Determining Interrelationship Between Factors Impacting Foreign Direct Investment in Tourism: An ISM-based Approach

The burgeoning spectrum of tourist demand and changing tastes and preferences calls for developing the nation’s tourism profile. India, one of the fastest-growing economies and a potential attractor of tourists, is estimated to be the world’s third-largest tourism economy by 2028 (as per World Tourism and Travel Council [WTTC] estimates) and is expected to draw massive investment in this sector. Thus, the present study aims to analyse various factors impacting foreign flows in the tourism sector and develops a hierarchical structure among the identified factors through the interpretive structural modelling (ISM) technique. A MICMAC (Matrix of Cross-Impact Multiplications Applied to Classification) analysis is performed to categorise the identified factors based on the driving power and dependence level. The interrelationships among the variables were derived from the opinion gardened from 50 research and industry experts. The results showed that political stability plays a critical component in driving other variables in the system. Also, a stable system is likely to impact the economic environment of a nation positively, thus, creating a desirable profile for investors to invest in tourism businesses or the development of destinations.

LAND-LEASING BEHAVIOR, LOCAL OFFICIALS’ PROMOTIONS, AND CHINESE CITIES’ DEBT RISKS

This study first analyzes how local governments’ land-leasing behaviors affect Chinese cities’ debt risk then examines the impact of officials’ promotion mechanisms on debt risk in China’s urban land bank system. The land-leasing behavior is reflected through three indicators, namely, land-leasing revenue, land-leasing scale, and land financial dependence level. Two new indicators are constructed to measure the local government’ debt risk from the perspective of debt scale and debt repayment: the debt scale risk and debt burden risk. Empirical analyses are based on the data of 281 prefecture-level cities from 2006–2015. The main findings are twofold. First, the debt scale risk is positively affected by the land-leasing revenue, and officials’ promotion pressure. The debt burden risk is positively affected by the land financial dependence and officials’ promotion pressure. Second, the officials’ promotion pressure significantly enhances the positive effect of land-leasing revenue on the debt scale risk. Local officials, who are under promotion pressure, are inclined to expand the size of urban investment bonds, which increases debt scale risk.

Comparison of Nicotine Dependence and Biomarker Levels among Traditional Cigarette, Heat-Not-Burn Cigarette, and Liquid E-Cigarette Users: Results from the Think Study

This study aimed to compare Korean smokers’ smoking-related biomarker levels by tobacco product type, including heat-not-burn cigarettes (HNBC), liquid e-cigarettes (EC), and traditional cigarettes (TC). Nicotine dependence levels were evaluated in Korean adult study participants including TC-, EC-, HNBC-only users and nonsmokers (n = 1586) from March 2019 to July 2019 in Seoul and Cheonan/Asan South Korea using the Fagerström Test Score. Additionally, urine samples (n = 832) were collected for the measurement of urinary nicotine, cotinine, OH-cotinine, NNAL(4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanol), CYMA(N-acetyl-S-(2-cyanoehtyl)-L-cysteine), or CEMA (2-cyanoethylmercapturic acid) using LC–MS/MS. The median(interquartile range) nicotine dependence level was not different among the three types of smokers, being 3.0 (2.0–5.0) for TC- (n = 726), 3.0 (1.0–4.0) for EC- (n = 316), and 3.0 (2.0–4.0) for HNBC- (n = 377) only users. HNBC-only users presented similar biomarker levels compared to TC-only users, except for NNAL (HNBC: 14.5 (4.0–58.8) pg/mL, TC: 32.0 (4.0–69.6) pg/mL; p = 0.0106) and CEMA (HNBC: 60.4 (10.0–232.0) ng/mL, TC: 166.1 (25.3–532.1) ng/mL; p = 0.0007). TC and HNBC users showed increased urinary cotinine levels as early as the time after the first smoke of the day. EC users’ biomarker levels were possibly lower than TC or HNBC users’ but higher than those of non-smokers.

The Correlation between Nicotine Dependence Level and Anxiety in Indonesian Adolescent Smokers

BACKGROUND: Smoking behavior in Indonesia increases from year to year. The adverse effects of smoking do not appear directly after the cigarette use, but they will be seen in a few months or even in several years. The adverse effects of smoking include nicotine dependence, and anxiety disorder felt as a part of withdrawal symptoms. AIM: This research aims to identify if there is a correlation between nicotine dependence level and anxiety level in adolescents. METHODS: This study is non-experiment research with a quantitative method and a cross-sectional approach. The sample of the study was 44 people. Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence was used as the instrument to measure the nicotine dependence level, while the instrument for anxiety level was carried out using the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale. RESULTS: The correlation analysis between the level of nicotine dependence and anxiety conducted using Spearman rho non-parametric correlation analysis obtained a significant value of 0.0001 (p > 0.05). The value of r = 0.979 showed a positive and robust correlation between nicotine dependence and anxiety level. CONCLUSION: It is concluded that there is a strong and positive correlation between the nicotine dependence level and the anxiety level in adolescents.

Dependence Level in Basic and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living in Older Adults

During the life cycle of human beings, various evolutionary processes take place in a constant and irreversible way, aging is characterized by a progressive loss of functionality and adaptability; this process involves functional changes and a greater degree of dependence, gradually affecting their health and performance of daily activities, leaving a negative impact in the lives of older people. Objective: Evaluate the dependence level in basic and instrumental activities of daily living in older adults. Materials and Methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional study with a quantitative approach and simple random sampling, the sample size consisted of 84 older adults, residents of Tepic Nayarit. Mexico. The Katz Index instruments were used to assess the functional dependence of the basic activities of daily living and the Lawton-Brody Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) scale to measure the level of independence in the instrumental activities of daily living. Results: The mean age of older adults was 74.58 ± 12.4 years. In regards to gender, 58% were female and 42% were male. The dependency classification according to the Katz index for basic activities of daily living determined that 50% had a significant prevalence of mild disability, 35.72% had moderate disability and 14.28% had severe disability. The Lawton-Brody (IADL) scale contributed evaluating the dependence level in instrumental activities of daily living, the results showed that 17% of older adults were independent, 21% had mild dependence, 25% had moderate dependence, 29% had severe dependence, and 5.9% had total dependence. Conclusions: The level of dependence is related to the health and age of persons and they are a constraint to be self-sufficient in managing the care they require daily, therefore, it is important to carry out interventions to promote independence and functionality in older adults.

Smoking prevalence, nicotine dependence, and intention to quit among cigarettes smokers

Introduction Tobacco consumption remains a challenging issue to the global and public health that requires close monitoring of the spread of this epidemic and its impact. This study aims to assess the national prevalence and determinates of cigarette smoking and nicotine dependence in Saudi Arabia. Methods A cross-sectional national survey of a sample of 5148 of Saudi residents' ages 18 years or older was conducted through web-based-computer assisted telephone interviews. The two main measurements were current cigarette smoking status and nicotine dependence assessed using the Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence. Data was weighted by age, gender, and region to account for the different probabilities of selection. Descriptive and logistic regression analyses were used to assess cigarette smoking and nicotine dependence determinants. Results The national prevalence of cigarette smoking was 16.18% (95% CI:14.59-17.77) with 14.12% (95% CI:12.64-15.59) current daily smoking prevalence. Almost 72% of smokers started smoking before the age of 22 and 27% of smokers were highly dependent on nicotine. Having a smoker parent (AOR=1.84[95%CI:1.31-2.58], P < 0.001) or a smoker close friend (AOR=6.49[95%CI:3.89-10.81], P < 0.001) were significantly associated with being a smoker. Higher nicotine dependence level was significantly associated with early onset of regular smoking (ages<18) (AOR=2.71 [95%CI:1.38-5.34],P<0.001) and lower attempting to quit (AOR=0.51[95% CI:0.32-0.83],P<0.01). Conclusions Cigarettes smoking and nicotine dependence are prevalent in Saudi Arabia. The study found the majority of smokers started regular smoking before the age of 22 and the early onset of smoking was associated with a higher nicotine dependence level. Restrict access to tobacco products to those below the age of 22 will help reduce smoking prevalence and lifetime addiction to nicotine. Key messages Majority of smokers initiated smoking by the age of 21 and early regular smoking initiation was associated with higher nicotine dependence. Strategies to prevent initiation before the age of 21 will help prevent addiction to nicotine.

Using Copula Functions to Estimate The AUC for Two Dependent Diagnostic Tests

When performing validation studies on diagnostic classification procedures, one or more biomarkers are typically measured in individuals. Some of these biomarkers may provide better information; moreover, more than one biomarker may be significant and may exhibit dependence between them. This proposal intends to estimate the Area Under the Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve (AUC) for classifying individuals in a screening study. We analyze the dependence between the results of the tests by means of copula-type dependence (using FGM and Gumbel-Barnett copula functions), and studying the respective AUC under this type of dependence. Three different dependence-level values were evaluated for each copula function considered. In most of the reviewed literature, the authors assume a normal model to represent the performance of the biomarkers used for clinical diagnosis. There are situations in which assuming normality is not possible because that model is not suitable for one or both biomarkers. The proposed statistical model does not depend on some distributional assumption for the biomarkers used for diagnosis procedure, and additionally, it is not necessary to observe a strong or moderate linear dependence between them.