Physical Activity and Rural Middle School Adolescents

This study reports the self-reported physical activity level of rural adolescents. Eight hundred and twenty two middle school adolescents (M = 229, F = 593), mean age = 13.9 in three rural Indiana middle schools reported their participation in out-of-school physical activities over a 5 day period. Responses to the activity items were recoded into sedentary, active, and very active exercises and preferred types of exercise. Over one-third (36%) of adolescent males indicated participation in vigorous physical activity less than 2 times per week and almost half (42%) of females reported levels of activity below nationally recommended guidelines. Adolescent males reported more frequent engagement in strength exercises than females (33% and 25% respectively). Over one third of males and females (35%) reported stretching three or more times each week. Significant differences were found between males and females satisfaction with their present body weight such that 21% of males and 44% of females indicated dissatisfaction with their present body weight. Males and females both reported a preference for active team sports such as volleyball, football, softball, and individual activities such as weight training, bicycling, and swimming. The levels of reported activity reflect national survey findings, indicating that many adolescents may not be involved in the recommended levels and that exercise behaviors of rural adolescents may be similar to those in urban areas.     

A Decade of Deficits and Debt: Japanese Fiscal Policy and the Rise and Fall of the Fiscal Structural Reform Act of 1997

Japanese budgetary and fiscal policy have experienced dramatic changes during the last several years, marked by the rise and fall of the Fiscal Structural Reform Act of 1997. This act altered the budgetary process with the goal of reducing Japan's rapidly growing deficit and debt. Yet the onset of recession in 1998 led Japan to engage again in large-scale deficit spending to stimulate the economy, and in the process discard its budget reforms.     

STATEWIDE INITIATIVES TO ENCOURAGE ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION AND ENHANCE COLLABORATIVE APPROACHES TO RESOLVING FAMILY ISSUES

Over the past 27 years, since the concept of the multidoor courthouse was first introduced, methods for resolving family issues have increasingly focused on less adversarial and more collaborative approaches. Infrastructures have developed in a variety of ways in different states to initiate, support, and promote these approaches, and pilot projects have provided an invaluable avenue for testing and implementing changes. This article will describe some of the current statewide initiatives to develop infrastructure and implement change through creative pilot projects and will propose strategies to sustain these changes.     

Adolescent Female Athletes' Sexual Risk-Taking Behaviors

Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 1993 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance (YRBS) of a sample of U.S. female adolescents (N = 7839) were compared to a cohort of 9th through 12th grade high performance female athletes (N = 141) with regard to risk-taking behavior on eight items related to sexual activity (i.e., ever engaged in sexual intercourse, age of first sexual intercourse, number of lifetime sexual partners, current sexual activity, condom use, use of the birth control pill, contracting a sexually transmitted disease (STD), and incidence of alcohol or drug use prior to last sexual activity). Chi-square analyses (p < .05) showed that with the exception of alcohol or drug use prior to last sexual activity, and use of birth control pills, the six other risk-taking behaviors were significantly different between the U.S. female sample and the female athletes. In all instances, except for contracting an STD, U.S. females reported engaging in sexual risk-taking behaviors more frequently than the high performance athletes, and furthermore, were more likely to be sexually active than the high performance athletes (50% vs. 21%). Among the high performance athletes, only lifetime sexual activity showed significant difference by grade, with sophomores and seniors reporting more frequent involvement in sexual activity. These findings suggest that participation in a high performance sports activity is positively associated with some reduced sexual risk-taking behaviors for adolescent females.     

Budgetary Collective Action Problems: Convergence and Compliance under the Maastricht Treaty on European Union

Budgetary agreements may be thought of as collective action problems in which the problem a hand is maintaining group cohesion by controlling free riders. The standard solution to the free rider problem includes monitoring group behavior and imposing sanctions. This article analyzes the collective action problem present in the budgetary provisions of the Maastricht Treaty, which created the Economic Monetary Union, by focusing on the four stages of budgetary compliance that are evident in all budgetary agreements and treaties.     

Evaluation of the one-step Lumicyano™ used in the visualisation of fingermarks on fabrics

This study consisted of three parts to evaluate the performance of Lumicyano? on a variety of fabrics. One part assessed the impact of dye percentage (8%, 9% and 10%) on visualisation of fingermark detail and luminescent brightness in split grab marks. A 9% dye produced the highest quality detail of grab impressions with least interference from background fluorescence. The second part investigated the optimal relative humidity (RH, 75–84%) for certain fabric types using Lumicyano on split, six-series depletion fingermarks. It was concluded that the recommended RH of 80% remained the ideal cyanoacrylate fuming environment. The final and third part of this study determined the impact of sequential addition of Basic Yellow 40 (BY40) on Lumicyano compared to traditional cyanoacrylate (CA) followed with BY40 application. Results from this study demonstrated that Lumicyano on its own developed fingermarks with superior quality to Lumicyano with sequential addition of BY40 or traditional cyanoacrylate followed by BY40. Inclusion of more fabrics, donors and longer ageing periods should be explored in future studies to determine what frameworks are best for certain types of fabrics.