Normalisation and stigmatisation of obesity in UK newspapers: a visual content analysis

Obesity represents a major and growing global public health concern. The mass media play an important role in shaping public understandings of health, and obesity attracts much media coverage. This study offers the first content analysis of photographs illustrating UK newspaper articles about obesity. The researchers studied 119 articles and images from five major national newspapers. Researchers coded the manifest content of each image and article and used a graphical scale to estimate the body size of each image subject. Data were analysed with regard to the concepts of the normalisation and stigmatisation of obesity. Articles’ descriptions of subjects’ body sizes were often found to differ from coders’ estimates, and subjects described as obese tended to represent the higher values of the obese BMI range, differing from the distribution of BMI values of obese adults in the UK. Researchers identified a tendency for image subjects described as overweight or obese to be depicted in stereotypical ways that could reinforce stigma. These findings are interpreted as illustrations of how newspaper portrayals of obesity may contribute to societal normalisation and the stigmatisation of obesity, two forces that threaten to harm obese individuals and undermine public health efforts to reverse trends in obesity

Elite sport, identity and mental health: a narrative inquiry

The issue of mental health in elite sport has been gaining prominence in recent years. As the demand for welfare support for athletes increases, psychotherapists and counselling psychologists are likely to be increasingly called upon to work in sports contexts. However, there is limited research aimed at practitioners working therapeutically in elite sport, or research offering in-depth understanding of the lived experience of elite athletes and others working in high performance sport who go through mental health problems. Using narrative methodology, this study examines the experience of those competing and working in high performance sports contexts who have experienced mental health concerns. Specifically, this study investigates the construction of sports persons’ identity within its subcultural context, to understand how it coexists with mental health problems and to identify how sporting cultures operate to support or silence mental illness/vulnerability stories and limit identity options. Three elite athletes and one person who had worked in an athlete welfare role were recruited for this study. Interviews were conducted and analysed using narrative analysis which paid attention to both the individual’s narratives and the contextual meta-narratives against which they were framed. Findings centred around three domains: the relationship between mental health problems and sports person self-identity; the impact of sporting subcultures upon the experience of mental health problems and support-seeking behaviour; and the tension in the system between welfare and winning. The narratives in this study demonstrate the complex interplay between the individual and the local context in terms of both shaping sporting identity and the extent to which the experience of a mental health problem is a threat to that identity. They point to the importance of understanding local sports subcultures to appreciate the ways in which they variably operate around mental health issues. The cultural demand to conform to a hypermasculine ideal of mental toughness and denial of vulnerability was experienced as particularly problematic in the cultures where this applied. These stories demonstrate the tensions which operate within sport individually and culturally, between welfare and winning and suggest some ways in which these tensions can be understood and worked with. Recommendations and implications for therapeutic practitioners and organisations are discussed

Stable isotope ratios indicate that body condition in migrating passerines is influenced by winter habitat

Although predicted some time ago, there has been little success in demonstrating that the overall fitness of migratory birds depends on the combined influences of their experiences over all seasons. We used stable carbon isotope signatures (δ<sup>13</sup>C) in the claws of migrating black-throated blue warblers <i>Dendroica caerulescens</i> to infer their wintering habitats and investigated whether winter habitat selection can be linked to condition during migration. Resident bird species with low δ<sup>13</sup>C corresponded to selection of more mesic habitats, and migrating birds with low δ<sup>13</sup>C were in better condition than conspecifics with higher δ<sup>13</sup>C signatures. These findings concur with empirical observations on the wintering grounds, where dominants (mostly males) tend to exclude subordinates from mesic areas (considered to be high-quality habitats). We believe that variation in condition during migration may be one of the key factors determining differences in arrival times and condition at the breeding areas, which in turn have a major influence on reproductive success

A forensic approach to understanding habitat use from stable isotope analysis of (avian) claw material

1. The potential of using stable isotope signatures of avian claws in order to infer diet and habitat use was investigated. 2. Highly significant relationships observed between stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios (13C, 15N) in the claws and body feathers of resident birds were expected since it was predicted that they were synthesized in the same habitat and approximately the same time of year. 3. Likewise the non-significant relationships observed between 13C and 15N in the claws and tertial feathers of neotropical migrant birds were also predicted since the claws were synthesized in the wintering area and the tertials in the breeding area. 4. The growth rates measured in the claws of five species of palearctic passerines provide evidence that this tissue should integrate dietary and habitat information over a medium temporal scale (probably weeks to months). 5. It is suggested that claws may offer a unique combination of attributes to the isotope ecologist: they are non-invasively sampled; metabolically inert but grow continuously, and are therefore a more flexible tool than feathers. 6. It is also suggested that that the stable isotope signatures in the claws of mammals and reptiles may provide similar information. 6. It is also suggested that that the stable isotope signatures in the claws of mammals and reptiles may provide similar information

Control of common scab without the use of water

The most effective way to control common scab is by irrigating a potato crop at tuber initiation. With the introduction of legislation such as the Water Framework Directive this will become increasingly difficult. In this field experiment, we assessed the potential of a number of non-water measures for controlling this disease. Common scab on daughter tubers at harvest was reduced by applying rapeseed meal at 1 t ha-1 to the beds and then incorporating it into the soil, and adding a mixture of Trichoderma viride isolates into the furrow at planting. None of these treatments was as effective as using water

Proportional Reasoning as Essential Numeracy

This paper reports an aspect of a large research and development project that aimed to promote middle years school teachers’ understanding and awareness of the pervasiveness of proportional reasoning as integral to numeracy. Teacher survey data of proportional reasoning across the curriculum were mapped on to a rich model of numeracy. Results provided evidence of extensive and creative teaching of proportional reasoning in all learning areas. The capacity of such tasks and activities for promoting student numeracy is theorised

Synthetically-focused surface-penetrating radar for operation from a moving vehicle

This paper reports on a research programme, started recently under DERA sponsorship, on applying synthetic focusing to an oblong horizontal stand-off array, where all the voxels in a vertical slice underneath the centre-line of the array are synthesised electronically, with the third dimension provided by the search vehicle's forward movement. This should permit a very high search rate for buried mines, in a wide range of ground conditions

The Determinants of Municipal Minimum Wage Ordinances: An Analysis of 100 Large Cities from 2012-2017

The city of Seattle, Washington made headlines in 2014 when its city council enacted the highest minimum wage in the history of the United States. The ruling appeared to begin a trend as similar policies began diffusing in cities across the country. In reality, however, municipal minimum wage ordinances have existed since the early 1990’s. Yet, despite over two decade’s worth of data on the subject, little research has been conducted to understand the characteristics that influence cities to enact minimum wages in the first place. This study contributes to our understanding of the predictors of minimum wage ordinances by retesting prior variables of significance over a more recent time period, while also introducing a new set of variables to the literature. I find that cities with an increased percentage of residents with bachelor’s degrees face an increased likelihood for future policy adoption. Additionally, I find that some age demographics may be significant predictors in future studies of minimum wage

Promoting middle school students’ proportional reasoning skills through an ongoing professional development programme for teachers

© 2016, Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht. Proportional reasoning, the ability to use ratios in situations involving comparison of quantities, is essential for mathematical competence, especially in the middle school years, and is an important determinant of success beyond school. Research shows students find proportional reasoning and its foundational concepts difficult. Proportional reasoning does not always develop naturally, however some research suggests that with targeted teaching, its development can be promoted. This paper reports on a large Australian study involving over 130 teachers and their students. A major goal of the study was to investigate the efficacy of ongoing teacher professional development for promoting middle years students’ proportional reasoning. A series of professional development workshops was designed to enhance the teachers’ understanding of proportional reasoning and to extend their repertoire of teaching strategies to promote their students’ proportional reasoning skills. The workshop design was informed by research literature on proportional reasoning teaching and learning as well as the results of a diagnostic instrument administered to over 2500 middle years students prior to the professional development. Between workshops, the teachers implemented a variety of targeted teaching activities. This paper reports on pre- and post- instrument student data collected at the beginning and end of the first year of the project (i.e., after completion of half of the workshops). The findings suggest that targeted professional development and explicit teaching can make a difference to students’ proportional reasoning