“You’re a whole group of people singing”: sharing and learning together in The Choir of the Hawthorn U3A

For older people group music making can assist them remain independent and active in the community. Across Melbourne there are many non-competitive leisure based choirs made of older, active volunteer participants. This paper presents the findings of a phenomenological qualitative case study that was undertaken with members of The Choir of the U3A Hawthorn. This group is auspiced by the international University of the Third Age (U3A) that promotes life-long learning and personal fulfilment amongst older people. In 2008 we began a large joint ongoing research project between Deakin University and Monash University, Well-being and ageing: community, diversity and the arts in Victoria. In 2013 members of the U3A Hawthorn Choir were interviewed about their perceived benefits concerning active music engagement in choir membership. Participants recounted joining the group for different reasons including a positive attitude to singing, convenience, and a desire for social connectedness. Those interviewed considered ongoing choir membership an effective use of leisure time that also provided opportunities for shared learning and personal validation. The data were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis and are reported under two themes: Music engagement and Social connections. Membership of the Hawthorn U3A choir provided participants opportunities for friendship, companionship, happiness, a sense of belonging, and acceptance. This resilient community music group (first formed in 1996) has maintained a busy schedule of rehearsals and performances. This music making offers significant ways for older people to maintain well-being and contribute to the wider community.

The importance of taste on dietary choice, behaviour and intake in a group of young adults

The 'taste of food' plays an important role in food choice. Furthermore, foods high in fat, sugar and salt are highly palatable and associated with increased food consumption. Research exploring taste importance on dietary choice, behaviour and intake is limited, particularly in young adults. Therefore, in this study a total of 1306 Australian university students completed questionnaires assessing dietary behaviors (such as how important taste was on food choice) and frequency of food consumption over the prior month. Diet quality was also assessed using a dietary guideline index. Participants had a mean age of 20 ± 5 years, Body Mass Index (BMI) of 22 ± 3 kg/m(2), 79% were female and 84% Australian. Taste was rated as being a very or extremely important factor for food choice by 82% of participants. Participants who rated taste as highly important, had a poorer diet quality (p = 0.001) and were more likely to consume less fruit (p = 0.03) and vegetables (p = 0.05). Furthermore, they were significantly more likely to consume foods high in fat, sugar and salt, including chocolate and confectionary, cakes and puddings, sweet pastries, biscuits, meat pies, pizza, hot chips, potato chips, takeaway meals, soft drink, cordial and fruit juice (p = 0.001-0.02). They were also more likely to consider avoiding adding salt to cooking (p = 0.02) and adding sugar to tea or coffee (p = 0.01) as less important for health. These findings suggest that the importance individuals place on taste plays an important role in influencing food choice, dietary behaviors and intake.

The group purchasing process : an investigation into the influence of the facilitator in alpine tourism

Group travel is a common feature of all tourism markets and can vary from the familiar peer group/common purpose associations of the football and cricket followers to the non-familiar co-operative travel group of the under 35 year olds bus adventures throughout Europe. This study investigates the nature of social group travel in alpine tourism. It specifically examines the phenomena of the "group facilitator"; the person within the group who takes a major role in the travel decisions and organisation on rehalf of all the other members in the travel party. The specific activities of this "group facilitator" and the role of opinion leadership, information search, organisation process, previous experience, relationship ties between the group members are examined. The 'facilitator' also influences other individuals' decision to participate who delegate selection of destination to this person as well. The 'facilitator' has many of the characteristics of an opinion leader and was recognised by group participants as a major source of information about the destination. The findings of the study have important implications for tourism marketers as they highlight an opportunity to reach many potential travellers by directly targeting one key influencer and decision maker.

Modelling income group differences in the health and economic impacts of targeted food taxes and subsidies

Objective : To examine the effects, by income group, of targeted food taxes and subsidies on nutrition, health and expenditure in the UK.

Methods : A model based on consumption data and demand elasticity was constructed to predict the effects of four food taxation-subsidy regimens. Resulting changes in demand, expenditure, nutrition, cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cancer mortality were estimated.

Data : Expenditure data were taken from the Expenditure and Food Survey; estimates of price elasticities of demand for food were taken from a report based on the National Food Survey 1988–2000. Estimates of effect on CVD and cancer mortality of changing fat, salt, fruit and vegetable intake were taken from previous meta-analyses.

Results : (i) Taxing principal sources of dietary saturated fat is unlikely to reduce cardiovascular disease (CVD) or cancer mortality. (ii) Taxing ‘less healthy’ foods (defined by the WXYfm nutrient profiling model) could increase CVD and cancer deaths by 35–1300 yearly. (iii) Taxing ‘less healthy’ foods and subsidising fruits and vegetables by 17.5% could avert up to 2900 CVD and cancer deaths yearly. (iv) Taxing ‘less healthy’ foods and using all tax revenue to subsidize fruits and vegetables could avert up to 6400 CVD and cancer deaths yearly. Few obesity-related CVD deaths are averted by any of the regimens. All four regimens would be economically regressive and positive health effects will not necessarily be greater in lower-income groups where the need for dietary improvement is higher.

Conclusions : A targeted food tax combined with the appropriate subsidy on fruits and vegetables could reduce deaths from CVD and cancer.

Stability theory and numerical analysis of non-autonomous dynamical systems

The development and use of cocycles for analysis of non-autonomous behaviour is a technique that has been known for several years. Initially developed as an extension to semi-group theory for studying rion-autonornous behaviour, it was extensively used in analysing random dynamical systems [2, 9, 10, 12]. Many of the results regarding asymptotic behaviour developed for random dynamical systems, including the concept of cocycle attractors were successfully transferred and reinterpreted for deterministic non-autonomous systems primarily by P. Kloeden and B. Schmalfuss [20, 21, 28, 29]. The theory concerning cocycle attractors was later developed in various contexts specific to particular classes of dynamical systems [6, 7, 13], although a comprehensive understanding of cocycle attractors (redefined as pullback attractors within this thesis) and their role in the stability of non-autonomous dynamical systems was still at this stage incomplete. It was this purpose that motivated Chapters 1-3 to define and formalise the concept of stability within non-autonomous dynamical systems. The approach taken incorporates the elements of classical asymptotic theory, and refines the notion of pullback attraction with further development towards a study of pull-back stability arid pullback asymptotic stability. In a comprehensive manner, it clearly establishes both pullback and forward (classical) stability theory as fundamentally unique and essential components of non-autonomous stability. Many of the introductory theorems and examples highlight the key properties arid differences between pullback and forward stability. The theory also cohesively retains all the properties of classical asymptotic stability theory in an autonomous environment. These chapters are intended as a fundamental framework from which further research in the various fields of non-autonomous dynamical systems may be extended. A preliminary version of a Lyapunov-like theory that characterises pullback attraction is created as a tool for examining non-autonomous behaviour in Chapter 5. The nature of its usefulness however is at this stage restricted to the converse theorem of asymptotic stability. Chapter 7 introduces the theory of Loci Dynamics. A transformation is made to an alternative dynamical system where forward asymptotic (classical asymptotic) behaviour characterises pullback attraction to a particular point in the original dynamical system. This has the advantage in that certain conventional techniques for a forward analysis may be applied. The remainder of the thesis, Chapters 4, 6 and Section 7.3, investigates the effects of perturbations and discretisations on non-autonomous dynamical systems known to possess structures that exhibit some form of stability or attraction. Chapter 4 investigates autonomous systems with semi-group attractors, that have been non-autonomously perturbed, whilst Chapter 6 observes the effects of discretisation on non-autonomous dynamical systems that exhibit properties of forward asymptotic stability. Chapter 7 explores the same problem of discretisation, but for pullback asymptotically stable systems. The theory of Loci Dynamics is used to analyse the nature of the discretisation, but establishment of results directly analogous to those discovered in Chapter 6 is shown to be unachievable. Instead a case by case analysis is provided for specific classes of dynamical systems, for which the results generate a numerical approximation of the pullback attraction in the original continuous dynamical system. The nature of the results regarding discretisation provide a non-autonomous extension to the work initiated by A. Stuart and J. Humphries [34, 35] for the numerical approximation of semi-group attractors within autonomous systems. . Of particular importance is the effect on the system's asymptotic behaviour over non-finite intervals of discretisation.

Conceptual understanding of screen media parenting: report of a working group

Screen media (television, computers, and videogames) use has been linked to multiple child outcomes, including obesity. Parents can be an important influence on children's screen use. There has been an increase in the number of instruments available to assess parenting in feeding and physical activity contexts, however few measures are available to assess parenting practices regarding children's screen media use.

A working group of screen media and parenting researchers convened at the preconference workshop to the 2012 International Society for Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity (ISBNPA) annual meeting, “Parenting Measurement: Current Status and Consensus Reports,” to identify and prioritize issues in assessing screen media parenting practices.

The group identified that screen media use can pose different risks for children, depending on their age and developmental stage, across physiologic, psychosocial, and development outcomes. With that in mind, a conceptual framework of how parents may influence their child's screen-viewing behaviors was proposed to include the screen media content, context of viewing, and amount viewed.

A research agenda was proposed to prioritize a validation of the framework and enhance the ability of researchers to best assess parenting influences across the three domains of content, context and amount of children's screen media use.

Economic evaluation of a group-based exercise program for falls prevention among the older community-dwelling population

BACKGROUND: Falls among older people are of growing concern globally. Implementing cost-effective strategies for their prevention is of utmost importance given the ageing population and associated potential for increased costs of fall-related injury over the next decades. The purpose of this study was to undertake a cost-utility analysis and secondary cost-effectiveness analysis from a healthcare system perspective, of a group-based exercise program compared to routine care for falls prevention in an older community-dwelling population.

METHODS: A decision analysis using a decision tree model was based on the results of a previously published randomised controlled trial with a community-dwelling population aged over 70. Measures of falls, fall-related injuries and resource use were directly obtained from trial data and supplemented by literature-based utility measures. A sub-group analysis was performed of women only. Cost estimates are reported in 2010 British Pound Sterling (GBP).

RESULTS: The ICER of GBP£51,483 per QALY for the base case analysis was well above the accepted cost-effectiveness threshold of GBP£20,000 to £30,000 per QALY, but in a sensitivity analysis with minimised program implementation the incremental cost reached GBP£25,678 per QALY. The ICER value at 95% confidence in the base case analysis was GBP£99,664 per QALY and GBP£50,549 per QALY in the lower cost analysis. Males had a 44% lower injury rate if they fell, compared to females resulting in a more favourable ICER for the women only analysis. For women only the ICER was GBP£22,986 per QALY in the base case and was below the cost-effectiveness threshold for all other variations of program implementation. The ICER value at 95% confidence was GBP£48,212 in the women only base case analysis and GBP£23,645 in the lower cost analysis. The base case incremental cost per fall averted was GBP£652 (GBP£616 for women only). A threshold analysis indicates that this exercise program cannot realistically break even.

CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that this exercise program is cost-effective for women only. There is no evidence to support its cost-effectiveness in a group of mixed gender unless the costs of program implementation are minimal. Conservative assumptions may have underestimated the true cost-effectiveness of the program.