Average acceleration and intensity gradient of primary school children and associations with indicators of health and well-being

ABSTRACT

Average acceleration (AvAcc) and intensity gradient (IG) have been proposed as standardised metrics describing physical activity (PA) volume and intensity, respectively. We examined hypothesised between-group PA differences in AvAcc and IG, and their associations with health and well-being indicators in children. ActiGraph GT9X wrist accelerometers were worn for 24-h·d^?1 over 7days by 145 children aged 9–10. Raw accelerations were averaged per 5-s epoch to represent AvAcc over 24-h. IG represented the relationship between log values for intensity and time. Moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) was estimated using youth cutpoints. BMI z-scores, waist-to-height ratio (WHtR), peak oxygen uptake (VO₂peak), Metabolic Syndrome risk (MetS score), and well-being were assessed cross-sectionally, and 8-weeks later. Hypothesised between-group differences were consistently observed for IG only (p < .001). AvAcc was strongly correlated with MVPA (r = 0.96), while moderate correlations were observed between IG and MVPA (r = 0.50) and AvAcc (r = 0.54). IG was significantly associated with health indicators, independent of AvAcc (p < .001). AvAcc was associated with well-being, independent of IG (p < .05). IG was significantly associated with WHtR (p < .01) and MetS score (p < .05) at 8-weeks follow-up. IG is sensitive as a gauge of PA intensity that is independent of total PA volume, and which relates to important health indicators in children.     

Reason,Love, and Morality: The Limits of Reason in Kohlberg and the Importance of Love in Augustine and Smith

This study contrasts the moral development theory of Lawrence Kohlberg with the Augustinian structure represented in the work of James K. A. Smith. Where Kohlberg emphasizes cognition and rational ability, Smith focuses on the formation of loves acquired by habits. The theories differ ontologically and teleologically, which results in wide pedagogical distinctions. This study suggests that focusing on the loves through formation offers a richer expression of education and a more holistic forming of students     

Associations of Resource and Service Utilization, Risk Level, and College Outcomes

We tracked resource and service utilizations and first-year college outcomes for the entering first-year class (n = 1,534) at a traditional 4-year postsecondary institution. We grouped specific resources and services offered by the institution into four general categories (academic services, social resources, recreational resources, and advising sessions). We investigated the interrelation of risk, resource and service utilization, and first-year GPA and retention. We found that utilization of each resource/service category was positively associated with GPA and/or retention. Of particular interest, we tested whether the associations of resource and service utilization and outcomes were moderated by risk. We found that the associations of academic services and advising sessions with GPA were more pronounced for higher-risk students. We discuss the implications of the findings, including how the differential associations of resource and service utilizations and outcomes can affect intervention decisions with high-risk students. This research was a collaborative project between ACT and NAU. Steven Robbins, Jeff Allen, Alex Casillas, and Adaeze Akamigbo are members of ACT Research. Margot Saltonstall is Assessment Coordinator, Enrollment Management and Student Affairs, Rebecca Campbell is Associate Professor of Educational Psychology, and Eileen Mahoney is Director of the Gateway Student Success Center, all at Northern Arizona University. Paul Gore is Associate Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Utah and former director of the Career Transitions Research Department at ACT.     

Reexamining the factor structure of the test of gross motor development – second edition: Application of exploratory structural equation modeling

The Test of Gross Motor Development – Second Edition (TGMD-2) is a widely used evaluation tool of children’s fundamental motor skills (FMS). This study illustrates how exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) addresses current limitations associated with TGMD-2 factor structure. Using the normative dataset from the TGMD-2 manual, we test alternative measurement models using ESEM and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and assess measurement invariance between boys and girls and across age. Findings highlight complexity and poor discriminant validity in the two-factor solution that is accentuated when relying on CFA independent clusters assumption. Results also demonstrate differential item functioning (DIF) across age for three of the 12 TGMD-2 indicators. Taken together, this study provides valuable information on the need to reevaluate the TGMD-2 factor structure and can guide revisions for the third edition of the TGMD.     

Opportunities for all the Team: Entrepreneurship and the 1966 and 1994 Soccer World Cups

Abstract

Little research has been published as to the ways in which the commercial aspects of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association’s (FIFA) World Cups are organized. Extant literature has instead tended to focus upon infrastructure issues, economic geography, and cultural aspects. Drawing upon ‘swarm theory’ and historian Wray Vamplew’s typologies of entrepreneurial activity in sport, we compare and contrast the commercial aspects of two World Cups; first, the 1966 tournament held in England, the first time that a serious attempt had been made to produce and licence a mascot character (‘World Cup Willie’) to exploit merchandizing opportunities. This approach became an important part of World Cups thereafter; Second, the 1994 tournament in the USA, the most commercially successful World Cup ever, realizing record profits and catalyzing the re-launch of elite professional soccer in the USA. These cases enrich understanding of the networks and entrepreneurial activity of the World Cup, one of the most significant sporting and cultural mega-event projects in the world.     

Demand drops and innovation investments: Evidence from the Great Recession in Spain

The Great Recession, which began in 2008, brought about large contractions in aggregate consumption in many countries. In this research, we study the impact of heterogeneous decreases in demand on innovation investments by analyzing the evolution of innovation investments in a panel of Spanish manufacturing firms during the 2004–2013 period. We proxy heterogeneous variation in demand with net exit rates in the productive stratum of each firm, defined as the group of firms in the same industry and size class. These net exit rates are computed considering all firms in the stratum, including firms that are determined to be non-innovative firms. To support the identification strategy, we show that exit rates do not capture idiosyncratic unobservable characteristics among innovative firms. In addition, we control for the effect of time-varying credit constraints. We find that a one standard deviation increase in exit rates is associated with reductions of 1.5% in the share of firms investing in innovation. The drop is larger for smaller firms, which also experience greater decreases in sales. Since smaller firms are most sensitive to demand drops, they are the natural candidates to be the target of policies devoted to increasing R&D activities during crises. As additional analysis, we study firms’ perceptions of the main obstacles to innovation to find that net exit rates capture the heterogeneous variation in demand, rather than credit constraints. Finally, when analyzing the exit patterns of firms in the sample, we confirm that the net exit rate in a firm's stratum does not drive the exit of firms in our sample.