Understanding excess body weight: New Zealand Health Survey

Explores the increase in obesity over a 36 year period to 2013 and investigates the impact of obesity on different birth cohorts. Summary Obesity is New Zealand’s leading modifiable risk factor for health loss. A number of diseases, including type 2 diabetes, ischaemic heart disease, ischaemic stroke and some cancers, are associated with excess body weight. Health loss can lead to premature death; life expectancy for the extremely obese is shortened by 8 to10 years. There has been a dramatic increase in the global prevalence of obesity. In 2012 New Zealand adults ranked third highest out of 15 OECD countries for measures of obesity; in 2010 New Zealand children (aged 5–17 years) ranked third highest out of 40 countries for overweight (including obesity). This publication explores the increase in obesity over a 36 year period to 2013 and investigates the impact of obesity on different birth cohorts. It reviews the current status of adult and child obesity in New Zealand, looking at the population groups that are affected most. The report also looks at the prevalence of extreme obesity, where health impacts on individuals are likely to be most pronounced

COACH LEADERSHIP COUNTS AND CIVIC MINDEDNESS MATTERS

The purpose of this sequential exploratory study was to investigate how New Jersey public high school coaches who self-report transformational leadership traits may potentially influence the development of civic mindedness in their respective student-athletes. Three main research questions were posed regarding coaches’ transformational leadership practices, their roles in the development of students’ civic mindedness, and connections between the two. It was posited that the behavior of coaches can have a significant effect on the student-athletes that participate on their teams. The theoretical lens of transformational leadership permeates this research. A mixed-methods approach was utilized. Kouzes and Posner’s Leadership Practices Inventory instrument was administered to 126 participants and quantitative analyses were conducted. The LPI domain of “Encouraging the Heart” was the predominant trait reported. Qualitative data were subsequently collected via an open-ended semi-structured interview; all fifteen of the participants detailed instances of civic engagement activities that focused on service, community involvement, ethics and morals, good citizenship, equity, and social/emotional skills. Transformational leadership in relation to the development of civic mindedness, although widely studied in general, has not been previously measured in the context of high school coaching. Stemming from this research, specific policy, practice and future research recommendations are suggested

Assessing Resiliency in the Face of Sea-Level Rise

The ocean is inextricably linked to human societies. Climate change and its associated impacts to the aquatic environment pose problems for human communities as well. It is important for students and citizens to understand the changes they can expect to see on a local level, and prepare to respond to those impacts due to climate change. In this lesson, high school earth science students participate in a mock “stakeholder meeting” activity, where they role-play as land planners, emergency responders, and watermen, using climate change projections and county elevation information to create resilience plans for their communities in the year 2050

A Piece of My Heart: Examining Healing Facilitated by the Performing Arts

Undergraduate Performing Arts - Theatr

The Formative Years of El Greco in Venice and Greece: Tradition, Influences and Innovation

The paper aims to delineate certain issues on the nature of influence in the early works and practice of El Greco. It briefly looks at the cultural context within which he painted during his formative early period in native Crete, and later his brief sojourn in Venice, which was to leave a lasting impact on the work he produced throughout his entire career. The specific historical, and subsequently cultural environments, of Crete and Venice contributed greatly to the heterogeneous and often difficult-to-classify style of this late Renaissance painter. In the paper, a few select works from the two initial periods are examined, which perhaps best illustrate what author Andrew R. Casper calls ‘the artful icon’, a work of art which merges the practical methods of icon making with the theory-driven and emotionally evocative nature of Italian Renaissance painting. El Greco’s affinity for Venetian Cinquecento painting, particularly the work of Titian and Tintoretto, is looked at not only through stylistic synchronicities, but also the artist’s explicit commentary on Vasari’s derogatory view of Venetian art in his Vite. The paper seeks to present insight into the wealth of iconographic and theoretical sources driving El Greco’s production in this formative period, as well as the specific cultural context and its role in his painting

The Formative Years of El Greco in Venice and Greece: Tradition, Influences and Innovation

The paper aims to delineate certain issues on the nature of influence in the early works and practice of El Greco. It briefly looks at the cultural context within which he painted during his formative early period in native Crete, and later his brief sojourn in Venice, which was to leave a lasting impact on the work he produced throughout his entire career. The specific historical, and subsequently cultural environments, of Crete and Venice contributed greatly to the heterogeneous and often difficult-to-classify style of this late Renaissance painter. In the paper, a few select works from the two initial periods are examined, which perhaps best illustrate what author Andrew R. Casper calls ‘the artful icon’, a work of art which merges the practical methods of icon making with the theory-driven and emotionally evocative nature of Italian Renaissance painting. El Greco’s affinity for Venetian Cinquecento painting, particularly the work of Titian and Tintoretto, is looked at not only through stylistic synchronicities, but also the artist’s explicit commentary on Vasari’s derogatory view of Venetian art in his Vite. The paper seeks to present insight into the wealth of iconographic and theoretical sources driving El Greco’s production in this formative period, as well as the specific cultural context and its role in his painting