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This study aimed to identify dietary trends in Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ) and whether inequities in dietary patterns are changing. We extracted data from the Household Economic Survey (HES), which was designed to provide information on impacts of policy-making in NZ, and performed descriptive analyses on food expenditures. Overall, total household food expenditure per capita increased by 0.38% annually over this period. Low-income households spent around three quarters of what high-income households spent on food per capita. High-income households experienced a greater increase in expenditure on nuts and seeds and a greater reduction in expenditure on processed meat. There was increased expenditure over time on fruit and vegetables nuts and seeds, and healthy foods in Māori (Indigenous) households with little variations in non-Māori households. But there was little change in processed meat expenditure for Māori households and expenditure on less healthy foods also increased over time. Routinely collected HES data were useful and cost-effective for understanding trends in food expenditure patterns to inform public health interventions, in the absence of nutrition survey data. Potentially positive expenditure trends for Māori were identified, however, food expenditure inequities in processed meat and less healthy foods by ethnicity and income continue to be substantial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) are considered important intermediaries between citizens and policymakers. They are assumed to function as transmission belts that filter societal preferences and channel them to policymakers. Although the ability of CSOs to connect civil society with policymakers has been put into question, it has rarely been theoretically specified and empirically tested. This paper develops a conceptualization of CSOs that examines their capacity to function as transmission belts. It does so by distinguishing two organizational dimensions related to member involvement and organizational capacity. The paper draws on a large survey of CSOs active at the EU to empirically assess these organizational dimensions and relate them to basic CSOs’ characteristics. The findings indicate that one out of three organizations approximates the ideal-type transmission belt. The findings contribute to a better understanding and assessment of CSO’s potential contribution to policy-making in representative democracies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we shall survey some aspects of our recent (or related) constructions of derived equivalences for algebras and rings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International volunteering has become a complex field in the context of globalization. Within the discourses of international volunteering and development programs as well as in the voices of volunteers, the field can be understood as one of unpaid transnational labor, as social activism and altruism, and as a new 'soft power' post-colonial agenda. Many studies contend in this context that international volunteers need better training for intercultural understanding amidst these disparate frameworks, to make meaning out of their service and effectively contribute to communities they serve. This study examines the motivations, experiences, and challenges of US volunteer teachers in China's Yunnan Province as reported within a survey implemented in 2012. Findings elaborate on the challenge volunteers face reconciling cross-cultural views of education while working in post-colonial global contexts, and suggest that intercultural training is necessary to prepare volunteers for related global work practices in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Macroeconomic downturns have been associated with a decrease in happiness among adults. The aim of this study was to explore the secular trend in happiness among Icelandic adolescents during a period of drastic change in the national economy as well as to identify which groups were most vulnerable and most resilient during the economic crisis. The data used in this study comes from series of population-based surveys of Icelandic adolescents in 2000, 2006, 2009, and 2010. Altogether, a total of 28.484 adolescents participated in the four surveys, representing 84 % of all 14-15 year old adolescents in Iceland. Results indicated that happiness increased by 5 % in the adolescent population from 2000 to 2010 despite the economic crisis. Nevertheless, adolescents who seldom spent time with their parents or perceived difficulties in getting emotional support from parents demonstrated a decrease in happiness. Those who found it easy to get emotional support from parents were happiest at every time point (91-93 %) while those who found it difficult were unhappiest (36-50 %). The association between socio- demographic factors and happiness was explored using multiple linear regression analyses where the year of survey, gender, age, family structure, parent's education, time spent with parents and emotional support from parents altogether explained 13 % of the happiness variance. Emotional support from parents together with time spent with parents had the largest influence on adolescent's happiness. An overall increase in time spent with parents was detected which might explain the increase in adolescents´ happiness over time. These results indicate that good relations with parents may protect adolescents from possible negative effect of a national economic crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The social environment in which government is embedded has wide implications for public administration. The increasing social heterogeneity in the United States poses various puzzles for the governance structure in public human service programs. Apart from major political and policy changes, contracting out service delivery is considered to be a more appropriate managerial response. Therefore, social heterogeneity in a jurisdiction would be positively associated with the use of contractual networks in service delivery. Using data from a national survey of human service contracting, this study finds that states with higher degrees of social heterogeneity use service contractual networks more often. This further highlights the imperative of capacity building for public administrators when using contractual networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using self-determination theory (SDT; Deci and Ryan ), we conducted a cross-sectional survey to test the relationship among competence, intrinsic motivation, job satisfaction, and intention to continue volunteering. A total of 180 Special Olympics volunteers from China participated in this study. The results showed that competence positively predicted intrinsic motivation and job satisfaction. Intrinsic motivation was a partial mediator for the relationship between competence and job satisfaction. Job satisfaction positively influenced intention and it acted as a full mediator in the relationship between intrinsic motivation and intention. It was concluded that SDT is a useful theoretical framework in understanding intention to continue volunteering. Theoretical and practical implications are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on finding solutions to two important questions regarding making Iranian banks customer-oriented with the use of customer relationship management (CRM) concepts: What is a practical architecture for the CRM of a bank that can bring about benefits of CRM to the organization, and what is the method to achieve such architecture? This research uses an Action Research (AR) approach in one of the largest Iranian banks to achieve answers to the aforementioned questions. In brief, it concentrates on the AR cycle and its reflexes. In the plan stage, extended literature review, pioneer banks studies, and benchmarking provide a preliminary plan. Later, in the act stage this plan can be confirmed, extended, or customized based on more precise examination of the organization, managers and employees' interviews, and customer opinion surveys. In the check stage, university and bank experts will review the plans and in the last stage of the cycle, reflected results, lessons, and experiences that help system design in the second bank will be discussed. The efficient method of achieving the CRM architecture (which in the beginning we had only general knowledge about) as well as the improvements that can be done based on experts' opinions in order to receive more applicable results, are among the issues that will be discussed in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 1963, changes in the family composition of the US labor force explain more than half of the variability in US total factor productivity growth. Using the Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement, we document the rise of two (and single) working-parent families in the USA. We augment a standard growth-accounting equation to differentiate between parental and nonparental labor inputs and find that accounting for the parental composition of the labor force explains roughly 50 % of total factor productivity growth, the productivity slowdown of the 1970s, and the productivity rise of the 1990s. The parental composition of the workforce also helps to explain labor productivity differences across US states while controlling for differences in the age and gender profile of workers across states does not. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses choice modeling surveys from the Chinese cities of Jiujiang, Jiangxi Province, and Changsha, Hunan Province, to identify residential preferences for simultaneously increasing the stability of the electricity supply and decreasing the health risks from air pollution. Air pollution in China is mainly attributable to externalities associated with the electricity supply. We employ a contingent ranking approach as our choice modeling method and test for the transfer of benefits for these preferences between the two sites. The original benefit estimates indicate that the implicit price for reducing the number of power breakdowns is about RMB 83 per times × year × household in Jiujiang and RMB 78 per times × year × household in Changsha, while the implicit price for reducing the duration of power breakdowns is statistically zero in Jiujiang and RMB 71 per times × year × household in Changsha. From the alternative perspective, we estimate that the annualized value of the statistical lifetime risk of cancer caused by air pollution over a 70-year period is RMB 50,844 per year in Jiujiang and RMB 67,146 per year in Changsha. This suggests that we do not reject benefit transferability based on the implicit price of the number of power breakdowns, but do reject it based on the number of deaths from cancer caused by air pollution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Future military and civilian unmanned systems will be extensively used on land, under the sea, in air, and in space. Evaluation of their autonomy is critical to realize the autonomous operation ability of unmanned systems. This paper discussed the basic concepts of autonomy and the significance of autonomy evaluation, and then surveys and describes existing evaluating methods. Based on analyses of key technologies and these technologies' technical readiness levels, a cobweb evaluation model as a universal evaluation model has been used to evaluate unmanned systems. If the technology warps (aspects of autonomy) and wefts (levels of those aspects) of unmanned systems can be determined for the cobweb model, the model can handle the mutual coupling, high dimensions, and diversity of warp lines. This model potentially has wide application in evaluating various unmanned systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study a supply chain scheduling problem, where a common due date is assigned to all jobs and the number of jobs in delivery batches is constrained by the batch size. Our goal is to minimize the sum of the weighted number of tardy jobs, the due-date-assignment costs and the batch-delivery costs. We show that some well-known $\mathcal{NP}$-hard problems reduce to our problem. Then we propose a pseudo-polynomial algorithm for the problem, establishing that it is $\mathcal{NP}$-hard only in the ordinary sense. Finally, we convert the algorithm into an efficient fully polynomial time approximation scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Proponents of privatization claim that privatization can enhance efficiency, reduce public sector debt and consequently improve overall economic performance. However, in many developing countries, and Africa in particular, the evidence is mixed. An exploratory study is done from the perspective of citizens' about the impact of privatization on the Ghanaian national economy. The findings of the study suggest that: 1) the privatization program is pro rich; it benefits the economic and political elites more than it benefits the nation as a whole; 2) there is a high level of corruption associated with the privatization process; and 3) Privatization is not considered as one of the most important tools needed for national development, though the survey finds that many respondents believe that there is the need for some reforms in the public sector to promote national development. The results of the study indicate that administrative and political problems cannot be overcome simply by reducing the size of the state bureaucracy, but rather making government more accountable in meeting the needs of its people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the extent to which foreign direct investment (FDI) could have contributed to recent increase in wages in China. Using a World Bank survey data set of 1,500 Chinese enterprises conducted in 2001, the paper finds that the presence of FDI in the same industry and region has an indirect effect on wages of skilled workers in private firms, while it does not appear to affect wages of ordinary workers or of any workers in state-owned enterprises (SOEs). It further finds that observed quality of engineers in both SOEs and domestic private firms declines in the presence of FDI in the same industry and region, while quality of managers improves in domestic private firms. The paper discusses potential reasons for such discrepancy in the FDI effects on private and state firms' labor practices. These findings highlight the relevance of labor market institutions in determining FDI spillovers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Survey data show that the expected growth rates of consumption across countries vary widely and are not highly correlated. This data contradict the simplest of open-economy models in which there is a freely traded non-state-contingent bond and purchasing power parity holds. This paper explores two alternative explanations for the finding: that households in each country in effect face different ex ante real interest rates or that there are significant credit constraints, so that expected consumption growth rates are driven largely by expected income growth. The empirical evidence strongly supports the latter hypothesis. These findings challenge the modeling of consumption that is at the heart of many, if not most, macroeconomic models.IMF Staff Papers (2009) 56, 543–573. doi:10.1057/imfsp.2008.33; published online 27 January 2009 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract  Aquaculture is a growing and high-value industry that depends on access to and wise use of shared inland, coastal and marine resources. Varied stakeholders and communities are very interested in these public resources, and there has been conflict about how the aquaculture industry uses them. Prior to the research discussed in this article, there have been few large-scale studies of community perceptions of aquaculture. Our research drew upon an extensive literature review, stakeholder interviews and a survey mailed to the public in two regional case studies in Australia: the Eyre Peninsula in the state of South Australia and Port Phillip Bay in the state of Victoria. The data revealed some public support for aquaculture’s socioeconomic benefits and strong interest in minimizing the risk of its environmental impacts. There were mixed opinions about the trustworthiness of governments’ aquaculture decisions and actions. Some industry sectors attracted greater trust and lower perceived environmental risks. The importance and credibility of different information sources varied. There was strong support for improved dialogue among governments, the aquaculture industry and communities. Key differences between the regions included levels of awareness of and knowledge about aquaculture. Our research is consistent with literature on risk communication and perception that suggests that conflict and subsequent costs to industry and the community can be overcome or mitigated if government and industry understand, acknowledge and respond to community perceptions of the industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on a model for conducting research on living conditions in Arctic. Investigation on the social, cultural and economic change in countries; Consensus concerning social and economic objectives; Discussion of methodological challenges.

Reports on the results of the 2001 annual economic survey of public biotechnology companies. Distribution of publicly-traded biotechnology companies; Total revenue; Research and development expenditure.

Examines the effects of 16 food items on the overall food expenditure inequality in Greece using the raw data of Family Budget Surveys conducted during 1987/88 and 1993/94. Decomposition of the extended Gini coefficient; Improvement of the distribution of food expenditure equality and progressivity of tax system.

Much previous research shows that variation in vote choice closely follows variation in economic perceptions over time. A number of scholars argue that the pattern is rooted in cross-sectional effects and have found apparent evidence of such effects. However, most of these studies do not take into account the possibility that economic perceptions are themselves structured by vote choice, which poses potentially serious implications. We begin to address this endogeneity, focusing specifically on Lewis-Beck's (1988) analysis of economic voting. The results suggest that the cross-sectional effects of the economy on vote choice have been substantially overstated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights the two objectives of the paper in measuring the determinants and diversities in the different institutions and child care centers. Isolation of factors that influence diversity significantly; Evidence of diversity in non profit organizations compared to profit organizations; Use of the Herfindahl index.

The article cites the study conducted by Katherine J. Curtis White regarding the migration pattern of unmarried women in the U.S. from 1910 until 1970. The study found that during the period, marital status influenced the migrants in choosing for their destinations and locations. The statistics gathered showed that in both black and white migrants, unmarried women are likely to live in metropolitan areas. The researcher offered that the disparate migration pattern among single women had influenced the family-formation pattern for the period.