The effect of playground and nature-based interventions on physical activity and self-esteem in UK school children

School playtime provides opportunities for children to engage in physical activity (PA). Playground playtime interventions designed to increase PA have produced differing results. However, nature can also promote PA, through the provision of large open spaces for activity. The purpose of this study is to determine which playtime interventions are most effective at increasing moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and if this varies by school location. Fifty-two children from an urban and rural school participated in a playground sports (PS) and nature-based orienteering intervention during playtime for one week. MVPA was assessed the day before and on the final day of the interventions using accelerometers. Intervention type (p < 0.05) and school location (p < 0.001) significantly influenced MVPA; with PS increasing MVPA more than nature-based orienteering. Urban children seemed to respond to the interventions more positively; however, differences in baseline MVPA might influence these changes. There was a positive correlation for fitness and MVPA during PS (r = 0.32; p < 0.05), but not nature-based orienteering (p > 0.05). The provision of PS influences PA the most; however, a variety of interventions are required to engage less fit children in PA.

A model for information retrieval driven by conceptual spaces

A retrieval model describes the transformation of a query into a set of documents. The question is: what drives this transformation? For semantic information retrieval type of models this transformation is driven by the content and structure of the semantic models. In this case, Knowledge Organization Systems (KOSs) are the semantic models that encode the meaning employed for monolingual and cross-language retrieval. The focus of this research is the relationship between these meanings’ representations and their role and potential in augmenting existing retrieval models effectiveness. The proposed approach is unique in explicitly interpreting a semantic reference as a pointer to a concept in the semantic model that activates all its linked neighboring concepts. It is in fact the formalization of the information retrieval model and the integration of knowledge resources from the Linguistic Linked Open Data cloud that is distinctive from other approaches. The preprocessing of the semantic model using Formal Concept Analysis enables the extraction of conceptual spaces (formal contexts)that are based on sub-graphs from the original structure of the semantic model. The types of conceptual spaces built in this case are limited by the KOSs structural relations relevant to retrieval: exact match, broader, narrower, and related. They capture the definitional and relational aspects of the concepts in the semantic model. Also, each formal context is assigned an operational role in the flow of processes of the retrieval system enabling a clear path towards the implementations of monolingual and cross-lingual systems. By following this model’s theoretical description in constructing a retrieval system, evaluation results have shown statistically significant results in both monolingual and bilingual settings when no methods for query expansion were used. The test suite was run on the Cross-Language Evaluation Forum Domain Specific 2004-2006 collection with additional extensions to match the specifics of this model.

The stamp of identities: negotiating diasporic Chinese subjectivity in philatelic spaces

This paper examines the politics and poetics of identity construction and articulation among guiqiao (Returned Overseas Chinese) through a case study of a postage stamp exhibition put up jointly by an ordinary guiqiao and an official huaqiao (Overseas Chinese) museum in Quanzhou, China. Two conflicting meaning systems are identified in this exhibition. On the surface and mainly through words, it promulgates a highly clichéd China-centred discourse of huaqiao as patriotic subjects, legitimated by the authority of an official museum. Simultaneously, it articulates implicitly a “trans-local diasporic subjectivity” conveyed by the imagery of stamps and constituted by constant interactions between the materiality of stamps and the bodily experience of stamp collectors beyond the museum. This study contributes to the study of guiqiao, and of Chinese diaspora in general, in two ways. First, it complicates the conventional understanding of guiqiao identity by pinpointing contested negotiations between the state from above and guiqiao from below, involving simultaneously conflicts and compromises. Secondly, it brings to light the important role of body, affect and materiality in the construction and articulation of guiqiao identities, paving the way for integrating museum and migration studies with the potential to re-conceptualize transnational mobilities in the Chinese context and beyond.