<p>The purpose of this study was to determine if wellness benefits led to any changes in exercise habits among employed postmen. The study was a cross-sectional study carried out by a quantitative method. The collection of data took the form of a questionnaire. The sample consisted of 30 postmen employed at a post office in northern Sweden. The results show that of the postman who use health care benefits, there has been a relatively small change in exercise habits. The results also show that consistently for all respondents was health the main motivation factor for exercise. Time aspect was a factor for not using the wellness benefits. The study showed a state of health is the primary motivational factor to exercise both for those using health care benefits and for those who do not use them.</p>

Most logistics network design models assume exogenous customer demand that is independent of the service time or level. This paper examines the benefits of segmenting demand according to lead-time sensitivity of customers. To capture lead-time sensitivity in the network design model, we use a facility grouping method to ensure that the different demand classes are satisfied on time. In addition, we perform a series of computational experiments to develop a set of managerial insights for the network design decision making process. / Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA)

The objectives of this study include: (1) to examine how exercisers understand the concept of a healthy person, and how satisfied they are with their health; (2) to examine goals and reasons to exercise and the perceived importance of health to reach the goals; (3) to examine strategies both to avoid injuries, overtraining, or burnout and to strengthen health among exercisers and if exercisers put their health under risk in order to achieve their goals; (4) to examine how exercisers perceive “benefits” and “costs” of exercise participation in relation to satisfaction with health and exercise. The sample consists of 12 regular exercisers (7 men & 5 women; age: M = 25.4  5.9). A semi-structured interview guide was created for this study, and based on earlier research and the working model. The qualitative data were analysed by means of both deductive and inductive analyses and 12 category profiles have been developed. Overall exercisers showed a positive perception/attitude and perception to exercise participation and most of them pointed out their satisfaction with their health. Exercisers presented much more data related to benefits of their exercise participation than to costs. Exercisers reported that health is important for them and the majority of the exercisers never put their health at risk. The results are discussed from the point of view of the Perceived health and sport/exercise participation model. Keywords: Benefits, Costs, Exercise, Perceived health, and Satisfaction.

Although sexual stereotypes paint males as being promiscuous and females as being choosy in order to increase their reproductive success, multiple mating by females is widespread and females of many taxa often produce progeny sired by multiple males – but why? In species in which there are no direct benefits associated with mating, females may adopt promiscuous mating strategies to increase their fitness through the acquisition of genetic benefits. Here, I examine the genetic mating system of map turtles, Graptemys geographica in Lake Opinicon. Based on the most conservative estimate, at least 71% of clutches in this population are sired by multiple males. There did not appear to be any relationship between female body size and frequency of multiple paternity. There was a marginally significant effect of multiple paternity on hatching success and survival of clutches, but there was no effect on hatchling morphology or locomotor performance.

Functional foods provide positive externality benefits to society through the promotion of health benefits that lower the potential of illness for individual consumer and reduce the health care costs that are borne by governments. With strong market growth and considerable potential social benefits, functional foods appear to be an important area for future expansion in the global food market. However, pre-existing trade barriers to international commence reduce, or sometimes eliminate, trade in functional foods. Given that there are benefits associated with health-giving attributes from functional foods, retaining trade restrictions on functional foods may lead to additional forgone benefits.<p> To examine the effects of the positive health benefits arising from functional foods when pre-existing trade restrictions are in place, a comparative-static partial equilibrium trade model is modified. Four cases pertaining to import restrictions on functional foods are examined in the trade model based on two categories: trade policies and ability to produce. The theoretical framework provides an illustration of the potential welfare benefits forgone from the existence of trade barriers when a traditional food becomes a functional food.<p> Empirical case studies examined canola oil as a functional food. The value of the benefits foregone from maintaining trade barriers to canola oil in two countries: China and United Kingdom were estimated. In addition, a cost of illness model was used to estimate health care savings. The final ratio suggests that existing trade policies directly result in non-trivial costs to society. . As a result, current trade regulations might be re-evaluated by policy makers to better reflect the evolving markets for functional foods.

It has been demonstrated that people often feel happier, healthier, and more relaxed after a vacation. However, there is still lack of research on how people perceive the benefits of travel and how these perceptions influence their travel behavior. Thus, the primary purpose of this research was to examine the effects of perceived tourism benefits on travel behavior based on the model of attitude importance. Since existing scales of tourism benefits failed to incorporate some important items or factors, particularly the health benefits of tourism, this dissertation involved three online panel surveys, including: (1) a preliminary study (n=566) to elicit new benefit items, (2) a pilot study (n=434) to trim down the number of items, and (3) a main survey (n=559) to finalize the scale. As a result, several items associated with health benefits were elicited from the preliminary study; in the later stages of scale development, these items were identified and validated as a convergent dimension of perceived health benefits. Further, several hypotheses pertaining to the effect of perceived tourism benefits and the applicability of the attitude-importance model in tourism were tested. The results showed that: (1) the premise of the attitude-importance model that important attitudes can instigate the process of knowledge accumulation was supported; (2) the applicability of the attitude-importance model in tourism was supported; (3) the three factors of perceived tourism benefits – experiential, health, and relaxation benefits, had positive effects on travel behavior through attitude importance. These results had theoretical and practical implications. First, while previous tourism studies on tourists’ information search have tended to incorporate information search behavior in the context of vacation planning, this research demonstrated that the accumulation of product-related knowledge can be on a regular basis. Second, while previous tourism studies have a strong preference for the evaluative features of attitudes, this research demonstrated that attitude importance as a dimension of attitude strength is relevant in tourism. Finally, the experiential, health, and relaxation benefits were shown to have positive effects on travel behavior, which indicates that the tourism industry can encourage people to travel more by convincing them taking vacations is beneficial.

Functional foods provide positive externality benefits to society through the promotion of health benefits that lower the potential of illness for individual consumer and reduce the health care costs that are borne by governments. With strong market growth and considerable potential social benefits, functional foods appear to be an important area for future expansion in the global food market. However, pre-existing trade barriers to international commence reduce, or sometimes eliminate, trade in functional foods. Given that there are benefits associated with health-giving attributes from functional foods, retaining trade restrictions on functional foods may lead to additional forgone benefits.<p> To examine the effects of the positive health benefits arising from functional foods when pre-existing trade restrictions are in place, a comparative-static partial equilibrium trade model is modified. Four cases pertaining to import restrictions on functional foods are examined in the trade model based on two categories: trade policies and ability to produce. The theoretical framework provides an illustration of the potential welfare benefits forgone from the existence of trade barriers when a traditional food becomes a functional food.<p> Empirical case studies examined canola oil as a functional food. The value of the benefits foregone from maintaining trade barriers to canola oil in two countries: China and United Kingdom were estimated. In addition, a cost of illness model was used to estimate health care savings. The final ratio suggests that existing trade policies directly result in non-trivial costs to society. . As a result, current trade regulations might be re-evaluated by policy makers to better reflect the evolving markets for functional foods.

Smartphones have become essential to modern people. More and more consumers are using smartphones. However, according to many reports and investigation, they indicate that user satisfaction and brand loyalty will differ from various brands and represent significant differences. This research adopted Bhattacherjee¡¦s (2001) ECT-IS model as the basic research framework to examine relationships among expectation confirmation, user satisfaction, perceived usefulness and brand loyalty of the smartphones. The model was further extended by measuring perceived usefulness with functional, experiential, and symbolic brand benefits proposed by Park, Jaworski & MacInnis (1986) to investigate how they influenced user satisfaction and brand loyalty. The results include the following: 1. Expectation confirmation had a significant impact on user satisfaction and perceived usefulness. 2. User satisfaction had a positive effect on brand loyalty. 3. Different effects on user satisfaction and brand loyalty were found among three smartphone brands, Apple, Samsung, and hTC.

Abstract This research aimed to apply the theory of environmental benefits valuation to assess the plan of reformation in Tanbian village¡¦s wetland. Environmental change affects economy. Therefore, through people¡¦s feedback and tourists¡¦ participation of ecotourism, this paper discussed the economic benefits in transforming Tanbian village¡¦s wetland into an eco-garden. Thus, the research adopted the Payment-card method of the Contingent Valuation Method (CVM), categorized under the Non-market Valuation Techniques (NVT), analyzing the economic benefits of eco-tourism¡¦s virtual market at Tanbian village. That is, the amount of people¡¦s Willingness to Pay (WTP) was analyzed to discover the project¡¦s multiple values. Further more, by comparing and contrasting people¡¦s background information, people¡¦s data and differences among other facets were discovered. Finally, in responding to the urgent need in tourism development, this paper integrated tourists and residents¡¦ data to discover the amount of WTP. Such research mode provided a tourism benefits assessment of Tanbian village¡¦s eco-garden project, and its conclusion supplied some suggestions to government control and also future plans of the eco-garden. There are 239 respondents (including 122 residents and 117 tourists) willing to take the questionnaire survey assuming the correspondence among people¡¦s background information (resident or tourist), attitude and other variables and WTP. After analysis, the result demonstrates that sex and age have little effect on many variables. On the other hand, people¡¦s background (resident or tourist), education level, average income do have obvious influence. However, the both results are valid, showing the principle this research applied is reliable. The CVM results included: 1. Up to 91.4% People shows positive attitude toward the ten facets of Tanbian eco-garden tour. 2. The average accommodation rates for visitors willing to pay for Tanbian eco-tour is 1,100 NT dollars. And each year, 250NT dollars donation per person can be expected. 3. The average amount of willingness to pay for people to join in an eco-tour is: 118.2NT dollars for eco-tour; 105.5NT dollars for fishing village experience; 60.8NT dollars for farm life experience, 284NT dollars in total. 4. The potential tourism benefits of Tanbian eco-garden are about: 22,098,000NT/year for tourists and 4,236,000NT/year for residents, that is, 26,334,000NT dollars in sum. 5. The eco-garden is around 20 hectares. And the average annual economic benefits per hectare of the wetland were 1,316,000 NT dollars. The estimated benefits were more than the expected value of 250,000NT dollars that the landowners can gain from the wetland today. Therefore, it is feasible to develop ecotourism at this area. In the end, this research hoped to tribute some advices to Tanbian eco-garden¡¦s management, turning ecological resources into financial sources, for Penghu County to be an ecotourism paradise. Keywords: wetland, eco-garden, ecotourism, benefits assessment, Contingent Valuation Method

The purpose of this study was to identify benefits and constraints associated with the use of urban parks by a sample of elderly in Hong Kong. Before studying these topics, self-perception of aging of the elderly in Hong Kong was explored. In-depth interviews were conducted with 13 individuals inside and 12 outside the Tsuen Wan Jockey Club Tak Wah Park. Purposive sampling was used to select the sample. The interviews were semi-structured, based on an interview guide of open-ended questions. Results of the study suggested that although there are some differences in explanations of aging among different countries, some aging models and theories which have been developed in western countries can be employed to interpret the aging phenomenon in Hong Kong. Several constraints and health-related social and psychological benefits of attending a park were reported by the sample. Heterogeneity of leisure constraints among different age cohorts of the elderly was found in the study. Although similarities were found between the benefits reported in this study and those reported in western countries, the magnitude of benefits received from visiting parks may be different because of the different characteristics of elderly in different countries.