Local attendees' perceptions of festival impacts: A factor-cluster analysis approach to the Zanzibar International Film Festival

Appraising residents' perceptions of the impacts of festivals is imperative to festival success. Such residents can rightly claim ownership of the place where the festival is staged and the cultural aspects the festival showcases. This study aimed at elucidating local attendees' perceived festival impacts at the annual Zanzibar International Film Festival. Data for this study were collected using a structured questionnaire that yielded 263 responses conveniently drawn from festival-goers, which were then subjected to factor-cluster analysis. The results reveal the presence of three clusters (advocates, ambivalents, and cautious-advocates) that differ significantly on their perceived impacts of the festival with respect to its environmental, socio-cultural, and economic contributions. These results have both managerial and policy implications on the inclusion of the locals in planning and managing festivals.     

Better cross hedges with composite hedging? Hedging equity portfolios using financial and commodity futures

Unless a direct hedge is available, cross hedging must be used. In such circumstances portfolio theory implies that a composite hedge (the use of two or more hedging instruments to hedge a single spot position) will be beneficial. The study and use of composite hedging has been neglected; possibly because it requires the estimation of two or more hedge ratios. This paper demonstrates a statistically significant increase in out-of-sample effectiveness from the composite hedging of the Amex Oil Index using S&P500 and New York Mercantile Exchange crude oil futures. This conclusion is robust to the technique used to estimate the hedge ratios, and to allowance for transactions costs, dividends and the maturity of the futures contracts.     

Postmodern Values and Leisure in Young Spanish University Students: An Exploratory Study

This article reports exploratory research about tendencies toward postmaterialism in university students. This paper used the theoretical framework proposed by Inglehart regarding three categories of leisure: postmaterialist, materialist and common. Students from a Spanish university (N = 1036) completed questionnaires that evaluated their materialist-postmaterialist values, how often they practiced the activities included in each category of leisure and the motivational factors involved in them. The results revealed that university students showed a tendency toward postmaterialism. Further, relationships were found between materialist-postmaterialist values and categories of leisure. This study results suggested that the tendency toward postmaterialist values may be a factor in structuring the leisure patterns of young Spanish university students.     

Validation of the Bowel Function Index to detect clinically meaningful changes in opioid-induced constipation

Abstract

Objective: The Bowel Function Index (BFI) is a clinician-administered, patient-reported, 3-item questionnaire to evaluate opioid-induced constipation in cancer and non-cancer chronic pain patients. The objective of the present analysis was to evaluate the psychometric characteristics of the BFI using data from clinical studies of oral prolonged release (PR) oxycodone/naloxone.

Methods: OXN2401 was a multicenter, controlled, randomized, double-blind, parallel-group study including oral PR oxycodone combined with oral PR naloxone as well as oral PR oxycodone combined with corresponding naloxone placebo. OXN3401 and OXN3001 were 12-week multicenter, controlled, randomized, double-blind, parallel-group studies of a fixed combination of oral PR oxycodone/naloxone versus PR oxycodone. In addition, a placebo group was included in study OXN3401. BFI psychometric characteristics (reliability, reproducibility, convergent/known groups validity, and responsiveness) were evaluated.

Results: Demographic data (n=985) were comparable and analyses indicated a high degree of internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha >0.7). Change of less than 5 points in BFI was indicative of high reproducibility. Correlations between BFI item and total scores to stool frequency were statistically significant and in the low-to-moderate range (OXN2401 –0.23 to –0.29, p < 0.001; OXN3401 range –0.26 to –0.40, p < 0.001; OXN3001 –0.14 to –0.15, p < 0.05). Data indicate that a BFI score change of ≥12 points represents a clinically meaningful change in constipation.

Limitations: This publication for validation of BFI only includes data from three clinical trials. However, another publication of an additional specifically designed cross-sectional validation study is in preparation.

Conclusion: The BFI is a valid and reliable instrument for the assessment of opioid-induced constipation in chronic pain patients. Psychometric analyses from clinical trials support the BFI's psychometric properties.     

Landscape fragmentation in Mediterranean Europe: A comparative approach

Maintaining ecosystem continuity has become a central element in spatial planning policies. Several authors acknowledge the environmental, also known as landscape, fragmentation due to human action as one of the main causes which have negative effects on biodiversity. The phenomenon consists of the transformation of larger patches of habitat in smaller ones, or fragments, which tend to be more isolated than in the original condition. It is extremely evident in urban areas, including settlements and various transport and mobility infrastructures, whose main ecological effects include loss of habitat, increased mortality of plants, and isolation of animal and vegetal species. In this paper, we assess landscape fragmentation dynamics of six landscape units belonging to two European regions, i.e. Sardinia in Italy (from 2003 to 2008), and Andalusia in Spain (from 2005 to 2009). We developed on three indices: the Infrastructural Fragmentation Index (IFI), the Urban Fragmentation Index (UFI), and the Connectivity Index (CI). We found that coastal areas generally suffer from an higher pressure due to the demand of longer or faster transport infrastructures and new settlements and less fragmented areas tend to show the most relevant dynamics in a sort of convergent pattern. Even though landscape fragmentation and connectivity are intuitively complementary phenomena, in this paper we did not found any statistical evidence of this associative property.     

Measuring transit oriented development: a spatial multi criteria assessment approach for the City Region Arnhem and Nijmegen

Transit Oriented Development (TOD) is a planning approach that can stimulate sustainable development by encouraging better land use and transport integration. Arnhem Nijmegen City Region, a regional planning body, in the Netherlands, aims to promote sustainable development in their region and control the current pattern of increased use of cars vis-à-vis transit for longer commutes. Planning for TOD can help achieve this aim. It is believed that measuring the existing levels of TOD is a prerequisite for TOD planning and that it can be done using a TOD Index proposed in this research. A TOD Index measures multiple spatial indicators and aggregates them under the SMCA framework to arrive at a comprehensive value depicting the existing levels of TOD at a location or an area. Using this TOD Index, TOD levels were measured over the entire City Region covering approx. 1000 km². High levels of TOD imply that the urban development’s characteristics, at that location, are ripe for use of transit and these high levels, as expected, were found in the urban areas of Arnhem and Nijmegen. From the results of TOD Index measurement, using hot-spot analysis, those locations were identified that have high TOD levels but poor transit connectivity. These locations are accordingly recommended for better transit connectivity. As a part of our future work, it is intended to use the TOD Index to elevate TOD levels around existing transit nodes.     

Transforming competitiveness into economic benefits: Does tourism stimulate economic growth in more competitive destinations?

This research note investigates the impact of a destination's competitiveness upon tourism's contribution to economic growth using a cross-section with 131 countries. Destination competitiveness is measured with the World Economic Forum's Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index, while tourism's contribution to economic growth is measured with the growth decomposition methodology. Results reveal that destination competitiveness has no statistically significant impact on tourism's contribution to economic growth. Tourism policy implications and directions for future research are also discussed.     

双差数列的几个性质

讨论了双差数列与周期双差数列的通项公式以及求和公式。     

我国经济发展指标体系的构建与应用研究——基于经济发展的数量与质量角度

经济增长与经济发展是经济学中的两个重要概念,本文把单纯的经济增长划归为经济发展的数量方面,将经济发展分为数量与质量两个方面,并基于这个划分角度构建了经济发展指标体系,提供了构建经济指标体系的一个新视角。同时,本文利用该经济发展指标体系对我国1978～2009年的宏观经济数据进行实证研究,刻画了我国经济发展全貌的变动趋势,为经济发展方面的研究提供了一个全局地图。     

改革开放以来我国贸易条件的变动分析与预测

随着我国近几年来经济高速增长,产业结构的不断优化升级,在国际贸易问题上也遇到了许多新的问题。本文将以我国近年来我国制成品贸易以及我国商品贸易条件为研究对象,分析现阶段我国制成品贸易受商品贸易条件恶化和收入贸易条件变化改善的影响,同时对未来两年的商品贸易条件和收入贸易条件以及制成品的出口变动情况进行分析与预测。