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Tourism is a climate-dependent industry, and many destinations owe their popularity to their pleasant climates during traditional holiday seasons. This article explores the potential implications of climate change for global tourism, with special emphasis on seasonality. Combination of two climate change scenarios with the Tourism Climatic Index reveals that the locations of climatically ideal tourism conditions are likely to shift poleward under projected climate change. Whereas destinations such as the Mediterranean may see shifts in their peak seasons from summer months to current shoulder periods, regions in higher latitudes are likely to experience a lengthening of their summer seasons. The effects of these changes will depend greatly on the flexibility demonstrated by institutions and tourists as they react to climate change, with substantial implications for both spatial and temporal redistribution of tourism activities. The reader is referred to http://www.carrs.msu.edu/Main/People/faculty%20bios/extra/nicho210- journal.pdf to view the full series of color maps accompanying these analyses.

Objective To assess whether non-polluting, more effective home heating (heat pump, wood pellet burner, flued gas) has a positive effect on the health of children with asthma.

Background Mobile phone applications (apps) have been shown to successfully facilitate the self-management of chronic disease. This study aims to evaluate firstly the experiences, barriers and facilitators to app usage among people with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) and secondly determine recommendations to improve usage of diabetes apps. Methods Participants were aged ≥ 18 years with a diagnosis of T2DM for ≥ 6 months. Semi-structured phone-interviews were conducted with 16 app and 14 non-app users. Interviews were based on the Technology Acceptance Model, Health Information Technology Acceptance Model (HITAM) and the Mobile Application Rating Scale. Data were analysed using deductive content analysis. Results Most app-users found apps improved their T2DM self-management and health. The recommendation of apps by health professionals, as well as positive interactions with them, improved satisfaction; however, only a minority of patients had practitioners involved in their app use. All non-app users had never had the concept discussed with them by a health professional. Facilitators to app use included the visual representation of trends, intuitive navigation and convenience (for example, discretion and portability). Barriers to app use were participant’s lack of knowledge and awareness of apps as healthcare tools, perceptions of disease severity, technological and health literacy or practical limitations such as rural connectivity. Factors contributing to app use were classified into a framework based on the Health Belief Model and HITAM. Recommendations for future app design centred on educational features, which were currently lacking (e.g. diabetes complications, including organ damage and hypoglycaemic episodes), monitoring and tracking features (e.g. blood glucose level monitoring with trends and dynamic tips and comorbidities) and nutritional features (e.g. carbohydrate counters). Medication reminders were not used by participants. Lastly, participants felt that receiving weekly text-messaging relating to their self-management would be appropriate. Conclusions The incorporation of user-centred features, which engage T2DM consumers in self-management tasks, can improve health outcomes. The findings may guide app developers and entrepreneurs in improving app design and usability. Given self-management is a significant factor in glycaemic control, these findings are significant for GPs, nurse practitioners and allied health professionals who may integrate apps into a holistic management plan which considers strategies outside the clinical environment.

Skiing heavily relies on specific weather and environmental conditions to make participation both feasible and enjoyable. The lack of published research on the relationships among ski activity, weather, and climate is, therefore, surprising, especially in light of mounting evidence regarding climate change. The analyses of the influence of daily weather variations on daily ski lift ticket sales at two Michigan ski resorts presented here appear to be the first of their kind. Results suggest that weather variables such as minimum and maximum temperature, snow depth, and wind chill do indeed have a statistically significant impact on downhill ski lift ticket sales. The regression models developed could be used by outdoor recreation and tourism providers for both short-term decision making and longer-term planning and management activities, in particular those involving consideration of climate change and potential adaptation strategies.

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The implementation of national tourism policy is manifested in the development of destinations and in patterns of tourism activity. Based on Brenner's notions of spatial rescaling and spatial selectivity, this study assesses the changing distribution of domestic tourism in South Korea between 1989 and 2011, and relates these changes to the national tourism policies put in place during those years. Spatial statistical techniques including Moran's global I statistic and local indicators of spatial association are employed. Findings suggest that while domestic tourism activity became less concentrated at the macro level during the study period, at a finer scale it is clear that this deconcentration is nevertheless occurring in a clustered manner. Thus, while the traditional emphasis on Seoul and the southeast appears to have declined, the distribution of tourism's benefits is still uneven. Observations with regards to future tourism policy and concomitant spatial patterns of development and activity are provided.

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