Commitment and Competence as influencers of eWOM Valence. The case of Spanish accomodation in TripAdvisor.

The expansion of new technologies uses as a way of bringing together companies and consumers supposes multi-channel strategies in different activities or industrial sectors. Specifically, the review platforms such as TripAdvisor have changed the communication between tourist accommodation and consumers. This research, through the study of correlations, analyses the influence of commitment (training, planning and communication) and competence (productive use, active use and adoption of technology and knowledge) of accommodation with the obtained valence (much more positive than negative comments, more positive than negative comments, same positive and negative comments, more negative than positive comments and much more negative than positive comments). This research is based on a random sample of 328 Spanish accommodations with presence on TripAdvisor. With the help of Scraper software version 1.7 we obtain the comments received by the accommodation on TripAdvisor. These comments will be the foundation of the valence variable. To study the correlations between valence, commitment and competence it is used SPSS version 23. The results show a relation between commitment and valence and competence and valence. This research improves the understanding of eWOM and provides the basis for digital marketing strategies to get better reviews and ratings from customers. Future research can also investigate different company strategies as inductors of the eWOM valence.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

La influencia de la edad y el género sobre los determinantes de la adopción del smartphone para la planificación de viajes

Vallespín, M., Molinillo, S. & Pérez-Aranda, J. (2016).La influencia de la edad y el género sobre los determinantes de la asopción del smartphone para la planificación de viajes. In Correia, M., Santos, J.A.C., Santos, M., Aguas, P. & Baptista (Eds.), Tourism & Management Studies International Conference TMS Algarve (p. 176), Portugal.Objetivo: Esta investigación analiza el comportamiento del turista ante la llegada de un nuevo canal de comercialización como es el canal móvil. Para ello, y con el objetivo de guiar a las empresas del sector en sus estrategias de segmentación, se analiza por separado, el comportamiento de los diferentes segmentos. Metodología: Mediante análisis ANOVA, sobre una muestra de 624 consumidores turísticos españoles, se estudia la influencia de la edad y el género para la planificación de viajes a través del canal móvil. En concreto, las variables dependientes consideradas son: la facilidad de uso, la utilidad percibida y el hábito que perciben hacia el canal móvil, su futura intención de uso, el apoyo que perciben de su círculo más cercano y los hábitos arraigados a otros canales como son el canal online y el canal offline. Principales resultados: Se encuentra que la variable edad genera diferentes comportamientos en casi todas las variables analizadas. De este modo, son los turistas menores de 45 años los que parecen presentar un mayor potencial ya que presentan un mayor hábito hacia el canal online y hacia el canal móvil en detrimento de los canales offline. Además, este segmento (menores de 45 años) también encuentran esta canal más fácil de usar. En cambio, el género parece no generar apenas diferencias, tan solo los hombres parecen presentar un mayor arraigo hacia las agencias de viajes. Podría concluirse, por tanto, que las diferencias de género encontradas antaño sobre el uso de las tecnologías parecen estar desapareciendo.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Review of Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) as bioindicators in the Brazilian Savanna

The Brazilian Savanna is threatened mainly by the expansion of agriculture and livestock. Regarding environmental problems, habitat loss in the biome and the need to verify studies on ants as bioindicators, the goal of this paper was to carry out a bibliographic review of the literature about ants as bioindicators in this biome from the last 30 years. We searched papers about ants as bioindicators in the Brazilian Savanna from the last 30 years, refining the search between the years 1986 to 2016 and we analyzed 16 papers about ants as bioindicators. Monitoring studies focusing on ants as bioindicators in the Brazilian Savanna started in 1992 and increased since 2002. The results obtained in the studies presented changes in the species richness and composition in relation to potential bioindication. In general, 167 species are defined as bioindicators of the Brazilian Savanna and are related to specific habitats. We verified that most studies were done Minas Gerais state. We noted that the absence of rigorous analysis damaged the results of the studies, as well as the knowledge of ant fauna biology for correct attribution of indication characteristics of preserved or degraded areas

First record of Conura morleyi (Ashmead, 1904) (Hymenoptera: Chalcididae) parasitizing Brassolis sp. (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) for Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil

We report the first record of Conuramorleyi (Hymenoptera: Chalcididae) parasitizing pupae of Brassolis sp. (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. Fifty-four individuals of C.morleyi emerged from two pupae of Brassolis collected in an urban area of Campo Grande. With our new record, the genus Conura is now represented in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul by 15 species. Our record of C. morleyi in Mato Grosso do Sul represents a range extension for this species

The repressor DREAM acts as a transcriptional activator on Vitamin D and retinoic acid response elements

DREAM (downstream regulatory element antagonist modulator) is a transcriptional repressor, which binds DREs (downstream response elements) in a Ca(2+)-regulated manner. The DREs consist of core GTCA motifs, very similar to binding motifs for non-steroid nuclear receptors. In this work, we find that DREAM stimulates basal and ligand-dependent activation of promoters containing vitamin D and retinoic acid response elements (VDREs and RAREs), consisting of direct repeats of the sequence AGT/GTCA spaced by 3 or 5 nt, respectively. Stimulation occurs when the element is located upstream, but not downstream, the transcription initiation site. Activation requires both Ca(2+) binding to the EF-hands and the leucine-charged domains (LCDs), analogous to those responsible for the interaction of the nuclear receptors with coregulators. Further more, DREAM can bind both ‘in vitro’ and in chromatin immunoprecipitation assays to these elements. Importantly, ‘in vivo’ binding is only observed in vitamin D- or RA-treated cells. These results show that DREAM can function as an activator of transcription on certain promoters and demonstrate a novel role for DREAM acting as a potential modulator of genes containing binding sites for nuclear receptors

Beam formulation and FE framework for architected structures under finite deformations

The breakthrough in additive manufacturing (AM) techniques is opening new routes into the conceptualisation of novel architected materials. However, there are still important roadblocks impeding the full implementation of these technologies in different application fields such as soft robotics or bioengineering. One of the main bottlenecks is the difficulty to perform topological optimisation of the structures and their functional design. To help this endeavour, computational models are essential. Although 3D formulations provide the most reliable tools, these usually present very high computational costs. Beam models based on 1D formulations may overcome this limitation but they need to incorporate all the relevant mechanical features of the 3D problem. Here, we propose a mixed formulation for Timoshenko-type beams to consistently account for axial, shear and bending contributions under finite deformation theory. The framework is formulated on general bases and is suitable for most types of materials, allowing for the straightforward particularisation of the constitutive description. To prove validity of the model, we provide original experimental data on a 3D printed elastomeric material. We first validate the computational framework using a benchmark problem and compare the beam formulation predictions with numerical results from an equivalent 3D model. Then, we further validate the framework and illustrate its flexibility to predict the mechanical response of beam-based structures. To this end, we perform original experiments and numerical simulations on two types of relevant structures: a rhomboid lattice and a bi-stable beam structure. In both cases, the numerical results provide a very good agreement with the experiments by means of both quantitative and qualitative results. Overall, the proposed formulation provides a useful tool to help at designing new architected materials and metamaterial structures based on beam components. The framework presented may open new opportunities to guide AM techniques by feeding machine learning optimisation algorithms.The authors acknowledge support from Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 under Grant number PID2020-117894GA-I00, and the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No. 947723, project: 4D-BIOMAP). DGG acknowledges support from the Talent Attraction grant (CM 2018 - 2018-T2/IND-9992) from the Comunidad de Madrid. JAR acknowledges support from the Programa de Apoyo a la Realización de Proyectos Interdiscisplinares de I + D para Jóvenes Investigadores de la Universidad Carlos III de Madrid and Comunidad de Madrid, Spain (project: OPTIMUM)