Tourism expenditure of EU-27 regions under the global economic crisis

This study focuses on the underpinnings of the households’ tourism expenditure decisions during the global economic crisis in 2009. In particular, this study tests if during an economic crisis, decisions on tourism expenditure depend on climate conditions of the place of origin, GDP and GDP growth, among other well-known determinants. It should be noted that cutback decisions on tourism expenditure are not independent of destination choice, and for that reason the model requires the estimation of both decisions simultaneously. The methodology proposed in this paper represents a new way of analyzing the impacts of an economic crisis on tourism expenditure. Two levels of analysis can be considered. On the one hand, macroeconomic data of tourism expenditure is usually explored. On the other hand, the microeconomic analysis of the household and regional variables of their environment that may enrich the analysis. If the econometric model takes into account all these variables simultaneously, then the linkage between GDP changes and tourists´ behavior is enriched and it may be estimated more accurately. As far as we know, this paper is the first study that models the cutback decision on tourism expenditure. Modeling such decision is a challenge because it is not independent of the destination choice. For instance, households that travel domestically may not be as sensitive to the crisis as those who travel abroad. For this purpose, the econometric model employed is a simultaneous system of cutback decision and destination choice. More precisely, Simultaneous Semi-Ordered Bivariate Probit has proved to be the most useful econometric model for the estimation because it deals with the simultaneity of the cutback and destination choice decisions as well as the endogeneity. This research has proved that during an economic crisis, households react cutting back their tourism expenditure depending on GDP, GDP growth, and climate in their place of origin. In that sense, there are marked differences between North-European and Mediterranean regions. It is interesting to note that regions with bad climate are less likely to cut back than those households located in regions with good climate.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

The XMM-Newton long look of NGC 1365: lack of a high/soft state in its ultraluminous X-ray sources

Based on our long (~ 300 ks) 2007 XMM-Newton observation of the Seyfert galaxy NGC 1365, we report here on the spectral and timing behaviour of two ultraluminous X-ray sources, which had previously reached isotropic X-ray luminosities L_X ~ 4 x 10^{40} erg/s (0.3-10 keV band). In 2007, they were in a lower state (L_X ~ 5 x 10^{39} erg/s, and L_X ~ 1.5 x 10^{39} erg/s for X1 and X2, respectively). Their X-ray spectra were dominated by power-laws with photon indices Gamma ~ 1.8 and Gamma ~ 1.2, respectively. Thus, their spectra were similar to those at their outburst peaks. Both sources have been seen to vary by a factor of 20 in luminosity over the years, but their spectra are always dominated by a hard power-law; unlike most stellar-mass BHs, they have never been found in a canonical high/soft state dominated by a standard disk. The lack of a canonical high/soft state seems to be a common feature of ULXs. We speculate that the different kind of donor star and/or a persistently super-Eddington accretion rate during their outbursts may prevent accretion flows in ULXs from settling into steady standard disks.Comment: 9 pages, accepted by Ap

Lorentz and Gale-Ryser theorems on general measure spaces

Based on the Gale-Ryser theorem for the existence of suitable $(0,1)$-matrices for different partitions of a natural number, we revisit the classical result of G. G. Lorentz regarding the characterization of a plane measurable set, in terms of its cross sections, and extend it to general measure spaces

On the distortions in calculated GW parameters during slanted atmospheric soundings

The significant distortions introduced in the measured atmospheric gravity wavelengths by soundings other than those in vertical and horizontal directions, are discussed as a function of the elevation angle of the sounding path and the gravity wave aspect ratio. Under- or overestimation of real vertical wavelengths during the measurement process depends on the value of these two parameters. The consequences of these distortions on the calculation of the energy and the vertical flux of horizontal momentum are analyzed and discussed in the context of two experimental limb satellite setups: GPS-LEO radio occultations and TIMED/SABER ((Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry/Thermosphere-Ionosphere-Mesosphere-Energetics and Dynamics)) measurements. Possible discrepancies previously found between the momentum flux calculated from satellite temperature profiles, on site and from model simulations, may to a certain degree be attributed to these distortions. A recalculation of previous momentum flux climatologies based on these considerations seems to be a difficult goal.Fil: de la Torre, Alejandro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Austral. Facultad de Ingeniería; ArgentinaFil: Alexander, Pedro Manfredo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Schmidt, Torsten. German Research Centre for Geosciences; AlemaniaFil: Llamedo Soria, Pablo Martin. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Austral. Facultad de Ingeniería; ArgentinaFil: Hierro, Rodrigo Federico. Universidad Austral. Facultad de Ingeniería; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Tourism expenditure under the global economic crisis: the role of climate in the place of residence

Tourists from different European regions have reacted heterogeneously during the Global Economic Crisis. Such variability is due to different preferences and willingness to pay for tourism. This paper explores the underpinnings behind such heterogeneity. Regional variables and household socioeconomic variables are gathered to understand tourists' expenditure cutback decision. Since the cutback decision is not independent of the destination choice, a Simultaneous Semi-Ordered Bivariate Probit model is specified, which deals with the simultaneous estimation of both decisions and endogeneity. Post-estimation results are based on GIS, contours and non-parametric analysis. They prove that during an economic crisis, tourists' cutback decisions on tourism expenditure depend on climate conditions of the place of origin, GDP and GDP growth.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional de Andalucí

New Viverrinae (Carnivora: Mammalia) from the basal Middle Miocene of Arrisdrift, Namibia

A new genus and species of viverrid of modern type, Orangic!is gariepensis, is described from the basal Middle Miocene locality of Arrisdrift in southern Namibia. It is the earliest known representative of the subfamily Viverrinae from Africa. Detailed examination of the mongoose-like carnivores of the early Miocene of Africa, hitherto all assigned to the family Viverridae, reveals that none of them are related to this group.The Council's Research Committee, University of the Witwatersrand; National Research Foundation (NRF); Palaeo-Anthropology Scientific Trust (PAST); Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, CSIC, Madrid DGICYT projects PB 95-0113 and PB95-0014; Spanish Agency for International Cooperation (AECI

Orographic and convective gravity waves above the Alps and Andes mountains during GPS radio occultation events – a case study

The significant distortions introduced in the measured atmospheric gravity wavelengths by soundings other than in vertical and horizontal directions, are discussed as a function of elevation angle of the sounding path and the gravity waves aspect ratio. Under- or overestimation of real vertical wavelengths during the measurement process depends basically on the value of these two parameters. The consequences of these distortions on the calculation of the energy and vertical flux of horizontal momentum are analyzed and discussed in the context of two experimental limb satellite setups: GPS-LEO radio occultations and TIMED/SABER measurements. Possible discrepancies previously found between the momentum flux calculated from satellite temperature profiles, on site and from model simulations, may, to a certain degree, be attributed to these distortions. A recalculation of previous momentum flux climatologies based on these considerations seems to be a difficult goal.Fil: Hierro, Rodrigo Federico. Universidad Austral. Facultad de Ingeniería. Departamento de Ciencias Básicas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Steiner, Andrea K.. Universidad de Graz; AustriaFil: de la Torre, Alejandro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Austral. Facultad de Ingeniería. Departamento de Ciencias Básicas; ArgentinaFil: Alexander, Pedro Manfredo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Llamedo Soria, Pablo Martin. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Austral. Facultad de Ingeniería. Departamento de Ciencias Básicas; ArgentinaFil: Cremades, Pablo Gabriel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentin

A role for the host in the roadmap to diabetes stem cell therapy

Stem cells represent an unlimited source for cell therapy (1), and considerable efforts have been made to overcome barriers to introducing this revolutionary therapy into clinical practice. Briefly, the following actions must be taken: 1) design in vitro differentiation strategies to generate either mature postmitotic b-cells or b-cell progenitors that may be safely implanted into the host (e.g., without uncontrolled proliferation), 2) devise selection methods to produce a pure b-cell population, 3) validate standard characterization protocols to determine the real differentiation stage of the cells ready to be transplanted, 4) obtain encapsulation devices to implant the cells, 5) develop preclinical controls in representative animal models, and 6) de fine cell-host interactions (for a recent review see ref. 2

The Central role of KNG1 gene as a genetic determinant of coagulation pathway-related traits: Exploring metaphenotypes

Traditional genetic studies of single traits may be unable to detect the pleiotropic effects involved in complex diseases. To detect the correlation that exists between several phenotypes involved in the same biological process, we introduce an original methodology to analyze sets of correlated phenotypes involved in the coagulation cascade in genome-wide association studies. The methodology consists of a two-stage process. First, we define new phenotypic meta-variables (linear combinations of the original phenotypes), named metaphenotypes, by applying Independent Component Analysis for the multivariate analysis of correlated phenotypes (i.e. the levels of coagulation pathway–related proteins). The resulting metaphenotypes integrate the information regarding the underlying biological process (i.e. thrombus/clot formation). Secondly, we take advantage of a family based Genome Wide Association Study to identify genetic elements influencing these metaphenotypes and consequently thrombosis risk. Our study utilized data from the GAIT Project (Genetic Analysis of Idiopathic Thrombophilia). We obtained 15 metaphenotypes, which showed significant heritabilities, ranging from 0.2 to 0.7. These results indicate the importance of genetic factors in the variability of these traits. We found 4 metaphenotypes that showed significant associations with SNPs. The most relevant were those mapped in a region near the HRG, FETUB and KNG1 genes. Our results are provocative since they show that the KNG1 locus plays a central role as a genetic determinant of the entire coagulation pathway and thrombus/clot formation. Integrating data from multiple correlated measurements through metaphenotypes is a promising approach to elucidate the hidden genetic mechanisms underlying complex diseases.Postprint (published version