Football in the community schemes: Exploring the effectiveness of an intervention in promoting healthful behaviour change

This study aims to examine the effectiveness of a Premier League football club’s Football in the Community (FitC) schemes intervention in promoting positive healthful behaviour change in children. Specifically, exploring the effectiveness of this intervention from the perspectives of the participants involved (i.e. the researcher, teachers, children and coaches). A range of data collection techniques were utilized including the principles of ethnography (i.e. immersion, engagement and observations), alongside conducting focus groups with the children. The results allude to the intervention merely ‘keeping active children active’ via (mostly) fun, football sessions. Results highlight the important contribution the ‘coach’ plays in the effectiveness of the intervention. Results relating to working practice (i.e. coaching practice and coach recruitment) are discussed and highlighted as areas to be addressed. FitC schemes appear to require a process of positive organizational change to increase their effectiveness in strategically attending to the health agenda

Search for strongly deformed structures and observation of multiple nucleon alignments in W174

Highly excited states, up to spin 39, have been established in W174, using the Gammasphere array. Ultimate cranker calculations predict the appearance of triaxial, strongly deformed structures above spin 30 in W174. A new approach was developed for a comprehensive search of the data for such structures, similar to those observed in the Lu and Hf isotopes. No evidence was found for strongly deformed bands in the W isotopes populated in this experiment. Existing rotational structures have been considerably extended, allowing for the observation of both neutron and proton alignments in a number of bands. There is evidence for the i13/2 neutron and possibly both the h9/2 and h11/2 proton crossings. The observed neutron and proton crossing frequencies are in good agreement with predictions of Woods-Saxon cranking calculations using an empirical pair-gap energy, and they lead to an improved understanding of the underlying structure of the bands

Report of the COSPAR Mars special regions colloquium

International audienceIn this paper we present the findings of a COSPAR Mars Special Regions Colloquium held in Rome in 2007. We review and discuss the definition of Mars Special Regions, the physical parameters used to define Mars Special Regions, and physical features on Mars that can be interpreted as Mars Special Regions. We conclude that any region experiencing temperatures > -25 degrees C for a few hours a year and a water activity > 0.5 can potentially allow the replication of terrestrial microorganisms. Physical features on Mars that can be interpreted as meeting these conditions constitute a Mars Special Region. Based on current knowledge of the martian environment and the conservative nature of planetary protection, the following features constitute Mars Special regions: Gullies and bright streaks associated with them, pasted-on terrain, deep subsurface, dark streaks only on a case-by-case basis, others to be determined. The parameter definition and the associated list of physical features should be re-evaluated on a regular basis

Sanctuaries and reintroduction: a role in gorilla conservation?

First paragraph: The current threats to gorilla (Gorilla gorilla, Gorilla beringei) populations, and indeed African wildlife in general, are complex and inextricably interlinked, and include poverty, human population growth, loss of habitat (through logging, mining, and land conversion), and hunting (Butynski, 2001; Teleki, 2001; Nellemann and Newton, 2002). Overexploitation of wildlife is not a new phenomenon and was probably responsible for the historical and ecological extinction of many species (Rao and McGowan, 2002). However, increasing urbanization and associated market economies, modern hunting methods and road networks, have commercialized the bushmeat trade (Kemf and Wilson, 1997; Bowen-Jones, 1998; Robinson and Bodmer, 1999; Wilkie and Carpenter, 1999; Fa et al., 2002; Nellemann and Newton, 2002). The general consensus seems to be that this trade is out of control, unsustainable, and accelerating (Ammann and Pearce, 1995; Kemf and Wilson, 1997; Butynski, 2001), and that gorillas are in danger of becoming extinct in the wild if causal factors are not effectively addressed (Butynski, 2001)