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As Australian national curriculum documents are drawn up and drama educators celebrate the inclusion of the arts in these important documents, this article acts as a cautionary tale. Retelling the ...

Although widely used throughout hospitality, the management of information technology based systems is perceived as challenging. Proprietary systems abound, data integration is problematic and investments are difficult to justify. Existing research focuses exclusively on the U.S. lodging sector, largely ignoring the challenges of operating in an international environment. By interviewing CIOs, this study explores three interconnected issues – the challenges of managing hospitality IT systems in Europe; chains’ short term system priorities; and forecasted barriers to success. Findings reveal that similar issues exist in the both U.S. and Europe, and that little progress is being made on addressing long standing industry wide challenges. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Although previous studies have documented a positive link between traditional media and brand performance, how social media is related to brand value has not yet been comprehensively explored. We propose a conceptual model to address this research gap, collecting a unique data set that captures information on user and brand actions on three social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube), word-of-mouth, and brand value for 87 brands in 17 industries. We empirically test our model with partial least squares path modeling (PLS-PM). First, we test the direct effects and find that user actions on YouTube and brand actions on Facebook have a positive influence on brand value. Second, we enrich our model by including word-of-mouth as a mediator, finding that the effect of social media goes above and beyond pure word-of-mouth spread. We test for alternative models, by first accounting for sample heterogeneity and second by including brand strength as a control variable, finding that the main model results' are indeed robust. Our study demonstrates that making use of social media positively relates to brand value, as well as validates a set of objective metrics to measure social media actions, thus advancing knowledge on social media marketing for both academics and practitioners. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Technology gives Web site hosts a heretofore unprecedented ability to collect detailed information about customers who visit their sites and to use that information to customize subsequent interactions. Although data collection on this level can be a valuable business practice, such personalization comes at a price—a threat to personal privacy. Two approaches to privacy protection exist—self-regulation (based on government guidelines) and outright legislative protection. While the United States generally favors self-regulation, the European Community has taken the more restrictive legislative approach, which extends to all who wish to use European customer data. An examination of the Web sites hosted by ninety-seven large hotel companies indicates that while sites frequently include statements outlining what data are being collected and how they are being used, none comply with all legislative requirements, in particular with regard to onward transfer, access to the data, and whether consumers have a choice in how their information is used.

This keynote presentation explores the murky terrain of government funding of applied theatre programmes especially those engaged in social justice programmes. It links to the conference theme by asking who really benefits (or more accurately who is allowed to benefit) when the gaze is returned.

Perform a follow-up study to investigate the histologic impact of high-dose intralaryngeal cidofovir injections in porcine vocal cords, either alone or in combination with bevacizumab, and compared to saline controls.This was an in vivo study involving 24 pigs with blinded pathologist review of specimens. Six groups were created, with four subjects in each group. Each subject received 10 or 20 mg of either cidofovir or bevacizumab alone, or in combination, injected into the right vocal cord. The left vocal fold was used as a saline control. Three separate injections were made at 2-week intervals. Larynges were harvested at 8 and 12 weeks, stained with hematoxylin and eosin and trichrome stain, and reviewed for histologic changes by two blinded pathologists.Minimal inflammation, edema, and atypia were noted with all treatments. Increased glandular inflammation was noted with 10 mg bevacizumab (P0.05), which decreased when combined with 10 mg cidofovir (P0.05). No lamina propria or muscle fibrosis was observed. Drug duration had no statistically significant histologic impact.High-dose cidofovir and bevacizumab do not induce detrimental vocal fold changes. Combination cidofovir and bevacizumab do not cause vocal fold scarring. Further work is needed to assess systemic concentration with this high-dose combination in humans.N/A. Laryngoscope, 127:671-675, 2017.

A number of years ago I was working with a group of 20 eight-and nine-year-olds with autism. I began our work together by saying ‘In drama you can go anywhere. Where would you like to go?’ One little boy said that he would like to go to the zoo. I took the role of the bus driver and working with the children and teacher aides we soon got ourselves ready to go out. We wrapped up warm in pretend coats, boots and scarves. I asked each pair of student/teacher aides where they were going as they boarded the bus and I gave them their tickets. Those with strong verbal language were able to tell me, others barely acknowledged my presence. On the bus we sang ‘The wheels on the bus go round and round’. We had a range of difficulties, of course, we had to overcome. The bus wouldn’t start so we all had to get off and give it a push, and even then we had to sing louder because sometimes that helps. We boarded and reboarded the bus a number of times through the drama; each time I’d give them a ticket to join us on the journey. As we boarded the bus for the last time, a young boy, Stephen, who had given no indication of any connection to either the real or the fictional world simply uncurled his hand and held it out for me to give him his ticket. He wanted to be on our bus.

This article is focused on one of the behemoths of American history, Thomas Jefferson. Unlike most studies, however, it removes the Virginian statesman from his familiar American context in order to illustrate his significance as a British icon. It considers the use of his image in British discourse between 1800 and 1865 to demonstrate the resonance of his name for British people of the period. In doing so it examines the uses of Jefferson’s image with reference to democracy and slavery to illustrate how the ambiguity and seeming contradictions in the deployment of his image are indicative of a broader debate in nineteenth century Britain about the meaning of the United States. Furthermore it demonstrates, through the use of Jefferson’s image, the steady but uneven process of disillusion with American politics and society among British reformers

This article examines a national applied theatre programme coordinated through the Department of Child, Youth and Family in New Zealand. The programme uses dramatic processes to create opportunities for communities to discuss and find their own answers to the issues of child abuse and family violence. The programme utilises a sophisticated in-role use of a video game about a dysfunctional family to provide the necessary distance and protection to create a safe forum for participants. The game provides an opportunity to double frame participants so that there are multiple layers of 'protection into emotion'. This article discusses the importance of establishing a close alignment of purpose between funder and client. It stresses the importance of the initial negotiation process. It argues that an agreement at this stage on the limitations of what applied theatre projects can add to wider government social change programmes is vital for establishing evaluation processes. This article is jointly written by a member of the government funding agency and the directors of the applied theatre programme. It describes the processes by which they agreed on success criteria for the project, as well as outlining the programme itself.

This paper identifies a number of key changes in Information Communication Technologies (ICT) that gradually revolutionize the tourism industry. E-tourism and the Internet in particular support the interactivity between tourism enterprises and consumers and as a result they re-engineer the entire process of developing, managing and marketing tourism products and destinations. All stakeholders related to tourism and hospitality, therefore, gradually see their role being changed and new opportunities and challenges emerging. The paper demonstrates that future of e-Tourism will be focused on consumer centric technologies to ensure that the new sophisticated and experienced consumers are served. Therefore, agile strategies are required at both strategic and tactical management levels to develop the ‘infostructure’ for tourism organizations to manage their internal functions, their relationships with partners and their interactions with all stakeholders including consumers. Only those organizations that appreciate the opportunities which ICTs bring and manage their resources successfully will be able to enhance their innovation and competitiveness in the future.

This paper reviews recent research on information technology in the hospitality industry. The analysis revealed three broad research areas: the Internet's effects on distribution; on pricing; and on consumer interactions. Similar to aftermath of the dot com boom, the hospitality industry is realising that the information technology has unintended effects and prognosticators are often wrong. While the reviewed articles provide sound advice for hospitality operators and a rich stream of future research for academics, poor rigor and a lack of relevance throughout the reviewed journals underscore a worrying trend in hospitality research.

Objectives: To review the clinical presentation, and Accident and Emergency Department clinical response to 14-20 year olds in suicidal crisis in inner city Dublin and to carry out a six month follow up of these young people.Method: A retrospective review of the case notes of all 14-20 year olds who had attended the Mater Hospital A&E department between June 2001 and May 2002 with suicidal behaviour or ideation was carried out in order to establish socio-demographic information, type of suicidal or self-harming behaviour, intervention in the A&E department, and discharge plan. Active outreach attempts were made to trace, contact and interview these young peoples at least six months after the initial presentation. Quantitative measures of psychological functioning at follow-up included the General Health Questionnaire, The Beck Depression Inventory and The Scale for Suicidal Ideation. A qualitative interview covered their recall of the reasons for their deliberate self harm, their view of their current psychological functioning and personal relationships, reported repetition of deliberate self harm, and their views of what type of services would be useful for young people with suicidal ideation or behaviour.Results: A total of 89 young people aged 14-20 years (male: female ratio = 2:3) presented to the Mater A&E department between June 2001 and May 2002 with deliberate self-harm, deliberate self-poisoning and/or suicidal ideation, and accounted for 108 presentations. They showed high levels of psychosocial disadvantage. Almost half had a history of previous contact with mental health services, while the same proportion had a history of previous deliberate self-harm. Drug overdose using paracetamol was the most common method used. Psychiatric assessment was documented in 66% of cases, and documented follow up recommendations were made in 60% of cases. Two thirds of the 89 young people who formed the study population were traced. Half of those contacted agreed to be interviewed and half refused. The majority of those interviewed described themselves as functioning better psychologically than at the time of the index attendance at the A&E department The quantitative measures supported this. One third of those interviewed reported repeated deliberate self-harm since their index attendance, for which most did not seek medical intervention. Many of the young people had clear views about the importance of talking to someone when in crisis. They described a service, which was informal, accessible on a 24-hour basis, and staffed by people with experience of mental health, alcohol and drug related disorders.Conclusions: This is a particularly vulnerable group of patients from a socio-demographic and mental health perspective. Their attendance at the A&E department provides a unique opportunity for an in-depth psychosocial assessment, which should be recorded in a systematic way to assist clinical audit, facilitate strategic mental health planning and may confer some therapeutic clinical benefit to at risk young people. An easily accessible, active DSH team specifically tailored for young people in the A&E department could provide assessment and short-term follow-up. This is the approach recommended by young people in suicidal crisis, whose views need to be heard.

Electronic channels play an increasingly important role in hotel distribution, with most companies utilising a portfolio of channels to reach the customer in an effective manner. However channels cannot simply be added ad infinitum as they emerge; system complexity, technical factors and the management overhead associated with using multiple channels mean that choices must be made between alternative solutions. However, little is understood about how an electronic channel of distribution might be best evaluated. This study, combining both qualitative and quantitative approaches through a Delphi study, explored expert opinion on the key factors involved. Factors generated in the initial round of the study were subsequently refined, rated and ranked by the expert group to identify the key factors for consideration in both the channel adoption and continued use decision making process. In contrast to existing literature on channel evaluation, this revealed that operational and performance factors, rather than financial or strategic issues, should be of prime consideration in the adoption process.

SUMMARY While design undoubtedly affects a Website's success, two ideologically opposite schools of thought have developed as to what is meant by good design. The approaches differ fundamentally in terms of how to balance two interrelated but conflicting elements-presentation and usability. Supporters of the aesthetic school argue that the graphical/multimedia features of the Web should be used to enhance the visitor experience. Functionalists, on the other hand, argue for less emphasis on visual design and more focus on content. This article reviews both approaches and examines their applicability to the travel product.

Nimrod Tal's recently published work The American Civil War in British Culture is an ambitious attempt to trace changing British perceptions of the Civil War from the 1870s to 2012. Tal builds his ...

We know that the internet has become a key distribution point for hotels, but that only makes a hotel's CRS even more important.

Hospital readmissions are an important quality metric reported to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Previous work from our group found that the presence of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) correlates with increased risk of hospital readmission within 30 days. This project seeks to characterize the relationship between readmissions and the severity and treatment of OSA. A better understanding of this relationship could potentially be utilized to develop preventative measures and reduce readmission.

(2001). Thoughts on the precipice: Japanese postcards, c.1903–39. Japan Forum: Vol. 13, No. 1, pp. 55-62.

This article examines the formation between c.1890 and 1937 of three networks of English-language newspapers in China and Japan. Of these, one network was closely associated with the American-owned Japan Advertiser , and another with the British-owned Japan Chronicle . The Gaimush l (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) assembled the third network to promote an understanding of Japan and her place in the world and to check the influence of the other two. The article analyses the competition for readers and influence between the Gaimush l network and the two foreign networks, and follows its development from covert to overt competition. It then asks why this competition became so intense, and considers what was at stake, followed by an outline of the 'endgame' in which the Gaimush l network culled the newspapers, news agencies and staff of the Japan Advertiser and Japan Chronicle networks.

(2001). Informal diplomacy and the modern idea of Japan. Japan Forum: Vol. 13, No. 1, pp. 1-13.

This research note addresses two limitations of Internet diffusion studies by highlighting the importance of multivariate statistical analysis and including the element of time. The results support findings on the positive relationship between two hotel characteristics - affiliation and category - with Internet adoption, but question findings on the relationship between hotel size and Internet adoption. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

This vignette considers the manner in which neo liberal reforms of education have impacted on the manner and scope of arts provision in New Zealand schools.

This paper underscores the critical relationship between innovation adoption and innovation implementation, particularly how two contrasting effects-bandwagon and leapfrog-relate to organizational Internet diffusion. Bandwagon effects, adopting a technology due to fad and fashion, accelerate adoption but often lead to ineffective technology implementation. Leapfrog effects, however, attenuate adoption and often lead to effective technology use relative to early adopters. Drawing on and combining related Malaysian hospitality studies, this paper illustrates these two effects and extends the literature by showing that early, and late, adoption can relate positively to successful Internet implementation. In addition, the findings complement and question literature suggesting that business websites evolve through predictable linear patterns, and that adopter categories differ in innovation implementation styles. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Objectives:In patients with chronically diseased maxillary sinuses, poor mucociliary clearance may result from long-standing inflammation or scarring from previous surgery. Endoscopic extended maxillary mega-antrostomy is a recently described technique that facilitates mucus clearance and sinus irrigation in terminally dysfunctional maxillary sinuses by allowing the sinus to drain by gravity alone. As the procedure is a modification of the medial maxillectomy and it is standard to perform dacryocystorhinostomy (DCR) at the end of a medial maxillectomy procedure, it was our intent to determine if a DCR is likewise indicated after mega-antrostomy. As a first step towards this answer, we aimed to study the relationship of the lacrimal system to the mega-antrostomy procedure using cadaveric dissection.Methods:In 12 operated sides, the nasolacrimal duct was violated 42% of the time during anterior dissection. The average anterior-posterior distance was 29.8mm. Lacrimal system violation occurred at an average o...

Objectives:1) Analyze differences in inferior turbinate coblation wand angles in correct and incorrect positions. 2) Determine whether rhinoscopy images of the coblation wand in the head of the inferior turbinate are adequate to determine distal tip position. 3) Determine whether viewing the coblation wand externally, such as is done by instructors during training, is adequate to determine distal tip position.Methods:Arthrocare Reflex Ultra 45 Plasma Wands were placed in inferior turbinates of cadaver specimens in three configurations: 1) ideal location for inferior turbinate reduction; 2) with distal tip where sphenopalatine artery (SPA) enters the nasal cavity; 3) with distal tip in nasal septum. Photos were taken of wand position from external views and an endoscopy view at the nasal vestibule. Angles from midline, the Frankfort horizontal line, and a mid-sagittal line were calculated under each condition. Images from the three conditions were shown to otolaryngologists to determine if the correct posi...

Objectives:1) Determine if time in each sleep stage correlates to presence and severity of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). 2) Analyze anatomy from nasopharyngoscopy and an otolaryngology exam for correlation with sleep stages. 3) Compare Epworth sleepiness scale (ESS), Nasal Obstruction and Septoplasty Effectiveness (NOSE) survey, and the Calgary Sleep Apnea Quality of Life Index (SAQLI) with sleep stages and OSA.Methods:Twenty-one subjects referred for polysomnography (PSG) by a primary care provider to the Wilford Hall Ambulatory Surgery Sleep Center prospectively underwent PSG, completed three surveys (ESS, SAQLI, and NOSE), and had a head and neck examination to include Fujita and Mallampati classification, tonsil size, palatal phenotype, and percent glottis visible at rest and on jaw jet on nasopharyngoscopy. In addition to demographics and standard PSG data (AHI, RDI, RERA, and lowest oxygen saturation), time in each sleep stage was calculated. Regression modeling was used for analysis.Results:Nine o...

Marine clay deposits in coastal, post-submarine areas of Scandinavia and North America may be subjected to quick clay landslides and hence significant efforts are being taken to map their occurrence and extent. Recently, considerable efforts by a number of researchers have been made to investigate areas of sensitive clay using a range of geophysical techniques. Although the majority of this work has focussed on measurements of electrical resistivity, other electromagnetic and seismic geophysical techniques have also received attention in the literature. The purpose of this paper is to review recent research concerning the effectiveness of a number of geophysical techniques for investigating sensitive clays. In addition to discussing a number of case studies, this review will also consider recent work showing the correlation of geophysical measurements, and in particular electrical resistivity, with a range of relevant engineering properties.

Deep Belief Networks (DBNs) have recently shown impressive performance on a broad range of classification problems. Their generative properties allow better understanding of the performance, and provide a simpler solution for sensor fusion tasks. However, because of their inherent need for feedback and parallel update of large numbers of units, DBNs are expensive to implement on serial computers. This paper proposes a method based on the Siegert approximation for Integrate-and-Fire neurons to map an offline-trained DBN onto an efficient event-driven spiking neural network suitable for hardware implementation. The method is demonstrated in simulation and by a real-time implementation of a 3-layer network with 2694 neurons used for visual classification of MNIST handwritten digits with input from a 128 × 128 Dynamic Vision Sensor (DVS) silicon retina, and sensory-fusion using additional input from a 64-channel AER-EAR silicon cochlea. The system is implemented through the open-source software in the jAER project and runs in real-time on a laptop computer. It is demonstrated that the system can recognize digits in the presence of distractions, noise, scaling, translation and rotation, and that the degradation of recognition performance by using an event-based approach is less than 1%. Recognition is achieved in an average of 5.8 ms after the onset of the presentation of a digit. By cue integration from both silicon retina and cochlea outputs we show that the system can be biased to select the correct digit from otherwise ambiguous input., Frontiers in Neuroscience, 7, ISSN:1662-453X, ISSN:1662-4548

Objective: To assess a new computer-based method of health education for patients with bulimia and anorexia nervosa. Method: Fifty-four patients with DSM-III-R diagnosed eating disorders were allocated randomly to one of two groups, one receiving a computer-presented health education package called DIET, the other experiencing a placebo computer-based program. Each group contained 14 anorexia nervosa patients, four anorexic patients with bulimia and nine bulimic patients. Groups were equivalent in terms of the severity of their eating disorder as measured on the Eating Disorders Inventory and their estimated premorbid intelligence according to the National Adult Reading Test. Both groups were assessed before and after intervention on a questionnaire measuring knowledge of eating disorders and a questionnaire measuring attitudes to eating-disordered behaviour. Results: The DIET group members were significantly improved when compared to the placebo group in terms of both their knowledge and attitudes towards their disorder. The patients rated the DIET program as being both easy to use and helpful. Conclusion: The DIET program has been found to be a resource-efficient means of health education for patients with eating disorders. Further research is required to assess whether the program has therapeutic effects in terms of behavioural improvement.

Information technology (IT-) based systems are widely used in service industries in general, bringing benefits such as higher productivity and efficiency; improved service quality; increased customer satisfaction; better organizational integration; reduced costs and thus higher profitability. However, the adoption of IT-based systems by hospitality companies has been somewhat problematic. Effectively managing IT is consistently cited as one of the most troublesome issues for hospitality managers (Enz, 2001). IT-based systems within the hospitality sector are perceived as being overreliant on closed IT-architectures and proprietary technologies. In addition, there is an absence of commonly agreed technology standards for inter-system communication, leading to the challenge of ‘islands of isolation’.

This study profiles small and medium tourism enterprises (SMTEs) according to their level of support for local communities in order to investigate the relationship between such support and enterprise performance. Cluster analysis, chi-square, and MANOVA were used to explore data from 298 owners of SMTEs operating in South Australia. Results indicated that SMTEs are best grouped in two segments according to their level of support for community (Reluctants and Community Advocates). Segments can be differentiated by: 1) the number of family members working in the business; 2) the number of years the business has been in existence; 3) whether the owners have family members living in town; and 4) the type of business. Findings also demonstrate significant differences between segments in terms of business performance, with Community Advocates reporting greater levels of performance. As such, the findings have implications for scholars in tourism and entrepreneurial studies, and for tourism policy makers trying to support the sustainable development of regional tourism destinations. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

The Exhibition held in the springtime of propaganda, a season that would change dramatically for all the powers upon the outbreak of the Great War in 1914, This chapter focuses not only on the 1910 Japan-British Exhibition but also tries to take a longer view of Japan's relations with the West and with East Asia and of the position of the Exhibition, as a propaganda exercise. The Japan-British Exhibition of 1910 an exercise in propaganda and it followed a classic peacetime propaganda agenda. The natural bond between the people of Britain and the people and culture of Japan is indisputable. The Exhibition and the media that talked it up willed British audiences to discover and to cherish this bond, and in publicizing the Japanese Garden and other lasting relics made a certain perception of Japan more accessible to future generations. Keywords:Britain; East Asia; exhibition; Japan; Japan-British exhibition; media; propaganda; springtime

Portable sleep monitors (PMs) may be more expeditious and convenient than in-laboratory sleep studies in diagnosing obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). We report for the first time the use of PMs in a military population to demonstrate feasibility in predeployment assessments.A nested, descriptive study was undertaken at 7 military medical facilities as part of a larger clinical trial. Subjects answered two questionnaires to identify OSA symptoms and used an ApneaLink Plus portable monitor to test for OSA. Descriptive statistics were used to characterize the subjects and to report results of PM use.101 subjects were enrolled, and 77 subjects completed the study. 4.0% of subjects did not tolerate PM use. We found 15 subjects with OSA, with mean age of 31.4 +/- 12.8 years, mean body mass index of 33.0 +/- 7.4 kg/m2, and mean apnea-hypopnea index of 19.6 +/- 13.9 per hour. Subjects with OSA were more likely to have high pretest probability of disease than those without OSA.We demonstrate that PMs are well-tolerated and can successfully identify OSA in those with high pretest probability. We propose a method to implement PM use during predeployment assessments.

Summary Objectives/Hypothesis To evaluate voice disorder differences between deployed and nondeployed US army soldiers. Study Design Cross-sectional study. Methods More than 1.3 million health records of active duty US army soldiers with no history of dysphonia were queried for voice disorder diagnoses over a 3.5-year period. A sample of 292 soldiers was further evaluated for known factors linked to dysphonia. Results US army soldiers were 1.13 times more likely to have a diagnosis of dysphonia if they were deployed. Risk factors and exposures common to patients with dysphonia were not statistically different between deployed and nondeployed soldiers. Additionally, the type of dysphonia diagnosis was not significantly different between deployed and nondeployed soldiers. Conclusions US army soldiers deployed to war zones are more likely to be diagnosed with dysphonia. None of the reviewed parameters accounted for the difference in dysphonia rate between deployed and nondeployed soldiers, suggesting that occupational exposures of deployed soldiers account for the increase in the diagnoses of dysphonia.

This paper presents the application of 3D statics used in oil exploration industry to Engineering Geophysics, and an attempt to prove the unicity of inverted solutions with an analysis of amplitudes of refracted first arrivals. The principle of one of the most renowned method, the Plus-Minus method (Hagedoorn (1959)) , has been improved by Dereck Palmer (1981) with the General Reciprocal method (GRM). Later on, the same author (reference needed) outlined a problem of non-unicity of inversions which can be supported with the following question; is the interface of a refractor dipping or is the velocity varying laterally? Palmer (2001) proposed a solution through the analysis of refracted amplitudes, with a technique alled Refraction Convolution section, or RCS. Different cases show that the smaller is the amplitude, the higher is the impedance contrast between layers on top and beneath a same refractor. If the amplitude remains constant along a delineated refractor, change in time-depth is related to a change in depth of the refractor. On the other hand, if amplitude varies laterally along a same delineated refractor, the change in time-depth is related to a lateral change in velocity.

This chapter examines the developing Web 2.0 phenomenon, assessing its implications for destination sales and marketing. Initially, the importance of information for travel is examined. How these information needs have been satisfied in the past (and, it must be said, continue to be satisfied in parallel with the Web 2.0 developments discussed here) is critiqued, and the effect of Web 2.0-and in particular the virtual community-is discussed. A conceptual model for the definition of virtual community as one form of social media is introduced followed by discussion of member participation in and active contribution to such virtual tourist community. Lastly, the implications of Web 2.0 and social media developments for the future of destination distribution are discussed.

This study provides insights into a powerful statistical technique to test model invariance across multiple groups. In doing so, it provides insights for policymakers and contributes to the literature on tourism demand forecasting by validating and extending previous results on how supply-side factors influence tourism demand. Specifically, this study considered an a priori validated structural model for relationships among the economy, society, environment and tourism constructs in 162 countries, examining the extent to which the model was invariant across two groups of isolated observations: developed and less-developed countries. Upon testing, the a priori model did not replicate across both groups. Instead a reduced model, incorporating the society, environment and tourism constructs only was used to compare and test for variances in parameters across the two groups using multigroup analysis sampling in AMOS 16.0. The results indicated that path coefficients were equal across groups. A positive relationship existed between the society and environment constructs, while a similar positive significant relationship existed between the society and environment constructs from one side and tourism, respectively. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

In today's digital world, airlines typically distribute tickets both via their own websites and through online travel agency (OTA) platforms such as Expedia and Travelocity. Although associated with higher distribution costs, selling tickets through the platforms offers airlines exposure to a broader consumer base, and potentially higher sales than selling tickets solely through their own websites. While most airlines have adopted a multi-channel approach by selling tickets through OTA platforms and their websites, some (e.g., Southwest Airlines, easyJet and Ryanair) sell only via the latter. Is one approach better than the other, and if so, under what circumstances? This study analyzes factors that affect an airline's distribution strategy by developing a decision support model. We find that airlines are less likely to use OTA platforms if they have a large loyal consumer base or if the OTA platform is highly competitive. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

The fact that the works of George Lillibridge (1954) and Frank Thistlethwaite (1959) are still standard points of reference in scholarly discussions of the meaning of American democracy in Britain ...