Self-Identity Matters: An Extended Theory of Planned Behavior to Decode Tourists' Waste Sorting Intentions

Waste sorting is a practical way of handling the garbage and an effective strategy for facilitating sustainable waste management. This research extended the theory of planned behavior (TPB) with self-identity and moral norms to predict waste sorting intentions in a heritage context of tourism. A total of 403 valid self-administrated questionnaires were achieved at a heritage destination in China. The results indicated that: (1) TPB variables (i.e., attitudes toward the behavior, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control), self-identity, and moral norms were all directly and positively linked to tourists' waste sorting intentions, respectively; (2) self-identity indirectly influenced tourists' waste sorting intentions through the mediation of moral norms; and (3) the integrated model exhibited better predictive utility than any single model. This research contributes to the literature on waste management in the context of tourism by extending TPB with identity and personal normative constructs. It also provides practical implications for destination managers to leverage tourists' self-identity and moral norms for sustainable management.

The effect of hotel employee resilience during COVID-19: The moderation role of perceived risk and challenge stressors

The effect of hotel employee resilience during major crises lacks sufficient empirical investigation. This research aimed to develop a conceptual model of hotel employee resilience effects on turnover intentions and service quality with belief restoration as mediation and challenge stressors and perceived risk as moderation variables. A questionnaire survey was conducted with 28 star-rated hotels (including two 3-star, fifteen 4-star, and eleven 5-star hotels) in southeastern, northeastern, central, and western China against the background of the COVID-19 pandemic, and with operational (e.g., front office, food and beverage, housekeeping) and administrative (e.g., human resource, sales, finance) departments. A total of 1318 valid questionnaires were collected. The results showed that: (1) employee resilience predicted employee service quality positively and turnover intentions negatively; (2) belief restoration partially mediated the impact of employee resilience on service quality and turnover intentions; and (3) perceived risk and challenge stressors had diverse moderation effects (e.g., U-shaped, linear) in the impacts of resilience, and they were important external and internal situational factors that influenced the impact of employee resilience. This research revealed the effects and situational conditions of hotel employee resilience during a major crisis, which provides a theoretical basis for establishing hotel crisis response strategies.

Applying a Combination of SEM and fsQCA to Predict Tourist Resource-Saving Behavioral Intentions in Rural Tourism: An Extension of the Theory of Planned Behavior

How to save resources and protect the environment at destinations is one of the hot issues in tourism. One effective solution is to cultivate tourist resource-saving behavioral intentions (TRSBI). Prior studies mainly use Structural equation modeling (SEM) to explore its antecedents, whereas other potential methods (i.e., fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis, fsQCA for short) have been less adopted. This study combines SEM and fsQCA to examine TRSBI in a rural tourism context. Specifically, SEM is executed to investigate how environmental concern influences TRSBI based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB), while fsQCA is applied to uncover the multiple configurations in the TRSBI formation. The findings from SEM indicated that (1) environmental concern positively and directly influenced TRSBI; (2) TPB constructs (i.e., attitudes toward the behavior, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control) positively and separately mediated the associations of environmental concern with TRSBI. The fsQCA outcomes showed that three configurations result in a high level of TRSBI: (1) high attitudes toward the behavior, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control, (2) high attitudes toward the behavior, subjective norms, and environmental concern, and (3) high attitudes toward the behavior, perceived behavioral control, and environmental concern. The combined approaches offer a systematic and holistic solution to explore TRSBI in rural tourism.

Linking Perceived Environmental CSR to Residents' Environmental Citizenship Behavior in Rural Tourism: The Mediating Role of Resident-Environment Relationship Quality

Residents' environmental citizenship behavior is essential to the environmental protection and sustainable development of rural destinations. However, previous research with regards to environmental citizenship behavior has focused on an employee perspective, rather than a resident one. Through the theoretical lens of the Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) model, our research examined how perceived environmental CSR (ECSR) contributes to residents' environmental citizenship behavior, with resident-environment relationship quality acting as the organism. Data collected from a Chinese rural destination were analyzed with a structural equation modeling approach. Results indicate that: (1) perceived ECSR directly and positively influences residents' environmental citizenship behavior; (2) relationship quality variables (i.e., environmental identification and environmental commitment) directly and positively affect residents' environmental citizenship behavior; (3) environmental identification directly and positively affects environmental commitment; (4) relationship quality variables positively mediate the effect of perceived ECSR on residents' environmental citizenship behavior. The current research complements existing tourism literature on environmental citizenship behavior with a focus on perceived ECSR and relationship quality from the aspect of residents in rural destinations. The findings also provide some practical implications that potentially facilitate the adoption of environmental citizenship behavior among residents for sustainable destination management.

The Role of Social Capital in Predicting Tourists' Waste Sorting Intentions in Rural Destinations: Extending the Theory of Planned Behavior

Improper waste disposal of tourists has detrimental impacts on the environment, economy, and people in rural destinations. Separating at the source is an effective means to mitigate these adverse impacts on rural destinations. Hence, identifying factors influencing tourists' waste sorting intentions in rural destinations is critical to the sustainability of rural tourism and rural land. However, few studies focus on tourists' waste sorting intentions. Drawing on the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and social capital, this research examined the determinants of tourists' waste sorting intentions in rural destinations. A total of 395 valid questionnaires were collected from a rural destination in Huzhou, China. The results indicated that: (1) all TPB variables, i.e., attitude toward the behavior, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control, positively and directly affect tourists' waste sorting intentions; (2) interpersonal trust directly and positively influences tourists' waste sorting intentions; (3) subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, interpersonal trust, and emotional bonding indirectly influence tourists' waste sorting intentions through the mediation of attitude toward the behavior; (4) emotional bonding does not directly affect tourists' waste sorting intentions, but the link is established through the mediation of attitude toward the behavior. This research expands the body of knowledge by integrating individuals' psychological elements with their social contexts. The findings offer some theoretical and managerial implications for understanding how tourists' social contexts facilitate tourists' waste sorting intentions.

The dynamic linkages among outbound tourism, economic growth, and international trade: empirical evidence from China

The aim of this research was to examine the long- and short-run relationships among real expenditures on outbound tourism from China, economic growth and international trade for the period of 1995 to 2018, applying a newly developed cointegration test—the Bootstrap Autoregressive Distributed Lag framework. Evidence of cointegration was found when expenditures on outbound tourism served as the dependent variable, and economic growth and international trade were important factors affecting outbound tourism from China. For the short-run, a two-way Granger causality relationship was detected between economic growth and outbound tourism expenditures, and the feedback was confirmed between outbound tourism expenditures and international trade. The findings have important policy implications for the growth of the outbound tourism market. Large volumes of outbound tourists result in economic losses for China and outbound tourism reduces the growth of tourism-driven international trade.

Impacts of Environmental Regulations on Tourism Carbon Emissions

This research analyzed the impact of environmental regulations and their power in suppressing tourism carbon emissions. The results showed that: (1) four types of environmental regulations had significant inhibiting effects on tourism carbon emissions, but different types of regulations had varying effects; and (2) environmental regulations had a significant time lag effect on tourism carbon emissions. The decay rates of the environmental regulation effects were dissimilar for supervisory management, market incentives, command and control, and public participation; and (3) environmental regulations had dissimilar influences on tourism carbon emissions at the regional level. Government agencies should choose differentiated environmental regulation tools, attach great importance to the time-lag effect of environmental regulations on tourism carbon emissions, and establish systems and mechanisms of public participation in environmental matters.

Medical, Health and Wellness Tourism Research-A Review of the Literature (1970-2020) and Research Agenda

Medical, health and wellness tourism and travel represent a dynamic and rapidly growing multi-disciplinary economic activity and field of knowledge. This research responds to earlier calls to integrate research on travel medicine and tourism. It critically reviews the literature published on these topics over a 50-year period (1970 to 2020) using CiteSpace software. Some 802 articles were gathered and analyzed from major databases including the Web of Science and Scopus. Markets (demand and behavior), destinations (development and promotion), and development environments (policies and impacts) emerged as the main three research themes in medical-health-wellness tourism. Medical-health-wellness tourism will integrate with other care sectors and become more embedded in policy-making related to sustainable development, especially with regards to quality of life initiatives. A future research agenda for medical-health-tourism is discussed.

Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry Analysis of Opioids, Benzodiazepines, Cannabinoids, Amphetamines, and Cocaine in Biological and Other Specimens

The use of liquid chromatography (LC) coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) or single-stage mass spectrometry (MS) is making significant inroads in the analyst's compendium of instrumentation available for the analysis of drugs in biological fluids, tissues, and other specimens of interest. LC/MS(/MS) has the unique capability of analyzing substances frequently not analyzable by any other means. Furthermore, LC/MS(/MS), particularly LC/MS/MS instrumentation, has shown a precipitous drop in cost, making it more accessible to the smaller laboratories. As such, an increasing number of methods for the analysis of drugs of abuse have been published using LC/MS(/MS) - in particular, those methods associated with LC/MS/MS. However, these methods are not without certain endemic problems/limitations such as ion source selection, matrix effects, endogenous interferences, and interlibrary matching of spectra. This review seeks to show what progress is being made to circumvent the perceived limitations of LC/MS(/MS). It presents methodologies for selected drugs of abuse (opioids, benzodiazepines, cannabinoids, cocaine, and the amphetamines) that have been developed in recent years for analysis in blood, urine, hair, and oral fluids, as well as certain other specimens. Emphasis is primarily directed toward those methodologies that have been developed recently for LC/MS/MS, but LC/MS methods are also addressed where appropriate.

ESOP-1, a secreted protein expressed in the hematopoietic, nervous, and reproductive systems of embryonic and adult mice

To isolate soluble factors expressed in early phases of hematopoietic differentiation, we applied the signal sequence trap method to the in vitro murine hematopoietic differentiation system, in which ES cells are cocultured with OP-9 stroma cells. This strategy allowed us to isolate cDNA for a secreted protein, ESOP-1, of 160 amino acids, the sequence of which shows 64% identity with human ESOP-1/MD-2. ESOP-1 mRNA was highly expressed in the mouse embryos at 7.5 days after coitus. Expression of the ESOP-1 mRNA and protein was shown in the embryonic and adult hematopoietic system. In addition, the ESOP-1 protein was found in the yolk sac-blood islands, the developing nervous system, and the adult reproductive system. These results suggest that ESOP-1 may play some roles in the development or maintenance of hematopoietic, nervous, and reproductive systems.

Comprehensive assessment of retinal, choroidal and retrobulbar haemodynamics during blood gas perturbation

BACKGROUND

A study was performed to evaluate the effect of isoxic hypercapnia on ocular haemodynamics using colour Doppler imaging (CDI), scanning laser Doppler flowmetry (SLDF) and ocular blood flow (OBF) tonography.

METHODS

Measurements were taken for one eye of each of 14 healthy subjects (mean age 27 +/- 6 years) during breathing of room air and then during isoxic hypercapnia (breathing CO2 and room air). Using CDI, blood flow velocities and resistance indices were determined for the ophthalmic artery (OA), central retinal artery (CRA) and short posterior ciliary arteries (SPCAs). Using SLDF a 10 x 10 pixel frame was used to measure blood flow, volume and velocity in each quadrant of the peripapillary retina. Pulsatile ocular blood flow (POBF) was measured using the OBF tonograph.

RESULTS

Using CDI, peak systolic and end diastolic velocities increased and resistance index decreased significantly in the SPCAs during hypercapnia. Using SLDF, blood flow, volume and velocity increased significantly during hypercapnia in the superior temporal quadrant of the peripapillary retina. No significant difference was observed between baseline and hypercapnia for POBF.

CONCLUSIONS

Isoxic hypercapnia resulted in an increase in peripapillary retinal and SPCA blood flow parameters as determined by SLDF and CDI respectively. This implies the presence of autoregulatory activity in these vasculatures. These findings may be of significance in the pathogenesis of ocular disease such as glaucoma where autoregulation is thought to be compromised.

Deregulated PAX-5 transcription from a translocated IgH promoter in marginal zone lymphoma

The PAX-5 gene codes for the transcription factor BSAP, which is expressed throughout B-cell development. Although loss-of-function mutation in the mouse showed an essential role for Pax-5 in early B lymphopoiesis, gain-of-function mutations have implicated the human PAX-5 gene in the control of late B-cell differentiation. PAX-5 (on 9p13) has been involved together with the immunoglobulin heavy-chain (IgH) gene (on 14q32) in the recurring t(9;14)(p13;q32) translocation that is characteristic of small lymphocytic lymphoma with plasmacytoid differentiation. Here we have characterized a complex t(2;9;14)(p12;p13;q32) translocation present in a closely related non-Hodgkin's lymphoma referred to as splenic marginal zone lymphoma (MZL). In this MZL-1 translocation, the two promoters of PAX-5 were replaced on the derivative chromosome 14 by an immunoglobulin switch Smicro promoter that was linked to the structural PAX-5 gene upstream of its translation initiation codon in exon 1B. Expression analyses confirmed that PAX-5 transcription was upregulated due to efficient initiation at the Smicro promoter in the malignant B lymphocytes of patient MZL-1. For comparison we have analyzed PAX-5 expression in another B-cell lymphoma, KIS-1, indicating that transcription from the distal PAX-5 promoter was increased in this tumor in agreement with the previously characterized translocation of the immunoglobulin Emicro; enhancer adjacent to PAX-5 exon 1A. In both lymphomas, the J-chain gene, which is thought to be under negative control by BSAP, was not expressed, whereas transcription of the putative target gene p53 was unaffected by PAX-5 overexpression. Together these data indicate that the t(9;14)(p13;q32) translocation contributes to lymphoma formation as a regulatory mutation that leads to increased PAX-5 expression in late B-cell differentiation due to promoter replacement or enhancer insertion.

Identification of BSAP (Pax-5) target genes in early B-cell development by loss- and gain-of-function experiments

The Pax-5 gene codes for the transcription factor BSAP which is essential for the progression of adult B lymphopoiesis beyond an early progenitor (pre-BI) cell stage. Although several genes have been proposed to be regulated by BSAP, CD19 is to date the only target gene which has been genetically confirmed to depend on this transcription factor for its expression. We have now taken advantage of cultured pre-BI cells of wild-type and Pax-5 mutant bone marrow to screen a large panel of B lymphoid genes for additional BSAP target genes. Four differentially expressed genes were shown to be under the direct control of BSAP, as their expression was rapidly regulated in Pax-5-deficient pre-BI cells by a hormone-inducible BSAP-estrogen receptor fusion protein. The genes coding for the B-cell receptor component Ig-alpha (mb-1) and the transcription factors N-myc and LEF-1 are positively regulated by BSAP, while the gene coding for the cell surface protein PD-1 is efficiently repressed. Distinct regulatory mechanisms of BSAP were revealed by reconstituting Pax-5-deficient pre-BI cells with full-length BSAP or a truncated form containing only the paired domain. IL-7 signalling was able to efficiently induce the N-myc gene only in the presence of full-length BSAP, while complete restoration of CD19 synthesis was critically dependent on the BSAP protein concentration. In contrast, the expression of the mb-1 and LEF-1 genes was already reconstituted by the paired domain polypeptide lacking any transactivation function, suggesting that the DNA-binding domain of BSAP is sufficient to recruit other transcription factors to the regulatory regions of these two genes. In conclusion, these loss- and gain-of-function experiments demonstrate that BSAP regulates four newly identified target genes as a transcriptional activator, repressor or docking protein depending on the specific regulatory sequence context.

Loss- and gain-of-function mutations reveal an important role of BSAP (Pax-5) at the start and end of B cell differentiation

Pax-5 codes for the transcription factor BSAP which is expressed throughout B cell development except in terminally differentiated plasma cells. Gene targeting experiments in the mouse revealed a differential dependency of fetal and adult B-lymphopoiesis on this transcription factor. BSAP is required for B-lineage commitment in the fetal liver and for progression beyond an early pro-B cell stage in adult bone marrow. The characterization of Pax-5-deficient pro-B cells demonstrated an important role of BSAP in the regulation of the CD19, mb-1 (Ig alpha) and N-myc genes as well as in the developmental pathway controlling VH-to-DHJH recombination at the immunoglobulin heavy-chain (IgH) locus. The human PAX-5 gene was recently shown to participate together with the IgH locus in the chromosomal translocation t(9;14)(p13;q32). This translocation is characteristic of a small subset of non-Hodgkin lymphomas exhibiting plasmacytoid differentiation. The translocated PAX-5 gene is deregulated by the insertion of IgH regulatory elements into its 5' region, which may contribute to tumorigenesis by interfering with the shut-down of PAX-5 transcription and thus with the completion of plasma cell differentiation.

A novel nonanticoagulant heparin prevents vascular endothelial cell dysfunction during hyperdynamic sepsis

Although a novel nonanticoagulant heparin (i.e., GM1892) produces various beneficial effects after hemorrhage and resuscitation, it remains unknown whether this agent has any salutary effects on the depressed vascular endothelial cell function during sepsis. To determine this, rats were subjected to sepsis by cecal ligation and puncture (CLP). At 1 h after CLP, GM1892 (7 or 14 mg/kg body wt), conventional heparin (7 or 14 mg/kg), or an equal volume of saline was administered intravenously. At 5 h after CLP (i.e., hyperdynamic sepsis), the thoracic aortae were isolated and placed in organ chambers. Dose-response relaxation curves were determined for acetylcholine (ACh; 10(-8) to 10(-5) M), which stimulates endothelial nitric oxide production, and for nitroglycerine (10(-9) to 10(-6) M), which directly provides nitric oxide in vivo. ACh-induced relaxation was depressed at 5 h after CLP while there was no significant alteration in nitroglycerine-induced relaxation. Treatment with 14 mg/kg GM1892 or 14 mg/kg heparin (but not with 7 mg/kg GM1892 or 7 mg/kg heparin), however, prevented the decrease of ACh-induced relaxation. Thus, GM1892 (which does not possess any significant anticoagulant properties) at the higher dosage appears to be useful for maintaining vascular endothelial cell function during hyperdynamic sepsis.

Familial Hirschsprung's disease: 20 cases in 12 kindreds

This report describes 20 infants and children with a family history of Hirschsprung's disease in 12 kindreds. A total of 260 patients were treated for Hirschsprung's disease (1972 to 1991), yielding a familial incidence of 8%. There were no families with consanguineous marriage. Sixteen patients were male and four were female. The mean age at diagnosis was 18 days. Clinical presentation included delayed passage of meconium in 15, abdominal distention in 11, vomiting in 9, feeding abnormalities in 3, and complete bowel obstruction in 1. Associated congenital anomalies occurred in 25% of the patients. The extent of aganglionosis was rectal in 4, sigmoid in 4, left colon in 2, transverse or right colon in 2, and total colonic in 8. Enterocolitis occurred in 7 patients (35%); 2 at diagnosis, 2 after an ostomy, and 3 after a pull-through procedure. There were no deaths associated with enterocolitis. All patients had a proximal diverting colostomy or ileostomy, and 19 of 20 underwent a definitive pull-through procedure. Three patients were lost to follow-up and one patient died of complications of multiple congenital anomalies unassociated with Hirschsprung's disease. Of the remaining 16 patients, all of whom have undergone a pull-through procedure, 11 are fully continent, 2 have nighttime soiling, 2 are too young to evaluate bowel function, and 1 still has an ostomy.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Hirschsprung's disease. Evaluation of mortality and long-term function in 260 cases

This report describes 260 patients treated for Hirschsprung's disease. There were 213 boys (82%) and 47 girls (18%). Age at diagnosis was younger than 30 days in 106 patients (41%), 1 month to 1 year in 90 patients (35%), and older than 1 year in 64 patients (25%). Diagnosis was achieved with barium enema and rectal biopsy. Aganglionosis involved the rectum or rectosigmoid in 174 patients (67%), the left colon in 38 patients (15%), and the proximal colon in 23 patients (9%); 25 patients (9%) had total colonic aganglionosis. Enterocolitis occurred in 47 cases (18%). Following an initial colostomy or ileostomy, a definitive pull-through procedure was performed in 247 patients (95%) (modified Duhamel in 185, Soave in 25, Swenson procedure in 15, and anomyectomy/sphincterotomy in 22); the overall survival rate was 93.8% (244 of 260 patients). An increased mortality was associated with Down syndrome, total colonic aganglionosis, and enterocolitis. Long-term follow-up (mean, 6 years 10 months) was available in 103 patients who underwent a Duhamel procedure. Sixty-seven (65%) had normal bowel function, 28 (27%) occasionally used enemas or stool softeners, and eight (8%) had severe constipation or soiling. Bowel habits improved with time and were considered normal in 58% of patients at less than 5 years of follow-up and in 88% of patients at more than 15 years of follow-up. The Duhamel operation is a very effective definitive procedure for Hirschsprung's disease. Long-term follow-up is an important component of patient care.