A study on the influence of electronic word of mouth and the image of gastronomy tourism on the intentions of tourists visiting Macau

The purpose of this study focuses on the extent to which electronic word-of- mouth (eWOM) and the image of Macanese gastronomy tourism influences tourists\u27 intentions, based on samples of those who use the Internet, to search for information about Macanese gastronomy. This study was conducted from April to June 2013. A quantitative research method was adopted and online questionnaires were distributed to those participants who were members of online communities or travel groups. An incentive strategy was also used to increase response rates. Following data collection, the analysis was carried out. The findings revealed that the image of gastronomy tourism and eWOM had significantly positive effects on tourists\u27 intentions, and electronic word of mouth had a significantly positive relationship with the image of Macanese gastronomy tourism. This suggests that both are leading factors in attracting tourists; therefore boosting the travel industry in Macau. Additionally, the image of cuisine held a stronger perception than image of restaurants and food related activities. The dimension of sociability held more credibility in comparison to other aspects of eWOM. This perhaps suggested that the image of gastronomy tourism had not been delivered sufficiently to tourists. The findings attempted to provide evidence for the Macau Government Tourism Office and website operators to effectively promote the image of gastronomy tourism in Macau. Internet use was explored in terms of motivating tourists to travel for reasons of gastronomy in order to create a reasonably valid construct for use in market segmentation purposes

The Performance on a Computerized Attention Assessment System between Children with and without Learning Disabilities

AbstractAttention is an essential function for children's learning. Cancellation tasks are one of most popular tools used for the assessment of visuospatial attention. A computerized cancellation test system was developed to investigate whether the children with or without learning disabilities (LD) would have different performances on cancellation tasks. The result showed that group differences regarding task performance are all significant and independent from types of stimulus and layout. Post hoc analysis of between-group effects showed that the control group had more correct responses (F = 28.177, p < .001), and spent less time (F = 5.592, p = .021) than the LD group

6-[(2-Chloro­pyridin-5-ylmeth­yl)(eth­yl)­azan­yl]-4-(2-fluoro­phen­yl)-1-methyl-5-nitro-1,2,3,4-tetra­hydro­pyridin-2-one

In the title compound, C20H20ClFN4O3, the tetra­hydro­pyridone ring adopts a skew boat conformation. The dihedral angle between the mean planes of the benzene and pyridine rings is 80.7 (3)°. In the crystal, weak C—H⋯O inter­actions are observed

Computation of the p6 order chiral Lagrangian coefficients from the underlying theory of QCD

We present results of computing the p6 order low energy constants in the normal part of chiral Lagrangian both for two and three flavor pseudo-scalar mesons. This is a generalization of our previous work on calculating the p4 order coefficients of the chiral Lagrangian in terms of the quark self energy Sigma(p2) approximately from QCD. We show that most of our results are consistent with those we can find in the literature.Comment: 51 pages,2 figure

Exploring Users’ Intention to use QQ\u27s Various Functions based on Social Cognitive Theory

Based upon social cognitive theory, this study explores the effect of personal and environment factors on users’ intention to use QQ’s various functions. Online survey is used to collect data in China. The results show that relationship benefit, switching cost, compatibility and subjective norms can significantly affect users’ intention to use QQ’s various functions. Whereas image benefit, perceived advantage and popularity have no effect. Finally, we propose the theoretical contribution and practical implication of this study

Prime Factorization in the Duality Computer

We give algorithms to factorize large integers in the duality computer. We provide three duality algorithms for factorization based on a naive factorization method, the Shor algorithm in quantum computing, and the Fermat's method in classical computing. All these algorithms are polynomial in the input size.Comment: 4 page

Alpha Lipoic Acid Modulated High Glucose-Induced Rat Mesangial Cell Dysfunction via mTOR/p70S6K/4E-BP1 Pathway

The aim of this study was to investigate whether alpha lipoic acid (LA) regulates high glucose-induced mesangial cell proliferation and extracellular matrix production via mTOR/p70S6K/4E-BP1 signaling. The effect of LA on high glucose-induced cell proliferation, fibronectin (FN), and collagen type I (collagen-I) expression and its mechanisms were examined in cultured rat mesangial cells by methylthiazol tetrazolium (MTT) assay, flow cytometry, ELISA assay, and western blot, respectively. LA at a relatively low concentration (0.25 mmol/L) acted as a growth factor in rat mesangial cells, promoted entry of cell cycle into S phase, extracellular matrix formation, and phosphorylated AKT, mTOR, p70S6K, and 4E-BP1. These effects disappeared when AKT expression was downregulated with PI3K/AKT inhibitor LY294002. Conversely, LA at a higher concentration (1.0 mmol/L) inhibited high glucose-induced rat mesangial cell proliferation, entry of cell cycle into S phase, and extracellular matrix exertion, as well as phosphorylation of mTOR, p70S6K, and 4E-BP1 but enhanced the activity of AMPK. However, these effects disappeared when AMPK activity was inhibited with CaMKK inhibitor STO-609. These results suggest that LA dose-dependently regulates mesangial cell proliferation and matrix protein secretion by mTOR/p70S6K/4E-BP1 signaling pathway under high glucose conditions