Urban parks are one of the primary settings for older adults to exercise, and their health benefits have been confirmed by a large number of studies. However, with the increased social attention to mental health, there is not enough research on the short-term mental health recovery of older adults in parks. Meanwhile, the health recovery effects of winter parks in special climate areas have not been well explored. This study aimed to explore the effects of winter parks in cold regions on the short-term mental health recovery of older adults and the potential predictors of these effects, including individual status, park characteristics, and behavioral characteristics. This study divided short-term mental health recovery into cognitive recovery and emotional improvement, and selected the digit span test and 10 kinds of emotional expression as the experimental methods, recruited 92 older adults from 6 parks in Changchun, and compared the pre-test and post-test results for evaluation. The results showed that winter parks in cold cities still had short-term cognitive recovery and emotional improvement effects on older adults. The main park characteristic factors affecting the overall cognitive recovery were the evergreen vegetation area and the existence of structures, and that which affected the overall emotional improvement was the main pathway length. Furthermore, individual conditions, including gender, age, physical health, living and customary conditions, and park characteristics, including park type, park area, main pathway length, square area, equipment area, evergreen vegetation area, the presence of water, and structures, all related to short-term mental health recovery effects. Among behavioral characteristics, stay time in parks and MVPA (Moderate and Vigorous Physical Activity) times were also related to certain effects, but behavior type was not.

No abstract

The abundance of unconventional hydrocarbon resources in North America is not unique, though it is the only region that has seen significant progress in extracting and monetising these resources. Many countries have successful conventional exploration and production activities, and have developed suitable fiscal terms and governance models, but these models are challenged with the relevancy of these terms when applied to unconventional resource exploration, evaluation and development. This extended abstract reviews factors that are largely in the control of a host government (for example, the fiscal, licensing and regulatory system), and where challenges lie in cost disadvantages (the provision of services and infrastructure, for which different considerations and approaches need to be applied). It also compares the fundamental economic characteristics between similar-sized investments in an onshore unconventional play and in a conventional oil field in deepwater. Previously, the authors compared these investments in a US environment and the same characteristics will be used for examining typical terms in other environments around the world. By isolating impacts from leasing and fiscal terms, the economics will also be analysed before the overlay of fiscal terms, and then with a royalty/tax and a generic production sharing contract type of fiscal regime. The findings will help in understanding what can facilitate and accelerate the development of unconventional resources, and which enabling environments might be required to attract resources such as capital, technology and expertise.

Evidence-based design of perceived pathways in cold regional parks for elderly health behaviour 57 th ISOCARP World Planning Congress