for assembly relationships. The main objective of the research is to develop the capability to model and execute simple coupling commands in a virtual environment by using fast direct modeling commands. With this tool the designer can model the coupling elements, position them and modify their layout. Thanks to the physical engine embedded in the scene editor software, it is possible to take into consideration physical laws such as gravity and collision between elements. A library of predefined assembly features has been developed through the use of an external modeling engine and put into communication with the immersive interaction environment. Subsequently, the research involved the study of immersive technologies for workforce development and training of workers. The research on immersive training involved industrial case studies, such as the projection of the disassembly sequence of an industrial product on a head mounted display, and less industrial case studies, such as the manual skills development of carpenters for AEC sectors and the surgeon training in the pre – operative planning in medical field

Managing local water resources by communities in semi-arid environments in Nepal

During recent years in Nepal, much attention has been given to promote participatory community-based water management as a viable means of support for the enhancement of rural livelihood. Undergoing water development trends in Nepal has instantly had contributed to the project efficiency and to the community’s management but has done little for long-term sustainability and little to address water scarcity, conflicts and problems associated with equity and social disparities. In this paper the sustainability concept is discussed on the background of provision of community-based multipurpose water projects for the holistic development of rural-mountain communities in Nepal. Humble innovations of community’s management for multipurpose water projects can provide powerful benefits to the poor and disadvantaged. It is hoped that these practical methods will assist agencies and communities to improve the operational strategies of any water development program