The Quality of Service Standards and Related Factors in Tourist Hotels in Arusha, Tanzania

The gap in knowledge that existed between the level of service quality standard and the potential of the tourism industry in Tanzania justified the need for the researchers to conduct this study. In this study, a descriptive cross-sectional survey was adopted as the study design. The sample size included 180 guests residing in tourist hotels in Arusha at the time of data collection, 240 service employees, and 28 managers. Purposive, convenient, and simple random sampling methods were used in sampling. A structured questionnaire was used as an instrument of data collection. Data were analyzed by means of Statistical Package for Social Sciences （SPSS） computer package （Version 16） and expressed in descriptive and inferential statistics. The analysis of variance （ANOVA） was used to measure the gap between the managers＇ and guests＇ perceptions, while independent t-test analyzed the role played by managers＇ practices in delivery of quality service. The findings show that in general hotel product, two attributes were found to be significant at the level ofp 〈 0.05. In the front office, restaurant and bar, and guestroom, the results showed that three, six, and nine attributes were respectively found to be significant at the level of p ≤ 0.05. The analysis of management practices provided the evidence that eight practices were significant at the level of p ≤ 0.05. From the findings, two conclusions were made. First, managers＇ and guests＇ perceptions on service quality standards differ significantly; second, it was found that management practices influence significantly the service quality standards in tourist hotels in Arusha.

Wetland Economic Valuation Approaches and Prospects in China

Ecosystem services valuation seeks to increase the social relevance of ecosystem characteristics, the underlying biological mechanisms that support services, by making the contribution of ecosystems to human well-being explicit. Economic valuation can help management by clarifying the full range of benefits and costs of proposed management actions. In the past two decades, economic valuation of wetland ecosystem services has become one of the most significant scientific priorities for wetland protection. In this paper, we provide an overview of ecosystem services, and summarize the main interdisciplinary approaches to measure and value wetland ecosystem services. We identified four main methodological gaps preventing progress on wetland valuation of ecosystem services in China, which are: 1) confusion on terminology like intermediate and final ecosystem services, 2) lack of ecological production functions to link ecosystem characteristics to final ecosystem services, 3) static valuation making it difficult to evaluate the trade-offs and synergies among ecosystem services, and 4) lack of clear guidance on relating ecological compensation programs to conservation targets. Overcoming these gaps is important to inform wetland compensation mechanisms and conservation policies. We propose future research on wetland ecosystem services in China should be focused on: 1) defining final ecosystem services based on beneficiary preferences and underlying biophysical mechanisms, 2) establishing wetland monitoring programs at specific sites to collect data on final ecosystem service indicators and ecosystem characteristic metrics to create ecological production functions for economic valuation and rescaling techniques, and 3) incorporating wetland ecosystem service values into decision-making processes to inform wetland management.

GSA and BIGD:Filling the Gap of Bioinformatics Resource and Service in China

In the 2017 first issue of this Journal - Genomes, Proteomes and Bioinformatics - a special database article entitled ＂GSA： Gen- ome Sequence Archive＂ is published. This article provides a brief introduction to the platform developed by the authors from the BIG Data Center （BIGD） of Beijing Institute of Genomics （BIG）, Chinese Academy of Sciences （CAS）. The aim of the GSA project is to collect, integrate, and archive raw sequence data submitted by domestic and international users. It is one of the major activities being carried on by a team of around 50 young bioinformaticians at BIGD. In addition to the GSA system, they are also working on several bioinformatics service-orientated projects as described in one of their recent publications .

The Equalization Gap of Basic Public Services Supply in China:An Empirical Study on Education,Health Care and Social Security

The equalization of basic public services which helps to meet people’s ever-growing needs for a better life is an important component of the supply-side structural reform under the new normal.This paper constructs the mechanism model and index of basic public services equalization,measures the equalization of education,health care and social security in China during the period of 2005-2016,and empirically tests the contributory factors with regional panel data.It is found that the equalization of basic public services has not been significantly improved by the last 12 years of urbanization;people tend to seek high-end consumption beyond basic public services with the increasing per capita disposable income;while the population structure and the gap between urban and rural areas constitute the main impediments,local governments’revenues and fiscal efficiency can significantly improve the equalization of basic public services.Therefore,the key to the supply-side structural reform of public services lies in enhancing the matching capability of public services in urbanization,reducing the consumption gap between urban and rural public services,and improving the efficiency of government’s public services expenditure.