The effects of an individualized diet and exercise program on body fat levels in Taiwanese females aged 40-60 : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in Nutritional Science

Obesity is increasingly common throughout the world and is associated with significant health problems. Middle-aged migrant women are one of the risk groups for obesity. Their body fat levels increase because of their age and menopause experiences. Besides, the change of lifestyle and eating habits after immigration also affects their body fat levels. Recent studies show the combination of diet and exercise may decrease body fat levels. This study is to observe the effects of a short-term diet and exercise intervention on body fat levels in middle-aged Taiwanese women in New Zealand. Thirty Taiwanese women aged between 40-60, who currently live in New Zealand were enrolled in this study. Body weight, height, skinfolds and circumferences were measured before and after the study. Subjects also completed a 24-hr diet recall, three-day diet record and answered a questionnaire to provide general information and an assessment of physical activity levels. Subjects were divided into an intervention group (n=17) and a control group (n=10). In the intervention group, subjects were given a personal diet and exercise program for 9 weeks according to their diet and physical activity levels subjects in the control group stayed with their own previous diet and exercise habits without any modification. The results of this study showed no significant differences (P>0.05) in body weight between both groups. However, body fat levels in the intervention group decreased significantly (p<0.001) compared to the control group. It was also found that subjects who had higher initial body weight and BMI, lost more body weight during the intervention. Besides, subjects who were more active during the intervention lost more weight. It was concluded that a short-term diet and exercise interventions might decrease body fat levels in middle-aged Taiwanese women in New Zealand

Planning and Design Strategies for Sustainable Urban Development

In order to create high impact low-carbon architecture it is necessary to address issues at the urban scale. This paper reviews methods adopted in the UK, Hong Kong and America and develops a series of themes that should be incorporated in modern city development strategies to produce green and sustainable outcomes. These are concerned with: planning policies and building regulations; neighborhood and site planning; and building design. Underlying themes which must be incorporated are connected to: building façade, systems design and operation; energy demand and supply; transportation systems; water supply and use; and wastes/pollution issues. To achieve success a number of support mechanisms are needed including strategic and infrastructure development, implementation of assessment frameworks, and the distribution of information and knowledge to stakeholders. The themes are compared to recent developments in the city of Kunming and proposals for future applications are explored

Pressures for Asymptotically Sub-additive Potentials Under a Mistake Function

This paper defines the pressure for asymptotically subadditive potentials under a mistake function, including the measuretheoretical and the topological versions. Using the advanced techniques of ergodic theory and topological dynamics, we reveals a variational principle for the new defined topological pressure without any additional conditions on the potentials and the compact metric space.Comment: 13page

The myth of cyberdemocracy in China\u27s information society

The explosive development of the Internet in China has catalyzed the emergence of the information society. It is a commonly held view that the Internet provides an online public sphere which provides citizens real opportunities for the democratization of public life. This common sense creates a myth of cyberdemocracy. My thesis tests whether this myth can be justified with respect to China\u27s information society. First, the nature of the myth is analyzed. I examine how the Chinese people understand and interpret the myth . Second, I focus on whether the myth of cyberdemocracy can be justified, especially in the context of China\u27s information society. Based on the analysis of China\u27s information society background, I also explore how the myth works to eliminate social contradictions and to obscure the power relations underlying the discourse. I hypothesize that the contradiction between the market-oriented economy and political control impairs the Internet\u27s democratic potential, and power relations in China\u27s information society have not been changed

The Role of Chaos in One-Dimensional Heat Conductivity

We investigate the heat conduction in a quasi 1-D gas model with various degree of chaos. Our calculations indicate that the heat conductivity $\kappa$ is independent of system size when the chaos of the channel is strong enough. The different diffusion behaviors for the cases of chaotic and non-chaotic channels are also studied. The numerical results of divergent exponent $\alpha$ of heat conduction and diffusion exponent $\beta$ are in consistent with the formula $\alpha=2-2/\beta$. We explore the temperature profiles numerically and analytically, which show that the temperature jump is primarily attributed to superdiffusion for both non-chaotic and chaotic cases, and for the latter case of superdiffusion the finite-size affects the value of $\beta$ remarkably.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figure