From high-touch to high-tech: COVID-19 drives robotics adoption

Abstract

Global economic and social life has been severely challenged since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the COVID-19 disease a pandemic. Travel, tourism and hospitality, in particular, has been massively impacted by the lockdowns used to maintain social distance to manage the disease. Robotics, artificial intelligence, and human-robot interactions have gained an increased presence to help manage the spread of COVID-19 in hospitals, airports, transportation systems, recreation and scenic areas, hotels, restaurants, and communities in general. Humanoid robots, autonomous vehicles, drones, and other intelligent robots are used in many different ways to reduce human contact and the potential spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, including delivering materials, disinfecting and sterilizing public spaces, detecting or measuring body temperature, providing safety or security, and comforting and entertaining patients. While controversial in the past due to concerns over job losses and data privacy, the adoption of robotics and artificial intelligence in travel and tourism will likely continue after the COVID-19 pandemic becomes less serious. Tourism scholars should seize this opportunity to develop robotic applications that enhance tourist experiences, the protection of natural and cultural resources, citizen participation in tourism development decision making, and the emergence of new ‘high-touch’ employment opportunities for travel, tourism and hospitality workers.     

Data scopes for digital history research

The term Macroscope has recently been introduced as an instrument to study historical big data using digital tools. In this paper we argue the need for a more elaborate set of concepts to describe and reason about the interactions to select, enrich, connect, analyse and evaluate historical data using digital tools. Interactions change the data and are essential in understanding any subsequent analysis. It makes them part of historical research methodology, but there is little consensus on how these steps can or should be performed. Moreover, they are rarely reported and discussed. We introduce the term data scope as an instrument encompassing these choices and interactions. Elaborating on these processes encourages deeper reflection on and discussion of the interactions and their consequences for research outcomes.     

Experimental Studies on Buried Barrel Vaults

The paper concerns an interaction problem between soil and masonry vaults in historic buildings. A particular emphasis was placed on the influence of finishing method of vaults extrados and fill material properties on the behavior of masonry vaults. The results of experimental studies on barrel vaults with and without backfill are presented. During the experiments three finishing methods of vaults extrados and three fill materials were investigated. The results of the experiments show that the presence of backfill and type of vaults extrados finish affect the behavior and load-carrying capacity of tested elements. Moreover, tests were performed on vaults without fill for comparative purposes. The comparison of experimental results obtained for specimens with and without fill shows that the presence of backfill in vault haunches modifies the failure mechanism and increases load capacity of the analysed models. The presented results confirm the importance of backfill as a structural element of vaulted structures.     

Unfolding the relationship between resilient firms and the region

ABSTRACT

This research explores organizational resilience in four manufacturing firms in four different regions of Norway. While regional resilience has gained attention in research, there have been few studies with a micro-level focus, investigating firms and their distinctive features of resilience. We chose a qualitative multiple-case study approach and employed a critical incident technique to study resilience in selected firms that had experienced external shocks and shifts in regard to changing markets, globalization and advances in technology. Each, however, had managed to continually develop resilience capacity over time. Our framework considered three dimensions of organizational resilience: the cognitive, the behavioural and the contextual. We address how resilience is sustained over time, the evolutionary nature of organizational resilience in firms and how resilient firms relate to the region. We found that all three dimensions of resilience capacity were evident in each firm, but appeared as a complex and unique blend. Furthermore, each dimension was supported by regional ties and affiliations. The findings suggest that organizational resilience is a dynamic capability conditioned by firm–region interactions, which are cultural, social and economic. Regional resilience is built through the contribution of the firm to the economic and social systems of the region.     

城市产业结构升级与空间结构形态演变研究——以长春市为例

产业结构演变与城市空间拓展的互动是城市实现可持续发展的重要路径。本文从产业结构演进与城市用地结构变化、产业结构更新与城市功能地域调整、产业结构调整与城市空间形态优化等方面分析了城市产业结构升级与城市空间形态演变的互动机制,并以长春市为例,研究了长春市产业结构演变与城市空间形态演变的互动变化过程,提出了二者未来互动变化的趋势。     

邻里效应视角下社区交往对生活满意度的影响——基于北京市26个社区居民的多层次路径分析

本文基于2017年北京市居民日常活动与满意度调查数据,运用多层次路径分析方法,以社区及周边环境作为地理背景,探讨邻里环境、社区交往和生活满意度之间的复杂关系.研究发现,在控制个体和家庭社会经济因素后,社区建成环境对生活满意度的直接效应较弱,仅公园可达性显著正相关.然而,建成环境通过社区交往对生活满意度的间接效应显著,尤...     

“旅游人”的符号学分析

人的符号学特征可以从地位、身份、角色和行为这4个方面进行剖析,而这4个概念在社会结构分析中具有十分重要的意义。本文深入分析了“旅游人”（旅游者、旅游目的地居民和旅游从业者）的这些象征符号的意义,包括地位符号的自致性、临时性、炫耀性;身份符号的表征性和许可性;角色符号的表演性和多重性;行为符号的表意性和交际性。苓文认为,旅游中三类人之间的互动关系实质上就是符号的互动,其研究价值在于加深理解旅游中各类人的本质特征以及旅游消费所蕴藏的丰富的象征意义。     

嬭加编钟铭文补释并试论金文所见曾楚交往的政治辞令

本文对嬭加编钟若干文字的隶定和释读提出新的意见。并在此基础上根据金文和传世文献记载探讨曾、楚的交往,从政治修辞的角度讨论了曾、楚的政治互动。指出嬭加编钟铭文追溯文王,彰显其姬周身份是为了强化诸夏的认同,并以其作为与楚匹敌的政治手段。     

Fluid-induced processes: metasomatism and metamorphism

Metamorphism and metasomatism both involve the reequilibration of mineral assemblages due to changes in pressure, temperature and/or chemical environment. Both processes involve material transport but on different length scales, so every metamorphic reaction is metasomatic on a local scale. Fluids provide a transport mechanism which is orders of magnitude faster than solid state diffusion and induce reequilibration through dissolution of parent phases and reprecipitation of products. Chemical weathering (kaolinitization and serpentinization), and albitization are used as examples to describe the coupling between dissolution and precipitation. Albitization of feldspars in nature and in experiments is a pseudomorphic replacement which generates porosity in the albite. Porosity generation associated with interface-coupled dissolution-precipitation allows rapid material transport and together with fluid induced fracturing, is the mechanism of pervasive fluid flow through reacting crystals. Examples of metamorphic reactions in granulite-eclogite rocks illustrate the role of fluids in inducing chemical changes along fluid pathways. Microstructural criteria for a metamorphic event (i.e. change in P , T ) are critically reviewed by describing the corona formed by reaction between kyanite and garnet, as well as partial replacement textures. We conclude that both corona structures and partial replacement textures are equally indicative of a metasomatic reaction (driven by a fluid-induced compositional change) as they may be of a metamorphic reaction driven by a change in P and/or T . This raises the question of the extent to which fluids play not only a catalytic role but also a thermodynamic role in determining the course of a metamorphic reaction.     

Petrographic Analysis of Late Woodland and Middle Mississippian Ceramics at the Iva Site (47Lc42), Onalaska,Wisconsin

The Iva site contained a rare effigy mound and Middle Mississippian (Ramey horizon) component within the Late Woodland Lewis phase territory of the Upper Mississippi River valley. Salvage excavations in 2002–2003 recovered fragments of numerous Angelo Punctated, Powell Plain, and Ramey Incised vessels, including examples of Angelo and Ramey in direct association. Petrographic analysis was conducted on seven grit-tempered and six shell-tempered vessels, eight of which are stylistically Mississippian. The results indicate that four of eight Mississippian vessels were likely manufactured in the American Bottom, with the other half being local imitations of Mississippian styles. These data are compared to contemporaneous Ramey horizon components in the Driftless Area of Cahokia's northern hinterland.