Are the attitudes of exercise instructors who work with older adults influenced by training and personal characteristics?

Little is known about the relationship between attitudes and characteristics of instructors and uptake and adherence of older people to exercise classes. This article explores these issues.Methods:The authors surveyed 731 UK exercise instructors with specialist older adult exercise qualifications. A questionnaire investigated instructors’ characteristics and attitudes toward older adults’ participation in exercise.Results:For mostly seated classes, EXTEND qualification (B = 0.36, p = .005) had a positive effect on instructors’ attitudes. Later Life Training qualification (B = −2.80, p = .003), clinical background (B = −3.99, p = .005), and delivering classes in National Health Services (B = −3.12, p &lt; .001), leisure centers (B = −2.75, p = .002), or nursing homes (B = −2.29, p = .005) had a negative effect on attitudes. For mostly standing classes, experience (B = 0.20, p = .003) and delivering in leisure centers (B = 0.46, p = .032) had a positive and clinical background (B = −1.78, p = .018) had a negative effect on instructors’ attitudes.Conclusions:Most instructors have positive attitudes, but training and work context can influence attitudes toward older people’s participation in exercise classes both positively and negatively.</jats:sec

The Third Space: Shared Understanding between Aboriginal and Non-Aboriginal People

A concept of Baldja Leadership is presented following a study of enablers and inhibitors of shared understanding between Aboriginal and Non Aboriginal people working in the Western Australian civil construction industry. Leadership traits perceived by members of both cultures as creating positive and negative regard for their leaders were identified. This constructivist, interpretivist investigation recommends actions to achieve a 'third space' of understanding that will help to retain Aboriginal people in organization

Zooming in on CBT supervision: a comparison of two levels of effectiveness evaluation

Clinical supervision is of growing importance professionally, but instruments to measure its effectiveness are scarce. Based on the observational instrument Teachers' PETS, two complementary levels of outcome measurement were used to analyse supervisory effectiveness, namely momentary time sampling (i.e. a micro-analysis of frequencies) and the more molar “change episodes”. Ten audio-taped sessions of routine (baseline; N = 5) and CBT supervision (N = 5; i.e. the intervention phase) were coded with both measures, to assess their relative sensitivity to this manipulation. Improved supervisee learning was detected during the intervention phase by both measures. However, a retrospective comparison between the data within these change episodes and the accompanying non-episode data indicated that the micro level of analysis provided a more sensitive measure of supervisory effectiveness. Technical and conceptual issues arise

The Cybrary - Seamless for the customer, fine needlework for the staff

The University of Queensland Cybrary delivers high quality customer focused innovative information resources, services and programs that are integrated with and central to the University’s teaching, learning and research activities. The Cybrary website - www.cybrary.uq.edu.au - enables customers to access information more or less seamlessly anywhere anytime. This paper will go behind the seams to discuss some of the technologies that underpin service delivery and some of the implications for the Cybrary’s human, physical and financial resources

The Influence of Distributor Design on Fluidized Bed Dryer Hydrodynamics

The influence of perforated plate, punched plate and Dutch weave mesh distributor designs on fluidized bed dryer hydrodynamics was studied for a range of bed loadings and superficial gas velocities. The punched plate performs better than the other designs at a gas velocity of 1.5 m/s and bed loadings greater than 1.0 kg

Trapping Male Melon Flies, Zeugodacus cucurbitae (Coquillett) (Diptera: Tephritidae), Using Mixtures of Zingerone and Cue-Lure in the Field

The males of many fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) are strongly attracted to, and feed upon, a few natural compounds (and their synthetic analogs; commonly referred to as “lures”). Zingerone is a lure that has garnered recent attention for its use as an attractant for ecological surveys and pest management of select fruit flies. We investigated the attraction of male melon flies, Zeugodacus cucurbitae (Coquillett), to zingerone and mixtures of zingerone and cue-lure (the typical lure for this species) at a commercial farm on Oahu, Hawaii. Our findings indicate that zingerone and mixtures of zingerone and cue-lure are less attractive than cue-lure alone to male melon flies in the field, and the number of captured flies is positively and linearly correlated to the quantity of cue-lure in traps

Biosynthesis of mycobacterial arabinogalactan: identification of a novel (13)arabinofuranosyltransferase

The cell wall mycolyl-arabinogalactan-peptidoglycan complex is essential in mycobacterial species, such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis and is the target of several anti-tubercular drugs. For instance, ethambutol targets arabinogalactan biosynthesis through inhibition of the arabinofuranosyltransferases Mt-EmbA and Mt-EmbB. A bioinformatics approach identified putative integral membrane proteins, MSMEG2785 in Mycobacterium smegmatis, Rv2673 in Mycobacterium tuberculosis and NCgl1822 in Corynebacterium glutamicum, with 10 predicted transmembrane domains and a glycosyltransferase motif (DDX), features that are common to the GT-C superfamily of glycosyltransferases. Deletion of M. smegmatis MSMEG2785 resulted in altered growth and glycosyl linkage analysis revealed the absence of AG (13)-linked arabinofuranosyl (Araf) residues. Complementation of the M. smegmatis deletion mutant was fully restored to a wild type phenotype by MSMEG2785 and Rv2673, and as a result, we have now termed this previously uncharacterized open reading frame, arabinofuranosyltransferase C (aftC). Enzyme assays using the sugar donor -D-arabinofuranosyl-1-monophosphoryldecaprenol (DPA) and a newly synthesized linear (15)-linked Ara5 neoglycolipid acceptor together with chemical identification of products formed, clearly identified AftC as a branching (13) arabinofuranosyltransferase. This newly discovered glycosyltransferase sheds further light on the complexities of Mycobacterium cell wall biosynthesis, such as in M. tuberculosis and related species and represents a potential new drug target

The SCUBA Legacy Catalogue: Continuum Objects Detected by SCUBA

We present the SCUBA Legacy Catalogues, two comprehensive sets of continuum maps (and catalogues) using data at 850 microns and 450 microns of the various astronomical objects obtained with the Submillimetre Common User Bolometer Array (SCUBA). The Fundamental Map Dataset contains data only where superior atmospheric opacity calibration data were available. The Extended Map Dataset is comprised of data regardless of the quality of the opacity calibration. Each Dataset contains 1.2 degree x 1.2 degree maps at locations where data existed in the JCMT archive, imaged using the matrix inversion method. The Fundamental Dataset is comprised of 1423 maps at 850 microns and 1357 maps at 450 microns. The Extended Dataset is comprised of 1547 maps at 850 microns. Neither Dataset includes high sensitivity, single chop SCUBA maps of "cosmological fields" nor solar system objects. Each Dataset was used to determine a respective Object Catalogue, consisting of objects identified within the respective 850 micron maps using an automated identification algorithm. The Fundamental and Extended Map Object Catalogues contain 5061 and 6118 objects respectively. Objects are named based on their respective J2000 position of peak 850 micron intensity. The Catalogues provide for each object the respective maximum 850 micron intensity, estimates of total 850 micron flux and size, and tentative identifications from the SIMBAD Database. Where possible, the Catalogues als provide for each object its maximum 450 micron intensity and total 450 micron flux, and flux ratios. Data products, machine-readable tables and a full version of the paper can be retrieved at http://www.cadc.hia.nrc.gc.ca/community/scubalegacy .Comment: 41 pages, 17 figures in JPEG format; to be published in ApJ

Large scale transcriptional analysis of MHC class I haplotype diversity in sheep

Domestic sheep (Ovis aries) have been an important component of livestock agricultural production for thousands of years. Preserving genetic diversity within livestock populations maintains a capacity to respond to changing environments and rapidly evolving pathogens. MHC genetic diversity can influence immune functionality at individual and population levels. Here, we focus on defining functional MHC class I haplotype diversity in a large cohort of Scottish Blackface sheep pre-selected for high levels of MHC class II DRB1 diversity. Using high-throughput amplicon sequencing with three independent sets of barcoded primers we identified 134 MHC class I transcripts within 38 haplotypes. Haplotypes were identified with between two and six MHC class I genes, plus variable numbers of conserved sequences with very low read frequencies. One or two highly transcribed transcripts dominate each haplotype indicative of two highly polymorphic, classical MHC class I genes. Additional clusters of medium, low, and very low expressed transcripts are described, indicative of lower transcribed classical, non-classical and genes whose function remains to be determined.</p