354 research outputs found
Exploring the constraint profile of winter sports resort tourist segments
Many studies have confirmed the importance of market segmentation both theoretically and empirically. Surprisingly though, no study has so far addressed the issue from the perspective of leisure constraints. Since different consumers face different barriers, we look at participation in leisure activities as an outcome of the negotiation process that winter sports resort tourists go through, to balance between related motives and constraints. This empirical study reports the findings on the applicability of constraining factors in segmenting the tourists who visit winter sports resorts. Utilizing data from 1,391 tourists of winter sports resorts in Greece, five segments were formed based on their constraint, demographic and behavioral profile. Our findings indicate that such segmentation sheds light on factors that could potentially limit the full utilization of the market. To maximize utilization, we suggest customizing marketing to the profile of each distinct winter sports resort tourist segment that emerge
Exploring the negotiation thesis application among ski resort tourists: a segmentation approach
The negotiation thesis offers a framework for understanding the participation decision making of tourists. Unlike previous studies that investigate the causal relationship between constraints and touristsâ revisit intention, this study identified distinct segments of ski tourist based on the relative strength of constraints experienced and then investigated their decision-making process across a sample of 1,348 tourists of ski resorts. Chi-Squared Automated Interaction Detection (CHAID) analysis revealed that the decision making process regarding intention to revisit a ski destination varies between highly versus less constrained ski tourists, indicating different relative strengths of interpersonal, intrapersonal and structural constraints and different interactions among them when predicting revisit intention. On a practical basis, albeit the vast majority of participants were willing to repeat its visit, we offer customized per segment recommendations on increasing frequency of visitation and spending levels
Cohesion-Driven Decomposition of Service Interfaces without Access to Source Code
International audienceâSoftware cohesion concerns the degree to which the elements of a module belong together. Cohesive software is easier to understand, test and maintain. In the context of service-oriented development, cohesion refers to the degree to which the operations of a service interface belong together. In the state of the art, software cohesion is improved based on refactoring methods that rely on information, extracted from the software implementation. This is a main limitation towards using these methods in the case of Web services: Web services do not expose their implementation; instead all that they export is the Web service interface specification. To deal with this problem, we propose an approach that enables the cohesion-driven decomposition of service interfaces, without information on how the services are implemented. Our approach progressive decomposes a given service interface into more cohesive interfaces; the backbone of the approach is a suite of cohesion metrics that rely on information, extracted solely from the specification of the service interface. We validate the approach in 22 real-world services, provided by Amazon and Yahoo. We assess the effectiveness of the proposed approach, concerning the cohesion improvement, and the number of interfaces that result from the decomposition of the examined interfaces. Moreover, we show the usefulness of the approach in a user study, where developers assessed the quality of the produced interfaces
On the origin of fluorine in the Milky Way
The main astrophysical factories of fluorine (19F) are thought to be Type II
supernovae, Wolf-Rayet stars, and the asymptotic giant branch (AGB) of
intermediate mass stars. We present a model for the chemical evolution of
fluorine in the Milky Way using a semi-analytic multi-zone chemical evolution
model. For the first time, we demonstrate quantitatively the impact of fluorine
nucleosynthesis in Wolf-Rayet and AGB stars. The inclusion of these latter two
fluorine production sites provides a possible solution to the long-standing
discrepancy between model predictions and the fluorine abundances observed in
Milky Way giants. Finally, fluorine is discussed as a possible probe of the
role of supernovae and intermediate mass stars in the chemical evolution
history of the globular cluster omega Centauri.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures. MNRAS in pres
Period-luminosity relations of pulsating M giants in the solar neighbourhood and the Magellanic Clouds
We analyse the results of a 5.5-yr photometric campaign that monitored 247
southern, semi-regular variables with relatively precise Hipparcos parallaxes
to demonstrate an unambiguous detection of Red Giant Branch (RGB) pulsations in
the solar neighbourhood. We show that Sequence A' contains a mixture of AGB and
RGB stars, as indicated by a temperature related shift at the TRGB. Large
Magellanic Cloud (LMC) and Galactic sequences are compared in several ways to
show that the P-L sequence zero-points have a negligible metallicity
dependence. We describe a new method to determine absolute magnitudes from
pulsation periods and calibrate the LMC distance modulus using Hipparcos
parallaxes to find \mu (LMC) = 18.54 +- 0.03 mag. Several sources of systematic
error are discussed to explain discrepancies between the MACHO and OGLE
sequences in the LMC. We derive a relative distance modulus of the Small
Magellanic Cloud (SMC) relative to the LMC of \Delta \mu = 0.41 +- 0.02 mag. A
comparison of other pulsation properties, including period-amplitude and
luminosity-amplitude relations, confirms that RGB pulsation properties are
consistent and universal, indicating that the RGB sequences are suitable as
high-precision distance indicators. The M giants with the shortest periods
bridge the gap between G and K giant solar-like oscillations and M-giant
pulsation, revealing a smooth continuity as we ascend the giant branch.Comment: 12 pages, 17 figures, 1 table. Accepted for publication in MNRA
Seasonal variations of highâlatitude fieldâaligned currents inferred from Ărsted and Magsat observations
Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/94879/1/jgra16417.pd
The nebula around the post-AGB star 89 Her
We aim to study the structure of the nebula around the post-AGB, binary star
89 Her. The presence of a rotating disk around this star had been proposed but
not been yet confirmed by observations. We present high-resolution PdBI maps of
CO J=2-1 and 1-0. Properties of the nebula are directly derived from the data
and model fitting. We also present N-band interferometric data on the extent of
the hot dust emission, obtained with the VLTI. Two nebular components are
found: (a) an extended hour-glass-like structure, with expansion velocities of
about 7 km/s and a total mass ~ 3 10 Mo, and (b) an unresolved very
compact component, smaller than ~ 0.4" and with a low total velocity dispersion
of ~ 5 km/s. We cannot determine the velocity field in the compact component,
but we argue that it can hardly be in expansion, since his would require too
recent and too sudden an ejection of mass. On the other hand, assuming that
this component is a keplerian disk, we derive disk properties that are
compatible with expectations for such a structure; in particular, the size of
the rotating gas disk should be very similar to the extent of the hot dust
component from our VLTI data. Assuming that the equator of the extended nebula
coincides with the binary orbital plane, we provide new results on the
companion star mass and orbit.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
A partial wave analysis of the centrally produced and systems in pp interactions at 450 GeV/c and new information on the spin of the (1710)
A partial wave analysis of the centrally produced K+K- and K0K0 channels has been performed in pp collisions using an incident beam momentum of 450 GeV/c. An unambiguous physical solution has been found in each channel. The striking feature is the observation of peaks in the S-wave corresponding to the f0(1500) and fJ(1710) with J = 0. The D-wave shows evidence for the f2(1270)/a2(1320), the f2(1525) and the f2(2150) but there is no evidence for a statistically significant contribution in the D-wave in the 1.7 GeV mass region
Quiet Sun coronal heating: statistical model
Recent observations of Krucker & Benz (1998) give strong support to Parker's
hypothesis (Parker 1988) that small scale dissipative events make the main
contribution to quiet Sun coronal heating. They also showed that these small
scale events are associated not only with the magnetic network, but also with
the cell interiors (Benz & Krucker, 1998). Taking into account in addition the
results of the analysis performed by Priest with co-authors (Priest et al.
2000) who demonstrated that the heating is quasi-homogeneous along the arcs we
come to the conclusion that the sources driving these dissipative events are
also small scale sources. Typically they are of the order of or smaller than
the linear scale of the events observed, that is smaller than 2000 km. To
describe statistical properties of quiet Sun corona heating by microflares,
nanoflares, and even smaller events, we consider a cellular automata model
subject to uniform small scale driving and dissipation. The model consists of
two elements, the magnetic field source supposed to be associated with the
small scale hydrodynamic turbulence convected from the photosphere and local
dissipation of small scale currents. The dissipation is assumed to be provided
by either anomalous resistivity, when the current density exceeds a certain
threshold value, or by the magnetic reconnection. The main problem considered
is how the statistical characteristics of dissipated energy flow depend upon
characteristics of the magnetic field source and on physical mechanism
responsible for the magnetic field dissipation. As the threshold value of
current is increased, we observe the transition from Gaussian statistics to
power-law type. In addition, we find that the dissipation provided by
reconnection results in stronger deviations from Gaussian distribution.Comment: 14 pages, 12 figures, submitted to A&
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