The relationships between stress,health, and physically active leisure as a function of life‐cycle

This article examines relationships between stress, health, and participation in physically active leisure using data collected as part of the 1985 and 1990 U.S. National Health Interview Surveys (NHIS). In particular, the article analyzes: (a) the effects of life‐cycle progression (controlled for gender) on subjectively perceived stress and self‐reported health; (b) the role of physically active leisure in enhancing health or buffering adverse health outcomes of stress; and (c) the effects of selected social‐economic factors, such as education and income, on the relationships between life‐cycle, stress, health, and physically active leisure. According to our analyses: (1) stress is unevenly distributed across the life span; (2) stress‐reducing effects of physically active leisure are present among retired older people more so than in the middle‐aged life‐cycle groups; and (3) direct health‐enhancing effects of participation in physically active leisure are more evident than the buffering effects of leisure on stress‐health relationships. A critical discussion of methodological and substantive issues facing researchers interested in the relationships between leisure, stress, and health is provided.     

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Abstract

This article examines the cultural field of fitness as a network of producers, consumers, products and practices that has developed around the care of the body through physical exercise. Drawing on a thematic text analysis of US exercise manuals, the paper focuses on how the commercial fitness field naturalizes associations between physical exercise and leisure, and between leisure and self‐work. In particular, the analysis examines three themes and their relevance to our broader understanding of leisure in contemporary consumer society: the management of leisure time; the use of leisure for self‐investment strategies; and the promotion of consumption as the framework for leisure and an accompanying notion of pleasure. The fitness field casts light on how leisure more generally is constructed as a sphere of obligations to make productive use of one’s time, to improve one’s body and self, and to do so through the wares of the consumer marketplace. The cultural imaginary of leisure as a time of freedom from work and responsibility is thus recast, in an age of individualization, as a time of freedom to accomplish the work of self‐production.     

Stephen J. O'Connor,Vice President,University Relations and Property Staffing,Marriott International

ABSTRACT

Leader-member exchange (LMX) is a multidimensional construct seeking to identify the quality of the relationship between the leader and immediate subordinate. An instrument developed by Schrie-sheim, Neider, Scandura, and Tepper (1992) was utilized to determine the LMX score of 798 non-managerial employees in a casual restaurant chain. The dimensions of perceived contribution, affect, and loyalty were examined. Results demonstrate that LMX quality was high among the surveyed employees of a restaurant chain. The scores of LMX on age, gender and job tenure differed among employees while LMX scores on job status, education, and job type did not differ significantly.     

广东江门红树林自然保护区生态评价

广东江门红树林自然保护区是以保护红树林及其生境为主要保护对象的野生生物类自然保护区。文章对自然保护区的典型性、生物多样性、稀有性、代表性及生态公益性、生态旅游性等方面进行了评价,并从加强自然保护区建设,开展对红树林湿地资源研究、加强退化红树林湿地的生态恢复、开展湿地旅游等方面提出建议。     

IMPORTED SKILL‐BIASED TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

This paper discusses the occurrence of skill‐enhancing technology import, namely, the relationship between imports of embodied technology and widening skill‐based employment differentials in low‐ and middle‐income countries. Generalized method of moments (GMM) techniques are applied to an original panel dataset comprising 28 manufacturing sectors for 23 countries over a decade. Econometric results provide robust evidence of the determinants of widening employment differentials in low‐ and middle‐income countries. In particular, the proposed empirical evidence indicates capital–skill complementarity as a possible source of skill bias, while imported skill‐enhancing technology emerges as an additional driver of increasing demand for the skilled workers in these countries.     

基于生态足迹模型的沿海城市可持续发展分析——以大连市为例

根据《大连统计年鉴》等相关资料,利用生态足迹模型,对大连市2004—2008年生态足迹进行计算和分析;并计算出大连市这五年的万元GDP生态足迹和社会发展能力指数。利用这些指标分析大连的可持续发展情况,并提出相应的对策。结果表明：大连这五年的平均生态赤字为4.3184hm2,说明大连的区域生态系统正面临过度开发的压力;生态足迹多样性指数五年均低于中国平均水平,意味着大连生态经济系统生态空间分布很不均匀;社会发展能力指数高于中国平均水平和万元GDP生态足迹大体处于减少状态,说明大连在经济社会发展的同时,资源利用率也在不断地提高。     

China's One‐Child Policy: Some Unintended Consequences

This paper gives a brief overview of China's family planning policy which, although recently relaxed, still controls a large swath of the population. Unofficially known as the ‘one‐child policy’, it resulted from the social strife of the 1970s coupled with a Malthusian pessimism concerning the capability of the still largely closed and isolated Chinese economy to care for itself. We discuss the motivations for the policy, the unfortunate demographic future that it will create, and some policy reforms that can be undertaken today.     

Traders' Bidding Strategies on European Grain Export Refunds: An Analysis with Affiliated Signals

Using a multivariate distribution of traders' information with correlations, we specify the traders' bidding strategies on tenders of European soft wheat intervention stocks. We show that correlations may have opposing effects on the traders' bidding strategy, depending on their valuation of the grain. This structural approach allows us to estimate the traders' strategies using generalized method of moments procedures.     

乌海市卡布其沟生态景观河道分槽方案优选

卡布其沟位于乌海市海勃湾城区南部,是城区南部山洪的泄洪通道。卡布其沟治理后将全面完成防洪和城市生态景观的任务。本文对三种方案做了对比,并选出了最优方案。