Friendship groups and physical activity: qualitative findings on how physical activity is initiated and maintained among 10–11 year old children

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Many youth physical activity interventions have minimal effect. To design better interventions we need to understand more about the factors that influence youth activity. Application of self-determination theory to youth physical activity, particularly the relatedness and competence, might suggest that friends and friendship groups influence the initiation and maintenance of youth physical activity. In this study we examined this issue.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Seventeen focus groups were conducted with 113, 10–11 year old children, from 11 primary schools in Bristol, UK. Focus groups examined: 1) the nature of children's friendship groups; 2) associations between physical activity and social group status; and 3) how friendship groups affect the initiation and maintenance of physical activity. All focus groups were audio-taped and transcribed verbatim. Data were analyzed using content analysis.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Participants reported that there were three different types of friendship groups; School friends; Neighborhood friends; and Other Friends who were friends from organized activities or children of their parents' friends. Participants had multiple groups of friends and engaged in different activities with the different groups. Possessing several groups of friends was desirable as it kept the friendships fresh and interesting. Physical activity was perceived as a positive attribute and linked to social status among boys. Among girls the association between physical activity ability and social status was more complex, appearing to differ by the norms of the group to which participants belonged. Some participants reported that low activity ability could be perceived as desirable in some social groups. Participants reported that friends provide support to initiate physical activity via co-participation (i.e. engaging in activity together); modeling of being active; and providing verbal support to engage in activity. Enjoyment was the most important factor in maintaining activity participation with participating in activity with friends a key factor influencing enjoyment.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Friendship groups affect both the initiation and maintenance of youth physical activity. Children belong to several groups and engage in different activities with different groups. Simple strategies that aim to promote physical activity via the different friendship groups could be an effective means of promoting increased physical activity in young people.</p

Robust Magnetic Polarons in Type-II (Zn,Mn)Te Quantum Dots

We present evidence of magnetic ordering in type-II (Zn, Mn) Te quantum dots. This ordering is attributed to the formation of bound magnetic polarons caused by the exchange interaction between the strongly localized holes and Mn within the dots. In our photoluminescence studies, the magnetic polarons are detected at temperatures up to ~ 200 K, with a binding energy of ~ 40 meV. In addition, these dots display an unusually small Zeeman shift with applied field (2 meV at 10 T). This behavior is explained by a small and weakly temperature-dependent magnetic susceptibility due to anti-ferromagnetic coupling of the Mn spins

Licence to be active: parental concerns and 10–11-year-old children's ability to be independently physically active

Background Physical activity independent of adult supervision is an important component of youth physical activity. This study examined parental attitudes to independent activity, factors that limit licence to be independently active and parental strategies to facilitate independent activity. Methods In-depth phone interviews were conducted with 24 parents (4 males) of 10–11-year-old children recruited from six primary schools in Bristol. Results Parents perceived that a lack of appropriate spaces in which to be active, safety, traffic, the proximity of friends and older children affected children’s ability to be independently physically active. The final year of primary school was perceived as a period when children should be afforded increased licence. Parents managed physical activity licence by placing time limits on activity, restricting activity to close to home, only allowing activity in groups or under adult supervision. Conclusions Strategies are needed to build children’s licence to be independently active; this could be achieved by developing parental self-efficacy to allow children to be active and developing structures such as safe routes to parks and safer play areas. Future programmes could make use of traffic-calming programmes as catalysts for safe independent physical activity

Family treatment of child anxiety: outcomes, limitations and future directions

Anxiety of childhood is a common and serious condition. The past decade has seen an increase in treatment-focussed research, with recent trials tending to give greater attention to parents in the treatment process. This review examines the efficacy of family-based cognitive behaviour therapy and attempts to delineate some of the factors that might have an impact on its efficacy. The choice and timing of outcome measure, age and gender of the child, level of parental anxiety, severity and type of child anxiety and treatment format and content are scrutinised. The main conclusions are necessarily tentative, but it seems likely that Family Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (FCBT) is superior to no treatment, and, for some outcome measures, also superior to Child Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CCBT). Where FCBT is successful, the results are consistently maintained at follow-up. It appears that where a parent is anxious, and this is not addressed, outcomes are less good. However, for children of anxious parents, FCBT is probably more effective than CCBT. What is most clear is that large, well-designed studies, examining these factors alone and in combination, are now needed

The requirement for prior consent to participate on survey response rates: a population-based survey in Grampian

BACKGROUND: A survey was carried out in the Grampian region of Scotland with a random sample of 10,000 adults registered with a General Practitioner in Grampian. The study complied with new legislation requiring a two-stage approach to identify and recruit participants, and examined the implications of this for response rates, non-response bias and speed of response. METHODS: A two-stage survey was carried out consistent with new confidentiality guidelines. Individuals were contacted by post and asked by the Director of Public Health to consent to receive a postal or electronic questionnaire about communicating their views to the NHS. Those who consented were then sent questionnaires. Response rates at both stages were measured. RESULTS: 25% of people returned signed consent forms and were invited to complete questionnaires. Respondents at the consent stage were more likely to be female (odds ratio (OR) response rate of women compared to men = 1.5, 95% CI 1.4, 1.7), less likely to live in deprived postal areas (OR = 0.59, 95% CI 0.45, 0.78) and more likely to be older (OR for people born in 1930–39 compared to people born in 1970–79 = 2.82, 95% CI 2.36, 3.37). 80% of people who were invited to complete questionnaires returned them. Response rates were higher among older age groups. The overall response rate to the survey was 20%, relative to the original number approached for consent (1951/10000). CONCLUSION: The requirement of a separate, prior consent stage may significantly reduce overall survey response rates and necessitate the use of substantially larger initial samples for population surveys. It may also exacerbate non-response bias with respect to demographic variables

Characterization of In Vivo Keratin 19 Phosphorylation on Tyrosine-391

Keratin polypeptide 19 (K19) is a type I intermediate filament protein that is expressed in stratified and simple-type epithelia. Although K19 is known to be phosphorylated on tyrosine residue(s), conclusive site-specific characterization of these residue(s) and identification potential kinases that may be involved has not been reported.In this study, biochemical, molecular and immunological approaches were undertaken in order to identify and characterize K19 tyrosine phosphorylation. Upon treatment with pervanadate, a tyrosine phosphatase inhibitor, human K19 (hK19) was phosphorylated on tyrosine 391, located in the 'tail' domain of the protein. K19 Y391 phosphorylation was confirmed using site-directed mutagenesis and cell transfection coupled with the generation of a K19 phospho (p)-Y391-specific rabbit antibody. The antibody also recognized mouse phospho-K19 (K19 pY394). This tyrosine residue is not phosphorylated under basal conditions, but becomes phosphorylated in the presence of Src kinase in vitro and in cells expressing constitutively-active Src. Pervanadate treatment in vivo resulted in phosphorylation of K19 Y394 and Y391 in colonic epithelial cells of non-transgenic mice and hK19-overexpressing mice, respectively.Human K19 tyrosine 391 is phosphorylated, potentially by Src kinase, and is the first well-defined tyrosine phosphorylation site of any keratin protein. The lack of detection of K19 pY391 in the absence of tyrosine phosphatase inhibition suggests that its phosphorylation is highly dynamic

Using rival effects to identify synergies and improve merger typologies

"The strategic management literature has found it difficult to differentiate between collusive and efficiency-based synergies in horizontal merger activity. We propose a schematic to classify mergers that yields more information on merger types and merger effects, and that can, moreover, distinguish between mergers characterized largely by collusion-based synergies and mergers characterized largely by efficiency-based synergies. Crucial to the proposed measurement procedure is that it encompasses the impact of merger events not only on merging firms - as is custom - but also on non-merging competitor firms (the rivals). Employing the event-study methodology with stock-market data on samples of large horizontal mergers drawn from the US and UK (an Anglo-Saxon sub-sample) and from the European continent, we demonstrate how the proposed schematic can better clarify the nature of merger activity." (author's abstract)"Die Literatur über strategisches Management hatte bisher Schwierigkeiten, zwischen wettbewerbsschädlichen und Effizienz steigenden Synergien bei horizontalen Zusammenschlüssen zu differenzieren. Wir schlagen einen konzeptionellen Rahmen vor, um Fusionen zu klassifizieren, welcher mehr Informationen sowohl über die Fusionstypologie als auch über die Wirkung von Zusammenschlüssen entschlüsselt und welcher eine klare Abgrenzung zwischen wettbewerbsschädlichen und wettbewerbsfreundlichen Fusionen erlaubt. Fundamental für diesen konzeptionellen Rahmen ist, dass er nicht nur die Wirkung der Fusion auf die fusionierenden Unternehmen (was typisch in der Literatur ist) umfasst, sondern auch ihre Wirkung auf die Rentabilität der Wettbewerber. Wir wenden eine Ereignisstudienmethode mit Aktiendaten an, um unsere Kategorisierung empirisch umzusetzen. Im Vergleich einer Stichprobe von Fusionen in der angelsächsischen Welt (US und Großbritannien) mit Fusionen zwischen kontinentaleuropäischen Firmen zeigen wir, wie unsere Methodologie hilfreich sein kann, die Art der Fusionsaktivitäten zu identifizieren." (Autorenreferat

A Long Baseline Neutrino Oscillation Experiment Using J-PARC Neutrino Beam and Hyper-Kamiokande

Document submitted to 18th J-PARC PAC meeting in May 2014. 50 pages, 41 figuresDocument submitted to 18th J-PARC PAC meeting in May 2014. 50 pages, 41 figuresDocument submitted to 18th J-PARC PAC meeting in May 2014. 50 pages, 41 figuresHyper-Kamiokande will be a next generation underground water Cherenkov detector with a total (fiducial) mass of 0.99 (0.56) million metric tons, approximately 20 (25) times larger than that of Super-Kamiokande. One of the main goals of Hyper-Kamiokande is the study of $CP$ asymmetry in the lepton sector using accelerator neutrino and anti-neutrino beams. In this document, the physics potential of a long baseline neutrino experiment using the Hyper-Kamiokande detector and a neutrino beam from the J-PARC proton synchrotron is presented. The analysis has been updated from the previous Letter of Intent [K. Abe et al., arXiv:1109.3262 [hep-ex]], based on the experience gained from the ongoing T2K experiment. With a total exposure of 7.5 MW $\times$ 10$^7$ sec integrated proton beam power (corresponding to $1.56\times10^{22}$ protons on target with a 30 GeV proton beam) to a $2.5$-degree off-axis neutrino beam produced by the J-PARC proton synchrotron, it is expected that the $CP$ phase $\delta_{CP}$ can be determined to better than 19 degrees for all possible values of $\delta_{CP}$, and $CP$ violation can be established with a statistical significance of more than $3\,\sigma$ ($5\,\sigma$) for $76$ ($58$) of the $\delta_{CP}$ parameter space