Search Results (24)

Background/Objectives: The eating window concept has been understudied in children, with no reports from Austria. This study explored meal timing and its association with obesity-related variables in a sample of Viennese schoolchildren. The effect of a healthy intervention on obesity variables according to the daily eating window was assessed. Methods: The EDDY study included 138 third-grade students from three Vienna schools. Baseline meal timing was assessed using self-administered questionnaires, and the daily eating window—the time between the first and last meal—was calculated and categorized into tertiles. Anthropometric and body fat measurements were taken at baseline and after 21 months. Baseline outcomes were compared between children with long (LEW; 3rd tertile) and short (SEW; 1st tertile) eating windows using adjusted linear regression analysis. Longitudinal changes were analyzed using mixed models for repeated measures. Results: The median age was 7.9 years, and 26.8% were classified with overweight/obesity. The children’s eating window spanned 11:40 h, from 7:00 to 19:00. More than half (52.2%) reported fasting 1–2 h before bed. Children had four daily meals; 16.4% skipped breakfast, while 51.5% ate it regularly. Meal timing variables did not differ by weight status. Children with a LEW (≥12:05 h) had lower BMI-SDS (−0.66) and fat mass index (−1.06) than those with a SEW (≤11:05 h). No longitudinal changes in BMI-SDS, fat mass index, or waist-to-height ratio were observed across eating window tertiles following the intervention. Conclusions: In a non-representative sample of Viennese children, the eating window ranged from 9:30 to 13:30 h, similar to Austrian adults but differing from other Western European countries. Full article

Hotels are one of the fastest-growing sectors in the tourism industry, and sentiment analysis plays a vital role in improving business performance and supporting sustainable practices. This paper proposes a novel framework combining topic mining and aspect-based sentiment analysis to examine 29,334 hotel reviews in Henan province in China, with the aim of informing strategies for sustainable hotel development. Our results reveal six key attributes of customer concern, particularly emphasizing family experiences, which reflect Henan’s appeal as a family tourism destination. Additionally, we uncover sentiment quadruples, including categories, aspect terms, opinion terms, and polarities, thus enabling a dual-dimensional evaluation of factors influencing customer satisfaction. The results reveal that service mainly influences overall category-level satisfaction, while bed, front desk, and breakfast primarily drive aspect-level satisfaction. This study provides valuable insights into customer feedback, offering empirical support for optimizing services and guiding the sustainable strategic development of regional hotels. Full article

Taiwan’s bed and breakfast (B&B) industry has experienced significant development in its nearly 25-year history, transforming from B&B run by retirees to mature service providers that adopt modern business and Internet technology skills in line with sustainable lodging development. This study explores the basic professional capabilities required for the sustainable development of B&B management, including social-emotional intelligence (EQ) capabilities and their impact on the quality of sustainable tourism services. The study used the K–S Z test to assess the importance of various abilities, including emotional intelligence abilities, financial management abilities, technical skills abilities and marketing abilities. The findings, validated with p-values less than 0.05, confirm the multi-disciplinary nature of sustainable tourism management skills in B&Bs and highlight their importance in sustainable service attitudes and strategic marketing. The identified capabilities are not only crucial for the sustainable development of the B&B industry, but are also crucial for contributing to the B&B’s national diplomacy and sustainable development status in global tourism. This study provides both novice and experienced B&B operators with actionable insights to improve their operational efficiency and achieve sustainable tourism development goals. Full article

Grasping the concerns of customers is paramount, serving as a foundation for both attracting and retaining a loyal customer base. While customer satisfaction has been extensively explored across diverse industries, there remains a dearth of insights into how distinct rural bed and breakfasts (RB&Bs) can effectively cater to the specific needs of their target audience. This research utilized latent semantic analysis and text regression techniques on online reviews, uncovering previously unrecognized factors contributing to RB&B customer satisfaction. Furthermore, the study demonstrates that certain factors wield distinct impacts on guest satisfaction within varying RB&B market segments. The implications of these findings extend to empowering RB&B owners with actionable insights to enhance the overall customer experience. Full article

In architectural spaces, the ambiance created by lighting plays a significant role in influencing people’s emotions, often relying on the use of color and light. However, previous research has primarily focused on urban architectural spaces, with relatively less attention given to rural environments, especially the interior spaces of rural accommodation. The objective of this study is to investigate the impact of colored lighting within rural accommodation interiors on people’s emotions and visual perceptions. Additionally, the study aims to establish an emotional dimension model to map the experimental results onto eight basic emotions, utilizing the PAD model for quantitative analysis. To achieve this goal, the researchers recruited 90 participants and divided them into six groups, each experiencing different combinations of indoor lighting scenes with varying colors. Participants evaluated their emotions and visual perceptions. The study results indicate that the combination of cool and warm white light with colored light significantly influences the arousal level of participants but has a relatively lower impact on pleasure levels, dominance and relaxation levels. In comparing the emotions experienced after exposure to cool and warm white light followed by colored light, warm white light elicited more positive emotions. Furthermore, colored light following cool white light diminished the sense of warmth in light, while yellow–blue light enhanced visual comfort and blue–red light increased attraction. Overall, the effect of colored lighting in rural accommodation interior spaces on improving negative emotions was relatively weak. Conversely, the combination of warm white light with blue–yellow or green–yellow light had a more significant effect on enhancing visual perceptions and reducing participants’ anxiety. This research provides valuable insights and references for designing the lighting ambiance in rural accommodation interiors and lighting design, with the potential to enhance the spatial experience of rural accommodations. Full article

The spatial structure of Bed and Breakfast (B&B) development plays a crucial role in promoting integrated urban–rural development. However, existing B&B research has predominantly focused on single large cities, neglecting to explore the spatial patterns of B&B development and their influencing factors from the perspective of urban–rural differences. To address this gap, we conducted a comprehensive case study in an all-for-one tourism demonstration area in Hainan Province, China. We adopt geospatial analysis methods and ridge regression models to investigate the characteristics of urban–rural disparities in B&B distribution and to identify the primary factors influencing their spatial arrangement. The research findings reveal valuable insights: (1) B&B establishments in the tourism demonstration area exhibit clustering with notable variations in clustering intensity between urban and rural regions; (2) essential factors affecting the spatial distribution of B&Bs include transportation accessibility, reliance on tourism attractions, B&B development infrastructure, and the availability of living services; (3) tourism resource dependence emerges as the most significant driving force behind B&B agglomerations in the tourism demonstration area; and (4) road network density, hotel service availability, and neighborhood residential density are three additional critical factors affecting B&B distribution, with their influence varying between urban and rural B&Bs. Based on these key findings, we propose development strategies for optimizing B&Bs’ spatial structure in the tourism demonstration area and outline a blueprint for fostering integrated urban–rural development. Full article

Background: Adolescents who receive an adequate amount of sleep benefit from a positive health status. Previous studies have documented several health consequences connected with obesity as well as short sleep duration among adolescents. Poor sleep quality with obesity and uncontrolled diet can lead to chronic diseases in the future. This study aimed to examine the link between eating habits, sleep duration, and body mass index (BMI) among King Saud University (KSU) students. Methods: The study was cross-sectional and conducted from February to May 2021 on 311 recruited students (male and female) of KSU premises. Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index questionnaire was used to describe sleep duration linked with a dietary pattern that included fruit and vegetable intake. The questionnaire consists of two sections of 15 and 10 questions each. The questionnaire was created using the Google Forms tool and distributed through social media platforms like Twitter and WhatsApp. The obtained data was transferred into excel to perform the statistical analysis. Results: The mean total of students who participated in this study was 21.45 ± 23.11. Female students (72.3%) were actively involved in this study. About 30.2% of students were found to be overweight and obese. Around 67.8% of students had insufficient sleep, 32.2% had adequate sleep, and over 70% of students fell asleep within 30 min of going to bed. A total of 71.7% of students showed good sleep quality, whereas 28.3% reported poor sleep quality. BMI was categorized into four groups: 17.7% of individuals were underweight, 52.1% were of normal weight threshold, 20.6% were overweight, and 9.6% were obese. On a regular basis, 12.5% of students consume vegetables and 6.4% fruits daily. The results of this study show that only 8% of students eat breakfast, whereas 62.1% eat lunch, and 29.9% eat dinner. Conclusion: This study concludes that short sleep duration was associated with obesity among KSU students. This association was also found between sleep duration and dietary factors, specifically in the consumption of fruits and vegetables in terms of eating behaviour. Full article

As a new type of accommodation and a new way of life, it is of great significance for the spatial optimization and price management of the tourist accommodation market to explore the spatial differentiation characteristics of and influencing factors on bed and breakfast (B&B) house prices. Taking Shandong B&B merchants on the Airbnb website as the research object, this paper discusses the spatial characteristics of and influencing factors on B&B prices in the Shandong province, combining spatial autocorrelation analysis and interpolation analysis to identify the B&B cluster region. Quantile regression was used to reveal the main influencing factors. The results show that: (1) the spatial agglomeration effect of B&B prices in the Shandong province is obvious, and the high value areas form a new pattern between the provincial economic circle and the Jiaodong Economic Circle; (2) the influence of different factors on B&B house prices is very uneven in space. From the regional point of view, there are “sub-regional effects” on the spatial distribution of the influences of various factors on B&B house prices. The results of the study provide references for reasonable pricing, scientific site selection, and spatial optimization of B&Bs. Full article

The novel coronavirus-19 (COVID-19) pandemic has considerably impacted children’s lives. The aim of this study was to determine whether the pandemic affected mealtime regularity among preschool children and whether maintaining regular mealtimes or changes in mealtime regularity during the pandemic were related to dietary balance, including chronological relationships. This online cross-sectional survey involving individuals registered with a company that provides meals to children aged 2−6 years was conducted in February 2021. Using a 40-point scale, a healthy diet score (HDS) was developed to evaluate children’s dietary balance. The participants were divided into four groups based on their responses, and multiple regression analyses were performed with the HDS as the dependent variable. Maintaining regular mealtimes was associated with practices such as waking and going to bed earlier, less snacking, and eating breakfast every day. Even after adjusting for basic attributes, lifestyle habits, household circumstances, and other factors, regular mealtimes were still positively correlated with the HDS. These findings indicate that maintaining regular mealtimes is associated with higher HDS scores and better lifestyle habits. Furthermore, as the changed HDS was higher in the group whose mealtimes became regular during the pandemic, adopting regular mealtimes may lead to a more balanced diet. Full article

The adoption of renewable energy (RE) is a promising business strategy for bed and breakfasts (B&Bs) to mitigate climate change while maintaining a competitive edge. However, there is still a lack of analytical studies to determine an optimal RE mix for tourism accommodations. This study thus proposes a practical approach to enable all B&Bs to make optimal RE decisions for their facility. A mixed-integer programming (MIP) model is developed and tested in a case study. The model successfully identifies an optimal hybrid energy system for two scenarios, the base case that generates 116,942 kWh of electricity annually at the cost of USD 21,499, and the unconventional technology case that generates 114,474 kWh of electricity annually at the cost of USD 24,670. Compared to purchasing all the required electricity from the power grid, both scenarios can save more than 26 tons of CO₂e/year. The analysis provides valuable information for B&Bs to initiate a smooth energy transition with affordable costs. This study considers various energy components, including hybrid RE, batteries, the power grid, self-sufficiency targets, and various RE technologies. Therefore, B&Bs can choose a preferred self-sufficiency target where RE satisfies a specific portion of the energy demands and the power grid satisfies the rest. The model can also evaluate the tradeoff between investing in RE technologies and purchasing larger batteries. These findings will assist B&Bs in accelerating the adoption of RE globally. Full article

The differences between urban and rural B&Bs should be emphasized, which is critical for the sustainable development of the B&B industry. This study identified and compared the topics that customers were concerned about for urban and rural B&Bs in Beijing by analyzing 13,241 online reviews obtained from the website Ctrip. The results showed that customers focused on 10 common topics: “room”, “location”, “host”, “experience”, “surroundings”, “facilities”, “service”, “design/style”, “value”, and “entertainment”. However, the importance of each topic varied between urban and rural B&Bs. Customers paid more attention to the room. Urban B&B customers were more concerned about location. The convenience of urban B&Bs was more prominent than that of rural B&Bs, especially in terms of public transportation and commercial services. While rural B&B customers were more concerned about experience, service, design/style, and entertainment. In addition, the “host” is the most crucial and influential factor in the development of B&Bs. This study made contributions to customer perceptions of B&Bs from a comparative perspective and enriched the understanding of the characteristics of urban and rural B&Bs. In the part of practice, this study might provide enlightenment for B&B operators and local governments to take measures for B&Bs sustainable development. Full article

This was a prospective, randomized, open-label trial. Patients without previous Helicobacter pylori eradication therapy were randomly assigned to either a high-dose dual therapy (HDDT) group or a traditional clarithromycin/amoxicillin triple therapy (CATT) group. In the HDDT group, patients took rabeprazole, 20 mg, four times per day for three days and then dual therapy with rabeprazole, 20 mg, and amoxicillin, 500 mg, four times per day during the patient’s breakfast, lunch, dinner, and bedtime for 14 days. In the CATT group, patients received conventional triple therapy for 14 days (rabeprazole 20 mg, amoxicillin 1 g, and clarithromycin 500 mg twice per day). In the HDDT group, the success rates of H. pylori eradication were 91.7% (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.78–0.97) by intention-to-treat (ITT) and 94.3% (95% CI: 0.79–0.99) by per-protocol (PP) analysis. In the CATT group, the eradication rates were 77.1% (95% CI: 0.61–0.87) by ITT and 84.3% (95% CI: 0.66–0.94) by PP analysis. The study completion rates were 97.2% (35/36) in the HDDT group. Three-day high-dose rabeprazole induction treatment before dual therapy and a schedule of taking the drug at meal and bed times could achieve an acceptable H. pylori eradication rate (>90%) and good drug compliance. Full article

The triple bottom line of sustainability has been the foundation to assess the overall performance of organizations in the hospitality sector. Family businesses are operating in a very competitive environment, and their practices are heavily scrutinised by stakeholders. This paper considers the value of action research in the field of family businesses in the hospitality sector through the prism of organizational learning. The focus of the research is to understand how a Scottish family business learns and implements corporate social responsibility and sustainability practices and how they embed the practices in their activities in a bed and breakfast. The family business used in this research is based in Paisley, Scotland. The use of action research enabled this research to follow a recurring spiral learning process of diagnosing, planning, acting, and evaluating to achieve organizational learning. The action learning contributed to re-thinking the communication between actors involved in the Scottish hospitality sector and family businesses to open a dialogue and produce norms and to contribute to knowledge about a new small-business social responsibility orbital framework. Full article

Ageing is associated with a reduction in muscle mass and strength, termed sarcopenia. Dietary protein is important for the maintenance of muscle mass through the promotion of muscle protein synthesis. However, protein is also reported to be a highly satiating nutrient. This raises concerns that protein intake for musculoskeletal health reasons in older adults may exacerbate age-related decreased appetite and may result in reduced energy and nutrient intake. This study aimed to investigate the effect of short-term protein supplementation and its timing (morning vs. evening), on energy and nutrient intake and appetite measures in middle-older age adults. Twenty-four 50–75 year olds were recruited to a randomised cross-over trial. In phase 1 (pre-supplementation) participants completed a food diary and reported hunger and appetite on three alternate days. During the second and third phases, participants consumed a 20 g whey protein gel (78 mL/368 kJ), for four days, either in the morning (after breakfast) or the evening (before bed), whilst completing the same assessments as phase 1. No differences in dietary intakes of energy, macronutrients and micronutrients were recorded when comparing the pre-supplementation phase to the protein supplementation phases, irrespective of timing (excluding the contribution of the protein supplement itself). Similarly, no differences were observed in self-reported feelings of hunger and appetite. In conclusion, a 20 g/day whey protein supplement given outside of meal-times did not alter habitual dietary intakes, hunger or appetite in this middle-older age adult population in the short-term. This approach may be a useful strategy to increasing habitual protein intake in the middle-older age population. Full article

This article proposes an alternative tourism development approach that we have termed ‘rebalancing’, which is based on tourism development adopting Community-based Tourism (CBT) principles and characteristics whose hallmark is to give local control of the tourism sector to disadvantaged members of society. The article is based on extant literature and uses Hanoi as a case study to articulate the role of CBT against a backdrop of the growth and presence of large international hotel chains in Hanoi following the adoption of the Doi Moi policy. The increase in international hotel chains poses a high risk of an increase in leakages. The accommodation sub-sector and food sector are essential in tourism in Hanoi, as they are elsewhere. These provide small businesses the opportunity to participate in the name of inclusivity, empowerment, and poverty alleviation. For the authenticity of Hanoi and respecting its traditions and values, we propose a model of growth for Hanoi that includes food street vendors alongside large international hotel chains, large national (privately owned) hotels (nationally/locally owned), small independent national hotels (locally owned), bed and breakfast/guesthouse (locally owned), backpackers (locally owned), homestay (locally owned), ‘Albergo Diffuso’ (locally owned), LCBT accommodation (locally owned), CBT (Independently owned structures under an umbrella organization), and CBT (community-owned structures). It also suggests the retention of traditional architecture for the diversity and uniqueness of Hanoi. It recommends that the government should not promulgate legislation and policies that attempt to limit the scope of food street vending but rather empower food street vendors to grow and prosper. This should be done alongside specific legislation that sets minimum standards related to hygiene on the streets for inclusive growth and poverty alleviation. Full article