A social media-based framework for tourist behaviour analysis and characterization in urban environments

Tourism is a very important and fast growing industry worldwide that has generated 25% of all global net new jobs during the last 5 years. New tools can be valuable for relaunching the sector and provide alternative analysis and segmentation capabilities to organizations involved. We present an analysis and visualization framework for tourist behaviour study and segmentation based on tested methods and technologies, combined and extended in an innovative way. Our framework uses Flickr data as input and classifies users according to country of origin. Then, urban distribution patterns are obtained in two different spatial levels by using [Network] Kernel Density Estimation in 1D and 2D spaces, as well as spatial clustering with HDBSCAN. Basic Natural Language Processing is applied to extract and visualize semantics generated in the social media platform and a visualization of typologies of Points of Interest by nationality is proposed for the development of tourism dashboards. We have applied our framework to three European cities of different size to test the segmentation capabilities of the approach. Results suggest a good potential for tourism management in urban environments.

Knowledge, attitude and behaviour study on urticaria patients towards urticaria and diet

<p class="abstract"><strong>Background:</strong> Urticaria (‘hives’ or ‘nettle rash’) consists of blanchable, erythematous, edematous papules or wheals. These wheals vary in size from 1 mm to many centimetres, and are usually very itchy. They are caused by vasoactive mediators, predominantly histamine, released from mast cells. In majority of cases, the wheals are transient, lasting for only a few hours in any one place, but with new wheals appearing in other places. The aim of the study was to assess the knowledge, attitude and behaviour towards urticaria and diet among patients.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Methods:</strong> A cross sectional study was done among urticarial patients visiting DVL OPD at Sree Balaji medical college and hospital using self-reported questionnaire from January to February 2021. Questionnaire was designed in manner that general population can understand and was distributed randomly irrespective of gender. Sample size of 50 was taken.<strong></strong></p><p class="abstract"><strong>Results:</strong> The results of the study revealed that most of the patient had the knowledge about urticaria and were aware about their trigger factors. Regarding behaviour most of the patients were ready to do lifestyle modifications. Regarding attitude urticarial patient had no problems mingling with the normal people.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Conclusions:</strong> Urticaria is a relapsing condition with impact on quality of life. Specific elimination diets have observed high rates of response after a duration of 3 weeks. It has been confirmed that some patients experience worsening of symptoms after ingestion of foods including food additives as well as foods such as tomatoes, herbs, seafood, alcohol, and others.</p>

Kalidasa's Dushyantha and Shakuntala: A Behaviour Study

Abhinjanasakunthala is a world famous kavya in Sanskrit literature. In this paper, I make an observation of the character of Dushyantha and Sakuntala, who are described as rich in virtue in this kavya, and set an example to the best couples all over the world. Here we can see the the genius ofKalidasa and the male-dominated society of that time, using his characters to adapt the needs of a society.

Knowledge, attitude and behaviour study of vitiligo among general population

Vitiligo is an acquired skin disorder caused due to destruction of melanocytes which clinically presents with well defined depigmented macules and patches with or without white hairs. The present study is an attempt to document the prevalent knowledge and attitude in the general public regarding this disease and to identify the determinants of good/poor knowledge and attitude. To assess Knowledge, attitude and behaviour study of vitiligo among general population attending skin outpatient department (OPD) of Sree Balaji Medical College and Hospital, Chennai. This was a cross sectional study, which was conducted at dermatology OPD in Sree Balaji Medical College and Hospital, Chennai 2021 after ethical committee approval. About 80 patients attending OPD were included in study to whom questionnaire was asked and data was collected and analysed.

Degradation and Characterisation of Electrospun Polycaprolactone (PCL) and Poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) Scaffolds for Vascular Tissue Engineering

The current study aimed to evaluate the characteristics and the effects of degradation on the structural properties of Poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA)- and polycaprolactone (PCL)-based nanofibrous scaffolds. Six scaffolds were prepared by electrospinning, three with PCL 15% (w/v) and three with PLGA 10% (w/v), with electrospinning processing times of 30, 60 and 90 min. Both types of scaffolds displayed more robust mechanical properties with increased spinning times. The tensile strength of both scaffolds with 90-min electrospun membranes did not show a significant difference in their strengths, as the PCL and PLGA scaffolds measured at 1.492 MPa ± 0.378 SD and 1.764 MPa ± 0.7982 SD, respectively. All membranes were shown to be hydrophobic under a wettability test. A degradation behaviour study was performed by immersing all scaffolds in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) solution at room temperature for 12 weeks and for 4 weeks at 37 °C. The effects of degradation were monitored by taking each sample out of the PBS solution every week, and the structural changes were investigated under a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The PCL and PLGA scaffolds showed excellent fibre structure with adequate degradation, and the fibre diameter, measured over time, showed slight increase in size. Therefore, as an example of fibre water intake and progressive degradation, the scaffold’s percentage weight loss increased each week, further supporting the porous membrane’s degradability. The pore size and the porosity percentage of all scaffolds decreased substantially over the degradation period. The conclusion drawn from this experiment is that PCL and PLGA hold great promise for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine applications.

Luxury Shopping Websites: The Impact of ‘Hygiene’ Design Factors on Trust and Distrust

Though luxury products have unique characteristics that predominantly influence online luxury behaviour, study on luxury shopping websites has received little attention in academic literature. This research investigates how hygiene factors of website design attributes (information quality, functional quality and situational normality) impact on trust and distrust on luxury shopping websites. Free simulation experiments were conducted with 386 subjects and data were collected using a structured questionnaire for this study. The study found that information quality and functional quality have a strong effect on trust and distrust on luxury shopping websites. This study also found that these factors not only act as hygiene factors but also as motivating factors in the luxury context. Surprisingly, situational normality is negatively related to trust and positively related to distrust in the study. Managerial implications regarding the development of luxury websites and research opportunities are discussed.

The benefits of merging passive and active tracking approaches: new insights into riverine migration by salmonid smolts

The process of smolting is a critical phase in the life-cycle of anadromous salmonids and it has been associated with substantial rates of mortality. Survival during freshwater and marine migration is known to have population level effects, thus an understanding of the patterns of mortality has the potential to yield important insights into population bottlenecks. Despite important advancements in tracking techniques, the specifics of mortality events in anadromous salmonids during their initial migration to sea remains somewhat elusive. Here, we develop a framework combining spatial and temporal detections of smolt riverine migration from two tracking techniques, which enable inferences to be made about mortality locations, causes, and rates. We embed this framework into a fine-scale behaviour study of migration and social structure. In this study, we demonstrate that during their initial riverine transitional phase, smolts were particularly vulnerable to predators. Specifically, avian predation appeared to be the main cause of mortality (42%), although piscine predation events were not trivial (14%). Our results suggested some direct and indirect tagging-induced mortality (e.g., through increased predation vulnerability), which highlights the importance of determining tagging mortality in a telemetry study to ensure adequate interpretation of migration success. There is evidence that predation induced selection on smolt morphology. Unsuccessful river salmon migrants with a phenotype comprising a shorter head and jaw and smaller eye had a higher probability of mortality in the later parts of riverine migration where avian and aquatic predation mortality dominated. In contrast, mortality earlier in river migration was independent of phenotype, most likely a result of tagging effects. Successfully river migrants were found to be interacting with each other, often in a pair or as a trio, indicating that a few individuals of Atlantic salmon and sea trout formed notable intra- and interspecific social associations. However, the heterogeneity of the social associations of successful migrants did not support the assumption that social network features attributed any clear specific benefits of reduced predation risk. Overall, by estimating migration loss and its variability, our study framework should help to guide management actions to mitigate the widespread population declines these species are currently facing.

Composite Materials Behaviour. Study, Development and Implementation of the Hypoelastic Model

The purpose of this research is to study and develop the formulation of a rheological law for composite materials with elasto-plastic behaviour in cold compression. Starting from the generally known relationships in literature, the hypoelastic model proposed for the composite materials behaviour (as powder materials) has been developped/explained, ensuring the understanding of the research. The hypolastic theory has been used for modeling the continuous transition from elastic to plastic state for a powder material. The material behaviour is described through an isotropic tensor relationship between the deformation speed tensor, Cauchy�s stress tensor and its derivative in relation to time (the Jaumann�s derivative). Only the linear part has been used from the general form of the law which depends on scalar functions. The calculations lead to relationships depending on five parameters which are identified according to experimental data. A numerical simulation of the stress-strain evolution during the simple compression of a diepressed powder sample is made; the numerical simulation has been validated by the experimental results.