As one of the largest service industries serving millions of international and domestic individuals yearly, it is important to understand the current trends, practices, and challenges surrounding tourism. Emphasized by the effects on people, management processes, and technological advancements, this economic and socio-cultural phenomenon's importance is increasing worldwide. Global Trends, Practices, and Challenges in Contemporary Tourism and Hospitality Management discusses and analyzes the impacts of new trends in the tourism industry, including sub-sectors of tourism, and revisits existing trends, identifies new types and forms of tourism, and discusses the influence and use of technology. Featuring research on topics such as guest retention, predictive analysis, and ecotourism practices, the material collected is ideally designed for managers, travel agents, industry professionals, practitioners, consultants, and researchers.

Optimization Models for Rail Car Fleet Management represents the result of multi-year efforts to provide readers with insights into one of the most important areas of railway transport management. The book covers mathematical procedures for the effective and efficient utilization of railway freight cars, developed models for optimization methods, heterogeneity and partial substitutability of freight cars, research and development in rail freight car fleet management models, and the stochastic and dynamic nature of the supply, demand and traveling time of freight cars, among other topics.

Tourism Dynamics: New perspectives and changing directions provides theoretical and practical insights with a multi-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary approach to the study of tourism and emerging topics that will change the future of the industry, either positively or negatively. It offers a platform for critical discussion and examines emergent controversies within the tourism industry including the growth of alternative business models (e.g. sharing economy business models), travel in light of climate change and human resource ethics given the increasing adoption of artificial intelligence (AI), data and algorithms. With contributions from an international body of academic experts, each chapter highlights and critiques emerging insights and is underpinned with a thorough theoretical and practical knowledge. Issues discussed include risk management awareness; well-being in tourism; the online purchasing process; volunteer tourism; destination resilience and competitiveness and much more. Tourism Dynamics: New perspectives and changing directions is a must have volume for all tourism and hospitality students and educators, enabling students to enhance their critical thinking skills and educators to reflect on the influences of new directions on the industry.

As the tourism industry grows worldwide, researchers continue to seek solutions and practices that support increased tourism to specific regions. Special interest tourism is a method that looks at how psychological and sociological factors help a visitor choose which destination to visit. By applying this type of tourism in Southeast Asia, the role of emotions, experiences, and place attachment becomes a driving factor for tourists. Special Interest Tourism in Southeast Asia: Emerging Research and Opportunities critically discusses the challenges associated with special interest tourism and how it can be used to overcome unfavorable impacts of tourism for the local community, as well as preserve cultural heritage. The book covers emerging issues such as sustainability, technological advances within this type of tourism, and responses to over tourism and tourism-phobia. It is ideally designed for government officials, policymakers, managers, industry professionals, and university students seeking current research on the recent growth of the tourism industry.

Natural Gas: A Basic Handbook, Second Edition provides the reader with a quick and accessible introduction to a fuel source/industry that is transforming the energy sector. Written at an introductory level, but still appropriate for engineers and other technical readers, this book provides an overview of natural gas as a fuel source, including its origins, properties and composition. Discussions include the production of natural gas from traditional and unconventional sources, the downstream aspects of the natural gas industry. including processing, storage, and transportation, and environmental issues and emission controls strategies. This book presents an ideal resource on the topic for engineers new to natural gas, for advisors and consultants in the natural gas industry, and for technical readers interested in learning more about this clean burning fuel source and how it is shaping the energy industry.

Low-Cost Airline Carriers in Emerging Countries traces the development of low-cost carriers (LCCs) in Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa, examining airlines that have become significant players in their home markets but little known at a global scale. The book maps the geography of the LCC phenomenon, explaining the starkly varying success of budget airlines, and assessing their current social, economic and environmental impacts. The book concludes with insights into the future potential of the LCC phenomenon along with its global ramifications. Beginning with Southwest Airlines in the 1970s, low-cost carriers (LCCs) have democratized air travel around the world, fostering huge increases in airline traffic and transforming the airline industry. At the same time however, the ascent of these budget airlines has exacerbated aviation-related problems such as aircraft noise, airport congestion, greenhouse gas emissions and more. LCCs have been extensively studied in the US and Europe but not in emerging regions of the globe. Yet the impact of such airlines is greatest in low- and middle-income economies where only a small fraction of the population has ever flown, and where competition from alternative modes (road, rail) is weak.

Nano-Biopesticides Today and Future Perspectives is the first single-volume resource to examine the practical development, implementation and implications of combining the environmentally aware use of biopesticides with the potential power of nanotechnology. While biopesticides have been utilized for years, researchers have only recently begun exploring delivery methods that utilize nanotechnology to increase efficacy while limiting the negative impacts traditionally seen through the use of pest control means. Written by a panel of global experts, the book provides a foundation on nano-biopesticide development paths, plant health and nutrition, formulation and means of delivery. Researchers in academic and commercial settings will value this foundational reference of insights within the biopesticide realm.

In this technological age, the information technology (IT) industry is an important facet of society and business. The IT industry is able to become more efficient and successful through the examination of its structure and a larger understanding of the individuals that work in the field. Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Human Capital and Information Technology Professionals is a critical scholarly resource that focuses on IT as an industry and examines it from an array of academic viewpoints. Featuring coverage on a wide range of topics, such as employee online communities, role stress, and competence frameworks, this book is targeted toward academicians, students, and researchers seeking relevant research on IT as an industry.

Overcoming Obstacles in Drug Discovery and Development uses real-world case studies to illustrate how critical thinking and problem solving skills are applied in the discovery and development of drugs. It also shows how developing critical thinking to overcome issues plays an essential role in the process. Modern drug discovery and development is a highly complex undertaking that requires scientific and professional expertise to be successful. After the identification of a molecular entity for treating a medical condition, challenges inevitably arise during the subsequent development to understand and characterize the biological profile; feedback from scientists is used to fine-tune the molecular entity to obtain an effective and safe product. In this process, the discovery team may identify unexpected safety issues and new medical disorders for treatment by the molecular entity. Invariably inherent in this complex undertaking are miscues, mistakes, and unexpected problems that can derail development and throw timetables into disarray, potentially leading to failure in the development of a medically useful drug. Addressing critical unexpected problems during development often requires scientists to utilize critical thinking and imaginative problem-solving skills. Overcoming Obstacles in Drug Discovery and Development will be essential to young scientists to help learn the skills to successfully face challenges, learn from mistakes, and further develop critical thinking skills. It will also be beneficial to experienced researchers who can learn from the case studies of successful and unsuccessful drug development.

Catalan-language publishers were under constant threat during the dictatorship of Francisco Franco (1939-1975). Both the Catalan language and the introduction of foreign ideas were banned by the regime, preoccupied as it was with creating a "one, great and free Spain." Books against Tyranny examines the period through its censorship laws and censors' accounts by means of intertextuality, an approach that aims to shed light on the evolution of Francoism's ideological thought. The documents examined here includes firsthand witness accounts, correspondence, memoirs, censorship files, newspapers, original interviews, and unpublished material housed in various Spanish archives. As such, the book opens up the field and serves as an informative tool for scholars of Franco's Spain, Catalan social movements, or censorship more generally.