The thesis takes as its subject the development of cultural forms and institutions, exploring constraints on the exercise of choice in the use of non-work time in an evolving capitalist society. By means of a local study, it aims to describe relationships between aspects of popular recreation, especially those involving working class participation, and to relate these to economic and political circumstances. The study focuses upon individuals and organisations providing facilities and creating institutions in which non-work time was spent outside the home. The body of the thesis consists of discrete but interrelated studies of themes in the development of recreation in Leicester. These concern the relationship between recreation and the workplace (ch.1), the role of religious organisations as providers and critics of recreational activities (ch.2), initiatives by the municipal authorities (ch.3) and licensing magistrates (ch.4), the bases of commercial provision in the drink trade, theatre and sport (chs.4-6) and the engagement of the labour movement (ch.7). The thesis is written from a critical standpoint which acknowledges as fundamental to the understanding of 19th century recreation the uneven distribution of free time, power and money within capitalist society. But while social control and hegemony are exploited as pointers to appropriate areas of study, they are found wanting as explanations of complex historical reality. In its empirical conclusions, the study confirms the significance of relationships between work and culture, identifying ways in which the economic development of Leicester constrained recreational provision. Commercial agencies are shown to have been relatively weak during much of the period whereas municipal and religious organisations were of considerable importance from the 1860s until the end of the period of study.

The popular perception of the years 1945 to 1960 is that they constituted a transitional period from austerity to affluence. Material gains in the post-war years gradually increased, enhanced by full-employment, the establishment of the welfare state and a growing quantity of consumer goods. At first glance, it seems that working-class people's nonmaterial life, too, greatly changed. 'Traditional' leisure such as cinema-, pub- and football-going declined, replaced by more consumption-oriented, home- and family-centred leisure, such as television watching, do-it-yourself and pleasure motoring. Critics have seen this was symptomatic of the erosion of 'traditional' working-class-life styles, underlined by more communal and solidaristic social relationships. A close examination of post-war leisure in two workingclass towns questions the above dichotomy, and shows the significant continuity and diversity of people's leisure patterns. These were often deeply divided according to gender, age, life-stage and locality. Despite the rapidly changing trends of commercial leisure, and the increased intervention of the public sector in social life, the selfdetermined nature of working-class leisure does not seem to have been eroded. On the contrary, the general affluence of post-war Britain seems to have contributed in a modest way to increased leisure opportunities in which people could express their personal and social identity with less hesitation than before.

In A Theory of Justice (1971) John Rawls attempted to solve the problem of distributive justice by combining self-interest, ignorance and risk-aversion. He argued that if self-interested persons in a situation of uncertainty imposed by a veil of ignorance were choosing principles for the basic structure of society, then they would be risk-adverse and choose two principles – The Principle of Equal Liberty and the Difference Principle. Critics have argued against this risk-adverse element of Rawls’ theory but those critics as well as Rawls made certain presuppositions about risk-aversion, risk-taking and gambling. This thesis also examines the risk-aversion in Rawls’ theory but addresses the previous shortfall by exploring the issue of risk and gambling in two interrelated ways. It applies a Foucauldian approach to the history of risk and gambling in order to contextualise the current views and then investigates the contemporary meaning by drawing on research leading up to the UK Gambling Act 2005. Drawing on these findings it argues that not only might risk-taking occur in the original position but that different types of participants could show different degrees of risk-taking behaviour. By exploring the theoretical debates between essentialism and anti-essentialism, it further argues that it is unlikely that the veil of ignorance would be able to screen out those differences. It then employs theories of identity and difference in the work of Heidegger, Deleuze and Lyotard in an attempt to overcome that weakness in Rawls’ theory but finds that this may not be possible. After highlighting a connection between impartiality and gambling, it concludes, in contrast to Rawls, that risk-taking rather than risk-aversion lies at the heart of social justice. The implication of this reversal is that it may have an impact on policy-decisions in other areas of the justice system.

The role of the shaft in the golf swing has been the subject of scientific debate for many years but there is little consensus regarding the effects of altering shaft bending stiffness. The aim of this thesis was to determine and explain the effects of changes in shaft stiffness on body kinematics, shaft strain and key performance indicators including club head speed, impact location on the club face and launch conditions. For this purpose, three clubs matched in all properties but shaft bending stiffness (l-flex (217 cpm), r-flex (245 cpm) and x-flex (272 cpm)) were instrumented with strain gauges. In an initial study, seventeen male golfers (handicap 1.8 ±1.9) tested these clubs, but no shaft effects on body kinematics, club head speed and ball launch conditions were identified. A follow-up study involved twenty skilled players (handicap 0.3 ±1.7), testing only the l- and x-flex clubs. Two optical motion capture systems were used to determine wrist angular kinematics, club head presentation and the ball's impact location on the club face. There was an effect of shaft stiffness on ball and club head speed, both of which increased by 0.7 % for the l-flex club (p = 0.008 and < 0.001, respectively). Two factors contributed to these increases: (i) a faster recovery of the l-flex shaft from lag to lead bending just before impact (p < 0.001); (ii) an increase of 0.5 % in angular velocity of the grip of the l-flex club at impact (p = 0.005). A difference in angular wrist kinematics between the two clubs was identified for two swing events and may have contributed to the increase in angular velocity. The face angle (p = 0.176) and the ball's impact location (p = 0.907 and p = 0.774) were unaffected by changes in shaft stiffness. Decreases in shaft stiffness were associated with significantly more shaft bending at the transition from backswing to downswing (p < 0.001), but the amount of lead bending at impact was found to be largely unaffected by shaft stiffness. The test protocol from the follow-up study was repeated using a golf robot, confirming the results for ball speed and wrist kinematics if the impact speed was set to replicate the mean club head speed achieved by the human players. Results from this thesis contradict the conventional view that reducing shaft stiffness leads to an increase in lead bending at impact and, consequently, to an increase in ball launch angle. Overall, these results suggest that it is unlikely that changes in overall shaft stiffness in themselves have a marked effect on driving performance.

Epidemiological studies have reported that ozone-pollution has a negative impact on human health. This pollutant is associated with high temperatures and is expected to continue to rise with the predicted global warming. People and athletes that exercise outdoors are of particular concern because, the more intense and the more prolonged the activity, the higher the ozone dose delivered to the lungs and potentially the higher the risk for performance impairment, lung function decrement, onset of lung inflammation, lung injury and oxidative stress. The main aim of the studies contained in this thesis was to evaluate the impact of ozone-pollution (0.1 ppm), heat and humidity on well trained runners taking part in an 8 km time trial run. Different end points were investigated for an analysis of the impact on performance outcome, lung function, lung inflammation and oxidative stress. In addition, a second aim was to investigate whether a 2-week supplementation period of vitamin C (500 mg•day-1) and vitamin E (100 IU•day-1) would provide any beneficial effects to the participants. The participants' lung function was measured by spirometry. Lung inflammation and oxidative stress status were assessed by a variety of markers both in the upper respiratory airways, by nasal lavage, and in the plasma. The markers assessed included: neutrophil count, clara cell protein (CC16), interleukin-8 (IL-8), uric acid, GSH/Protein and trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity. The results showed that the athletes performance was significantly decreased in the hot and humid condition (mean ± SD: 32min 35sec ± 2min 25sec) and in the hot, humid and ozone-polluted condition (33min 09sec ± 2min 44sec) when compared with the ozone alone condition (30min 27sec ± 2min 23sec) and the control condition (30min 15sec ± 1min 58seg). Ozone alone had little effect on the performance variable. The participants' lung function was not affected by the adverse environmental conditions. Evidence of early lung epithelial injury, however, was observed by an increase in CC16 in the upper respiratory airways immediately after the exercise trial in the hot, humid and ozone-polluted environment; though this was not observed for any other marker of inflammation at this time point. In this same adverse environmental condition, an increase in the GSH/Protein concentration in the upper respiratory airways was found immediately after the exercise. It was observed that the 2-week supplementation protocol improved the runners' time to complete the 8 km time-trial run in the hot, humid and ozone-polluted environment by 2.6%. In addition, the supplementation was shown to be effective in decreasing the lung inflammation induced by the combination of ozone pollution, heat and intense exercise. This was observed by a smaller increase in the concentration of CC16 in both the upper respiratory airways (0.67 ± 0.5 mg•l-1) and plasma (39.4 ± 17.4 ng•ml-1) in the vitamin treatment compared to the placebo. In addition, in the vitamin treatment the, cortisol concentration (29.2 ± 14.8 ng•ml-1) after the run, the IL-8 concentration (75.8 ± 43.2 pg•ml-1) and neutrophil percentage (22.6 ± 17.2 %) in the airways 6 h after the run were also reduced compared to the values in the placebo treatment (49.9 ± 13.4 ng•ml-1; 126.6 ± 103.2 pg•ml-1; 25.2 ± 22.6 % respectively). Taken into consideration together, these results provide evidence that heat and humidity combined with ozone have a detrimental effect on athletes' performance in an 8 km time trial, it cannot be discounted that this was simply due to the heat and humidity as there was no differences in the two heat performances. The hot, humid and ozone environment elicited an early epithelial damage characterized by increase in CC16 concentration in the airways. Moreover, an increase in the antioxidant concentration in the upper respiratory airways in that same trial, as indicated by the nasal lavage GSH/protein, suggests a protective mechanism against the oxidative stress stimulated by the high intensity exercise in association with ozone, heat and humidity. Heat and humidity alone had a similar detrimental effect in performance. While, ozone alone had little effect on the variables. In addition, it can be suggested that 2 weeks of a low dosage of vitamin C and E supplementation might present some benefits for the performance outcome and immune system of trained individuals when taking part in a running competition in an ozone-polluted, hot and humid environment. These benefits will, however, depend on the regulation of the antioxidants uptake and metabolism of each subject.

The game of soccer places various physiological demands on players, who are required to respond by carrying out a range of locomotor activities at different intensities. Such activity patterns contribute to a high energy turnover in both training and match-play, which in turn requires the intake of adequate fuel sources to sustain it. Adequate nutrient intake constitutes an important foundation for physical performance by providing fuel for biological work, both short and long term as required throughout the course of a soccer match. Despite the popularity of the sport worldwide, few studies investigating the effect of nutrition on performance in soccer have been conducted to substantiate the effect of optimal nutrition over the duration of a standard soccer match. This dearth of evidence has contributed in turn to a lack of specific nutrition guidelines for soccer players, coaches, sport scientists, nutritionists and club administrators. The aim of this thesis is to investigate the physiological, psychological and sociological aspects of nutrition and soccer, and posit a comprehensive nutritional framework to actively engage soccer players in adopting diets supportive of optimal performance in soccer training and match-play. The researcher set out by hypothesising that an optimal diet positively influences physical performance in soccer match-play. To test this hypothesis, a 90 h diet was developed for the participating semi-professional soccer players. Following implementation of the diet, a 90-minute soccer-specific simulation protocol, BEAST90mod was used to test its effects on physical performance in soccer. The remaining three inter-linked studies were longitudinal in nature, and carried out with participants forming part of the Malta U21 National Soccer Team. In the first instance, players’ habitual dietary intake, expenditure and energy balance was examined. The researcher then gathered information about the players’ knowledge, attitudes, habits, perceptions and barriers towards a diet conducive with optimal soccer performance. The same players finally underwent a 9-month nutritional education and support intervention, the efficacy of which was measured by the researcher throughout the intervention period. The principle aim of the research is to present findings that provide players and stakeholders in soccer a clear indication of the effects of specialist nutrition in soccer, and empower them with a range of appropriate tools and strategies as employed throughout the support programme. It ultimately seeks to improve physical performance in soccer training and match-play by informing sound individual and team approaches to nutritional decision-making.

Increasing physical activity (PA) and reducing the time spent sedentary can favourably impact health in youth. Active video games discourage sedentary behaviour by incorporating PA into video gaming, and have the potential for increasing opportunities for, and the promotion of, PA. The aims of this thesis were to a) compare adolescents' energy expenditure (EE) whilst playing sedentary and active video games; b) to examine the contribution of upper limb and total body movement to adolescents' EE whilst playing non-ambulatory active video games; c) to compare the physiological cost and enjoyment of active video gaming with sedentary video gaming and aerobic exercise in adolescents, and young and older adults; and, d) to evaluate the short-term (12 weeks) effects of a home-based active video gaming intervention on children's habitual PA and sedentary time, behaviour preferences, and, body composition, with a mid-test analysis incorporated at 6 weeks. The first three studies were cross-sectional. They revealed that active video games significantly increased PA and EE compared with sedentary video games in adolescents. These increases were typically of insufficient intensity though to contribute towards recommendations for daily PA in youth, and were less than those observed for authentic sports and brisk treadmill walking and treadmill jogging. Nevertheless, active video games encouraged PA and discouraged sedentary behaviour compared to sedentary equivalents. Further, similar physiological responses observed between adolescents and adults in study three provided support for the promotion of active rather than sedentary video gaming throughout the lifecourse. Greater enjoyment of active video games compared to a sedentary video game and brisk treadmill walking and treadmill jogging suggested that active video games may be an enjoyable mode of entertainment for young people and adults. The methodologically-focused study two revealed that the best single measure for explaining the variance in EE during active video gaming was a hip-mounted accelerometer. This was congruent with current recommendations for measuring habitual PA using accelerometers. Interestingly, using combined PA data from accelerometers placed on the hip and wrist similarly explained the variance in EE during active gaming compared to combined HR and activity monitoring. This provided support for the assessment of upper limb movements during non-ambulatory activities in adolescents. The intervention study revealed that a targeted increase in active video gaming and decrease in sedentary video gaming at 6 weeks did not positively affect children's PA relative to an age-matched comparison group. An increase in total video gaming was observed at 6 and 12 weeks relative to the comparison group, and this was accompanied by non-significant but detrimental changes in PA compared to the comparison group. These findings may suggest that an increase in time spent playing video games may be detrimental to PA in children. Rather than simply enabling PA by providing active video gaming equipment, interventions that consider the wide range of PA and sedentary behaviour opportunities available to young people in the home environment may be necessary to benefit PA and health. Further, the novelty effect observed for active video game use supports the call for the production of new active video games that attract children and sustain their interest.

No description available.

Libya is a country with a rich heritage in terms of culture, archaeological and historical sites, and a long Mediterranean coastline of sandy beaches. However, unlike the neighbouring countries of Tunisia and Egypt, which have similar attractions and which have capitalised upon these to develop successful tourist industries, Libya has not devoted its efforts to expand in this area, and this is partly a reflection of the fact that Libya has been an oil economy for the last forty years, and there has been no real need to attempt diversification of the economy on a grand scale; and partly a result of the political isolation of Libya as a result of UN and US sanctions. However, in recent years, the overreliance on oil revenues, and the potential of tourism to contribute substantially towards the economy, have encouraged the government to look towards tourism as a way to sustain the economy in the long term, and consequently, moves have been made to launch Libya as a tourist destination, especially since the lifting of the international sanctions mentioned. This study has focused on the efforts to date by Libya to refocus its economic strategy, and after reviewing the relevant literature, the researcher constructed three research instruments for use during fieldwork in Libya with different populations, in an attempt to establish the current status of the Libyan tourism industry. A questionnaire survey to establish demographic information about international tourists, and levels of satisfaction with the Libyan tourism product overall, was carried out with 282 tourists to Libya. An interview exercise was conducted with tourism administrators, and two indepth interviews were held with the UnderSecretary of State for Tourism Affairs, and the UnderSecretary of State for Education and Training Affairs, respectively. The tourist data was analysed using SPSS and crosstabulations were performed in order to identify the background of tourists (country of origin, age, sex, tourist behaviour) and their predispositions and opinions, by sex and age, on a range of dimensions within the two broader aspects of Accommodation, and Tourism Attractions. The findings reveal that women in general are less critical of Libya’s tourism product than men, and that tourists in the older age groups, who have a greater experience of travel, are more realistic in their expectations of what a developing country can offer to tourists. However, whilst Libya has immense potential as a tourist destination, with the possibility of offering several different tourist products, thereby being of interest to various market segments, it is currently unable to pursue these opportunities because of shortcomings in tourist infrastructure, in particular its lack of accommodation, tourist information, and service quality. What is currently being delivered to tourists is a substandard product which begins and ends with bureaucratic procedures at entry/exit points to the country, and which is characterised by an experience in between that reflects the lack of planning. The thesis concludes that a proper planning framework, which includes appropriate levels of investment, is necessary for a tourism industry in Libya to thrive and contribute towards the economy to the extent that the government hopes, and envisages.

In Saudi Arabia there is a growing amount of leisure time and a high percentage of disposable income is being spent on various forms of tourism; such trends have increased the number of Saudis travelling to tourist destinations, internationally or domestically. Spending the annual holiday away from Saudi is normal for most Saudi families and it is estimated that the total expenditure on domestic tourism in Saudi Arabia is only 16.7% of total tourism expenditure. International expenditure was estimated (in 1995) to be US$7.6 million US$ and this increased to more than US$ 8.2 million in 1997 which is about 17.3% of total oil revenue estimated in 1998 and nearly 5.6% of the Saudi gross domestic product. Consequently, foreign tourism is a substantial drain on the current account, so the government has been trying to persuade more of its citizens to holiday at home. This situation will require tourism marketer to understand fully the need of tourists. Under increasingly competitive conditions, effective tourism marketing is impossible with out an understanding of tourists' motivation to choose a Saudi travel destination. The purpose of this study is to describe and analyse the status of domestic tourism motivation. The research took place in Saudi Arabia, concentrating on the motivation 'push' and 'pull' factors of tourist behaviour towards domestic tourism in an Islamic and Arabic culture. Data were collected by means of a questionnaire using a 5-point Likert-scale. Out of 1400 questionnaires distributed, in two tourism cities Jeddah and Abha, 505 usable questionnaires were verified and prepared for the final analysis. In view of the intensive and extensive data and interdependent relationships between variables, the statistical techniques used in this research include reliability analysis, frequencies, cross tabulation, mean, standard deviation, chi-square, factor analysis, Pearson correlation, multiple regression and one-way ANOVA. The results of the analysis of push motivation indicates nine factors: (Fl) cultural value factor; (F2) utilitarian factor; (F3) knowledge factor; (F4) social factor; (F5) economical factor; (F6) family togetherness factor; (F7) interest factor; (F8) relaxation factor; (F9) convenience of facilities factor. The result of the factor loading for pull motivational items presents nine pull factors: (Fl) safety factor; (F2) activity factor; (F3) beach sports/activities factor; (F4) nature/outdoor factor; (F5) historical/cultural factor; (F6) religious factor; (F7) budget factor; (F8) leisure factor; (F9) upscale factor. This study found that the most important push and pull factors as perceived by Saudi tourists are 'cultural value' and 'religious'. The major findings of the study were that the push factors positively and strongly related to pull factors. Also, the study found that no significant correlation existed between push and pull motivation items and the social demographic variables, educational level, income level and age. The only significant correlation was found between pull motivation items and the gender. In the case of the push factors the test found that there is no significant correlation between push motivation factors and the educational level, with one exception, a significant correlation between social factor and the educational level in Abha. The study found that there are significant correlations between the economical push motivation factor and the income level, while the remaining eight factors are not significantly correlated with the income level in Jeddah. Also, there is a significant correlation between the knowledge factor and the income level in Abha. The results indicate that there is significant correlation between push motivation factors and age as follow: cultural value factor and age in Jeddah, interest factor and age in Abha and social factor and age in Abha. The study found that there is significant correlation between push motivation factors and the gender. A significant correlation is found between the interest factor, social factor and the gender in Jeddah. In addition, a significant correlation is found between the interests, the cultural value, the utilitarian factors and the gender in Abha. Relating to pull factors, the results indicate that there is no significance correlation between pull motivation factors and the educational level with the exception of a significant correlation between the upscale factor and the educational level in Jeddah, and a significant correlation between the activity factor and the educational level in Abha. A significance correlation exists between the upscale factor and the income level in both Jeddah and Abha. There is no significant correlation between pull motivation factors and age in Jeddah. However, there is significant correlation between the activity factor, the beach sports activities factor, the upscale factor and age in Abha. There is no significance correlation between pull motivation factors and gender in Jeddah, except the activity factor. In Abha there is significant correlation between the nature/outdoor factor, the activity factor, the safety factor and gender. The results indicate that educational and income level have no significant correlation with the kind of accommodation, while tourist age and the length of tourist stay have significant and strong correlation with the kind of accommodation. In respect of the family number and the kind of accommodation the result shows that there is a significant correlation between the kind of accommodation and the number of adults and number of children under 11 years group. The study indicates that there is no correlation between the kind of accommodation and the number of children in the 11- 16 years group. The complex interdependent relationships mean that providers of tourist facilities have to have a deep understanding of the motivation of potential markets to provide the required facilities and activities.