Exercise behavior in older adults: a test of the transtheoretical model

The transtheoretical model (TTM) was developed as a guide for understanding behavior change. Little attention has been given, however, to the appropriateness of the TTM for explaining the adoption of exercise behavior in older adults. The purposes of this study were to determine the reliability of the TTM instruments and validate TTM predictions in 86 community-dwelling older adults (mean age 75.1 +/- 7.0 years, 87% women) who were participants in a 16-week walking program. TTM construct scales--self-efficacy, decisional balance (pros and cons), and processes of change (behavioral and cognitive)--were generally reliable (all>.78). Behavioral processes of change increased from baseline to follow-up, but pros, cons, and cognitive processes did not change among participants who became regular exercisers. Stage of change did not predict exercise adoption, but baseline self-efficacy predicted walking behavior. These results lend partial support to the TTM in predicting exercise behavior.     

当前西方修辞学研究的趋势

本文评述了当前西方修辞学中亚里士多德主义传统的四种修辞研究趋势,其中每一种趋势的研究对象都可以看作是被以前的学者所忽视的。这包括模糊表达法——一种语法特征,修辞方法——反复的语法形式,悄感证据及礼貌。作者认为,每种情况所涉及的学者都能阐明一个看似有理的事实即这些被忽视的现象说明了一些有趣的东西,它们与具体的科学问题相关,总体上同时也与论辩相关。     

Relational Frame Theory: An Overview of the Controversy

Although Skinner''s Verbal Behavior (1957) was published over 50 years ago, behavior-analytic research on human language and cognition has been slow to develop. In recent years, a new behavioral approach to language known as relational frame theory (RFT) has generated considerable attention, research, and debate. The controversy surrounding RFT can be difficult to fully appreciate, partly because of the complexity of the theory itself and partly because the debate has spanned several years and several journals. The current paper aims to provide a concise overview of RFT and a summary of key points of debate and controversy.     

DOES OPTION THEORY HOLD FOR MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL CONTRACTS?

We test whether option theory indicated by the Black–Scholes formula is consistent with contract negotiations between teams and players in Major League Baseball (MLB). Teams use contract options in order to obtain the right to buy a player's services for an extra year when negotiating multiple year contracts. These options are similar to European call options, and should reduce the risk of buying volatile assets (players with high variation in performance). In this paper, we model the decision to buy an option (include an option year in the contract) and whether to exercise the option (pay the option salary in the option year versus buying out the option). The results indicate that the behavior of MLB teams is consistent with standard option theory both in terms of buying and exercising options. The sample is the complete population of free agent hitters who signed new contracts between the years 2003 and 2011. We were unable to find any published literature that has addressed this issue. (JEL ZO, H3)     

Educating the adult minority professional: a case study of the national rural fellows program

The authors describe the critical issues that emerged during the first years of the National Rural Fellows Program at its academic base, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning, and how these issues were subsequently addressed.The Program is designed to provide intensive training leading to a Master's degree for adult minority professionals from rural backgrounds throughout the United States. As a case study, the paper has implications for other departments considering innovations of this sort. It particularly describes the pedagogical and socio-cultural issues regarding the education of adult minority professionals, the potential for new faculty perspectives to be gained from such interaction, and the challenge to traditional regional planning curricula for rural planning across the United States.     

THE RATIONALE OF GENERAL EQUILIBRIUM THEORY

This paper is concerned with the methodological issues raised by the attempt to use or apply the results of general equilibrium theory. This concern arises out of a critical discussion of Professor F. H. Hahn's view that general equilibrium theory is far from being a self-contained exercise, and is all the more decisive in its application for being carried out at such a high level of abstraction. It is argued that Hahn's rationale for general equilibrium theorising is unsatisfactory, and alternative lines are suggested along which such a rationale could be constructed.     

Three paradigms of childhood

Le conflit social contemporain au sujet des relations parents-enfants, et spécialement en ce qui concerne la sexualité de l'enfant, est analysé ici à l'aide de trois paradigmes théoriques sur la construction sociale de l'enfance: a/ les enfants en tant que propriété, une définition sociale trouvant son origine dans la société pré-industrielle; b/ la protection des enfants, légitimée par l'industrialisation; et c/ l'enfant en tant que personne, une conception défendue par de récents mouvements de libération. Des exemples pour chaque paradigme sont tirés de sources canadiennes contemporaines. L'intensité actuelle de la révolution paradigmatiqué est expliquée sous l'image d'un noeud de tabous étreignant la construction sociale de la sexualité aussi bien que du pouvoir.
Contemporary social conflict over parent-child relationships, especially concerning child sexuality, is analysed using three theoretical paradigms of social construction of childhood: a/ children as property, a social definition originating in pre-industrial society; b/ protection of children, legitimated by industrialism; and c/ the child as person, advocated by recent liberation movements. Examples of each paradigm are drawn from contemporary Canadian sources. The current intensity of 'paradigmatic revolution' is explained in terms of a nexus of taboos surrounding social construction of both sexuality and power.