Diaspora tourism and well-being: a eudaimonic view

This study explored the links between diaspora tourism and SWB (subjective well-being) through the lens of eudaimonia and identified six themes through which this highly nuanced travel behaviour strengthens tourists’ SWB. Within the diaspora tourism context, the linkages between SWB and tourism can be rich and insightful considering important themes of personal growth, self/ancestral acceptance, interested in further exploration, feel related and connected, capability to return, and meaning in life. This research note recommends further in-depth studies on SWB and tourism by combining both hedonic and eudaimonic views

Luminescent detection of DNA-binding proteins

Transcription factors play a central role in cell development, differentiation and growth in biological systems due to their ability to regulate gene expression by binding to specific DNA sequences within the nucleus. The dysregulation of transcription factor signaling has been implicated in the pathogenesis of a number of cancers, developmental disorders, inflammation and autoimmunity. There is thus a high demand for convenient high-throughput methodologies able to detect sequence-specific DNA-binding proteins and monitor their DNA-binding activities. Traditional approaches for protein detection include gel mobility shift assays, DNA footprinting and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) which tend to be tedious, time-consuming, and may necessitate the use of radiographic labeling. By contrast, luminescence technologies offer the potential for rapid, sensitive and low-cost detection that are amenable to high-throughput and real-time analysis. The discoveries of molecular beacons and aptamers have spearheaded the development of new luminescent methodologies for the detection of proteins over the last decade. We survey here recent advances in the development of luminescent detection methods for DNA-binding proteins, including those based on molecular beacons, aptamer beacons, label-free techniques and exonuclease protection

Management of rheumatoid arthritis: consensus recommendations from the Hong Kong Society of Rheumatology

Given the recent availability of novel biologic agents for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), the Hong Kong Society of Rheumatology has developed consensus recommendations on the management of RA, which aim at providing guidance to local physicians on appropriate, literature-based management of this condition, specifically on the indications and monitoring of the biologic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs). The recommendations were developed using the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) recommendations for the management of early arthritis as a guide, along with local expert opinion. As significant joint damage occurs early in the course of RA, initiating therapy early is key to minimizing further damage and disability. Patients with serious disease or poor prognosis should receive early, aggressive therapy. Because of its good efficacy and safety profile, methotrexate is considered the standard first-line DMARD for most treatment-naïve RA patients. Patients with a suboptimal response to methotrexate monotherapy should receive step-up (combination) therapy with either the synthetic or biologic DMARDs. In recent years, combinations of methotrexate with tocilizumab, abatacept, or rituximab have emerged as effective therapies in patients who are unresponsive to traditional DMARDs or the anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α agents. As biologic agents can increase the risk of infections such as tuberculosis and reactivation of viral hepatitis, screening for the presence of latent tuberculosis and chronic viral hepatitis carrier state is recommended before initiating therapy

The influence of the built environment on neighbourhood-level walking behaviour and experience: A case study of Shenzhen

The built environment, defined as the man-made environment that provides the setting for human activity, plays a significant role in shaping people’s walking behaviour and experiences. A more walkable environment can have multiple benefits to both society and individuals, including creating safer, more livable and connected neighbourhoods, reducing traffic congestion, noise and air pollution through coordination with other public transport modes, and increasing individual health and well-being. Therefore, policies that aim at improving the built environment have attracted increasing attention from both researchers and practitioners. An upsurge of studies has revealed that neighbourhood built environmental features, such as population density, land-use mix, proximity to parks and public spaces, footpath condition and aesthetic qualities, may all influence individual’s walking intentions, frequencies and durations. However, despite the cumulating evidence on the effects of the built environment characteristics on people’s walking behaviour, the role of other person-related factors, such as attitudes, perceptions, meanings and place attachment has received much less attention and their connections with the built environment and walking have not been explored in sufficient detail. These factors may significantly shape people’s responses to the built environment. Neglecting the role of these person-related factors in the built environment – walking connections may result in biased results and reveal an incomplete picture of this relationship. In addition, most studies on walking and walkability are based on western contexts and grounded in Euro-American theories and worldviews, and it is timely to incorporate findings and insights derived from non-western settings to consider more cultural- and person-specific factors which may be significant in other socio-cultural contexts. In this thesis, I have employed a mixed-method approach to explore in what ways the built environment and person-related factors influence Chinese urban pedestrians’ walking behaviour and experience, using the case of Shenzhen, a rapidly developing city in China. The thesis presents results and implications from three empirical studies. First, a qualitative study was conducted to explore how pedestrians articulated their daily walking experience using semi-structured interviews. The results demonstrated that the participants’ walking experience and behaviour was a result of complex interactions between the built environment and a range of person-related factors that are embedded in the local socio-cultural context. Based on the findings from the qualitative inquiry, a subsequent quantitative study was conducted to investigate the effects of objective neighbourhood characteristics, perceived built environment, and walking attitudes on people’s walking behaviour. Using logistic regression analyses, significant interaction effects between the objective neighbourhood characteristics, perceived environment, and walking attitudes on the frequency of walking for specific purposes were identified. The findings showed that pedestrians’ walking attitudes could offset the negative effects of the objective neighbourhood environment, and these attitudes contributed positively to people’s walking frequency. Finally, in the third study, it is argued that walkability needs to be understood in a more relational way as emerging from current and past interactions between pedestrians and the environment. Based on this relational understanding of walkability, a multiple-scenario approach was proposed as a means to consider the heterogeneity of pedestrians and account for different situations in walkability assessment. The empirical analyses in the case of Shenzhen revealed that the level of walkability varies significantly between different walkability scenarios. It suggests that the use of multi-scenario approach could offer a multifaceted perspective in walkability assessment. Using a pedestrian-centred perspective, this thesis advances our understanding of the environmental influence on walking in a developing-city context and provides insights to future studies to consider other person-related factors in the built environment – walking relationships

Affective journeys in transatlantic slavery heritage : an auto-ethnographic study in Liverpool

This study draws upon non-representational theory and affective atmosphere to explore how two researcher-tourists affectively confront the slavery discourses of Liverpool. A performative auto- ethnography was conducted to exhibit the process of how complex and embodied feelings emerged in this understudied slavery space. The findings suggest affective encounters in slavery spaces represent a highly nuanced, intricate and personalised assemblage of sensing and feeling, shaped by uncertain, shifting and multiplicity of affective atmospheres co-constructed under the interplay between individuals, their encountered objects and bodies. Our reflections further unveil how visitors’ personal characteristics (identity, cultural values and understanding of Humanism) conflict with slavery discourses, and together shape their memorable journey. This study extends debates on human affect and embodiment in tourism scholarship by providing a cross-cultural and more-than-representational lens. The findings advance the human-centered approach in experience design which should privilege visitors’ personal characteristics and their embodied and deeper affective experiences

Diaspora tourism and well-being over life-courses

This research reconceptualises the linkages between tourism and well-being by considering well-being as dynamic assemblages that exist dependent on performative impacts of place, age, time, and contextual events. Adopting a biographical approach, we examined life histories of 26 Chinese migrants, and explored how diasporic return shaped their subjective well-being over life-courses. Based on their own articulations of home return experiences, meanings, feelings, and life purposes, four patterns of how the effects of diaspora tourism change over life-courses were identified, depending on individual's early exposures to home place and culture, age of first and later return, change of life purposes and conceptions of well-being. The findings encourage further debates over temporal variability in possible linkages between tourism and subjective well-being

A comparative analysis of railway patronage in two metropolitian [i.e.metropolitan] cities: Hong Kong and New YorkCity

published_or_final_versionGeographyMasterMaster of Philosoph

Towards a conceptual framework for diaspora tourism

Tourism scholars and practitioners tend to treat diaspora tourism as a homogeneous market whose needs can be met by generalized types of products. This assumption results in a gap between the origin and destination dimensions of this phenomenon, which may lead to unsatisfactory visiting experiences. In this paper, we conducted a critical review on a wide range of research undertaken on diaspora, migration and home return tourism, and proposed a conceptual framework by synthesizing significant themes in both dimensions identified from the review. The conceptual framework provides a holistic view for researchers and destination managers to examine diaspora tourism. It suggests that the demand dimension of diaspora tourism concerns the structure of diaspora communities; the diasporic individual’s migration histories, acculturation level and sense of place will determine their motives to return; the destination dimension involves debates on the issues of why current diasporic destinations and their products may not be able to meet the needs of different types of tourists. We aim to provide a comprehensive analysis on what diasporic destinations could consider in order to satisfy the needs of diaspora tourists in their future planning and strategy development