Engagement and learning through social software in finance : a retrospective on the Trading Room experience

The introduction of a social software blog space called the Trading Room in an undergraduate finance unit generated a great deal of activity to support student learning. A subsequent evaluation of this innovation, viewed through the lens of Activity Theory, demonstrated that students perceived high value in the opportunity it provided for them to reaffirm theories, obtain individualised feedback and benchmark their work against others. While assessment is generally seen as the carrot and the stick of learning; students in the study reported that they would still participate in reading and posting to the Trading Room even if there was no assessment requirement. Students did not see any value in the environment as a purely social space, reporting that they saw it primarily as a professional educational community. It would appear that just as there are different communities in the real world social space, there are also different types of communities in the online space.

Reducing sitting time in office workers: short-term efficacy of a multicomponent intervention

Objective To investigate the short-term efficacy of a multicomponent intervention to reduce office workers' sitting time. Methods Allocation for this non-randomized controlled trial (n = 43 participants; 56% women; 26–62 years; Melbourne, Australia) was by office floor, with data collected during July–September 2011. The 4-week intervention emphasized three key messages: “Stand Up, Sit Less, Move More” and comprised organizational, environmental, and individual elements. Changes in minutes/day at the workplace spent sitting (primary outcome), in prolonged sitting (sitting time accumulated in bouts ≥ 30 min), standing, and moving were objectively measured (activPAL3). Results Relative to the controls, the intervention group significantly reduced workplace sitting time (mean change [95%CI]: − 125 [− 161, − 89] min/8-h workday), with changes primarily driven by a reduction in prolonged sitting time (− 73 [− 108, − 40] min/8-h workday). Workplace sitting was almost exclusively replaced by standing (+ 127 [+ 92, + 162] min/8-h workday) with non-significant changes to stepping time (− 2 [− 7, + 4] min/8-h workday) and number of steps (− 70 [− 350, 210]). Conclusions This multicomponent workplace intervention demonstrated that substantial reductions in sitting time are achievable in an office setting. Larger studies with longer timeframes are needed to assess sustainability of these changes, as well as their potential longer-term impacts on health and work-related outcomes.

Patterns and perceptions of physical activity and sedentary time in male transport drivers working in regional Australia

 Abstract

Objective: To objectively measure physical activity (PA) patterns and sedentary time, and explore perceptions of workplace PA opportunities in regional male transport workers.

Methods: A multi-method study involving 28 drivers (52.4±9.69years) working at a bus company in South-East Queensland, Australia. PA was measured using accelerometers (n=23) to determine the proportion of time spent in sedentary (<150 cpm), light (151–2,689 cpm) and moderate+ (≥2,690 cpm) intensity categories. Paired sample t-tests were used to evaluate differences between categories on a workday/off-workday (n=16), and during work/non-work time (n=15). Interviews were conducted with 28 drivers and six managers to explore perceptions and ideas relating to workplace PA opportunities.

Results: Sedentary time was significantly higher on off-work (64% of wear time) than work (52%) days (p<0.05), while the opposite was the case for light intensity time (off-workday=33%; workday=44%; p<0.05). On workdays, sedentary time was significantly lower when employees were working (44%) than when not working (60%; p<0.05). No significant differences were found for time spent in moderate+ PA. Driver perceptions indicated that PA opportunities (walking club and corporate gym membership) were being adopted by some drivers. However, at this depot, perceived health issues and organisational barriers (shift work and irregular driving routines), tended to preclude some drivers from engaging with these opportunities.

Conclusions: Findings contest the notion that a sedentary occupation such as driving necessitates an inactive work environment.

Implications: This research informs ongoing intervention efforts to target inactive drivers who are struggling to take advantage of existing workplace-related PA opportunities.

The UP4FUN intervention effect on breaking up sedentary time in 10- to 12-year-old Belgian children: the ENERGY project

There are currently no studies available reporting intervention effects on breaking up children's sedentary time. This study examined the UP4FUN intervention effect on objectively measured number of breaks in sedentary time, number of sedentary bouts (≥ 10 mins) and total and average amount of time spent in those sedentary bouts among 10- to 12-year-old Belgian children. The total sample included 354 children (mean age: 10.9 ± 0.7 years; 59% girls) with valid ActiGraph accelerometer data at pre- and posttest. Only few and small intervention effects were found, namely on total time spent in sedentary bouts immediately after school hours (4-6PM; β = -3.51mins) and on average time spent in sedentary bouts before school hours (6-8.30AM; β = -4.83mins) and immediately after school hours in favor of children from intervention schools (β = -2.71mins). Unexpectedly, girls from intervention schools decreased the number of breaks during school hours (8.30AM-4PM; β = -23.45breaks) and increased the number of sedentary bouts on a weekend day (β = +0.90bouts), whereas girls in control schools showed an increase in number of breaks and a decrease in number of bouts. In conclusion, UP4FUN did not have a consistent or substantial effect on breaking up children's sedentary time and these data suggest that more intensive and longer lasting interventions are needed.

Time-in-area represents foraging activity in a wide-ranging pelagic forager

Successful Marine Spatial Planning depends upon the identification of areas with high importance for particular species, ecosystems or processes. For seabirds, advancements in biologging devices have enabled us to identify these areas through the detailed study of at-sea behaviour. However, in many cases, only positional data are available and the presence of local biological productivity and hence seabird foraging behaviour is inferred from these data alone, under the untested assumption that foraging activity is more likely to occur in areas where seabirds spend more time. We fitted GPS devices and accelerometers to northern gannets Morus bassanus and categorised the behaviour of individuals outside the breeding colony as plunge diving, surface foraging, floating and flying. We then used the locations of foraging events to test the efficiency of 2 approaches: time-in-area and kernel density (KD) analyses, which are widely employed to detect highly-used areas and interpret foraging behaviour from positional data. For KD analyses, the smoothing parameter (h) was calculated using the ad hoc method (KD<inf>ad hocinf>), and KD<inf>h=9.1inf>, where h = 9.1 km, to designate core foraging areas from location data. A high proportion of foraging events occurred in core foraging areas designated using KD<inf>ad hocinf>, KD<inf>h=9.1inf>, and time-in-area. Our findings demonstrate that foraging activity occurs in areas where seabirds spend more time, and that both KD analysis and the time-in-area approach are equally efficient methods for this type of analysis. However, the time-in-area approach is advantageous in its simplicity, and in its ability to provide the shapes commonly used in planning. Therefore, the time-in-area approach can be used as a simple way of using seabirds to identify ecologically important locations from both tracking and survey data.

Objectively measured physical activity and sedentary time in youth: The International children's accelerometry database (ICAD)

Background: Physical activity and sedentary behaviour in youth have been reported to vary by sex, age, weight status and country. However, supporting data are often self-reported and/or do not encompass a wide range of ages or geographical locations. This study aimed to describe objectively-measured physical activity and sedentary time patterns in youth. Methods: The International Children's Accelerometry Database (ICAD) consists of ActiGraph accelerometer data from 20 studies in ten countries, processed using common data reduction procedures. Analyses were conducted on 27,637 participants (2.8-18.4 years) who provided at least three days of valid accelerometer data. Linear regression was used to examine associations between age, sex, weight status, country and physical activity outcomes. Results: Boys were less sedentary and more active than girls at all ages. After 5 years of age there was an average cross-sectional decrease of 4.2 % in total physical activity with each additional year of age, due mainly to lower levels of light-intensity physical activity and greater time spent sedentary. Physical activity did not differ by weight status in the youngest children, but from age seven onwards, overweight/obese participants were less active than their normal weight counterparts. Physical activity varied between samples from different countries, with a 15-20 % difference between the highest and lowest countries at age 9-10 and a 26-28 % difference at age 12-13. Conclusions: Physical activity differed between samples from different countries, but the associations between demographic characteristics and physical activity were consistently observed. Further research is needed to explore environmental and sociocultural explanations for these differences.

On the validity of measuring change over time in routine clinical assessment: a close examination of item-level response shifts in psychosomatic inpatients

Objective: Significant life events such as severe health status changes or intensive medical treatment often trigger response shifts in individuals that may hamper the comparison of measurements over time. Drawing from the Oort model, this study aims at detecting response shift at the item level in psychosomatic inpatients and evaluating its impact on the validity of comparing repeated measurements. Study design and setting: Complete pretest and posttest data were available from 1188 patients who had filled out the ICD-10 Symptom Rating (ISR) scale at admission and discharge, on average 24 days after intake. Reconceptualization, reprioritization, and recalibration response shifts were explored applying tests of measurement invariance. In the item-level approach, all model parameters were constrained to be equal between pretest and posttest. If non-invariance was detected, these were linked to the different types of response shift. Results: When constraining across-occasion model parameters, model fit worsened as indicated by a significant Satorra–Bentler Chi-square difference test suggesting potential presence of response shifts. A close examination revealed presence of two types of response shift, i.e., (non)uniform recalibration and both higher- and lower-level reconceptualization response shifts leading to four model adjustments. Conclusions: Our analyses suggest that psychosomatic inpatients experienced some response shifts during their hospital stay. According to the hierarchy of measurement invariance, however, only one of the detected non-invariances is critical for unbiased mean comparisons over time, which did not have a substantial impact on estimating change. Hence, the use of the ISR can be recommended for outcomes assessment in clinical routine, as change score estimates do not seem hampered by response shift effects.