Learner mobility and active school travel (AST) has been proposed to improve school attendance and academic performance. In South Africa, approximately 86% of learners have been reported as walking to and from school. AST in Africa is becoming less common in urban areas, and this may be a contributing factor to the increased risk and frequency of noncommunicable diseases due to decreased physical activity. The aim of this wait-list controlled evaluation was to assess the physiological and cognitive changes of access to a bicycle versus walking on adolescents. Specifically, changes adolescent's physical activity levels and executive function in a South African low-income community. Two schools were recruited, with the evaluation school receiving bicycles and the control a school who were yet to receive bicycles. Significant differences were observed across the physiological and executive function assessments. Most notably in the executive function tests, the evaluation group showed significant time to completion decreases across all three tests (N-Back, Arrow Flanker, WCST: p< 0.001). The results from this study are significant, as they are the first to assess anthropometric, physiological and executive function in South African adolescents from low-socioeconomic regions. It is evident that there are potential improvements in working memory, inhibition and shifting due to cycling as a mode of AST or during leisuretime. Further research needs to determine the specific mechanisms associated with these improvements.

This thesis proposes two distinct but connected ideas: that John Keats’s idiom of friendship was haunted by “sequestered” longings and that he ultimately valued specific, one-on-one partnerships as a basis for his poetical character. The Introduction places the thesis within its critical context and outlines “paradoxical solitude,” a concept the poet expressed by joining a “kindred spirit” in a wilderness retreat in “O, Solitude.” I begin by examining the evolving role of solitude in Keats’s literary predecessors (Chapter I). I then trace the development of ideas of creativity and solitude from his 1814-1815 verse, including his first association with a coterie and the influence of Wordsworth (Chapter II). Building on these findings, I explore the poet’s introduction to the Hunt circle in 1816, assessing his relationships with its members and their overstated roles in the production of Poems (Chapter III). I then discuss how Keats regarded the composition of Endymion in 1817 as a poetic “test,” specifically tailored to reinforce his identity as a solitary poet (Chapter IV). I contend that Keats engaged in a dialogue of independence with Reynolds, adapted the theories of Hazlitt, and restlessly travelled throughout England as a means of rejecting the highly social periods of 1818 (Chapter V). I then consider the creative gains of his northern expedition with Brown in the summer of 1818. I argue that Keats exaggerated his development into a “post-Wordsworthian” poet, positioning himself outside both the coterie’s sphere and the reach of Blackwood’s criticism, and inspiring the theme of Hyperion (Chapter VI). In closing, I analyze Keats’s advice to Shelley to be a selfish creator of his poetic identity. Only through paradoxical solitude, I argue, was Keats able to construct the poetic identity that led him to compose the poems on which his fame rests in the 1820 volume.

Barn reser mycket, precis som vuxna människor gör. En stor andel av barnens resor går till och från skolan, men utöver det sker även mycket fritidsresor till bland annat föreningsliv och idrottsanläggningar. Hur barn reser i vardagen påverkar både barns hälsa och utvecklande av självständighet. Med anledning av detta handlar detta examensarbete om just barns mobilitet och hållbara vardagsresor. Syftet är att lyfta barns olika resande samt inspirera och ta fram underlag för ett vidare arbete med barns mobilitet. Studien utfördes främst genom litteraturstudier samt enkätundersökningar. En resvaneundersökning gjordes tillsammans med Järfälla kommun för elever och föräldrar på Skälbyskolan, där frågorna undersökte resorna till skolan samt fritidsaktiviteter. En ytterligare enkät skickades ut till kommuner i nätverket ResSmart i Stockholmsområdet, och undersökta huruvida kommunerna arbetar med skol- respektive fritidsresor eller inte samt anledningar till detta. Resultatet av undersökningarna visar att gång och cykel är de vanligaste färdsätten till skolan, oftast själv eller tillsammans med jämnåriga. Skillnaden är dock stor gällande hur många barn som cyklar beroende på årstid, där endast en mycket liten andel cyklar på vinterhalvåret. Till fritidsaktiviteter är det överlägset vanligaste färdmedlet bil, vilket leder till att barnens självständighet kring dessa resor är låg. Anledningen till skjuts till fritidsaktiviteter är främst avståndet men även kopplat till tiden på dygnet och det generella familjepusslet. Vid skjuts till skolan uppgavs anledningen vara tidsbrist och att föräldrarna ändå skulle resa vidare med bilen. Vid jämförelse mellan förortsskolan Skälbyskolan och Gustav Vasa skola i Stockholms innerstad, syns att gång är det vanligaste färdsättet i båda områden. Däremot sker varken skjutsning eller cykling till Gustav Vasa skola, trots att anledningen till skjuts när den väl sker är densamma som vid Skälbyskolan. Gällande det kommunala arbetet är det fler kommuner som arbetar med hållbara skolvägar än barns fritidsresor. Dessutom skiljer sig arbetssättet, och vid arbete med fritidsresor nämns endast fysiska åtgärder och mjuka åtgärder saknas helt. Utifrån resultatet har åtgärdsförslag presenterats för ett utvecklat arbete inom området. För skolresor bör fokus ligga på att påverka föräldrarnas resvanor samt underlätta för vintercyklande. För fritidsresor föreslås istället att mycket åtgärder kopieras från skolvärlden, och där arbetet bör starta med inventering och resvaneundersökningar. Vidare föreslås att mjuka åtgärder ska introduceras, samt att komplexa och långsiktiga åtgärder som fritidsbussar och tätare stadsplanering är nödvändiga. Slutligen menar studien att vidare arbeten och arbete krävs för ett fortsatt utvecklat arbete med barnsresor. Området fritidsresor behöver lyftas både i underlag och information men även i medier och i större forum. / Just like adults, children travel regularly in their everyday life. A major part of children’s travels goes to school, but apart from that children also do leisure travels to club activities and leisure facilities. The everyday travel habits of children affect both their health and independence. For this reason, this thesis will embrace children’s mobility and sustainable everyday travels. The aim is to raise the different travel types of children as well as present a basis for continued work within the topic. The study contains of literature research and questionnaires. One of the surveys was made in collaboration with Järfälla municipality. The two questionnaires, one for the students and one for their parents, investigated the travels habits to school and leisure activities for children in Skälbyskolan. Another questionnaire was sent to municipalities in the network of ResSmart. This survey collected information about if and how the municipalities work with children’s school travels and leisure travels, including also the reason why in some cases nothing was done. The result of the surveys showed that walking and cycling are the most common ways of transport to school. Most of the travels was done alone or with other children. Considering the use of bicycle, the use is dependent on the time of the year, where a large proportion cycle in summer but few in winter. To leisure activities, a great majority of the travels are made by car. Because of this, the independence of children’s leisure travel is generally non-existing. The reason why parents drive their children to leisure activities mainly depends on the distance, but also the time of the day in relation to darkness and the general family life. When driving children to school, the main reasons are lack of time and continued travels by car. When comparing Skälbyskolan with Gustav Vasa skola in the downtown of Stockholm, the result showed that walking is to most popular way of travel for both schools. However, neither cycling nor driving was made regularly to Gustav Vasa skola, even if the reasons when actually driving was the same as in Skälbyskolan. Regarding the municipality planning and actions, it is more common that municipalities work with sustainable school travels than children’s leisure travels. Furthermore, the working methods differ, where only physical arrangements are made within leisure travel routes and the lack of mobility management is a fact. With basis in the literature and survey results, action proposals are presented for a developed work within the area. For school travels, the actions should focus on reaching the parents and affecting their choice of mode, as well as actions for easier and more comfortable cycling during winter season. Considering leisure travels is the proposal to copy actions from the work with school travels, where the work should start off with inventions and travel habits surveys in leisure clubs. Furthermore, mobility management actions should be introduced, but also complex and long-term actions including leisure buses for children as well as compact city planning. Finally, the study mean that further work and surveys are needed for continued and developed work with children’s mobility. The area of children’s leisure travels should be raised both in planning documents and information, but also is media and larger forums.