Does the listener matter? How a listener affects the storyteller’s memory of a tourism experience

Despite the breadth of literature on tourists’ narratives, the influence of the listener during storytelling on individuals’ travel memories has received little attention in tourism research. Interpersonal sharing with a listener could elicit a process called capitalization whereby the storyteller (re)constructs an experience to make it more memorable to the self. In light of this research gap, this study investigates how a listener could affect a storyteller’s memory of his/her travel experiences. Experiment 1 demonstrates that interpersonal sharing with a listener enhances tourists’ post-trip evaluation of positive experiences. Experiment 2 further examines how the nature of a listener’s responsiveness (i.e., specific or general responsiveness) could affect the storyteller’s memory and demonstrates that storytellers could also maximize details of negative experiences, thereby worsening their cognitive and affective images of the destination after interpersonal sharing. These findings have important managerial implications in service experiences and customer-relationship building in tourism and hospitality settings

Essays on migration

There has been a resurgence of immigrants in western countries over the past few decades. Although most immigrants choose a "traditional" destination, such as Australia, Canada and the United States, many other countries are receiving relatively large immigrant flows. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) International Migration Outlook 2009, 10 per cent of the population in the United Kingdom (UK) was foreign-born in 2007. As a result, the impact of immigration on the host economy has always been a contentious topic in the host countries. The political debate is centered on three substantive topics. First, how do immigrants perform in the host country's labour market? Second, what impact do immigrants have on the labour outcomes of natives? Finally, which immigration policy most benefits the host country? This thesis embarks on the first topic with respect to Australia and the UK. Chapter 2 explores the impact of English proficiency on the labour supply of recent immigrants in Australia. While previous research has shown that English ability is important for participation and employment, almost no research, and none in Australia, has been done with respect to hours worked by immigrants. This study uses the second cohort of the Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Australia (LSIA) data to estimate a Chamberlain-style Tobit random effects estimator. The results suggest that English ability is positively related to hours worked by immigrants. Chapter 3 investigates the impact of social security payments on the labour supply of recent immigrants to Australia after the policy change. This research uses the first wave of two sets of LSIA data as treatment group and Survey of Income and Housing (SIH) as control group to analyse the short-term immigrant labour market outcomes before and after the policy change. Employing difference-in-differences estimators and propensity score matching procedures, this study suggests that welfare reform caused a substantial increase in the employment of immigrants. This might imply that restricted access to welfare produced a higher proportion of new immigrants who more actively looked for jobs. Chapter 4 examines some aspects of the labour market outcomes of Muslim immigrants in the United Kingdom after the terrorist attacks. Research found that the terrorist attack of September 11th was associated with a temporary decline in US Arab and Muslim men's weekly earnings and real wages of around 9 to 11 per cent. This has been interpreted as an increase in discrimination against those groups following the attack. However, other evidence shows that in Sweden the terrorist attack did not change Middle East immigrants' job-searching behaviour because of increased discrimination from employers. A possible explanation is that, since September 11th occurred in the US, the reaction against Arab and Muslim men was more severe there than elsewhere, even though nationals from 90 other countries were also killed. Against this background, the purpose of this chapter is to examine the labour market experiences of UK-based Arab and Muslim immigrants. They could have been affected by either September 11" (that killed 67 UK nationals) or the London bombings of 7th July 2005 (that killed 52 UK nationals), or both. The labour market outcomes of UK-based Arab and Muslim immigrants following both September 11th and the London bombings are explored, using the Quarterly UK Labour Force Survey data. Two difference-in-differences models are estimated - one for September 11th, and the other for the London Bombings and the analysis is carried out separately for men and women. The results suggest that, while September 11th had a lesser impact on the labour market outcomes of UK Arab and Muslim women, the London bombings had a statistically significant negative impact. These findings suggest that physical distance does matter for reaction to terrorist attacks

Autophagy in Multidrug-Resistant Cancers

Multidrug resistance (MDR) in cancers is the major challenge in cancer therapy, thus the development of sensitizing agents or small molecules with new mechanisms of action to kill the resistant cancers is highly desired. Autophagy is a cellular process responsible for the turnover of misfolded proteins or damaged organelles and recycling of nutrients to maintain cellular homeostasis. Recently, autophagy has been shown to regulate MDR in cancers. In this chapter, both intrinsic and acquired drug resistance affecting the efficiency of chemotherapy, and the MDR mechanisms including nonclassical MDR phenotype and classical transport-based MDR phenotype were discussed. In addition, the development of apoptosis-resistant cancer by the deregulation of apoptotic gene machinery, such as BCL-2, BAX, BAK, and TRAILR, was also covered. We then further discussed the controversial role of autophagy by illustrating how induction of autophagy could work as a tumor suppressor or promote tumor survival. The modulation of MDR in cancer by either induction or inhibition of autophagy was also discussed. We have further summarized the current compounds or drugs for modulating MDR cancers and how autophagy modulators could circumvent the MDR phenotypes in cancers. Finally, the new mechanisms participating in MDR phenotypes were proposed for future MDR drugs discovery

Immunotherapeutic Approaches of Rheumatoid Arthritis and the Implication on Novel Interventions for Refractoriness

Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disorder involving the chronic inflammation of affected joints which lead to the distortion and eventually destruction of the articular tissues. Clinically, many therapeutic methods are being used for RA treatment. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), steroid, and disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) are the three main categories of intervention approaches. Among which DMARDs, targeting mainly the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines, demonstrated high efficacy because of its direct drug action that alter the underlying disease mechanisms rather than simply to mediate symptoms relieve. However, the use of DMARDs also accompanying some unwanted adverse side effects, in particular, the development of refractoriness, which hampers the successful rate of treatment. In this chapter, the conventional RA drugs will be reviewed, focusing on the currently used and latest development of DMARDs. Novel methods that could improve RA pathogenesis will also be introduced. Because of the critical role of refractory RA, the progress of the disease to develop resistance to standard drug treatment will also be described. Finally, innovative RA therapeutic methods inspired by researches concerning the pathogenesis and contemporary treatments of RA will be discussed

Visual Outcomes, Quality of Vision, and Quality of Life of Diffractive Multifocal Intraocular Lens Implantation after Myopic Laser In Situ Keratomileusis: A Prospective, Observational Case Series

Purpose. To report visual performance and quality of life after implantation of a bifocal diffractive multifocal intraocular lens (MIOL) in postmyopic laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK) patients. Methods. Prospective, observational case series. Patients with prior myopic LASIK who had implantation of Tecnis ZMA00/ZMB00 MIOL (Abbott Medical Optics) at Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital were included. Postoperative examinations included monocular and binocular distance, intermediate and near visual acuity (VA), and contrast sensitivity; visual symptoms (0–5); satisfaction (1–5); spectacle independence rate; and quality of life. Results. Twenty-three patients (27 eyes) were included. No intraoperative complications developed. Mean monocular uncorrected VA at distance, intermediate, and near were 0.13±0.15 (standard deviation), 0.22±0.15, and 0.16±0.15, respectively. Corresponding mean values for binocular uncorrected VA were 0.00±0.10, 0.08±0.13, and 0.13±0.10, respectively. No eyes lost >1 line of corrected distance VA. Contrast sensitivity at different spatial frequencies between operated and unoperated eyes did not differ significantly (all P>0.05). Mean score for halos, night glare, starbursts, and satisfaction were 1.46±1.62, 1.85±1.69, 0.78±1.31, and 3.50±1.02, respectively. Eighteen patients (78%) reported complete spectacle independence. Mean composite score of the quality-of-life questionnaire was 90.31±8.50 out of 100. Conclusions. Implantation of the MIOL after myopic LASIK was safe and achieved good visual performance

Quantum dot-doped porous silicon metal–semiconductor metal photodetector

In this paper, we report on the enhancement of spectral photoresponsivity of porous silicon metal–semiconductor metal (PS-MSM) photodetector embedded with colloidal quantum dots (QDs) inside the pore layer. The detection efficiency of QDs/PS hybrid-MSM photodetector was enhanced by five times larger than that of the undoped PS-MSM photodetector. The bandgap alignment between PS (approximately 1.77 eV) and QDs (approximately 1.91 eV) facilitates the photoinduced electron transfer from QDs to PS whereby enhancing the photoresponsivity. We also showed that the photoresponsitivity of QD/PS hybrid-MSM photodetector depends on the number of layer coatings of QDs and the pore sizes of PS.Published versio

Texas Law Review

Journal containing articles, notes, book reviews, and other analyses of law and legal cases

Texas Law Review

Journal containing articles, notes, book reviews, and other analyses of law and legal cases

Texas Law Review

Journal containing articles, notes, book reviews, and other analyses of law and legal cases