Gaming can be sustainable too! Using Social Representation Theory to examine the moderating effects of tourism diversification on residents' tax paying behavior

Tourism authorities in the Las Vegas region have suggested the diversification of the tourism industry as a strategy to improve the vitality of rural communities outside of the metropolitan area. The present study uses Social Representation Theory as the conceptual basis to test the moderating effects of the various types of proposed tourism development on residents' willingness to pay higher taxes to support such development. A survey of 301 residents in Las Vegas rural communities examined how the factors of economic dependence on tourism, community attachment, and ecocentric attitude towards tourism influence residents' perceptions of tourism's impacts. A higher economic dependence on tourism and higher levels of community attachment led to more favorable perceptions of tourism's economic and social impacts. The economic impacts, in turn, resulted in a willingness to pay higher taxes, irrespective of the type of tourism development proposed by the Las Vegas authorities. The results suggest that rural communities reinforce a hegemonic social representation of tourism in order to characterize the ethos of capitalist urbanism that pervades the economic development discourse. The residents' social construction of tourism has important implications for tourism planners in the region and suggests the adoption of an inclusive tourism diversification strategy that leverages both gaming and alternative tourism.This work was supported by the Southern Nevada Planning Coalition, Outside Las Vegas Foundation and the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation. (Southern Nevada Planning Coalition; Outside Las Vegas Foundation; Conrad N. Hilton Foundation

The Influence of a Hospitable Healthcare Environment on Patient Emotions and Behavioral Responses

A structural model is proposed and empirically examined that investigates the influence of a medical center’s environment on patient responses. A stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) model, often used to frame hospitality service research, is adapted as the basis of the theory that elements included in a healthcare Servicescape will affect emotional responses of patients, which in turn influence their overall satisfaction with experience and likelihood to return, recommend to others, and willingness to pay higher out of pocket expenses behavioral intentions. Analyzed elements of the Servicescape include physical design, layout, atmospherics, and service delivery

Breaking the thermally induced write error in heat assisted recording by using low and high Tc materials

Heat assisted recording is believed as a key technology in order to further increase the areal density of magnetic recording. In the work of Richter et al. [Richter et al. J. Appl. Phys. 111, 033909 (2012)] it is stated that storage densities will be limited to 15 to 20 Tbit/in2 due to thermally induced write errors. In this letter we propose a composite structure consisting of two materials with different Curie temperatures. A hard magnetic layer is on top of a high Tc soft magnetic layer. In this composite material the thermal write error is negligible up to areal densities of 50 to 100 Tbit/in2. It is shown that the effective thermal field gradient, which is reduced in this composite structure, is not relevant for a possible increase of the transition jitter. The transition jitter is dominated by a small distribution of the Curie temperature. The smallest jitter is obtained for the composite structure

Hospitality healthscapes: a conjoint analysis approach to understanding patient responses to hotel-like hospital rooms

In an increasingly competitive market, healthcare providers are incorporating best practices from the hospitality industry to improve the patient experience. The present study offers a model of hospitality healthscapes to provide a patient-based perspective of the infusion of hospitality into healthcare. A study of 406 respondents examined the hotel-like attributes that patients prefer in hospital rooms and the effect of their provision on patients’ well-being and willingness to pay higher out-of-pocket expenses. Using conjoint analysis and 3D visual representations of hospital rooms, the study found that high-end material finishes and hospitality-certified healthcare staff were the two greatest influences on patient choice. The study also found some differences between the preferences of “less healthy” and “more healthy” patients, with the less healthy patients willing to pay, on average, 13% higher out-of-pocket expenses for hotel-like hospital rooms than the more healthy patients. This study represents the first attempt in the evidence-based design literature to holistically and empirically examine the infusion of hospitality into healthcare by emphasizing the “patient as customer.” The findings have important marketing implications for healthcare providers who wish to enhance the patient experience

Manned Mars mission solar physics: Solar energetic particle prediction and warning

There are specific risks to the crew of the manned Mars mission from energetic particles generated by solar activity. Therefore, mission planning must provide for solar monitoring and solar activity forecasts. The main need is to be able to anticipate the energetic particle events associated with some solar flares and, occasionally, with erupting filaments. A second need may be for forecasts of solar interference with radio communication between the manned Mars mission (during any of its three phases) and Earth. These two tasks are compatible with a small solar observatory that would be used during the transit and orbital phases of the mission. Images of the Sun would be made several times per hour and, together with a solar X-ray detector, used to monitor for the occurrence of solar activity. The data would also provide a basis for research studies of the interplanetary medium utilizing observations covering more of the surface of the Sun than just the portion facing Earth

Exchange coupled perpendicular media

The potential of exchange spring bilayers and graded media is reviewed. An analytical model for the optimization of graded media gives an optimal value of the magnetic polarization of Js = 0.8 T. The optimum design allows for thermally stable grains with grain diameters in the order of 3.3 nm, which supports ultra high density up to 5 to 10 Tbit per inch2. The switching field distribution is significantly reduced in bilayer media and graded media compared to single phase media. For the graded media the switching field distribution is reduced by about a factor of two. For bilayer media the minimum switching field distribution is obtained for soft layer anisotropies about one fifth of the hard layer anisotropy. The influence of precessional switching on the reversal time and the reversal field is investigated in detail for magnetic bilayers. Exchange spring bilayers can be reversed with field pulses of 20 ps.Comment: submitted to JMMM, 'Current Perspectives; Perpendicular recording

Manned Mars mission astronomy options

Astronomical observations during the transit phase, in orbit about Mars, and from the surface present important scientific objectives. Primary astronomical objectives are being summarized by J. Burns (University of New Mexico). Additional or alternative options will be introduced here, together with their strengths, weaknesses, viability, and value. It is important to note at the outset that not all possible options are necessarily important or viable

Marine Gas hydrate research: Changing views over the past 25 years

During the past quarter century views have changed in marine gas-hydrate research and in its perception by the society at large: (1) Deep-sea drilling has gone from a policy of avoiding gas hydrate to emphasizing deliberate drilling for it. (2) International programs have evolved from exploiting gas hydrates as energy to considering exchange of CO2 for CH4 hydrates as a means of carbon dioxide storage. (3) Lately, due to global change, research has changed from pursuing methane-hydrate reserves to documenting release of methane from destabilization in marginal seas. The first stage generated a wealth of knowledge and laid the foundation for marine gas hydrate research upon which we build today. The second stage is traced to more accurately estimating exploitable hydrate-bound gas and finding recovery technologies, that has lead to the discovery of an innovative option coupling production of methane from CH4-hydrate to storage of CO2 via in the sub-seafloor. Governments worldwide have recognized the potential for carbon dioxide storage and have begun to implement regulations for such environmentally safe carbon capture and storage (CCS). During the third stage, in further exploring global methane hydrate reserves, it has become evident that environmental changes over the past decades may have triggered release of methane from destabilizing hydrate at the seabed as well as diminished oxygen content in the near-bottom of marginal seas. Such scenarios had been proposed for past global warming and now appear to become active again. Exemplary highlights and selected cases studies are documented for each of the evolving stages