Happiness and freedom in direct action: critical mass bike rides as ecstatic ritual,play, and temporary autonomous zones

Most leisure research does not consider collective action and social change, while most social movement research overlooks carnivality and spontaneity. A counter-example is the alternative bicycling movement critical mass (CM), a rebellious, liberatory leisure and cultural event. CM is goal-oriented and a libidinal expression of participant desire. This paper investigates CM’s production of happiness and freedom via three heterodox theories. Ecstatic rituals are repetitive, cathartic collective events that people engage in to express joy and flaunt convention. Political theories of play interpret individual’s physically-embodied, creative, and performative actions. Temporary autonomous zones are spatial locations of resistance to authority that evade state detection and suppression. CM – unlike standard bike races or conventional movement protest – transcends the limitations of physical exercise, lackadaisical leisure, and militant direct action. Instead it is a hybrid form of collective action, combining premeditated ritual, rebellious play, and mobile freedom-seeking.     

Soft drink prices,sales, body mass index and diabetes: Evidence from a panel of low-, middle- and high-income countries

We take advantage of four different cross-country datasets containing data on 78 countries for the period 1999–2014, in order to assess the relationship of carbonated soft drinks’ sales, as well as their prices, with body mass index (BMI), overweight, obesity and diabetes. Using an ecological study design and multivariate regression longitudinal estimation approaches, we find that carbonated soft drink sales were significantly positively related to BMI, overweight and obesity – but only in the low and lower-middle income countries. This finding was robust to a number of sensitivity and falsification checks. In this sub-sample, an increase in per capita soft drink sales by 1 litre per year was related to an increase of BMI by about 0.009 kg/m² (p < 0.1).. This is a small effect, implying that halving annual consumption per capita in this group of countries would result in a drop of BMI by only about 0.03 kg/m². Although soft drink prices were negatively related to weight-related outcomes in the sample of higher middle income and high income countries, this finding was not robust to falsification checks. The results thus suggest that sales restrictions to steer consumers away from soft drinks could indeed have a beneficial health effects in poorer countries, although the effect magnitude appears to be very small. However, given potential limitations of using ecological research design, results from individual level studies would be required to further ascertain the role of soft drink sales and prices in obesity and diabetes.     

A research and defects analysis of the disaster relief system of China

Disasters, whether natural or human-induced, bring great pressure to governments. Disaster relief work can reflect the features of a government and test its ability in this respect. This article analyzes the basic political structure on which the establishment of China’s disaster relief system is based and introduces some reform initiatives in disaster reduction that enhance the quick emergency response ability of governments. However, in view of the government feature of unitary responsiveness (U-form), it is doubtful whether such a government can pool resources to finish a ‘central task’ without ignoring many noncentral tasks. As a low-probability event, disaster relief is unlikely to become the central task of a government and thus tends to be ignored. Such neglect is strengthened by corruption, venality, and other unscrupulous behaviors resulting from the nexus between the government and businessmen and, radically, from the government’s U-form character. This U-form feature strengthens China’s ‘strong government-weak society’ structure, which becomes the leading cause of tense social contradictions and frequent violent conflicts. Therefore, the control of environmental hazards, epidemic transmission, food safety problems, mass disturbances, and other human-induced disasters depends fundamentally on the transition of the Chinese government from the unitary responsiveness to the multiple responsiveness.     

Swine flu and hype: a systematic review of media dramatization of the H1N1 influenza pandemic

Highly disconcerting at the time, in retrospective, the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic looks like much ado about nothing. As a consequence, many accused the media of having created an artificial hype or hysteria around the new virus, thus contributing to unwarranted public fear. The current paper set out to examine the validity of such accusations. We integrated empirical findings on whether the media dramatized H1N1 on a global scale through systematically reviewing prior content-analytic studies. We developed a coding scheme specifying three indicators of dramatized media coverage that – together – inform about how mass media coverage about H1N1 may amplify risk perceptions in the public: (a) the volume of media coverage, (b) the media content presented, particularly an overemphasis of threat while neglecting measures of self-protection and (c) the tone of coverage. Results show that media attention was immense, that news content stressed threat over precautionary measures, while the pattern of coverage tonality remained nebulous due to conflicting findings. The present review also revealed a critical gap in existing knowledge about the tone of media coverage on H1N1, and discusses implications for future research on dramatization of public health risks by the media.     

大体积砼施工技术及管理——以某万吨水泥库基础基坑为例

对于大型基础的施工，存在深基坑和大体积砼的技术问题，通过探索和实践，取得了一种简单有效的基坑支护模式．获得了大体积砼浇灌的成功经验。     

Linking learning and effective process implementation to mass customization capability

This study investigates the role of learning and effective process implementation in the development of mass customization capability. Building upon the knowledge-based view of the firm, we argue that internal and external learning are two knowledge-generation routines that contribute to effective process implementation. Effective process implementation, in turn, is a knowledge-based manufacturing capability, which, as a function of internal and external learning, leads to mass customization capability. We employ structural equation modeling to empirically test the effects of learning on mass customization capability, mediated by effective process implementation, using survey data collected from 100 manufacturing plants in 3 industries and 6 countries. Our results provide empirical evidence supporting the proposed model of the effect of internal and external learning on mass customization capability, fully mediated by effective process implementation. This research is one of the first studies to integrate insights from the knowledge-based view of the firm and mass customization. It complements the OM view of mass customization, which to date has largely focused on the technical side, by demonstrating the role of managerial practices and learning in cultivating mass customization capability in a manufacturing environment.     

浅谈大体积混凝土防裂施工技术

文章分析了大体积混凝土裂缝产生的原因，从工程实践中介绍了防止裂缝发生的措施，可在工程实践中提供参考。     

对反物质的再认识

利用克里福德代数建立的双曲Minkowski空间，能描述正粒子和反粒子的几何行为，在此数学背景下讨论微观客体的运动行为和物理性质，可能为正粒子、反粒子与物质的内在逻辑关联以及辩证地理解反物质带来一些新意。     

对大学文化的理性认知与现实建构——大众文化批判的视角

大众文化和理性主义之间不是对立物,在大众文化悖兴的背景下,发挥大学新功能已成为新思路。应从理论与实践的统一上认识大众文化和理性主义的关系,坚持理性逻辑,树立理想主义精神,发挥马克思主义在大学文化建设的导向作用,坚持大学的功能和发展方向,在传承文化精华的基础上实现批判超越,并以理性逻辑建构大学文化。     

生产方式变迁的因素分析及启示

生产的实施是在一定的生产方式下展开的。伴随着人类历史的演进,生产方式也经历了一系列的变迁。探究其原因,我们不难发现生产方式的变迁与生产力的发展、技术的进步、市场的变化等因素密切相关。本文就这些因素对生产方式变迁的影响进行分析,并试图通过分析找到适合我国目前发展需要的生产方式。