University of Extremadura

About: University of Extremadura is a education organization based out in Badajoz, Spain. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Hyperspectral imaging. The organization has 7856 authors who have published 18299 publications receiving 396126 citations. The organization is also known as: Universidad de Extremadura.

Kinetics of Heterogeneous Catalytic Ozone Decomposition in Water on an Activated Carbon

Abstract: Ozone decomposition in water in the presence of an activated carbon has been studied. Variables investigated were agitation speed, carbon particle size, temperature and pH. In all cases, the presence of activated carbon improved the ozone decomposition rate. Between pH 2 and 7 the ozone decomposition rate due to both the homogeneous and heterogeneous mechanisms hardly varied while a significant increase was noticed with increasing pH. A kinetic study based on a Langmuir-Hinselwood type mechanism for the heterogeneous surface reaction was undertaken. According to this mechanism the heterogeneous ozone decomposition kinetics can be simplified to follow a first order process. Fit of experimental results to the kinetic equations derived from the mechanism allowed for the determination of the apparent first order rate constants of the ozone surface heterogeneous reaction and adsorption equilibrium constants.

Sustainable improvement of competitiveness in rural tourism destinations: The quest for tourist loyalty in Spain

Abstract: Rural tourism in Spain has developed intensively in recent years and although this branch of tourism is now well established, it still faces some challenges that causal marketing research can address. Tourism destinations now must operate in extremely competitive markets, forcing destination managers to seek out innovative strategies and sustainable competitive advantage, including cultivating tourist loyalty. This paper focuses on developing a better understanding of how destination loyalty is generated in rural tourism by identifying factors that contribute to this loyalty. The paper first examines previous theoretical analyses of the importance of loyalty as a sustainable competitive advantage and the capacity of rural tourism destinations to generate tourist loyalty. It then presents a structural model that includes the main antecedents of destination loyalty that are applicable to Spanish rural tourism. Based on a sample of 464 rural tourists and data analysis using the partial least squares technique, the results indicate that image, quality and destination attribute satisfaction are the direct antecedents of rural tourism destination loyalty. The findings also show that these are indirect precursors of loyalty through overall satisfaction.