A STUDY ON THE BENEFITS OF SPORTS TOURISM ON CITY MARKETING

The purpose of this study is to explore the benefits of sports tourism on city marketing. In recent years, Taiwan has been actively striving for the marketing of large-scale sports events in the development of international sports. The host city uses the resources invested before the holding of the sports event to develop sports tourism attractions, develop sports tourism policies, and make good use of marketing and promotion strategies to shape the city’s image; and uses media marketing as a tourism promotion tool to expand Taiwan’s sports tourism facets which would bring huge tourism effects. This study organizes the research of past scholars by way of literature discussion, and then collects, organizes and analyzes the data. It is concluded that Taiwan has opened up its international reputation through international large-scale sports events and city marketing. From the experience of hosting international large-scale events, Taiwan not only attracts countless domestic and foreign tourists, but also promotes its city’s culture, tourism, and economy. The vigorous development of related industries, the enhancement of sports tourism quality and the improvement of sports tourism image in Taiwan are also achieved. Finally, international large-scale events revitalize the city to bring business opportunities and make such events the pride of the city. Therefore, this study serves as a reference for future exploration of sports tourism development and city marketing issues, integrating relevant resources, and providing reference for relevant organizations to jointly build Taiwan as a sports tourism island. JEL: L10; L80; L83 Article visualizations

Influence of substrate on corneal epithelial cell viability within ocular surface models

Corneal tissue engineering has improved dramatically over recent years. It is now possible to apply these technological advancements to the development of superior in vitro ocular surface models to reduce animal testing. We aim to show the effect different substrates can have on the viability of expanded corneal epithelial cells and that those which more accurately mimic the stromal surface provide the most protection against toxic assault. Compressed collagen gel as a substrate for the expansion of a human epithelial cell line was compared against two well-known substrates for modeling the ocular surface (polycarbonate membrane and conventional collagen gel). Cells were expanded over 10 days at which point cell stratification, cell number and expression of junctional proteins were assessed by electron microscopy, immunohistochemistry and RT-PCR. The effect of increasing concentrations of sodium lauryl sulphate on epithelial cell viability was quantified by MTT assay. Results showed improvement in terms of stratification, cell number and tight junction expression in human epithelial cells expanded upon either the polycarbonate membrane or compressed collagen gel when compared to a the use of a conventional collagen gel. However, cell viability was significantly higher in cells expanded upon the compressed collagen gel. We conclude that the more naturalistic composition and mechanical properties of compressed collagen gels produces a more robust corneal model