Master of Science

thesisChildhood obesity is a major focus of public health. The high rates of childhood obesity can be partially attributed to the increased availability and consumption of energy-dense and nutrient-poor foods and excess time spent in sedentary behavior. The purpose of this study was to determine whether after-school physical activity and dietary habits predict cardio-metabolic risk in a sample of ethnic minority elementary-school-aged children from low-income schools. Participants were a convenience sample of 92 children (3rd-6th grades) recruited from four Title I schools located in a metropolitan area from the Mountain West region of the United States. Children completed portions of the After School Student Questionnaire (ASSQ) and Physical Activity Questionnaire for Children (PAQ-C) to measure after-school physical activity and nutrition. Blood pressure, waist circumference, and cardio-metabolic blood markers were collected in a fasted state before school hours to calculate a continuous metabolic syndrome (MetS) composite score. Predictive relationships were analyzed using a multiple linear regression model. Neither physical activity nor nutrition were predictive of a MetS score. However, there was a linear, positive, and moderate correlation between physical activity and nutrition scores (r = 0.29, p < 0.05). In a secondary analysis, a linear regression established the relationship between after-school physical activity and nutrition. The linear model indicated that a one-unit increase in PA score was associated with 1.28-unit increase in nutrition score. The findings indicate that cardio-metabolic health cannot be predicted based on self-reported after-school physical activity and nutrition habits; however, self-reported PA and nutrition habits are linearly related. Overall, the majority of children in this study exhibited favorable cardio-metabolic health. In fact, 84.8% of the subjects had two or fewer of the risk factors for metabolic syndrome and 40.2% of subjects displayed none of the risk factors. Further research is needed in determining whether after-school physical activity and nutrition habits influence cardio-metabolic health

The Style Stakes: Fashion, Sportswear and Horse Racing in Inter-war America

Despite an acknowledgement that, historically, the relationship between horse racing, women and fashion was important, existing literature provides little detail on the actual clothes that women wore as racegoers. The aim of this article is to add missing depth on the clothing of fashionable women at horse races, focusing on the United States during the inter-war period. In so doing, the discussion extends understandings of the history, and the material culture, of sporting spectatorship more generally. The article also introduces original work on the male spectator and his racegoing wardrobe. Climatic considerations to do with dressing appropriately for the great outdoors are discussed along with other influential factors on spectator dress such as contemporary fashion journalism and photography. The industry supplying fashion consumers was in transition at this time also and New York acquired prominence as a centre for a new mode of sporty, all-American fashion that was termed ‘sportswear’. As well as dealing with the clothes and the individuals who wore them, then, the article tells the story of the broader socio-economic conditions of American fashion, sport and sportswear that formed – and informed – their wearing

Eve (Bombay Sapphire Design Discovery Award)

Background The Bombay Sapphire Design Discovery Award is Australias richest and most prestigious design award; dedicated to rewarding excellence in design, improving and promoting awareness of design in Australia and improving commercial success of talented Australian designers. 10 finalists present a portfolio to a panel of expert judges, a committee of Industry leaders, including international contribution from people such as Philippe Stark, Ron Arad and Tom Dixon. Antonio Citterio was involved with the competition the year I won. The award recognises people that push the boundaries of design through innovation and originality. Contribution - Eve is a high-end sculptural furniture object made from mirror-polished stainless steel, clad in a leather skin. The structure was created through research and exploration of the manipulation sheet material into complex forms. My investigation resulted in a method of creation of sophisticated curvilinear geometry using simple fabrication methods. The sheet material profiles are water-jet cut from a CAD file, rolled into shape by hand and then welded together to create the form. These forms would conventionally only be achieved by laborious expensive tooling techniques. Significance - My fabrication method provides an opportunity to create complex forms in a simple cost effective manner. This technique has been applied to new furniture pieces put more importantly can be applied to any appropriate product design

Visual Resource Reference: Collaboration Between Digital Museums and Digital Libraries

The Information Institute of Syracuse at Syracuse University is engaged in a project designed to build collaborative digital museum and digital library reference services. To that end, the project team is currently developing, testing, and evaluating procedures and mechanisms that will enable museums and libraries to work together in providing reference assistance over the Web to support patrons\u27 image information needs. The user-centered project is based upon a successful model for digital reference that has been widely embraced in the digital library community. This approach is expected to yield new insight into users\u27 image seeking behavior that will help museums and libraries provide transparent access to visual resources across collections and institutions. This article presents an overview of the project and discusses the challenges involved in helping users find appropriate images on the web

Herman Melville's Moby-Dick : hermeneutics and epistemology in Ishmael's seafaring

This paper defends a reading of Hennan Melville's Moby-Dick that elevates Ishmael's status from mere narrator of Ahab's tragedy to that of protagonist of his own story, a novel of epistemological seafaring. As a metaphysical quester, Ishmael provides the novel's only reliable and complex vision of the condition of man and the universe, despite its necessary incompletion. Not dismissing the tragedy of Ahab, the study illustrates the limitations of his fixed hermeneutics, the simplicity of his "final" interpretations, and the consequent misuse of his will, which ultimately denies him his humanity. Ahab's tragically limited quest is interpreted as the counterpoint to Ishmael's more fluid and complex quest, becoming one of many backdrops for Ishmael' s drama and thus contributing to the novel's main epistemological dialogue. Ishmael's drama is defined as the soul's comprehension completing itself, a drama of epistemology and hermeneutics. His multiple methodologies are explored though the dramatic stress, which is defined as Ishmael's struggle to maintain an independent sense of spiritual and intellectual equilibrium while various experiences and observations on board the Pequod throw this equilibrium off balance. Ishmael goes through a series of "resurrections," regaining lost equilibrium as he comes to a state of balanced acceptance of two key perplexities concerning the human condition and the universe, namely, inescapable polarities and the unattainablity of Ultimate Truth

A Novel Human Cytomegalovirus Locus Modulates Cell Type-Specific Outcomes of Infection

Clinical strains of HCMV encode 20 putative ORFs within a region of the genome termed ULb′ that are postulated to encode functions related to persistence or immune evasion. We have previously identified ULb′-encoded pUL138 as necessary, but not sufficient, for HCMV latency in CD34+ hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPCs) infected in vitro. pUL138 is encoded on polycistronic transcripts that also encode 3 additional proteins, pUL133, pUL135, and pUL136, collectively comprising the UL133-UL138 locus. This work represents the first characterization of these proteins and identifies a role for this locus in infection. Similar to pUL138, pUL133, pUL135, and pUL136 are integral membrane proteins that partially co-localized with pUL138 in the Golgi during productive infection in fibroblasts. As expected of ULb′ sequences, the UL133-UL138 locus was dispensable for replication in cultured fibroblasts. In CD34+ HPCs, this locus suppressed viral replication in HPCs, an activity attributable to both pUL133 and pUL138. Strikingly, the UL133-UL138 locus was required for efficient replication in endothelial cells. The association of this locus with three context-dependent phenotypes suggests an exciting role for the UL133-UL138 locus in modulating the outcome of viral infection in different contexts of infection. Differential profiles of protein expression from the UL133-UL138 locus correlated with the cell-type dependent phenotypes associated with this locus. We extended our in vitro findings to analyze viral replication and dissemination in a NOD-scid IL2Rγcnull-humanized mouse model. The UL133-UL138NULL virus exhibited an increased capacity for replication and/or dissemination following stem cell mobilization relative to the wild-type virus, suggesting an important role in viral persistence and spread in the host. As pUL133, pUL135, pUL136, and pUL138 are conserved in virus strains infecting higher order primates, but not lower order mammals, the functions encoded likely represent host-specific viral adaptations

Field Research Is Essential to Counter Virological Threats

The interface between humans and wildlife is changing and, with it, the potential for pathogen introduction into humans has increased. Avian influenza is a prominent example, with an ongoing outbreak showing the unprecedented expansion of both geographic and host ranges. Research in the field is essential to understand this and other zoonotic threats. Only by monitoring dynamic viral populations and defining their biology in situ can we gather the information needed to ensure effective pandemic preparation.</p

Validity and worth in the science curriculum: learning school science outside the laboratory

It is widely acknowledged that there are problems with school science in many developed countries of the world. Such problems manifest themselves in a progressive decline in pupil enthusiasm for school science across the secondary age range and the fact that fewer students are choosing to study the physical sciences at higher levels and as careers. Responses to these developments have included proposals to reform the curriculum, pedagogy and the nature of pupil discussion in science lessons. We support such changes but argue from a consideration of the aims of science education that secondary school science is too rooted in the science laboratory; substantially greater use needs to be made of out-of-school sites for the teaching of science. Such usage should result in a school science education that is more valid and more motivating and is better at fulfilling defensible aims of school science education. Our contention is that laboratory-based school science teaching needs to be complemented by out-of-school science learning that draws on the actual world (e.g. through fieldtrips), the presented world (e.g. in science centres, botanic gardens, zoos and science museums) and the virtual worlds that are increasingly available through information and communications technologies (ICT)