Early-Morning and Late-Night Maximal Runs: Metabolic and Perceived Exertion Outcomes

People may exercise at the ends of their day to fit activity into their schedule; the purpose of this investigation was to determine if metabolic or perceived exertion outcomes differed between maximal runs early in the morning and late at night. After consuming a standardized, glucose drink, thirteen recreationally active individuals completed an early-morning and a late-night run on the treadmill while researchers measured metabolic (aerobic capacity and substrate usage) and perceived exertion outcomes. Point of application #1: Aerobic capacity (maximal consumption of oxygen) and the usage of fat as a fuel to support energy production during exercise were similar between runs. Point of application #2: Maximal perceived exertion (Borg’s 6-20) was similar during early-morning and late-night runs. Point of application #3: While research indicates that people may prefer activity in the morning or evening, and this might impact metabolic responses to the exercise bout, most of our participants (n=8) identified with no preference for exercising in the early-morning or late-night. Key Words: glucose; CHO shake; VO2max; fat oxidation; effor

Brownian Dynamics of a Sphere Between Parallel Walls

We describe direct imaging measurements of a colloidal sphere's diffusion between two parallel surfaces. The dynamics of this deceptively simple hydrodynamically coupled system have proved difficult to analyze. Comparison with approximate formulations of a confined sphere's hydrodynamic mobility reveals good agreement with both a leading-order superposition approximation as well as a more general all-images stokeslet analysis.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, REVTeX with PostScript figure

Testing a model of antecedents and consequences of defensive pessimism and self-handicapping in school physical education

There has been very limited research on the use of self-worth protection strategies in the achievement context of school physical education (PE). Thus, this study aimed to examine some antecedents and consequences of defensive pessimism and self-handicapping. The sample comprised 534 (females n = 275; males n = 259) British pupils recruited from two schools who responded to established questionnaires. Results of structural equation modelling analysis indicated that self-handicapping and defensive pessimism were positively predicted by fear of failure and negatively predicted by competence valuation. In addition, defensive pessimism was negatively predicted by physical self-concept. In turn, defensive pessimism negatively predicted enjoyment in PE and intentions to participate in future optional PE programs. Self-handicapping did not predict enjoyment or intentions. Results from multi-sample structural equation modelling showed the specified model to be largely invariant across males and females. The findings indicate that although both strategies aim to protect one’s self-worth, some of their antecedents and consequences in PE may differ

Projected Images of Major Chinese Outbound Destinations

This study aimed to explore the projected images of major outbound destinations based on popular travel magazines in China. Travel articles on Hong Kong, Macau, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam and Taiwan from 2006 to 2008 were content analyzed. Japan was reported on most, and the projected images of the six destinations are dominated by leisure and recreation, and culture, history and art. Correspondence analysis was used to examine relationships between destinations and popular image attributes. The results showed that South Korea and Macau had distinct projected images, whereas Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Vietnam shared many similar image attributes. Practical implications for destination marketing organizations are provided

How can personal development lead to increased engagement? The roles of meaningfulness and perceived line manager relations

There is an increasing need to understand the psychological processes that link personal development with employee engagement, particularly the boundary conditions at which these occur. The current study sought to meet this need by testing whether perceived opportunities for development are positively associated with job engagement indirectly through the experience of meaningfulness, and whether this indirect relationship is conditional on the level of perceived line manager relations. Questionnaire data was collected from 152 UK workers from a range of occupations and organizations. The results found support for all the hypotheses. In particular, the positive effects of perceived opportunities for development on job engagement (measured one month later) via meaningfulness were only significant for those who perceived that they had a good relationship with their line manager. Thus, there is a need for line managers to develop high quality relationships with their direct reports in order for development practices to translate into positive psychological outcomes. Engagement theory could be advanced by further understanding broaden-and-build and social exchange processes

Airborne multiwavelength High Spectral Resolution Lidar (HSRL-2) observations during TCAP 2012 : Vertical profiles of optical and microphysical properties of a smoke/urban haze plume over the northeastern coast of the US

© Author(s) 2014. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.We present measurements acquired by the world's first airborne 3 backscatter (β) + 2 extinction (α) High Spectral Resolution Lidar (HSRL-2). HSRL-2 measures particle backscatter coefficients at 355, 532, and 1064 nm, and particle extinction coefficients at 355 and 532 nm. The instrument has been developed by the NASA Langley Research Center. The instrument was operated during Phase 1 of the Department of Energy (DOE) Two-Column Aerosol Project (TCAP) in July 2012. We observed pollution outflow from the northeastern coast of the US out over the western Atlantic Ocean. Lidar ratios were 50-60 sr at 355 nm and 60-70 sr at 532 nm. Extinction-related Ångström exponents were on average 1.2-1.7, indicating comparably small particles. Our novel automated, unsupervised data inversion algorithm retrieved particle effective radii of approximately 0.2 μm, which is in agreement with the large Ångström exponents. We find good agreement with particle size parameters obtained from coincident in situ measurements carried out with the DOE Gulfstream-1 aircraft.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

E-supply chain integration adoption: examination of buyer–supplier relationships

The purpose of this study is to empirically examine the adoption of e-supply chain integration by electrical and electronic industry suppliers. This study has integrated both the transaction cost and resource-dependence models in understanding the influence of buyer–seller relationships on e-supply chain integration. Hypotheses were developed based on the proposed model. Data were collected from 122 electrical and electronic suppliers located in Malaysia. The data was examined using multiple regression analysis. The results showed that Asset Specificity, Product Technological Uncertainty, Transaction frequency, Proportion of sales to e-supply chain integration promoter, and number of customers are able to explain suppliers’ decisions to adopt e-supply chain integrations with their buyers. Buyers that would like to improve the adoptions of e-supply chain integration will be able to formulate and plan strategies from the buyer–seller relationships perspectives

Endothelial function and arterial stiffness in young adults with histories of chronic resistance activity

Endothelial dysfunction and arterial stiffness indicate vessel damage and are detectable before overt cardiovascular disease. Chronic cardiorespiratory endurance activity improves arterial endothelial function and stiffness. The influence of chronic resistance activity on these variables is less definitive and thus deserves attention. The primary aim of this investigation was to determine if endothelial dysfunction and arterial stiffness were present in apparently healthy young adults who chronically engage in resistance activity with minimal cardiorespiratory endurance activity. Investigators measured endothelial function as LnRHI and arterial stiffness as AI@75 using the EndoPAT-2000. Investigators measured upper-body muscular strength using a standardized one-repetition maximum (1-RM) bench press. The LnRHI and AI@75 between males and females were compared via an independent-samples t-test and Mann-Whitney U test, respectively. Correlations between 1-RM, bench press to body weight ratio, LnRHI, and AI@75 were evaluated via Pearson’s correlation. Males’ LnRHI was abnormal according to manufacturer standards and lower than females’ (p = .005), but AI@75 was normal and similar for both sexes (p = .22). The 1-RM and bench press to body weight ratio correlated negatively with LnRHI (p = .03 and p = .01, respectively). The bench press to body weight ratio correlated negatively with AI@75 (p = .03), and percentage body fat correlated positively with the AI@75 (p = .003). Young adult males with considerable upper-body muscular strength due to chronic resistance activity, who complete minimal cardiorespiratory endurance activity, appear to have detectable signs of early endothelial dysfunction

Environmental management decision-making in certified hotels

This paper analyses environmental decision-making against two axes, motivations and decision-making processes, to understand the reasons for pro-environmental behaviour by the managements of Spanish Eco-management and Audit Scheme (EMAS)-certified hotels. Mixed methods were used to study perceptions of EMAS and reasons for being certified, with current and lapsed EMAS-certified firms triangulated against expert interviews and documentary evidence. Four groups of hotels were differentiated: Strategic hotels (22%) (with high levels of integrated environmental management), Followers (48%), Greenwashers (11%) and Laggers (19%) (with low levels of integrated environmental management). Most hotels were found to be internally driven in their purpose and ad hoc in their decision-making, with limited understanding of externally driven benefits and motivation for more systematic management systems. This questions the success of EMAS as both a continuous improvement management and as a market-based regulation tool for hotels. Few hotels overall related high environmental standards to the possibilities of gaining market advantage: most wished to avoid legal challenges. The paper also illustrates the ways in which hotels opportunistically switch certification systems to get what they see as a better deal. © 2011 Taylor & Francis

Benefits of a marketing cooperative in transition agriculture: Mórakert purchasing and service co-operative

The paper analyses the potential benefits of marketing cooperatives in Hungary, employing a transaction cost economics framework. We found that the purchased quantity, the existence of contracts, flexibility and trust are the most important factors farmers consider when selling their products via a cooperative. The most striking result is that diversification has positive influences on the share of cooperatives in farmers’ sale. Furthermore, farmers with larger bargaining power have less willingness to sell their product to the cooperative. Surprisingly, asset specificity has rather negative effects on the share of cooperatives in members’ sales