An Analysis of the Effectiveness of Proposed Solutions through the Deterrent Theory

The main objectives of this study were: To examine the antecedents and consequences of overtourism. To assess the effectiveness of deterrent mechanisms employed by tourism destinations. To identify the role of consumers’ prior knowledge on their tourism behavior. Overtourism is a growing problem in European cities due to the uncontrolled development and poor management of the tourism industry. These factors have led to a multitude of negative outcomes for key stakeholders in the industry, but especially destinations and their residents. This bachelor’s thesis discusses the existing literature on overtourism in Europe through a comprehensive literature review and overviews a study conducted for reducing the phenomenon. The literature review encompasses both previous research on overtourism and related concepts, and the theoretical grounding of the deterrent theory and prior knowledge research. The study was conducted with consideration of the deterrent theory. Three tourism deterrents were selected and developed to be tested for their effectiveness in reducing tourism intention. Studies of the impact of prior knowledge were also consulted and included as a factor in the study to attempt to identify its role in tourism intention. The study aimed to complement previous research on overtourism by providing concrete solutions to the phenomenon. The study conducted for this thesis concluded that three deterrent mechanisms are effective in reducing tourism intention and therefore may reduce overtourism levels in destinations which implement them. These three deterrent mechanisms included: •The introduction of a lottery system for entrance to popular locations, •the introduction of a tourist-tax on applicable products and services •and the branding of destinations for special interest tourists (SIT). These deterrent mechanisms were found to be significantly effective both against no deterrent and individually significant with varying effectiveness. Also concluded was that prior knowledge of had no significant effect on the effectiveness of the deterrent mechanism. These conclusions provide useful information and tools for destinations facing overtourism

3D angle-of-arrival positioning using von Mises-Fisher distribution

We propose modeling an angle-of-arrival (AOA) positioning measurement as a von Mises-Fisher (VMF) distributed unit vector instead of the conventional normally distributed azimuth and elevation measurements. Describing the 2-dimensional AOA measurement with three numbers removes discontinuities and reduces nonlinearity at the poles of the azimuth-elevation coordinate system. Our computer simulations show that the proposed VMF measurement noise model based filters outperform the normal distribution based algorithms in accuracy in a scenario where close-to-pole measurements occur frequently.Comment: 5 page

Estimating the location with angle measurements

Tässä diplomityössä käsitellään paikannusta saapumiskulmamittausten avulla. Työssä esitellään yleisimpiä suodattimia, robusteja suodattimia ulkolaisten tarkasteluun ja niiden algoritmit. Suodatuksen taustateorian lisäksi työssä esitellään erilaisia jakaumia mittausten ja kohinan mallintamista varten. Työ keskittyy kulmamittauksiin ja parhaan mahdollisen suodattimien ja jakaumien yhdistelmän löytämiseen sisätilapaikannuksessa. Suodatusta voidaan parantaa sovelluksilla, jotka huomioivat tilan rajoitteet, mittauksen signaalin voimakkuuden tai tilariippuvan virheen. Suodattimia testataan simuloiduilla ja todellisilla kulmamittauksilla. Tosidata on mitattu TTY:n CivitLab laboratoriossa OptiTrack sovelluksen avulla. Suodattimien paikannustuloksia verrataan keskenään. Suodattimien tilamalleina testataan vakionopeusmallia ja pelkkään paikkavektoriin perustuvaa mallia. Yleinen tapa esittää suuntamittaus on leveys- ja korkeussuunnan kulmamittaukset, joiden kohina on normaalijakautunut. Esitys ei useinkaan vastaa todellisuutta maapallon navoilla, jossa korkeusmittaus on nolla astetta. Monesti realistisempi mittausmalli saadaan, kun kohinaa kuvataan von Mises—Fisher-jakaumalla. Tällöin kulmamittauksiin liittyvä suunta ilmaistaan Eulerin kulmia käyttävällä von Mises—Fisher-jakauman yksikkövektorilla, jonka suunta perustuu mittausten keskiarvoiseen suuntaan. Kulmien kääntämisestä johtuen paras mahdollinen suodattimen ja jakauman yhdistelmä paikan estimointiin on suodatin, joka olettaa von Mises—Fisher-jakautuneen mittauskohinan sisältävän datan. Mittausdatan sisältäessä ulkolaismittauksia von Mises—Fisher-jakautuneen mittauskohinan olettavat robustit suodattimet antavat paremman paikkaestimaatin kuin ei-robustit suodattimet.In this thesis positioning is explored with angle of arrival measurements. Common filters in positioning, robust filters for detecting outliers and their algorithms are introduced. In addition to filtering theory different distributions to model measurements and noise presented. In this thesis, the focus is on angle of arrival measurements and finding the best combination of filter and distribution suitable for indoor positioning. Filtering can be improved with applications which take restrictions of the space, signal strength or space dependent error into account. Filters are tested and compared to each other with simulated and real angle measurements. Real data is measured with OptiTrack application in CivitLab laboratory in Tampere University of Technology. Positioning results filters produce are compared with each other. Filters are tested with different state models, the constant velocity model and model containing position vector. Common way to present directional measurement is to use azimuth and elevation angle measuments with normally distributed noise. This does not always correspond to reality when used to describe measurements in Poles where the elevation measurement is zero degrees. More realistic model is achieved with using von Mises—Fisher distribution to describe the noise. The direction related to angle of arrival measurements can be expressed with the unit vector of von Mises—Fisher distribution using Euler angles. Direction of the vector is based on the mean direction. Due to flipping the angles the best possible combination of filter and distribution to estimate the place is a filter which assumes measurement data containing von Mises—Fisher distributed measurement noise. Robust filters assuming von Mises—Fisher distributed measurement noise is the best choice when measurements contain outliers

Integrative omics approaches provide biological and clinical insights : examples from mitochondrial diseases

High-throughput technologies for genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics, and integrative analysis of these data, enable new, systems-level insights into disease pathogenesis. Mitochondrial diseases are an excellent target for hypothesis-generating omics approaches, as the disease group is mechanistically exceptionally complex. Although the genetic background in mitochondrial diseases is in either the nuclear or the mitochondrial genome, the typical downstream effect is dysfunction of the mitochondrial respiratory chain. However, the clinical manifestations show unprecedented variability, including either systemic or tissue-specific effects across multiple organ systems, with mild to severe symptoms, and occurring at any age. So far, the omics approaches have provided mechanistic understanding of tissue-specificity and potential treatment options for mitochondrial diseases, such as metabolome remodeling. However, no curative treatments exist, suggesting that novel approaches are needed. In this Review, we discuss omics approaches and discoveries with the potential to elucidate mechanisms of and therapies for mitochondrial diseases.Peer reviewe

The role of attachment in recovery after a school-shooting trauma (vol 4, 22728, 2014)

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Quality of Life in Adolescents and Young Adults after Traumatic Experience

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An integrated gene regulatory network controls stem cell proliferation in teeth.

Epithelial stem cells reside in specific niches that regulate their self-renewal and differentiation, and are responsible for the continuous regeneration of tissues such as hair, skin, and gut. Although the regenerative potential of mammalian teeth is limited, mouse incisors grow continuously throughout life and contain stem cells at their proximal ends in the cervical loops. In the labial cervical loop, the epithelial stem cells proliferate and migrate along the labial surface, differentiating into enamel-forming ameloblasts. In contrast, the lingual cervical loop contains fewer proliferating stem cells, and the lingual incisor surface lacks ameloblasts and enamel. Here we have used a combination of mouse mutant analyses, organ culture experiments, and expression studies to identify the key signaling molecules that regulate stem cell proliferation in the rodent incisor stem cell niche, and to elucidate their role in the generation of the intrinsic asymmetry of the incisors. We show that epithelial stem cell proliferation in the cervical loops is controlled by an integrated gene regulatory network consisting of Activin, bone morphogenetic protein (BMP), fibroblast growth factor (FGF), and Follistatin within the incisor stem cell niche. Mesenchymal FGF3 stimulates epithelial stem cell proliferation, and BMP4 represses Fgf3 expression. In turn, Activin, which is strongly expressed in labial mesenchyme, inhibits the repressive effect of BMP4 and restricts Fgf3 expression to labial dental mesenchyme, resulting in increased stem cell proliferation and a large, labial stem cell niche. Follistatin limits the number of lingual stem cells, further contributing to the characteristic asymmetry of mouse incisors, and on the basis of our findings, we suggest a model in which Follistatin antagonizes the activity of Activin. These results show how the spatially restricted and balanced effects of specific components of a signaling network can regulate stem cell proliferation in the niche and account for asymmetric organogenesis. Subtle variations in this or related regulatory networks may explain the different regenerative capacities of various organs and animal species

An evaluation of ICD-11 posttraumatic stress disorder criteria in two samples of adolescents and young adults exposed to mass shootings : factor analysis and comparisons to ICD-10 and DSM-IV

Background: The proposed posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) criteria for the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) 11th revision are simpler than the criteria in ICD-10, DSM-IV or DSM-5. The aim of this study was to evaluate the ICD-11 PTSD factor structure in samples of young people, and to compare PTSD prevalence rates and diagnostic agreement between the different diagnostic systems. Possible differences in clinical characteristics of the PTSD cases identified by ICD-11, ICD-10 and DSM-IV are explored. Methods: Two samples of adolescents and young adults were followed after exposure to similar mass shooting incidents in their schools. Semi-structured diagnostic interviews were performed to assess psychiatric diagnoses and PTSD symptom scores (N = 228, mean age 17.6 years). PTSD symptom item scores were used to compose diagnoses according to the different classification systems. Results: Confirmatory factor analyses indicated that the proposed ICD-11 PTSD symptoms represented two rather than three factors; re-experiencing and avoidance symptoms comprised one factor and hyperarousal symptoms the other factor. In the studied samples, the three-factor ICD-11 criteria identified 51 (22.4 %) PTSD cases, the two-factor ICD-11 identified 56 (24.6 %) cases and the DSM-IV identified 43 (18.9 %) cases, while the number of cases identified by ICD-10 was larger, being 85 (37.3 %) cases. Diagnostic agreement of the ICD-11 PTSD criteria with ICD-10 and DSM-IV was moderate, yet the diagnostic agreement turned to be good when an impairment criterion was imposed on ICD-10. Compared to ICD-11, ICD-10 identified cases with less severe trauma exposure and posttraumatic symptoms and DSM-IV identified cases with less severe trauma exposure. Conclusions: The findings suggest that the two-factor model of ICD-11 PTSD is preferable to the three-factor model. The proposed ICD-11 criteria are more restrictive compared to the ICD-10 criteria. There were some differences in the clinical characteristics of the PTSD cases identified by ICD-11, when compared to ICD-10 and DSM-IV.Peer reviewe

Nuoren viiltely ja muu itsetuhoinen käyttäytyminen

Teema : Nuorisolääketiede. English summaryPeer reviewe