bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Life changes, stress, injury and illness in adult runners
Authors: Schafer Walter E. , McKenna John F. 
Published: June 2007

AbstractThis article reports results of a study of the impact of life changes on stress level, running injury and illness among a sample of 572 adult runners. Based on previous research findings and anecdotal data, we hypothesized that greater life change would increase chances of running injury, stress and non‐injury‐related illness and that a higher stress level, whatever its sources, would raise the probability of injury and illness. Results lend support to each hypothesis. Causality is suggested in each instance. However, the causal influence between stress, on the one hand, and injury and illness, on the other, may be twoway, since measures used cover simultaneous time periods and since other data presented here show that being injured is in itself stressful. A number of possible mediating linkages are explored which might explain the impact of life change on injury and illness.
Type A behaviour, stress, injury and illness in adult runners
Authors: Schafer Walter E. , McKenna John F. 
Published: June 2007

AbstractThe survey study reported here was designed to investigate whether type A behaviour increases risk of stress, running injury and illness among a sample of 572 adult runners. The findings show modest but significant correlations between type A behaviour and two stress measures, times injured during past three months, running days missed and reduced due to running injury, health care appointments for running injuries, and health care appointments for other types of illness. Most of these correlations remained after controlling out another stress‐related variable, life change score. Type A behaviour added to the variance in stress level explained by life change score. Finally, incurring a running injury was found to be more stressful among high than low type A runners. Possible explanations for these findings were presented, as were implications for runners and future researchers.
Hormones and age
Authors: MacLennan W. J. , Borsey D. Q. 
Published: June 2007

AbstractEndocrine disorders may present in an atypical way in old people and are often mistaken for ageing itself. Ageing produces a variety of changes in endocrine function, most of which are minor and of little clinical relevance in contrast to the significant morbidity and mortality associated with endocrine disease in the elderly. Nearly all systems may be affected in the elderly and the possibility of underlying hormonal dysfunction should not be overlooked, because of the opportunities for curative treatment. In most instances the investigations employed to diagnose endocrine disorders in the elderly are similar to those used in younger patients. However, ageing and multiple pathology have an important effect upon the biochemical effects of both thyroid disease and diabetes and so these are considered in more detail.
Alzheimer's disease
Authors: Smith Christine M. , Swash Michael 
Published: June 2007

AbstractThe changes which Alzheimer associated with this disease are still a major focus of interest in pathological studies, but their relative importance and association to symptoms is still not clear. The diagnosis of early Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a very difficult clinical problem since there is no pathognomic test. It can be particularly difficult to differentiate the condition from depressive illness. Despite doubts about the significance and specificity of the cholinergic deficit in AD, attempts at therapy with cholinergic drugs have been made. Physostigmine has produced some small improvements, but it is not yet known whether the drug is clinically useful or not. Its utility may be limited by its short half‐life. Other approaches to management of AD should not be neglected. Increased publicity concerning AD is a potential source of stress to the elderly generally, but increased awareness of this disease both by the general public and health professionals has probably helped support and management of AD.
Changes in stature with spinal loading and their relation to the perception of exertion or discomfort
Authors: Troup J. D. G. , Reilly T. , Eklund J. A. E. , Leatt P. 
Published: June 2007

AbstractMeasurements of stature can now be made to an accuracy of better than 1 mm and decreases in stature have been shown to relate closely to the biomechanical load on the spine. In order to test the hypothesis that they relate also to psychophysical factors, observations were made at Linköping and Liverpool of the changes resulting: (1) from standing with different vertical loads compared with ratings of discomfort; (2) from lying supine but inverted, for comparison with ratings for relaxation and comfort; and (3) after running, compared with ratings of perceived exertion. The results confirm that changes in stature are related not only to the biomechanical load on the spine but also to the psychophysical ratings.
Hope and the immune system
Authors: Udelman Donna Lou 
Published: June 2007

AbstractA survey of the literature indicates a relationship between emotional stresses and the immune system. The field of psychoimmunology has attempted to identify the process and anatomical routes through which such events are mediated. Studies have suggested that hope may contribute to maintenance of healthy physiological states, under the stress of significant loss. In a controlled study of maprotiline in depressed patients, a positive correlation was found between hope measurements at the onset and B lymphoctye measurements after three months of treatment. In a further study, trimipramine is being used and monoclonal antibody techniques utilized for cellular identification. It would appear that physical or emotional stress has a measurable effect on immune responsiveness. It is the author's contention that hope enhances immunocompetence.
Stress in air traffic control
Authors: Maxwell Victor B. 
Published: June 2007

AbstractAir traffic control is widely perceived as being a stressful occupation. Much of this perception is intuitive and an attempt is made in this review to analyse some of the published data of the last two decades to see if the concept is true. Most recent published work suggests that air traffic control is not as stressful as has been thought and that most controllers cope well with any stress which they encounter.
Food and mood
Authors: Harris Brian 
Published: June 2007

AbstractPopulation studies provide information on associations between affect, personality and body weight. Anorexia and bulimia are associated with psychiatric disturbance and successful treatment in both is accompanied by affective changes. Depression may be accompanied by either a loss of appetite or an increase, with accompanying weight changes. Anxiety may have similar effects and restraint is an important principle in determining eating responses accompanying these illnesses. Psychotropic drugs that affect mood also affect appetite and these include psychostimulants, antidepressants, antipsychotics and lithium. Obesity is a major problem in the western world and it is logical to consider the roles played in its reduction by psychological and affective changes.
Stress and sexual response
Authors: Catalan Jose 
Published: June 2007

AbstractStress may be a source of sexual problems, sex may be a source of stress, or stress may even be a facilitator of sexual response. Sexual dysfunction is often associated with anxiety, and physical illness can impair sexual response. Traumatic experiences of a sexual nature can have important adverse effects, although this is not always the case. Rape and incest provide pertinent examples. Sexual activity has been implicated in both physical and psychiatric morbidity but there are a number of methodological difficulties in interpreting these associations, as illustrated by the ‘coital coronary’. Stress does not invariably exert negative effects on sexual response and anxiety arousal can sometimes facilitate sexual arousal in both men and women.
Sexual dysfunction following myocardial infarction in the male
Authors: Cooper Alan J. 
Published: June 2007

AbstractSexual activity does not always correlate with the severity of myocardial damage or the extent of any complications. The general objective of management is to restore sexual activities to approximately pre‐infarct levels and, generally, it is better to introduce sexual activities sooner rather than later. Special investigations may be necessary to determine whether the penile arteries are involved in generalized arteriosclerosis, which may contribute to sexual problems. The pelvic steal test is simple and improves the diagnostic value of a penile blood pressure measurement. Counselling procedures are the mainstay of treatment, but cardiovascular drugs, antidepressants and anxiolytic drugs may all have a part to play. A crucial influence is the attitude of the sexual partner. Reassurance concerning future re‐infarction is of paramount importance.
Self‐reported somatic symptoms in type A and type B middle‐aged males
Authors: Swan Gary E. , Chesney Margaret A. , Black George W. , Ward Marcia M. , Rosenman Ray H. 
Published: June 2007

AbstractThe type A behaviour pattern has been documented as an independent risk factor for the incidence of coronary heart disease. Previous research with myocardial infarction patients suggests that denial of symptoms is associated with type A characteristics, and laboratory research has demonstrated that when faced with challenging tasks, healthy type A students report fewer psychological symptoms than type B students. This pattern of reduced symptom awareness or reporting could lead to life‐threatening consequences if type A individuals experience coronary heart disease symptoms and fail to seek appropriate and immediate medical care. The present study was designed to examine the relative frequency of symptom reporting in 154 middle‐aged type A and type B working males who had not reported a positive coronary heart disease medical history. Results indicate that type A men reported significantly fewer cardiovascular symptoms. These findings are discussed in terms of their relevance to understanding the symptom‐reporting pattern in the context of the daily characteristics of the general work environment.
Suicide seasonality and economic growth
Authors: Abe Kazuhiko , Egashira Kazumichi , Suzuki Takashi 
Published: June 2007

AbstractIn Japan there is a negative correlation between suicide seasonality and gross national product (GNP). In comparisons between European countries, USA and Australia, there is a correlation between the decrement of suicide seasonality and the annual growth of gross domestic product (GDP). From these findings, it appears that the suicide seasonality decreases with affluence.
Growth strategies for service firms
Authors: Carman James M. , Langeard Eric 
Published: June 2007

AbstractTwo characteristics of services—intangibility of the offering and simultaneity of production and consumption—have important implications for strategic planning. Four of these implications are described.Life cycle, experience, and market share, which are the usual determinants of profitability that provide guides for strategic planning are not easily applied to the service firm. Therefore growth strategies need to be revised.In its second part the paper suggests alternative growth strategy paths for service firms. It brings forward three main remarks. First, the service firm should not overuse its delivery system and its image by attempting to serve the needs of too many sociodemographic segments. Second, service development and concentric diversification are not sequential choices; the latter is not so distant from the former as may be commonly perceived. Third, expansion to out‐of‐country markets represents a risk discontinuity; it should be approached by service firms with considerable flexibility and willingness to interact with different cultures.
Strategic management archetypes
Authors: Wissema J. G. , van der Pol H. W. , Messer H. M. 
Published: June 2007

AbstractIn the recruitment of managers it is increasingly necessary to attune the choice of candidate to the strategy of the company or its subsidiary.In this paper—coauthored by specialists in the fields of management recruitment and corporate strategy—the authors develop classifications of strategies and of management archetypes. Linking of these classifications leads to an approach that can assist both managers‐employees and managers‐employers when filling management vacancies. In addition, the approach can be used to assist management development programmes and to relate management planning to strategic planning.
Short term financial success in large business organizations: The environment‐strategy connection
Authors: Jauch Lawrence R. , Osborn Richard N. , Glueck William F. 
Published: June 2007

AbstractThis study examines the interrelationships of environmental changes and strategic action variables with each other and with short term success, for 358 large business firms over a 45 year period. Success (Fortune ratings and ROA) is found to be related to two strategic decision segments.Several strategy‐environment relationships are also found. Some methodological problems are noted in the attempt to move policy research from case analysis to statistical explanation.
Planning perceptions and planning results
Authors: Leontiades Milton , Tezel Ahmet 
Published: June 2007

AbstractThe need for planning in business organizations operating in today's complex environment is widely accepted. Implied is an assumption that planning improves performance. However, the empirical evidence for such a claim is thin. Since planning is an integral part of strategy formulation, the facts to confirm or refute an assumed connection between planning and performance invite attention. Our research focuses on new data from 61 companies which test this linkage and, in addition, reviews the conclusions of prior empirical studies.
Business government planning agreements —ideology versus practicality
Authors: Channon Derek F. 
Published: June 2007

AbstractThe involvement of government in the affairs of business has been increasing rapidly over the past two decades in most western economies. This paper examines the impact of a particular instrument designed by government in the U.K. to attempt to be involved with corporate planning at the level of the individual company. The paper reports the views, attitudes, and expectations of government and those of a number of the major companies which were politically and economically selected by government as being suitable candidates for planning agreements. Finally, the attitute of senior trade unionists were sought to complete a tripartite analysis consistent with that of other institutions created for indicative economic planning. The results do not appear favourable to this particular instrument nor would they augur well for others unless the basic climate of trust and understanding between the different parties dramatically improved.
The international strategy of state‐owned firms: An organizational process and politics perspective
Authors: Mazzolini Renato 
Published: June 2007

AbstractThis paper focuses on European government‐controlled enterprises (GCEs) which are normal commercial undertakings (e.g. Renault, ENI, British Leyland, Salzgitter) as opposed to public monopolies (e.g. electric or telephone companies). It asks why such companies do or do not go international and what is distinctive about their international strategy and why.
A survey of the current state of business policy research
Authors: Saunders Charles B. , Thompson John Clair 
Published: June 2007

AbstractThis paper is an analysis and evaluation of a cross‐section of current research in the policy area. The data used as representative of current policy research are the 51 papers submitted for possible presentation at the 1979 Business Policy and Planning Division Meeting in Atlanta, and the evaluations of these papers by blind reviewers. The areas covered by the papers are compared to the recommendations found in Schendel and Hofer (1979). The research methodologies used are also enumerated. The quality of the papers, as perceived by the blind reviewers, is presented by category—conceptual, empirical, and teaching.
Strategy follows structure!
Authors: Hall David J. , Saias Maurice A. 
Published: June 2007

AbstractResearchers have for some time been interested in the relationship between the strategy and structure of an organization. In this article the authors discuss the most widely‐held view on the nature of this relationship, and then suggest an alternative explanation. For them strategy, structure, and environment are closely linked. Whereas men may build the structure of an organization, in practice it is this very structure which later constrains the strategic choices they may make.
The effect of exit barriers upon strategic flexibility
Authors: Harrigan Kathryn Rudie 
Published: June 2007

AbstractThe conceptual construct, exit barriers, is expanded using both statistical findings and the results of field studies. The immobility of resources, it is suggested, can be overcome by helping marginal competitors to exit from potentially volatile businesses. The implementation of such tactics can be adapted to the firm's own strategic commitment and to the nature of the business in question, although it is expected that firms which might consider purchasing the physical and intangible assets of competitors in order to help them to scale high exit barriers, must themselves perceive the business to be of sufficiently high strategic importance to do so.
Performance and consensus
Authors: Bourgeois L. J. 
Published: June 2007

AbstractTop management consensus on corporate objectives and on the competitive weapons employed to attain them was studied in 12 non‐diversified public corporations. It was found that while agreement on both is associated positively with economic performance, agreement on means is significantly more important—in fact, agreement on goals without agreement on means correlates with poor performance. This suggests that strategy makers should concentrate on reaching consensus concerning means rather than ends (corporate goals) when formulating strategies for single‐mission enterprises.
Economic theory in corporate planning
Authors: Burton Richard M. , Naylor Thomas H. 
Published: June 2007

AbstractThe microeconomic theory of the firm encompasses classical marginal analysis and modern operations research techniques. Yet, one finds a paucity of explicit application of microeconomics to corporate planning. In this paper we explore the reasons for the seeming void and develop an economic theory of corporate planning.Our main thesis is that received microeconomic theory focuses on answers, and answers stated in non‐operational terms. Nonetheless, economic theory asks questions of central importance to the strategic choices of the firm. These questions arise from economic theory and the fundamental notion of trade‐offs. We develop a microeconomic theory of strategic search for corporate planning. The theory is used to develop important questions and efficient search in lieu of chaotic and random search.
DIVERSIFICATION THROUGH ACQUISITION, Malcolm Salter and Wolf Weinhold, Free Press, New York, 1979. No. of pages: 330. Price: $24.95
Authors: Pitts Robert A. 
Published: June 2007

AbstractDiversification Through Acquisition, Malcolm Salter and Wolf Weinhold, Free Press, New York, 1979. No. of pages: 330. Price: $24.95.
Planning and control in the U.S. Federal Government: A critical analysis of PPB, MBO and ZBB
Authors: Dirsmith Mark W. , Jablonsky Stephen F. , Luzi Andrew D. 
Published: June 2007

AbstractPPB, MBO and ZBB have each been implemented in the U.S. Federal government, ostensibly as means for facilitating planning and control in agencies and programmes. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the use of these techniques as management tools, political strategies and ritualistic symbols using concepts discussed in the organizational theory, planning and control, and policy science literatures. Two basic conclusions emerge from the evaluation. First, PPB, MBO and ZBB may inappropriately encourage the use of an analytical, computational decision strategy, and a cost/benefit method of performance assessment at a level within the organization and in environmental settings which call for an inspirational decision strategy and social test performance assessment. As a result, environmental variety may not be matched by an organizational response which is equally variable.Secondly, PPB, MBO and ZBB may have been used more as political strategies and ritualistic symbols for controlling and directing controversy by both the executive and legislative branches of the U.S. Federal government and less as management tools for improving decision making within the U.S. Federal bureaucracy. These management tools give the appearance of rationality in the formulation of public policy which is consistent with man's need for confidence building and conflict avoidance in running the affairs of state.
Structuring III‐structured policy issues: Further explorations in a methodology for messy problems
Authors: Mitroff Ian I. , Mason Richard O. 
Published: June 2007

AbstractThis paper extends previous work in the development of a methodology for ill‐structured policy problems. It argues that recent advances in the structure and logic of argumentation allow one to develop a new basis for treating policy issues. In brief, policies may be viewed as the outcome of a process of reasoning (argumentation) whose purpose is to establish the basis (rationale) for the policy. This paper shows how the tools of symbolic logic may be applied to handle arguments containing strong inconsistencies. The tools presented allow treatment of one of the most fundamental issues concerned with ill‐structured problems, the divergence between opposing formulations or perceptions of a problem.
A critical view of dialectical inquiry as a tool in strategic planning
Authors: Cosier Richard A. , Aplin John C. 
Published: June 2007

AbstractDespite weak empirical support for its effectiveness, the dialectical inquiry system (DIS) has been recommended to improve the strategic decision‐making process. This study compares the effectiveness of the DIS to alternative techniques. Thirty‐two organizational planners from the United Way of America were randomly assigned to a DIS and three other planning conditions. All planners submitted a planning report for a common case situation. Results suggest that, in general, the quality of the reports from planners in the DIS condition was inferior to the quality of reports submitted by subjects in the other conditions. For example, reports submitted by planners in a devil's advocate condition were judged to reflect a significantly more appropriate degree of risk than reports submitted by DIS planners. These results suggest that further investigation of the DIS is necessary before the validity of the technique is assumed.
Metagame analysis of competitive strategy
Authors: Dutta Biplab K. , King William R. 
Published: June 2007

AbstractThe need for effective competitive strategy planning for a firm's survival and growth has long been recognized to be important. The identification and selection of good, or robust, market strategies must be based on the anticipation of the likely strategies of significant competitors, who should ideally be visualized as undergoing a similar process of assessing their own and other's goals and probable strategies.This paper reviews and evaluates the traditional economic and game theoretic approaches to competitive strategy analysis and presents an application of metagame analysis—an approach which has not previously been used in the strategic business environment. This approach, which appears to have some significant advantages over both economic and game theoretic approaches has been utilized and evaluated in a business firm (Dutta and King, forthcoming). An illustration of its use, which is based on a real‐world application, is discussed.