Co-Creating Innovative Tourist Experiences: Towards an Integrative Framework

Co-creating tourist experiences helps create value for the tourists resulting from their interactions with tourism service providers and the physical environment. However, the practices and procedures that drive the co-creation of innovative tourist experiences are still not clear. We address this research gap by combining the resource-based view (RBV) and service-dominant (S-D) logic to develop specific hypotheses about the mediating role of value co-creation in the process by which internal and external resource orientations impact radical and incremental innovations, which in turn influence tourist experience and outcomes (brand advocacy and revisit intentions). We find support for most of our hypotheses using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to analyze data from matching samples of 191 tourists and managers in tourism provider firms in India. Specifically, external (but not internal) resource orientation positively affects both incremental and radical innovations, which in turn positively impact tourist experience, brand advocacy and revisit intentions. Finally, value co-creation fully mediates the positive effect of internal (but not external) resource orientation on both incremental and radical innovations. These findings would help tourism providers design co-creative and innovative tourism strategies to manage and improve tourist experiences as well as their brand advocacy and revisit intentions

The Debt-Equity Choice of Japanese Firms

Prior studies on the debt-equity choice of firms focus on capital market oriented economies. This paper examines whether firms in Japan, the world’s largest bank-oriented economy, adjust their debt-equity choice towards the target. We find that the leverage ratios of Japanese firms do adjust slowly towards their target levels. The adjustment speed has dwindled after the Asian Financial Crisis. In contrast to existing literature, we show that an increase in tangible assets reduces the leverage ratio of firms in Japan. It is also found that the effect of financial deficit is persistent while the market timing effect is not

Evaluation of the Project P.A.T.H.S. in Mainland China: Findings Based on Student Diaries

Objectives: Based on 859 student diaries, the present study evaluated a positive youth development program entitled “Tin Ka Ping (TKP) Positive Adolescent Training through Holistic Social programs (P.A.T.H.S.) ” project implemented in mainland China during the 2015–2016 academic year. Method: To understand the perceived effectiveness of the students, the study analyzed quantitative as well as qualitative data derived from the student diaries. Results: The students held very positive views toward the program and the implementers. The narratives of the students also showed that they perceived improvement in the intrapersonal, interpersonal, familial, and societal domains after joining the program. Conclusion: In conjunction with the subjective outcome evaluation findings, the present findings suggest that the “TKP P.A.T.H.S.” project is able to promote holistic development of secondary school students in mainland China

Corpus of Mandarin Child Language: a preliminary study on the acquisition of semantic content categories in Mandarin-speaking preschoolers

In studying language acquisition in children, sizable research studies have been focusing on the investigation of form and lexical semantics. This study aims to establish a child language database annotated both syntactically with part of speech and semantically with semantic content category to supplement the study of child language acquisition in the semantic domain beyond lexical level. The Corpus of Mandarin Child Language (CMCL) that documented the production of different semantic content categories by Mandarin-speaking children was established. Naturalistic language samples of 82 native Mandarin-speaking children aged 25–60 months, divided into three age groups, were obtained. The corresponding semantic content categories coded in each utterance were tagged according to previous studies, in addition to the annotations of part of speech. MLU and lexical diversity were examined and the usage and acquisition of different semantic content categories were also analyzed. The results regarding syntactic complexity and lexical diversity replicated the typical language acquisition pattern from previous studies, which supported the validity of the data obtained in the CMCL. To investigate the trajectory of acquisition of various semantic content categories by age, a 90% acquisition criterion was used. Our findings regarding the acquisition order of semantic content category were basically in line with previous studies in general, with some minor differences. This acquisition order observed is largely explained by the cognitive and syntactic complexity associated with the semantic content category, with additional influence from language specific properties and cultural specific factors of Mandarin. In addition, with the tags in both part-of-speech and semantic content category, the CMCL potentially provides a platform for examining the form-content interface in early child language acquisition, which also implies significantly on the theoretical and clinical ground

Photo-reactive charge trapping memory based on lanthanide complex

Traditional utilization of photo-induced excitons is popularly but restricted in the fields of photovoltaic devices as well as photodetectors, and efforts on broadening its function have always been attempted. However, rare reports are available on organic field effect transistor (OFET) memory employing photo-induced charges. Here, we demonstrate an OFET memory containing a novel organic lanthanide complex Eu(tta)<sub>3</sub> ppta (Eu(tta)<sub>3</sub> = Europium(III) thenoyltrifluoroacetonate, ppta = 2-phenyl-4,6-bis(pyrazol-1-yl)-1,3,5-triazine), in which the photo-induced charges can be successfully trapped and detrapped. The luminescent complex emits intense red emission upon ultraviolet (UV) light excitation and serves as a trapping element of holes injected from the pentacene semiconductor layer. Memory window can be significantly enlarged by light-assisted programming and erasing procedures, during which the photo-induced excitons in the semiconductor layer are separated by voltage bias. The enhancement of memory window is attributed to the increasing number of photo-induced excitons by the UV light. The charges are stored in this luminescent complex for at least 10<sup>4</sup>s after withdrawing voltage bias. The present study on photo-assisted novel memory may motivate the research on a new type of light tunable charge trapping photo-reactive memory devices

Early exclusion of major adverse cardiac events in emergency department chest pain patients: A prospective observational study

Background The current evaluation of patients with chest pain presenting to an emergency department (ED) with suspected acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is a lengthy process involving serial measurements of troponin. Objective We aimed to validate the diagnostic accuracy of a Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction (TIMI) score with single high-sensitive cardiac troponin T (hs-cTnT) for early rule out of 30-day major adverse cardiac events (MACE), and to compare the TIMI score with combinations of heart-type fatty acid binding protein (H-FABP) and a modified HEART (history, electrocardiogram, age, risk factors, troponin) score. Methods We recruited 602 consecutive adult patients with chest pain and suspected ACS in the ED. Each patient had TIMI and HEART scores, and a point-of-care H-FABP test. Results MACE occurred in 42 (7.0%) patients within 30 days. A low risk for 30-day MACE was identified by a modified TIMI score of 0 in 65 (11%) patients, and by a HEART score ≤ 2 in 96 (16%) patients. No MACE occurred in these groups, giving both scores a sensitivity of 100% (95% confidence interval [CI] 91.6–100%), and specificity of 11.6% (95% CI 9.2–14.5%) and 17.1% (95% CI 14.2–20.5%), respectively. Use of combined TIMI and HEART scores improved the specificity further to 22.0% (95% CI 18.7–25.6%) without lowering sensitivity. Early H-FABP measurement > 7 μg/L had a sensitivity of 41.5% (95% CI 27.8–56.6%) and a specificity of 91.1% (95% CI 88.4–93.2%) for predicting 30-day MACE. Conclusions A modified TIMI score of 0 or a HEART score of ≤ 2, incorporating a single hs-cTnT level, will identify patients with low risk of 30-day MACE for early discharge within 2 h of ED arrival

State Ownership, Legal Institution, and Independent Director Compensation: An Exploratory Study in China

This study examines the determinants of independent director compensation in China, with particular interest in the impact of state ownership and legal institutions. Controlling for the characteristics of directors, boards, and firms, we find independent director compensation is positively related to attributes of a director’s human and social capital such as education, effort, professional expertise, and connections (guanxi). We show that independent director pay is determined differently across ownership structures. Independent directors are paid less in companies owned by local government units, and independent directors in such companies are paid less in a region with more greatly developed legal institutions. This study contributes to the limited literature on independent director compensation by extending beyond the market economies to explore the determinants of independent director compensation in a transitional economy such as China. It also adds to the literature on legal institutions by examining the impact of legal development on compensation. Finally, this study informs the public of the current compensation practice, which will facilitate future policy making

Cardiovascular outcomes and hospitalizations in Asian patients receiving immune checkpoint inhibitors: a population-based study.

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) have known associations with cardiotoxicity. However, a representative quantification of the adverse cardiovascular events and cardiovascular attendances amongst Asian users of ICI has been lacking. This retrospective cohort study identified all ICI users in Hong Kong, China, between 2013-2021. All patients were followed up until the end of 2021 for the primary outcome of major adverse cardiovascular event (MACE; a composite of cardiovascular mortality, myocardial infarction, heart failure, and stroke). Patients with prior diagnosis of any component of MACE were excluded from all MACE analyses. In total, 4324 patients were analysed (2905 (67.2%) males; median age 63.5 years old (interquartile range 55.4-70.7 years old); median follow-up 1.0 year (interquartile range 0.4-2.3 years)), of whom 153 were excluded from MACE analyses due to prior events. MACE occurred in 116 (2.8%) with an incidence rate (IR) of 1.7 [95% confidence interval: 1.4, 2.0] events per 100 patient-years; IR was higher within the first year of follow-up (2.9 [2.3, 3.5] events per 100 patient-years). Cardiovascular hospitalization(s) occurred in 188 (4.4%) with 254 episodes (0.5% of all episodes) and 1555 days of hospitalization (1.3% of all hospitalized days), for whom the IR of cardiovascular hospitalization was 5.6 [4.6, 6.9] episodes per 100 person-years with 52.9 [39.8, 70.3] days' stay per 100 person-years. Amongst Asian users of ICI, MACE was uncommon, and a small proportion of hospitalizations was cardiovascular in nature. Most MACE and cardiovascular hospitalizations occurred during the first year after initiating ICI. [Abstract copyright: Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Justifying top management pay in a transitional economy

We investigate some aspects of top management pay in China\u27s listed firms. We find positive pay and performance sensitivities and elasticities for top executives. In terms of magnitude, these sensitivities are similar to those reported in U.S. firms during the 1970s. However, the pay and performance relation is slightly weaker for firms located in less developed provinces. We also find that the pay disparities between top managers and employees are positively related to a firm\u27s performance. Thus, it appears that any deviation away from a manager-worker compensation norm has to be justified by superior firm performance. In additional analyses, we find that managers\u27 perquisites are not related to performance