Search

Nipah virus (NiV) is known to be a highly pathogenic zoonotic virus, which is included in the World Health Organization Research & Development Blueprint list of priority diseases with up to 70% mortality rate. Due to its high pathogenicity and outbreak potency, a therapeutic countermeasure against NiV is urgently needed. As NiV needs to be handled within a Biological Safety Level (BSL) 4 facility, we had developed a safe drug screening platform utilizing a baculovirus expression vector system (BEVS) based on a NiV-induced syncytium formation that could be handled within a BSL-1 facility. To reconstruct the NiV-induced syncytium formation in BEVS, two baculoviruses were generated to express recombinant proteins that are responsible for inducing the syncytium formation, including one baculovirus exhibiting co-expressed NiV fusion protein (NiV-F) and NiV attachment glycoprotein (NiV-G) and another exhibiting human EphrinB2 protein. Interestingly, syncytium formation was observed in infected insect cells when the medium was modified to have a lower pH level and supplemented with cholesterol. Fusion inhibitory properties of several compounds, such as phytochemicals and a polysulfonated naphthylamine compound, were evaluated using this platform. Among these compounds, suramin showed the highest fusion inhibitory activity against NiV-induced syncytium in the baculovirus expression system. Moreover, our in silico results provide a molecular-level glimpse of suramin's interaction with NiV-G's central hole and EphrinB2's G-H loop, which could be the possible reason for its fusion inhibitory activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines, from a comparative standpoint, the contribution of domestic tourism and international tourism to hotel sales revenue (HSR) and its three key revenue sources: room sales revenue (RSR), food and beverage sales revenue (FBR), and other sales income (OSR), using data from 2003 to 2020. The results indicate that domestic tourism has a greater impact on HSR than international tourism. In addition, we discovered that domestic tourism contributes more to OSR than RSR and FBR, but international tourism contributes more to FBR than OSR and RSR. Notably, panel threshold regression test results indicate that the effects of domestic tourist arrivals (DTA) on hotel sales (HSR, RSR and FBR) show different degrees of sensitivity to economic fluctuations. Domestic tourism's impact on hotel sales (HSR, RSR, FBR and OSR) is less sensitive to economic fluctuations than the impact of international tourism. The RSR's response to tourism is the least sensitive to economic cycles, whereas the FBR is the most sensitive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyzes service failures and recovery impacts on group tours using choice experiments and conditional logit models. It assesses negative word-of-mouth likelihood based on failures in food outlets, travel agencies, and scenic spots, and recovery actions like apologies, refunds, and punishment. Results show forced purchases, itinerary changes, and food sanitation significantly influence negative word-of-mouth. Preferences for recovery measures differ among Chinese, Japanese, and South Korean tourists, with Chinese favoring punitive actions, Japanese and South Koreans preferring refunds, and South Koreans finding personal apologies more acceptable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is impossible to overstate the importance of culture and literature in tourism. Most studies have relied on qualitative evidence to the exclusion of precise secondary data to show a direct link between literature and tourism. Using a novel and unique index of Tang poems ranks as a proxy for cultural status and heritage accumulation to quantify the effects of Tang poetry on the expansion of domestic and international tourism, this research adds significantly to the body of knowledge on literary tourism. Based on ordinary least squares and bias-corrected propensity score matching regression analysis, the top 100 Tang poetry rankings are favorably associated with domestic tourist growth but not with international tourism expansion. These findings are crucial for the development of literary tourism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study adopts a circuits of culture approach to examine the role of tourism performing arts (TPA) storytelling in conveying a sense of place to visitors, and its potential impact on their attitudes towards sustainable tourism development. Through a survey of 437 visitors and structural equation modeling, the study reveals the distinct storytelling attributes that contribute to TPA's effectiveness. The study also finds that tourists' sense of place completely mediates the relationship between these storytelling attributes and their support for tourism development. These findings offer important insights into the potential of TPA storytelling as a tool for promoting sustainable tourism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study uses dynamic panel regression tests based on the estimation of the system generalized method of moments to examine the effects of board size (BS), board age (BA), and board education (BE) on China's hotel firm performance (FP). Test results reveal that the effects of BS and BA on hotel FP are nonlinear, but BE has no effect. Specifically, BS has a cubic effect on hotel growth opportunities in terms of Tobin's Q with turning points equal to 12 and 18, supporting both agency theory and resource dependence theory. Moreover, the impact of BA on hotel growth opportunities is quadratic (inverted U-shaped) with an optimal point of BA at 51, supporting both similarity–attraction theory and human capital theory. Empirical findings suggest that director-owned resources and experience are essential factors in a hotel's success, providing strategic guidance for the Chinese hotel industry and making a pioneering addition to the hospitality finance literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study proposes and tests two hypotheses concerning the effects of hotel industry operations on air quality based on data of 26 major tourist cities in China from 2002 to 2017. The empirical analyses take two steps. In the first step, panel regression test results reveal that hotel industry operations (measured by hotel sales revenue) significantly raise the value of particulate matter (PM)2.5 (the key indicator of air quality), supporting the first hypothesis that hotel industry operations deteriorate air quality and providing empirical evidence of the adverse impact of the hotel industry on air quality. In the second step, subsample analyses support the second hypothesis that the impact of hotel sales revenue on air quality diminishes over time. The results from the rolling regression tests validate the existence of a diminishing effect of hotel industry operations on air quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]