MS

thesisAbnormal carbohydrate metabolism frequently first appears in women during pregnancy as a transient condition. This form of latent diabetes mellitus is termed gestational diabetes. Diabetes is pregnancy, either overt or gestational, poses an increased risk to both mother and fetus. Fortunately such risks have been greatly reduced by advances in the treatment of this complication. Obviously, the implementation and the effectiveness of special antenatal care is dependent on an accurate and early diagnosis. However, the identification of gestational diabetics is inherently difficult because these women frequently lack the clinical symptoms and signs associated with overt diabetes mellitus. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of a one-hour blood sugar test as a method to detect gestational diabetes, and to compare its effectiveness to that of the more commonly used screening criteria - family history of diabetes, previous large infant, previous poor obstetrical history, and maternal obesity. In addition, maternal age and parity was examined to determine their usefulness in predicting the development of gestational diabetes. This retrospective study was based on an examination of the medical records of 630 women, 531 of whom were administered a one-hour blood sugar test in addition to being screened for gestational diabetes by traditional methods. Seven gestational diabetics were identified through the use of a one-hour glucose screening test, and five of these seven prenatal patients also had traditional screening factors present. The remaining two patients representing 29 percent of the gestational diabetics were identified solely by the one-hour test. A maternal age of 25 year or more was the only factor which demonstrated a significant association with gestational diabetes. Macrosomia, which was not correlated with gestational diabetes, was however significantly associated with maternal obesity, maternal weight gain of greater than 30 pounds during pregnancy, maternal age of 25 year or more, and a past history of large infants

Designing for reimagined communities

Within place-based design research the concept of community has become an increasingly important reference point, particularly in relation to the areas of co-design and participatory design. This Special Issue ‘Designing for Reimagined Communities’ emerged from a UK Arts and Humanities Research Council funded programme Design Innovation & Land-Assets: Towards new communities. Here, a review of available participatory and collaborative framings of community in design revealed a broad landscape of directions and options

IBPI: Bicycle and Pedestrian Education Program

Since the 1990s, the amount of attention and funding for bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure has increased significantly. This, combined with the role of transportation in public health and environmental concerns, has raised expectations for engineering and planning practitioners to possess more knowledge and skills related to pedestrian and bicycle planning and design. This demand requires more education around these topics but university curriculum doesn?t reflect these important shifts in the field. This project was intended to begin addressing the need for more bicycle and pedestrian curriculum in two ways: (1) Determine the existence of and need for courses and curriculum modules on bicycle and pedestrian design and planning by conducting a national survey of planning and transportation faculty; and (2) Expand the range of opportunities for university students to learn about the value and needs of bicycle and pedestrian transportation by designing and testing two new curriculum modules, one for transportation planning and one for transportation engineering. The survey provides a comprehensive source of information on the amount and type of coverage given to bicycle and pedestrian topics in transportation planning and engineering courses at the graduate and undergraduate level. It also provides useful insight into faculty and student interest in these topics, and a rich data source which IBPI can use to identify areas for future module and curriculum development. The process of developing and piloting the two curriculum modules demonstrated how bicycle and pedestrian topics can be successfully integrated into existing courses that may have a broader transportation scope. In addition, the feedback on the student evaluations illustrated the low level of student knowledge about some of the basic elements of bicycle and pedestrian facilities design and analysis. This supports the need for more integration of these topics into transportation planning and engineering courses

Flexural Fillet Geometry Optimization for Design of Force Transducers Used in Aeronautics Testing

Force transducer designs used in the ground testing aeronautics community have seen minimal change over the last few decades. With increased focus on data quality and long- term performance capabilities over the life of these instruments, it is critical to investigate new methods that improve these designs. One area of focus in the past few years at NASA has been on the design of the exural elements of traditional force balance transducers. Many of the heritage balances that have been heavily used over the last few decades have started to develop fatigue cracks. The recent focus on the exural design of traditional single-piece force balances revolves around the design of these elements such that stress concentrations are minimized, with the overall goal of increasing the fatigue life of the balance. Recent research in the area of using conic shaped llets in the highly stressed regions of traditional force balances will be discussed, with preliminary numerical and experimental data results. A case study will be presented which discusses integration of this knowledge into a new high-capacity semi-span force balanc

Design Innovation: Experimental Creative Research Approaches

Design innovation is a way of structuring design research processes and practices in pursuit of valuable outcomes. Drawing together ideas of complexity theory, creative action and communities of practice, we depict design research as creative action ? an emergent, unpredictable, creative interaction amongst embodied participants and reified objects. From complexity theory we are interested in how modes of interaction and connection, combined with non-linear feedback processes, can give rise to innovation. In particular, we wish to explore how use of visual artefacts and the design of spatial and temporal dimensions of research might influence outcomes. We are attentive to the body as an expressive process rather than simply an instrument of the intellect and are cognisant that design research, like any other social practice, is linked to the processes of identity construction, which is inherently tentative, temporal and temporary in nature

What does the chronic pain grade questionnaire measure?

This study explored the ability of the Chronic Pain Grade Questionnaire (CPG) to operationalise the WHO's model of health outcomes, namely the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF). Twelve expert judges used the method of discriminant content validation to allocate the seven items of the CPG to one or more ICF outcome, namely, impairment, activity limitations and participation restrictions. One-sample t-tests classified each item as measuring impairment, activity limitations or participation restrictions, or a combination thereof. The results indicated that the CPG contains items able to measure each of the three ICF outcomes. However, the pain grade classification system used in the CPG conflates the ICF outcomes. The implication of this conflation of outcome for the assessment of interventions is discussed

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The Football Factor: Shaping Community on Campus

Many American universities continue to invest in expensive intercollegiate football programs, and specifically cite the sport’s ability to foster a sense of community (SOC) as justification for the cost. This study sought to assess the importance of SOC and the influence of football on the cultivation thereof. A pre-post test design utilizing an online survey compared SOC levels for students (N = 886) before and after the implementation of Division I football on a large university campus. No significant differences were found in SOC levels before and after the football season (regardless of attendance). Post-test SOC perceptions differed based on game attendance (i.e., moderate and loyal attendees reported the highest levels). Finally, SOC had a moderate to strong positive influence on four outcome variables: Satisfaction, Retention, Current Support of Athletics, and Future Support for Athletics. This study suggests that while SOC is very important to students, at least in the short term the introduction of a football program does not foster a greater SOC for all students

The Football Factor: Shaping Community on Campus

Many American universities continue to invest in expensive intercollegiate football programs, and specifically cite the sport’s ability to foster a sense of community (SOC) as justification for the cost. This study sought to assess the importance of SOC and the influence of football on the cultivation thereof. A pre-post test design utilizing an online survey compared SOC levels for students (N = 886) before and after the implementation of Division I football on a large university campus. No significant differences were found in SOC levels before and after the football season (regardless of attendance). Post-test SOC perceptions differed based on game attendance (i.e., moderate and loyal attendees reported the highest levels). Finally, SOC had a moderate to strong positive influence on four outcome variables: Satisfaction, Retention, Current Support of Athletics, and Future Support for Athletics. This study suggests that while SOC is very important to students, at least in the short term the introduction of a football program does not foster a greater SOC for all students