Exploring the Status Quo of All-for-one Tourism Development in Meishan City, China: Insights from Local Travel Influencers

All-for-one tourism is a newly proposed concept that aims to promote the transformation of national tourism development in China. Few research studies have focused on the current industry practice of all-for-one tourism in China. A qualitative case study, grounded in an interpretivist paradigm, was conducted to investigate the status quo of all-for-one tourism development in Meishan City, China. In-depth interviews were conducted with 15 local travel influencers based on opinion leadership theory. Thematic content analysis was utilized to analyze study data. Study findings revealed that implementing all-for-one tourism was limited by the lack of a clear tourism strategy, uncoordinated development, and low-quality public services. But efforts had been made to support all-for-one tourism in the public service system, tourism supply chain, tourism market order, destination brand strategy, and marketing effectiveness

From Serendipity to Sustainability: Exploring the Content Creation and Sharing Experiences of Local Travel Influencers in China

The study explored content creation and sharing experiences of local travel influencers in Meishan City, China. A qualitative phenomenological methodology was used to conduct in-depth interviews with 15 local travel influencers based on social exchange theory and its reciprocal principles. Thematic content analysis was used to analyse data. Study findings showed that being a local travel influencer was an emerging occupation requiring comprehensive competence in specific contextual and cultural backgrounds. Although travel influencers’ initial rise to popularity was often serendipitous, supportive policies from the local tourism community could assist travel influencers in achieving sustainable tourism. Local travel influencers face several challenges including staying authentic, monetizing content, dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, avoiding homogenous content, and managing work load. Local travel influencers could serve as a significant liaison between tourists and the local tourism community by collaborating with local tourism stakeholders, building a local multi-layer media matrix, co-creating promotional content, and live-streaming e-commerce. Study findings have theoretical and practical implications for tourism stakeholders in integrating regional tourism community development with local influencer networks

Generation and sampling of quantum states of light in a silicon chip

Implementing large instances of quantum algorithms requires the processing of many quantum information carriers in a hardware platform that supports the integration of different components. While established semiconductor fabrication processes can integrate many photonic components, the generation and algorithmic processing of many photons has been a bottleneck in integrated photonics. Here we report the on-chip generation and processing of quantum states of light with up to eight photons in quantum sampling algorithms. Switching between different optical pumping regimes, we implement the Scattershot, Gaussian and standard boson sampling protocols in the same silicon chip, which integrates linear and nonlinear photonic circuitry. We use these results to benchmark a quantum algorithm for calculating molecular vibronic spectra. Our techniques can be readily scaled for the on-chip implementation of specialised quantum algorithms with tens of photons, pointing the way to efficiency advantages over conventional computers

Protective effect of grifolin against brain injury in an acute cerebral ischemia rat model

Purpose: To evaluate the protective effects of grifolin against brain injury in an acute cerebral ischemia rat model.Methods: Rats were assigned to five groups: control, negative control, and grifolin (50, 100, and 200 mg/kg, p.o.) treated groups, which received the drug for 2 weeks. All the animals were sacrificed at the end of the protocol, and tissue homogenates were prepared from isolated brain tissue. Glutathione peroxidase (GPX), superoxide dismutase (SOD), malondialdehyde (MDA), and nitric oxide (NO), as oxidative stress indicators, were determined for the tissue homogenates of the ischemic rats. Inflammatory mediators (cytokines and nuclear factor kappa B p65, NF κB), DNA damage, and ATP and caspase 3 levels in the tissue homogenates were also assessed.Results: Treatment with grifolin increased SOD and GPX significantly and decreased MDA and NO levels in tissue homogenates of the cerebral ischemic rats compared with those in the negative control group (p < 0.05). Treatment with grifolin also attenuated the altered levels of inflammatory mediators (cytokines and NF-κB), caspase 3, and ATP levels in the tissue homogenate of cerebral ischemic rats (p < 0.05). The results of comet assay on the tissue homogenate suggest that treatment with grifolin reduced or prevented damage.Conclusions: The results show that treatment with grifolin protects against neuronal damage in acute cerebral ischemic rats via its anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant properties.Keywords: Neuroprotection, Cerebral ischemia, Brain injury, DNA, Grifolin, Anti oxidan

Multidimensional quantum entanglement with large-scale integrated optics

The ability to control multidimensional quantum systems is key for the investigation of fundamental science and for the development of advanced quantum technologies. Here we demonstrate a multidimensional integrated quantum photonic platform able to robustly generate, control and analyze high-dimensional entanglement. We realize a programmable bipartite entangled system with dimension up to $15 \times 15$ on a large-scale silicon-photonics quantum circuit. The device integrates more than 550 photonic components on a single chip, including 16 identical photon-pair sources. We verify the high precision, generality and controllability of our multidimensional technology, and further exploit these abilities to demonstrate key quantum applications experimentally unexplored before, such as quantum randomness expansion and self-testing on multidimensional states. Our work provides a prominent experimental platform for the development of multidimensional quantum technologies.Comment: Science, (2018

Tibetan sheep have a high capacity to absorb and to regulate metabolism of SCFA in the rumen epithelium to adapt to low energy intake

The nutritional intake of Tibetan sheep on the harsh Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau is often under maintenance requirements, especially during the long, cold winter. However, they have adapted well and even thrive under these conditions. The aim of the present study was to gain insight into how the rumen epithelium of Tibetan sheep has adapted to the consumption of low-energy-level diets. For this purpose, we compared Tibetan and small-tailed Han sheep (n 24 of each breed, all wethers and 1 center dot 5 years of age), which were divided randomly into one of four groups and offered ad libitum diets of different digestible energy (DE) densities: 8 center dot 21, 9 center dot 33, 10 center dot 45 and 11 center dot 57 MJ DE/kg DM. The Tibetan sheep had higher rumen concentrations of total SCFA, acetate, butyrate and iso-acids but lower concentrations of propionate than small-tailed Han sheep. The Tibetan sheep had higher absorption capability of SCFA due to the greater absorption surface area and higher mRNA expression of the SCFA absorption relative genes than small-tailed Han sheep. For the metabolism of SCFA in the rumen epithelium, the small-tailed Han sheep showed higher utilisation of the ketogenesis pathway than Tibetan sheep; however, Tibetan sheep had greater regulation capacity in SCFA metabolism pathways. These differences between breeds allowed the Tibetan sheep to have greater capability of absorbing SCFA and better capacity to regulate the metabolism of SCFA, which would allow them to cope with low energy intake better than small-tailed Han sheep

Seasonal variations in the fatty acid profile of milk from yaks grazing on the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau

An experiment was conducted to study the seasonal changes in the fatty acid profile of milk from yaks (Bos grunniens) when kept at altitudes of 3000m above sea level (a.s.l.) and higher. Data and samples were collected in summer (July), autumn (September), winter (November) and spring (March) from ten lactating yaks (four in spring). The yaks grazed pastures adjacent to the farm building throughout the year. In spring only they received 0·6kg crop by-products per day (dry matter basis). Fresh alpine grasses, available in summer and autumn, showed high concentrations of α-linolenic acid (46-51g/100g lipids) compared with the dry, yellow vegetation of winter and spring (16g/100g lipids). In autumn and summer, the milk fat had higher concentrations of polyunsaturated fatty acids than in winter. These polyunsaturated fatty acids were comprised of vaccenic acid, rumenic acid and α-linolenic acid, which are all considered beneficial to human health. The rare fatty acid, γ-linolenic acid, was also detected in yak milk, especially in the milk obtained in spring. The results suggest that yak milk, which is the most important basic food of the Tibetan herders, has the most favourable fatty acid profile when yaks grazed green pasture, which also corresponds to the period of highest milk productio