93887 research outputs found
Sort by
The Combination of Cooling Techniques in a Tropical Environment Improves Precision Performance in Young International Fencers
Get PDFThe performance of intense exercise in a tropical climate is associated with limited exercise capacity due to thermal strain. This limitation is exacerbated in sports requiring full protective equipment. Research evidence suggests disturbances in cognitive function due to thermal discomfort and/or protective equipment (e.g., helmets), and thus sports that require skills in decision-making, fast reaction times, precision, and/or inhibition can be greatly affected. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of countermeasures on the psychological and physiological responses in young international fencers wearing full protective equipment during an ecological fencing task. Nine young international fencers performed an aiming task in tropical conditions (1) without cooling interventions and (2) with cumulative cooling interventions (i.e., pre+percooling and head+torso). Participants completed a battery of cognitive (i.e., simple and choice reaction times, Stroop test), affective (i.e., PANAS), and perception (i.e., thermal environment, Feeling Scale, rating of perceived exertion) tests in each session, and their heart rate, skin temperature, and fencing performances (i.e., execution time and total score) were checked at several time points. Although the results revealed no differences in the perception of the thermal environment or the cognitive and affective scores, the cooling interventions seemed to improve movement precision during the fencing task and limit the decrease in pleasurable feelings related to the physical task. This study suggests that attentional resources are more available with cumulative cooling interventions, which leads to better performance during an ecological fencing task in tropical conditions
The case of Lanzarote as a sustainable tourist destination
Get PDFSustainability, in a global scope, has become in the main vector of tourist destination, searching the competitiveness and his own survival, regarding to the maintenance of the territorial, social and economic balances. In that sense, attention should be paid to the case of Lanzarote (Canary Islands) as paradigm of the combination of sustainable destination and mass tourist destination, based on a previous model promoted by the art and nature binomial, proposed by the artist César Manrique, the first visionary of the looming threats over the tourist destinations which do not have the right focus on sustainability. Despite its relevance as a pioneer destination in sustainability management, the research undertaken has been limited. Thus, this paper fill this gap by carrying a comprehensive literature review on sustainability, paying special attention to the case of Lanzarote.
As a result, this paper provides a reference guide to understand the current situation of research on this topic, context, methods, and focus of previous studies on Lanzarote Island. Finally, it identifies trends and reflections on future research.
Keywords: sustainability, sustainable development, mass destination, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
QUALITY STRATEGIES AND SUSTAINABLE PRACTICES IMPLEMENTED IN RURAL TOURISM IN ROMANIA
No full textFor both Romanians and foreigners, rural tourism in Romania is attractive, with unique areas and products, where the human-nature-community interaction is extremely important. Accommodation units that focus on quality and sustainability tend to perform much better than competing units that do not take these aspects into account.
Although the literature provides information on strategies and measures that have been taken in the tourism industry to improve the quality of products and processes, the authors did not find studies on quality strategies and sustainability measures implemented in the rural tourism sector in Romania in the last period, which was severely affected by the pandemic. In order to highlight these strategies and the way in which their implementation is perceived by consumers, the authors conducted an exploratory research and a quantitative research. The sampling method was nonprobability, and a questionnaire was used to collect the data, which was displayed on a web page (Computer Assisted Web Interviewing).
The results of the research showed that Romanians do not know the significance of quality strategies and sustainability practices, but appreciate the effects of their implementation by tourism units administrators
Estimating the spatial and time decay impacts of a local event
Get PDFThis paper studies the spatial and temporal decay impacts of a local event on tourism accommodation in a region. The results show that the day of the event, the number of occupied rooms, ADR and revenue reach a marked peak. Moreover, it shows the presence of a time decay impact on revenue, which is asymmetric in favour of the days before the event. A spatial panel data regression method has been employed. The case study concerns Ironman Triathlon event and its impact on the Airbnb listings in the Spanish region of Vitoria-Gasteiz in 2019
Corporate Social Responsibility Practices Related to Circular Economy in Hotel Establishments: A Pilot Study in Gran Canaria
No full textNegative externalities of the hotel industry on the environment have been greatly analysed, and they are due to the linear production-consumption model. There is a need to implement a transition of the hotel sector towards a Circular Economy (CE). This work aims to analyse first, the most common and the least common CSR practices related to CE implemented by hotel managers in the hotel industry of a mature sun and beach destination, Gran Canaria, and second, if the fact of having a CSR policy is a factor that leads to a greater implementation of CE practices. The pilot study uses data collected from hotel managers or department heads using a structured questionnaire (55 quantitative surveys). The main findings show that hotels with a CSR policy are more likely to introduce circular practices than those without it. Results also identify the most common circular practices related to CSR and the ones least implemented. Results could be used in the design of the transition to a more circular hotel industry in a sun and beach destination
Simulating Electrified Powertrain Noise and Vibration Measurement Signals for Machine Learning based Fault Diagnosis Applications
Get PDFMachine learning classification is a common method for vehicle noise and vibration (N&V) fault diagnosis which helps improve vehicle safety, comfort, and reduce maintenance cost. To improve the accuracy of classification, the model requires sufficient training data which is often expensive and time-consuming to acquire. A possible solution to resolve this limitation is to extract representative features from measurement signals and generate realistic simulated signals based on a smaller set of high-quality N&V measurement signals. A method to simulate N&V measurement signals of rotating machineries such as electrified powertrains is proposed. In its feature extraction process, tonal and broadband components of measurement data are separated. After the separation, time-varying tonal amplitudes, broadband spectra, and various related statistical features are extracted. In the simulation process, tonal and broadband signals were simulated using the extracted features with random variations added to each feature. In the current work N&V measurement signals of rotating machinery are simulated with relatively low speed fluctuation and results are presented
Combining Granular Aerogels with Additively Manufactured Porous Structures for Broadband Sound Absorption
Get PDFOur recent investigation [1] showed that the absorption behavior of granular aerogel agglomerates with average particle diameters less than 50μm is dominated by periodically spaced, high absorption peaks and troughs. While the absorption peaks, especially at lower frequencies, are desirable from an engineering application perspective, overcoming the loss in high frequency performance remains a challenge. Furthermore, the practical application of granular aerogels is limited by the difficulty in handling them. In this work, we propose a new design for a broadband noise absorber achieved by layering the aerogel granules within a 3D printed porous network. The design provides a robust method of incorporating aerogels within noise reduction packages and can be tailored by altering the rigid porous network and the layering arrangement. In this presentation, we present our preliminary findings regarding the fabrication and testing of such hybrid sound absorbers. [1] Dasyam A, Xue Y, Bolton JS, Sharma B. Effect of particle size on sound absorption behavior of granular aerogel agglomerates. Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids. 2022 Dec 15;598:121942
Evaluating the Efficacy of Virtual Reality (VR) Training Devices for Pilot Training
Get PDFVirtual Reality (VR) technology is a quickly advancing field that has many documented benefits, including highly detailed environments, accuracy to the real world, and low cost of entry in the flight simulation market. At the time of this study, VR technology has not been well tested or widely accepted in the aviation industry. In this mixed methods study, quantitative and qualitative data was collected on beginning-level instrument pilots (n = 120) while performing a visual traffic pattern at an airport. A one-way ANOVA was used to evaluate the equivalence of each group in the study based on previous flight and VR experience. Then, a one-way ANOVA was conducted on pre-test/post-test gain scores to compare each training group, as well as a post hoc Tukey HSD to conduct multiple comparisons and evaluate mean differences between the groups. The results show that participants who train in a VR simulator perform similarly to students who conduct training in a PC-based simulator. Both training groups performed significantly better than the control group, which conducted no training between the pre-test and post-test. Finally, survey data was evaluated to find that students who trained in VR simulators believed they performed better on the post-test than the pre-test and most felt that VR simulators could be an acceptable training technology for use in the flight training curriculum. These results will help inform flight training organizations who are considering new technology that provides a low-cost and high-value alternative to costlier, fixed-based simulators
Efficient Adaptation of Deep Vision Models
No full textDeep neural networks have made significant advances in computer vision. However, several challenges limit their real-world applications. For example, domain shifts in vision data degrade model performance; visual appearance variances affect model robustness; it is also non-trivial to extend a model trained on one task to novel tasks; and in many applications, large-scale labeled data are not even available for learning powerful deep models from scratch. This research focuses on improving the transferability of deep features and the efficiency of deep vision model adaptation, leading to enhanced generalization and new capabilities on computer vision tasks. Specifically, we approach these problems from the following two directions: architectural adaptation and label-efficient transferable feature learning. From an architectural perspective, we investigate various schemes that permit network adaptation to be parametrized by multiple copies of sub-structures, distributions of parameter subspaces, or functions that infer parameters from data. We also explore how model adaptation can bring new capabilities, such as continuous and stochastic image modeling, fast transfer to new tasks, and dynamic computation allocation based on sample complexity. From the perspective of feature learning, we show how transferable features emerge from generative modeling with massive unlabeled or weakly labeled data. Such features enable both image generation under complex conditions and downstream applications like image recognition and segmentation. By combining both perspectives, we achieve improved performance on computer vision tasks with limited labeled data, enhanced transferability of deep features, and novel capabilities beyond standard deep learning models
The Effect of Dynamic Rim Lighting on Users Visual Attention in the Virtual Environment
No full textWe conducted a study in the virtual environment to explore the influence of three types of lighting (dynamic rim lighting vs. static rim lighting vs. no rim lighting) on users’ visual attention, and the lighting’s potential effects on the users’ preference/choice-making. We recruited 40 participants to complete a virtual grocery shopping task in the experiments, and after the experiment, the participants were given a survey to self-report their experience. We found that (1) the users do not prefer to collect virtual objects with dynamic rim lighting than virtual objects with static rim lighting; (2) the users do not prefer to collect virtual objects with rim lighting than virtual objects without lighting; (3) if the virtual object has a warm-colored texture, it’s more likely to be chosen when it has dynamic rim lighting compared with static rim lighting or no rim lighting; and (4) properties of the dominant color on the texture of a virtual object, such as the B value is a good predictor in predicting if the user tends to choose the object with rim lighting or without rim lighting, while R, B and Lightness values are plausible in predicting if the user tends to choose the virtual objects with dynamic rim lighting or static rim lighting