Men\u27s consumption of fitness and exercise: An exploration of motivations for exercise and fitness involvement

Individuals in the U.S. have become increasingly involved in fitness and exercise within the last decade. As health of Americans decreases due to unhealthy diets and stresses of family and career coupled with society\u27s obsession with attractiveness and physical appearance, more individuals are turning to exercise and fitness to get healthy and enhance the physical appearance of the body (Bordo, 1999). Men, in particular, have increasingly become a target for the fitness industry as more and more men spend money on fitness, diet and appearance products (Dworkin & Wachs, 2009). The purpose of this research was to understand men\u27s use of exercise, fitness and health club memberships, as well as the meanings behind their participation in these activities. In addition, men\u27s fitness and exercise behavior as it relates to appearance, body image and the muscular male body ideal were examined. Ten men, who were regular exercisers, were interviewed for this study. The men\u27s motivations for engaging in exercise centered on health, appearance as it relates to both muscularity and weight management and desire to engage in athletic activities. Participation and involvement in exercise and fitness was very important for participants and was a significant part of their identities and lifestyle. Several related theoretical frameworks including Foucault and the “Docile Body,” Symbolic Interaction (SI) Theory of Fashion, Bourdieu and Social Capital and Postmodernism were used to interpret and provide meaning to participants\u27 responses

Age and the Feminine Ideal: Beauty and Age in 1930s Fashion Magazines

The purpose of this paper was to examine the feminine ideal of the 1930s and explain how age was an important factor in determining beauty and femininity

The Future of the Los Angeles County Apparel Industry in the Post-Quota Era

The purpose of this study was to analyze recent trends in production and employment in the Los Angeles apparel industry

Minimum wages and their role in the process and incentives to bargain

The study is based on four sources of data: (a) a survey of over 11,500 non-public sector organisations, (b) quantitative analysis of over 25,000 enterprise agreements, (c) qualitative analysis of 91 strategically selected agreements; and (d) 20 workplace case studies. Key findings (indicative) Organisations commonly used a number of pay-setting arrangements for their employees, with individual arrangements (at 65 per cent of organisations) and award based arrangements (52 per cent) the most common. The quantitative analysis of enterprise agreements found that that there may be a positive association between wage increases in enterprise agreements and Annual Wage Review increases. This was particularly the case for industries with higher proportions of agreements paying low wage increases and with a large number of award-reliant employees. The qualitative analysis of agreements identified the importance of distinguishing between agreements that are ‘award-reliant’, ‘slightly above award’ (i.e. pay modest over-awards) and ‘over-award’ (i.e. pay substantial amounts more than the award).  External relativities (i.e. differences in pay for exemplar or reference classifications common across employers) were dispersed among all industries considered. Internal relativities within agreements were very similar to those in their related awards. The case studies found little direct impact of Annual Wage Review decisions on wage outcomes or pay-setting processes – they are best conceived as third order factors shaping both. Conclusion While the direct impact of Annual Wage Review decisions was perceived to be limited at the work sites studied, this is not the whole story. The analysis of agreements revealed that there may be positive significant associations between Annual Wage Review increases and agreement content. The workplace cases in general, and the relativities analysis in particular, revealed that awards profoundly shape wage outcomes and the wage determination process.  In particular, the agreement and case study findings highlighted the importance of not conceiving the different pay-setting arrangements in mutually exclusive terms. If the Annual Wage Review increases examined are conceived as being part of an ongoing evolution of the award system, then their impact is better understood as being very significant, primarily because such increases are an integral part of labour standard regime that conditions workplace behaviour and shapes wage outcomes. This appears to be especially the case in those parts of the labour market paying below median wages

Improvement of urban passenger transport ticketing systems by deploying intelligent transport systems

The main advantages and disadvantages of conventional and intelligent ticketing systems and possible positive outcomes when introducing intelligent transport solutions ‐ namely smart cards or e‐ticketing instead of conventional ones (paper tickets and magnetic cards) are analysed in the paper. Two ideas of creating an intelligent ticketing system in an urban public transport are scrutinized. The first is electronic ticket and related equipment, the second ‐ e‐ticket and functional areas of it. In the article analysis has also been made on practical outcomes related with introduction of smart cards and e‐ticketing. Practical tests and trials as well as a subsequent implementation of electronic tickets have proved unchallenged advantages of contactless smart cards against the contact ones. Nevertheless, a new age of modern technologies calls even for more effective solutions ‐ namely virtual‐ticketing systems that might be achieved through introduction of mobile technologies. Therefore, the main focus in the paper is made on the analysis of e‐ticket. First Published Online: 27 Oct 201

Quantifying Relationships Between Bird and Butterfly Community Shifts and Environmental Change

Quantifying the manner in which ecological communities respond during a time of decreasing precipitation is a first step in understanding how they will respond to longer-term climate change. Here we coupled analysis of interannual variability in remotely sensed data with analyses of bird and butterfly community changes in montane meadow communities of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Landsat satellite imagery was used to classify these meadows into six types along a hydrological gradient. The northern portion of the ecosystem, or Gallatin region, has smaller mean patch sizes separated by ridges of mountains, whereas the southern portion of the ecosystem, or Teton region, has much larger patches within the Jackson Hole valley. Both support a similar suite of butterfly and bird species. The Gallatin region showed more overall among-year variation in the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) when meadow types were pooled within regions, perhaps because the patch sizes are smaller on average. Bird and butterfly communities showed significant relationships relative to meadow type and NDVI. We identified several key species that are tightly associated with specific meadow types along the hydrological gradient. Comparing taxonomic groups, fewer birds showed specific habitat affinities than butterflies, perhaps because birds are responding to differences in habitat structure among meadow types and using the landscape at a coarser scale than the butterflies. Comparing regions, the Teton region showed higher predictability of community assemblages as compared to the Gallatin region. The Gallatin region exhibited more significant temporal trends with respect to butterflies. Butterfly communities in wet meadows showed a distinctive shift along the hydrological gradient during a drought period (1997–2000). These results imply that the larger Teton meadows will show more predictable (i.e., static) species–habitat associations over the long term, but that the smaller Gallatin meadows may be an area that will exhibit the effects of global climate change faster

Karistusseadustiku §-de 262 ja 263 kooskõla määratletusenõude ja ultima ratio põhimõttega

http://www.ester.ee/record=b5143506*es

Quantifying Relationships Between Bird And Butterfly Community Shifts And Environmental Change.

Quantifying the manner in which ecological communities respond during a time of decreasing precipitation is a first step in understanding how they will respond to longer-term climate change. Here we coupled analysis of interannual variability in remotely sensed data with analyses of bird and butterfly community changes in montane meadow communities of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Landsat satellite imagery was used to classify these meadows into six types along a hydrological gradient. The northern portion of the ecosystem, or Gallatin region, has smaller mean patch sizes separated by ridges of mountains, whereas the southern portion of the ecosystem, or Teton region, has much larger patches within the Jackson Hole valley. Both support a similar suite of butterfly and bird species. The Gallatin region showed more overall among-year variation in the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) when meadow types were pooled within regions, perhaps because the patch sizes are smaller on average. Bird and butterfly communities showed significant relationships relative to meadow type and NDVI. We identified several key species that are tightly associated with specific meadow types along the hydrological gradient. Comparing taxonomic groups, fewer birds showed specific habitat affinities than butterflies, perhaps because birds are responding to differences in habitat structure among meadow types and using the landscape at a coarser scale than the butterflies. Comparing regions, the Teton region showed higher predictability of community assemblages as compared to the Gallatin region. The Gallatin region exhibited more significant temporal trends with respect to butterflies. Butterfly communities in wet meadows showed a distinctive shift along the hydrological gradient during a drought period (1997–2000). These results imply that the larger Teton meadows will show more predictable (i.e., static) species–habitat associations over the long term, but that the smaller Gallatin meadows may be an area that will exhibit the effects of global climate change fasterSincere thanks go out to the University of Wyoming, National Park Service Research Center (AMK Ranch: Henry Harlow, director) for funding and accommodating our research team over the years. We also thank Brian Miller of the Denver Zoological Foundation for funding, collaboration, and general camaraderie. Data collection during 1997–2000 was funded by a grant from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) through their Ecological Assessment and Restoration program. Although funded by the EPA (through grant 96-NCERQA-1A to Debinski et al.), it has not been subjected to the Agency’s peer review and therefore does not necessarily reflect the views of the Agency and no official endorsement should be inferred. Additional funding was provided by the Iowa Space Grant Consortium and the Grand Teton Natural History Association. Statistical consulting was provided by Kirk Moloney and Philip Dixon of Iowa State University. This manuscript was improved by the recommendations of M. Turner, C. Boggs, E. Fleishman, and two anonymous reviewers. Finally, thanks to the many field technicians who have helped over the years, especially Amanda Hetrick and Julie Perret

Improvement of road safety using passive and active intelligent vehicle safety systems

Following the measures foreseen in the Transport White Paper 2001, situation of road safety has improved. Road fatalities have declined by more than 17 % since 2001 in the EU. However, with around 41 600 deaths and more than 1.7 million injured in 2005, road remains the least safe mode of transport and objectives to halve the number of fatalities on road by 2010 is most likely not feasible to achieve. Therefore a need for the intelligent vehicle safety systems, that enable to raise the level of road safety, is much higher than ever before. The Intelligent Vehicle Safety Systems ensure a superior safety on road would it be vehicle‐based or infrastructure‐related systems. These can be divided into passive and active safety applications where the former help people stay alive and uninjured in a crash, while the latter help drivers to avoid accidents. Some of the most promising (e‐call) and the most used (ABS, ESP) systems are analised more specifically in the paper. Possible solutions to deploying intelligent transport systems in Lithuania are also introduced. First Published Online: 27 Oct 201