The Relationship Between Physical Activity Classroom-based Lessons and Students Time-on-task

This research study focused on the relationship between physical activity in the classroom and students\u27 time-on-task behavior. Students\u27 levels of on- and off-task behavior were compared during typical school days and days in which students received some sort of physical activity instruction. A total of three classes of approximately fifty students were used in data collection through observations and individual student interviews . The resulting data contributed answers to the following questions: Does increased physical activity through movement in classroom lessons provide students with an alternative lesson format that increases their time-on-task, when combined with the usual amounts of physical education and outdoor recess they receive in school? What are the positive and negative outcomes of student experiences with the integration of physical activity into the classroom environment? The study found that overall students \u27 time-on-task increased after physical education and physical classroom-based lesson activities . It was also demonstrated that both male and female students spend at least some time playing outside after schools and on weekends, as well as spend sometime participating in sedentary indoor activities such as video games or watching television

Political correctness and freedom of expression

A brief history of political correctness is discussed along with various definitions of it, ranging from political correctness being a benign attempt to prevent offense and avert discrimination to stronger views equating it with Communist censorship or branding it as "cultural Marxism". The aim of the research is to discover what political correctness is, how it relates to freedom of expression and what wider implications and effects it has on society. The moral foundations of rights and free speech in particular are introduced in order to set a framework to determine what authority people and governments have to censor others' expression. Different philosophical views on the limits of free speech are discussed, and arguments for and against hate speech are analysed and related to political correctness. The thesis looks at political correctness on university campuses, which involves speech codes, antidiscrimination legislation and changing the Western canon to a more multicultural syllabus. The recent South African university protests involving issues such as white privilege, university fees and rape are discussed and related to political correctness. The thesis examines the role of political correctness in the censorship of humour, it discusses the historical role of satire in challenging dogmatism and it looks at the psychology behind intolerance. Political correctness appeals to tolerance, which is sometimes elevated at the expense of truth. Truth and tolerance are therefore weighed up, along with their altered definitions in today's relativistic society. The last part of the thesis looks at South Africa's unique brand of political correctness, along with Black Economic Empowerment, colonialism and white guilt, and the research concludes that political correctness is a distinct form of censorship which has developed in modern democracies. The new forms of justice and morality seen in political correctness are distortions of left-wing liberalism, which appeal to different values to those of traditional liberalism

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Testing an online measure of portion size selection: a pilot study concerned with the measurement of ideal portion size

BackgroundPortion size is known to be a key driver of food intake. As consumed portions are often pre-planned, ‘ideal portion size’—an individual’s preferred meal size selected prior to eating—has been identified as a strong predictor of actual consumption. However, assessments of ideal portion size have predominantly relied on laboratory-based computer tasks, limiting use online. Therefore, this cross-sectional study sought to pilot test the validity of a web-based tool to measure ideal portion size.MethodsIn an online study (N = 48), participants responded to images of a range of foods. Each food was photographed in a series of different portions and loaded into an ‘image carousel’ that would allow participants to change the size of the displayed portion by moving a slider left-to-right. Using this image carousel, participants selected their ideal portion size. They also completed measures of expected satiety and expected satiation and self-reported their age and body mass index (BMI). A non-parametric correlation matrix was used to explore associations between ideal portion size and identified predictors of food intake.ResultsSupporting convergent validity of this measure, ideal portion size was significantly correlated with expected satiety (rs = .480) and expected satiation (rs = −.310) after controlling for effects of baseline hunger and fullness, consistent with past research. Similarly, supporting divergent validity of this measure, ideal portion size was not significantly correlated with age (rs = −.032) or BMI (rs = −.111,).ConclusionsPilot results support the validity of this web-based portion size selection tool used to measure ideal portion size, though further research is needed to validate use with comparisons to actual food intake

‘Edible seaweeds’ as an alternative to animal-based proteins in the UK: Identifying product beliefs and consumer traits as drivers of consumer acceptability for macroalgae

Edible macroalgae (i.e., ‘seaweeds’) are a nutritious and sustainable alternative to animal-based proteins. However, consumption of seaweeds in Western countries remains low, and little is known about individual drivers of acceptance. The aim of this study was to further explore the consumer acceptability of seaweed-based food products in the UK. In an online study (N = 476), participants were presented with a general description of edible seaweeds, and descriptions of seaweed-based food products (e.g., ‘seaweed burger’). Participants were asked to rate beliefs about product attributes, and reported acceptance in terms of liking, willingness to try, willingness to buy, and readiness to adopt as a meat alternative. It was predicted that positive beliefs about seaweed-based products would be significantly associated with greater acceptance, and that seaweed-based products would be more favourable than a general description of seaweeds. Supporting study hypotheses, structural equation modelling showed that positive beliefs about taste/ edibility and familiarity significantly predicted acceptance (p .05). These results support the consumer acceptance of seaweeds, and identify scope for utilising specific attributes of seaweeds (as drivers of acceptance) in future product development

Intrinsic and extrinsic factors drive ontogeny of early-life at-sea behaviour in a marine top predator

Young animals must learn to forage effectively to survive the transition from parental provisioning to independent feeding. Rapid development of successful foraging strategies is particularly important for capital breeders that do not receive parental guidance after weaning. The intrinsic and extrinsic drivers of variation in ontogeny of foraging are poorly understood for many species. Grey seals (Halichoerus grypus) are typical capital breeders; pups are abandoned on the natal site after a brief suckling phase, and must develop foraging skills without external input. We collected location and dive data from recently-weaned grey seal pups from two regions of the United Kingdom (the North Sea and the Celtic and Irish Seas) using animal-borne telemetry devices during their first months of independence at sea. Dive duration, depth, bottom time, and benthic diving increased over the first 40 days. The shape and magnitude of changes differed between regions. Females consistently had longer bottom times, and in the Celtic and Irish Seas they used shallower water than males. Regional sex differences suggest that extrinsic factors, such as water depth, contribute to behavioural sexual segregation. We recommend that conservation strategies consider movements of young naïve animals in addition to those of adults to account for developmental behavioural changes

ESG in Private Equity: How Have Private Equity Attitudes Concerning ESG evolved and Changed Over the Last Decade?

This research set out to systematically determine how attitudes within the private equity industry have evolved over the last decade as it pertains to environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) factors, as ESG nowadays becomes increasingly more a part of corporate activity. Through interviews with various private equity personnel, the results returned that essentially the rise in prominence of ESG has had little to no impact on the attitudes of private equity investors regarding their primary mandate, that being return on investment. Their attitudes were very much primarily geared to maximising the wealth of their investors and not ESG principally. However, ESG as an afterthought once the fundamental goal of private equity has been considered has become far more imbedded within the attitudes and thought processes of the private equity industry. This has been highlighted by an evolving view of fiduciary duty within the industry to include ESG, as well as the development and progression of private equity ESG attitudes to meet increasing calls for greater ESG implementation from underlying investors. These notions have impacted upon the private equity industry in various ways, which has subsequently lead to increasing measures being implemented to profit from ESG within the industry. Although private equity ESG attitudes have progressed positively in this sense, the research found that attitudes regarding climate change had not, and that in fact these attitudes were somewhat indifferent and apathetic as a lack of consumer demand and other social issues begin to overtake climate as the major ESG talking point

Citizen science in the marine environment: estimating common dolphin densities in the north-east Atlantic

Background Citizen science is increasingly popular and has the potential to collect extensive datasets at lower costs than traditional surveys conducted by professional scientists. Ferries have been used to collect data on cetacean populations for decades, providing long-term time series for monitoring of cetacean populations. One cetacean species of concern is the common dolphin, which has been found stranded around the north-east Atlantic in recent years, with high numbers on French coasts being attributed to fisheries bycatch. We estimate common dolphin densities in the north-east Atlantic and investigate the ability of citizen science data to identify changes in marine mammal densities and areas of importance. Materials and Methods Data were collected by citizen scientists on ferries between April and October in 2006–2017. Common dolphin sightings data from two ferry routes across three regions, Bay of Biscay (n = 569); south-west United Kingdom to the Isles of Scilly in the Celtic Sea (n = 260); and English Channel (n = 75), were used to estimate density across ferry routes. Two-stage Density Surface Models accounted for imperfect detection, and tested the influence of environmental (chlorophyll a, sea surface temperature, depth, and slope), spatial (latitude and longitude) and temporal terms (year and Julian day) on occurrence. Results Overall detection probability was highest in the areas sampled within the English Channel (0.384) and Bay of Biscay (0.348), and lowest on the Scilly’s route (0.158). Common dolphins were estimated to occur in higher densities on the Scilly’s route (0.400 per km2) and the Bay of Biscay (0.319 per km2), with low densities in the English Channel (0.025 per km2). Densities on the Scilly’s route appear to have been relatively stable since 2006 with a slight decrease in 2017. Densities peaked in the Bay of Biscay in 2013 with lower numbers since. Densities in the English Channel appear to have increased over time since 2009. Discussion This study highlights the effectiveness of citizen science data to investigate the distribution and density of cetaceans. The densities and temporal changes shown by this study are representative of those from wider-ranging robust estimates. We highlight the ability of citizen science to collect data over extensive periods of time which complements dedicated, designed surveys. Such long-term data are important to identify changes within a population; however, citizen science data may, in some situations, present challenges. We provide recommendations to ensure high-quality data which can be used to inform management and conservation of cetacean populations. </jats:sec

Mesoscale fronts as foraging habitats: composite front mapping reveals oceanographic drivers of habitat use for a pelagic seabird

The oceanographic drivers of marine vertebrate habitat use are poorly understood yet fundamental to our knowledge of marine ecosystem functioning. Here, we use composite front mapping and high-resolution GPS tracking to determine the significance of mesoscale oceanographic fronts as physical drivers of foraging habitat selection in northern gannets Morus bassanus. We tracked 66 breeding gannets from a Celtic Sea colony over 2 years and used residence time to identify area-restricted search (ARS) behaviour. Composite front maps identified thermal and chlorophyll-a mesoscale fronts at two different temporal scales—(i) contemporaneous fronts and (ii) seasonally persistent frontal zones. Using generalized additive models (GAMs), with generalized estimating equations (GEE-GAMs) to account for serial autocorrelation in tracking data, we found that gannets do not adjust their behaviour in response to contemporaneous fronts. However, ARS was more likely to occur within spatially predictable, seasonally persistent frontal zones (GAMs). Our results provide proof of concept that composite front mapping is a useful tool for studying the influence of oceanographic features on animal movements. Moreover, we highlight that frontal persistence is a crucial element of the formation of pelagic foraging hotspots for mobile marine vertebrates