Thin-layer chromatographic separations of cycloketone 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazones

Ten cycloketone 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazones have been chromatographed by thin-layer techniques using Eastman Chromagram sheets coated with silica gel and developed with benzene in Eastman sandwich apparatus. Good separations of all test compounds from binary mixtures with the standard cyclohexanone 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazone are reported as well as good separations of more complex mixtures of the test compounds. Lack of precision is noted despite a rigorous standardized procedure. Evidence is offered that chromagram sheets differ in adsorbent activity

The 1945 Purchase of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway: How World War II Changed Racing History and Culture

The Indianapolis 500 did not occur from 1942 to 1945 because of World War II. And due to war efforts to conserve fuel and a suspension of all auto racing activities, Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner of the time, Eddie Rickenbacker, let the track deteriorate. The racetrack began to crumble, the infield became overgrown, stands began to fall apart, and many people thought that was the end for the legendary race course, and so to the Indianapolis 500. This thesis explores how the future of the track and race were secured through the efforts of two men, Wilbur Shaw and Tony Hulman. Shaw was a three-time Indianapolis 500 winner, who was able to get wealthy businessman, Hulman, involved in buying the course. Through the efforts of these two men, the race course was saved and repaired, improved even, and the Indianapolis 500 was given the green light to continue in 1946. These men were not only able to build the track back up to its former glory, but make it something much more, and by so doing, they also created their own culture around racing. Not only does the reopening of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway depict the rise in entertainment following World War II, but it also shows the rise in the popularity of race culture, especially in the Indianapolis community. Since 1946, the Indianapolis 500 has brought hundreds of thousands of fans from around the world to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway annually

Environmentally Related Urbanization and Violence Potential

In contrast to historical examples in which urban increase is accompanied by the pull factors of wealth and development, post-industrialized sub-Saharan African urbanization patterns are characterized by a lack of economic growth, confounding experts. Simultaneously, African conflict scholars have observed a major geographical shift in African conflict onset, moving out of rural regions and into urban centers. Recognizing the effects of increasing climate variability and threatened agricultural livelihoods, this study hypothesizes perceived economic advantage in cities induces human movement with potential for over-urbanization dynamics that exacerbate civil unrest. To investigate, a Panarchy theoretical framework of nested adaptive cycles is used to construct a comprehensive multi-scalar model of environmental vulnerability, assessing topdown state-level factors as well as bottom-up sub-urban forces culminating at the municipal scale. A sixteen year time-series regression analysis (2000-2015) integrates these influences, confirming national composite measures of environmental vulnerability/adaptability and rural urban demographic transformation correlate strongly with a state’s likelihood of urban political violence. An out-of-sample validation comparing a geostatistical analysis of the model to observed georeferenced urban violence suggests the model is robust. The resulting state classifications of environmentally related urbanization and violence potential guide qualitative analysis. On this basis, identified patterns in governance, resources and human agency are consolidated into a framework of urban environmental vulnerability, revealing regime duration/consolidation, specifically at a threshold of fifteen years, and democratic polity reduce the likelihood of urban violence. Importantly, the structures, processes and norms of governance define the distribution of resource-driven national capacity—sharing resiliency at all scales or conserving it for the sake of the state, with major implications for household capacity and the likelihood of adaptive mobility. Additionally, democracies inherently encourage competition and contestation processes critical to adaptation and reorganization without dismantling the entire system; however, in “younger” democracies these dynamics typically align with higher mobility and lower levels of urban violence reflecting “healthy” function. Autocracies, on the other hand, stifle these processes and risk becoming too rigid, achieving urban stability where governance is well-established, but limiting overall adaptability to environmental impact and increasing vulnerability to crisis as revealed in destabilized autocracies where urban violence is most extreme

The Value Of Food: A Small Rural School Cafeteria Budget Case Study

This mixed-methods case study was used to examine a small school district in a rural setting that operates a child nutrition program without encroaching on the general fund, while still serving organic, made-from-scratch meals. Current research confirms that school districts are challenged to balance the requirements of the National School Lunch Program while maintaining quality. School lunch programs, particularly small rural ones, are operating at a deficit. This researcher addressed an important gap by providing a comprehensive account of a fiscally sound cafeteria budget in a rural area for a small school, serving 150 lunches per day. In this study, the researcher examined the characteristics that support a financially viable lunch program in a small rural school district. The primary research question for this study asked, “How can small, rural schools operate a nutrition program that is financially self-sustaining?” The supporting research questions were used to explore what factors or practices the nutrition director, administrator, and business manager of a small, rural school nutrition program perceived positively contribute to or impede the operation of a self-funding nutrition program. There were three participants in this single-site, case study: a district administrator, nutrition director, and business manager. In addition, data was collected from a survey, interviews, observation, and the following artifacts: wellness policy, lunch menus, production records, and the cafeteria budget. The data collected affirmed that the primary drivers of the success of this program are commitment to quality food, dedicated staff, a conscientious attitude towards waste and spending, and a well-designed and equipped onsite kitchen. The most prominent challenges to this self-sustaining program include lack of time, few vendors who deliver the desired ingredients, and difficulty finding and retaining qualified staff. Small, rural, lunch programs will have the best chance at success if they support dedicated staff, invest in an on-site kitchen, procure quality ingredients, prepare meals from scratch, and provide students with hands-on learning about the food system. Further research should include multicase studies of small rural cafeteria programs to identify benchmarks of operating expenses. These studies should include sites with viable budgets and sites that encroach on the general fund

Doctor of Philosophy

dissertatio

Effects of aerobic training with and without weight loss on insulin sensitivity and lipids

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of exercise training with modest or greater weight loss (≥3%) or not (<3%) on insulin sensitivity, lipoprotein concentrations, and lipoprotein particle size in overweight and obese participants. Methods: Adults (N = 163, body mass index: 25–37 [kg/m2]) participated in 8 months of exercise training. Insulin sensitivity, lipid concentrations, lipid particle size and other cardiometabolic variables were measured at baseline and follow-up. Participants were categorized by whether they achieved at least modest weight loss (≥ 3%) or not (<3%) following the intervention. Results: A greater improvement in insulin sensitivity was observed in adults performing exercise training with at least modest weight loss (2.2 mU·l-1 ·min -1, CI: 1.5 to 2.8) compared to those who did not (0.8 mU·l-1 ·min -1, CI: 0.5 to 1.2). Similar results were observed for acute insulin response, triglycerides, non-HDL cholesterol concentration, low density lipoprotein (LDL) particle size and high density lipoprotein (HDL) particle size (p<0.05), when all exercise groups were combined. No significant results across weight loss categories were observed for LDL, HDL, glucose, or insulin levels. Conclusion: The present study suggests that aerobic exercise combined with at least modest weight loss leads to greater improvements in insulin sensitivity, triglycerides as well as other non-traditional lipid risk factors (non-HDL cholesterol, HDL/LDL particle size). Clinicians should advocate patients who are overweight/obese to exercise and obtain modest weight loss for improved cardiovascular benefits

Relationships between Adipose Tissue and Cytokine Responses to a Randomized Controlled Exercise Training Intervention

Adipose-derived cytokines play a prominent role in mediating the metabolic consequences of obesity and excess body fat. Given this, we hypothesized that alterations in adipose tissue stores incurred with exercise training would be reflected in changes in systemic cytokine concentrations. The Studies of Targeted Risk Reduction Intervention through Defined Exercise (STRRIDE), where pronounced changes in adipose tissue stores were observed in the absence of significant changes in dietary intake, provided an ideal setting in which to test this hypothesis. Participants were randomized to six months of inactivity or one of three types of aerobic exercise training regimens: low-amount-moderate- intensity, low-amount-vigorous-intensity, and high-amount-vigorous-intensity. Plasma samples were collected at baseline and two weeks after cessation of six months of exercise training or inactivity. In 189 participants, concentrations of seventeen cytokines were measured using Bio-Plex Cytokine Assays (BioRad, CA); ten additional cytokines were measured in sixty of these subjects. Of all cytokines tested, the only concentration changes that approached statistical significance were those for granulocyte monocyte-colony stimulating factor and vascular endothelial growth factor, which appeared to increase with training in the low-amount-high-intensity group only (P<0.05 for both cytokines). No response to exercise training was noted for any additional cytokine in any of the groups. No relationships were observed between changes in cytokine concentrations and changes in fat mass or other measures of body habitus. In contradiction to our hypothesis, despite significant alterations in body composition, exercise training produced limited cytokine responses. Originally published Metabolism, Vol. 57, No. 4, Apr 200

Impact of Hormone Replacement Therapy on Exercise Training-Induced Improvements in Insulin Action in Sedentary Overweight Adults

Exercise training (ET) and hormone replacement therapy (HRT) are both recognized influences on insulin action, but the influence of HRT on responses to ET has not been examined. In order to determine if HRT use provided additive benefits for the response of insulin action to ET, we evaluated the impact of HRT use on changes in insulin during the course of a randomized, controlled, aerobic ET intervention. Subjects at baseline were sedentary, dyslipidemic, and overweight. These individuals were randomized to six months of one of three aerobic ET interventions or continued physical inactivity. In 206 subjects, an insulin sensitivity index (SI) was obtained with a frequently sampled intravenous glucose tolerance test pre- and post-ET. Baseline and post-intervention fitness, regional adiposity, general adiposity, skeletal muscle biochemistry and histology, and serum lipoproteins were measured as other putative mediators influencing insulin action. Two-way analyses of variance were used to determine if gender or HRT use influenced responses to exercise training. Linear modeling was used to determine if predictors for response in SI differed by gender or HRT use. Women who used HRT (HRT+) demonstrated significantly greater improvements in SI with ET than women not using HRT (HRT-). In those HRT+ women, plasma triglyceride change best correlated with change in SI. For HRT- women, capillary density change, and for men, subcutaneous adiposity change, best correlated with change in SI. In summary, in an ET intervention, HRT use appears associated with more robust responses in insulin action. Also, relationships between ET induced changes in insulin action and potential mediators of change in insulin action are different for men, and for women on or off HRT. These findings have implications for the relative utility of ET for improving insulin action in middle-aged men and women, particularly in the setting of differences in HRT use. Address Originally published Metabolism, Vol. 57, No. 7, July 200