Physical Activity and Situational Interest in Mobile Technology Integrated Physical Education: A Preliminary Study

Background: Mobile technology permeates every aspect of student lives. The question is whether mobile technology integration can produce desirable effects in the gymnasium. Objective: This preliminary study aimed to investigate the effects of mobile technology integration on student situational interest and physical activity fluctuation in physical education lessons. Methods: Sixth grade students (N = 53) were randomly placed into either an experiment group by class that utilized mobile technology-integrated resources (iPad and applications), or a comparison group that did not utilize technology. Both groups received five identical physical education lessons. Student physical activity was tracked with accelerometers, and they completed the Situational Interest Scale at the end of each lesson. The researchers analyzed the data using descriptive statistics, correlation analysis and multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) with repeated measures. Results: Students in the experiment group reported significantly lower physical activity and situational interest than their counterparts in the comparison group. A group x lesson interaction suggested that student step/min steadily increased throughout the lessons in the experiment group while remaining relative stable in the comparison group. Conclusions: Mobile technologies such as iPad and applications with no direct physical activity prompt had little effect on increasing physical activity or situational interest in the short term. It is important to consider the classroom dynamics to realistically evaluate the constraints and strengths that mobile technology-integrated physical education lessons may pose in a traditional physical education environment

Physical Activity and Situational Interest in Mobile Technology Integrated Physical Education: A Preliminary Study

Background: Mobile technology permeates every aspect of student lives. The question is whether mobile technology integration can produce desirable effects in the gymnasium. Objective: This preliminary study aimed to investigate the effects of mobile technology integration on student situational interest and physical activity fluctuation in physical education lessons. Methods: Sixth grade students (N = 53) were randomly placed into either an experiment group by class that utilized mobile technology-integrated resources (iPad and applications), or a comparison group that did not utilize technology. Both groups received five identical physical education lessons. Student physical activity was tracked with accelerometers, and they completed the Situational Interest Scale at the end of each lesson. The researchers analyzed the data using descriptive statistics, correlation analysis and multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) with repeated measures. Results: Students in the experiment group reported significantly lower physical activity and situational interest than their counterparts in the comparison group. A group x lesson interaction suggested that student step/min steadily increased throughout the lessons in the experiment group while remaining relative stable in the comparison group. Conclusions: Mobile technologies such as iPad and applications with no direct physical activity prompt had little effect on increasing physical activity or situational interest in the short term. It is important to consider the classroom dynamics to realistically evaluate the constraints and strengths that mobile technology-integrated physical education lessons may pose in a traditional physical education environment

A Comment on the Cosmological Constant Problem in Spontaneously Broken Supergravity

In spontaneously broken supergravity with non-flat potential the vanishing of the cosmological constant is usually associated with a non-trivial balancing of two opposite-sign contributions. We make the simple observation that, in an appropriately defined expansion of the superfield action in inverse powers of $M_P$, this tuning corresponds to the absence of two specific operators. It is then tempting to speculate what kind of non-standard symmetry or structural principle might underlie the observed extreme smallness of the corresponding coefficients in the real world. Independently of such speculations, the suggested expansion appears to be a particularly simple and convenient starting point for the effective field theory analysis of spontaneously broken supergravity models.Comment: 6 pages LaTe

Self-image threat decreases stereotyping: The role of motivation toward closure.

Some prior research indicated that self-image threat may lead people to stereotyping and prejudiced evaluations of others. Other studies found that self-image threat may promote less stereotypical thinking and unprejudiced behavior. In a series of three studies, we demonstrate that self-image threat may lead to either more or less stereotypical perception of the outgroup depending on the level of the individuals` motivation toward closure (NFC). The results reveal that when individuals high (vs. low) in NFC perceived a member of an outgroup, they are less likely to use stereotypical traits if their self-image had been threatened by negative feedback (Study 1) or if they had imagined an example of their own immoral activity (Studies 2 and 3). Moreover, our results demonstrate that the fear of invalidity resulting from self-image threat induction is responsible for the foregoing effects (Study 3). These results are discussed in light of theories of motivational readiness and lay epistemics

Superform formulation for vector-tensor multiplets in conformal supergravity

The recent papers arXiv:1110.0971 and arXiv:1201.5431 have provided a superfield description for vector-tensor multiplets and their Chern-Simons couplings in 4D N = 2 conformal supergravity. Here we develop a superform formulation for these theories. Furthermore an alternative means of gauging the central charge is given, making use of a deformed vector multiplet, which may be thought of as a variant vector-tensor multiplet. Its Chern-Simons couplings to additional vector multiplets are also constructed. This multiplet together with its Chern-Simons couplings are new results not considered by de Wit et al. in hep-th/9710212.Comment: 28 pages. V2: Typos corrected and references updated; V3: References updated and typo correcte

A Two-Form Formulation of the Vector-Tensor Multiplet in Central Charge Superspace

A two-form formulation for the N=2 vector-tensor multiplet is constructed using superfield methods in central charge superspace. The N=2 non-Abelian standard supergauge multiplet in central charge superspace is also discussed, as is with the associated Chern-Simons form. We give the constraints, solve the Bianchi identities and present the action for a theory of the vector-tensor multiplet coupled to the non-Abelian supergauge multiplet via the Chern-Simons form.Comment: 16 pages, LaTeX2e with AMS-LaTe

On the D = 4, N = 2 Non-Renormalization Theorem

Using the harmonic superspace background field formulation for general D=4, N=2 super Yang-Mills theories, with matter hypermultiplets in arbitrary representations of the gauge group, we present the first rigorous proof of the N=2 non-renormalization theorem; specifically, the absence of ultraviolet divergences beyond the one-loop level. Another simple consequence of the background field formulation is the absence of the leading non-holomorphic correction to the low-energy effective action at two loops.Comment: 16 pages, LATEX, uses FEYMAN macros, minor change

Kaehler Corrections for the Volume Modulus of Flux Compactifications

No-scale models arise in many compactifications of string theory and supergravity, the most prominent recent example being type IIB flux compactifications. Focussing on the case where the no-scale field is a single unstabilized volume modulus (radion), we analyse the general form of supergravity loop corrections that affect the no-scale structure of the Kaehler potential. These corrections contribute to the 4d scalar potential of the radion in a way that is similar to the Casimir effect. We discuss the interplay of this loop effect with string-theoretic alpha' corrections and its possible role in the stabilization of the radion.Comment: 8 pages, references adde

The linear multiplet and ectoplasm

In the framework of the superconformal tensor calculus for 4D N=2 supergravity, locally supersymmetric actions are often constructed using the linear multiplet. We provide a superform formulation for the linear multiplet and derive the corresponding action functional using the ectoplasm method (also known as the superform approach to the construction of supersymmetric invariants). We propose a new locally supersymmetric action which makes use of a deformed linear multiplet. The novel feature of this multiplet is that it corresponds to the case of a gauged central charge using a one-form potential not annihilated by the central charge (unlike the standard N=2 vector multiplet). Such a gauge one-form can be chosen to describe a variant nonlinear vector-tensor multiplet. As a byproduct of our construction, we also find a variant realization of the tensor multiplet in supergravity where one of the auxiliaries is replaced by the field strength of a gauge three-form.Comment: 31 pages; v3: minor corrections and typos fixed, version to appear in JHE