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The COVID-19 pandemic and its associated lockdown in South Africa led to the closure of leisure spaces, and Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres, forcing parents who were non-essential employees to work from home. This created a crisis for families, with significant consequences for family leisure time and activities. This paper explored the impact of the pandemic for parents with pre-school aged children (PSAC) and aimed to identify changes to family leisure during this period. Data was collected through self-administered questionnaires (n = 140) among parents at three selected ECD centres in Cape Town. The findings indicated that participants experienced higher emotional and tiredness levels because of the pandemic-induced changes, often neglecting themselves in their attempt to balance work, life and care for their PSAC, without their traditional support structures. The findings confirm a significant impact on family leisure, with leisure activities decreasing, and switching from outdoor, relational to home and family-based activities. The study identifies the type of leisure activities and changes caused by the pandemic and the effect it had on parents' work-life balance and overall wellbeing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A handball is one of two technical skills used to dispose of the ball in Australian Football. Previous research has only considered handball effectiveness in the analysis of team performance and there is a need to understand whether there are other more important characteristics of handball execution that explain effectiveness (i.e., performance). 1342 handballs from Australian Football League matches were analysed. Ten characteristic variables were created that represent the context and execution of each handball included in the analysis. A mixed effects generalised linear model was used to evaluate the effect of the (ten) characteristics on handball outcome. Three out of ten characteristics were associated with handball outcome, and these related to the posture of the handballer and the type of defensive pressure applied to the handballer and the receiver of the handball. These findings explain both how to increase handball effectiveness and how to reduce the handball effectiveness of an opposition team. Given the important role of handballing in passing sequences and maintaining ball possession, the practical application of these findings could enhance overall team performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to determine whether machine learning models based on technical performance and not score margin could be used to predict end-of-match outcome of Australian football matches in real-time. If efficacious, these models could be used to generate insights about team performance and support the decision-making of coaches during matches. A database of 168 team technical performance indicators from 829 Australian Football League matches played between 2017 and 2021 was used. Two feature sets (data-driven and data-informed) were used to train and evaluate six models (generalised linear model, random forest and adaboost) on match outcome prediction (Win/Loss) over 120 epochs (a representation of normalised time during each match). All models performed well (mean classification accuracy = 73.5–75.8%) in comparison with a benchmark score-based model (mean classification accuracy = 77.4%). Data-informed feature sets performed better than data-driven in most cases. Classification accuracy was low at the start of a match (45.7–48.8%) but increased to a peak near the end of a match (87.2–92.7%). These findings suggest that any of the employed models can be used to formulate in-match decision support. The model which is best in practice will depend on factors such as time-cost trade-off, feasibility and the perceived value of its suggestions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the relationship between religious and spiritual (R/S) struggle and religiosity with depression and anxiety in adolescents admitted to inpatient psychiatric units of a pediatric hospital in the Midwest of the United States. We administered four self-reported scales to 71 adolescents (ages 13–17) to assess religiosity, R/S struggle, depression, and anxiety. The prevalence of R/S struggle among this population was high (88.73%). Significant associations were found between R/S struggle and depression and anxiety, linking greater R/S struggles with more severe depression or anxiety. However, no significant associations between religiosity and depression and anxiety were noted. By examining the prevalence of R/S struggle among this population and its relationship to depression and anxiety, this study contributes to the expanding research on the impact of religion and spirituality on the psychological well-being of adolescents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Internal loads as measured by session rating of perceived exertion (sRPE) of high-performance netballers were explored using data from athletes who competed in the 2017 and 2018 Suncorp Super Netball (SSN) and 2016 to 2018 Australian Netball League (ANL) competitions. Data were analysed to determine if there were differences between season phase (pre- and in-season), competition level, session type (combined training, court training, match, weights and conditioning) and year. Pre-season load (468.9 ± 183.2au) was higher than in-season load (431.3 ± 188.9au) (p <.05, ƞρ2 =.016). Load was higher in the 2017 season (466.0 ± 193.2au) than both the 2016 (442.4 ± 189.3au) and 2018 seasons (441.0 ± 179.3au) (p <.05, ƞρ2 =.005). Each session type was significantly different than the other apart from combined training and court training (combined training 546.5 ± 201.5au; court training 538.7 ± 172.7au; match 473.6 ± 164.5au; weights 400.1 ± 121.1au; conditioning 276.5 ± 121.8au) (p <.05, ƞρ2 =.25). There was a competition × season phase interaction (p <.05, ƞρ2 =.003) where ANL athletes had the highest pre-season load (472.6 ± 193.7au) but the lowest in-season load (415.2 ± 179.2au). These findings present a novel understanding of the loads experienced by high-performance netballers over multiple seasons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate analysis of housing markets requires the use of an appropriate house price index. We compare the properties of two common repeat sales house price indices [Bailey, Muth and Nourse (BMN) and Case-nd Shiller (CS)] with those of Gao and Wang's unbalanced panel (UP) approach. Using data across three differing housing markets within New Zealand, the three indices produce similar measures of house price movements. When evaluated using separate training and testing sub-samples of the data, none of the three measures is unambiguously superior to the others. When we test properties using simulated data with alternative data generation processes, a clear result emerges: The CS method is clearly superior when relative house prices follow an actual or near random walk; otherwise the UP method is (slightly) superior. Thus researchers should consider the time series properties of their data when choosing a method of house price index construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deep-Sea Tailings Placement (DSTP) systems have been used at several mines to discharge diluted mine tailings at great depths. DSTP often provides considerable environmental and engineering benefits compared to traditional on-land tailings storage. The key element in the viability of a DSTP system is the ability to discharge mine tailings at sufficient depths and at such a location that a density current is formed that carries the tailings along the seabed to the abyssal ocean, and such that adequate dilution can be achieved and environmental impacts minimized. Depending on the composition of the slurry, sub-sea plumes might also form from the density current at different levels of neutral buoyancy, further diluting the effluent. The engineering, environmental and construction aspects of the deep-sea outfall system are illustrated through a case study of the DSTP outfall system on Woodlark Island in Papua New Guinea, located in the tropical south Pacific. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research Findings: The Early Education Essentials surveys use teacher and parent perceptions to measure 6 organizational conditions of early childhood education programs, extending and complementing existing measures of early childhood care and education (ECE) quality constructs. This study tests the reliability and concurrent validity of the Early Education Essentials in 81 school- and community-based ECE sites in a large Midwestern city selected using a stratified random sampling method. Using a Rasch item response theory model, scales were created; theory and exploratory factor analyses combined scales into higher level constructs called essentials. Multilevel models took into account individual measurement error to create site-level essential scores and assessed relationships between programs' essential scores and site-level teacher–child interactions scores and student attendance. Findings suggest that the Early Education Essentials is reliable in multiple ECE settings; it is sensitive to site-level differences; and some, but not all, organizational conditions measured are associated in expected directions with site-level metrics indicative of center-based ECE quality. Practice or Policy: The Early Education Essentials has the potential to provide leaders and practitioners with actionable data about organizational supports that enable ECE practitioners to be more effective in their daily work with children and families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After the terrorist attack on the Israeli team, the 1972 Munich Olympics could be considered a PR disaster for the Federal Republic of Germany. In the years before the Games, however, the organizers orchestrated a finely tuned campaign, which used limited resources to maximum effect. The major message was obvious: the Germany of 1972 was to be portrayed as utterly different from that of 1936 and indeed the whole of the Nazi dictatorship. But the fiscal means were tight and the methods had to draw largely on pre-existing research and be tailored to the expectations of key audiences in various parts of the world. This paper examines the portfolio of PR options open to the 1972 organizers, in theory and in practice – from the uncomfortable relationship with the hosts of the directly preceding Games in Mexico City, to freshly decolonized nations in Africa, the Eastern bloc in the age of détente, as well as suspicious allies in the West and discontented publics at home. It serves as a barometer of German popularity, or lack of it, in the late 1960s, and demonstrates the myriad ways in which sport and sporting mega events can be used to bolster national image. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

As library users become accustomed to electronic access to journals, continuing to provide this access during a natural or man-made disaster becomes paramount. This column describes the recent experience of two large academic health sciences libraries using different modes of emergency access. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Saltwater fishery management in Florida, USA, is mandated to include user-supported hatchery-based stock enhancement. Scientists at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and Mote Marine Laboratory have taken a multi-disciplinary, quantitative approach to develop effective strategies for integrating stocking into traditional fishery management, with an initial focus on red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus). With consensus from stakeholders, particularly from a well-informed advisory board, focus has shifted over the past 8 years from production-oriented stocking to an assessment-driven developmental approach. The goal is to develop and expand economically successful and ecologically sound stocking technology for rapidly replenishing depleted fish stocks in a multi-billion dollar (US) saltwater recreational fishing industry. Release-recapture experiments for red drum have been underway in Tampa Bay for 6 years. This research has involved replicate stratified releases of ∼ 4 million red drum hatchlings, which are identifiable via genetic testing. More than 20,000 red drum tissues have been tested. These were obtained from fishery-independent and dependent sampling and from an angler-return program,. Of these, approximately 3,000 specimens have been assigned to hatchery breeding pairs. Experimental results, especially those based on hatchery fish recruited to the recreational fishery, have provided managers with valuable information about size at release, release timing, release habitat, and post-release movement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the use of oral presentation in geography courses as the main form of assessment. Ways of using oral presentations; Forms of oral presentation; How a presentation can be marked; Conclusion.

This empirical study is a continuation of the Limits‐to‐Violence project started in 1975 by the Canadian Peace Research Institute. The LIV project sought to model three kinds of violence‐civil war, international war, and socio‐economic injustice‐in an effort to limit global violence in the future. The research reported here is concerned with reducing socio‐economic injustice, or so‐called “structural” violence. Four scenarios are calculated for the years 1973–2001. No. 1 is a “Status quo” model based on a slow growth or stagnant world economy, where in addition no attempt is made to reduce the gap between the rich and poor nations of the world. Scenarios Nos. 2–4 are different variations of a swords‐into‐ploughshares program where steady global disarmament and massive foreign aid proceed together over the 1982–2001 period. Four Tables and six Figures help to illustrate what is possible. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]