Die „Vergleichende Kurortanalyse“ (VKA)

Kein touristisches Segment ist derzeit durch eine so massive Angebotsexpansion gekennzeichnet wie der Gesundheitstourismus. Allein in Deutschland versuchen sich heute mehr als 350 Heilbäder und Kurorte auf dem Markt der heiß umworbenen Selbstzahler zu positionieren. Aber auch außerhalb der Kurorte entwickelt sich das kur- und gesundheitstouristische Angebot dynamisch. Der nachfrageseitige Markt für gesundheitstouristische Dienstleistungen ist vielversprechend und hat eine weltweite Mobilisierung um den gesundheitsbewußten Touristen in Gang gesetzt. Um in diesem stark wachsenden Markt überhaupt wahrgenommen zu werden, müssen Anbieter mit einem klaren Profil erscheinen, vor allem Heilbäder und Kurorte, die ein eher traditionelles Image aufweisen. Zudem verlangen Investitionsvorhaben oder Wirtschaftsförderungen klare Entscheidungsgrundlagen der langfristigen Positionierung und Spezialisierung. Nicht zuletzt stellt sich die Frage, wie Heilbäder und Kurorte auf Destinations- bzw. Landesebene am Markt präsentiert werden müssen, um sich von anderen Bäderdestinationen zu unterscheiden. Für diese komplexe Aufgabenstellung hat das Europäische Tourismus Institut (ETI) ein abgestimmtes Erhebungs-, Bewertungs- und Analyseinstrument entwickelt, das konsequente Produkt- und Positionierungsentscheidungen für den einzelnen Kurort wie auch das Landes- oder Regionalmarketing ermöglicht. Die Vergleichende Kurortanalyse (VKA) berücksichtigt dabei sowohl die Bedürfnisse des Marktes als auch die spezifische Angebotsausstattung bzw. -attraktivität in den Orten.     

Prediction of Bike-sharing Trip Counts: Comparing Parametric Spatial Regression Models to a Geographically Weighted XGBoost Algorithm

Regression models are commonly applied in the analysis of transportation data. This research aims at broadening the range of methods used for this task by modeling the spatial distribution of bike-sharing trips in Cologne, Germany, applying both parametric regression models and a modified machine learning approach while incorporating measures to account for spatial autocorrelation. Independent variables included in the models consist of land use types, elements of the transport system and sociodemographic characteristics. Out of several regression models with different underlying distributions, a Tweedie generalized additive model is chosen by its values for AIC, RMSE, and sMAPE to be compared to an XGBoost model. To consider spatial relationships, spatial splines are included in the Tweedie model, while the estimations of the XGBoost model are modified using a geographically weighted regression. Both methods entail certain advantages: while XGBoost leads to far better values regarding RMSE and sMAPE and therefore to a better model fit, the Tweedie model allows an easier interpretation of the influence of the independent variables including spatial effects.     

Varieties of nationalism in the political discourses of Habsburg Austria

Nationalism in the Habsburg Empire is traditionally viewed through an ethnic lens. Despite a growing literature on ‘national indifference’ that studies nationalism in Habsburg central Europe from a constructivist perspective and advances our knowledge concerning variations in national identifications, the nationalism implied in these works remains largely limited to an exclusionary ethnic type. This reductionist view of central European nationalism mirrors the traditional dichotomy of ethnic ‘Eastern’ versus civic ‘Western’ nationalism. In order to avoid this reduction, this article approaches nationalism as a thin-centred ideology and explores varieties of nationalism in Habsburg Austria during the long 19th century. Although certain ideational paths made ethno-nationalism appear, retrospectively, as a quasi-natural feature of central Europe, the findings show that there developed rival discursive traditions of nationalism and competing representations of nation.     

The social mind: disentangling affective and cognitive routes to understanding others

ABSTRACT

To flexibly adjust behaviour to that of other people around us requires some representation of their overt actions, but also of the driving forces behind them, that is, their goals, intentions, and emotions. Socio-affective and -cognitive functions enable such representations via creating vicarious affective states in the observer (empathy) or by accumulating abstract, propositional knowledge of another person’s mental state (Theory of Mind). While the empathic sharing of another’s emotions is implemented by those neural networks that also process first-hand emotion, Theory of Mind activates a widespread network that seems to process information independent of its specific modality or content. Crucially, these two routes can function independently as individual differences in the respective capacities and network activations are unrelated and selective impairments in one or the other function occur in psychopathology. However, they may co-activate and co-operate in complex social situations, determining how prosocially interactive behaviour unfolds.     

Work in crisis: managing fantasies about distant strangers,managing aid workers

This article provides an insight into the world of Polish development workers operating in South Sudan. It shows that the conceptualisations of aid work in terms of a ‘mission’, a unique job with a special, ethical goal, a difficult, risky operation requiring specific skills are not incidental. Instead, the point is made, that such ways of thinking about foreign aid and distant locations are strongly institutionalised sets of values and behavioural patterns, here defined as ‘work in crisis’. This specific notion is shaped by aid organisations who actively promote this rhetoric firstly through producing ‘truth’ about the aid work and project locations, and secondly through governing lived realities of the aid workers. The ‘work in crisis’ rhetoric helps to draw people into a development movement as devoted and allegiant followers. It also enables the management of these employees who are the most crucial for the industry – project coordinators – but who are separated from the organisational headquarters and NGO management by thousands of miles. Finally, it assists in the promotion of foreign aid among wider audiences in donor societies.