A qualitative perspective on multiple health behaviour change: views of smoking cessation advisors who promote physical activity

There are mixed views on whether smoking cessation advisors should focus only on quitting smoking or also promote simultaneous health behaviour changes (e.g. diet, physical activity), but no studies have qualitatively examined the views and vicarious experiences of such health professionals. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 trained smoking cessation advisors who promote physical activity to their clients. The data were categorised into themes using thematic analysis supported by qualitative data analysis software. We report themes that were related to why advisors promote multiple health behaviour change and issues in timing. Physical activity could be promoted as a cessation aid and also as part of a holistic lifestyle change consistent with a non-smoker identity, thereby increasing feelings of control and addressing fear of weight gain. Multiple changes were promoted pre-quit, simultaneously and post-quit, and advisors asserted that it is important to focus on the needs and capabilities of individual clients when deciding how to time multiple changes. Also, suggesting that PA was a useful and easily performed cessation aid rather than a new behaviour (i.e. structured exercise that may seem irrelevant) may help some clients to avoid a sense of overload

Safe design of skyrise greenery in Singapore

Singapore is transforming from a “garden city� to a “City-in-a-Garden�. Designing for safety is recognized by researchers and some governments as a best practice in facilitating eventual worker safety within the built environment. This research was undertaken to understand and describe the status of safe design for skyrise greenery in Singapore. Forty-one rooftop and vertical greenery systems were observed with a focus on access, fall from height, and planting considerations. Rooftop greenery systems in Singapore were found to be adhering to safe design principles. Vertical and ledge greenery systems, on the other hand, are newer arrangements and were found to be in need of design for safety guidance. The results add to the body of knowledge in the area of safe design and skyrise greenery and will aid those seeking to understand from a policy and practice perspective. The published version of this article can be accessed here: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/20466091211260677.Funding provided by the Singapore National Parks Board and Centre for Urban Greenery and Ecology's Research Fellowship Programme

Access to Effective Teaching for Disadvantaged Students

Recent federal initiatives in education, such as Race to the Top, the Teacher Incentive Fund, and the flexibility policy for the Elementary and Secondary Education Act are designed in part to ensure that disadvantaged students have equal access to effective teaching. The initiatives respond to the concern that disadvantaged students may be taught by less effective teachers and that this could contribute to the achievement gap between disadvantaged students and other students. To address the need for evidence on this issue, the Institute of Education Sciences at the U.S. Department of Education initiated a study to examine access to effective teaching for disadvantaged students in 29 diverse school districts. Mathematica Policy Research and its partner, the American Institutes for Research, conducted the study, which focused on English/ language arts (ELA) and math teachers in grades 4 through 8 from the 2008 -- 2009 to the 2010 -- 2011 school year

Demo: Coexistence of Low Delay and Loss-based Congestion Controls in SDN-based Networks

Congestion controls that focus on achieving a low queuing delay, such as the novel TCP LoLa, can significantly improve the quality-of-experience for delay-sensitive applications. The gradual deployment of such congestion controls, however, is challenging because their data flows get suppressed by flows that use a legacy loss-based congestion control (e.g. CUBIC TCP). This demo shows the advantages of TCP LoLa for interactive applications at the example of a network-enabled version of the well-known PONG game. In addition to that, the demo shows how SDN technology can be used to facilitate the coexistence between low delay and loss-based congestion controls

Mapping and explaining the productivity of Pinus radiata in New Zealand

Mapping Pinus radiata productivity for New Zealand not only provides useful information for forest owners, industry stakeholders and policy managers, but also enables current and future plantations to be visualised, quantified, and planned. Using an extensive set of permanent sample plots, split into fitting (n = 1,146) and validation (n = 618) datasets, models of P. radiata 300 Index (an index of volume mean annual increment) and Site Index (an index of height growth) were developed using a regression kriging technique. Spatial predictions were accurate and accounted for 61% and 70% of the variance for 300 Index and Site Index, respectively. Productivity predicted from these surfaces for the entire plantation estate averaged 27.4 m³ ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹ for the 300 Index and 30.4 m for Site Index. Surfaces showed wide regional variation in this productivity, which was attributable mainly to variation in air temperature and root-zone water storage from site to site

Strategic Agility, Business Model Innovation and Firm Performance: An Empirical Investigation

Despite the robust literature on the nature of business models and their implications for firm performance, research on the organizational antecedents of business model innovations (BMIs) is still evolving. In this paper, we empirically examine the extent to which firm-level strategic agility predicts the adoption of three (value creation, value capture, and value proposition) types of BMIs. Furthermore, we propose that the relationship between firm-level strategic agility and BMI adoption is contingent on the degree of environmental turbulence. Finally, we explore the mediating role that BMI plays in the relationship between firm-level strategic agility and firm performance. Our analysis of data from 432 German firms in the electronics industry indicates that strategic agility is positively related to BMI and that this relationship is indeed strengthened by the degree of environmental turbulence. Additionally, our findings show that, while value proposition and value creation BMIs have positive relationships with firm performance, value capture innovation is negatively related to firm performance; these findings are contrary to our prediction. Finally, the results of our mediation tests indicate that BMI serves as an important intermediary mechanism through which firms’ strategic agility contributes to superior firm performance

Readiness to use physical activity as a smoking cessation aid: a multiple behaviour change application of the Transtheoretical Model among quitters attending Stop Smoking Clinics

Objective: Physical activity (PA) reduces cigarette cravings during smoking abstinence. However, little is known about quitters’ use of PA. This study aimed to: (1) determine the extent of quitters’ past and current use of PA as a cessation aid, while attempting to quit; (2) examine the relationship between use of PA and quitter characteristics and cognitions, within the Transtheoretical Model framework. Methods: Self-report surveys were completed by 181 smokers attending Stop Smoking Services in England and Scotland. Results: Twenty-two percent of quitters reported currently using PA to control their smoking, and 35% had used it during a previous quit attempt. Those in a more advanced stage of readiness for using PA as a cessation aid, held more positive beliefs regarding self-efficacy and outcome efficacy. Conclusion: Quitters were more likely to use PA to help them quit when they had greater belief in their own ability to use PA and in the efficacy of PA to help them to quit, and were also meeting weekly PA targets for health. Practice implications: Strategies by stop smoking advisors that aim to enhance client self-efficacy and outcome efficacy beliefs regarding PA as a cessation aid may help to increase the use of this behavioural strategy, since it seems that most quitters do not use PA

Black metals : optical absorbers

This research was funded by the Melbourne University administrated DSI-RHD 2018, ARC Discovery DP190103284, Linkage LP190100505 grants, and EPSRC EP/M000869/1.We demonstrate a concept and fabrication of lithography-free layered metal-SiO2 thin-film structures which have reduced reflectivity (black appearance), to as low as 0.9%, with 4.9% broadband reflectance (8.9% for soda lime) in the 500–1400 nm range. The multi-layered (four layers) thin-film metamaterial is designed so that optical impedance matching produces minimal reflectance and transmittance within the visible and infra-red (IR) spectral region for a range of incident angles. The structure has enhanced absorbance and is easily tuned for reduced minimal transmission and reflection. This approach should allow for novel anti-reflection surfaces by impedance matching to be realized.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe