Nutritional Practices of National Female Soccer Players: Analysis and Recommendations.

The aim of the study was to establish the nutritional practices and activity patterns of elite female soccer players. The nutritional intake of 16 female England Soccer players was self-reported over a seven-day period. Participants were provided with written and verbal guidelines for the completion of the diaries. Training details were also recorded, and used in combination with BMR predictions to calculate daily energy expenditure. Energy, macronutrient and micronutrient intakes were determined using DietMaster 4.0 software. Results suggest that energy intake was low (1904 ± 366.3 kcal) in relation to previous recommendations for soccer players. Energy expenditure (2153.5 ± 596.2 kcal) was not significantly different (p > 0.05) from intake, suggesting energy balance was achieved. Carbohydrate (53.8 ± 6.8%), protein (16.8 ± 2.1%) and fat (28.8 ± 6.6%) intakes were in line with recommendations. Fluid intake (2466 ± 1350.5ml·day-1) was sufficient to meet baseline recommendations, but would need to be higher to meet the additional requirement of training and competition. With the exception of vitamin A and iron, all micronutrient intakes were higher than the DRI. In conclusion, recommendations for female soccer players are to encourage consumption of carbohydrate-electrolyte beverages to enhance carbohydrate intake and increase fluid intake, and ensure sufficient iron rich foods are included in the diet to meet the DRI

Silver Dreams Fund Learning and Evaluation Contract: Final report June 2014

This is a summary of the Final Report which presents the findings of the evaluation of the Big Lottery Fund's Silver Dreams Fund conducted by Ecorys.The Silver Dreams Fund was a £10 million programme which sought to address the gaps in provision by challenging organisations to come up with an innovative idea for a project that would "pioneer ways to help vulnerable older people deal more effectively with life-changing events".Our approach involved both formative and summative elements and was based upon a robust and evidence-based outcome evaluation framework. In addition, we have also undertaken an evaluation of the new programme management processes employed by the Big Lottery Fund which has been reported separately.In summary, the evaluation involved:- development of an evaluation framework and common indicators to measure outcomes;- provision of a package of self-evaluation support to projects;- programme level work to provide independent primary qualitative research and to validate findings from self-evaluations;- a range of learning activities; and- analysis and reporting

The Deakin Sisters: Becoming ‘New Women’ in Twentieth-Century Australia

Using the rich and largely unexplored archival records of the Deakin sisters, this thesis presents the first in-depth collective biography of their lives. While they were the daughters of Australian Prime Minister, Alfred Deakin (1856-1919), the Deakin sisters, Ivy (1883-1970), Stella (1886-1976) and Vera (1891-1978), are not the subjects of this historical examination because of their connection to a powerful man. They are instead being studied because of the significant insights they provide into individual (elite) women’s experiences of the new opportunities which emerged for Australian women in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Examining their lives reveals the impact of both the emancipating ideas and opportunities of the ‘new woman’ era as well as the continuing expectations for women to remain in the domestic sphere and be ‘angels in the house’. The thesis reveals how the Deakin sisters took advantage of the liberating opportunities of the ‘new woman’ era to achieve both their individual ambitions and contribute to women’s advancement and social reform efforts throughout their lives. The sisters enjoyed substantially expanded opportunities compared to women of earlier generations. Stella completed a science degree at the University of Melbourne and travelled to Europe to pursue postgraduate studies. Ivy and Vera studied music, performed in public and later devoted themselves to philanthropic work where they enjoyed significant public prominence, influence and authority. They harnessed their influential positions to advocate for increased rights and freedoms for women and to champion the expansion of women’s involvement in society. They strongly believed that women, including themselves, should play an increased role in the nation’s decision-making processes. At the same time, while each of the Deakin sisters capitalised on new freedoms and opportunities for women, their lives were also curtailed by the obligations and societal expectations of their gender and class, particularly after marriage. Each married an influential man, became a mother, and fulfilled the domestic and social obligations associated with their class and position. They also subscribed to a maternal feminist vision that saw men and women as ‘equal but different’. Due to their connection to a powerfully positioned father, privileged social standing, wealth, and personal ambition, each of the Deakin sisters were able to craft distinct life pathways that allow us to more fully understand the changing and varied conceptions of womanhood that existed between the more radical ‘waves’ of feminism. This examination of their lives thus extends our understandings of how Australian women negotiated their identities as females in this period and navigated patriarchal systems and norms to create a space for themselves in a male dominated public realm. The experiences of women like the Deakin sisters have often been rendered benign in previous scholarship due to their political conservatism and commitment to the ideal of ‘equal but different’. They have suffered by comparison to seemingly more ‘radical’ feminists and their significance has been under-appreciated. This thesis seeks to shift such views by recovering the lives, impact and at times ‘radicalism’ of Ivy, Stella, and Vera Deakin

Integrating economic and community development within the context of rural regeneration in County Durham

Many policy-makers and academics now argue that if development is to be successful, the approach needs to be holistic encompassing different strands of activity and, importantly, the community needs to be involved. Community and partnership are central themes within policy. The rise of partnership working is associated with a shift to governance. The emphasis on community as a target for government action and as having a role to play in policy formation and delivery can be understood as a form of governmentality - governing through community. This thesis explores the integration of economic and community development understood as both the bringing together of different strands of development activity and of top-down and bottom-up efforts. The research focuses on the rural areas of County Durham. It examines development activity at a county level and in three case study areas. Rural areas in the County vary significantly in terms of their socio-economic history and the approach allows comparison of integration in different settings. The contested nature of the concept of community has been largely neglected in previous work drawing on the govemmentality perspective, but is a key part of this work. The findings suggest that many local people are not involved in development activity. There are some new actors, but not mass participative democracy. Blurred boundaries between actors/organisations from different sectors and the power relationships within partnerships cast doubt on the difference between government and governance. Adopting a govemmentality approach shows how governmental technologies influence the integration of economic and community development. In some ways integration is hindered, but the evidence shows that obstacles can be overcome indicating the need to consider local agency and the possibility of resistance. Notions of governing through community need to be qualified with regard to disengagement

Stability Studies of Porous Media Including Surface Reactions

We investigate the onset of thermal convection in a number of porous models, with a focus on the influence of a boundary reaction. The models that we consider are: the Darcy porous model; the Darcy model with inclusion of the Soret effect and the Brinkman model, all with an exothermic surface reaction on the lower boundary. Numerical results are presented for each of these models and we show that the Darcy and Brinkman models with a surface reaction are structurally stable. Finally we derive stability results for a vertical porous channel that is in thermal non-equilibrium. In Chapter 2 we investigate how the parameters of an exothermic reaction on the lower boundary of a horizontal Darcy porous layer affect the linear instability boundary. We show that for low Lewis numbers stationary convection is dominant and for larger Lewis number oscillatory convection dominates. We use a non-linear analysis to and stability boundaries for this model in Chapter 3, showing how some of the reaction parameters affect this boundary. It is shown that the two boundaries do not coincide and there is a region in which sub-critical instabilities may occur. Structural stability on the reaction parameters is established for this model in Chapter 4. The impact of including the Soret effect on the stability of the Darcy model with a surface reaction on the lower boundary is considered in Chapter 5. When stationary convection dominates we find that increasing the Soret effect increases the critical Rayleigh number that defines the instability boundary. Chapter 6 discusses instabilities in a highly porous layer with an exothermic surface reaction on the lower boundary. The Brinkman model is used to take into account the impact of higher level derivatives of the fluid velocity. We show that this model is structurally stable on the parameters of the reaction in Chapter 7. Finally, in Chapter 8 we analytically derive two stability results for a vertical porous channel in thermal non-equilibrium. The first is that the model is stable for any initial data provided the Rayleigh number is below a given threshold. The second is that there is stability for any Rayleigh number given restrictions on the initial data

Attitudes to depression and its treatment in primary care

Background Undertreatment of depression in primary care is common. Efforts to address this tend to overlook the role of patient attitudes. Our aim was to validate and describe responses to a questionnaire about attitudes to depression and its treatment in a sample with experience of moderate and severe depressive episodes. Method Cross-sectional survey of 866 individuals with a confirmed history of an ICD-10 depressive episode in the 12 months preceding interview, recruited from 7271 consecutive general practitioner (GP) attendees in 36 general practices in England and Wales. Attitudes to and beliefs about depression were assessed using a 19-item self-report questionnaire. Results Factor analysis resulted in a three-factor solution: factor 1, depression as a disabling, permanent state; factor 2, depression as a medical condition responsive to support; and factor 3, antidepressants are addictive and ineffective. Participants who received and adhered to antidepressant medication and disclosed their depression to family and friends had significantly lower scores on factors 1 and 3 but higher scores on factor 2. Conclusions People with moderate or severe depressive episodes have subtle and divergent views about this condition, its outcome, and appropriate help. Such beliefs should be considered in primary care as they may significantly impact on help seeking and adherence to treatment

Exploring the effects of clinical simulation on nursing students’ learning and practice

In simulation-based learning, nursing or medical students are exposed to hypothetical scenarios that mimic the realities of clinical practice. This provides them with an opportunity to practise and reflect on clinical skills in a safe environment. This article details a small-scale evaluation that was undertaken to explore two nursing students’ perspectives on clinical simulation. The aim of this evaluation was to identify what these students learned from clinical simulation and the effects it had on their practice. It also aimed to inform the programme’s academic revalidation and therefore improve the university’s offering. Taking part in simulation before undertaking their first clinical placement increased the students’ confidence and it improved their fundamental nursing, communication, psychomotor and reflective skills

Poems

Poems include: Days , by Martha Rose Scott and Blemish , by Louise Garrigu

Emotion processing and social participation following stroke : study protocol

Peer reviewedPublisher PD