Selling to the BRIC: China — understanding and improving your footprint

This article starts with a consideration of the demographic and economic background to China's development. It then goes on to clarify and explain unique factors of the Chinese academic journals market which publishers need to know about and consider. It looks at this from a sales market perspective and also from that of authorship and content creation. It helps give a roadmap and outline to publishers who want to understand and improve their local footprint.     

An Australian Version of the Neighborhood Environment Walkability Scale: Validity Evidence

This study examined validity evidence for the Australian version of the Neighborhood Environment Walkability Scale (NEWS-AU). A stratified two-stage cluster sampling design was used to recruit 2,650 adults from Adelaide (Australia). The sample was drawn from residential addresses within eight high-walkable and eight low-walkable suburbs matched for socio-economic status (SES). Neighborhood walkability was measured using Geographic Information Systems data on dwelling density, intersection density, net retail area, and land-use mix. Participants completed the NEWS-AU and reported weekly minutes of walking for transport and recreation (International Physical Activity Questionnaire [IPAQ]). Multilevel confirmatory factor analysis (MCFA) was used to define the individual- and Census Collection District (CCD)-level measurement model of the NEWS-AU. Seven individual-level and five CCD-level factors were identified. These measurement models were somewhat similar to those of the original Neighborhood Environment Walkability Scale (NEWS). Patterns of associations between the NEWS-AU factors/scales and the walking measures provided some validity evidence for the instrument.     

The effect of a supported exercise programme in patients with newly diagnosed Type 2 diabetes: A pilot study

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine the effectiveness of either a standard care programme (n?=?9) or a 12-week supported exercise programme (n?=?10) on glycaemic control, β-cell responsiveness, insulin resistance, and lipid profiles in newly diagnosed Type 2 diabetes patients. The standard care programme consisted of advice to exercise at moderate to high intensity for 30?min five times a week; the supported exercise programme consisted of three 60-min supported plus two unsupported exercise sessions per week. Between-group analyses demonstrated a difference for changes in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol only (standard care programme 0.01 mmol?·?L^?1, supported exercise programme –0.6 mmol?·?L^?1; P?=?0.04). Following the standard care programme, within-group analyses demonstrated a significant reduction in waist circumference, whereas following the supported exercise programme there were reductions in glycosylated haemoglobin (6.4 vs. 6.0%; P?=?0.007), waist circumference (101.4 vs. 97.2?cm; P?=?0.021), body mass (91.7 vs. 87.9?kg; P?=?0.007), body mass index (30.0 vs. 28.7?kg?·?m^?2; P?=?0.006), total cholesterol (5.3 vs. 4.6 mmol?·?L^?1; P?=?0.046), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (3.2 vs. 2.6 mmol?·?L^?1; P?=?0.028), fasting β-cell responsiveness (11.5?×?10^?9 vs. 7.0?×?10^?9 pmol?·?kg^?1?·?min^?1; P?=?0.009), and insulin resistance (3.0 vs. 2.1; P?=?0.049). The supported exercise programme improved glycaemic control through enhanced β-cell function associated with decreased insulin resistance and improved lipid profile. This research highlights the need for research into unsupported and supported exercise programmes to establish more comprehensive lifestyle advice for Type 2 diabetes patients.     

Relationship between a 14-Day Recall Measure of Leisure-Time Physical Activity and a Submaximal Test of Physical Work Capacity in a Population Sample of Australian Adults

Abstract

This paper reports on the validity of a 14-day recall measure of leisure time physical activity (LTPA) in a sample of Australian adults (N = 986). Submaximal cycle ergometry was used to assess physical work capacity per kilogram of body mass (pwc75/kg). The self-report energy expenditure estimates were used to categorize respondents as vigorously active, moderately active, and low active/sedentary. Multiple regression analyses showed that pwc75/kg increased significantly across energy expenditure categories for adults aged less than 40 years; that the vigorous and moderate activity categories had greater mean pwc75/kg values than the low/sedentary category for 40 to 59-year-olds; and, that there were no differences in pwc75/kg between activity categories for those aged 60 years or older.     

The Strange Meshing of Impersonal and Personal Forces in Technological Action

Abstract

Many critical approaches ascribe a deficit of meaning to technology. The theory of technological action developed in the paper treats technology as an important, eventful terrain for collective life. Drawing on Michel Foucault’s idea of problematisation, it places contemporary technological actions in settings suffused by power relations. It finds in the work of Gilbert Simondon ways of explaining how technological action overflows social norms, forms, identities and structures. Based on analysis of processes of abstraction and concretisation in a spectrum of symptomatic examples, it contends that cultural theory should develop understandings of the potentials that give rise to technological acts as a way of being with others. The paper suggests how cultural theory can engage with the specificities of these actions.     

This Sporting Mammon: A Normative Critique of the Commodification of Sport

The advent of communications technology has enabled large and world-wide audiences to have visual access to sports whose spatially limited field of action prevents such numbers of interested spectators attending the event in person to witness them. Simultaneously a number of new issues for sport have arisen. Recognising that spectators’ location and distance from sporting events at times permit audiences viewing at home to enjoy a better view of the action, organisers sometimes erect huge screens relaying the action at sporting arenas to redress this disadvantage. But the facility to focus in close-up, slow-motion, repeat display and from several angles provides not only a detailed inspection of sporting episodes, but also a mechanism for quality control of refereeing decisions. This article examines one recent attempt to make recommendations concerning the relative role of technology and humans in officiating, given an analysis of the problems technology can cause officials.     

Examining the Links Between Psychoeducational Assessment,Instruction and Remediation

The assessment of students’ capabilities and learning outcomes has long been considered an important factor in instructional design and program planning and refinement. The information provided by clinicians, however, has not always been presented to classroom teachers in a form that will allow them to amend their classroom practices to the students’ advantage. This paper reviews the recent history of psychoeducational testing and examines several attempts to link assessment with instruction within the information processing domain. The authors present a case for the inclusion of testing procedures that inform teachers of students’ information processing capabilities and they argue that clinicians and educators must work together to translate these data into effective remediation and instruction practices.