An Investigation of the Applicability of the Uses and Gratifications Theory for Providing Insight into e-Tourists’ Use of Smartphones

Despite the previous smartphone research in the context of travel and tourism, there is limited research based on a strong theoretical background that seeks to understand how tourists are motivated and satisfied via smartphone use. This study extended previous studies by systematically investigating and quantitatively measuring how and to what extent tourists are gratified (satisfied) by the use of smartphones during their trips based on the Uses and Gratifications Theory. According to this theory, individuals choose a media platform with the anticipation that it will aid them in realizing a specific intention, the satisfaction of this need being referred to as gratification (Green 2014; Logan, 2017; Stacks & Salwen, 2009). This study investigated four constructs in terms of antecedents (i.e., motivations of using smartphones by tourists) and consequences (i.e., satisfaction with smartphones use by tourists, satisfaction referred to as gratifications). This study adopted the Uses and Gratifications Theory as a theoretical framework to explore the use of smartphones by tourists and to measure quantitatively their touristic satisfaction. U&G motivations (Social Interaction, Entertainment, Convenience, and Information) and hypotheses were developed. The respondents of the main study were tourists traveling in downtown Greenville, South Carolina, who have experiences using smartphones at the destination. To test the model for the study, a multilevel analysis (multilevel SEM) was employed to avoid statistical biases caused by common traits within group tourists and to measure potential group effects. This study also analyzed multilevel mediation in the structural equation model. It was hypothesized that the attitude construct mediates the relationship between motivations of using smartphones by tourists (independent variable or predictors) and satisfactions with smartphones use by tourists (dependent variable) in the structural model. Moreover, the relationships among constructs were tested and examined based on the theoretical background developed through a review of the literature. This study provides a classification of motivations of using smartphone use by tourists (U&G motivations) and a newly developed scale to measure satisfaction with smartphone use by tourists and their experiences, and thus it may enhance deeper our understanding of motivations of using smartphone by tourists, attitude toward the smartphone use by tourists and satisfactions with smartphone use by tourists. This study addressed specific aspects of tourism experiences. The results suggest that U&G motivations have a significant effect on tourists’ attitude toward smartphone use, which, in turn, significantly affects e-tourist satisfaction at the individual level. However, there was no group effect among U&G motivations, the attitude toward smartphone use and e-tourist satisfaction. Based on the results from this study, the most important reason that tourists used their smartphones was to obtain information during their trips to Greenville, SC. The results of this study provide practical and theoretical implications for e- tourism communication and tourism marketing

World Agriculture Organization (WAO): New Global Governance for Agricultural Trade

It is increasingly questionable whether the WTO regime is the most appropriate form of governance for addressing global problems related to agriculture. In particular, climate change, sustainability, hunger/poverty in developing countries, and expected imbalance in food demand-supply by 2050 are emerging as grave challenges to humanity and the WTO is still struggling to resolve issues (related to the multifunctional roles of agriculture) of the 20th century while completely lacking the capacity to tackle such new global issues of the 21st century. Given this outmoded institution, the primary objective of this article is to propose that a new system of governance is needed so as to exclusively and effectively deal with problems arising from the interactions among climate change, agricultural sustainability, food security, and trade.Global public goods, climate change, sustainable agriculture, food security, WTO, agricultural trade, International Relations/Trade,

Critical Velocity for Vortex Shedding in a Bose-Einstein Condensate

We present measurements of the critical velocity for vortex shedding in a highly oblate Bose-Einstein condensate with a moving repulsive Gaussian laser beam. As a function of the barrier height $V_0$, the critical velocity $v_c$ shows a dip structure having a minimum at $V_0 \approx \mu$, where $\mu$ is the chemical potential of the condensate. At fixed $V_0\approx 7\mu$, we observe that the ratio of $v_c$ to the speed of sound $c_s$ monotonically increases for decreasing $\sigma/\xi$, where $\sigma$ is the beam width and $\xi$ is the condensate healing length. The measured upper bound for $v_c/c_s$ is about 0.4, which is in good agreement with theoretical predictions for a two-dimensional superflow past a circular cylinder. We explain our results with the density reduction effect of the soft boundary of the Gaussian obstacle, based on the local Landau criterion for superfluidity.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure