The effect of feedback and information on children's pedometer step counts at school

This study examined whether feedback or feedback plus physical activity information could increase the number of pedometer steps taken during 1 school week. One hundred seventy-seven students (mean age 9.124 ± 1.11 years) in three elementary schools participated. Schools were randomly assigned to control (CON), feedback (FB), or feedback plus information (FB+I) groups. Children wore pedometers during school time for 5 consecutive weekdays. The total steps of the groups were recorded at the end of each school day, with students in the FB and FB+I groups free to view their step counts. In addition, the FB+I group received information and ideas about how they could increase their daily steps. The CON group received no step-count feedback or information. Students in the FB+I group achieved significantly more steps per minute (17.17 ± 4.87) than those in the FB (13.77 ± 4.06, p = 0.003) and CON (12.41 ± 3.12, p = 0.0001) groups. Information, as well as step-count feedback, increased elementary students’ school-based physical activity (number of steps) in the short term. A longer intervention period is necessary to assess the sustained impact of this type of approach

A Fugitive and Gracious Light: The Relation of Joseph Joubert to Matthew Arnold\u27s Thought

Of the many literary and critical influences which combined to mold the thought and achievement of Matthew Arnold, few are more pronounced or more pervasive than those emanating from nineteenth-century France. French writers of Arnold\u27s own time and of that immediately preceding were to him masters and companions whose aid he fully and frequently acknowledged. Yet the number of scholarly studies devoted to Arnold\u27s French sympathies are few. The only book-length study in existence is Iris Esther Sells\u27s Matthew Arnold and France: the Poet (New York, 1935). As the title indicates, this book confines itself to an investigation of Arnold\u27s poetic inspiration. Moreover, it suffers from its attempt to oversimplify Arnold\u27s literary development by emphasizing the influence of one man-Etienne Pivert de Senancour, author of Obermann-at the expense of others whose importance is minimized or denied. Articles, less ambitious, have been published, showing Arnold\u27s relation to Sainte-Beuve, Renan, Sand and Vigny. These, however, are by no means all of Arnold\u27s Gallic affinities, nor even all the important ones. Certainly they are, with the exception of Senancour and probably Sainte-Beuve, no more significant in the study of Arnold\u27s literary development than Joseph Joubert (1754-1824), one of the last French writers to devote himself to the pensee-that literary form which the French have made peculiarly their own-and one of the finest. Yet the only published work on Joubert\u27s relation to Arnold consists of brief comparisons in the biographies by Bonnerot and Trilling

‘It’s just taking our souls back’: discourses of apartheid and race

Although apartheid officially ended in 1994, the issue of race as a primary identity marker has continued to permeate many aspects of private and public life in post-apartheid South Africa. This paper seeks to understand how youth at two South African tertiary institutions position themselves in relation to race and the apartheid past. Our data include four focus group interviews from two universities, one which can be described as historically ‘black’ and the other as historically ‘white’. Given the complex nature of the data, we elected to use a combination of corpus linguistics and discourse analysis as our methodological approach. We explore how words such as black, white, coloured, they, we, us and them feature in the interviews. Our analysis shows that the positioning by the interviewees reflects a complexity and ambivalence that is at times contradictory although several broader discourse patterns can be distilled. In particular, we argue, that all groups employ a range of discursive strategies so as to resist being positioned in the historical positions of ‘victim’ and ‘perpetrator’. Our paper reflects on these findings as well as what they offer us as we attempt to chart new discourses of the future.Department of HE and Training approved lis

Religious Vehicle Stickers in Nigeria: a discourse of identity, faith and social vision

This study focuses on analysing the ways in which vehicle stickers construct individual and group identities, people’s religious faith and social vision in the context of religious assumptions and practices in Nigeria. Data comprise 73 vehicle stickers collected in Lagos and Ota, between 2006 and 2007 and are analysed within the framework of the post-structuralist model of discourse analysis which views discourse as a product of a complex system of social and institutional practices that sustain its continuous existence (Derrida, 1982; Fairclough, 1989, 1992, 1995; Foucault, 1972, 1981). Results show that through stickers people define their individual and group identities within religious institutional practices. And as a means of group identification, they guarantee social security and privileges. In constructing social vision the stickers help mould the individual aspiration about a future which transcends the present. Significantly, stickers in the data also reveal the tension between Islam and Christianity and the struggle to propagate one above the other. KEY WORDS: assumption, discourse, discursive, practices, religion, stickers

Effect of a family focused active play intervention on sedentary time and physical activity in preschool children

Background: Early childhood provides a window of opportunity for the promotion of physical activity. Given the limited effectiveness of interventions to date, new approaches are needed. Socio-ecological models suggest that involving parents as intervention targets may be effective in fostering healthier lifestyles in children. This study describes the effectiveness of a family-focused ‘Active Play’ intervention in decreasing sedentary time and increasing total physical activity in preschool children. Method: Seventy-seven families were recruited from 8 randomly selected SureStart children’s centres in the North West of England. Centres were randomly assigned to either an intervention (n = 4) or a comparison group (n = 4). Parents and children in the intervention group received a 10-week active play programme delivered by trained active play professionals; this included an activity and educational component. Families in the comparison group were asked to maintain their usual routine. Each participating parent and child wore a uni-axial accelerometer for 7 days at baseline and post-test. Week and weekend day sedentary time and total physical activity adjusted for child- and home- level covariates were analysed using multilevel analyses. Results: Significant intervention effects were observed for sedentary time and physical activity for both week and weekend days. Children in the intervention group engaged in 1.5% and 4.3% less sedentary time during week and weekend days, respectively and 4.5% and 13.1% more physical activity during week and weekend days, respectively than children in the comparison group. Parent’s participation in sport and their physical activity levels, child’s sex, availability of media in the home and attendance at organised activities were significant predictors of sedentary time and physical activity in this age group. Conclusion: A 10-week family focused active play intervention produced positive changes in sedentary time and total physical activity levels in preschool children. Specific covariates were identified as having a significant effect on the outcome measures. Moreover, children whose parents were active engaged in less sedentary time and more physical activity suggesting that parent’s activity habits are mediators of physical activity engagement in this age group. Keywords: Preschool children, Paren

A Heritage Without Boundaries: Nature-Culture Synergies in and around Norwegian Protected Landscapes

\ua9 2024, The Author(s). We address the question of nature-culture synergies in protected mountain landscapes with a specific focus on the Norwegian National Park of Hardangervidda. Fragile and complex ecosystems developed from long-lasting socio-ecological grazing processes that started approximately 4000 years ago in Scandinavia are facing manifold environmental challenges and societal issues that endanger both natural and cultural heritages. Our goals are to clarify the nature-culture synergies and relationships and investigate holistic management and preservation of natural and cultural values. Our results highlight an urgent need to develop holistic conservation frameworks and methodologies for protected landscapes that integrate cultural and natural heritages and enhance the potential of local communities to protect threatened semi-natural environments and experienced-based knowledge for the future

The influence of relative age effects on the cardiorespiratory fitness levels of children age 9 to 10 and 11 to 12 years of age

The aims of this study were firstly to examine whether there was an observed relative age effect in the cardiorespiratory fitness scores of 9-10 and 11-12 year old children, and secondly whether any observed effect was maintained after controlling for somatic maturity. Cardiorespiratory fitness data from 11,404 children aged 9-10 years and 3,911 children aged 11-12 years were obtained from a large cross-sectional field-based fitness testing program. A one-way ANOVA revealed a statistically significant relative age effect (p &lt; .01) existed in the 20mSRT scores across all the age groups. Furthermore, ANCOVA analyses identified a statistically significant relative age effect was maintained after controlling for somatic maturation (p &lt; .05). From a public health perspective these results confirm the existence of relative age effects for the first time and consequently may hold implications for relatively younger children in the accurate assessment of their cardiorespiratory fitness scores.</jats:p

Mind the gap? The persistence of pathological discourses in urban regeneration policy

Urban regeneration policy has historically framed policy problems using a discourse that pathologises areas and spatial communities. Since 2001 in England, and 2002 in Scotland a structural change in policy has occurred where citywide partnerships are now meant overcome structural spatial inequalities, countering pathological explanations. This paper uses historical and discourse analysis to evaluate one of the major community regeneration strategies developed by the Scottish Executive in 2002: Better Communities in Scotland: Closing the Gap. It seeks to ask whether structural change in policy was paralleled by discursive change; what discursive path dependence is evidenced? The text is placed in the historic context of UK urban renewal policies dating back to the launch of the Urban Programme in 1968 and particularly the policy discourse created by the influential Conservative government policy of 1988 New Life for Urban Scotland and the wider discourses of poverty and neighbourhood renewal policy created by Labour governments since 1997. The close textual analysis of the text shows that Better Communities in Scotland continues to pathologise spatial communities. Although this suggests a degree of historical path dependency, the historic breadth of the analysis also problematises simple historical determinism