Inter-­

Landscape describes the natural world, but more importantly, it provides a sense of place and belonging when it is regarded as animate, and not simply dead matter that’s purpose is to get you from one geographical location to the next. One way to get to this place of relationship is to engage the body – to move beyond the seen to the felt and to listen closely to all that is shared in that silence

Land development in Massachusetts: Its effect on the environment within Essex and Middlesex counties from 1990 to 2007

Since the 1970\u27s urban centers in and surrounding Essex and Middlesex Counties in Massachusetts have expanded and proliferated into adjacent communities. This expansion has led to the conversion of land for housing, businesses, schools, recreation, and parks, placing significant strain on existing land cover, land use, and available natural resources. Mounting growth pressures and a reduction of undeveloped land have raised serious concerns as cropland and forest fragmentation, wetland destruction, protected open-space infringement, pollution, and systematic losses of rural conditions have become obvious. To monitor development, the post-classification change detection method was applied to Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) satellite data and GIS was used to detect, quantity, and document the extent of development and its effect on the environment and to assess and quantify the demographic changes that occurred within the counties from 1990 to 2007. Classification of the 1990 image resulted in 217 clusters and 214 clusters for the 2007 image The overall accuracy achieved for the 1990 image classification was 87.3% with a KHAT value of 0.848, and the overall accuracy for the 2007 classification was 86.27% with a KHAT value of 0.840. From 1990 to 2007 land cover change occurred primarily along major transportation corridors. The post-classification change detection results indicate that Essex and Middlesex County combined gained 23,435.66 new acres of land development from 1990 to 2007 through a loss and change in acreage from the Bareland, Forest, Grassland, Water, and Wetland land cover class categories. Results indicate that there was an approximate 0.56% overall (net) increase of newly developed land areas within the 1990 and 2007 image classifications from 415.46 acres or 0.64 square miles. In addition, there was a substantial decrease (-40.0%) within the grassland category. Land development was responsible for a portion of the decrease of grasslands (-13.63%), which occurred mostly within Middlesex County. Results also indicate that new land development occurred within several Commonwealth of Massachusetts designated environmentally-sensitive areas: 722 acres in areas of critical environmental concern, 670 acres in priority habitats of rare species, 1,092 acres in living waters core habitats and critical supporting watersheds, 1,318 acres in protected and recreational open spaces, and within 0-1000 feet of 600 certified vernal pools. In addition, several rare or imperiled species inhabiting these areas may have been adversely affected by land development through habitat loss, change, or fragmentation, and/or passage corridor disruptions. A GIS comparison of the new land development acreages and census demographic statistics within Essex and Middlesex County cities and towns during this period indicate that communities with more families with children exhibited more land development, and communities with higher median household income exhibited less land development. Land change detection over the 17-year period indicated encroachment of development in areas of environmental concern, but level of development varied by socio-demographic factors. This study also illustrated that the combined use of remotely sensed data, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology, and demographic data are effective for use as a diagnostic tool and/or base to be built upon to explore associations, indicators, or drivers which may influence land cover change and its effects on existing environmental conditions in areas exhibiting change. In addition, this study provided awareness to ancillary research where scientific guidelines were derived for the protection of specific wildlife habitats and resident species. Lastly, this study presented several land cover modeling and web deployed data dissemination tools for the dissertation results as well as provided a conceptual framework for the successful adoption and implementation of these tools for organizations engaged in natural resource planning and management

Validity of Sit-And-Reach with Plantar Flexion Test in Children Aged 10-12 Years

El principal objetivo del presente estudio fue examinar la validez de criterio de los tests sit-and-reach clásico (SRC) y sit-and-reach con flexión plantar (SRF) para estimar la extensibilidad de la musculatura isquiosural en niños. Un total de 72 escolares (40 niños y 32 niñas) de 10-12 años de edad realizaron los tests lineales SRC y SRF, y el test criterio de medida elevación pasiva de la pierna recta. Los resultados de la correlación de Pearson (r) mostraron moderados valores de asociación de los tests SRC y SRF con la extensibilidad isquiosural (r = 0,71 y r = 0,74, ps < 0,01, respectivamente). Los valores de validez de criterio encontrados para el SRF fueron mayores que para el SRC, excepto para las niñas en el que fueron similares. Los hallazgos del presente estudio sugieren que la evaluación de la extensibilidad de la musculatura isquiosural mediante el test sit-and-reach debería realizarse permitiendo la flexión plantar.The main purpose of this study was to examine the criterion-related validity of classic sit-and-reach (CSR) and sit-and-reach with plantar flexion (SRF) tests for estimating hamstring extensibility in children. A total of 72 students (40 boys and 32 girls) aged 10-12 years performed the lineal tests CSR and SRF, and the criteria measure passive straight-leg raise test. Pearson´s correlation (r) results showed moderate values ​​of association between CSR and SRF with hamstring extensibility (r = 0.71 and r = 0.74, ps < 0.01, respectively). Criterion-related validity ​​values found for SRF were greater than for the CSR, except for the girls where the values were similar. The findings of this study suggest that the assessment of hamstring flexibility by sit-and-reach test should be performed allowing plantar flexion.El primer autor recibe una ayuda del programa de Formación del Profesorado Universitario (FPU) del Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte (AP2010-5905)

Job Satisfaction and Employee Motivation Mediates the Productivity of Covid-19 Inducted Work From Home

COVID-19 lockdown has tremendously effected and change the world in different aspects and dimensions. Working from home became inevitable after the Ghanaian government enforced a full lockdown in Accra, the capital, and Kumasi, the second largest city and this resulted too many workers beginning to work from home for the first time. Furthermore, reactions of employees varied in the midst of the pandemic as a result of many variables. The thrust of the study is to examine the mediating role of job satisfaction and motivation on productivity of working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath using Structural Equation Modelling. The researcher sampled 355 respondents in order to examine the mediating role. The findings however showed that job satisfaction and motivation mediate the relationship between organizational factors, employee engagement, and technical support on one hand, and productivity on the other hand. To reach higher levels of performance, the study recommends that practitioners establish techniques to foster good work attitudes and boost perceived organizational support

Covid-19 Working From Home Is Equally Productive AS Working From Office

COVID -19 lockdown has and continues to shape the world of work. Working from home became popular after the Ghana government put a statewide restriction on people's movement and a full lockdown in Accra, the capital, and Kumasi, the second largest city. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to shape the world of work. It caused many workers in Ghana to work from home for the first time. This study examined the productivity of working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic using one sample t-test. It sampled a total of 355 respondents in the Greater Accra and Greater Kumasi of Ghana to examine their level of productivity. The findings show that COVID-19 inducted working from home is equally as productive as working from office

EVALUATION OF UNEXPLAINED DYSPNEA IN A YOUNG ATHLETIC MALE WITH PECTUS EXCAVATUM

Pectus excavatum (PE) is a relatively common congenital deformity of the anterior chest wall associated with reduced exercise capacity. Uncertainty exists over the nature of physiologic impairment in PE. Evidence suggests that myocardial compression exerted by the displaced sternum on the right heart chambers, disables the ability of the heart to augment stroke volume during exercise. This case study describes the evaluation of an athletic 20 year old Caucasian male, lifelong non-smoker, with severe pectus deformity and previous fixation procedure to repair a sternal fracture. The patient performed an incremental cycle ergometer exercise test to determine the etiology of his dyspnea with exertion. The patient demonstrated normal work output and normal aerobic capacity but displayed dynamic hyperinflation. Mechanical restriction of tidal volume expansion appeared to be the major contributors to exercise limitation. These results are compared and contrasted with similar cases reported in the literatur

Expression, purification, crystallization and structure of human adipocyte lipid-binding protein (aP2)

The crystal structure of human adipocyte lipid-binding protein (aP2) with a bound palmitate is reported at 1.5 Å resolution

Editor-in-Chief Systems Physiology-Cardiopulmonary EFFECTS OF CHRONIC SWIMMING ON BLOOD PRESSURE AND SODIUM PUMP OF HYPERTENSIVE RATS

ABSTRACT Osiecki R, Malfatti CRM, Royes LFF, Sampedro RMF, Mello CF. Effects of chronic swimming on blood pressure and sodium pump of hypertensive rats. JEPonline 2008;11(5):35-41. In this study we investigated whether chronic exercise alters erythrocyte Na + ,K + -ATPase activity and hemodynamical parameters in adult male spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). Animals were randomly assigned to trained (n= 8) and untrained (n= 8) groups. Training was conducted 6 days/week for 12 weeks, alternating 60 and 90 min swimming sessions daily. At the end of the training program, animals underwent a 90 min swimming challenge and blood lactate was measured. Twenty hours after the challenge, a cannula was introduced into the right carotid artery for direct recording of the blood pressure and heart rate. After obtaining hemodynamical measures, blood was collected for erythrocyte Na + ,K + -ATPase activity. Training significantly reduced systolic (-9.2 %; p&lt;0.01), diastolic (-13.3 %; p&lt;0.01), mean blood pressure ( -11.3 %; p&lt;0.001), resting heart rate (-14.5 %; p&lt;0.001), plasma lactate levels (-44.8%; p&lt;0.05) and a higher erythrocyte Na + ,K + -ATPase activity (41.5 % ; p&lt;0.05). It is suggested that the exercise-induced increase of erythrocyte Na + ,K + -ATPase activity may contribute to decreased blood pressure