NEW CURRENTS AND NEW CONCEPTS IN COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

Community/Rural/Urban Development,

Recovery of the soul: sustainable rebuilding in post-Katrina New Orleans

Although the notion of sustainable development is usually associated with the design and building of new settlements, this chapter illustrates how this notion can also be used to undergird the recovery strategies to rebuild a city struck by a natural disaster. The chapter shows how a sustainable development approach in post-Katrina New Orleans has helped frame post-disaster recovery efforts by applying the following five sustainability concepts: community participation in deciding best strategies for recovery to continue the healing; public safety and security for all neighbourhoods; 100-plus-year time-horizon infrastructure planning; a diverse economy; and sustainable settlement pattern

Introduction: towards sustainable regions

This book highlights how the notion of sustainability has permeated all the research and teaching activities of the Planning Research Centre and the Urban and Regional Planning program at the University of Sydney. In line with the trend in major international planning faculties in the United States, Australia and Europe, Sydney University is integrating sustainability as a core approach across specialisations

Walling in or walling out: gated communities

Journal ArticleIt has been four decades since the United States legally outlawed all forms of public discrimination - in housing, education, transportation, and accommodations. Yet today, we are seeing a new form of discrimination -- the gated, walled, private community. Americans are electing to live behind walls with active security mechanisms to prevent intrusion into their private domains by people of different races and cultures

Assessing other children in the household support of exercise and healthy eating

Childhood obesity is on the rise throughout the world. Overweight/obesity in childhood is a major risk factor for serious health consequences (Patchucki, Lovenheim, Harding, 2014). The family unit can address childhood obesity when the family works together to support each other in physical activity (PA) and healthy eating decisions. Sibling support may be particularly important due to the amount of time siblings spend with each other. Siblings’ impact on informal social behavior may be a more powerful motivator compared to formal parenting norms (Patchucki, Lovenheim, Harding, 2014). Having an obese younger sibling creates a five times greater likelihood the older sibling will be obese (Patchucki, Lovenheim, Harding, 2014), thus, interventions aimed at siblings may be particularly effective. The literature suggests this is an understudied topic in need of attention. During February 2015, 22 families from a Boys and Girls Club participated in a 2 week pilot study testing an intervention designed to improve PA and healthy eating within family units. Families were randomly assigned to a treatment group (n=12 families and 20 children) or a measurement-only control group (n=12 families and 15 children). Children in the treatment group participated in 40 minutes of PA and 20 minutes of nutrition education during after school time. Three times a week program staff distributed take home cards to parents that described an exercise or nutrition activity to complete as a family. Families also participated in family night and parents participated in a nutrition educational session. Researchers developed a quantitative survey to assess sibling support by modifying the Coordinated Approach to Child Health questionnaire that was designed to measure parent and friend support for healthy eating and exercise (Nadar, Stone, Perry, Osganian, Kelder et al, 1999). The survey contained 10 questions on PA and nutrition by querying children about the support of other children in their household (i.e., “When I am active, other children in my house smile and cheer for me.”). The three response options were “almost never/never,” “sometimes,” and “almost always/ always.” Other children in the house were defined as brothers, sisters, stepbrothers, stepsisters, cousins or other children that live with the family. Child participants (age 6-11) completed the survey at baseline (pretest) and at the end of the 2-week intervention (posttest). Scores will be added to give an overall score. Changes from baseline to posttest will be compared across treatment groups. Data are expected to be released for dissemination prior to the conference so that the results can be presented. In addition, the process of pilot testing this measure 68 times suggested changes that may improve future iterations of this assessment of sibling support. It would be beneficial to add a question asking if there are other children in the house. Assessing the quality of the sibling relationship could be considered using the Sibling Relationship Questionnaire (SRQ) (Leeuw, Snoek, Leeuwe, Strien, 2007), a higher SRQ score signifies better sibling relationship. The quality of the sibling’s relationship may impact how support for healthy choices is received within the sibling group. Children are prone to picking the extreme answer on a questionnaire based on their current emotional state (Chambers, Johnston, 2002). Thus, it may be beneficial to change the answer choices from “never or almost never” to “almost never” and “always or almost always” to “always” to avoid extreme answers. Siblings participate in PA and mealtime together on a regular basis (Patchucki, Lovenheim, Harding, 2014). This new assessment provides a first step in measuring sibling support for PA and healthy eating. Understanding how siblings can positively influence one another to promote healthy choices may help reduce risk factors for childhood obesity

Effects of Blast Chilling on Fresh Pork Quality in Chops from the Longissimus Dorsi

Carcasses (n=40) with defined fat free lean and carcass weight were selected 45 minutes postmortem. Carcasses were split, and sides subjected to conventional or blast chilling regimens. Sides that were blast chilled had Longissimus dorsi (LD) chops with slower pH decline, greater cook loss and greater Warner-Bratzler Shear force than chops from conventionally chilled sides. These results demonstrate that current blast chilling practices have the potential to negatively impact pork tenderness

Effects of Blast Chilling on Fresh Pork Quality in Cuts from the Psoas Major, Semimembranosus, and Triceps Brachii

Carcasses (n=40) with defined fat free lean and carcass weight were selected 45 minutes postmortem. Carcasses were split and sides subjected to conventional chill (CC) or blast chilling (BC) regimens. The Psoas Major (PM) from BC sides had increased purge loss, but was juicier, more tender and less chewy than the PM from CC sides. The Semimembranosus (SM) from BC sides had higher 30 hour pH, darker color scores, and had a lower Hunter a value than the SM from CC sides. No treatment effect was found in the Triceps Brachii

The Effect of Rapid Chilling of Pork Carcasses during the Early Postmortem Period on Fresh Pork Quality

The objective was to investigate the effects of blast chilling on pork quality in cuts from the Longissimus thoracic et lumborum (LM), Psoas major (PM), Semimembranosus (SM; both superficial [SMS] and deep [SMD] portions) and the Triceps brachii (TB). Forty carcasses (10 carcasses per replication) were split and sides were assigned to either blast chill (BC, –32°C for 90 min, followed by spray chill at 2°C for 22.5 h) or conventional chill (CC, spray chilled at 2°C for 24 h) regimens. The LM from BC sides had lower (P \u3c 0.05) temperature at 2 h postmortem (CC 21.8°C, BC 9.7°C), 4 h (CC 13.3°C, 3.8°C BC), 22 h (CC 4.2°C, BC 1.4°C), and 30 h (CC 0.4°C, BC –0.2°C). The LM pH in BC sides was higher at 4 h (CC 6.09, BC 6.34), 22 h (CC 5.81, BC 5.89), and 30 h (CC 5.68, BC 5.74) postmortem. The BC resulted in higher (P \u3c 0.05) 30 h postmortem pH in the SM compared to the CC regime (CC 5.68, BC 5.74). The BC sides had increased (P \u3c 0.05) purge in the PM (CC 0.48%, BC 0.74%) and increased (P \u3c 0.05) cook loss in chops from the LM (CC 22.37%, BC 24.24%). The PM from BC sides were more juicy (CC 7.50, BC 8.30), less chewy (CC 2.80, BC 2.10), and more tender (CC 7.90, BC 8.60). Chops from the LM of BC sides had greater Warner-Bratzler shear force (CC 2.00, BC 2.30). Color was affected in the SM with BC sides showing darker color score (CC 3.00, BC 3.20) and redder Hunter a value (CC 16.35, BC 16.02). Chilling treatment did not affect sarcomere length in the LM. Treatment did not affect postmortem proteolysis in any cut. The response to chilling regimen is different across different muscles which may be caused by location, rate of chilling, and fiber type

Global to Channel Scale Water Level Forecasting and Analysis

A multi-step process to creating better grids and to get to a global tidal model for ADCIRC 1. Process of merging shoreline databases together for better mesh development. 2. High resolution optimal meshes for the US East and Gulf of Mexico coasts 3. Hindcast of Hurricane Irma using ADCIRC + SWAN (to learn about how system performs) 4. Development of 30m and 120m meshes for the US East and Gulf Coasts 5. ADCIRC global tidal model developmen