Chinese tourists' views of nature and natural landscape interpretation: a generational perspective

This study investigates Chinese tourists’ views of nature, interest in animal experiences and their preferred natural landscape interpretation content from a generational perspective. Eight hundred and eight self-administered questionnaires were collected at Wulingyuan, a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site, in China. It suggests that overall Chinese traditional cultural values and beliefs, notably the thinking of tian ren he yi (oneness of nature with humans), still have considerable impacts on Chinese tourists. They were found to have a strong sense of connection with nature and a preference for cultural interpretations of natural landscapes. Meanwhile, Chinese might be reaching a point of convergence in terms of attitude towards nature and animals with their Western counterparts, as reflected by their weak anthropocentric view, and strong ethical and aesthetic appreciation of animals, regardless of generation cohorts. Yet, the study shows significant generational gaps: older generations have a stronger connection with nature, are more concerned about environmental issues and show more support for the Western approach towards nature protection; the younger generations hold weaker anthropocentrism, and are more interested in animals, yet are less likely to learn about nature through tourism interpretation.     

Proximity and animal welfare in the context of tourist interactions with habituated dolphins

The long-term sustainability of wildlife tourism depends on integrating visitor demands with resource management, requiring an understanding of tourist motivation. Managing the conflict between access to the animals and welfare, however, may diminish the experience for tourists. This paper identifies trade-offs tourists are willing to make between access and animal welfare, associated with feeding habituated bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops sp.) in Monkey Mia, Western Australia. Using a choice modelling technique, we were able to determine monetary values of visitor experiences. Compared to the current guaranteed interaction with dolphins (and a daily resort entrance fee), respondents were willing to pay significantly higher hypothetical entrance fees to avoid a decrease in proximity to, or probability of, the dolphin interaction. However, negative impacts on dolphin welfare had a negative impact on visitor utility. Over 80% of visitors (n = 244) accepted management regulations resulting in decreased time with and proximity to dolphins, if those addressed welfare concerns and were communicated clearly. Thus, while visitors placed the greatest value on the proximity and predictability, they were willing to trade off these aspects if they improved dolphin welfare. We provide management suggestions based on these results.     

A rapid assessment of wildlife tourism risk posed to cetaceans in Asia

Dolphin-watching tourism is growing globally. In developing countries, the typically low environmental awareness of operators and poorly enforced or non-existent regulations exacerbate risks to wildlife. Ecological indicators like behavioural responses are useful to assess wildlife tourism, but obtaining such data is slow and expensive. We modified the Driver–Pressure–State–Impact–Response (DPSIR) framework to rapidly assess the risk of dolphin-watching tourism harming, displacing or causing local extinction to dolphin populations, using human dimension data to complement limited ecological data. We assessed industries at seven dolphin-watching sites in six countries in Asia: Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines. All sites have reached or almost reached financial saturation except Cambodia and Malaysia. We find high risk to dolphins at the sites in India and Indonesia and intermediate risk at the site in Cambodia. Pending more ecological data, the risk at Thailand, the Philippines, and Malaysian sites might be low. Our analysis also indicates site-specific conservation recommendations for Driver, Pressure and Response. We suggest that the DPSIR framework is useful to assess the risk of a wildlife watching industry, even when the impact is uncertain due to insufficient ecological data.     

The first space hotel employees: Human resources challenges in a post-terrestrial paradigm

ABSTRACT

This article discusses some of the issues regarding the first employees to work in a space hotel. As space hotels initially will be vastly different to existing hotels on Earth, it is important to question what human resource challenges this will raise for hospitality workers and providers. To assist reflection on this issue, the notions of space tourism and space tourist are explored, and a definition of a space hotel is included to create product and service boundaries. Plausible futures methodology is used to create five main human resource considerations and concludes by suggesting this sector is largely unexplored.     

论休闲之“成为人”的价值意蕴

“成为人”是休闲研究中的一个重要的概念,也是一个永恒的话题.休闲的价值主要表现为休闲的个体价值:使人“成为人”与休闲的社会价值;使人成为“完整的人”两个方面.休闲使人“成为人”的价值意蕴主要体现在休闲使人“成为人”的生存论基础是以“存在”与“成为”为目标的存在的自由;休闲使人“成为人”的本体论奠基是休闲自由使人自由地成长,使人“成为”人,使人全面地恢复活力,使人完整地重新发现生活的意义;休闲使人“成为人”的实践途径是体验“成人”.休闲之“成为人”的价值意蕴的现实指向是当今社会的价值诉求,主要表现在“成为人”对于提高我国民族的素养和促进当今社会发展的意义.     

The impact of mood states and surprise cues on satisfaction

Mood effects have been studied in consumer behavior literature, but prior research investigating the joint impact of mood and surprise on satisfaction is scant. To bridge this gap, this study examines the relationship among these three constructs. We manipulated customers’ pre-consumption mood and provided surprise cues with hypothetical scenarios in a 2 by 2 factorial design in a restaurant setting. The results show that a positive surprise yields high satisfaction without a significant effect from customers’ pre-consumption mood. Conversely, with a negative surprise, customers in a negative pre-consumption mood indicate lower satisfaction than those in a positive mood.     

专用性人力资本投资与饭店业基层员工低薪酬现象成因解释

我国饭店业正逐步演变为典型的低薪酬行业,主要表现为固定工资合约逐渐成为主导性薪酬契约,且固定工资基数水平不断下降。文章运用专用性人力资本理论,解释了在隐性知识管理机制缺失的条件下,饭店业主为什么会放弃对专用性人力资本投资收益的追求而选择固定工资合约,并进一步分析了固定工资合约的实际支付水平为什么会逐步下降,直至最终形成接近法定最低工资标准的全行业统一价格。     

基于CenterNet的跑步姿态鉴别系统的设计

为了改善目前大众跑步姿势普遍不规范的现状,提出了一种基于CenterNet的跑步姿态鉴别系统。首先,通过截图、拍照的方式自制数据集,并对数据集进行清洗、标注和分析,消除数据无关信息与简化数据。其次,引入多尺度通道注意力机制与添加十字星变形卷积2种方式改进CenterNet算法模型,将动作图像转化为数字信息和特征向量,并以此为基础,利用KNN（K-nearest neighbors）算法对跑步姿态类型进行分类。最后,与经典模型方案进行对比,验证改进CenterNet算法鉴别系统的有效性。结果表明：改进的CenterNet模型的精确率与召回率都有所提升,其参数量与计算量降低。所提算法模型能够对大多数不良姿势作出及时、准确反馈,有效帮助跑步爱好者发现问题,从而改善跑步姿态、提高运动效率、预防伤病。     

中国崛起的认识论及其叙事衍生

从自我认同与群体归属两种需要的分析视角,作者得出了四种观察中国与非中国之间关系的视野:国家、亚洲、文明与天下。其中,从中国的角度出发,观察非中国的视野主要是国家与天下。如果继续按照自我认同与群体归属两种需要的区分,我们可得出国家权力、霸道、主权身份以及中心-边陲四种叙事的文本。简言之,看待中国崛起不是一件纯粹的客观之事,而是涉及观察者的群我关系之深层需要。中国研究不仅是一个应该适应国情并随之调整的方法论问题,而且它还涉及知识形成的前提,亦即中国与非中国关系所涉及的群我关系。群我关系的形成与认知须靠文化形塑,进而使行为主体形成对中国崛起的认识角度与文本选择。     

城乡统筹发展前提下人力资本与人均收入的关系

以2000年、2005年的统计资料为样本,对城乡人力资本与人均收入关系的研究表明,人力资本因素对居民收入的影响力不断增强。东部地区农村人力资本的存量和收入都高于西部地区.但地区间人力资本差距与城乡收入差距没有显著相关性,这与人力资本关于收入分配理论相悖,而这种背离是由于制度的不合理造成的。因此,要进行制度创新,从制度设计上确立人力资本的地位,强化对农村人力资本投资尤其是对西部农村地区的支持力度。