Tourist emotion-learning nexus: A case of Sertar, China

This paper discusses the nexus between tourists\u27 emotions and learning at a religious site, Sertar, in China. Based on Kolb\u27s learning cycle, this qualitative study proposes a conceptual framework regarding the connections between tourist attraction stimuli, tourist emotions, and tourist learning outcomes. The findings reveal that tourists have experienced mixed and intense emotions and obtained valuable learning outcomes, including changes in attitudes toward life, changes in attitudes toward others, changes in values and beliefs, and cross-cultural awareness. Tourist emotions play a vital role in triggering reflection and further generating transformative learning. Negative emotions could also result in positive learning and future behavior intentions. Practical implications are offered to destination marketers to design experience products and individuals seeking learning and eudaimonia

Young Chinese Tourists’ Motivations to Engage in Collaborative Information Behaviour for Group Holidays

This paper reports work inprogress from an ongoing investigation of young Chinese tourists’ collaborative information behaviour (CIB). Much existing research around CIB focuses on information seekingepisodes while the circumstances where CIB occurs remain unclear. Thisstudy addresses thisgap by investigatingmotivations to engagein CIB, paving the way towards a holistic perspective of CIBprocess. Following a groundedtheoryapproach, data was collected from sevengroups of young Chinese independent tourists travelling to Australia via interviews and self-kept diaries. Preliminaryresults revealed group holidaymakers’broad and complex information needsfallinginto three categories, with properties beingevolvingand dynamic. Five dimensions of motivations to engagein CIBwere identified, including gathering rich information, shaping specific information needs, sharing information seekingworkload, accommodating each member\u27s preferences and opinions, and sense of participation. We present these emerging results, provide design implications on tourist-centred informationsystems, andpropose further researchdirection

Characteristics and sources of black carbon aerosol in a mega-city in the western Yangtze River Delta, China

International audienceA single particle soot photometer (SP2) was deployed in urban Nanjing, located in the Yangtze River Delta (China), to investigate the mixing state and sources of ambient refractory black carbon (rBC) from 26 January to 25 February 2014, along with an in-situ measurement of submicron aerosol chemical species by an aerodyne aerosol chemical speciation monitor (ACSM). The results showed that anthropogenic activities associated with firework emissions can be a significant source for rBC-containing particles during the period of the Chinese New Year, resulting from the evident peaks of rBC at midnight. During the residual periods, namely regular day (RD), the diurnal cycles of rBC presented two typical peaks that can be attributed to a synergistic influence of local traffic emissions and boundary layer changes throughout a day. Three coating factors, including organics, sulfate, and nitrate (-rich), were resolved using a positive matrix factorization (PMF) approach to explain the potential contribution of non-rBC coatings (i.e., organics, sulfate, and nitrate) to the coating thickness of rBC-containing particles. As the results show, organic aerosols (OAs) might be a major contributor to the coating thickness of rBC-coating particles during the whole period. The relative coating thickness (a ratio between coated particle size to BC core) exhibited a positive relationship with sulfate, indicative of the favorable coating factor during the episode caused by firework emissions. Source apportionment of rBC was performed via a multiple linear regression between the total rBC mass and each ACSM-PMF factor (rBC-ACSM-PMF). On average, biomass burning emissions accounted for 43%, being the largest contributor during the RD period, whereas local traffic emissions played a major role during the new year time

Seasonal size distribution and mixing state of black carbon aerosols in a polluted urban environment of the Yangtze River Delta region, China

The optical properties of black carbon aerosols (BC) are determined by the particles size and the associated non-BC materials, which may be source-related or modified during secondary processing. The one-year long monitoring of BC was first conducted using a Single Particle Soot Photometer (SP2) from December 2013 to November 2014 in Nanjing, a megacity in the Yangtze River Delta region of China. The seasonal variation in the BC size distribution and mixing state were investigated. There was no apparent systematic variation in the mean BC core mass median diameter between seasons, as these values were 226 +/- 12 nm, 217 +/- 13 nm, 211 +/- 15 nm and 221 +/- 12 nm for winter, spring, summer and autumn respectively. The mixing state of BC was quantified as the bulk relative coating thickness (defined as particle size D(p )over core size D-c, D-p/D-c), which ranged from 1.05 to 2.65. The BC was found to be significantly more coated in the winter (D-p/D-c = 1.50 +/- 0.30) than in other seasons (D-p/D-c = 1.27 +/- 0.09, 1.28 +/- 0.10, 1.27 +/- 0.11 in spring, summer and autumn respectively). Higher levels of coating during the winter may due to the contributions of the primary source (with the highest BC mass loadings between seasons) or secondary processes such as low temperature that facilitated the condensation. It was found that the photochemical process may enhance the coatings on BC in summer. At nighttime, the reduced and stabilized planetary boundary layer and the nighttime secondary formation may also lead to BC becoming well mixed with other components. Moreover. BC was shown to be less coated when the NOx concentration was high. However, during all seasons, the BC coating was strongly correlated with other non-BC particulate mass, which suggests that at higher pollution levels BC was more significantly coated with other existing materials through coagulation or condensation by other secondary species