Stochastic kernel and conditioning schemes: a study about the influence of spatial factor on agriculture of EU NUTS2

Besides to be an useful methodology for the detection of distribution dynamics of indicators, stochastic kernel has been generalized to a regression-like rationale (Quah, 1997). The latter allows to determine how a distribution is influenced by a "factor", through a "conditioning scheme" which is a set of rules stating how the original distribution is altered in order to obtain its "conditioned" version. This paper aims to study the influence of the "spatial factor" on distributions of selected agriculture impact indicators across EU NUTS2. The present work offers an empirical analysis of dynamics of selected indicators of agriculture across NUTS2. Our scope is to give an overlook of EU territorial discontinuities in order to point out time and space features related to “polarization”.The paper describes and explores different space-conditioning scheme (Quah, 1997) and compares their effects over original distributions in highlighting peculiar "local" behaviors of groups of territorial units

Ultrabiomicroscopy anterior segment evaluation of ocular contusive trauma caused by pressurized bottled drink caps. a case report

We report the case of a patient presented to the emergency department because of a contu-sive trauma from a pressurized bottled drink cap. During the visit, the patient indicated that he had been hit in his left eye by a cork while he was opening a sparkling wine bottle. He underwent a total ophthalmology examination. He had an important reduction of visual acuity, corneal swelling, Descemet’s folds, and hyphema. Therefore, we decided to perform ultrabio-microscopy (UBM) of the anterior segment to study the endothelial damage and Descemet’s membrane. UBM images confirmed the direct biomicroscopy, highlighting the damaged loca-tion

Ocriplasmin in the treatment of vitreomacular traction in a patient with central retinal vein occlusion. a case report

Aim: To investigate the efficacy of intravitreal injection of ocriplasmin (JETREA®) in the treat-ment of vitreomacular traction (VMT). Materials and Methods: An 81-year-old man with VMT associated with central retinal vein occlusion in his left eye, was treated with a single intravitreal injection of ocriplasmin (25 μg). Best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), ocular fundus, and optical coherence tomography were examined before and after treatment. Results: Complete release of VMT produced a reduction of central macular thickness, ranging from 459 to 141 μm. BCVA remained stable. Discussion and Conclusions: The use of ocriplasmin was effective in the treatment of VMT. Ocriplasmin represents a valid alternative to conventional pars plana vitrec-tomy

Hotels in a customer-centred business model: Empirical findings from Val Gardena

The gradual shifting of the hospitality industry from product to service is due to the orientation of business models towards the customers – i.e. how an organization creates, delivers, and captures value. Guests evaluate such attitude in several and influential review websites. We investigate about the effectiveness of such models on quality perception by studying the determinants of facilities\u27 online ratings. In particular we focus on two critical aspects for customer-oriented business, as price and proximity effect to competitors located near renowned tourist areas. The latter may stimulate quality improvement on hotels placed in peripheral locations. This study considers the acco-mmodation facilities located near Val Gardena, one of the most famous Italian mountain destinations. As done by previous contributors we present separate estimates for sales and advice websites. We find that price is not necessarily a significant indicator for hotel quality and the related business model. In addition, there seem not to be necessarily significant differences in quality perception between hotels located in strictly neighbour destinations and those in peripheral areas. If on one side proximity to a renowned area can be a rewarding factor for quality assessment, on the other side it appears not necessarily to be a critical one

Determinants of tourist expenditure: a review of microeconometric models

This paper presents a comprehensive review of the econometric approaches for the analysis of tourism expenditure at individual level. The attempt to consider only regression models is novel in literature. The paper resumes 86 papers and 354 estimates of econometric models from data at individual level, ranging from 1977 to the early 2012. Discussion focuses on models used, dependent variables, explanatory variables by category and their effect on expenditure. The most frequently used explanatory variables were income, socio-demographic and trip-related, and were tested mainly through classical regression techniques (OLS, quantile, Tobit and two-step, logistic). Future research directions should concern the exploration of new evidence through novel methodological techniques, a more extensive use of psychographic variables and a stronger relation to economic theory

Determinants of tourist expenditure: a review of microeconometric models

This paper presents a comprehensive review of the econometric approaches for the analysis of tourism expenditure at individual level. The attempt to consider only regression models is novel in literature. The paper resumes 86 papers and 354 estimates of econometric models from data at individual level, ranging from 1977 to the early 2012. Discussion focuses on models used, dependent variables, explanatory variables by category and their effect on expenditure. The most frequently used explanatory variables were income, socio-demographic and trip-related, and were tested mainly through classical regression techniques (OLS, quantile, Tobit and two-step, logistic). Future research directions should concern the exploration of new evidence through novel methodological techniques, a more extensive use of psychographic variables and a stronger relation to economic theory

Visitors of two types of museums: do expenditure patterns differ?

This study aims at estimating and comparing the determinants of expenditure behaviour of visitors in two types of museums. An ad-hoc survey was conducted between June and September 2011 among the visitors of the principal museums of the two provinces of Bolzano and Trento: the South Tyrol Museum of Archeology (Bolzano), hosting the permanent exhibition of the “Iceman” Ötzi, and the Museum of Modern and Contemporaneous Art of Trento and Rovereto (MART). The double-hurdle procedure of Heien and Wessels (1999) is used in order to obtain consistent estimates and split the process of spending decision into the stages of ‘activation’ and ‘outcome’. Results highlight two distinct profiles of visitors. Spending of the modern art museum visitor was positively related to her cultural interest, whereas the expenditure profile of the archaeological museum guest was more ‘generalist’

Repeat tourism in Uruguay: modelling truncated distributions of count data

This paper studies the determinants of repeat visiting in Uruguay, where loyal visitors are a relevant part of the total. From a statistical point of view the number of times a visitor has been to a place constitutes count data. In this regard available information on Uruguay present relevant limitations. Count data is in fact reported only for those who visited the country up to five times, whereas records about the most frequent visitors are collapsed into one residual category. This implies that the classic models for count data such as Poisson or negative binomial cannot be put into consideration. The paper suggest instead the use of a quantile count data regression, that is a model based on measures of location rather than mean values. A set of explanatory variables related to socioeconomic characteristics, features of the journey and composition of the travel party are considered

Repeat tourism in Uruguay: modelling truncated distributions of count data

This paper studies the determinants of repeat visiting in Uruguay, where loyal visitors are a relevant part of the total. From a statistical point of view the number of times a visitor has been to a place constitutes count data. In this regard available information on Uruguay present relevant limitations. Count data is in fact reported only for those who visited the country up to five times, whereas records about the most frequent visitors are collapsed into one residual category. This implies that the classic models for count data such as Poisson or negative binomial cannot be put into consideration. The paper suggest instead the use of a quantile count data regression, that is a model based on measures of location rather than mean values. A set of explanatory variables related to socioeconomic characteristics, features of the journey and composition of the travel party are considered

Visitors of two types of museums: A segmentation study

Market segmentation comprises a wide range of measurement tools that are useful for the sake of supporting marketing and promotional policies also in the sector of cultural economics. This paper aims to contribute to the literature on segmenting cultural visitors by using the Bagged Clustering method, as an alternative and effective strategy to conduct cluster analysis when binary variables are used. The technique is a combination of hierarchical and partitioning methods and presents several advantages with respect to more standard techniques, such as k-means and LVQ. For this purpose, two ad hoc surveys were conducted between June and September 2011 in the two principal museums of the two provinces of the Trentino-South Tyrol region (Bolzano and Trento), Northern Italy: the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano (ÖTZI), hosting the permanent exhibition of the "Iceman" Ötzi, and the Museum of Modern and Contemporaneous Art of Trento and Rovereto (MART). The segmentation analysis was conducted separately for the two kinds of museums in order to find similarities and differences in behaviour patterns and characteristics of visitors. The analysis identified three and two cluster segments respectively for the MART and ÖTZI visitors, where two ÖTZI clusters presented similar characteristics to two out of three MART groups. Conclusions highlight marketing and managerial implications for a better direction of the museums. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved