The effectiveness of a 17-week lifestyle intervention on health behaviors among airline pilots during COVID-19

PurposeThe aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a 17-week, 3-component lifestyle intervention for enhancing health behaviors during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.MethodsA parallel-group (intervention and control) study was conducted amongst 79 airline pilots over a 17-week period during the COVID-19 pandemic. The intervention group (n = 38) received a personalized sleep, dietary, and physical activity (PA) program. The control group (n = 41) received no intervention. Outcome measures for sleep, fruit and vegetable intake, PA, and subjective health were measured though an online survey before and after the 17-week period. The changes in outcome measures were used to determine the efficacy of the intervention.ResultsSignificant main effects for time × group were found for International Physical Activity Questionnaire-walk (p = 0.02) and for all other outcome measures (p < 0.01). The intervention group significantly improved in sleep duration (p < 0.01; d = 1.35), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index score (p < 0.01; d = 1.14), moderate-to-vigorous PA (p < 0.01; d = 1.44), fruit and vegetable intake (p < 0.01; d = 2.09), Short Form 12v2 physical score (p < 0.01; d = 1.52), and Short Form 12v2 mental score (p < 0.01; d = 2.09). The control group showed significant negative change for sleep duration, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index score, and Short Form 12v2 mental score (p < 0.01).ConclusionResults provide preliminary evidence that a 3-component healthy sleep, eating, and PA intervention elicit improvements in health behaviors and perceived subjective health in pilots and may improve quality of life during an unprecedented global pandemic.     

Interjudge agreement in classifying students as learning disabled

Eighteen judges with backgrounds in assessment, decision making, and learning disabilities were asked to use an array of information to differentiate learning disabled and nonlearning disabled students. Each judge was provided with forms containing information on 42 test or subtest scores of 50 school-identified LD students and 49 non-LD students. Judges were extremely inaccurate in their classifications and in little agreement with each other. Also, it appeared that different judges emphasized different factors when making their decisions. The results suggest that, given current definitions of the condition called “learning disabilities,” there is considerable doubt that school personnel can accurately and reliably identify such students.     

‘The old days of amateurism are over’: the Samaranch revolution and the return of Olympic tennis

Tennis featured in every Olympics from 1896 to 1924, after which disagreements between the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Lawn Tennis Federation (ILTF) on matters pertaining to organisational control and the amateur eligibility of players led to tennis being removed from the Olympic Games as a full-medal event until the 1988 Seoul Olympics. This paper traces the steps of the sport’s reinstatement, from when efforts commenced in the 1950s, setting this development in the contexts of: broader political movements, shifting IOC leadership, burgeoning commercialisation of Olympic sport, the concomitant push for professionalisation and the declining influence of amateur ideals within both the Olympic movement and international tennis. Under the leadership of the amateur stalwart Avery Brundage, the IOC stymied attempts to facilitate tennis’s re-entry, challenging both the ILTF on failing to deal with widespread ‘sham-amateur’ practices and the avaricious promoters luring amateur players toward the professional ranks. Brundage and the IOC also strongly condemned the move to ‘open’ tennis and an acceptance of full-blown professionalism. Only a change in leadership, firstly with Lord Killanin and then the progressive reformer Juan Antonio Samaranch, did the IOC recognise the value of tennis within the Olympic movement, which by then had itself become increasingly money-oriented.     

Fifty Years of Super Bowl Commercials,Thirty-Two Years of Spectacular Consumption

Abstract

This article will explore the role and visibility of advertising during the Super Bowl over the years as a model for strategies of modern advertising and the resulting commercialization of US society. It uses the concepts of ‘spectacular consumption’ derived from Guy Debord and the ‘commodity audience’ from Dallas Smythe to frame the commercials’ cultural transformation and influence. The spectacular nature of Super Bowl commercials and the special commodity worth of its audience were not present in the early days of the event, but gained momentum with Super Bowl XVII and its airing of Apple’s ‘1984’ commercial that became mythologized in the advertising industry. After 1984, both the rising inflation-adjusted CPM (‘cost-per-thousand’) and the increased media coverage indicate an increased spectacularization. This also manifested in such phenomena as the influential, decades-long Doritos user-generated content contests and the Greatest Super Bowl Commercials TV specials, and was a forerunner of such post-millennial advertising strategies as branded entertainment and content marketing, all designed to integrate advertising as a legitimate form of entertainment culture and prevent the avoidance of advertising by audiences.     

Virtuality,Technology Use,and Engagement Within Organizations

Multinational organizations are turning to collaborative technology to enable virtual organizational structures. While collaborative technology provides distributed workers with new affordances to form relationships and share knowledge, collaborative technology also has complex, interwoven implications for virtual organizing. To disentangle these concerns, this study considers four key dimensions of virtuality—spatial dispersion, temporal dispersion, dynamic structure, and functional diversity—in relation to technology use and engagement with peers within an organization. Survey data were collected in a multinational organization that facilitates work through extensive use of collaborative technology. The results of structural equation modeling reveal connections between two dimensions of virtuality, use of collaborative technology and peer engagement in the organization. Findings suggest that understanding interactions in virtual organizations requires a more nuanced approach to virtuality and active management of technology implementation. Moreover, the findings demonstrate that managers need to actively manage the deployment of new collaborative technology by focusing on specific characteristics of work groups.     

Teacher behavior, student interest and affective learning: putting theory to practice

Students of Project Adapt (PA), an instructional program for at-risk middle school students in Brooklyn NY, have displayed startling improvement on cognitive outcome measures. Teacher given grades and standardized tests illuminate the progress students have made since entering the program. The current investigation attempts to analyze PA on students' affective responses in a pre/post-test experimental design. Upon entering PA, students completed measures of interest, affect, and their previous teachers' behavior (pre). These ratings were then compared to end of year ratings on the same instruments (post). Results indicate students' perceive PA teachers utilizing different behaviors than their previous teachers. Additionally, student affect and interest increased significantly. Results of this study have implications for both instructional researchers and educational practitioners.     

Multitrait-multimethod investigation of a novel body image measurement technique

A multitrait-multimethod (MTMM) matrix was used to evaluate validity evidence for a digital image manipulation (DIM) body image measurement technique in young women. One hundred one young women completed the DIM procedure and the Thompson and Gray (1995) Contour Drawing Rating Scale to measure self-ideal discrepancy and size perception accuracy components of body image. Seven-day test-retest reliability was acceptable (R = .81-.95). Convergent validity for self-ideal discrepancy was higher (r = .74) than the corresponding heterotrait, monomethod coefficients (r = .46, r = .23) and heterotrait-heteromethod coefficients (r = .18, r = .12). However, the convergent validity coefficient for size perception accuracy was r = .12. The pattern of correlations in the MTMM matrix met the criteria of Campbell and Fiske (1959) for validity of these procedures to measure self-ideal discrepancy but not size perception accuracy. The DIM procedure addresses some of the criticisms associated with figure-rating scales, such as unrepresentativeness of the figures, scale coarseness, and restriction of range in responses. DIM, therefore, represents a realistic, valid alternative to figure-rating scales for measuring self-ideal discrepancy.     

The performance environment of the England youth soccer teams

In the present study, we examined the performance environment of the England youth soccer teams. Using a semi-structured protocol with a prospective sample, national coaches (n = 6), sport scientists (n = 3), and players (n = 4) were interviewed directly following international tournaments about the factors that positively and negatively influenced performance. Qualitative content analysis revealed the following factors as major positive influences on performance: adhering to a consistent tournament strategy, player understanding, strong team cohesion, organized entertainment activities, detailed knowledge of opposition, an effective physical rest/recovery strategy, and previous tournament experience. Major factors perceived to have negatively influenced performance included: over-coaching, player boredom, player anxiety, physical superiority of the opposition, physical fatigue over the tournament, problems sleeping, and lack of information on the opposition. Eight overall dimensions emerged to describe the performance environment: planning and organization, physical environment, tactical factors, development and performance philosophy, psychological factors, physical factors, social factors, and coaching. The findings support recent work that suggests the performance environment is multifaceted, with performance being contingent upon a broad range of interacting factors that go beyond the traditional psychosocial and physical domains.