322 research outputs found
Understanding the Role of Culture and Heritage in Community Festivals: An Importance-Performance Analysis
Festivals can support local communities by bringing in unique visitors who will inject new revenue into the economy. Continued evaluation of festivals is necessary to ensure they are meeting customer expectations, which will generate positive word-of-mouth advertising and repeat visitation. The research reported here used an importance-performance analysis to evaluate a regional festival in South Carolina. Particular attention was paid to the importance of the cultural aspects of the festival. Based on a survey of 212 festival attendees, several recommendations are made to festival planners. Results indicate that cultural aspects of the festival were not very important to attendees
Universal properties of knotted polymer rings
By performing Monte Carlo sampling of -steps self-avoiding polygons
embedded on different Bravais lattices we explore the robustness of
universality in the entropic, metric and geometrical properties of knotted
polymer rings. In particular, by simulating polygons with up to we
furnish a sharp estimate of the asymptotic values of the knot probability
ratios and show their independence on the lattice type. This universal feature
was previously suggested although with different estimates of the asymptotic
values. In addition we show that the scaling behavior of the mean squared
radius of gyration of polygons depends on their knot type only through its
correction to scaling. Finally, as a measure of the geometrical
self-entanglement of the SAPs we consider the standard deviation of the writhe
distribution and estimate its power-law behavior in the large limit. The
estimates of the power exponent do depend neither on the lattice nor on the
knot type, strongly supporting an extension of the universality property to
some features of the geometrical entanglement.Comment: submitted to Phys.Rev.
Phase transitions in a gas of anyons
We continue our numerical Monte Carlo simulation of a gas of closed loops on
a 3 dimensional lattice, however now in the presence of a topological term
added to the action corresponding to the total linking number between the
loops. We compute the linking number using certain notions from knot theory.
Adding the topological term converts the particles into anyons. Using the
correspondence that the model is an effective theory that describes the
2+1-dimensional Abelian Higgs model in the asymptotic strong coupling regime,
the topological linking number simply corresponds to the addition to the action
of the Chern-Simons term. We find the following new results. The system
continues to exhibit a phase transition as a function of the anyon mass as it
becomes small \cite{mnp}, although the phases do not change the manifestation
of the symmetry. The Chern-Simons term has no effect on the Wilson loop, but it
does affect the {\rm '}t Hooft loop. For a given configuration it adds the
linking number of the 't Hooft loop with all of the dynamical vortex loops to
the action. We find that both the Wilson loop and the 't Hooft loop exhibit a
perimeter law even though there are no massless particles in the theory, which
is unexpected.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure
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Consumer Preference for Sustainable Tourism Certifications: A Choice Modeling Approach
Certifying tourism businesses as sustainable has been proposed as a means to connect the academic goals of ecotourism to the industry. One obstacle that impedes the development of widely recognized sustainable tourism certifications is the lack of knowledge regarding consumer preferences for these certifications. A better understanding of consumer desires is needed in order to create sustainable tourism certifications that will generate price premiums for certified businesses and thus accelerate the growth of certified businesses. This study uses a stated-preference choice modeling approach to examine consumer preference for sustainable tourism certifications amongst international tourists in Tanzania. Results suggest that certifications that emphasize environmental sustainability are more important to tourists than certifications that emphasize cultural or economic sustainability. Additionally, the more stringent certifications provide relatively little increase in consumer utility. The implications of the findings on the development of sustainable tourism certifications are discussed
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Tourism and Local Character in South Carolina: A Stated Preference Based Demand Analysis
This study attempts to quantify tourists’ demand for regional character on vacations to the South Carolina (SC) coast. Preferences for authentic elements such as the destination’s local flair and the local ownership of restaurants were measured using stated-preference choice modeling. This technique forces individuals to make tradeoffs between hypothetical trips based on attributes such as number of activities, amount of locally owned restaurants, degree of local flair, and price. The results of the survey (n=240) indicate a statistically significant demand for local flair and local restaurant ownership, although the demand plateaus after reaching a moderate level
Social democracy, embeddedness and decommodification: On the conceptual innovations and intellectual affiliations of Karl Polanyi
Of the several debates that revolve around the work of the economic historian and political economist Karl Polanyi, one that continues to exercise minds concerns his analysis of, and political attitudes toward, post-war capitalism and the welfare state. Simplified a little, it is a debate with two sides. To borrow Iván Szelényi's terms, one side constructs a ‘hard’ Karl Polanyi, the other a ‘soft’ one. The former advocated a socialist mixed economy dominated by redistributive mechanisms. He was a radical socialist for whom the market should never be the dominant mechanism of economic coordination. His ‘soft’ alter ego insisted that the market system remain essentially intact but be complemented by redistributive mechanisms. The ‘double movement’ – the central thesis of his ‘Great Transformation’ – acts, in this reading, as a self-correcting mechanism that moderates the excesses of market fundamentalism; its author was positioned within the social-democratic mainstream for which the only realistic desirable goal is a regulated form of capitalism. In terms of textual evidence there is much to be said for both interpretations. In this article I suggest a different approach, one that focuses upon the meaning of Polanyi's concepts in relation to their socio-political and intellectual environment
Minimal knotted polygons in cubic lattices
An implementation of BFACF-style algorithms on knotted polygons in the simple
cubic, face centered cubic and body centered cubic lattice is used to estimate
the statistics and writhe of minimal length knotted polygons in each of the
lattices. Data are collected and analysed on minimal length knotted polygons,
their entropy, and their lattice curvature and writhe
Uso de habtats por pequenos mamíferos não-voadores no cerrado do Brasil central
Non-volant small mammals are organisms capable of yielding precise information on richness, abundance and species composition variations related to the use of habitats. The aim of this research was to compare these variations in Cerrado sensu stricto, Palm Forest, Gallery Forest and Rocky Field. From May 1999 to February 2000, we surveyed non-volant small mammals (hence small mammals) in Serra das Araras Ecological Station. We captured 218 individuals and recaptured 62 individuals, belonging to 21 taxa, 13 rodents and eight marsupials, in a total of 13200 trap-nights. Capture success was 1.7%. We observed higher richness of small mammals in forested areas (Gallery Forest and Palm Forest) than in open areas (Rocky Field and Cerrado sensu stricto). The Palm Forest had the highest richness of marsupials, possibly due to the quality of a specific niche. The Rocky Field had the smallest richness, but with very high abundance of few species, mainly Thrichomys pachyurus and Monodelphis domestica. Forest habitats had similar species composition. The open habitats, Cerrado sensu stricto and Rocky Field, had a distinct species composition between them, and also when compared to forested areas. Different species are exclusive or showed preference for specific habitats. The protection of horizontally heterogeneous biomes, such as Cerrado, has a fundamental importance to the maintenance of the regional diversity of the small mammal community of Central Brazil
PGE2 inhibits TIL expansion by disrupting IL-2 signalling and mitochondrial function.
Expansion of antigen-experienced CD8+ T cells is critical for the success of tumour-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL)-adoptive cell therapy (ACT) in patients with cancer1. Interleukin-2 (IL-2) acts as a key regulator of CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocyte functions by promoting expansion and cytotoxic capability2,3. Therefore, it is essential to comprehend mechanistic barriers to IL-2 sensing in the tumour microenvironment to implement strategies to reinvigorate IL-2 responsiveness and T cell antitumour responses. Here we report that prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), a known negative regulator of immune response in the tumour microenvironment4,5, is present at high concentrations in tumour tissue from patients and leads to impaired IL-2 sensing in human CD8+ TILs via the PGE2 receptors EP2 and EP4. Mechanistically, PGE2 inhibits IL-2 sensing in TILs by downregulating the IL-2Rγc chain, resulting in defective assembly of IL-2Rβ-IL2Rγc membrane dimers. This results in impaired IL-2-mTOR adaptation and PGC1α transcriptional repression, causing oxidative stress and ferroptotic cell death in tumour-reactive TILs. Inhibition of PGE2 signalling to EP2 and EP4 during TIL expansion for ACT resulted in increased IL-2 sensing, leading to enhanced proliferation of tumour-reactive TILs and enhanced tumour control once the cells were transferred in vivo. Our study reveals fundamental features that underlie impairment of human TILs mediated by PGE2 in the tumour microenvironment. These findings have therapeutic implications for cancer immunotherapy and cell therapy, and enable the development of targeted strategies to enhance IL-2 sensing and amplify the IL-2 response in TILs, thereby promoting the expansion of effector T cells with enhanced therapeutic potential
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