University of St Andrews

About: University of St Andrews is a education organization based out in St Andrews, Fife, United Kingdom. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Laser. The organization has 16260 authors who have published 43364 publications receiving 1636072 citations. The organization is also known as: St Andrews University & University of St. Andrews.

Interventions to prevent weight gain: a systematic review of psychological models and behaviour change methods

Abstract: OBJECTIVE: To identify and review published interventions aimed at the prevention of weight gain. DESIGN: A systematic review of published interventions aimed at the prevention of weight gain. METHODS: Search strategies—we searched eight databases, manually checked reference lists and contacted authors. Inclusion and exclusion criteria—studies of any design, in which participants were selected regardless of weight or age, were included. Interventions targeting a specific subgroup, multifactorial interventions, interventions aimed at weight loss, and those with an ambiguous aim were excluded. Data extraction—data were extracted on behaviours targeted for change, psychological model, behaviour change methods and modes of delivery, methodological quality, characteristics of participants, and outcomes related to body weight and self-reported diet and physical activity. Classification and validation—a taxonomy of behaviour change programmes was developed and used for classification of underlying model, behaviour change methods, and modes of delivery. The data extraction and subsequent classification were independently validated. RESULTS: Eleven publications were included, describing five distinct interventions in schools and four in the wider community. Where diet and physical activity were described, positive effects were usually obtained, but all were measured by self-report. Effects on weight were mixed but follow-up was generally short. Smaller effects on weight gain were found among low-income participants, students and smokers. Many participants in the community-based studies were overweight or obese. Study dropout was higher among thinner and lower-income subjects. CONCLUSION: Interventions to prevent weight gain exhibited various degrees of effectiveness. Definite statements about the elements of the interventions that were associated with increased effect size cannot be made as only one of the five studies that involved an RCT design reported a significant effect on weight. This intervention involved a correspondence programme and a mix of behaviour change methods including goal setting, self-monitoring and contingencies. Future interventions might be more effective if they were explicitly based on methods of behaviour change that have been shown to work in other contexts. Effective interventions would be more easily replicated if they were explicitly described. Effectiveness might be more precisely demonstrated if more objective measures of physical activity and diet were used, and if the follow-up was over a longer period.

The 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey: spectral types and luminosity functions

Abstract: We describe the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey (2dFGRS), and the current status of the observations. In this exploratory paper, we apply a Principal Component Analysis to a preliminary sample of 5869 galaxy spectra and use the two most significant components to split the sample into five spectral classes. These classes are defined by considering visual classifications of a subset of the 2dF spectra, and also by comparing to high quality spectra of local galaxies. We calculate a luminosity function for each of the different classes and find that later-type galaxies have a fainter characteristic magnitude, and a steeper faint-end slope. For the whole sample we find M ⋆ = 19.7 (for =1,H0=100kms 1 Mpc 1 ), � = 1.3, � ⋆ = 0.017. For class 1 (‘early-type’) we find M ⋆ = 19.6, � = 0.7, while for class 5 (‘late-type’) we find M ⋆ = 19.0, � = 1.7. The derived 2dF luminosity functions agree well with other recent luminosity function estimates.

Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA): the GAMA galaxy group catalogue (G3Cv1)

Abstract: Using the complete Galaxy and Mass Assembly I (GAMA-I) survey covering ∼142 deg2 to rAB= 194, of which ∼47 deg2 is to rAB= 198, we create the GAMA-I galaxy group catalogue (G3Cv1), generated using a friends-of-friends (FoF) based grouping algorithm Our algorithm has been tested extensively on one family of mock GAMA lightcones, constructed from Λ cold dark matter N-body simulations populated with semi-analytic galaxies Recovered group properties are robust to the effects of interlopers and are median unbiased in the most important respects G3Cv1 contains 14 388 galaxy groups (with multiplicity ≥2), including 44 186 galaxies out of a possible 110 192 galaxies, implying ∼40 per cent of all galaxies are assigned to a group The similarities of the mock group catalogues and G3Cv1 are multiple: global characteristics are in general well recovered However, we do find a noticeable deficit in the number of high multiplicity groups in GAMA compared to the mocks Additionally, despite exceptionally good local spatial completeness, G3Cv1 contains significantly fewer compact groups with five or more members, this effect becoming most evident for high multiplicity systems These two differences are most likely due to limitations in the physics included of the current GAMA lightcone mock Further studies using a variety of galaxy formation models are required to confirm their exact origin The G3Cv1 catalogue will be made publicly available as and when the relevant GAMA redshifts are made available at http://wwwgama-surveyorg

Trade‐Offs in the Adaptive Use of Social and Asocial Learning

Abstract: Publisher Summary Theoretical models investigating the adaptive advantages of social learning conclude that social learning cannot be employed in a blanket or indiscriminate manner and that individuals should adopt flexible strategies that dictate the circumstances under which they copy others This chapter outlines that the laboratory and captive-population based evidence is amassing, mostly with regard to foraging and mate choice, indicating that individuals preferentially rely on personally acquired information but acquire and use social or public information when asocial learning would be costly or asocial learning leaves them uncertain as to what to do Individuals ignore social cues when they have relevant personal experience but rely on social learning when the costs of acquiring or implementing personal knowledge is high, they are uncertain of the optimal behavior, their personal information is unreliable, or it has become outdated The consideration of the trade-offs inherent in the adaptive use of social and asocial learning will contribute to an increased understanding of the observed pattern of social learning processes and behavioral traditions in the animal kingdom, especially as the use of social information may lead to cultural evolution, which may in turn affect biological evolution The hypothesis that individuals increasingly rely on social learning as the costs of asocial learning increase potentially explains the existence of maladaptive cultural traditions in humans and other animals Furthermore, consideration of social learning strategies may explain why evidence for complex social learning processes appears to be related to ecological rather than taxonomic affinities among species