206 research outputs found
From Patient to Guest: Current trends in the German health care industry and their impacts on the tourism sector
Fuelled by demographic and psychographic change, the German health care system has been under increasing pressure over the past decades to a point where the system has been seen as no longer economically viable. This has set in motion a string of reform measures which have aimed to reign in the spiralling costs. Now, with a much greater focus on prevention, competition within the health care system and more personal responsibility, the German health sector is by many no longer perceived as a burden on the national economy but rather as an opportunity for furture economic growth. One important reason for this development has been an expansion in what is known as the second health care market. This paper outlines the shift from a public health insurance system to a modern health economy by focusing on the health tourism sector which has experienced a boom in recent years, driven particularly by strong demand in the senior market segment
Western Australia's short-lived ‘sustainability revolution’
Successive governments in Western Australia (WA), and in Australia as a whole, have traditionally pursued economic development. In 2001, however, the Labor Party came into office with a professed commitment to sustainable development and seemed to promise a departure from, and alternative to, economic developmentalism. However, despite a series of government initiatives, the initial euphoria dissipated, the government failed to deliver a lasting break with the developmentalist policy agenda, and the state returned to its traditional path of resource-based economic expansion. The dramatic rise and fall of sustainability in WA is addressed here
Tourism strategy through partnership: Rhetoric or reality?: A case example from Australia
In December 2002, the Northern Territory (NT) Labor government in Australia released a new tourism plan, Northern Territory Tourism Strategic Plan - 2003-2007. The turbulent events of 2001 that had a significant impact on the tourism industry in the NT and included the collapse of the Australian carrier Ansett Airlines and 'September 11' provided the impetus for the new strategy. Purportedly, this plan was designed to direct and guide the NT tourism industry's future development based on sound research and extensive consultation with key stakeholders. Such a partnership approach was regarded as crucial for the success of future tourism in the Territory. This paper specifically focuses on the formulation process of this Tourism Strategic Plan. In particular, it explores the effectiveness of the underlying consultation process. A closer examination, however, shows that the government's claims to having prepared the tourism plan in consultation with a wide range of stakeholders are not justified
The VIMOS Ultra Deep Survey. Luminosity and stellar mass dependence of galaxy clustering at z~3
We present the study of the dependence of galaxy clustering on luminosity and
stellar mass in the redshift range 2z3.5 using 3236 galaxies with robust
spectroscopic redshifts from the VIMOS Ultra Deep Survey (VUDS). We measure the
two-point real-space correlation function for four volume-limited
stellar mass and four luminosity, M absolute magnitude selected,
sub-samples. We find that the scale dependent clustering amplitude
significantly increases with increasing luminosity and stellar mass indicating
a strong galaxy clustering dependence on these properties. This corresponds to
a strong relative bias between these two sub-samples of b/b=0.43.
Fitting a 5-parameter HOD model we find that the most luminous and massive
galaxies occupy the most massive dark matter haloes with
M = 10 h M. Similar to the
trends observed at lower redshift, the minimum halo mass M depends on
the luminosity and stellar mass of galaxies and grows from M
=10 hM to M=10 hM
from the faintest to the brightest among our galaxy sample, respectively. We
find the difference between these halo masses to be much more pronounced than
is observed for local galaxies of similar properties. Moreover, at z~3, we
observe that the masses at which a halo hosts, on average, one satellite and
one central galaxy is M4M over all luminosity ranges,
significantly lower than observed at z~0 indicating that the halo satellite
occupation increases with redshift. The luminosity and stellar mass dependence
is also reflected in the measurements of the large scale galaxy bias, which we
model as b(L)=1.92+25.36(L/L). We conclude our study
with measurements of the stellar-to-halo mass ratio (SHMR).Comment: 20 pages, 11 figures, A&A in press, v2. revised discussion in sec.
5.5, changed Fig. 4 and Fig. 11, added reference
Breaking the Curve with CANDELS: A Bayesian Approach to Reveal the Non-Universality of the Dust-Attenuation Law at High Redshift
Dust attenuation affects nearly all observational aspects of galaxy
evolution, yet very little is known about the form of the dust-attenuation law
in the distant Universe. Here, we model the spectral energy distributions
(SEDs) of galaxies at z = 1.5--3 from CANDELS with rest-frame UV to near-IR
imaging under different assumptions about the dust law, and compare the amount
of inferred attenuated light with the observed infrared (IR) luminosities. Some
individual galaxies show strong Bayesian evidence in preference of one dust law
over another, and this preference agrees with their observed location on the
plane of infrared excess (IRX, ) and UV slope
(). We generalize the shape of the dust law with an empirical model,
where
is the dust law of Calzetti et al. (2000), and show that there
exists a correlation between the color excess and tilt with
+ . Galaxies with high
color excess have a shallower, starburst-like law, and those with low color
excess have a steeper, SMC-like law. Surprisingly, the galaxies in our sample
show no correlation between the shape of the dust law and stellar mass,
star-formation rate, or . The change in the dust law with color excess
is consistent with a model where attenuation is caused by by scattering, a
mixed star-dust geometry, and/or trends with stellar population age,
metallicity, and dust grain size. This rest-frame UV-to-near-IR method shows
potential to constrain the dust law at even higher () redshifts.Comment: 20 pages, 18 figures, resubmitted to Ap
A subarcsecond near-infrared view of massive galaxies at z > 1 with Gemini Multiconjugate Adaptive Optics
We present images taken using the Gemini South Adaptive Optics Imager (GSAOI)
with the Gemini Multiconjugate Adaptive Optics System (GeMS) in three 2
arcmin fields in the Spitzer Extragalactic Representative Volume Survey.
These GeMS/GSAOI observations are among the first resolution
data in the near-infrared spanning extragalactic fields exceeding
in size. We use these data to estimate galaxy sizes, obtaining
results similar to those from studies with the Hubble Space Telescope, though
we find a higher fraction of compact star forming galaxies at . To
disentangle the star-forming galaxies from active galactic nuclei (AGN), we use
multiwavelength data from surveys in the optical and infrared, including
far-infrared data from Herschel, as well as new radio continuum data from the
Australia Telescope Compact Array and Very Large Array. We identify
ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs) at , which consist of a
combination of pure starburst galaxies and Active Galactic Nuclei
(AGN)/starburst composites. The ULIRGs show signs of recent merger activity,
such as highly disturbed morphologies and include a rare candidate triple AGN.
We find that AGN tend to reside in hosts with smaller scale sizes than purely
star-forming galaxies of similar infrared luminosity. Our observations
demonstrate the potential for MCAO to complement the deeper galaxy surveys to
be made with the James Webb Space Telescope.Comment: 20 pages, AJ, in pres
Comprehensive comparison between azacytidine and decitabine treatment in an acute myeloid leukemia cell line
Azacytidine (AzaC) and decitabine (AzadC) are cytosine analogs that covalently trap DNA methyltransferases, which place the important epigenetic mark 5-methyl-2’-deoxycytidine by methylating 2’-deoxycytidine (dC) at the C5 position. AzaC and AzadC are used in the clinic as antimetabolites to treat myelodysplastic syndrome and acute myeloid leukemia and are explored against other types of cancer. Although their principal mechanism of action is known, the downstream effects of AzaC and AzadC treatment are not well understood and the cellular prerequisites that determine sensitivity toward AzaC and AzadC remain elusive. Here, we investigated the effects and phenotype of AzaC and AzadC exposure on the acute myeloid leukemia cell line MOLM-13. We found that while AzaC and AzadC share many effects on the cellular level, including decreased global DNA methylation, increased formation of DNA double-strand breaks, transcriptional downregulation of important oncogenes and similar changes on the proteome level, AzaC failed in contrast to AzadC to induce apoptosis efficiently in MOLM-13. The only cellular marker that correlated with this clear phenotypical outcome was the level of hydroxy-methyl-dC, an additional epigenetic mark that is placed by TET enzymes and repressed in cancer cells. Whereas AzadC increased hmdC substantially in MOLM-13, AzaC treatment did not result in any increase at all. This suggests that hmdC levels in cancer cells should be monitored as a response toward AzaC and AzadC and considered as a biomarker to judge whether AzaC or AzadC treatment leads to cell death in leukemic cells
CANDELS Sheds Light on the Environmental Quenching of Low-mass Galaxies
We investigate the environmental quenching of galaxies, especially those with
stellar masses (M*), beyond the local universe. Essentially
all local low-mass quenched galaxies (QGs) are believed to live close to
massive central galaxies, which is a demonstration of environmental quenching.
We use CANDELS data to test {\it whether or not} such a dwarf QG--massive
central galaxy connection exists beyond the local universe. To this purpose, we
only need a statistically representative, rather than a complete, sample of
low-mass galaxies, which enables our study to . For each low-mass
galaxy, we measure the projected distance () to its nearest massive
neighbor (M*) within a redshift range. At a given redshift
and M*, the environmental quenching effect is considered to be observed if the
distribution of QGs () is significantly skewed toward
lower values than that of star-forming galaxies (). For galaxies
with , such a difference between
and is detected up to . Also, about 10\%
of the quenched galaxies in our sample are located between two and four virial
radii () of the massive halos. The median projected distance from
low-mass QGs to their massive neighbors, , decreases with
satellite M* at , but increases with satellite M*
at . This trend suggests a smooth, if any,
transition of the quenching timescale around at
.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures. ApJL accepted. Typos correcte
SN Ia host galaxy properties from Sloan Digital Sky Survey-II spectroscopy
We study the stellar populations of Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) host galaxies using Sloan
Digital Sky Survey (SDSS)-II spectroscopy. The main focus is on the relationships of SN Ia
properties with stellar velocity dispersion and the stellar population parameters age, metallicity
and element abundance ratios. We concentrate on a sub-sample of 84 SNe Ia from the
SDSS-II Supernova Survey and find that SALT2 stretch factor values show the strongest dependence
on stellar population age. Hence, more luminous SNe Ia appear in younger stellar
progenitor systems. No statistically significant trends in the Hubble residual with any of the
stellar population parameters studied are found. Moreover, the method of photometric stellar
mass derivation affects the Hubble residual–mass relationship. For an extended sample (247
objects), including SNe Ia with SDSS host galaxy photometry only, the Hubble residual–mass
relationship behaves as a sloped step function. In the high-mass regime, probed by our host
spectroscopy sample, this relationship is flat. Below a stellar mass of ∼2 × 1010M , i.e. close
to the evolutionary transition mass of low-redshift galaxies, the trend changes dramatically
such that lower mass galaxies possess lower luminosity SNe Ia after light-curve corrections.
The sloped step function of the Hubble residual–mass relationship should be accounted for
when using stellar mass as a further parameter for minimizing the Hubble residuals.Department of HE and Training approved lis
A WFC3 Grism Emission Line Redshift Catalog in the GOODS-South Field
We combine HST/WFC3 imaging and G141 grism observations from the CANDELS and
3D-HST surveys to produce a catalog of grism spectroscopic redshifts for
galaxies in the CANDELS/GOODS-South field. The WFC3/G141 grism spectra cover a
wavelength range of 1.1<lambda<1.7 microns with a resolving power of R~130 for
point sources, thus providing rest-frame optical spectra for galaxies out to
z~3.5. The catalog is selected in the H-band (F160W) and includes both galaxies
with and without previously published spectroscopic redshifts. Grism spectra
are extracted for all H-band detected galaxies with H<24 and a CANDELS
photometric redshift z_phot > 0.6. The resulting spectra are visually inspected
to identify emission lines and redshifts are determined using cross-correlation
with empirical spectral templates. To establish the accuracy of our redshifts,
we compare our results against high-quality spectroscopic redshifts from the
literature. Using a sample of 411 control galaxies, this analysis yields a
precision of sigma_NMAD=0.0028 for the grism-derived redshifts, which is
consistent with the accuracy reported by the 3D-HST team. Our final catalog
covers an area of 153 square arcmin and contains 1019 redshifts for galaxies in
GOODS-S. Roughly 60% (608/1019) of these redshifts are for galaxies with no
previously published spectroscopic redshift. These new redshifts span a range
of 0.677 < z < 3.456 and have a median redshift of z=1.282. The catalog
contains a total of 234 new redshifts for galaxies at z>1.5. In addition, we
present 20 galaxy pair candidates identified for the first time using the grism
redshifts in our catalog, including four new galaxy pairs at z~2, nearly
doubling the number of such pairs previously identified.Comment: 25 Pages, 9 Figures, submitted to A
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