Browsing by Author "Wu H"

Now showing 1 - 8 of 8
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    A novel mutation in IAA16 is associated with dicamba resistance in Chenopodium album
    (John Wiley and Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry, 2024-07) Ghanizadeh H; He L; Griffiths AG; Harrington KC; Carbone V; Wu H; Tian K; Bo H; Xinhui D
    BACKGROUND: Resistance to dicamba in Chenopodium album was first documented over a decade ago, however, the molecular basis of dicamba resistance in this species has not been elucidated. In this research, the resistance mechanism in a dicamba-resistant C. album phenotype was investigated using a transcriptomics (RNA-sequence) approach. RESULTS: The dose-response assay showed that the resistant (R) phenotype was nearly 25-fold more resistant to dicamba than a susceptible (S) phenotype of C. album. Also, dicamba treatment significantly induced transcription of the known auxin-responsive genes, Gretchen Hagen 3 (GH3), small auxin-up RNAs (SAURs), and 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate synthase (ACS) genes in the susceptible phenotype. Comparing the transcripts of auxin TIR/AFB receptors and auxin/indole-3-acetic acid (AUX/IAA) proteins identified from C. album transcriptomic analysis revealed that the R phenotype contained a novel mutation at the first codon of the GWPPV degron motif of IAA16, resulting in an amino acid substitution of glycine (G) with aspartic acid (D). Sequencing the IAA16 gene in other R and S individuals further confirmed that all the R individuals contained the mutation. CONCLUSION: In this research, we describe the dicamba resistance mechanism in the only case of dicamba-resistant C. album reported to date. Prior work has shown that the dicamba resistance allele confers significant growth defects to the R phenotype investigated here, suggesting that dicamba-resistant C. album carrying this novel mutation in the IAA16 gene may not persist at high frequencies upon removal of dicamba application.
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    Analyzing Hong Kong’s Inbound Tourism: The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic
    (Elsevier, 5/11/2021) Tsui WHK; Fu X; Chen T; Lei Z; Wu H
    This study empirically investigates the determinants and drivers of Hong Kong’s inbound tourism using data from January 2019 to December 2020. Five of Hong Kong’s major regional tourism source markets are selected: Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and South Korea. Our empirical results suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic has had significant negative impacts on the tourism and aviation sectors in Hong Kong that are asymmetric in the source and destination countries. In addition, international travel control imposed by the Hong Kong government is often defined according to the pandemic situation in the tourism source countries, Hong Kong’s inbound visitor volume is also significantly affected by the Hong Kong government’s response to COVID-19 infection cases in the tourism origin markets. Our empirical results also suggest that the flying distance to Hong Kong and high tourism costs in Hong Kong reduced visitor arrival demand, whereas increased aviation services and tourism market potential contributed to tourism growth. These results suggest that the tourism industry and government agencies should cooperate to recover when the pandemic is under good control, so that Hong Kong will be regarded as a preferred and safe destination for travelers and visitors. Our study emphasizes the complementarity between pandemic control and tourism recovery. Pandemic control involves extra tests and quarantine requirements on passengers, more vigorous border control. These operational and associated financial requirements call for government support to the tourism and aviation sectors in the early stage of recovery to create a positive feedback loop.
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    Aviation resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic: A case study of the European aviation market
    (Elsevier, 2023-10-05) Su J; Wu H; Tsui KWH; Fu X; Lei Z
    The European aviation industry experienced an unprecedented disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which may have a profound impact on the industry in the years to come. An investigation of the European aviation market's performance during the pandemic and the recovery pattern is very important. Such an analysis provides an assessment of the aviation industry's actual resilience against large-scale disruptions thus that the sector can be better prepared for future disruptions and challenges. More importantly, it contributes to a better understanding of the best business practices and industry policies in a dynamic aviation environment, and how the aviation industry may sustain growth in the years to come. For these purposes, this study first presents an overview of the European aviation market's performance for the period of 2019–2020. In general, aviation connectivity (airports and airlines) recovered to around 60 % of the 2019 level, but less than 40 % in terms of flight movements at the end of 2020. Second, an ordered Probit model is applied to investigate the driving factors for airport and airline resilience in the European aviation market, respectively. Four key findings are obtained: (i) the number of flights is an important indicator of airport and airline resilience/recovery performance; (ii) higher airline concentration at an airport might have improved the airport's recovery from the COVID-19 crisis. On the airline side, an airline's higher concentration of flights at airports tends to benefit its resilience (iii) the implementation of the airport slot waiver policy, which suspended the “use it or lose it” rules, had positive impacts on airline resilience; (iv) airports with higher shares of full-service airlines (FSAs) services, or more low-cost carriers (LCCs) in service, are better positioned in recovery. There are no systematic differences caused by carrier types. Overall, our study of the European aviation market reveals positive resilience effects of market concentration and firm scale. The findings reveal another dimension in assessing the effects of market concentration and scale, in addition to their implications on competition and market power.
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    Aviation subsidy policy and regional wellbeing: Important indicators from relevant stakeholders’ perspectives
    (Elsevier Ltd on behalf of the World Conference on Transport Research Society, 2024-06) Wu H; Lin Y-H; Ngo T; Tsui KWH
    A failure to adequately reconcile stakeholder interests and opinions can increase the probability of a failed aviation subsidy request or a loss of regional opportunity. This study, instead of arguing the importance and offering critiques of aviation subsidies, conducts a survey of stakeholders in New Zealand and Taiwan and uses fuzzy analytic hierarchy process to evaluate and prioritise key air transport activities and regional wellbeing indicators regarding the design and implementation of aviation subsidy policies in the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings show that destination served, flight frequency, local business activities, medical treatment, and rapid hazard response were considered the key factors of aviation subsidies. Integrating economic and social wellbeing into subsidy policy design and implementation is highly necessary. The results provide useful insights for the development of aviation subsidy policies aimed at improving regional wellbeing in New Zealand and Taiwan during the post-COVID-19 era.
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    B, N-dual doped sisal-based multiscale porous carbon for high-rate supercapacitors
    (The Royal Society of Chemistry, 2019-01-11) Wu H; Yuan W; Zhao Y; Han D; Yuan X; Cheng L
    B, N dual-doped sisal-based activated carbon (BN-SAC) with a multiscale porous structure for high-rate supercapacitor electrode was prepared through a novel and facile strategy. With the inherent cellular channels serving as primary macropores, secondary mesopores and micropores are generated on the fiber surface and tracheid walls through low-pressure rapid carbonization of (NH4)2B4O7-containing sisal fibers and successive KOH activation. In addition to introducing B, N atoms into the BN-SAC, the additive also facilitates the formation of mesopores due to the rapid gas evaporation during its decomposition, leading to significantly increased specific surface area (2017 m2 g-1) and mesoporosity (68.6%). As a result, the BN-SAC-3 shows highly enhanced electrochemical performance including a high specific capacitance of 304 F g-1, excellent rate capability (with 72.6% retention at 60 A g-1) and superior cycling stability (4.6% capacitance loss after 3000 cycles). After assembling the BN-SAC-3 into symmetric supercapacitor, it shows a specific capacitance of 258 F g-1 at 1 A g-1 with 76.4% retention at 40 A g-1 in 6 M KOH electrolyte, and delivers a maximum energy density of 24.3 W h kg-1 at a power density of 612.8 W kg-1 in 1 M TEABF4/AN electrolyte. This work provides a new strategy for the synthesis of multiscale porous ACs for high-performance supercapacitors or other energy storage and conversion devices and is expected to be applied on other biomasses for large-scale production.
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    Self-service technology in aviation: A systematic literature review
    (Elsevier Inc, 2024-06) Wongyai PH; Ngo T; Wu H; Tsui KWH; Nguyen T-H
    Airlines and airports continuously improve operational efficiency and enhance service quality, especially through self-service technology (SST). Although there are several reviews on SST, the aviation industry has been comparatively overlooked. This study offers a systematic review of the existing literature on aviation SST (e.g., self-check-in kiosks and web/e-ticketing) from the customer service perspective. Starting from a rich dataset of 678 peer-reviewed journal articles listed in Scopus, after some screening processes, 98 articles remained and were included in the full-text review and analysis. Accordingly, we found that the aviation SST literature focused on some geographical locations, e.g., North America and Asia, but not others (e.g., Africa or Oceania). Its three main research themes are customer adoption, customer satisfaction, and customer experience, in which the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) is the dominant framework. In addition, the use of SST from the environmental perspective was rarely studied while newer SSTs such as customer service chatbots and biometric check-in will need more attention.
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    Spatiotemporal evolution of air cargo networks and its impact on economic development - An analysis of China's domestic market before and during the COVID-19 pandemic
    (Elsevier Ltd, 2024-05) He H; Wu H; Tsui KWH; Wang B; Fu X
    China's domestic air cargo network plays a crucial role in economic development by enabling the efficient and reliable transportation of goods, ensuring regional competitiveness, and supporting sustained economic growth. This study aimed to examine and analyse the spatiotemporal evolution of China's domestic air cargo network and structural configuration and its relationship with local economic development before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, thereby enhancing a better understanding of the mechanisms linking air cargo networks/operations and economic development. By applying the complex network theory and the seemingly unrelated regression framework, this study revealed a significant expansion of China's domestic air cargo network, even amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The results showed the substantial growth of smaller airports in the western region that were involved in air cargo operations and the enhanced connectivity of major hub airports in coastal cities in the east. Moreover, this study established a causal relationship between the development of the air cargo network and economic growth. These findings have significant implications for various stakeholders, including policymakers at both the central and local levels, as well as airports and airlines, strengthening the development of air cargo networks.