Master of Science

thesisA growing number of adolescents are more sedentary and are having fewer formal opportunities, such as physical education, to participate in physical activity. With the mounting evidence that sedentary time has a negative impact on cardio-metabolic profiles, health-related fitness, and physical activity, the need to find an affordable adolescent physical activity intervention that adolescents will participate in is paramount. The purpose of this research study was to evaluate the effect of the Personal Fitness merit badge system on physical activity, health-related fitness, and cardio-metabolic blood profiles in Boy Scouts aged 11-17 years. Fourteen Boy Scouts from the Great Salt Lake Council of the Boy Scouts of America earned their Personal Fitness merit badge. The research staff hosted one merit badge class held at a local church building in the Salt Lake Valley. At the classes, boys received the information needed to obtain the merit badge. They also had cardio-metabolic profiles taken using the Cholestech LDX analyzer, performed health-related fitness testing, and received a pedometer to measure free-living physical activity for 1 week. The boys completed the merit badge over 12 weeks and returned to a final class to again be tested on the aforementioned measures. Results from the related-samples Wilcoxon signed rank test showed that the median of differences between VO2 peak pretest and posttest scores were statistically significant (p=0.004). However, it also showed that the differences between the Pre-MetS and Post-MetS scores (p=0.917), average steps taken per day (p=0.317), and BMI (p=0.419) were not statistically significant. In conclusion, the merit badge had an impact on cardiovascular endurance of the boys who earn the merit badge, suggesting this program has potential to improve cardiovascular fitness and should be considered for boys participating in the Boy Scouts

City Size and Academic Focus: Exploring Trends in Canadian Urban Geography, Planning and Policy Literature

Between 1996 and 2001 almost half of the cities in Canada lost population. This uneven pattern of growthprompted an examination of the English-language urban geography, planning and policy-related academicliterature, which determined that Canadian urban academic journals fixated on large, growing metropolitanareas. Revisiting this literature a decade later, large cities have continued to dominate the academic discourse. Although articles dedicated to smaller and mid-sized cities are still relatively underrepresented in the literature, research focusing on more than one size of urban area has grown tremendously refl ecting an emerging interest in regional connectivity and a rise in the perception of urban areas as systems, rather than individual entities

Effects of the Boy Scouts of America Personal Fitness Merit Badge on Cardio-Metabolic Risk, Health Related Fitness and Physical Activity in Adolescents Boys

International Journal of Exercise Science 10(7): 964-976, 2017. A growing number of adolescents are more sedentary and have fewer formal opportunities to participate in physical activity. With the mounting evidence that sedentary time has a negative impact on cardio-metabolic profiles, health related fitness and physical activity, there is a pressing need to find an affordable adolescent physical activity intervention. One possible intervention that has been overlooked in the past is Boy Scouts of America. There are nearly 900,000 adolescent boys who participate in Boy Scouts in the United States. The purpose of this research study was to evaluate the effect of the Personal Fitness merit badge system on physical activity, health-related fitness, and cardio-metabolic blood profiles in Boy Scouts 11-17 years of age. Participants were fourteen (N = 14) Boy Scouts from the Great Salt Lake Council of the Boy Scouts of America who earned their Personal Fitness merit badge. Classes were held in the Spring of 2016 where boys received the information needed to obtain the merit badge and data were collected. Results from the related-samples Wilcoxon signed rank test showed that the median of differences between VO2 peak pre-test and post-test scores were statistically significant (p = 0.004). However, it also showed that the differences between the Pre-MetS (metabolic syndrome) and Post-MetS scores (p = 0.917), average steps taken per day (p = 0.317), and BMI (p = 0.419) were not statistically significant. In conclusion, the merit badge program had a positive impact on cardiovascular endurance, suggesting this program has potential to improve cardiovascular fitness and should be considered for boys participating in Boy Scouts

An exploration of constructions of masculinity : a narrative study of young Zulu men's stories of 'being a man'

Previously understood as a fixed and universal set of behaviours social constructionists are now arguing that masculinity is contextual and fluid, reflecting a multiplicity of different understandings. Within any 'cultural environment' the discourse of masculinity, culturally and historically bound, expresses attitudes and behaviours that shape the understanding of what it means to be a man. Adopting a narrative approach and analysis this research explores the stories of six Zulu men in seeking to elicit the aspects of their masculinity and show how these men negotiate an identity 'position' from the social narratives available to them. It was found that while the ideal Adult (responsible) man contrasts with the Young man's ('isoka' ) position there is a consistently hegemonic and patriarchal notion of masculinity

Transport and Spectroscopic Studies of the Effects of Fullerene Structure on the Efficiency and Lifetime of Polythiophene-based Solar Cells

Time-dependent measurements of both power conversion efficiency and ultraviolet-visible absorption spectroscopy have been observed for solar cell blends containing the polymer poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl) (P3HT) with two different functionalized C60 electron acceptor molecules: commercially available [6,6]-phenyl C61 butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) or [6,6]-phenyl C61 butyric acid octadecyl ester (PCBOD) produced in this laboratory. Efficiency was found to decay with an exponential time dependence, while spectroscopic features show saturating exponential behavior. Time constants extracted from both types of measurements showed reasonable agreement for samples produced from the same blend. In comparison to the PCBM samples, the stability of the PCBOD blends was significantly enhanced, while both absorption and power conversion efficiency were decreased.Comment: manuscript submitted to Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cell