bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Thermo-Insulating Moulding Sand for thin Walled Castings
Authors: Cholewa M. , Szuter T.
Published: November 2014

In paper the selection of the composition and determination of main properties of novel moulding sand was described. The mail goal was to create moulding sand characterized by high thermal insulating properties in relations with low specific weight. This type of moulding sand will find application in thin walled castings with complex geometry, in particular for cores of the skeleton castings. In this work the results of the compressive strength, permeability and friability was presented. It was noted that aluminosilicate microspheres are suitable as moulding sand matrix. Influence of the polyglicol addition on quality and properties of the moulding sand was described. The use of the aluminosilicate microspheres allowed to obtain the moulding sand characterized by high insulation rate, low specific weight and good mechanical properties.
Identification of Residual Stress Phenomena Based on the Hole Drilling Method in Explosively Welded Steel-Titanium Composite
Authors: Karolczuk A. , Kowalski M. , Kluger K. , Żok F.
Published: November 2014

The hole drilling method was used to determine residual stresses in bimetallic composite manufactured by explosive welding process. The analyzed bimetal consist of titanium Grade 1 (6mm) and S355J2+N steel (40mm). The aim of the paper is to establish the influence of the heat treatment on residual stress state in titanium layer. Residual stress calculations were performed according to standards developed by strain gauge manufacturer (TML) and ASTM standards. The main conclusion is the heat treatment considerably changes the residual stress state in titanium layer from tensile stress state (no heat treatment) to compression stress state (after the heat treatment).
Manufacturing of Porous Al-Cr Preforms for Composite Reinforcing Using Microwave Activated Combustion Synthesis
Authors: Naplocha K. , Granat K.
Published: November 2014

The combustion synthesis of porous skeletons (preforms) of intermetallic Al–Cr compounds intended for metal matrix composite MMC reinforcing was developed. Mixture of Al and Cr powders with granularity of −10, −44, −74mm were cold isostatic pressed and next ignited and synthetized in a microwave reactor under argon atmosphere (microwave-activated combustion synthesis MACS). In order to ignite the synthesis, microwave energy was focused by a tuner on the specimen. The analysis of reaction temperature diagrams revealed that the synthesis proceeded through the following peritectic transformations: L(liquidus)+Al7Cr→L+Al11Cr2→L+Al4Cr. Moreover, EDS and XRD examinations showed that the reaction proceeded between a solid Cr and a liquid Al to create a distinct envelope of Al9Cr4 on Cr particle which next extended and spreaded over the entire structure. The produced preforms with uniform structure and interconnected porosity were infiltrated with liquid Cu and Al alloy. The obtained composite materials exhibited high hardness, wear and distinct temperature oxidation resistance.
Mechanical Properties of Zirconium/Steel Bimetal Fabricated by Means of Explosive Welding at Varied Detonation Velocities
Authors: Prażmowski M.
Published: November 2014

This paper assesses the effect of various values of detonation velocity on the quality of the bond zone, and thus the properties of bimetal zirconium (Zr 700) - steel (P355NL). The research was carried out for as-bonded welds, i.e. immediately following explosion welding. The results of shearing, peeling and tensile tests as well as macro-scale structural analyses were presented. In order to determine the changes in the value of strain hardening, the microhardness measurements across the interface were carried out. Based on the performed analyses it can be claimed that, depending on the applied technological settings of welding, most cases displayed wavy bond with highly diversified parameters of the wave. The changes observed with the detonation velocity are non-monotonic. High detonation velocities favored the formation of waves with large height and length and strongly affect the increase of the volume of brittle melted zones. Increased volume of the melted regions results in strong decrease of strength properties of the clad. The analysis of strength test results allows claiming that a small volume of melted regions in the bond considerably improves the strength of the bond.

As a result of explosion welding, strain hardening of the joined materials occurs near the interface. In the case of clad fabricated using high technological parameters the increase of strengthening and the depth of its influence in the interface area is observed.
On Possibility of Detonation Products Temperature Measurements of Emulsion Explosives
Authors: Silvestrov V. V. , Bordzilovskii S. A. , Karakhanov S. M. , Plastinin A. V.
Published: November 2014

The new view on the structure of the radiance signal recorded by optical pyrometer and the preliminary results of brightness detonation temperature of the emulsion explosive are presented. The structure of an optical signal observed is typical for the heterogeneous explosives. First, there is the short temperature spike to 2500 ÷ 3300 K connecting with a formation of “hot spots” assembly that fire the matrix capable of exothermal reaction. Then the relaxation of radiance to equilibrium level is observed that corresponds to brightness temperature 1840 ÷ 2260 K of explosion products at detonation pressure 1 ÷ 11 GPa. Experimental results are compared with the calculations of other authors. The detonation temperature of the investigated explosive is measured for the first time.
Numerical Simulation of Turbulence Flows in Shear Layer
Authors: Fortova S.V.
Published: November 2014

For various problems of continuum mechanics described by the equations of hyperbolic type, the comparative analysis of scenarios of development of turbulent flows in shear layers is carried out. It is shown that the development of the hydrodynamic instabilities leads to a vortex cascade that corresponds to the development stage of the vortices in the energy and the inertial range during the transition to the turbulent flow stage. It is proved that for onset of turbulence the spatial problem definition is basic. At the developed stage of turbulence the spectral analysis of kinetic energy is carried out and the Kolmogorov “-5/3” power law is confirmed.
Mechanical Properties and Fractographic Analysis of High Manganese Steels After Dynamic Deformation Tests
Authors: Jabłońska M.B.
Published: November 2014

Since few years many research centres conducting research on the development of high-manganese steels for manufacturing of parts for automotive and railway industry. Some of these steels belong to the group of AHS possessing together with high strength a great plastic elongation, and an ideal uniform work hardening behavior. The article presents the dynamic mechanical properties of two types of high manganese austenitic steel with using a flywheel machine at room temperature with strain rates between 5×102÷3.5×103s?–1. It was found that the both studied steels exhibit a high sensitivity Rm to the strain rate. With increasing the strain rate from 5×102 to 3.5×103s?–1 the hardening dominates the process. The fracture analysis indicate that after dynamic test both steel is characterized by ductile fracture surfaces which indicate good plasticity of investigated steels.
Using Water and Agrochemicals in the Soil, Crop and Vadose Environment (WAVE) Model to Interpret Nitrogen Balance and Soil Water Reserve Under Different Tillage Managements
Authors: Zare Narjes , Khaledian Mohammadreza , Mailhol Jean-Claude
Published: November 2014

Applying models to interpret soil, water and plant relationships under different conditions enable us to study different management scenarios and then to determine the optimum option. The aim of this study was using Water and Agrochemicals in the soil, crop and Vadose Environment (WAVE) model to predict water content, nitrogen balance and its components over a corn crop season under both conventional tillage (CT) and direct seeding into mulch (DSM). In this study a corn crop was cultivated at the Irstea experimental station in Montpellier, France under both CT and DSM. Model input data were weather data, nitrogen content in both the soil and mulch at the beginning of the season, the amounts and the dates of irrigation and nitrogen application. The results show an appropriate agreement between measured and model simulations (nRMSE < 10%). Using model outputs, nitrogen balance and its components were compared with measured data in both systems. The amount of N leaching in validation period were 10 and 8 kgha–1 in CT and DSM plots, respectively; therefore, these results showed better performance of DSM in comparison with CT. Simulated nitrogen leaching from CT and DSM can help us to assess groundwater pollution risk caused by these two systems.
Dynamics of Water Content in Light Bare Soil in Summer Half-Year in the Period of 2003–2012 and its Agro-Meteorological Determinants
Authors: Biniak-Pieróg Małgorzata
Published: November 2014

The objective of the study was the estimation of decade variation of water content in layers with thickness of 0–10, 0–20, 0–40 and 0–60 cm of a bare light brown soil in the summer half-year (May–October) in the 10-year period of 2003–2012 against the background of agro-meteorological conditions. The study was based on results of measurement of the moisture of a bare soil with the use of the TDR method, sums of atmospheric precipitations and ground water levels, conducted in the area of the Agro- and Hydrometeorology Observatory of the Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences, situated in Wrocław-Swojec. The analyses revealed slight variation of mean decade values of water content in the bare soil in the summer half-year during the ten-year period under analysis. Irrespective of the thickness of the soil layer, precipitation in the 10-year period of 2003–2012 had a highly significant effect on the water content in the 2nd decade of July. In the case of soil layers with thickness down to 0–20 cm a statistically significant relation between soil water content and ground water levels was noted for the 3rd decade of May, July, and in the 3rd decade of September. In the layer with thickness of 0–60 cm the relations were statistically significant almost throughout the summer half-year, with the exception of the 1st and 2nd decades of May. Analysis of trends of mean water content of the bare soil over the 10-year period of 2003–2012 indicated their statistically significant increase in the case of most of the decades of the summer half-year only in soil layers with thickness of 0–10 and 0–20 cm.
Phase-field simulation of diffusion-controlled coarsening kinetics of γ’ phase in Ni–Al alloy
Authors: Pang Yuxuan , Li Yongsheng , Wu Xingchao , Liu Wei , Hou Zhiyuan
Published: November 2014

Morphology evolution and coarsening kinetics of γ’ (Ni3Al) precipitates in Ni–Al alloy were investigated quantitatively using the interface diffusion-controlled, the bulk diffusion-controlled, and the interface diffusion-controlled elastic strain models. By calculating the γ’ phase number density, volume fraction, and particle radius, the effects of diffusion and elastic strain on the γ’ phase growth and coarsening were clarified. The coarsening rate constants are smaller in the bulk diffusion-controlled and the interface diffusion-controlled elastic strain models than those of the interface diffusion-controlled model, which is due to the long-range diffusion of Al atoms and the retardant effect of coherent strain between the γ’ and γ phases, respectively. The linear fitting on the cubic exponent shows the comparable associate coefficient that gives no superiority to the different models in Ni–Al alloy.
Effect of substrates on covalent surface modification of graphene using photosensitive functional group
Authors: Saini Deepshikha
Published: November 2014

Graphene has gained much significance for its potential applications in optics and electronics owing to its unique physical and chemical properties. Nevertheless, its gapless band structure greatly limits its wider application in optoelectronic devices. The present study seeks to explore chemical functionalization as an effective method to tune the properties of graphene. Covalent modification of graphene by aryl diazonium salt of a photosensitive functional group (azobenzene) has been used to achieve this goal. This is based on the fact that graphene is a two-dimensional, atomically thin lattice of sp2-bonded carbon atoms, therefore, its properties can be modulated by modifying the underlying dielectric surface with a self-assembled monolayer resulting in doping control. In the study, a clear difference in the rate of electron-transfer reactions with the photosensitive functional group is shown for monolayer graphene supported on SiO2/Si substrates and organic molecule functionalized SiO2/Si substrates. Graphene supported on SiO2/ Si is more reactive towards functionalization than graphene on organic molecule functionalized surfaces, as shown by Raman spectroscopy. The transport characteristics of functionalized graphene on conventional SiO2/Si substrates as well as substrates modified with organic molecule octadecyltrichlorosilane self-assembled monolayers are also explored and compared.
A New Intuitionistic Fuzzy Entropy and Application in Multi-Attribute Decision Making
Authors: Liu Manfeng , Ren Haiping
Published: November 2014

In this paper, firstly, a new intuitionistic fuzzy (IF) entropy has been put forward, which considered both the uncertainty and the hesitancy degree of IF sets. Through comparing with other entropy measures, the advantage of the new entropy measure is obvious. Secondly, based on the new entropy measure, a new decision making method of a multi-attribute decision making problem was subsequently put forward, in which attribute values are expressed with IF values. In the cases of attribute weights, completely unknown and attribute weights are partially known. Two methods were constructed to determine them. One method is an extension of the ordinary entropy weight method, and the other method is a construction the optimal model according to the minimum entropy principle. Finally, two practical examples are given to illustrate the effectiveness and practicability of the proposed method.
Growth of Ultra-Long ZnO Microtubes Using a Modified Vapor-Solid Setup
Authors: Lu Zhihui , Heng Xin , Chakraborty Anirban , Luo Cheng
Published: November 2014

In this work, we have modified the experimental setup for a vapor-solid (VS) process to synthesize Zinc oxide (ZnO) microtubes (MTs) with lengths up to 3 mm during a 90-min growth period. The critical idea behind this modification is to control the distribution of Zn vapor along the Si substrates. The morphology evolution of ZnO structures with the increasing reaction time was particularly explored. We found that, within the 90-min growth period, four different types of ZnO microstructures appeared in this synthesis process: microrods (MRs), short MTs, two-tier structures, and long MTs. Growth mechanisms were proposed to interpret the formation of these structures.
Surface Daytime Net Radiation Estimation Using Artificial Neural Networks
Authors: Jiang Bo , Zhang Yi , Liang Shunlin , Zhang Xiaotong , Xiao Zhiqiang
Published: November 2014

Net all-wave surface radiation (Rn) is one of the most important fundamental parameters in various applications. However, conventional Rn measurements are difficult to collect because of the high cost and ongoing maintenance of recording instruments. Therefore, various empirical Rn estimation models have been developed. This study presents the results of two artificial neural network (ANN) models (general regression neural networks (GRNN) and Neuroet) to estimate Rn globally from multi-source data, including remotely sensed products, surface measurements, and meteorological reanalysis products. Rn estimates provided by the two ANNs were tested against in-situ radiation measurements obtained from 251 global sites between 1991–2010 both in global mode (all data were used to fit the models) and in conditional mode (the data were divided into four subsets and the models were fitted separately). Based on the results obtained from extensive experiments, it has been proved that the two ANNs were superior to linear-based empirical models in both global and conditional modes and that the GRNN performed better and was more stable than Neuroet. The GRNN estimates had a determination coefficient (R2) of 0.92, a root mean square error (RMSE) of 34.27 W∙m−2, and a bias of −0.61 W∙m−2 in global mode based on the validation dataset. This study concluded that ANN methods are a potentially powerful tool for global Rn estimation.
Reduction of Uncorrelated Striping Noise—Applications for Hyperspectral Pushbroom Acquisitions
Authors: Rogass Christian , Mielke Christian , Scheffler Daniel , Boesche Nina , Lausch Angela , Lubitz Christin , Brell Maximilian , Spengler Daniel , Eisele Andreas , Segl Karl , Guanter Luis
Published: November 2014

Hyperspectral images are of increasing importance in remote sensing applications. Imaging spectrometers provide semi-continuous spectra that can be used for physics based surface cover material identification and quantification. Preceding radiometric calibrations serve as a basis for the transformation of measured signals into physics based units such as radiance. Pushbroom sensors collect incident radiation by at least one detector array utilizing the photoelectric effect. Temporal variations of the detector characteristics that differ with foregoing radiometric calibration cause visually perceptible along-track stripes in the at-sensor radiance data that aggravate succeeding image-based analyses. Especially, variations of the thermally induced dark current dominate and have to be reduced. In this work, a new approach is presented that efficiently reduces dark current related stripe noise. It integrates an across-effect gradient minimization principle. The performance has been evaluated using artificially degraded whiskbroom (reference) and real pushbroom acquisitions from EO-1 Hyperion and AISA DUAL that are significantly covered by stripe noise. A set of quality indicators has been used for the accuracy assessment. They clearly show that the new approach outperforms a limited set of tested state-of-the-art approaches and achieves a very high accuracy related to ground-truth for selected tests. It may substitute recent algorithms in the Reduction of Miscalibration Effects (ROME) framework that is broadly used to reduce radiometric miscalibrations of pushbroom data takes.
Fast Human Detection for Intelligent Monitoring Using Surveillance Visible Sensors
Authors: Ko Byoung , Jeong Mira , Nam JaeYeal
Published: November 2014

Human detection using visible surveillance sensors is an important and challenging work for intruder detection and safety management. The biggest barrier of real-time human detection is the computational time required for dense image scaling and scanning windows extracted from an entire image. This paper proposes fast human detection by selecting optimal levels of image scale using each level’s adaptive region-of-interest (ROI). To estimate the image-scaling level, we generate a Hough windows map (HWM) and select a few optimal image scales based on the strength of the HWM and the divide-and-conquer algorithm. Furthermore, adaptive ROIs are arranged per image scale to provide a different search area. We employ a cascade random forests classifier to separate candidate windows into human and nonhuman classes. The proposed algorithm has been successfully applied to real-world surveillance video sequences, and its detection accuracy and computational speed show a better performance than those of other related methods.
Online Variational Bayesian Filtering-Based Mobile Target Tracking in Wireless Sensor Networks
Authors: Zhou Bingpeng , Chen Qingchun , Li Tiffany , Xiao Pei
Published: November 2014

The received signal strength (RSS)-based online tracking for a mobile node in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) is investigated in this paper. Firstly, a multi-layer dynamic Bayesian network (MDBN) is introduced to characterize the target mobility with either directional or undirected movement. In particular, it is proposed to employ the Wishart distribution to approximate the time-varying RSS measurement precision’s randomness due to the target movement. It is shown that the proposed MDBN offers a more general analysis model via incorporating the underlying statistical information of both the target movement and observations, which can be utilized to improve the online tracking capability by exploiting the Bayesian statistics. Secondly, based on the MDBN model, a mean-field variational Bayesian filtering (VBF) algorithm is developed to realize the online tracking of a mobile target in the presence of nonlinear observations and time-varying RSS precision, wherein the traditional Bayesian filtering scheme cannot be directly employed. Thirdly, a joint optimization between the real-time velocity and its prior expectation is proposed to enable online velocity tracking in the proposed online tacking scheme. Finally, the associated Bayesian Cramer–Rao Lower Bound (BCRLB) analysis and numerical simulations are conducted. Our analysis unveils that, by exploiting the potential state information via the general MDBN model, the proposed VBF algorithm provides a promising solution to the online tracking of a mobile node in WSNs. In addition, it is shown that the final tracking accuracy linearly scales with its expectation when the RSS measurement precision is time-varying.
Optical properties and electrical transport of thin films of terbium(III) bis(phthalocyanine) on cobalt
Authors: Robaschik Peter , Siles Pablo F , Bülz Daniel , Richter Peter , Monecke Manuel , Fronk Michael , Klyatskaya Svetlana , Grimm Daniel , Schmidt Oliver G , Ruben Mario , Zahn Dietrich R T , Salvan Georgeta
Published: November 2014

The optical and electrical properties of terbium(III) bis(phthalocyanine) (TbPc2) films on cobalt substrates were studied using variable angle spectroscopic ellipsometry (VASE) and current sensing atomic force microscopy (cs-AFM). Thin films of TbPc2 with a thickness between 18 nm and 87 nm were prepared by organic molecular beam deposition onto a cobalt layer grown by electron beam evaporation. The molecular orientation of the molecules on the metallic film was estimated from the analysis of the spectroscopic ellipsometry data. A detailed analysis of the AFM topography shows that the TbPc2 films consist of islands which increase in size with the thickness of the organic film. Furthermore, the cs-AFM technique allows local variations of the organic film topography to be correlated with electrical transport properties. Local current mapping as well as local I–V spectroscopy shows that despite the granular structure of the films, the electrical transport is uniform through the organic films on the microscale. The AFM-based electrical measurements allow the local charge carrier mobility of the TbPc2 thin films to be quantified with nanoscale resolution.
Cyclodextrin-grafted polymers functionalized with phosphanes: a new tool for aqueous organometallic catalysis
Authors: Potier Jonathan , Menuel Stéphane , Mathiron David , Bonnet Véronique , Hapiot Frédéric , Monflier Eric
Published: November 2014

New cyclodextrin (CD)-grafted polymers functionalized with water-soluble phosphanes were synthesized in three steps starting from polyNAS. Once characterized by NMR spectroscopy and size-exclusion chromatography, they were used as additives in Rh-catalyzed hydroformylation of 1-hexadecene. The combined supramolecular and coordinating properties of these polymers allowed increasing the catalytic activity of the reaction without affecting the selectivities.
Tourism Demand Forecasting Based on a Neuro-Fuzzy Model
Authors: Atsalakis George , Chnarogiannaki Eleni , Zopounidis Consantinos
Published: November 2014

Tourism in Greece plays a major role in the country's economy and an accurate forecasting model for tourism demand is a useful tool, which could affect decision making and planning for the future. This paper answers some questions such as: how did the forecasting techniques evolve over the years, how precise can they be, and in what way can they be used in assessing the demand for tourism? An Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) has been used in making the forecasts. The data used as input for the forecasting models relates to monthly time-series tourist arrivals by air, train, sea and road into Greece from January 1996 until September 2011. 80% of the data has been used to train the forecasting models and the rest to evaluate the models. The performance of the model is achieved by the calculation of some well known statistical errors. The accuracy of the ANFIS model is further compared with two conventional forecasting models: the autoregressive (AR) and autoregressive moving average (ARMA) time-series models. The results were satisfactory even if the collected data were not pleasing enough. The ANFIS performed further compared to the other time-series models. In conclusion, the accuracy of the ANFIS model forecast proved its great importance in tourism demand forecasting.
Gap Analysis and Infrastructure Requirement for Tourism Development in the State of West Bengal
Authors: Das Dillip Kumar , Ray Nilanjan
Published: November 2014

The rural tourism concept has become one of the vital issues of economic and social benefits to the society. This study identifies the problems and prospects of rural tourism in the state of West Bengal. The primary objectives of this study include an exploration of the development and emergence of rural tourism in the state of West Bengal, analysis of the tourism gap at Bishnupur, examination of the existing as well as future requirement of tourism infrastructure of Bishnupur, and the promotion and marketing of Bishnupur as an important rural tourism destination in Indian Scenario. For the fulfillment of the basic objectives, data for the study were collected through field survey. Information about the profile of tourism industry includes hotels, guest houses, number of rooms, number of persons employed, etc., as well as the profile of the tourists. The collected data has been analyzed using different statistical methods, Wilcoxon Pair Ranked Model used for Gap analysis. This study indicates how to develop and upgrade the rural tourism destinations by proper utilization of tourism infrastructural amenities in the area as well as active participation by public private initiatives and local resource utilization. This study is relevant for balancing the demand and supply of tourism infrastructural requirement indicators, which can offer service excellence.
Medical Tourism
Authors: Medhekar Anita , Wong Ho Yin , Hall John
Published: November 2014

The purpose of this chapter is to establish a conceptual model that can potentially fill research gaps in the literature about medical tourism as an innovative concept in global healthcare provision by developing emerging economies as they are providing low cost alternatives in medical treatment at internationally accredited medical facilities to treat patients from developed countries. Major databases such as Ebscohost and Emerald have been used to search relevant literature. The literature on medical tourism is reviewed so as to understand the key drivers of medical tourism as well as research gaps in the existing literature. Three major drivers of medical tourism have been identified, namely cost, waiting time, and perceived quality. Further empirical research is needed to test the conceptual model in order to better understand what drives a decision to engage in medical tourism. This chapter makes three major contributions; firstly, the identification of the medical tourism literature from the service marketing and management perspectives; secondly, to propose a conceptual model representing innovation in medical tourism for global healthcare by developing emerging economies; thirdly, the identification of research gaps in the medical tourism literature through which future research can further the knowledge of why people travel to developing countries for medical treatment.
Tourism Mobile Application Usability
Authors: Inversini Alessandro , Violi Lucia
Published: November 2014

Mobile communication is experiencing significant growth: the domain has been completely reshaped since the launch of the Apple iPhone (June 2007) and the ensuing development of so-called “smart phones”. Furthermore, together with the expansion of new mobile artifacts, mobile application markets (such as Apple iTunes Store and Android Google Play market) have contributed to the diffusion of new forms of communication within different sectors and domains. Tourism is being very much exposed to the advent of mobile applications as tools for communication and assistance during the consumption of touristic experiences. By examining a case from the tourism industry, this research highlights the importance of the usability of mobile communication in this mobile tourism (mTourism) context. mTourism usability can be achieved by emphasizing the importance of fast and reliable access to content, as well as the quality – particularly conciseness, accuracy and coverage – of the relevant information.
Adding Personalization and Social Features to a Context-Aware Application for Mobile Tourism
Authors: Barragáns-Martínez Ana Belén , Costa-Montenegro Enrique
Published: November 2014

The proliferation of location-aware mobile devices, together with the advent of Web 2.0 services, promotes the creation of hybrid applications which can provide innovative personalized context-aware services. Personalized recommendation services aim at suggesting products and services to meet users' preferences and needs, while location-based services focus on providing information based on users' current positions. Due to the fast growing of users' needs in the mobile tourism domain, the provision of personalized location-based recommendation services becomes a critical research and practical issue. In this proposal, the authors present GiveMeAPlan, a mobile service which supplies tourist recommendations taking into account both the user preferences (personalization) and context information (time, location, weather, etc.) enriched with social features and targeted advertisements to support its business model. An application prototype is also being implemented to illustrate and test the system feasibility and effectiveness.
Islamic Tourism in South Africa
Authors: Davids M. Noor
Published: November 2014

New economic opportunities emerged during the post-apartheid period in South Africa. Tourism was one sector that presented untapped potential to its citizens and the global community. This sector became one of the key generators of economic activity, and “halal tourism,” also referred to as Islamic tourism, developed as part of this emerging market. Research in Islamic tourism is still in its infancy, but due to the historical presence of Muslims, Islamic culture has always been regarded as an integral part of the South African cultural heritage. Evidence that Islamic tourism is an emerging sector is the recently convened conference on “halal tourism” in South Africa. Islamic tourism cannot be understood without an appreciation of the history of Muslims in South Africa. Since their arrival as political exiles and slaves beginning in 1652, Muslims struggled against colonialism and oppression, and today, their vibrancy is visible in the cultural, social, and economic landscape of South African society. The critical question that informs this chapter is, What is the potential of Islamic tourism in South Africa? Through a theoretical lens, tourism is viewed from a postmodern perspective that critiques the dominant homogenous views of Islam and Muslims. While Muslim culture evolved over time, it changed into a hybrid of cultural and religious confluences shaped by internal and external forces. Muslim culture consequently forms a significant component of the national heritage and is an integral part of the tourism industry. This chapter locates the manifestation of Islam in the context of tourism, arguing for its viability as a significant component of an emerging global Islamic tourism market.
“Cozinha da Madeira”
Authors: Nisi Valentina , Nunes Nuno , Isarankura Kanarak , Forlizzi Jodi
Published: November 2014

Sustainability is an outstanding global issue. Our present vision of wellbeing requires resource consumption that cannot be reproduced in a sustainable way. In this chapter, the authors present a case study of “Cozinha da Madeira” (CdM), a service design concept. CdM is a design concept that highlights how one can leverage tourism in order to promote sustainable services and experiences. Through the design of the CdM transformational experience, one invites customers to appreciate local products, resources, and traditions of the island, and in general orient themselves towards more sustainable practices in their further travels abroad as well as in their own home countries. The authors are currently developing a Web-based mobile application based on the premises and research presented in this chapter in order to deliver the service to potential users and evaluate the hypothesis.
Factors Influencing Tourists' Motivational Determinants for Promotion of Tourism Destination
Authors: Ray Nilanjan
Published: November 2014

The concept of rural tourism has become one of the vital issues of economic and social benefits to society. This present study identifies different motivational factors that may directly or indirectly influence the tourists' motivation. The primary objectives of this study include the growth, development, and emergence of rural tourism potentials at Kamarpukur as well as to analyze the tourists' flow pattern and also examine the existing and future requirements in the motivational point of view. For fulfillment of the basic objective, data for the study were collected through field survey. The sample size was restricted to 200 respondents. Information gathered about tourists' motivational factors include culture, tourism amenities, destination, and religion. The collected data have been analyzed using different statistical methods like percentage and Chi-square. The major findings of this study show, in the present scenario of above factors, how to attract more tourists for repeat visits and promote infrastructural requirement for better tourism service to increase the level of tourists' motivation as well. In the policy implication point of view, this study is relevant for balancing the demand and supply of tourism motivational requirement indicators, which can offer better service excellence in the study area.
Public Perception of Costs Associated with Major Sporting Events
Authors: Núñez-Pomar Juan Manuel , Calabuig-Moreno Ferran , Añó-Sanz Vicente , Parra-Camacho David
Published: November 2014

Sporting events have become first-order promotional tools of large cities, allowing them to reach levels of dissemination economically unaffordable as conventional advertising. The social impact of the event on residents is very important, given their role as main actors. Perceptions of the residents of the cities that host sporting events have been extensively studied, although in this case a singular point of comparison to study the perception of the costs of organizing and holding the sporting event is provided. The purpose of this chapter is to assess the perception of the citizens of Valencia (Spain) on specific aspects of three sports events held in the city in 2012: European Grand Prix Formula 1, the Tennis Open 500, and Valencia Marathon. The results show significant differences in the perception of the costs of organizing the events related, and demonstrate the impact of the type of activity in the perception of residents.
The Transfer from a Major Sport Event to a Sponsoring Brand
Authors: Aragonés-Jericó Cristina
Published: November 2014

The aim of the chapter is to analyze how sport visitors transferred perceived value and experience of the event to the sponsoring brand. Therefore, based on tourist behavior model and theories of sport sponsorship, a global model of sponsorship in major sport event whose axis is based on the models applied to transfer value and experience arises. Furthermore, the model includes the backgrounds that determine the behavior of visitors towards the sport event and the effects derived from the attendance to the event and the sports sponsorship action. Results show that perceived value is not transferred; however, the experience of the event is indeed transferred to the sponsoring brand. Additionally, the effect of experience on the perceived value is observed and can confirm the motivation, identification, and involvement as backgrounds of the model, together with all the proposed effects.
Price Effectiveness in Hotels
Authors: Chowdhry Nidhi
Published: November 2014

This case study focuses on the mid-size hotel industry in India. It will analyze the extent to which the pricing strategies are adopted in order to optimize revenues. The mid-size segment is comprised of three and four star hotels, which cater to the average foreign and domestic leisure travelers. Pricing is the single greatest challenge facing independent hotels today. It is studied how determining optimal rates based on the patterns of price sensitivity of demand still remains the biggest challenge for these hotels. Price sensitivity and its impact on revenue are examined. To determine and analyze this challenge faced by mid-size hotel industry, the case will focus on pricing strategies and challenges faced by a midscale chain hotel and a stand-alone economy hotel in New Delhi. The hotels have been taken from National Capital Region (New Delhi) which is the largest hotel market in the country both in terms of active assets under development and potential projects in planning.
Rough Set Analysis and Short-Medium Term Tourist Services Demand Forecasting
Authors: Celotto Emilio , Ellero Andrea , Ferretti Paola
Published: November 2014

Along with a growing interest in tourism research is the effort to establish innovative methodologies that are useful to guide the tourist operators and the policy makers in selecting forecasting techniques. Nevertheless, predicting tourist demand is still lacking at a microeconomic level, while it has become a flourishing theme of research uniquely at a macroeconomic level. The main goal is to analyze Italian tourists' behaviours on the basis of statistical surveys on households, life conditions, incomes, consumptions, travels, and vacation. This research is set in the framework of Rough Sets Theory, a Data Mining technique that can easily manage categorical variables. Hence, it is suitable for the exploitation of databases collecting sample surveys data. A large selection of variables from database Sinottica, containing information on social, cultural, and behavioural trends in Italy collected by means of a psychographic survey is provided by a leading market research organization, GfK Eurisko. By defining some decision rules, some interesting relations between consumer behaviours and their corresponding tourism choices are obtained.
Digital Resources and Approaches Adopted by User-Centred Museums
Authors: Solima Ludovico
Published: November 2014

Society is experiencing unprecedented changes, largely attributable to the evolution of communication technologies, which are steadily reframing our way of life, and the methods we use to establish and maintain social relations. Museums are therefore facing numerous challenges, in general as a result of these developments: apps, open content, and the Internet-of-things. A complex relationship can be created between visitors and the museum, and this also opens new unexplored opportunities for user involvement in the museum's activities, even during the course of the visit itself. It is worth taking care to identify all the variables involved in the museum-visitor-relationship, which also encompasses the social dimension. Both the museum and the individual are active participants in a gradually expanding relationship, namely the growth of the so-called Web 2.0 and social media. Therefore, we can assume the need for museums to develop a conscious strategy for their social media presence, a real social media strategy, which forms part of the museum's wider digital strategy. The increasingly pervasive spread of e-mobile technology is a foretaste of the moment when museumgoers will radically change both the way of establishing relations with these organisations and the actual ways of using museum services. This chapter focuses on digital resources and approaches adopted by user-centred museums, where there is an increasing impact from the internet and social media.
Green Digital Enterprise and Chaos Theory in Tourism Development
Authors: Ariwa Ezendu , Syvertsen Carsten Martin
Published: November 2014

This paper examines how eco-tourism can be regarded as a change agent in the tourism economy in developing countries. By using conceptual contributions from chaos theory, the authors illustrate how eco-tourism might give competitive advantage, using South Africa as the empirical setting. Destinations focusing on chaos theory when organizing their efforts within eco-tourism may be able to tailor make services to well-defined market segments through the use of tacit knowledge. Future research may benefit from using untraditional approaches found in the business literature.
Creative Tourism and Cultural Heritage
Authors: Bonetti Enrico , Simoni Michele , Cercola Raffaele
Published: November 2014

This chapter analyses how cultural heritage destinations should evolve to keep pace with changes in the demand for cultural tourism. The empirical evidence shows that the most important heritage destinations suffer from a misalignment of their value propositions with respect to the new needs of cultural tourists. These types of gaps can be filled only by understanding the features and evolution of these needs and by identifying sustainable strategic paths to enrich the typical offering of these heritage destinations. This chapter proposes a theoretical framework that combines the most relevant trends in cultural tourism from a demand and an offering perspective. The Pompeii case is subsequently analyzed through the lens of the proposed theoretical framework.
Using Word Trees, Word Networks, and Tag Clouds to Provide Meaningful Insights
Authors: Bilgihan Anil , Severt Denver , Kandampully Jay
Published: November 2014

The combined use of data mining techniques and qualitative consumer reports can provide meaningful insights into service performance and relevant decision making. In several case studies, the authors combine qualitative comments from an online hotel feedback website about popular travel destinations, as reported by business, pleasure, and mixed-use travelers. After extracting 1,893 useable customer comments, using a web spider application, the study software produced summaries of qualitative comments in the form of tag clouds, word networks, and word tree images. This technologically enabled analysis of consumer-reported information provides consumer researchers with more objective ratings of qualitative consumer assessments of their experience across various units of analysis, with several applications for corporate and operational management. Furthermore, several implications inform consumer researchers and corporate consumer research departments about effective ways to investigate and serve industry. This study also has several limitations that suggest routes for further research.
The Travel Machine
Authors: Marcus Aaron
Published: November 2014

Travel and tourism is a booming sector of the 21st century world economy. Despite numerous positive trends, numerous critics deplore some developments in this industry. In an era of increasing leisure tourism or “part-time leisure tourism” tacked on to business trips, coming into contact with other cultures risks fading into the background. Therefore, the Travel Machine project of 2012 researched, analyzed, designed, and evaluated effective ways to foster a shift from leisure to cultural tourism by changing people's travel behavior in the short- and in the long-term. The main objective is to persuade and motivate people, especially travelers aged up to 50 years, those from higher to average economic and educational demographics, to open themselves up more intensely towards the local population and culture of a destination, and to make out of their trip a deeper, personally enriching, and educational experience. For this objective, a well-designed mobile phone application prototype, the Travel Machine, was conceived by the author's firm, combining information design/visualization and persuasion design. This chapter explains the development of the Travel Machine's user interface, information design, information visualization, and persuasion design.
Two Cases of False-Positive Dengue Non-Structural Protein 1 (NS1) Antigen in Patients with Hematological Malignancies and a Review of the Literature on the Use of NS1 for the Detection of Dengue Infection
Authors: Chung Shimin J. , Krishnan Prabha U. , Leo Yee Sin
Published: November 2014

Early diagnosis of dengue has been made easier in recent years owing to the advancement in diagnostic technologies. The rapid non-structural protein 1 (NS1) test strip is widely used in many developed and developing regions at risk of dengue. Despite the relatively high specificity of this test, we recently encountered two cases of false-positive dengue NS1 antigen in patients with underlying hematological malignancies. We reviewed the literature for causes of false-positive dengue NS1.
Etiologies of Illness Among Patients Meeting Integrated Management of Adolescent and Adult Illness District Clinician Manual Criteria for Severe Infections in Northern Tanzania: Implications for Empiric Antimicrobial Therapy
Authors: Rubach Matthew P. , Maro Venance P. , Bartlett John A. , Crump John A.
Published: November 2014

We describe the laboratory-confirmed etiologies of illness among participants in a hospital-based febrile illness cohort study in northern Tanzania who retrospectively met Integrated Management of Adolescent and Adult Illness District Clinician Manual (IMAI) criteria for septic shock, severe respiratory distress without shock, and severe pneumonia, and compare these etiologies against commonly used antimicrobials, including IMAI recommendations for emergency antibacterials (ceftriaxone or ampicillin plus gentamicin) and IMAI first-line recommendations for severe pneumonia (ceftriaxone and a macrolide). Among 423 participants hospitalized with febrile illness, there were 25 septic shock, 37 severe respiratory distress without shock, and 109 severe pneumonia cases. Ceftriaxone had the highest potential utility of all antimicrobials assessed, with responsive etiologies in 12 (48%) septic shock, 5 (14%) severe respiratory distress without shock, and 19 (17%) severe pneumonia illnesses. For each syndrome 17–27% of participants had etiologic diagnoses that would be non-responsive to ceftriaxone, but responsive to other available antimicrobial regimens including amphotericin for cryptococcosis and histoplasmosis; anti-tuberculosis therapy for bacteremic disseminated tuberculosis; or tetracycline therapy for rickettsioses and Q fever. We conclude that although empiric ceftriaxone is appropriate in our setting, etiologies not explicitly addressed in IMAI guidance for these syndromes, such as cryptococcosis, histoplasmosis, and tetracycline-responsive bacterial infections, were common.