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Allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis and invasive fungal diseases represent distinct infectious entities that cause significant morbidity and mortality. Currently, administered inhaled antifungal therapies are unapproved, have suboptimal efficacy, and are associated with considerable adverse reactions. The emergence of resistant pathogens is also a growing concern. Inhaled antifungal development programs are challenged by inadequate nonclinical infection models, highly heterogenous patient populations, low prevalence rates of fungal diseases, difficulties defining clinical trial enrollment criteria, and lack of robust clinical trial endpoints. On 25 September 2020, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) convened a workshop with experts in pulmonary medicine and infectious diseases from academia, industry, and other governmental agencies. Key discussion topics included regulatory incentives to facilitate development of inhaled antifungal drugs and combination inhalational devices, limitations of existing nonclinical models and clinical trial designs, patient perspectives, and industry insights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Smart tourism is receiving growing attention among scholars and practitioners as it advances tourism development and enhances travel experience. Existing research focuses on various technological applications and opinions from users and suppliers. However, discussions from the perspective of academic experts on smart tourism are scarce. In addition, most studies focus on only a single aspect of either people, planning process, or technological components of smart tourism. On the basis of the people–process–technology (PPT) framework and in-depth interviews with tourism academic experts, this study argues that the successful development and implementation of smart tourism involves the integration of and interactions among people, process, and technology. Such insights can contribute to the current literature in understanding smart tourism management and the relevant practices with a collaborative mechanism combining all these components. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article seeks to explain why Singapore-a high-income, developed economy that does not require massive external financing or technical assistance for domestic infrastructure building-has repeatedly endorsed Belt-and-Road Initiative (BRI) and cooperated in related projects. Given the city-state's exceptionally high degree of economic openness and hence dependence on international trade, it argues that Singapore's support for BRI is driven primarily by its quest for strategic relevance. Lacking natural resources and an economic hinterland, the small trading state has pursued state-guided development, establishing itself as a key regional and global trading hub. Singapore's economic goals thus correspond to BRI's objective of improving Eurasian connectivity and strengthening trade and investment ties. At the same time, however, the city-state is also pursuing a hedging strategy vis-à-vis China. Singapore seeks to ensure no one major power dictates the economic terms in the region. The city-state hence seeks to both socialize Beijing in the norms of the existing regional architecture through engagement, while also emphasizing economic relations with other countries, especially the USA. Unlike most of China's other BRI partners, Singapore is not a recipient of investments, but rather a case of 'reverse BRI flow': Singapore is investing in the development of China's western region, especially Chongqing. Singapore's support for BRI is likely to continue, even though the state may encounter obstacles along the way, such as the need to manage the effects of growing Sino-US rivalry., Author(s): Irene Chan [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (Aff1) grid.59025.3b, 0000 0001 2224 0361, China Programme, Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, , [...]

Although the transformative impact of the metaverse on tourism and its marketing has been widely discussed, little is known about the metaverse in tourism marketing. In this study, in-depth interviews with 19 representative metaverse tourism stakeholders from multiple categories are conducted. Based on a modified conceptual model of destination competitiveness and stakeholder theory, this study reveals that the factors driving the development of metaverse tourism are planning and management; economic, sociocultural, and technological factors; and recognition and acceptance, whereas the hindrances stem mainly from the government, industry, tourists, local communities, and educational institutions. Accordingly, theoretical and practical contributions are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]