Corporate images and customer behavioral intentions in an environmentally certified context: Promoting environmental sustainability in the hospitality industry

Growing environmental awareness has made customers change their attitudes andincreasingly demand that the hospitality industry provides products and services thatare environmentally friendly. This sector faces increasing pressure to operate in amore ecofriendly manner given its negative influence on the natural environment.Extant research demonstrates that sustainable tourism can be promoted throughenvironmental certifications. However, little attention has been paid to the relevanceof customer perceptions about these schemes and their influence on customerbehavioral intentions. So that, this study attempts to explore the conditions underwhich perceived green image leads to favorable customer behavioral intentionstowards environmentally certified hotels by considering the mediating effects offunctional and emotional images. A structured questionnaire was used to collect datafrom hotel customers in Spain. The results indicate that green image serves as apredictor of functional image, which in turn is linked to customer behavioralintentions. This shows that the evaluation of environmental issues influences theassessment of cognitive aspects, although not the direct evaluation of affectiveaspects. Consequently, green image associations directly influence the cognitiveresponses of consumers but not their emotions. Therefore, consumers will evaluatea hotel's functional image not only by considering traditional attributes but also bytaking into account environmental issues. These findings suggest that hotelcompanies should work to develop a green positioning strategy developing productsand services possessing both greenness and high?value attributes

Structural basis for Fc?RIIa recognition of human IgG and formation of inflammatory signaling complexes

The interaction of Abs with their specific FcRs is of primary importance in host immune effector systems involved in infection and inflammation, and are the target for immune evasion by pathogens. Fc?RIIa is a unique and the most widespread activating FcR in humans that through avid binding of immune complexes potently triggers inflammation. Polymorphisms of Fc?RIIa (high responder/low responder [HR/LR]) are linked to susceptibility to infections, autoimmune diseases, and the efficacy of therapeutic Abs. In this article, we define the three-dimensional structure of the complex between the HR (arginine, R134) allele of Fc?RIIa (Fc?RIIa-HR) and the Fc region of a humanized IgG1 Ab, hu3S193. The structure suggests how the HR/LR polymorphism may influence Fc?RIIa interactions with different IgG subclasses and glycoforms. In addition, mutagenesis defined the basis of the epitopes detected by FcR blocking mAbs specific for Fc?RIIa (IV.3), Fc?RIIb (X63-21), and a pan Fc?RII Ab (8.7). The epitopes detected by these Abs are distinct, but all overlap with residues defined by crystallography to contact IgG. Finally, crystal structures of LR (histidine, H134) allele of Fc?RIIa and Fc?RIIa-HR reveal two distinct receptor dimers that may represent quaternary states on the cell surface. A model is presented whereby a dimer of Fc?RIIa-HR binds Ag-Ab complexes in an arrangement that possibly occurs on the cell membrane as part of a larger signaling assembly. Copyright © 2011 by The American Association of Immunologists, Inc

Structural basis for FcgammaRIIa recognition of human IgG and formation of inflammatory signaling complexes

The interaction of Abs with their specific FcRs is of primary importance in host immune effector systems involved in infection and inflammation, and are the target for immune evasion by pathogens. FcgammaRIIa is a unique and the most widespread activating FcR in humans that through avid binding of immune complexes potently triggers inflammation. Polymorphisms of FcgammaRIIa (high responder/low responder [HR/LR]) are linked to susceptibility to infections, autoimmune diseases, and the efficacy of therapeutic Abs. In this article, we define the three-dimensional structure of the complex between the HR (arginine, R134) allele of FcgammaRIIa (FcgammaRIIa-HR) and the Fc region of a humanized IgG1 Ab, hu3S193. The structure suggests how the HR/LR polymorphism may influence FcgammaRIIa interactions with different IgG subclasses and glycoforms. In addition, mutagenesis defined the basis of the epitopes detected by FcR blocking mAbs specific for FcgammaRIIa (IV.3), FcgammaRIIb (X63-21), and a pan FcgammaRII Ab (8.7). The epitopes detected by these Abs are distinct, but all overlap with residues defined by crystallography to contact IgG. Finally, crystal structures of LR (histidine, H134) allele of FcgammaRIIa and FcgammaRIIa-HR reveal two distinct receptor dimers that may represent quaternary states on the cell surface. A model is presented whereby a dimer of FcgammaRIIa-HR binds Ag-Ab complexes in an arrangement that possibly occurs on the cell membrane as part of a larger signaling assembly. Copyright © 2011 by The American Association of Immunologists, Inc

Climate change issues and impacts in the Wet Tropics NRM cluster region

{Extract] Rationale and scope: Stream 2 of the Regional NRM Planning for Climate Change Fund supports the project "Knowledge to manage land and sea: A framework for the future" run by a consortium of scientists from James Cook University (JCU) and CSIRO. This report is the first major product of the consortium project. It is not an in-depth review of the literature that already exists for some NRM sectors. Rather, it is syntheses of current knowledge through expert opinion about the threats and potential impacts of climate change in the Wet Tropics Cluster (WTC) region across all sectors. This report focuses on four geographically distinct NRM regions grouped in the WTC: Mackay-Whitsunday, Wet Tropics, Cape York, and the Torres Strait regions, which are managed by Reef Catchments NRM, Terrain NRM, Cape York NRM, and the Torres Strait Regional Authority respectively. The report is framed by the specific topics and issues defined by the NRM groups in the WTC region, reflecting their planning processes and priorities of these groups as well as the characteristics of their regional communities. The focus of this report is on possible impacts and threats, not adaptation options that will be discussed in a future report. Chapter 9 discusses the science of adaptation in a general sense and mitigation opportunities relating to carbon storage are discussed in a section of Chapter 6. The report presents key messages around each topic and issue in bold type in each chapter. Key messages for NRM groups are also summarised at the beginning of each chapter. These key messages represent our syntheses of expected threats and impacts based on expert opinion but also substantiated by published sources. Each key message is followed by a brief explanation of the underlying scientific support with a small number of key citations to the relevant literature. In most cases there is a fair amount of uncertainty associated with the key messages and they should be understood as best estimates based on expert opinion. Much of the uncertainty about potential impacts is due to the climate model uncertainty about changes in rainfall amount and timing that are critical variables that will influence many sectors in the WTC region. Another source of uncertainty for some topics and issues is limited or lack of direct research on climate change impacts across several of the key NRM sectors in the WTC region. The main conclusions and summaries for each synthesis chapter (by NRM sector) are presented below with a final chapter on adaptation science

Does ECO certification deliver benefits? An empirical investigation of visitors' perceptions of the importance of ECO certification's attributes and of operators' performance

Certification is highlighted as a key sustainable tourism management tool. Yet, very little is known about visitors' perceptions of such schemes. This is an important gap: the success of certification schemes depends on consumers' confidence in the quality of products and services that the schemes endorse. This paper surveyed 610 visitors to the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area and surrounds in Queensland, Australia about (1) the perceived importance of various attributes of the ECO certification scheme; and (2) the perceived performance of operators based on those attributes. Data analysis identified aspects of ECO certification and of operator performance that may need improvement. It found that importance of attributes varied across products and visitor groups; at accommodations, most attributes were perceived to be important, Nature (as an aesthetic experience) and Marketing being more important than others, while at attractions and on tours, visitors were indifferent. Younger visitors rated Environment and Conservation more highly than their older counterparts and females rated Conservation more highly than males. Visitors – notably at accommodations – considered that ECO certified operators were performing "better" than non-ECO certified operators on many attributes. How these visitor perceptions translate into reality remains an important topic for future research

Key messages extracted from the Synthesis of Climate Change Issues and Impacts in the Wet Tropics NRM Cluster Region

This "Key messages" document accompanies the Hilbert et al. (2014) report Synthesis of climate change issues and impacts in the Wet Tropics Cluster NRM region (hereafter 'Science Synthesis report'). The Science Synthesis report was drafted in response to specific information needs articulated by the Regional Natural Resource Management (NRM) groups in the Wet Tropics Cluster region1. The Science synthesis report is framed by the topics and issues defined by the NRM groups, reflecting their planning processes and priorities as well as the characteristics of their regional communities. The report is based on the synthesis of current knowledge and expert opinion relevant to the topics and issues identified by NRM groups. This document presents the Topics and Key messages extracted from each chapter of the Science Synthesis report