The contribution of upper limb and total body movement to adolescents’ energy expenditure whilst playing Nintendo Wii

Little research documents the contribution of upper limb and total body movement to energy expenditure (EE) during active video gaming. To address this, EE, heart rate (HR), and, upper limb and total body movement were assessed in 11- to 17-year-old adolescents whilst playing three active (Nintendo Wii) and one sedentary (XBOX 360) video games. Non-dominant upper limb activity, EE and HR were significantly greater during Wii Sports boxing [mean 267.2 (SD 115.8) J kg−1 min−1; 136.7 (24.5) beats min−1] than tennis or bowling (P ≤ 0.044). For all active games hip activity best predicted EE (R 2 ≥ 0.53), with two-measure models of HR and single-site activity data, and multi-site activity data, similarly explaining the variance in EE (R 2 ≥ 0.64). The physiological cost of upper-body orientated active video games increased when movement of both upper limbs was encouraged. Improvements in EE explanatory power provide support for multi-site activity monitoring during unique, non-ambulatory activities.

Tolerance of larger body sizes by young adults living in Australia and Hawaii

Identifying the barriers to achieving an appropriate body size is important for health. This study investigated young adults' tolerance of excess weight in other adults. Participants were 172 students (65 male, 107 female) with a mean age of 22.24 years (SD = 1.61). Half the participants resided in Australia, and half in Hawaii. Students from both countries were found to be tolerant of body sizes larger than those recommended for good health. These results help inform our understanding of the factors that may influence weight gain, and have important implications for the worldwide obesity problem and related health issues.

Examination of the consistency of interviewer performance across three distinct interview contexts

The current study examined the consistency of investigative interviewers' performance (n=31) across three distinct interview paradigms: (a) a mock interview where an adult actor played the role of a child recalling abuse, (b) a mock interview where a school child recalled an innocuous event that was staged at the child's school, and (c) a field interview where the interviewer elicited a statement of abuse from a child. Performance was measured by calculating the proportion of open-ended and leading questions, and by eliciting expert ratings of the presence of a range of problem behaviours commonly exhibited by interviewers. Overall, the performance of individual interviewers was relatively stable across the tasks. Heterogeneity in stability, however, differed according to the type of question and the nature of the event being examined. In particular, the mock interview paradigm where the adult acted the role of an alleged child abuse victim produced a measure of performance that was more similar to the field interview than the interview where a school child recalled an innocuous event. The implications of the findings for trainers, and directions for future research, are discussed.

Differentiating three conceptualisations of the relationship between positive development and psychopathology during the transition to adulthood

The transition to adulthood is characterised by both great potential for positive change and a relatively high incidence of problem outcomes. A multidimensional model of positive development during the transition to adulthood (at 19-20 years) has recently been proposed. However, an unresolved question regarding the nature of positive development during this time is how best to conceptualise its relationship to psychopathology. We drew on data from 1158 participants in the Australian Temperament Project, a large longitudinal community-based study that has followed young people's psychosocial adjustment from infancy to early adulthood. Using structural equation modelling, we compared three models reflecting different conceptualisations of the relationship between positive development and psychopathology. The results suggest that positive development and psychopathology are best modelled as separate but correlated constructs. Hence, development in one domain is likely to influence the other, although separate and specific developmental pathways are also likely to be operating.

The attractive female body weight and female body dissatisfaction in 26 countries across 10 world regions : results of the international body project 1

This study reports results from the first International Body Project (IBP-I), which surveyed 7,434 individuals in 10 major world regions about body weight ideals and body dissatisfaction. Participants completed the female Contour Drawing Figure Rating Scale (CDFRS) and self-reported their exposure to Western and local media. Results indicated there were significant cross-regional differences in the ideal female figure and body dissatisfaction, but effect sizes were small across highsocioeconomic-status (SES) sites. Within cultures, heavier bodies were preferred in low-SES sites compared to high-SES sites in Malaysia and South Africa (ds = 1.94-2.49) but not in Austria. Participant age, body mass index (BMI), and Western media exposure predicted body weight ideals. BMI and Western media exposure predicted body dissatisfaction among women. Our results show that body dissatisfaction and desire for thinness is commonplace in high-SES settings across world regions, highlighting the need for international attention to this problem.

When planes fall out of the sky : the war body on screen

I can’t keep my eyes off the war body, even though in the repeated seeing of it I feel nauseous: implicated in, and affected by, its painful coming into being. In this age of the War on Terror, wherever I look, wherever I am directed to look by the all-seeing “vision machines” that “illuminate” our identities (Virilio 1994, 70), the body of the soldier, terrorist, hostage, and victim come into troubling view. These war bodies are real in the ontological and phenomenological sense; they are also metaphoric, simulated, and discursive. In this chapter I will define and explore the complex ways in which these three articulating axis—war, in its militaristic and ideological sense; the screen, in all its multifaceted forms and contexts; and the body, individual and social—conjoin and synthesize, disintegrate and dislocate, in a phantasmagoric but simultaneously desperately real collision of power, desire, and control. My main contention will be that the war body on screen is a “sickening” creation that we have desired into being, so that we may feel, better understand, and be taken over by its terror. This terror of living ultimately helps ensure our docility, a docility required by the late capitalist nation-state; it also reconnect us to our bodies in profoundly moving and potentially challenging ways.

Assessing body condition and energy budget components by scoring abdominal profiles in free-ranging pink-footed geese Anser brachyrhynchus

An abdominal profile index (API) was developed for pink-footed geese Anser brachyrhynchus as a measure of body condition. On basis of carcass analysis of 56 adult geese with known API prior to collection, we found significant linear relationships between API against body mass, abdominal fat and total energy content. Hence, changes in API reflect net energy intake rates. As an example of the applicability of the calibration, we compared APIs of individually marked geese before and after long migration episodes and estimated the cost of flight at 8.9 kJ/km. In addition we estimated gain rates at three major staging sites along the spring flyway indicating an increase in fueling rates with latitude. Calibration of APIs and energy contents offers new opportunities for field studies of waterfowl energetics.

Breakfast size is related to body mass index for men, but not women

The objective of this study was to examine the effect of self-reported breakfast size, daily eating, and other health habits on body mass index (BMI). We hypothesized that a consumption of a substantial breakfast compared with skipping or small breakfasts would be associated with lower BMI. Three independent, cross-sectional, screening surveys were conducted by Sydney Adventist Hospital in 1976, 1986, and 2005 in the surrounding community. The archived survey forms of 384 men and 338 women in 1976, 244 men and 229 women in 1986, and 270 men and 62 women in 2005 were randomly selected. Body mass index was determined from height and weight measured by hospital staff. The reported amount consumed at breakfast was one of several eating habits that predicted BMI for men but not women. It explained 5% to 6% of the variance in male BMI in all 3 years examined. As the reported breakfast amount increased, men's BMI decreased. Lifestyle confounders including vegetarianism and physical activity did not affect this relationship. However, the consumption of breakfast was significantly positively associated with consumption of cereals, bread, fruit, and spreads, while coffee consumption was significantly associated with smaller breakfasts or breakfast skipping. The consumption of relatively large breakfasts may influence BMI in men, and its promotion may help reduce the prevalence of obesity in Australia and elsewhere.

Three dimensional stability charts for slopes based on limit analysis methods

This paper uses finite element upper and lower bound limit analysis to produce chart solutions for three-dimensional (3D) natural slopes for both short- and long-term stability. The presented chart solutions are convenient tools that can be used for preliminary design purposes. The rigorous limit analysis results in this paper were found to bracket the true factor of safety within ±10% or better, which can be used as a benchmark for the solutions from other methods. The depth of the slip surfaces is observed to be generally shallow for most analyzed cases, particularly for the long-term slope stability problem. In addition, it was found that using a two-dimensional (2D) analysis may lead to significant differences in estimating safety factors, which can differ by 2%–60% depending on the slope geometry and soil properties. Therefore, great care and judgement are required when applying 2D analyses to 3D slope problems.

A full body musculoskeletal model based on flexible multibody simulation approach utilised in bone strain analysis during human locomotion

Load-induced strains applied to bone can stimulate its development and adaptation. In order to quantify the incident strains within the skeleton, in vivo implementation of strain gauges on the surfaces of bone is typically used. However, in vivo strain measurements require invasive methodology that is challenging and limited to certain regions of superficial bones only such as the anterior surface of the tibia. Based on our previous study [Al Nazer et al. (2008) J Biomech. 41:1036–1043], an alternative numerical approach to analyse in vivo strains based on the flexible multibody simulation approach was proposed. The purpose of this study was to extend the idea of using the flexible multibody approach in the analysis of bone strains during physical activity through integrating the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique within the framework. In order to investigate the reliability and validity of the proposed approach, a three-dimensional full body musculoskeletal model with a flexible tibia was used as a demonstration example. The model was used in a forward dynamics simulation in order to predict the tibial strains during walking on a level exercise. The flexible tibial model was developed using the actual geometry of human tibia, which was obtained from three-dimensional reconstruction of MRI. Motion capture data obtained from walking at constant velocity were used to drive the model during the inverse dynamics simulation in order to teach the muscles to reproduce the motion in the forward dynamics simulation. Based on the agreement between the literature-based in vivo strain measurements and the simulated strain results, it can be concluded that the flexible multibody approach enables reasonable predictions of bone strain in response to dynamic loading. The information obtained from the present approach can be useful in clinical applications including devising exercises to prevent bone fragility or to accelerate fracture healing.

Examining the dissociative basis for body image disturbances

Although dissociative symptoms have been linked with both food- and appearance-related aspects of eating disorders, the psychological mechanisms underlying these relationships remain unclear. The present study evaluated the hypothesis that the disturbances of self-identity attributed to dissociation can manifest as disturbances of body image and, in turn, undermine body-specific self-evaluations relevant to disordered eating (i.e., body comparison, body dissatisfaction, and internalization of the thin ideal). Ninety-three female university students completed self-report measures of dissociation and body-related aspects of disordered eating. In addition, the method of constant stimuli was used to experimentally derive three measures of body image disturbance: (1) accuracy of body size estimations (body image distortion), (2) ability to discriminate between different body sizes (body image sensitivity), and (3) consistency in one’s body size estimations (body image variability). The findings show that dissociation is related to symptoms of disordered eating, and that these relationships may be mediated by body image instability. Collectively, these findings support the notion that the body image attitudes and behaviours that characterize eating disorders may derive from proprioceptive deficits due to dissociation.

The imagined body – the cyborg

During a NASA conference in the 1960s, the term cyborg was created through an amalgamation of the terms ‘cybernetics’ and ‘organism’. Coined by concert pianist Manfred Clynes and research colleague Nathan Kline to describe the internal technological modification of the body. This new term resonated within popular culture and was quickly embraced by science fiction where the cyborg became a popular character. The image of the cyborg is often hyper-physical and hyper-sexual. The super sexualised woman who can shoot bullets from her breasts is a popular comic book cyborg representation. The Replicants from Riddley Scott’s Blade Runner and Arnold Schwaznegger’s role the Terminator are other examples where the technological and physical combination produces a terrifying hyper humans. Increasingly the future of our physicality is one that is intertwined with technology. Although the image of the cyborg is often an exaggerated character it holds within it real future possibilities. Consider the portable arm wrist communicator from the scifi classic Star Trek. The watch phone communication device was once an object of the imagination but now a reality in the personal mobile phone. This paper argues that through imagined imagery of the cyborg, future possibilities can be seen.

One example of the image of the cyborg representing possible human futures is the performance work Cyborpyg. Cyborpyg is a 40-minute contemporary dance work that integrates three dimensional (3D) animation and video media within the performance. Projected 3D animated prosthetic limbs appear to extend the dancers from within. These digital limbs integrate with dancer’s bodies transforming them into cyborgs. The animations are an extreme form of aesthetic modification reflecting the possible consequences of the integration of technology within the body. Cyborpyg also explores both utopic and dystipic themes within the cyborg paradigm. The dancing hybrid bodies perform magical feats not possible with an unmodified body. Feet twist into talons and flippers, eyes extend from the head, arms transform into robotic attachments. The dancer’s bodies also appear trapped in an unrelenting environment with prosthesis that appear to torture and inflict serious harm. This paper explores the idea that the imagined image of the cyborg reflects future possibilities for the human physicality.

Computation and construction of vault geometry prototypes

Physical models and scaled prototypes of architecture play an important role in design. They enable architects and designers to investigate the formal, functional, and material attributes of the design. Understanding digital processes of realizing scaled prototypes is a significant problem confronting design practice. This paper reports on three approaches to the translation of Gaussian surface models into scaled physical prototype models. Based on the geometry of Eladio Dieste’s Gaussian Vaults, the paper reports on the aspects encountered in the process of digital to physical construction using scaled prototypes. The primary focus of the paper is on computing the design geometry, investigating methods for preparing the geometry for fabrication and physical construction. Three different approaches in the translation from digital to physical models are investigated: rapid prototyping, two-dimensional surface models in paper and structural component models using CNC fabrication. The three approaches identify a body of knowledge in the design and prototyping of Gaussian vaults. Finally the paper discusses the digital to fabrication translation processes with regards to the characteristics, benefits and limitations of the three approaches of prototyping the ruled surface geometry of Gaussian Vaults. The results of each of three fabrication processes allowed for a better understanding of the digital to physical translation process. The use of rapid prototyping permits the production of form models that provide a representation of the physical characteristics such as size, shape and proportion of the Gaussian Vault.

The influence of body build on estimates of body composition from anthropometric measurements in premenopausal women

Objective: To assess the influence of body build on the bias and limits of agreement for estimates of body fat obtained from anthropometric prediction equations when compared with the same data obtained by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA).

Survey design and subjects: Ninety-one premenopausal women, aged between 20 and 54 years, were chosen to represent a range of skeletal body build (relative silting height 0.50-0.56) and body fatness [body mass index (BMI) 18-34 kg/m²]. Measurements of weight, sitting height, stature, skinfold thickness, waist, umbilical and hip circumference and total body resistance and reactance were made on all subjects by standard techniques after an overnight fast. A DEXA measurement of total body fat, fat-free soft tissue and total body bone mineral mass was also obtained within 2 weeks of the anthropometric assessment.

Results: At the group level the mean difference (bias) between DEXA and the anthropometric estimates of body fat was similar for all three anthropometric estimates ranging from 2.7 kg with impedance to 1.8 kg with skinfold thickness. The 95% limits of agreement were also similar, ranging from ±5.3 kg with body mass index to ±4.1 kg with impedance. Umbilical circumference, BMI and the amount of bone mineral expressed as a proportion of the fat-free soft-tissue mass were all significantly (P < 0.01) correlated with the level of bias between DEXA and the anthropometric estimates of body fat. This was not the case for relative sitting height or measures of body fat distribution. Regression equations which included BMI or umbilical circumference in combination with the predicted estimates of body fat essentially eliminated the association between the level of bias in predicted body fat and the level of body fatness. They also reduced the 95% limits of agreement between DEXA and the anthropometric estimates of body fat.

Conclusions: Using DEXA estimates of body fat as the standard of reference our results suggest that the comparability and precision of body fat estimates derived from age- and/or sex-specific anthropometric prediction equations based on skinfolds and BMI, but not impedance, can be improved by adjusting for differences in BMI and umbilical circumference respectively.

Learning cultures of problem-based learning teams

The learning experiences of first-year engineering students to a newly implemented engineering problem-based learning (PBL) curriculum is reported here, with an emphasis on student approaches to learning. Ethnographic approaches were used for data collection and analysis. This study found that student learning in a PBL team in this setting was mainly influenced by the attitudes, behaviour and learning approaches of the student members in that team. Three different learning cultures that emerged from the analysis of eight PBL teams are reported here. They are the finishing culture, the performing culture and the collaborative learning culture. It was found that the team that used a collaborative approach to learning benefited the most in this PBL setting. Students in this team approached learning at a deep level. The findings of this study imply that students in a problem-based, or project-based, learning setting may not automatically adopt a collaborative learning culture. Hence, it is important for institutions and teachers to identify and consider the factors that influence student learning in their particular setting, provide students with necessary tools and ongoing coaching to nurture deep learning approaches in PBL teams.