COMPETITIVENESS AND CONSUMER PREFERENCES OF US FRUITS IN TAIWAN

Taiwan is a major importing country of US fruits. This study examines the market competitiveness and consumer preferences of US fruits in Taiwan using cross-sectional data. Results indicate that for either retailers or consumers, imported US fruits compete favorably with domestic grown fruits in the Taiwanese fruit markets.Consumer/Household Economics,

Neural processing of imminent collision in humans

Detecting a looming object and its imminent collision is imperative to survival. For most humans, it is a fundamental aspect of daily activities such as driving, road crossing and participating in sport, yet little is known about how the brain both detects and responds to such stimuli. Here we use functional magnetic resonance imaging to assess neural response to looming stimuli in comparison with receding stimuli and motion-controlled static stimuli. We demonstrate for the first time that, in the human, the superior colliculus and the pulvinar nucleus of the thalamus respond to looming in addition to cortical regions associated with motor preparation. We also implicate the anterior insula in making timing computations for collision events

SOME TESTS OF THE ECONOMIC THEORY OF COOPERATIVES: METHODOLOGY AND APPLICATION TO COTTON GINNING

Little progress has been made in testing the often conflicting hypotheses generated from theoretical research on cooperatives. This paper addresses the deficiency by describing and applying (to California cotton ginning cooperatives) a methodology to test key hypotheses concerning (a) cooperativesÂ’ price-output equilibrium, (b) allocative efficiency, and (c) utilization of capital inputs. The empirical results (a) are consistent with predictions from the game theory model of cooperative behavior, (b) reject the null hypothesis of absolute allocative efficiency, and (c) indicate absolute overutilization of capital inputs among the sample cooperatives.Agribusiness, Crop Production/Industries,

Examining Sport Team Identification, Social Connections, and Social Well-being among High School Students

Past research has found that sport team identification is positively correlated with social psychological health (Phua, 2012; Wann & Weaver, 2009) including work testing adolescent fans (Wann, Brasher, Thomas, & Scheuchner, in press).  The current study was designed to extend previous investigations by examining the relationship between team identification and the establishment and maintenance of social connections.  Data from 177 high school students confirmed expectations as identification with a high school football team was positively correlated with both social well-being and social connections.  However, social connections were not found to mediate the relationship between identification and well-being, contrary to the team identification – social psychological health model (Wann, 2006b)

Study protocol for a randomised controlled trial evaluating the effectiveness of strengths model case management (SMCM) with Chinese mental health service users in Hong Kong

Introduction Strengths-based approaches mobilise individual and environmental resources that can facilitate the recovery of people with mental illness. Strengths model case management (SMCM), developed by Rapp and Goscha through collaborative efforts at the University of Kansas, offers a structured and innovative intervention. As evidence of the effectiveness of strengths-based interventions come from Western studies, which lacked rigorous research design or failed to assure fidelity to the model, we aim to fill these gaps and conduct a randomised controlled trial (RCT) to test the effectiveness of SMCM for individuals with mental illness in Hong Kong. Methods and analysis This will be an RCT of SMCM. Assuming a medium intervention effect (Cohen’s d=0.60) with 30% missing data (including dropouts), 210 service users aged 18 years or above will be recruited from three community mental health centres. They will be randomly assigned to SMCM groups (intervention) or SMILE groups (control) in a 1:1 ratio. The SMCM groups will receive strengths model interventions from case workers, whereas the SMILE groups will receive generic care from case workers with an attention placebo. The case workers will all be embedded in the community centres and will be required to provide a session with service users in both groups at least once every fortnight. There will be two groups of case workers for the intervention and control groups, respectively. The effectiveness of the SMCM will be compared between the two groups of service users with outcomes at baseline, 6 and 12 months after recruitment. Functional outcomes will also be reported by case workers. Data on working alliances and goal attainment will be collected from individual case workers. Qualitative evaluation will be conducted to identify the therapeutic ingredients and conditions leading to positive outcomes. Trained outcome assessors will be blind to the group allocation. Ethics and dissemination Ethical approval from the Human Research Ethics Committee at the University of Hong Kong has been obtained (HRECNCF: EA1703078). The results will be disseminated to service users and their families via the media, to healthcare professionals via professional training and meetings and to researchers via conferences and publications

Search for the hero: an investigation into the sports heroes of British sports fans

This is an initial study into British sports fans’ heroes. A questionnaire was sent to 95 students (average age ¼ 19.75) to identify their sporting hero, the hero’s sport and nationality and the reasons for this choice. Football was the most common source of sports heroes, identified by 49% of participants with a sporting hero. The majority (60%, N ¼ 48) of heroes chosen by participants were British, with David Beckham the most popular choice. Differences were observed between the gender of participants, gender of hero chosen and the reasons for choosing the hero. The most common reason for selecting a hero was a personal trait rather than skill, while in the questionnaire a category of Local Affiliation was added to those suggested by previous work. It was concluded that to become a hero athletes should combine skill with devotion to family, charity work and a place in popular culture

The use of prescanning in the parameterization of sequential pointing and reaching movements

The accuracy of reaching movements improves when active gaze can be used to fixate on targets. The advantage of free gaze has been attributed to the use of ocular proprioception or efference signals for online control. The time course of this process, however, is not established, and it is unclear how far in advance gaze can move and still be used to parameterize subsequent movements. In this experiment, the authors considered the advantage of prescanning targets for both pointing and reaching movements. The authors manipulated the visual information and examined the extent to which prescanning of targets could compensate for a reduction in online visual feedback. In comparison with a conventional reaching/pointing condition, the error in pointing was reduced, the eye-hand lead decreased, and both the hand-closure time and the size of the maximum grip aperture in reaching were modulated when prescanning was allowed. These results indicate that briefly prescanning multiple targets just prior to the movement allows the refinement of subsequent hand movements that yields an improvement in accuracy. This study therefore provides additional evidence that the coordinate information arising from efference or ocular-proprioceptive signals can, for a limited period, be buffered and later used to generate a sequence of movements

On Passion and Sports Fans:A Look at Football

The purpose of the present research was to test the applicability of the Dualistic Model of Passion (Vallerand et al., 2003) to being a sport (football) fan. The model posits that passion is a strong inclination toward an activity that individuals like (or even love), that they value, and in which they invest time and energy. Furthermore, two types of passion are proposed: harmonious and obsessive passion. While obsessive passion entails an uncontrollable urge to engage in the passionate activity, harmonious passion entails a sense of volition while engaging in the activity. Finally, the model posits that harmonious passion leads to more adaptive outcomes than obsessive passion. Three studies provided support for this dualistic conceptualization of passion. Study 1 showed that harmonious passion was positively associated with adaptive behaviours (e.g., celebrate the team’s victory), while obsessive passion was rather positively associated with maladaptive behaviours (e.g., to risk losing one’s employment to go to the team’s game). Study 2 used a short Passion Scale and showed that harmonious passion was positively related to the positive affective life of fans during the 2006 FIFA World Cup, psychological health (self-esteem and life satisfaction), and public displays of adaptive behaviours (e.g., celebrating one’s team victory in the streets), while obsessive passion was predictive of maladaptive affective life (e.g., hating opposing team’s fans) and behaviours (e.g., mocking the opposing team’s fans). Finally, Study 3 examined the role of obsessive passion as a predictor of partner’s conflict that in turn undermined partner’s relationship satisfaction. Overall, the present results provided support for the Dualistic Model of Passion. The conceptual and applied implications of the findings are discussed

The use of predictive information is impaired in the actions of children and young adults with developmental coordination disorder

The need for a movement response may often be preceded by some advance information regarding direction or extent. We examined the ability of individuals with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) to organise a movement in response to advance information. Pre-cues were presented and varied in the extent to which they indicated the response target. Both eye movement latencies and hand movements were measured. In the absence of pre-cues, individuals with DCD were as fast in initial hand movements as the typically developing (TD) participants, but were less efficient at correcting initial directional errors. A major difference was seen in the degree to which each group could use advance pre-cue information. TD participants were able to use pre-cue information to refine their actions. For the individuals with DCD this was only effective if there was no ambiguity in the advance cue and they had particular difficulty in using predictive motion cues. There were no differences in the speed of gaze responses which excluded an explanation relating to the dynamic allocation of attention. Individuals with DCD continued to rely on the slower strategy of fixating the target prior to initiating a hand movement, rather than using advance information to set initial movement parameters

Use of Retroactive Pessimism as a Method of Coping with Identity Threat: The Impact of Group Identification

Retroactive pessimism involves retrospectively lowering one's evaluations of a group's chances for success after a failed competition. Although past research has substantiated the existence of this strategy, investigators have yet to examine how level of group identification might impact the use of retroactive pessimism. Given that coping with group threat is most prominent among persons with high levels of group identification, we hypothesized that displays of retroactive pessimism would be magnified in persons with strong allegiances to a group. This hypothesis was tested by having supporters of two college basketball teams evaluate the chances for victory for each team both prior to the game between the teams and subsequent to the contest. Regression analyses confirmed expectations (the greatest magnitude of retroactive pessimism was reported by highly identified supporters of the losing team in their evaluations of the winning team). Subsequent analyses revealed that this effect was not mediated by level of disappointment in the outcome