The Effects of Gasoline-price Changes on Room Demand: A Study of Branded Hotels from 1988 through 2000

[Excerpt] As hoteliers have long suspected, gasoline-price increases do depress overall lodging demand, but not all segments feel the effects in the same way (and some not at all). “With gas prices at a premium this summer, every little bit helps,” proclaimed Wayne Wielgus, senior vice president of marketing for Choice Hotels, as he announced a gasoline price promotion in 2002. During that summer Choice Hotels gave its guests a $5 gas card when they booked in advance and stayed for a minimum of two nights at Comfort, Quality, Clarion, Sleep, or MainStay Suites properties. Choice planned to give away$2 million in free gasoline in response to the concern that consumers would stay at home as gasoline prices rose. This view that gasoline-price increases depress hotel bookings is shared by many. A 2001 study suggested that 14 percent of all travelers, or 19.2 million people, would travel less or cancel vacations because of rising fuel prices

The Influence of Gasoline-price Fluctuations on U.S. Lodging Demand: A Study of Branded Hotels from 1988 through 2000

A 13-year analysis of the relationship between gasoline prices and lodging demand found that a 1-percent increase in gasoline prices results in a drop of rooms demand of 1.74 percent. The study, which is based on brand-name hotels in the United States, was done at The Center for Hospitality Research. The researchers examined monthly room-night data from 1988 through 2000 from the Smith Travel Research database. The researchers also factored gross domestic product into their analysis and included a trend factor as an additional control. All room rates were adjusted to year-2000 dollars using the consumer price index (CPI). Examining the effects of gasoline price increases on various lodging segments, the researchers determined that the effects of rising gasoline prices fall most heavily on midscale and economy hotels, with a lesser effect on upscale properties. For example, a 1-percent increase in gas prices would reduce annual economy-hotel demand by 2.89 percent. Midscale properties with F&B would see a demand reduction of 4.12 percent and limited-service midscale properties would have a reduction of 2.89 percent with every 1-percent increase in gasoline prices. The combined effects of hotel location and market segment clarify the effect of gasoline-price increases on hotels operating in various segments in different locations. The effects of gasoline-price changes are magnified in hotels located along highway that is, those that depend chiefly on automobile access. The most gasoline-price-sensitive group comprises midscale and economy hotels located in highway and suburban locations. The following demonstrates that effect. A 1-percent increase in gasoline prices reduces demand for full-service midscale urban hotels by a little over 2 percent, but for highway properties in the same segment, the loss is nearly 4 percent. Ironically, gasoline-price increases are associated with an increase in demand for resorts in mid- to upscale segments, but resorts in the economy segment see a reduction in demand

Building a Community of Learning through Early Residential Fieldwork

The positioning of residential fieldwork early in students' higher education is an established way of attempting to build and engage them in a community of learning. In the study reported here, the benefits of such early residential fieldwork were investigated using Krausse and Coates's seven scales of engagement. These scales consider a number of key indicators – specifically transition, academic, beyond-class, peer, staff–student, online and intellectual engagement. Data on these scales were collected via questionnaires completed by groups of students who did and did not attend such a residential fieldwork event, both before and after the event. A Wilcoxon test of these data showed significant increases in peer and student–staff engagement in the post-fieldwork group only. A Kruskal–Wallis analysis provides evidence that students who had been on residential fieldwork became more involved in a community of learning with both their peers and virtual communities than those who had not. These results support the hypothesis that early residential fieldwork is an effective way of engaging students new to higher education in a community of learning

The WISHED Trial: implementation of an interactive health communication application for patients with chronic kidney disease

Background: Despite many advantages over facility-based therapies, less than 25 % of prevalent dialysis patients in Ontario are on a home therapy. Interactive health communication applications, web-based packages for patients, have been shown to have a beneficial effect on knowledge, social support, self-efficacy, and behavioral and clinical outcomes but have not been evaluated in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Web-based tools designed for patients with CKD exist but to our knowledge have not been assessed in their ability to influence dialysis modality decision-making. Objective: To determine if a web-based tool increases utilization of a home-based therapy in patients with CKD starting dialysis. Design: This is a multi-centered randomized controlled study. Setting: Participants will be recruited from sites in Canada. Participants: Two hundred and sixty-four consenting patients with an estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) less than 20 ml/min/1.73 m 2 who have received modality education will be enrolled in the study. Measurements: The primary outcome will be the proportion of participants who are on dialysis using a home-based therapy within 3 months of dialysis initiation. Secondary outcomes will include the proportion of patients intending to perform a home-based modality and measures of dialysis knowledge, decision conflict, and social support. Methods: The between-group differences in frequencies will be expressed as either absolute risk differences and/or by calculating the odds ratio and its associated 95 % confidence interval. Conclusions: This study will assess whether access to a website dedicated to supporting and promoting home-based dialysis therapies will increase the proportion of patients with CKD who initiate a home-based dialysis therapy. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov #NCT01403454, registration date: July 21, 2011

Prospectus, September 17, 1980

CATCHY SLOGAN BRINGS OUT RECORD NUMBER OF VOTES; Parkland People; Parkland English teacher speaks to PCF\u27ers on Self-Image ; Head of Placement Counseling will help employment seekers; PACT offers program; Blood drive to be at PC; Attention Accounting students; Classifieds; PC Datebook; Record number of voters turn out to elect new Student Senators; Letters to the editor: Student disappointed; Long distance marriage works-- Susan Kelley sets an example; Women\u27s Program offers self-series; Jackson Browne performance: unforgettable; Molly Hatchet\u27s cuts are consistently impressive and original; Bowen: Radio won\u27t roll over and die; Two kinds of clouds cause false tornado reports; Team shirts or fan shirts-- T-shirts make us all more human; P.C. Women\u27s Program offers workshops; Sign up for insurance this week; PACT offers program; Science You Can See: Cosmos Is Coming!!; Parkland College Cross Country Schedule 1980; 100 cash awards offered young people; Local members attend convention; Golf team disappointing in PC Invitational; Fast Freddy won\u27t contend Jimmy The Greek this week; Volleyball team opens season; Fast Freddy Contest; Bench Warmer: Faculty out to upset softball teamhttps://spark.parkland.edu/prospectus_1980/1021/thumbnail.jp

What outcomes matter to service users who experience persistent depression: A mixed-method narrative review and synthesis

Background: It is unclear whether current outcome measures capture what is important to service users experiencing treatment-resistant depression (TRD). This review aims to understand what outcomes are important to people receiving treatment for TRD, and to ascertain how this is being measured or could be measured to aid values-based commissioning in the implementation of specialist services. Methods: A systematic search was conducted across nine databases: EMBASE, PSychINFO, AMED, EMCARE, PubMed, BNI, HMIC, CINHAL, and Medline. Quantitative and qualitative studies, and non-empirical work were included. No publication date restrictions were set. Included studies were appraised for quality. Results: Twenty-two studies met inclusion for the review, including two opinion pieces. Thematic analysis was used to extract five themes: important outcomes beyond recovery from symptoms; differentiations in perspectives; patient preferences; essential sets of outcome measures; and underdeveloped outcome measures from the patient's perspective. Limitations: The search strategy was partially systematic due to the exploratory nature of the subject and the lack of available research in the field. Studies included collect data on patient perspectives but did not demonstrate co-production throughout the whole research process. Conclusions: Outcomes in persistent depression have been neglected, especially from the patient perspective. The findings from this review make an important contribution to agreeing desirable outcomes for people with TRD by drawing together the literature and highlighting how and why it is necessary to apply certain methods to persistent depression. The report identifies areas where further understanding and research is needed and how to inform current service commissioning practices

The integration of a Podiatrist into an orthopaedic department: a cost-consequences analysis

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.Background The aim of this study was to evaluate the cost-consequences of a podiatry-led triage clinic provided in an orthopaedic department relative to usual care for non-urgent foot and ankle complaints in an Australian tertiary care hospital. Methods All new, non-urgent foot and ankle patients seen in an outpatient orthopaedic department were included in this study. The patients seen between 2014 and 2015 by Orthopaedic Surgeons were considered ‘usual care’, the patients seen between 2015 and 2016 by a Podiatrist were considered the ‘Podiatry Triage Clinic’. Data on new and review patient appointments; the number of new patients / session; the number of appointments / patient; the number of patients discharged; the surgical conversion rate; staff time; and imaging use were collected. A cost-consequences analysis, undertaken from a healthcare provider perspective (hospital) estimated the incremental resource use, costs and effects of the Podiatry Triage Clinic relative to usual care over a 12-month period. Results The Orthopaedic Surgeons and Podiatrist consulted with 72 and 212 new patients during the usual care and triage periods, respectively. The Podiatrist consulted with more new patients / session, mean (SD) of 3.6 (1.0) versus 0.7 (0.8), p < 0.001 and utilised less appointments / patient than the Orthopaedic Surgeons, mean (SD) of 1.3 (0.6) versus 1.9 (1.1), p < 0.001. The percentage of patients discharged without surgery was similar in the Podiatry Triage Clinic and usual care, 80.3% and 87.5% p = 0.135, respectively, but the surgical conversion rate was higher in the Podiatry Triage Clinic, 76.1% versus 12.5% p < 0.001. The total integrated appointment cost for the 12-month usual care period was $32,744, which represented a cost of$454.78 / patient. The total appointment and imaging cost during the triage period was $19,999, representing$94.34 / patient. Further analysis, suggests that the projected annual saving of integrating a Podiatry Triage Clinic versus an orthopaedic clinic alone is $50,441. Conclusions The integration of a Podiatrist into an orthopaedic department significantly increases the number of patients seen, is cost-effective, improves the surgical conversion rate and improves the utilisation of Orthopaedic Surgeons

Association between rheumatoid arthritis disease activity, progression of functional limitation and long-term risk of orthopaedic surgery : Combined analysis of two prospective cohorts supports EULAR treat to target DAS thresholds

Objectives: To examine the association between disease activity in early rheumatoid arthritis (RA), functional limitation and long-term orthopaedic episodes. Methods: Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) disability scores were collected from two longitudinal early RA inception cohorts in routine care; Early Rheumatoid Arthritis Study and Early Rheumatoid Arthritis Network from 1986 to 2012. The incidence of major and intermediate orthopaedic surgical episodes over 25 years was collected from national data sets. Disease activity was categorised by mean disease activity score (DAS28) annually between years 1 and 5; remission (RDAS≤2.6), low (LDAS>2.6-3.2), low-moderate (LMDAS≥3.2-4.19), high-moderate (HMDAS 4.2-5.1) and high (HDAS>5.1). Results: Data from 2045 patients were analysed. Patients in RDAS showed no HAQ progression over 5 years, whereas there was a significant relationship between rising DAS28 category and HAQ at 1 year, and the rate of HAQ progression between years 1 and 5. During 27 986 person-years follow-up, 392 intermediate and 591 major surgeries were observed. Compared with the RDAS category, there was a significantly increased cumulative incidence of intermediate surgery in HDAS (OR 2.59 CI 1.49 to 4.52) and HMDAS (OR 1.8 CI 1.05 to 3.11) categories, and for major surgery in HDAS (OR 2.48 CI 1.5 to 4.11), HMDAS (OR 2.16 CI 1.32 to 3.52) and LMDAS (OR 2.07 CI 1.28 to 3.33) categories. There was no significant difference in HAQ progression or orthopaedic episodes between RDAS and LDAS categories. Conclusions: There is an association between disease activity and both poor function and long-term orthopaedic episodes. This illustrates the far from benign consequences of persistent moderate disease activity, and supports European League Against Rheumatism treat to target recommendations to secure low disease activity or remission in all patients.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Prospectus, September 10, 1980

ARE YOU A \u27REAL STUDENT\u27?; Parkland People; Gamut challenges you; Emergency course offered; Oops!; Stugo hopefuls list qualifications; Kinks wow U of I fans; Coates announces student audtions; Country music is moving up; Women\u27s Program offers self-series; Classifieds; Students are....well, just students; Student disappointed; Correction; Science You Can See: Ask not what Cable T.V. can do for you, ask what you can do for Cable T.V.; B-ball deadline is Sept. 22; Football and tennis are IM openers; PC Datebook; Golfers begin season with win over Danville; After some surprises last week, Fast Freddy is ready; LaBadie confident of his runners; Fast Freddy Contest; Bench Warmer: Cobras show talenthttps://spark.parkland.edu/prospectus_1980/1022/thumbnail.jp