Situating the wildlife spectacle: ecofeminism,representation, and polar bear tourism

This paper presents a critical investigation of power relations circulating in promotional materials associated with polar bear tourism in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada. Drawing on precepts of ecofeminism, critical discourse analysis, and the content of cultural texts (websites, souvenirs) produced by tourism operators, businesses, and crown corporations, the study interprets how representations of polar bears re-inscribe regimes of truth that marginalize non-human animal others and are complicit with patriarchal ideologies. Focus in our analysis is placed first, on illustrating the portrayal of “performing spectacle bears” – a socially constructed subjectivity designed to serve the desires of wildlife tourism producers and consumers – and, second, on diagnosing the privileged discourses that work to maintain and normalize this construction, along with the interspecies dynamics they support. In effect, the paper sheds light on the complex and recurrent effects of anthropocentric and instrumentalist orientations in tourism, including their contingency upon masculine systems of value and rationality. The paper also points out the potential of ecofeminist ethics of care for enhancing interspecies relationships in sustainable tourism.     

The Antecedents and Consequences of Travelers' Need for Uniqueness: An Empirical Study of Restaurant Experiences

Dining out at a restaurant is one of the most important parts of travelers' tourism experience. The purpose of this research was to examine the antecedents and consequences of travelers' need for uniqueness (CNFU) in their restaurant experiences. Based on a literature review, three theoretical antecedents (perceived firm innovativeness (PFI), perceived firm uniqueness, and brand prestige) and three theoretical consequences (utilitarian value, hedonic value, and behavioral intentions) were proposed. During this process, it was theorized that consumers' uniqueness-seeking behaviors can be strengthened and/or weakened by three psychological moderators: attention to social comparison information (ATSCI), face consciousness, and materialism. By integrating the theoretical arguments, a structural model was proposed. The proposed model was tested using data collected from 379 travelers who had dined out at a luxury restaurant in the past three months. According to the data analysis results, PFI, perceived firm uniqueness, and brand prestige were all confirmed to be important factors in enhancing CNFU. Furthermore, it was determined that CNFU bears a positive impact on behavioral intentions, an impact that is mediated by perceived value. Lastly, the moderating roles of ATSCI and materialism were found to be significant. In the latter part of this research, managerial implications derived from the data analysis results are discussed.     

价值工程在淮河干流蚌浮段工程中的应用

基于淮河干流河道治理工程中引入价值工程研究模式,选择香浮段行洪区调整和建设工程作为价值工程的研究对象,将施工准备阶段作为切入口,以河道疏浚工程排泥场布置等相关问题为研究重点,通过功能分析和方案创造,用合理的最小工程成本,实现综合最优的河道治理功能价值,并将研究成果直接应用于工程建设实践,达到优化设计和实施方案、节约工程投资的成效。     

全球海运铁矿石市场承压解析与行业影响

世界钢产量峰期出现在2000年以后,其高速增长动力主要来源于中国,而中国铁矿石原矿资源禀赋的劣势,愈发刺激了中国对国际海运铁矿石的需求,致使中国铁矿石需求的对外依存度较高,与此同时,作为铁矿石纯进口国的中国难以主导铁矿石定价权。2011年国际铁矿石市场正值高位运行,大部分铁矿石生产商在高价驱使下,选择大幅增加投资成本扩建产能,海运铁矿石市场供需基本面开始倒转。2015年以来,铁矿石中国到岸价大幅下跌,铁矿石生产巨头由于低廉的现金生产成本也只能勉强盈利或者维持在盈亏平衡线附近,高成本矿被实质性挤压出局。而美国量化宽松政策收紧乃至退出,导致金融流动性降低,进一步巩固了全球铁矿石市场"供强需弱"的格局。由于国内高成本铁矿项目的退出,中国铁矿石需求对外依存度将会进一步升高。     

LearnSmart,adaptive teaching,and student learning effectiveness: An empirical investigation

Facing the growing number of digital natives entering the classroom, business professors look for innovative ways to enhance the student learning experience. The authors focus on the online interactive learning tool LearnSmart (McGraw-Hill, New York, NY), and examine its impact on student learning effectiveness by testing the direct and indirect relationships among perceived competence, perceived challenge, instructors, perceived value, and satisfaction with LearnSmart. Constructionism served as the theoretical foundation for this study. About 215 students at a public university in the United States took the survey and 197 valid responses were received. Regression analysis results showed that the use of LearnSmart improved students' perceived competency, thus increasing their perceived value of using LearnSmart, as well as their satisfaction with LearnSmart. Perceived value was also found to mediate the impact of perceived competency on satisfaction with LearnSmart, and the instructor played a significant role in facilitating and improving student learning. Perceived challenge impacted student's perceived value of using LearnSmart, but it did not influence satisfaction with LearnSmart.     

Customer perceived value,satisfaction, and loyalty: the role of willingness to share information

This study proposes and tests an integrative model to examine the relationships among customers’ willingness to share information, satisfaction, perceived value, and loyalty in a retailing context. This study extends research on customers’ willingness to share information from trust and privacy concerns toward key outcome measures such as perceived value, customer satisfaction, and loyalty, and is thus among the first to model customers’ willingness to share information with companies in robust theoretical retailing frameworks. The proposed relationships were tested using data from two retailing contexts – groceries (N = 429) and do-it-yourself (DIY) (N = 895). Findings from the two samples suggest that both perceived value and satisfaction are significant determinants of customers’ willingness to share information with a company. Although some differences emerge in the two studies, structural modeling largely supports the hypothesized framework and positions customers’ willingness to share information as an important antecedent of their loyalty intentions and behavior. This study provides practitioners with preliminary insight into the relationship between willingness to share information and perceived value, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty. This study advances retailing research, as it is one of the few empirical studies investigating the role of customers’ willingness to share information in driving loyalty and its relationship with perceived value and satisfaction in a retailing context.     

经济增加值(EVA):财务管理的新视角

经济增加值是美国一家咨询公司提出的评价业绩和进行财务管理的新方法。其核心在于考虑了权益资本的成本 ,在计算该指标时还需对 GAAP进行调整。本文论述了其基本原理 ,这对改进我国财务管理有重要借鉴作用。     

基于实物期权的智力资产价值分析

分析了智力资产的特点,简要讨论了传统历史成本法、重置成本法和收益现值法的优缺点。根据智力资产的实物期权特性,本文建立了智力资产实物期权价值评价模型,并运用具体算例验证了模型的有用性。     

我国现行粮食价格政策面临的问题与对策研究

我国现行粮食价格政策面临许多问题,应借鉴主要发达国家与地区对粮食价格干预政策的经验,完善粮食最低收购价格与种粮直接补贴政策,增加种粮农民收入,推进粮食产区新农村建设。     

HSK与对外汉语教学课程内容的调整

HSK是为了测试母语为非汉语的人所掌握的汉语水平而设立的国家级标准化考试,它日益为人们所重视,但对外汉语教学的课程不能为HSK考试而设立,应该着眼于学生的汉语实际应用。HSK与教学之间应该是相辅相成的关系,可以根据HSK对教学内容作适当调整。