Axiomatic homology and duality revisited

We associate to each homology theory in an elementary and canonical manner a tautological cohomology theory on Cartesian spaces such that the classical Alexander duality holds. The duality isomorphisms obtained from cap-products yield an isomorphism of cohomology theories. Guided by our methods we also introduce the new category of dualizible maps

Exploring usability and gratifications for virtual reality applications at festivals

The digital creation of virtual environments has opened many doors for the creation of new experiences, offering the trend of ever immersive, engaging and multi-sensory virtual reality (VR) experiences. However, studies on VR within the science festival context are limited. Therefore, with a focus on usability and gratifications, this study aims to explore the antecedents of the behavioral intention to use VR at science festivals. Before participating in a questionnaire, 447 users experienced a VR application and data were analyzed using structural equation modelling. Findings reveal that usability influences gratification factors which influence users’ behavioral intention to engage with science

Homotopy Theory of Strong and Weak Topological Insulators

We use homotopy theory to extend the notion of strong and weak topological insulators to the non-stable regime (low numbers of occupied/empty energy bands). We show that for strong topological insulators in d spatial dimensions to be "truly d-dimensional", i.e. not realizable by stacking lower-dimensional insulators, a more restrictive definition of "strong" is required. However, this does not exclude weak topological insulators from being "truly d-dimensional", which we demonstrate by an example. Additionally, we prove some useful technical results, including the homotopy theoretic derivation of the factorization of invariants over the torus into invariants over spheres in the stable regime, as well as the rigorous justification of replacing $T^d$ by $S^d$ and $T^{d_k}\times S^{d_x}$ by $S^{d_k+d_x}$ as is common in the current literature.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figure

Translating Tourist Requirements into Mobile AR Application Engineering Through QFD

Augmented reality (AR) has moved into the spotlight of technological developments to enhance tourist experiences, presenting a need to develop meaningful AR applications. However, few studies so far have focused on requirements for a user-centric AR application design. The study aims to propose a method on translating psychological and behavioral indicators of users into relevant technical design elements for the development of mobile AR tourism applications in the context of urban heritage tourism. The research was conducted in three phases to generate a Quality Function Deployment (QFD) model based on interviews, focus groups and questionnaires of international tourists and industry professionals. Key categories, content requirements, function requirements and user resistance were defined for the identification of requirements. The outcomes of the study outline tourist requirements based on behavioral and psychological indicators and propose a method for translating them into technical design elements for tourist mobile AR applications

Value of Augmented Reality to enhance the Visitor Experience: A Case study of Manchester Jewish Museum

There is an increase in Augmented Reality (AR) adoption in the tourism sector and increasingly visitor attractions, museums and art galleries start to use AR for the enhancement of the visitor experience. However, smaller organisations often fear high investments without the proof of concept due to risks of failures. Therefore, the present study uses a small museum in Manchester to investigate the value of AR for different target markets, visitors and the museum itself. Internal and external data collection was conducted using focus groups with eight museum visitors and ten interviews with museum staff as well as teachers. Findings show that AR is considered the way to move forward to preserve history, enhance visitor satisfaction, generate positive word-of-mouth, attract new target markets as well as contribute to a positive learning experience

Moderating Role of Long-term Orientation on Augmented Reality Adoption

Recently, the tourism and hospitality industry is providing tourists with an enhanced experience via various cutting-edge technologies such as augmented reality (AR). In addition, there has been an increased interest on the effects of cultural traits on human behaviours. The aim of this paper is to examine how Long- and Short-term orientation moderates the relationship between experience economy provided by AR applications and users’ perceived value. Data were collected from 145 participants at Deoksugung Palace in Seoul, South Korea and 119 participants at An Post Museum, Dublin, Ireland. We found that South Korean tourists, who are representatives of long-term orientation culture in this study, put a high value on educational factors of AR applications, whereas Irish tourists, who are representative of short-term orientation culture, regard escapist experiences of AR applications highly

A PLS Analysis of hotel guests’ acceptance of social media networks

Although social media networks (SMNs) have been established for a number of years, research on the acceptance of SMNs within the hospitality industry has been limited. The study uses an extended technology acceptance model (TAM) to assess hotel guests’ acceptance of SMNs within the luxury hotel industry. A total of 258 usable data was collected and path least square analysis using SmartPLS conducted. The findings show that there are five external variables that influence hotel guests’ continued usage of SMNs including accessibility, trust, social influence, enjoyment and perceived benefits. A key contribution of the study is the presentation and validation of a SMN acceptance model and the importance for the luxury hotel industry to integrate mobile services and applications into their marketing strategie

Google Glass Creative Tourism Experience: A Case Study of Manchester Art Gallery

Due to the novelty factor of Google Glass, specifically in Europe, only few research attempts were made of the potential of Google Glass. The present study aims to explore visitor’s first time usage behavior of Google Glass within the cultural context. In total, 29 Art Gallery visitors tested the Google Glass prototype application “Museum Zoom” and took part in an interview. The data were analyzed using content analysis and revealed that among all age groups, the majority of visitors had a favourable opinion regarding the usage of Google Glass within Art Gallery settings. This exploratory study revealed that users were able to quickly adjust to the novel interaction and generally perceived the device to enhance the Art Gallery visitors experience though the provision of additional content and easy to use as well as social networking functions. Although technological issues remained, participants were curious to interact with the device

The Key Factors of Relationship Quality between Tour Operators and SME Hotels

The importance of relationship quality for successful future business co-operations is well established; however research on factors of relationship quality within tourism and hospitality is scarce. This study therefore aims to identify factors of relationship quality between tour operators and hoteliers within the Cretan context using qualitative semi-structured interviews. Twenty-six tour operators and hoteliers were interviewed and the data were analysed using thematic analysis. Eight key factors of relationship quality were identified including trust, price, service quality, commitment, communication, mutual goals, customer satisfaction and information quality to influence the future cooperation of tour operators and hoteliers within the Cretan tourism sector. The study provides practitioners with a guideline of factors as to how to successfully co-operate. For academic, it identifies key factors of relationship qualify for the development of the relationship quality model in a hospitality setting