title: Sojourners and social exchange: Family and friends’ interpersonal ties across China-New Zealand borders

authors: Wang, Xi

subjects: Transnational sojourner

abstract: Sojourners are peripatetic, making multiple, open-ended circular trips to other countries for a range of purposes. Nonetheless, sojourners retain interpersonal ties with their families and friends who remain in the homeland, and may return ‘home’ in times of need. The pace and direction of continual international travel appears linked to the family life cycle, yet the mutual interdependencies of interpersonal ties are not well understood.
A review of the literature suggests that this study is one of the first to explore the roles that family ties and friendships play in shaping the lives of sojourners and their ‘stay-behinds’ within the context of Visiting Friends and Relatives (VFR) travel. A key overarching question emerges to guide the research: What is the interplay of transnational interpersonal ties, wellbeing, and VFR travel in shaping the lives of Chinese sojourners abroad and their family and friends in China? Social exchange is the key scholarly perspective used to examine the nature and meanings of transnational relationships.
The researcher’s positionality as a transnational sojourner locates him centrally within the researcher-participant continuum, so he was able to create empathy and inter-subjectivities which uncover social dynamics and cultural nuances. A hermeneutic methodology extends researcher’s positionality into the research design, enabling mutual reflection and synthesis of respective views regarding living transnational lives.
Respective spheres of transnational family and friend interactions are captured in two samples: 44 sojourners (prolonged stay, freedom of movement permits) who had lived in New Zealand for more than three years, and 36 family members and friends resident in China. Paired roles in transnational interactions and nations of residence were obtained, although the initial intention had been to create family tie- and friendship-matched samples in both countries, but proved impossible to achieve. Consistent with Chinese cultural norms of respect and privacy, most participants refused to provide their paired counterparts’ contact details. Also, it would have been too costly in terms of field work time to track paired widely-dispersed participants. Although this is a study limitation, the knowledge that paired family members or friends were not in the same study encouraged open and free disclosure.
The study used both video-recorded focus groups and audio-recorded in-depth interviews, conducted in the same timeframe to capitalise on the complementarities of each method, enlarge the depth and scope of study, and facilitate participation. Constant comparative thematic analysis was used to identify the themes, assisted by NVivo, a data management software package that helps researchers analyse emerging themes.
The findings contribute to new knowledge. Chinese sojourners abroad and families and friends in China tend to preserve the over-stretched ties that are crucial to their wellbeing. Family ties and friendships played common, but also very different roles in shaping their lives, evidenced by the nature, meanings, and dynamics of social exchanges.
This study also contributes to theory development, by indicating that social exchange theory is insufficient to explain all the dynamics behind transnational social interactions, in particular, VFR visiting and hosting. This study identified a range of emerging concepts that also influence the social interactions/exchanges between the two sides, and contribute previously unidentified dimensions that nuance social exchange theory for this context. For example, over time, a widening gap in the cultural backgrounds between the sojourners and those who remain in China develops, demonstrated by articulated conflicts and silences in their interactions, especially during actual travel periods. These potentially threaten the wellbeing of all parties. Also, the family life cycle plays a continual role in shaping family members’ needs and felt obligations, giving rise to the fluid and continual transnational support exchanges.
Further, this study has implications for practice in an era, when COVID becomes the ‘new normal’. From a micro-level, the findings may help populations of Chinese sojourners abroad and their families and friends in China understand how their respective roles and the dynamics behind the social exchanges shape the wellbeing of all participants and transnational ties. From a meso-level, this study may help the Chinese and New Zealand tourism and hospitality industries identify VFR travel motivators, understand travel patterns, support the international traveling populations, and recognise the opportunity for developing domestic travel in a post-COVID, pandemic-aware world. From a macro-level, this study provides implications for future Chinese migration/sojourning patterns, identifies key issues Chinese families face, contributes to immigration policy making in host countries, and offers advice on looking after Chinese migrant families who cannot receive sufficient support from their homeland. Finally, the research limitations are discussed and some suggestions for future research were given.

text: Sojourners and social exchange: Family and friends’ interpersonal ties across China-New Zealand borders Sojourners are peripatetic, making multiple, open-ended circular trips to other countries for a range of purposes. Nonetheless, sojourners retain interpersonal ties with their families and friends who remain in the homeland, and may return ‘home’ in times of need. The pace and direction of continual international travel appears linked to the family life cycle, yet the mutual interdependencies of interpersonal ties are not well understood.
A review of the literature suggests that this study is one of the first to explore the roles that family ties and friendships play in shaping the lives of sojourners and their ‘stay-behinds’ within the context of Visiting Friends and Relatives (VFR) travel. A key overarching question emerges to guide the research: What is the interplay of transnational interpersonal ties, wellbeing, and VFR travel in shaping the lives of Chinese sojourners abroad and their family and friends in China? Social exchange is the key scholarly perspective used to examine the nature and meanings of transnational relationships.
The researcher’s positionality as a transnational sojourner locates him centrally within the researcher-participant continuum, so he was able to create empathy and inter-subjectivities which uncover social dynamics and cultural nuances. A hermeneutic methodology extends researcher’s positionality into the research design, enabling mutual reflection and synthesis of respective views regarding living transnational lives.
Respective spheres of transnational family and friend interactions are captured in two samples: 44 sojourners (prolonged stay, freedom of movement permits) who had lived in New Zealand for more than three years, and 36 family members and friends resident in China. Paired roles in transnational interactions and nations of residence were obtained, although the initial intention had been to create family tie- and friendship-matched samples in both countries, but proved impossible to achieve. Consistent with Chinese cultural norms of respect and privacy, most participants refused to provide their paired counterparts’ contact details. Also, it would have been too costly in terms of field work time to track paired widely-dispersed participants. Although this is a study limitation, the knowledge that paired family members or friends were not in the same study encouraged open and free disclosure.
The study used both video-recorded focus groups and audio-recorded in-depth interviews, conducted in the same timeframe to capitalise on the complementarities of each method, enlarge the depth and scope of study, and facilitate participation. Constant comparative thematic analysis was used to identify the themes, assisted by NVivo, a data management software package that helps researchers analyse emerging themes.
The findings contribute to new knowledge. Chinese sojourners abroad and families and friends in China tend to preserve the over-stretched ties that are crucial to their wellbeing. Family ties and friendships played common, but also very different roles in shaping their lives, evidenced by the nature, meanings, and dynamics of social exchanges.
This study also contributes to theory development, by indicating that social exchange theory is insufficient to explain all the dynamics behind transnational social interactions, in particular, VFR visiting and hosting. This study identified a range of emerging concepts that also influence the social interactions/exchanges between the two sides, and contribute previously unidentified dimensions that nuance social exchange theory for this context. For example, over time, a widening gap in the cultural backgrounds between the sojourners and those who remain in China develops, demonstrated by articulated conflicts and silences in their interactions, especially during actual travel periods. These potentially threaten the wellbeing of all parties. Also, the family life cycle plays a continual role in shaping family members’ needs and felt obligations, giving rise to the fluid and continual transnational support exchanges.
Further, this study has implications for practice in an era, when COVID becomes the ‘new normal’. From a micro-level, the findings may help populations of Chinese sojourners abroad and their families and friends in China understand how their respective roles and the dynamics behind the social exchanges shape the wellbeing of all participants and transnational ties. From a meso-level, this study may help the Chinese and New Zealand tourism and hospitality industries identify VFR travel motivators, understand travel patterns, support the international traveling populations, and recognise the opportunity for developing domestic travel in a post-COVID, pandemic-aware world. From a macro-level, this study provides implications for future Chinese migration/sojourning patterns, identifies key issues Chinese families face, contributes to immigration policy making in host countries, and offers advice on looking after Chinese migrant families who cannot receive sufficient support from their homeland. Finally, the research limitations are discussed and some suggestions for future research were given.

year: 2022

title: Understanding enzymatic mechanism and allostery using macromolecular rate theory

authors: Grout, Emily Katherine

subjects: Biochemistry

abstract: Intricate systems of regulation at many levels act to control enzyme rates to tune metabolism across biosynthetic pathways. Allostery is a ubiquitous regulatory mechanism for feedback and regulation of enzymes in biosynthetic pathways. ATP-phosphoribosyltransferase from Mycobacterium tuberculosis (mtuATP-PRT) catalyses the first committed step in de novo histidine biosynthesis, and allosteric product inhibition of ATP-PRT by L-His is key to regulating metabolic flux in this pathway. mtuATP-PRT also exhibits allosteric activation by a histidine analogue 3 (2-Thienyl)-L-alanine (TIH). This compound binds in the same allosteric site as L-His and appears to elicit a structurally identical “tensed” conformation, apparently contradicting previous suggestions that the tensed conformation drives inhibitory regulation in mtuATP-PRT. 

Through mutations adjacent to the allosteric binding site, we have interrupted allosteric inhibition by L-His while retaining allosteric activation by TIH. Kinetic assays of wild type ATP-PRT and mutants across a large temperature range with various allosteric effects, has identified dynamic changes between allosterically modulated states of the enzyme, and suggests an enthalpy-entropy (∆H‡-∆S‡) trade off occurring in allosteric states. 

Complementing our kinetic data, crystallographic analysis and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of wild type and mutant ATP-PRT have identified two residues that differ upon the binding of TIH (in comparison to L-His binding). Glu-18 and Arg-27 rotate between ligand bound states and form interacting bonds in L-His bound structures that may serve to stabilise and reduce the overall flexibility of the hexameric conformation. This Glu-18 and Arg-27 interaction varies between L-His-bound, APO-mtuATP-PRT and TIH-bound structures, suggesting this interaction may demarcate allosteric activation and inhibition.

An evolutionary analysis of ATP-PRT was undertaken and has identified the long form of ATP-PRT as the ancestral form, and the short form ATP-PRT has subsequently co-opted a histidyl-tRNA synthetase (HisRS) gene product (HisZ) as its regulatory domain. Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases are known to be prone to horizontal gene transfer, therefore the co-option of HisRS and the loss of the C-terminal domain in ATP-PRTs provides an evolutionary trajectory for diverse ATP-PRT isoforms.

text: Understanding enzymatic mechanism and allostery using macromolecular rate theory Intricate systems of regulation at many levels act to control enzyme rates to tune metabolism across biosynthetic pathways. Allostery is a ubiquitous regulatory mechanism for feedback and regulation of enzymes in biosynthetic pathways. ATP-phosphoribosyltransferase from Mycobacterium tuberculosis (mtuATP-PRT) catalyses the first committed step in de novo histidine biosynthesis, and allosteric product inhibition of ATP-PRT by L-His is key to regulating metabolic flux in this pathway. mtuATP-PRT also exhibits allosteric activation by a histidine analogue 3 (2-Thienyl)-L-alanine (TIH). This compound binds in the same allosteric site as L-His and appears to elicit a structurally identical “tensed” conformation, apparently contradicting previous suggestions that the tensed conformation drives inhibitory regulation in mtuATP-PRT. 

Through mutations adjacent to the allosteric binding site, we have interrupted allosteric inhibition by L-His while retaining allosteric activation by TIH. Kinetic assays of wild type ATP-PRT and mutants across a large temperature range with various allosteric effects, has identified dynamic changes between allosterically modulated states of the enzyme, and suggests an enthalpy-entropy (∆H‡-∆S‡) trade off occurring in allosteric states. 

Complementing our kinetic data, crystallographic analysis and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of wild type and mutant ATP-PRT have identified two residues that differ upon the binding of TIH (in comparison to L-His binding). Glu-18 and Arg-27 rotate between ligand bound states and form interacting bonds in L-His bound structures that may serve to stabilise and reduce the overall flexibility of the hexameric conformation. This Glu-18 and Arg-27 interaction varies between L-His-bound, APO-mtuATP-PRT and TIH-bound structures, suggesting this interaction may demarcate allosteric activation and inhibition.

An evolutionary analysis of ATP-PRT was undertaken and has identified the long form of ATP-PRT as the ancestral form, and the short form ATP-PRT has subsequently co-opted a histidyl-tRNA synthetase (HisRS) gene product (HisZ) as its regulatory domain. Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases are known to be prone to horizontal gene transfer, therefore the co-option of HisRS and the loss of the C-terminal domain in ATP-PRTs provides an evolutionary trajectory for diverse ATP-PRT isoforms.

year: 2022

title: Ecological modelling of water quality management options in Lake Waahi to support Hauanga Kai species: Technical Report

authors: Allan, Mathew Grant

abstract: This report describes a numerical modelling approach for Lake Waahi to assess the effects of various future scenarios on water quality attributes known to affect the appearance of the lake’s multiple hauanga kai species across differing spatial scales. Hauanga kai refers to customary gathering and use of naturally occurring and cultivated foods. Numerical models were used to support shared learning and development of future scenarios in response to different management options and environmental pressures. The shallow lakes of the Waikato region have been particularly impacted by anthropogenic eutrophication. This is due to the fact that many of these lakes have already undergone a degree of natural eutrophication due to their geomorphic properties, such as their low elevation and shallow depth. The main contributing factors to water quality decline in shallow Waikato lakes have been identified as: high external nutrient and sediment loads, internal loading exacerbated by high sediment resuspension and bioturbation from pest fish (carp), reduced water depth due to installation of water control structures, reduction in wetland filtering potential due to draining, and stock access to wetlands. A 1-D hydrodynamics model, the General Ocean Turbulence Model was coupled to a complex ecological model (PClake) via the Framework for Aquatic Biogeochemical Models (FABM). FABM is an open source FORTAN-based code that facilitates the coupling of hydrodynamic and ecological models. FABM-PCLake is a redesigned PCLake. The consensus from the model simulations carried out in the study suggests that, for Lake Waahi to undergo restoration whereby the lake is restored to clear-water stable state, both external load needs to be reduced significantly by greater than 50%, along with changes in lake ecological structure, resulting from re-establishment of macrophytes aided by the control of carp biomass. These finding supports the general view within the literature that for lake restoration success, external load reduction (catchment load) is critical. Finally, if the ultimate goal of lake restoration in Lake Waahi is to address the decline in tuna (shortfin eel - Anguilla australis) biomass, a return to a clear-water stable state should facilitate improvement in tuna habitat and provide the conditions for development of a healthy eel population. Coupled modelling approaches will provide a more complete picture of potential responses of Hauanga kai species to land and lake management scenarios.

text: Ecological modelling of water quality management options in Lake Waahi to support Hauanga Kai species: Technical Report This report describes a numerical modelling approach for Lake Waahi to assess the effects of various future scenarios on water quality attributes known to affect the appearance of the lake’s multiple hauanga kai species across differing spatial scales. Hauanga kai refers to customary gathering and use of naturally occurring and cultivated foods. Numerical models were used to support shared learning and development of future scenarios in response to different management options and environmental pressures. The shallow lakes of the Waikato region have been particularly impacted by anthropogenic eutrophication. This is due to the fact that many of these lakes have already undergone a degree of natural eutrophication due to their geomorphic properties, such as their low elevation and shallow depth. The main contributing factors to water quality decline in shallow Waikato lakes have been identified as: high external nutrient and sediment loads, internal loading exacerbated by high sediment resuspension and bioturbation from pest fish (carp), reduced water depth due to installation of water control structures, reduction in wetland filtering potential due to draining, and stock access to wetlands. A 1-D hydrodynamics model, the General Ocean Turbulence Model was coupled to a complex ecological model (PClake) via the Framework for Aquatic Biogeochemical Models (FABM). FABM is an open source FORTAN-based code that facilitates the coupling of hydrodynamic and ecological models. FABM-PCLake is a redesigned PCLake. The consensus from the model simulations carried out in the study suggests that, for Lake Waahi to undergo restoration whereby the lake is restored to clear-water stable state, both external load needs to be reduced significantly by greater than 50%, along with changes in lake ecological structure, resulting from re-establishment of macrophytes aided by the control of carp biomass. These finding supports the general view within the literature that for lake restoration success, external load reduction (catchment load) is critical. Finally, if the ultimate goal of lake restoration in Lake Waahi is to address the decline in tuna (shortfin eel - Anguilla australis) biomass, a return to a clear-water stable state should facilitate improvement in tuna habitat and provide the conditions for development of a healthy eel population. Coupled modelling approaches will provide a more complete picture of potential responses of Hauanga kai species to land and lake management scenarios.

year: 2018