The effects of touristic elements in photographs on potential visitors’ evaluations of a volcano

To promote nature-based destinations with crustal activity, it is crucial to capture scenic images of these to communicate their inherent attractiveness to potential visitors while minimizing perceived risk. This study aims to investigate how the presence of a visitor and a human-made touristic structure in photographs affects potential visitors’ evaluations of a volcano and to offer avenues to leverage the inherent nature of creative, smart, and sustainable destinations. Sixty-one students rated 24 slide photographs featuring a volcano with and without a visitor, a human-made structure, and a volcanic plume, on scales regarding the touristic sense, activity, grandness, transcendence, and security. The results implied the risk-cushioning effects of the presence of the visitor and the human-made structure. As the structure enhanced the sense of transcendence and grandness, its inclusion may be effective in communicating the destination’s attractiveness

Visitors’ Gaze on the Local Living Culture of a Historical District: its Perceptual and Behavioral Aspects

A historical district as a tourism destination encompasses various aspects, including ones as heritage, as an attraction for visitors, and as a living place for the locals. For investigations of visitors’ gaze on aspects that depict lives of the locals in such a district, this study aims to present some of the theoretical backgrounds and the outlines of the potential methods. This study, which is the first step of a long-term investigation, discusses the nature of the local living culture of a historical district and proposes the use of techniques to obtain verbal responses related to visitors’ perceptions, to capture objects of their focus as projected in photographs, and to record the traits of their behaviors. The difference in visitors’ levels of previous visits is also considered as a variable that may affect their perceptions of the local living culture and the manners in which they interact with it

Can We Extract Lambda-Lambda Interaction from Two-Particle Momentum Correlation ?

We analyze the invariant mass spectrum of Lambda-Lambda in $^{12}C(K^-,K^+ Lambda Lambda)$ reaction at P(K^+)=1.65 GeV/c by using a combined framework of IntraNuclear Cascade (INC) model and the correlation function technique. The observed enhancement at low-invariant masses can be well reproduced with attractive Lambda-Lambda interactions with the scattering length either in the range a = -6 \sim -4 fm (no bound state) or a = 7 \sim 12 fm (with bound state). We also discuss Lambda-Lambda correlation functions in central relativistic heavy-ion collisions as a possible way to eliminate this discrete ambiguity.Comment: 4 Pages, LaTeX with psfig, embedded 4 ps figures. Talk given at KEK-Tanashi Int. Symp. on "Physics of Hadrons and Nuclei", 14-17 Dec. 1998, Tokyo, Japan, Nuclear Physics A, to appea

How others\u27 behaviours affect visitors\u27 pro-environmental behavioural intention : a research model based on the case of beach cleaning

This study proposed a model that could elucidate the effects of others’ pro-environmental behaviour on visitors’ proenvironmental behavioural intention, using beach cleaning as others’ behaviour. The model relied on knowledge of tourism studies and environmental psychology, especially the concept of Motivation Towards the Environment (MTE) as well as the effects of others’ pro-environmental behaviour, as suggested with reference to social dilemma theory and the concept of social norm. The model aimed to examine the effects of information regarding others’ pro-environmental behaviour on visitors’ MTE and ‘desire to be away’, effects of the motivations on visitors’ pro-environmental behavioural intention, and indirect effects of the intervention on visitors’ pro-environmental behavioural intention

Aquaporin 4 Expression in the mdx Mouse Diaphragm

Expression of aquaporin (AQP) 4 in the surface membranes of skeletal myofibers is well established; however, its functional significance is still unknown. The alterations of AQP4 expressions in dystrophic muscles at RNA and protein levels have been reported in various dystrophic muscles such as dystrophinopathy, dysferlinopathy, and sarcoglycanopathy. We are interested in the relationship between the severity of dystrophic muscle degeneration and the expression of AQP4. Here we compared the AQP4 expression of the limb muscles with that of diaphragms in both mdx and control mice. The dystrophic muscle degeneration, such as rounding profile of cross sectional myofiber shape, dense eosin staining, central nuclei, and endomysial fibrosis in mdx mice, were more marked in diaphragms than in limb muscles. The decrease of AQP4 expression at protein level was more marked in diaphragms than in the limb muscles of mdx mice. However, the expression of AQP4 mRNA in the diaphragms of mdx mice was not reduced in comparison with limb muscles of mdx mice. The present study revealed that AQP4 expression at protein level was correlated with the severity of dystrophic changes in muscle tissues of mdx mice

A Phthalimide Derivative That Inhibits Centrosomal Clustering Is Effective on Multiple Myeloma

Despite the introduction of newly developed drugs such as lenalidomide and bortezomib, patients with multiple myeloma are still difficult to treat and have a poor prognosis. In order to find novel drugs that are effective for multiple myeloma, we tested the antitumor activity of 29 phthalimide derivatives against several multiple myeloma cell lines. Among these derivatives, 2-(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)-5-amino-1H-isoindole-1,3- dione (TC11) was found to be a potent inhibitor of tumor cell proliferation and an inducer of apoptosis via activation of caspase-3, 8 and 9. This compound also showed in vivo activity against multiple myeloma cell line KMS34 tumor xenografts in ICR/SCID mice. By means of mRNA display selection on a microfluidic chip, the target protein of TC11 was identified as nucleophosmin 1 (NPM). Binding of TC11 and NPM monomer was confirmed by surface plasmon resonance. Immunofluorescence and NPM knockdown studies in HeLa cells suggested that TC11 inhibits centrosomal clustering by inhibiting the centrosomal-regulatory function of NPM, thereby inducing multipolar mitotic cells, which undergo apoptosis. NPM may become a novel target for development of antitumor drugs active against multiple myeloma

High energy electron observation by Polar Patrol Balloon flight in Antarctica

We accomplished a balloon observation of the high-energy cosmic-ray electrons in 10-1000GeV to reveal the origin and the acceleration mechanism. The observation was carried out for 13 days at an average altitude of 35km by the Polar Patrol Balloon (PPB) around Antarctica in January 2004. The detector is an imaging calorimeter composed of scintillating-fiber belts and plastic scintillation counters sandwiched between lead plates. The geometrical factor is about 600cm^2sr, and the total thickness of lead absorber is 9 radiation lengths. The performance of the detector has been confirmed by a test flight at the Sanriku Balloon Center and by an accelerator beam test using the CERN-SPS (Super Proton Synchrotron at CERN). The new telemetry system using the Iridium satellite, the power system supplied by solar panels and the automatic flight level control operated successfully during the flight. We collected 5.7×10^3 events over 100GeV, and selected the electron candidates by a preliminary data analysis of the shower images. We report here an outline of both detector and observation, and the first result of the electron energy spectrum over 100GeV obtained by an electronic counter