Approximately 50% of preschoolers do not meet physical activity recommendations and children who reside in low-income rural communities may be further at risk for higher levels of sedentary behavior. Outdoor play is essential for preschool children; however, literature is unclear as to which types of interventions elicit moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) for all preschoolers. The aim of this study was to determine which type of intervention, physical activity or fundamental motor skill focus, elicits MVPA during outdoor play. Ninety-eight preschool children (M age = 4.48 years) from one Head Start center participated in an outdoor play intervention two days per week for 7 weeks. Classes were randomly assigned to one of four groups: fundamental motor skill focus (FMS), physical activity focus (PA), FMS and PA (FMS + PA), and control. An accelerometer worn on the hip measured MVPA. Results showed that age, sex and group assignment contributed to MVPA at the beginning of the intervention and age, sex, group assignment and MVPA during the beginning of the intervention contributed to MVPA at the end of the intervention. Overall, the FMS + PA group elicited MVPA from males and females of all ages. Interventions that combine both FMS and PA may reduce physical activity disparities in preschool children.

Context. Lamb loss and dyctocia are two major challenges in extensive farming systems. While visual observation can be impractical due to the large sizes of paddocks, number of animals and high labour cost, wearable sensors can be used to monitor the behaviour of ewes as there might be changes in their activities prior to lambing. This provides sufficient time for the farm manager to nurse those ewes that are at risk of dyctocia. Aim. The objective of this study was to determine whether the behaviour of a pregnant ewe could predict the time of parturition. Methods. Two separate trials were conducted: the first trial (T1), with 32 ewes, included human/video observations, and the second trial (T2), with 165 ewes, conducted with no humans present, to emulate real extensive farming settings. The ewes were fitted with tri-axial accelerometer sensors by means of halters. Three-dimensional movement data were collected for a period of at least 7 and 14 days in T1 and T2 respectively. The sensor units were retrieved, and their data downloaded using ActiGraph software. Ewe behaviour was determined through support vector machine learning (SVM) algorithm, including licking, grazing, rumination, walking, and idling. The behaviours of ewes predicted by analysis of sensor data were compared with behaviours determined using visual observation (video recordings), with time synchronisation to validate the results. Deep learning and neural-network algorithms were used to predict lambing time. Key results. The concordance percentages between visual observation and sensor data were 90 ± 11, 81 ± 15, 95 ± 10, 96 ± 6, and 93 ± 8% ± s.d. for grazing, licking, rumination, idling, and walking respectively. The deep-learning model predicted the time of lambing with 90% confidence via a quantile regression method, which can be interpereted as 90% prediction intervals, and shows that the time of lambing can be predicted with reasonable confidence approximately 240 h before the actual lambing events. Conclusion. It was possible to predict the time of parturition up to 10 days before lambing. Implications. The behaviour of ewes around lambing time has a direct effect on the survival of the lambs and therefore plays an important part in animal management. This knowledge could improve the productivity of sheep and considerably decrease lamb mortality rates.

Previous mastery motivational climate (MMC) movement interventions have enhanced fundamental motor skill (FMS) competence across diverse groups of preschool-age children. Yet, an adequate intervention length has not been established. Our purposes in this study were to (i) compare FMS competence in preschool children across two doses of MMC interventions, and (ii) describe changes in children’s FMS ‘mastery’ across doses. We used secondary data analysis from a larger MMC intervention study in which 32 children ( M age = 4.4) received FMS testing (TGMD-3) at the mid-point of intervention and at post-intervention. A two-way mixed ANOVA with Group as the independent variable and FMS competence across three Time points as the repeated measure was significant for both Group and Time main effects for locomotor and ball skill competences separately. There was a statistically significant interaction between Group and Time on locomotor ( p = .02) and ball skills ( p < .001). Both groups showed significant improvements in their locomotor skills at each time point, but the intervention group improved faster than the comparison group. For ball skills, only the MMC group significantly improved by mid-intervention, and the comparison group showed significant improvements from pre-to post-intervention only. Children in this study were most likely to show mastery in running first, followed by sliding at mid-intervention. Few children mastered skipping, galloping, and hopping across the study. For ball skills, overhand and underhand throwing were more likely to be mastered, and few children mastered one and two-hand striking across the study. Collectively, these findings suggest that duration of instructional minutes may not be the most effective proxy for identifying a dose-response relationship of MMC intervention. Moreover, focusing on the patterns of skill mastery can help inform researchers and practitioners as to how to allocate instructional time during MMC interventions to optimize FMS competence for young children.

Background Outreach events such as trainings, demonstrations, and workshops are important opportunities for encouraging private land operators to adopt voluntary conservation practices. However, the ability to understand the effectiveness of such events at influencing conservation behavior is confounded by the likelihood that attendees are already interested in conservation and may already be adopters. Understanding characteristics of events that draw non-adopters can aid in designing events and messaging that are better able to reach beyond those already interested in conservation. Methods For this study, we interviewed 101 operators of private agricultural lands in Maryland, USA, and used descriptive statistics and qualitative comparative analysis to investigate differences between the kinds of outreach events that adopters and non-adopters attended. Results Our results suggested that non-adopters, as compared to adopters, attended events that provided production-relevant information and were logistically easy to attend. Further, non-adopters were more selective when reading advertisements, generally preferring simplicity. Future research and outreach can build on these findings by experimentally testing the effectiveness of messages that are simple and relevant to farmers’ production priorities.

METHODS:Parents or guardians of children with T1D (< 18 years) filled out an online survey. Anthropometric characteristics, PA, play and sport and sedentary time were collected before and after the introduction of restrictions. Moreover, we investigated the medical-related factors. RESULTS: a total of 280 children and adolescents (mean age was 11.8±3.3 years; 58.5% M) were included in the analysis. Before and after the introduction of restrictions, we reported a significant decline in participation in sport activities (-2.1±2.1 h/week) and a reduction in time spent in outdoor plays (-73.9±93.6 min/day). Moreover, we reported a significant increase in sedentary time (+144.7±147.8 min/day). Finally, an increase in mean glycaemic values (-25.4±33.4 mg/dL) and insulin delivery (in 71.8% of patients) were also recorded. CONCLUSIONS: a decline in participation in sport activities and a significant increase of sedentary time can influence the management of T1D in children and adolescents, influencing the risk of acute and long-term complications. Online exercise programs may be useful to maintain both the health and wellbeing of youth with T1D.