Change of school in early adolescence and adverse obesity-related dietary behavior: a longitudinal cohort study, Victoria, Australia, 2013-2014

INTRODUCTION: Environments that facilitate energy-dense, nutrient-poor diets are associated with childhood obesity. We examined the effect of a change of school environment on the prevalence of obesity and related dietary behavior in early adolescence. METHODS: Fifteen schools in Victoria, Australia, were recruited at random from the bottom 2 strata of a 5-level socioeconomic scale. In 9 schools, students in grade 6 primary school transitioned to different schools for grade 7 secondary school, whereas in 6 schools, students remained in the same school from grade 6 to grade 7. Time 1 measures were collected from students (N = 245) in grade 6 (aged 11-13 y). Time 2 data were collected from 243 (99%) of the original cohort in grade 7. Data collected were dietary recall self-reported by students via questionnaire, measured height and weight of students, and aspects of the school food environment via school staff survey. Comparative and mixed model regression analyses were conducted. RESULTS: Of 243 students, 63% (n = 152) changed schools from time 1 to time 2, with no significant difference in weight status. Students who changed schools reported an increase in purchases of after-school snack food, greater sweetened beverage intake, fewer fruit-and-vegetable classroom breaks, and less encouragement for healthy eating compared with students who remained in the same school. School staff surveys showed that more primary than secondary schools had written healthy canteen policies and fewer days of canteen or food services operation. CONCLUSION: A change of school environment has negative effects on children's obesity-related dietary behavior. Consistent policy is needed across school types to support healthy eating in school environments.

Advances in understanding energy consumption behavior and the governance of its change - Outline of an integrated framework

Transforming today’s energy systems in industrialized countries requires a substantial reduction of the total energy consumption at the individual level. Selected instruments have been found to be effective in changing people’s behavior in single domains. However, the so far weak success story on reducing overall energy consumption indicates that our understanding of the determining factors of individual energy consumption as well as of its change is far from being conclusive. Among others, the scientific state of the art is dominated by analyzing single domains of consumption and by neglecting embodied energy. It also displays strong disciplinary splits and the literature often fails to distinguish between explaining behavior and explaining change of behavior. Moreover, there are knowledge gaps regarding the legitimacy and effectiveness of the governance of individual consumption behavior and its change. Against this backdrop, the aim of this paper is to establish an integrated interdisciplinary framework that offers a systematic basis for linking the different aspects in research on energy related consumption behavior, thus paving the way for establishing a better evidence base to inform societal actions. The framework connects the three relevant analytical aspects of the topic in question: (1) It systematically and conceptually frames the objects, i.e. the energy consumption behavior and its change (explananda); (2) it structures the factors that potentially explain the energy consumption behavior and its change (explanantia); (3) it provides a differentiated understanding of change inducing interventions in terms of governance. Based on the existing states of the art approaches from different disciplines within the social sciences the proposed framework is supposed to guide interdisciplinary empirical research.

Assessment methodology applied to demand measures to change urban mobility behavior

In order to minimize car-based trips, transport planners have been particularly interested in understanding the factors that explain modal choices. Transport modelling literature has been increasingly aware that socioeconomic attributes and quantitative variables are not sufficient to characterize travelers and forecast their travel behavior. Recent studies have also recognized that users’ social interactions and land use patterns influence travel behavior, especially when changes to transport systems are introduced; but links between international and Spanish perspectives are rarely dealt with. The overall objective of the thesis is to develop a stepped methodology that integrate diverse perspectives to evaluate the willingness to change patterns of urban mobility in Madrid, based on four steps: (1st) analysis of causal relationships between both objective and subjective personal variables, and travel behavior to capture pro-car and pro-public transport intentions; (2nd) exploring the potential influence of individual trip characteristics and social influence variables on transport mode choice; (3rd) identifying built environment dimensions on travel behavior; and (4th) exploring the potential influence on transport mode choice of extrinsic characteristics of individual trip using panel data, land use variables using spatial characteristics and social influence variables. The data used for this thesis have been collected from a two panel smartphone-based survey (n=255 and 190 respondents, respectively) carried out in Madrid. Although the steps above are mainly methodological, the application to the area of Madrid allows deriving important results that can be directly used to forecast travel demand and to evaluate the benefits of specific policies that might be implemented in the area. The results demonstrated, respectively: (1st) transport policy actions are more likely to be effective when pro-car intention has been disrupted first; (2nd) the consideration of “helped” and “voluntary” users as tested here could have a positive and negative impact, respectively, on the use of public transport; (3rd) the importance of density, design, diversity and accessibility underlying dimensions responsible for land use variables; and (4th) there are clearly different types of combinations of social interactions, land use and time frame on travel behavior studies. Finally, with the objective to study the impact of demand measures to change urban mobility behavior, those previous results have been considered in a unique way, a hybrid discrete choice model has been used on a 5th step. Then it can be concluded that urban mobility behavior is not only ruled by the maximum utility criterion, but also by a strong psychological-environment concept, developed without the mediation of cognitive processes during choice, i.e., many people using public transport on their way to work do not do it for utilitarian reasons, but because no other choice is available. Regarding built environment dimensions, the more diversity place of residence, the more difficult the use of public transport or walking.

Helping teachers change their behavior, an inservice training project utilizing sound filmstrips, interaction analysis, self-directed experimentation:

Mode of access: Internet.

Cognitive change processes in a group cognitive behavior therapy of depression

The present study attempted to examine the causal relationships among changes in automatic thoughts, dysfunctional attitudes, and depressive symptoms in a 12-week group cognitive behavior therapy (GCBT) program for depression. In all, 35 depressed patients attending the GCBT program were monitored with the Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire, Dysfunctional Attitudes Scale, and Beck Depression Inventory at the pre-treatment, 4th and 8th sessions, and post-treatment. The results were as follows: (1) GCBT reduces negative cognitions; (2) changes in automatic thoughts and dysfunctional attitudes lead to change in depressive symptoms; and (3) automatic thoughts play a mediating role between dysfunctional attitudes and depression. The findings taken as a whole support the Causal Cognition Model of depression. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Dimensional change behavior of caribbean pine using an environmental scanning electron microscope

Moisture transport and dimensional change during wood drying or wetting processes were analyzed based on pictures from an environmental scanning electron microscope (ESEM). This provides quantitative relationships between dimensional changes of total area, cell wall, and lumen, and moisture content for earlywood and latewood. Earlywood and latewood behave similarly but show some quantitative differences. The overall outcome for sections containing both kinds of wood seems to be dominated by the latewood behavior. The observed strain behavior of wood during drying is anisotropic in ways that are inconsistent with explanations solely related to microfibril orientation or earlywood/latewood interactions and more likely may be influenced by ray tracheids.

Psychosocial predictors of intentions to engage in change supportive behaviors in an organizational context

This study utilized the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to understand employee change readiness. The extent to which attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control predicted employees’ intentions to carry out activities that were supportive of a change event were investigated. The impact of group norm was examined as a further predictor of change-related intentions. The context of the research was a sample of 82 employees in the early stages of a re-brand. Results indicated that direct measures of attitude and subjective norm, as well as group norm, emerged as significant predictors of employees’ intentions to perform re-brand behaviors. To capture the indirect beliefs underlying attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control, participants also provided an assessment of their behavioral, normative, and control beliefs in regards to the change event, respectively. A series of MANOVAs revealed significant differences between moderate and high intenders on a range of underlying beliefs. Findings are discussed in terms of the application of the TPB for effective change management.

Characterising anomalous events using change point correlation on unsolicited network traffic

Monitoring unused or dark IP addresses offers opportunities to extract useful information about both on-going and new attack patterns. In recent years, different techniques have been used to analyze such traffic including sequential analysis where a change in traffic behavior, for example change in mean, is used as an indication of malicious activity. Change points themselves say little about detected change; further data processing is necessary for the extraction of useful information and to identify the exact cause of the detected change which is limited due to the size and nature of observed traffic. In this paper, we address the problem of analyzing a large volume of such traffic by correlating change points identified in different traffic parameters. The significance of the proposed technique is two-fold. Firstly, automatic extraction of information related to change points by correlating change points detected across multiple traffic parameters. Secondly, validation of the detected change point by the simultaneous presence of another change point in a different parameter. Using a real network trace collected from unused IP addresses, we demonstrate that the proposed technique enables us to not only validate the change point but also extract useful information about the causes of change points.

In-vehicle avatars to elicit social response and change driving behaviour

Social and psychological theories have provided a plethora of evidence showing that the physical difficulty to express appropriate social interactions between drivers expresses itself in aggression, selfish driving and anti-social behaviour. Therefore there is a need to improve interactions between drivers and allow clearer collective decision making between them. Personal characteristics and the driving situations play strong roles in driver’s aggression. Our approach is centered around the driving situation as opposed to focusing on personality characteristics. It examines aggression and manipulates contextual variables such as driver’s eye contact exchanges. This paper presents a new unobtrusive in-vehicle system that aims at communicating drivers’ intentions, elicit social responses and increasing mutual awareness. It uses eye gaze as a social cue to affect collective decision making with the view to contribute to safe driving. The authors used a driving simulator to design a case control experiment in which eye gaze movements are conveyed with an avatar. Participants were asked to drive through different types of intersections. An avatar representing the head of the other driver was displayed and driver behaviour was analysed. Significant eye gaze pattern difference where observed when an avatar was displayed. Drivers cautiously refer to the avatar when information is required on the intention of others (e.g. when they do not have the right of way). The majority of participants reported the perception of “being looked at”. The number of glances and time spent gazing at the avatar did not indicate an unsafe distraction by standards of in-vehicle device ergonomic design. Avatars were visually consulted primarily in less demanding driving situations, which underlines their non-distractive nature.

Tactical driver lane change model using forward search

This paper describes the development and evaluation of a tactical lane change model using the forward search algorithm, for use in a traffic simulator. The tactical lane change model constructs a set of possible choices of near-term maneuver sequences available to the driver and selects the lane change action at the present time to realize the best maneuver plan. Including near term maneuver planning in the driver behavior model can allow a better representation of the complex interactions in situations such as a weaving section and high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane systems where drivers must weave across several lanes in order to access the HOV lanes. To support the investigation, a longitudinal control model and a basic lane change model were also analyzed. The basic lane change model is similar to those used by today's commonly-used traffic simulators. Parameters in all models were best-fit estimated for selected vehicles from a real-world freeway vehicle trajectory data set. The best-fit estimation procedure minimizes the discrepancy between the model vehicle and real vehicle's trajectories. With the best fit parameters, the proposed tactical lane change model gave a better overall performance for a greater number of cases than the basic lane change model.

Longitudinal investigation of wandering behavior in department of veterans affairs nursing home care units

Objectives To explore the extent of and factors associated with male residents who change wandering status post nursing home admission. Design Longitudinal design with secondary data analyses. Admissions over a 4-year period were examined using repeat assessments with the Minimum Data Set (MDS) to formulate a model understanding the development of wandering behavior. Setting One hundred thirty-four Veterans Administration (VA) nursing homes throughout the United States. Participants: Included 6673 residents admitted to VA nursing homes between October 2000 and October 2004. Measurements MDS variables (cognitive impairment, mood, behavior problems, activities of daily living and wandering) included ratings recorded at residents’ admission to the nursing home and a minimum of two other time points at quarterly intervals. Results The majority (86%) of the sample were classified as non wanderers at admission and most of these (94%) remained non wanderers until discharge or the end of the study. Fifty one per cent of the wanderers changed status to non wanderers with 6% of these residents fluctuating in status more than two times. Admission variables associated with an increased risk of changing status from non-wandering to wandering included older age, greater cognitive impairment, more socially inappropriate behavior, resisting care, easier distractibility, and needing less help with personal hygiene. Requiring assistance with locomotion and having three or more medical comorbidities were associated with a decreased chance of changing from non-wandering to wandering status. Conclusion A resident’s change from non-wandering to wandering status may reflect an undetected medical event that affects cognition, but spares mobility.

Stability and change

This special feature section of Journal of Management & Organization (Volume 17/1 - March 2011) sets out to widen understanding of the processes of stability and change in today's organizations, with a particular emphasis on the contribution of institutional approaches to organizational studies. Institutional perspectives on organization theory assume that rational, economic calculations, such as the maximization of profits or the optimization of resource allocation, are not sufficient to understand the behavior of organizations and their strategic choices. Institutionalists acknowledge the great uncertainty associated with the conduct of organizations and suggest that taken-for-granted values, beliefs and meanings within and outside organizations also play an important role in the determination of legitimate action.

Arc voltage behavior in GMAW-P under different drop transfer modes

Purpose: Experimental measurements have been made to investigate meaning of the change in voltage for the pulse gas metal arc welding (GMAW-P) process operating under different drop transfer modes. Design/methodology/approach: Welding experiments with different values of pulsing parameter and simultaneous recording of high speed camera pictures and welding signals (such as current and voltage) were used to identify different drop transfer modes in GMAW-P. The investigation is based on the synchronization of welding signals and high speed camera to study the behaviour of voltage signal under different drop transfer modes. Findings: The results reveal that the welding arc is significantly affected by the molten droplet detachment. In fact, results indicate that sudden increase and drop in voltage just before and after the drop detachment can be used to characterize the voltage behaviour of different drop transfer mode in GMAW-P. Research limitations/implications: The results show that voltage signal carry rich information about different drop transfer occurring in GMAW-P. Hence it’s possible to detect different drop transfer modes. Future work should concentrate on development of filters for detection of different drop transfer modes. Originality/value: Determination of drop transfer mode with GMAW-P is crucial for the appropriate selection of pulse welding parameters. As change in drop transfer mode results in poor weld quality in GMAW-P, so in order to estimate the working parameters and ensure stable GMAW-P understanding the voltage behaviour of different drop transfer modes in GMAW-P will be useful. However, in case of GMAW-P hardly any attempt is made to analyse the behaviour of voltage signal for different drop transfer modes. This paper analyses the voltage signal behaviour of different drop transfer modes for GMAW-P.

The effects of lane-changing on the immediate follower : anticipation, relaxation, and change in driver characteristics

This paper investigates the effects of lane-changing in driver behavior by measuring (i) the induced transient behavior and (ii) the change in driver characteristics, i.e., changes in driver response time and minimum spacing. We find that the transition largely consists of a pre-insertion transition and a relaxation process. These two processes are different but can be reasonably captured with a single model. The findings also suggest that lane-changing induces a regressive effect on driver characteristics: a timid driver (characterized by larger response time and minimum spacing) tends to become less timid and an aggressive driver less aggressive. We offer an extension to Newell’s car-following model to describe this regressive effect and verify it using vehicle trajectory data.