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In this paper, we introduce the concept of a supporting set for a general system. We study basic properties of supporting sets for a general system, supporting sets for subsytems of a system, homomorphic images of supporting sets for a system, and supporting sets for free sums and direct sums of systems.

Several coefficients, called divergences, have been suggested in the statistical literature to reflect the fact that some probability distributions are “closer together” than others and consequently that it may be easier to distinguish between the distributions of one pair than between those of another. When comparing three biological populations, it is often interesting to measure how two of them “move apart” from the third. Deals with the statistical analysis of this problem by means of bivariate divergence statistics. Provides a unified study, depicting the behaviour and relative merits of traditional divergences, by using the (h,ø), divergence family of statistics introduced by Menéndez et al.

The concept of L‐fuzzy systems is introduced as a generalisation of that of general systems. A universal structure of a special kind of L‐fuzzy system is given, some mapping properties of L‐fuzzy systems are studied and a number of open questions posed.

Following Ma, Yonghao and Yi Lin's definition of a mathematical model of general systems in 1987, shows the class of all general systems with relation‐reversion mappings and that of all general systems with relation‐preserving mappings to be productive, co‐productive categories Answers two questions posed in earlier published papers and poses some more questions for solution.

Online reviews serve as valuable sources of information, reflecting tourists’ attentions, preferences and sentiments. However, although the existing research has demonstrated that incorporating online review data can enhance the performance of tourism demand forecasting models, the reliability of online review data and consumers’ decision-making process have not been given adequate attention. To address the aforementioned problem, the purpose of this study is to forecast tourism demand using online review data derived from the analysis of review helpfulness.

The authors propose a novel “identification-first, forecasting-second” framework. This framework prioritizes the identification of helpful reviews through a comprehensive analysis of review helpfulness, followed by the integration of helpful online review data into the forecasting system. Using the SARIMAX model with helpful online review data sourced from TripAdvisor, this study forecasts tourist arrivals in Hong Kong during the period from August 2012 to June 2019. The SNAÏVE/SARIMA model was used as the benchmark model. Additionally, artificial intelligence models including long short-term memory, back propagation neural network, extreme learning machine and random forest models were used to assess the robustness of the results.

The results demonstrate that online review data are subject to noise and bias, which can adversely affect the accuracy of predictions when used directly. However, by identifying helpful online reviews beforehand and incorporating them into the forecasting process, a notable enhancement in predictive performance can be realized.

First, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first to focus on the data issue of online reviews on tourism arrivals forecasting. Second, this study pioneers the integration of the consumer decision-making process into the domain of tourism demand forecasting, marking one of the earliest endeavors in this area. Third, this study makes a novel attempt to identify helpful online reviews based on reviews helpfulness analysis.

The reducing transformation and global optimization technique called Alienor has been developed in the 1980s by Cherruault and Guillez. These methods are based on the approximating properties of α ‐dense curves. The aim of this work is to give a very large class of functions generating α ‐dense curves in a hyper‐rectangle of Rⁿ.

In the course of development of human communities towards industrially advanced societies of today, there have been changes not only in economic conditions in the majority of fields of human activity but also in the ways of providing for food, which went hand in hand with changes in living conditions. Large‐scale industrial production has brought about major changes in the way of life of the population. The development of industrial agglomerations results in a growing number of city dwellers, most of whom have no chance of producing foodstuffs of their own in kind. The distance between residential and industrial areas has been growing, the number of employed women has risen considerably. These are but a few factors affecting the way of boarding, particularly in households.

Describes Childreach – a US child‐focuses development organization which sponsors children and their families in developing countries – and a recent project in development education, “Buffalo banks and borewells: Childreach makes sense of development”, which involved creating and distributing educational newsletters on Third World and development issues. Lists the goals of the project and how they were addressed. Outlines what was gained from the exercise. Links this to the paradoxical situation in the USA whereby the public think money should go towards foreign aid but are reluctant to actually fork out any money themselves. Considers the role of trust and the concept of social capital, emphasizing that sponsors need to trust that their investment is making an important contribution to improving the life of the sponsored child and its family or community.