Psychosocial correlates of physical activity in white and African-American girls

Purpose To evaluate the relative utility of the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) and the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) in explaining intentions and physical activity behavior in white and African-American eighth-grade girls. Methods One-thousand-thirty white and 1114 African-American eighth-grade girls (mean age 13.6 ± 0.7 years) from 31 middle schools in South Carolina completed a 3-day physical activity recall and a questionnaire assessing attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, self-efficacy, and intentions related to regular participation in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). Results Among Whites, 17% of the variance in intentions was contributed by subjective norms and attitude, with intentions accounting for 8% of the variance in MVPA. The addition of perceived behavioral control and self-efficacy to the TRA significantly improved the prediction of intentions and MVPA accounting for 40% and 10% of the variance, respectively. Among African-Americans, subjective norms and attitude accounted for 13% of the variance in intentions, with intentions accounting for only 3% of the variance in MVPA. The addition of perceived behavioral control and self-efficacy to the TRA significantly improved the prediction of intentions and MVPA accounting for 28% and 5% of the variance, respectively. Conclusions The results provided limited empirical support for the TPB among white adolescent girls; however, our findings suggest that the planned behavior framework has limited utility among African-American adolescent girls. The relatively weak link between intentions and MVPA observed in both population groups suggest that constructs external to the TPB may be more important mediators of physical activity behavior in adolescent girls.

Physical activity correlates in adolescent girls who differ by weight status

Objective This study compared correlates of physical activity (PA) among African-American and white girls of different weight groups to guide future interventions. Research Methods and Procedures Participants were 1015 girls (mean age, 14.6 years; 45% African-American) from 12 high schools in South Carolina who served as control subjects for a school-based intervention. Post-intervention measures obtained at the end of ninth grade were used. PA was measured using the Three-Day PA Recall, and a questionnaire measured social-cognitive and environmental variables thought to mediate PA. Height and weight were measured, and BMI was calculated. Girls were stratified by race and categorized into three groups, based on BMI percentiles for girls from CDC growth charts: normal (BMI < 85th percentile), at risk (BMI, 85th to 94th percentile), and overweight (BMI ≥ 95th percentile). Girls were further divided into active and low-active groups, based on a vigorous PA standard (average of one or more 30-minute blocks per day per 3-day period). Mixed-model ANOVA was used to compare factors among groups, treating school as a random effect Results None of the social-cognitive or environmental variables differed by weight status for African-American or white girls. Perceived behavioral control and sports team participation were significantly higher in girls who were more active, regardless of weight or race group. In general, social-cognitive variables seem to be more related to activity in white girls, whereas environmental factors seem more related to activity in African-American girls. Discussion PA interventions should be tailored to the unique needs of girls based on PA levels and race, rather than on weight status alone.

Physical activity and physical fitness in African-American girls with and without obesity

Lack of physical activity and low levels of physical fitness are thought to be contributing factors to the high prevalence of obesity in African-American girls, To examine this hypothesis, we compared habitual physical activity and physical fitness in 54 African-American girls with obesity and 96 African-American girls without obesity residing in rural South Carolina, Participation in vigorous (greater than or equal to 6 METs) (VPA) or moderate and vigorous physical activity (greater than or equal to 4 METs) (MVPA) was assessed on three consecutive days using the Previous Day Physical Activity Recall, Cardiorespiratory fitness was assessed using the PWC 170 cycle ergometer test, Upper body strength was determined at two sites via isometric cable tensiometer tests, Relative to their counterparts without obesity, girls with obesity reported significantly fewer 30-minute blocks of VPA (0.90 +/- 0.14 vs. 1.3 +/- 0.14) and MVPA (1.2 +/- 0.18 vs. 1.7 +/- 0.16) (p<0.01), Within the entire sample, VPA and MVPA were inversely associated with body mass index (r=-0.17 and r=-0.19) and triceps skinfold thickness (r=-0.19 and r=-0.22) (p<0.05), In the PWC 170 test and isometric strength tests, girls with obesity demonstrated absolute scores that were similar to, or greater than, those of girls without obesity; however, when scores were expressed relative to bodyweight, girls with obesity demonstrated significantly lower values (p<0.05). The results support the hypothesis that lack of physical activity and low physical fitness are important contributing factors in the development and/or maintenance of obesity in African-American girls.

Senataxin plays an essential role with DNA damage response proteins in meiotic recombination and gene silencing

Senataxin, mutated in the human genetic disorder ataxia with oculomotor apraxia type 2 (AOA2), plays an important role in maintaining genome integrity by coordination of transcription, DNA replication, and the DNA damage response. We demonstrate that senataxin is essential for spermatogenesis and that it functions at two stages in meiosis during crossing-over in homologous recombination and in meiotic sex chromosome inactivation (MSCI). Disruption of the Setx gene caused persistence of DNA double-strand breaks, a defect in disassembly of Rad51 filaments, accumulation of DNA:RNA hybrids (R-loops), and ultimately a failure of crossing-over. Senataxin localised to the XY body in a Brca1-dependent manner, and in its absence there was incomplete localisation of DNA damage response proteins to the XY chromosomes and ATR was retained on the axial elements of these chromosomes, failing to diffuse out into chromatin. Furthermore persistence of RNA polymerase II activity, altered ubH2A distribution, and abnormal XY-linked gene expression in Setx⁻/⁻ revealed an essential role for senataxin in MSCI. These data support key roles for senataxin in coordinating meiotic crossing-over with transcription and in gene silencing to protect the integrity of the genome.

The Formality and Informality of HRM Practices in Small Firms

The formality and informality of HRM practices in small firms Rowena Barrett and Susan Mayson Introduction The nature of human resource management in small firms is understood to be characterized by ad hoc and idiosyncratic practices. The liability of smallness (Heneman and Berkley, 1999) and resource poverty (Welsh and White, 1981) presents unique challenges to managing human resources in small firms. The inability to achieve economies of scale can mean that implementing formalized HRM practices is costly in terms of time and money for small firms (Sels et al., 2006a; 2006b). These, combined with small firm owner–managers’ lack of strategic capabilities and awareness (Hannon and Atherton, 1998) and a lack of managerial resources and expertise in HRM (Cardon and Stevens, 2004) can lead to informal and ad hoc HRM practices. For some this state of affairs is interpreted as problematic as the normative and formalized HRM practices in the areas of recruitment, selection, appraisal, training and rewards are not present (see Marlow, 2006 and Taylor, 2006 for a critique). However, a more nuanced analysis of the small firm and its practices in their context can tell a different story (Barrett and Rainnie, 2002; Harney and Dundon, 2006). In this chapter we contribute to our understanding of small firm management practices by investigating a series of questions in relation to HRM in small firms.

Reinforcing guardianship regimes through assisted decision-making : a Scottish perspective

Guardianship laws which provide legal mechanisms for decision-making on behalf of adults with limited or impaired capacity to make decisions have become a feature of most Western jurisdictions. In the UK, the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000 and the English and Welsh Mental Capacity Act 2005 have established a comprehensive framework for authorising medical, financial and welfare decisions to be taken on behalf of adults who are unable to take any or all such decisions themselves. One feature of guardianship regimes has been their tendency to evolve over time. Legal reforms have been instigated by the changes in philosophical views about how society should engage with adults with a decision-making impairment and also modern views about the role human rights play in guardianships regimes. The latest ideas in guardianship regimes around the Western world centre on the possibility of legal recognition of the concept of assisted decision-making...

Literacy and numeracy project: Final report 2009

Literacy and numeracy are critical for young people during and after their schooling. The subjects and courses that students undertake during their school years incorporate a range of academic literacy and numeracy practices which students must be able manage if they are to be successful. Pathways beyond schooling also require specific, and changing, understandings of, and proficiencies with, literacy and numeracy as new communication technologies increasingly impact on further study, work, and everyday life. Teaching and learning numeracy is a new emphasis in the SACE and as yet we have little understanding about the ways in which secondary schools handle this area. Students in Years 10 and 11 are at a crucial point in their educational and life pathways as they begin to refine their future aspirations. For those who have difficulty with academic literacies and numeracies – and often a long history of such problems – this period can be fraught unless teachers are able to provide specific support when it is needed, or students are able to access it from care-givers or community members. The School to Work Literacy and Numeracy Project involved teachers from nine schools across the three sectors and university researchers working together to design curriculum interventions for students with a history of low measurable achievement in literacy and/or numeracy. The project started from the premise that working with ‘rich tasks’, an approach to learning and assessment developed in the Productive Pedagogies work undertaken in Queensland (Hayes et al., 2006), would improve students’ motivation, engagement and learning and that this work could best be done by teachers working in school-based, cross-curriculum teams with a school leadership team member and a university researcher as mentor. A key idea in designing rich tasks is that students will have opportunities to demonstrate their learning in assessments which are aligned with the learning expectations (for example a film festival to publicly launch student-produced films, advertising to sell student-made cubby-houses, a household budget based on students’ likely incomes in future work). In other words the assessments should be designed to allow for authentic communication and displays of what the students have learned through serious engagement with the curriculum. The project was conducted from Term 1-4 2009, with follow-up checks with some project teachers in the early weeks of 2010.

Navigating emotion research during a paradigm shift in psychology

Human emotional responses are highly individual. A comprehensive analysis of emotion research in cognitive psychology and physiology, including laboratory-based experiments, showed that understanding human emotions requires a dynamic systems approach incorporating insights from scientific disciplines beyond psychology. Importantly, subjective and automatic evaluations of emotive information are context-sensitive and changeable, confirming the dynamic nature of emotion and role of individual differences. Furthermore, a comparison of different statistical approaches established that statistical estimation, rather than averages, best captures our highly individual emotional responses. Emotion research needs a cross-disciplinary approach.

Family-based programmes for preventing smoking by children and adolescents (Review)

Background There is evidence that family and friends influence children's decisions to smoke. Objectives To assess the effectiveness of interventions to help families stop children starting smoking. Search methods We searched 14 electronic bibliographic databases, including the Cochrane Tobacco Addiction Group specialized register, MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, CINAHL unpublished material, and key articles' reference lists. We performed free-text internet searches and targeted searches of appropriate websites, and hand-searched key journals not available electronically. We consulted authors and experts in the field. The most recent search was 3 April 2014. There were no date or language limitations. Selection criteria Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of interventions with children (aged 5-12) or adolescents (aged 13-18) and families to deter tobacco use. The primary outcome was the effect of the intervention on the smoking status of children who reported no use of tobacco at baseline. Included trials had to report outcomes measured at least six months from the start of the intervention. Data collection and analysis We reviewed all potentially relevant citations and retrieved the full text to determine whether the study was an RCT and matched our inclusion criteria. Two authors independently extracted study data for each RCT and assessed them for risk of bias. We pooled risk ratios using a Mantel-Haenszel fixed effect model. Main results Twenty-seven RCTs were included. The interventions were very heterogeneous in the components of the family intervention, the other risk behaviours targeted alongside tobacco, the age of children at baseline and the length of follow-up. Two interventions were tested by two RCTs, one was tested by three RCTs and the remaining 20 distinct interventions were tested only by one RCT. Twenty-three interventions were tested in the USA, two in Europe, one in Australia and one in India. The control conditions fell into two main groups: no intervention or usual care; or school-based interventions provided to all participants. These two groups of studies were considered separately. Most studies had a judgement of 'unclear' for at least one risk of bias criteria, so the quality of evidence was downgraded to moderate. Although there was heterogeneity between studies there was little evidence of statistical heterogeneity in the results. We were unable to extract data from all studies in a format that allowed inclusion in a meta-analysis. There was moderate quality evidence family-based interventions had a positive impact on preventing smoking when compared to a no intervention control. Nine studies (4810 participants) reporting smoking uptake amongst baseline non-smokers could be pooled, but eight studies with about 5000 participants could not be pooled because of insufficient data. The pooled estimate detected a significant reduction in smoking behaviour in the intervention arms (risk ratio [RR] 0.76, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.68 to 0.84). Most of these studies used intensive interventions. Estimates for the medium and low intensity subgroups were similar but confidence intervals were wide. Two studies in which some of the 4487 participants already had smoking experience at baseline did not detect evidence of effect (RR 1.04, 95% CI 0.93 to 1.17). Eight RCTs compared a combined family plus school intervention to a school intervention only. Of the three studies with data, two RCTS with outcomes for 2301 baseline never smokers detected evidence of an effect (RR 0.85, 95% CI 0.75 to 0.96) and one study with data for 1096 participants not restricted to never users at baseline also detected a benefit (RR 0.60, 95% CI 0.38 to 0.94). The other five studies with about 18,500 participants did not report data in a format allowing meta-analysis. One RCT also compared a family intervention to a school 'good behaviour' intervention and did not detect a difference between the two types of programme (RR 1.05, 95% CI 0.80 to 1.38, n = 388). No studies identified any adverse effects of intervention. Authors' conclusions There is moderate quality evidence to suggest that family-based interventions can have a positive effect on preventing children and adolescents from starting to smoke. There were more studies of high intensity programmes compared to a control group receiving no intervention, than there were for other compairsons. The evidence is therefore strongest for high intensity programmes used independently of school interventions. Programmes typically addressed family functioning, and were introduced when children were between 11 and 14 years old. Based on this moderate quality evidence a family intervention might reduce uptake or experimentation with smoking by between 16 and 32%. However, these findings should be interpreted cautiously because effect estimates could not include data from all studies. Our interpretation is that the common feature of the effective high intensity interventions was encouraging authoritative parenting (which is usually defined as showing strong interest in and care for the adolescent, often with rule setting). This is different from authoritarian parenting (do as I say) or neglectful or unsupervised parenting.

Walking and talking with living texts: Breathing life against static standardisation

Current educational reform, policy and public discourse emphasise standardisation of testing, curricula and professional practice, yet the landscape of literacy practices today is fluid, interactive, multimodal, ever-changing, adaptive and collaborative. How then can English and literacy educators negotiate these conflicting terrains? The nature of today’s literacy practices is reflected in a concept of living texts which refers to experienced events and encounters that offer meaning-making that is fluid, interactive and changing. Literacy learning possibilities with living texts are described and discussed by the authors who independently investigated the place of living texts across two distinctly different learning contexts: a young people’s community arts project and a co-taught multiliteracies project in a high school. In the community arts project, young people created living texts as guided walks of urban spaces that adapt and change to varying audiences. In the multiliteracies project, two parents and a teacher created interactive spaces through co-teaching and cogenerative dialoguing. These spaces generate living texts that yield a purposefully connected curriculum rich in community-relevant and culturally significant texts. These two studies are shared with a view of bringing living texts into literacy education to loosen rigidity in standardisation.

Coteaching for parent-school-community engagement: Seen through the four resources model

This paper reflects on a 2008 project in which a teacher invited two parents1 of students in his class to coteach with him on the topic of War and Refugees (Willis, 2013). Although the project occurred in a Year eight context, it has utility for all teachers in showing how the four resources model (FRM) (Freebody and Luke, 1990) of language and literacy teaching and learning may provide a viewing platform for seeing the benefits and potential of coteaching for parent-school-community engagement. For decades, governments nationally and internationally have actively supported parentschool- community involvement initiatives. In Australia, these include the establishment in 2008 of The Family-School and Community Partnerships Bureau and its recent publication, Parental engagement in learning and schooling: Lessons from research (Emerson, Fear, Fox, and Sanders, 2012). These initiatives derive from strong, consistent research evidence that parent involvement in schools not only benefits students, teachers, and schools but also has wide-ranging implications for education reform, employers and communities, and ultimately Australia's future economic prosperity. These initiatives also continue to inform the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) in identifying ways teachers and school leaders can generate and sustain professional engagement with colleagues, parents, and the community to meet new national teaching standards.

A tsunami of unmet needs: Pancreatic and ampullary cancer patients’ supportive care needs and use of community and allied health services

Objective People diagnosed with pancreatic cancer have the worst survival prognosis of any cancer. No previous research has documented the supportive care needs of this population. Our objective was to describe people’s needs and use of support services and to examine whether these differed according to whether or not patients had undergone surgical resection. Methods Queensland pancreatic or ampullary cancer patients (n=136, 54% of those eligible) completed a survey which assessed 34 needs across 5 domains (SCNS-SF34) and use of health services. Differences by resection were compared with Chi-squared tests. Results Overall, 96% of participants reported having some needs. More than half reported moderate-to-high unmet physical (54%) or psychological (52%) needs whereas, health system/information (32%), patient care (21%) and sexuality needs (16%) were described less frequently. The three most frequently reported moderate-to-high needs included ‘not being able to do things they used to do’ (41%), ‘concerns about the worries of those close’ (37%), and ‘uncertainty about the future’ (30%). Patients with non-resectable disease reported greater individual information needs but their needs were otherwise similar to patients with resectable disease. Self-reported use of support was low; only 35% accessed information, 28%, 18% and 15% consulted a dietician, complementary medicine practitioner or mental health practitioner, respectively. Palliative care access was greater (59% vs 27%) among those with non-resectable disease. Conclusion Very high levels of needs were reported by people with pancreatic or ampullary cancer. Future work needs to elucidate why uptake of appropriate supportive care is low and which services are required.

Integration over song classification replicates: song variant analysis in the hihi

Human expert analyses are commonly used in bioacoustic studies and can potentially limit the reproducibility of these results. In this paper, a machine learning method is presented to statistically classify avian vocalizations. Automated approaches were applied to isolate bird songs from long field recordings, assess song similarities, and classify songs into distinct variants. Because no positive controls were available to assess the true classification of variants, multiple replicates of automatic classification of song variants were analyzed to investigate clustering uncertainty. The automatic classifications were more similar to the expert classifications than expected by chance. Application of these methods demonstrated the presence of discrete song variants in an island population of the New Zealand hihi (Notiomystis cincta). The geographic patterns of song variation were then revealed by integrating over classification replicates. Because this automated approach considers variation in song variant classification, it reduces potential human bias and facilitates the reproducibility of the results.