I think it's a good idea, I just don't know how to do it : the struggle for PE reform in China

Among the many changes occurring across Chinese society in the early phase of Y2K is the construction and implementation of a new physical education (PE) curriculum. Not unlike recent changes in Australia, New Zealand and the UK, this process has seen a heightening of the emphasis on health. Presented within a wider framework for making the school curriculum more relevant, PE is more closely aligned with China’s emerging population health concerns around lifestyle practices of its youth. Foremost here are burgeoning social anxieties about decreased levels of physical activity, poor dietary practices, risk-taking tendencies, and a general shift in focus from ideology to skills.

This paper reports on a study undertaken to explore the perceptions of Chinese PE teachers and their engagement with the new PE & Health curriculum. The data reveals a number of structural, personal and cultural factors that work against PE teachers taking up the opportunities presented in the new curriculum. Prominent here are; low professional status, lack of resources, lack of training and the grip of deeply rooted cultural values.

When parents love and don't love their children : some children's stories

This paper discusses a small pilot study with Anglo-Australian children aged 6 to 8 years. The children expressed through stories of what it meant for them when parents love and care for their children, and when they do not. Themes from stories of parental love and care included: relationships, shared special times, being safe and protected, and physical affection. Stories about parents who did not love or care for their children covered themes of abandonment, isolation and sadness. The study contributes an approach that can improve professional practice with children and early outcomes showing the importance of seeking children's perspectives in decision-making about their welfare.

"If you don't want to take risks, then you have to be silent" : an interview with Howard Zinn.

An interview with intellectual Howard Zinn is presented. When asked on the responsibilities of a public intellectual, he mentioned doing something that would benefit the society and not just satisfying one's own personal ambition. He states that there are risks on coming up with ideas as a public intellectual, including the opinions of the people. He discusses the benefits and problems of being allied to a university as a public intellectual.

Exploring barriers in expertise seeking : why don't they ask an expert?

This paper reports findings from a research project that explores reasons why some employees prefer to seek expertise to resolve work-related problems from direct colleagues rather than designated internal experts. Several studies suggest that while an expert generally provides a higher quality solution in a shorter time, workers tend to ask friendly or proximate colleagues to help with knowledge-based problems at work. Prior research provides only fragmented insights into understanding the barriers to asking a designated internal expert for help at work. To address this gap, we asked post-graduate students enrolled in a knowledge management subject at a large Australian university to share their perspectives in an online discussion forum. Content analysis of the collected perspectives enabled identification of twenty-one factors that may limit the seeking of expertise from a designated internal expert. The factors are grouped in four categories: environment, accessibility, communication and personality. In addition one context variable is described, determining the extent to which the barriers are influential in a specific situation. By synthesising the results, we have proposed two models of expertise-seeking barriers. A literature review helps validate the barriers identified by the study. Key theoretical and practical implications are also discussed.

Consumers who don't want to look for information

A model to identify and classify consumers with high resistance to searching for information (HRSI) was developed and tested. We found that individuals with high levels of confidence about a purchase but who also ascribed low levels of personal importance to the transaction were significantly (p=.004) more likely to be HRSI. Using Multiple Discriminant Analysis, our model classified and predicted HRSI consumers well (p=.004, 57% above chance) but not low-resistance consumers (p=.6, 26.4% below chance).

I don't know anyone that has two drinks a day : young people, alcohol and the government of pleasure

Problematic alcohol consumption is a major public health, health education and health promotion issue in Australia and internationally. In an effort to better understand young people's drinking patterns and motivations we investigated the cultural drivers of drinking in 14–24 year-old Australians. We interviewed 60 young people in the state of Victoria aged 20–24 about their drinking biographies. At the time of interviewing, the draft guidelines on low-risk drinking were released by the National Health and Medical Research Council, Australia, and we asked our participants what they knew about them and if they thought they would affect their drinking patterns. Their responses indicate that pleasure and sociability are central to young people's drinking cultures which is supported by a range of research. However, O’Malley and Valverde claim that pleasure is silenced and/or deployed strategically in neo-liberal governance discourses about drugs and alcohol such as these guidelines which raises questions about the limits of such discourses to affect changes in drinking patterns.

Sector lobbies independents : don't wreck equity program

The Coalition’s plans could destroy new-found unity over equitable access to higher education, the rural independents have been warned.

Don't look down

Musical composition recorded and output as a download album. The album features 16 tracks:
1. Entangled
2. Ambient thing
3. Alight
4. Sometimes
5. Late at night
6. Don't look down
7. Treasure
8. Relent
9. Absconding
10. Silently
11. Easy now
12. Baltic winter
13. Honeymoon
14. Lament
15. Reef knot
16. Yeah

Whose purpose I don't know

It was bound to be a horrible night.

You see, I had begun working hard at conceptualising our separateness. Inventing my way back from the geomancy-of-two towards the alchemy-of-one. In this way, I could tolerate your bed. The frontiers were not at the level of skin, anyway, they were at the level of horizon, thought and interdiction.

Don't worry, be active : positive affect and habitual physical activity

Objective: The aim of ths study was to examine the association between habitual physical activity and positive and negative affect.

Method: This cross-sectional study included 276 women aged 20 +, from the Geelong Osteoporosis Study. Habitual physical activity and other lifestyle exposures were assessed by questionnaire, concurrent with anthropometric assessments. Physical activity was categorized as very active, moderately active or sedentary. Positive and negative affect scores were derived from the validated 20 item Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) self-report and were categorized into tertiles.

Results: There was a pattern of lower positive affect scores for lower levels of physical activity. With very active as the reference category, the odds for having a positive affect score in the highest tertile were sequentially lower for those who were moderately active (OR = 0.53, 95%CI 0.28–1.01) and sedentary (OR = 0.28, 95%CI 0.10–0.75). Associations were sustained after adjusting for body mass index and polypharmacy (OR = 0.50, 95%CI 0.26–0.96 and OR = 0.25, 95%CI 0.09–0.72, respectively). These associations were not explained by age, negative affect score or other exposures. No association was detected between physical activity and negative affect scores.

Conclusions: This study reports that higher positive affect scores, encompassing emotions such as interest, excitement, enthusiasm and alertness, are associated with higher levels of habitual physical activity. These observations warrant further investigations into possible mechanistic interplay between neurobiological and psychosocial factors that underpin this association.

"I don't eat a hamburger and large chips every day!" A qualitative study of the impact of public health messages about obesity on obese adults

Background
We are a society that is fixated on the health consequences of 'being fat'. Public health agencies play an important role in 'alerting' people about the risks that obesity poses both to individuals and to the broader society. Quantitative studies suggest people comprehend the physical health risks involved but underestimate their own risk because they do not recognise that they are obese.

Methods
This qualitative study seeks to expand on existing research by exploring obese individuals' perceptions of public health messages about risk, how they apply these messages to themselves and how their personal and social contexts and experiences may influence these perceptions. The study uses in depth interviews with a community sample of 142 obese individuals. A constant comparative method was employed to analyse the data.

Results
Personal and contextual factors influenced the ways in which individuals interpreted and applied public health messages, including their own health and wellbeing and perceptions of stigma. Individuals felt that messages were overly focused on the physical rather than emotional health consequences of obesity. Many described feeling stigmatised and blamed by the simplicity of messages and the lack of realistic solutions. Participants described the need for messages that convey the risks associated with obesity while minimising possible stigmatisation of obese individuals. This included ensuring that messages recognise the complexity of obesity and focus on encouraging healthy behaviours for individuals of all sizes.

Conclusion
This study is the first step in exploring the ways in which we understand how public health messages about obesity resonate with obese individuals in Australia. However, much more research - both qualitative and quantitative - is needed to enhance understanding of the impact of obesity messages on individuals.