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Islands are frequently characterised by an economic structure centred on tourism and the service sector. This specialisation has taken different forms and characterisations concerning the chosen or spontaneously developed model. To understand the development choices and patterns, this article analyses sixteen islands and archipelagos in the European Union over ten years from 2010 to 2019. A panel data analysis was based on critical variables identifying the tourism industry model from those that could represent a proxy of the community-based tourism model. The principal component analysis was adopted to compare the evolutionary trends of these two different ways of choosing the island's tourism model. Findings identified before the COVID-19 pandemic crisis include two island clusters. One group of islands followed a spontaneous tourism model based on the local community and small or micro hospitality systems, with auto-entrepreneurship in tourism. The second group of islands followed a planning and industry-based tourist model with an employment system and a relevant hospitality industry. Both paradigms have limitations and identify two different tourism evolutionary scenarios useful for the EU's future island tourism policies.

This thesis by portfolio is an opportunity of bringing together a series of researched newspaper articles, radio programmes, papers, as well as published books and theses. The projects started some twenty years ago as an alternative way of understanding, interpreting and managing tourism activity as a broad socio-cultural activity rather than a socio-economic industry. The catalyst for these projects was the frustration of reading a number of literary works and following intricate theoretical frameworks for tourism strategies and policies, usually based on short-term results and many times politically or business-orientated.The selection of literature that was chosen for the theoretical framework consisted mainly of those academic studies that had influenced the work carried out for the three projects.The diagram illustrated in Chapter 1 (Figure 1.1) shows the chronological progress for these projects in terms of the literature and methodologies used to develop models such as the form of alternative tourism (Discovering Malta and Gozo through its People and Culture, 2009); the community-based tours (Meet the Locals, 2015) and the CTS (Commitment, Trust and Synergy) Process for the implementation of an inclusive plan for Local Tourism Implementation (2016).In the summation, the key issues that were concluded from these projects include a continuous process to bridge the theory and practice in tourism activity. The thesis has provided a new and alternative method for planning tourism through an Integrated Approach to the Management of Tourism. There are two models that have been designed to allow this approach to be successful; these are The Tourism Planning Triangle and the 10-Stage CTS Process for Tourism Planning.

In microwave hyperthermia tumor therapy, electromagnetic waves focus energy on the tumor to elevate the temperature above its normal levels with minimal injury to the surrounding healthy tissue. Microwave hyperthermia applicator design is important for the effectiveness of the therapy and the feasibility of real-time application. In this study, the potential of using fractal octagonal ring antenna elements as a dipole antenna array and as a connected array at 2.45 GHz for breast tumor hyperthermia application was investigated. Microwave hyperthermia treatment models consisting of different fractal octagonal ring antenna array designs and a breast phantom are simulated in COMSOL Multiphysics to obtain the field distributions. The antenna excitation phases and magnitudes are optimized using the global particle swarm algorithm to selectively increase the specific absorption rate at the target region while minimizing hot spots in other regions within the breast. Specific absorption rate distributions, obtained inside the phantom, are analyzed for each proposed microwave hyperthermia applicator design. The dipole fractal octagonal ring antenna arrays are comparatively assessed for three different designs: circular, linear, and Cross—array. The 16-antenna dipole array performance was superior for all three 1-layer applicator designs, and no distinct difference was found between 16-antenna circular, linear, or cross arrays. Two-layer dipole arrays have better performance in the deep-tissue targets than one-layer arrays. The performance of the connected array with a higher number of layers exceeds the performance of the dipole arrays in the superficial regions, while they are comparable for deep regions of the breast. The 1-layer 12-antenna circular FORA dipole array feasibility as a microwave hyperthermia applicator was experimentally shown.