Assessing and Managing Cruise Ship Tourism in Historic Port Cities: Case Study Charleston, South Carolina

Since 1970, the cruise industry has grown by more than 2,100 percent; cruise ships can now carry more than 6,000 passengers. Preservationists and planners managing some of the world’s most emblematic historic port cities—including Falmouth, Jamaica; Dubrovnik, Croatia; and Venice, Italy—have identified negative impacts (e.g., incompatible development, loss of intangible culture, pollution, wear and tear) caused by the surge in cruise ship traffic and infrastructure. Yet cruise markets continue to be developed within historic port cities without any assessment or regulation, in part because responses to this issue are still under development. This thesis is the first comprehensive study to explicitly position this preservation planning challenge within the field of heritage tourism management. It is also the first study to analyze international examples of adverse effects created by cruise tourism in historic port cities and present a list of tools—such as tourism management organizations, carrying capacity, port quotas and congestion fees—that can be applied to assessing and managing impacts, building on the theory that development in and around historic districts should stay within limits of acceptable change. Furthermore, this thesis uses Charleston, South Carolina as a case study and creates a framework for an assessment and phased management plan that would allow the city to reap the benefits of cruise tourism while mitigating costs and protecting invaluable cultural resources. Charleston is an important case as it is the first and only port in the United States to gain international attention for opposing the cruise industry specifically on the grounds that it impacts the city’s historic character. It is currently being transformed into a new cruise terminal without any preservation or environmental review. This thesis draws on research on the relationship between cruise tourism and historic ports in order to anticipate the impacts of Charleston’s proposed terminal

HOW BIOMECHANICAL IMPROVEMENTS IN RUNNING ECONOMY COULD HELP BREAK THE 2-HOUR MARATHON BARRIER

A sub-2-hour marathon requires an average velocity that is "only" 2.5% faster than the current world record of 2:02:57. A 2.5% reduction in the metabolic cost of running would enable a 2.5% faster velocity of 5.86 mls, i.e. a sub-2-hour marathon. Our analyses suggest that the metabolic cost of body wei 9 ht support could be reduced by running at the equator (slightly lower gravity = 9.78 mls ) and by pre-emptive, strategic dehydration of 2% body weight. Drafting and tailwinds could reduce the cost of forward propulsion. These biomechanical factors could each be exploited to enhance running economy by small amounts, and sum to save at least 178 seconds, permitting a time of 1:59:59

Practice and performance management strategies of emerging professional musicians in preparation for orchestra auditions

Orchestra auditions form a critical career challenge for many aspiring classical musicians. Hence, emerging professional musicians—defined as promising musicians entering the professional circuit without having yet established full-time employment—require effective practice and performance strategies to manage the demands of auditions. The purpose of this collective case study was to gain an in-depth and contextualized understanding of such practice and performance management strategies in relation to mock orchestra auditions. Data were collected using an intensive qualitative approach, combining semi-structured interviews with regular structured monitoring interviews, with eight musicians. Content analysis revealed that participants, on average, engaged in 33 hr of music-related activities per week, during which they adopted self-regulating strategies (i.e., strategic goal setting, structuring practice, monitoring practice, and reflecting on progress) to a varying degree. Furthermore, participants used different performance management strategies to cope with the pressure of auditions (i.e., practicing under pressure, imagery, relaxation, cognitive reframing, routines, attentional control, and substance use). Overall, the data suggest that the emerging musicians possessed several different practice and performance strategies but showed great variation in the use of such strategies and had a preference for long practice hours. Potential implications for music education organizations aiming to prepare students for auditions are discussed

Predicting the development of psychological morbidity in inflammatory bowel disease : a systematic review

Background: Psychological morbidity in inflammatory bowel disease is common with significant impact on quality of life and health outcomes, but factors which predict the development of psychological morbidity are unclear. Aim: To undertake a systematic literature review of the predictors of psychological morbidity in patients with inflammatory bowel disease. Methods: Electronic searches for English-language articles were performed with keywords relating to psychological morbidity according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV and subsequent criteria, and inflammatory bowel disease; in MEDLINE, PsychInfo, Web of Science and EMBASE for studies published from January 1997 to 25 January 2019. Results: Of 660 studies identified, seven met the inclusion criteria. All measured depression, with three also measuring anxiety. Follow-up duration was variable (median of 18 months range 6–96 months). Risk factors identified for development of psychological morbidity included physical factors: aggressive disease (HR 5.77, 95% CI 1.89 to 17.7) and greater comorbidity burden (OR 4.31, 95% CI 2.83 to 6.57) and psychological risk factors: degree of gratitude (r=−0.43, p<0.01) and parenting stress (R-change=0.03, F(1,58)=35.6, p<0.05). Age-specific risk was identified with young people (13–17 years) at increased risk. Conclusions: Identifiable risks for the development of psychological morbidity in inflammatory bowel disease include physical and psychological factors. Further research is required from large prospective studies to enable early interventions in those at risk and reduce the impact of psychological morbidity

Architecture & Urban Design—Amsterdam and Boston:

Massive urbanization puts pressure on public space and demands new programs along with alternative gathering places such as public interior spaces and a variety of forms of collective spaces. Moreover, in the rapidly changing city, infrastructure and mobility remain of vital importance. A coevolving diversity of program cannot be planned, but interventions in the city need constantly to be grounded on sharp design approaches to respond adequately to the necessities of the time—while being environmentally sustainable, given the available resources. In general, infrastructure, mobility, and public life manifest themselves in various forms as carriers of such urban development. Design experiments, as put forward in this book, show how to work with continuously changing urban conditions, with mobility transforming cities whilst with public spaces taking various forms, with programs which hybridize, and with new technologies to keep up with the urban dynamics. Given these themes, designs should carry awareness of the inclusiveness and accessibility of various systems and places, facilities, and technologies. Spatially this means questioning how to keep the city open and connected, attractive, and livable. In the interdisciplinary MSc II Design Studio Architecture &amp; Urban Design, students of the master tracks Architecture, Urbanism and Landscape Architecture of the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment work closely together. The integrative approach of this graduate course setting allows the students to examine urban space as architectural space and architectural space as urban space. Through an experimental design method, developed during the 2018 national research project Stad van de Toekomst,1 the studio is founded on the interest in the intervention in the built environment and its immediate effect on architecture and urban design. The global framework of the Stad van de Toekomst project is directly projected on Amsterdam Sloterdijk Station and Boston South Station areas, compressed and applied to this ten-week graduate course. Taken from a wider angle, the project is motivated by urgent social as well as local tasks in the urban areas, varying from housing demand, social inclusiveness, new economy, climate adaptation, and the like, taking into account the transitions in energy, mobility, circularity, and digitization. This echoes through in the central question of the Stad van de Toekomst project: How can we design and develop a transformation area in an integral way into an attractive and future-proof urban environment? In addition particularly, the project is motivated by the major system transitions impacting on societal tasks effectively desiring progressive urbanization in the first place

Effects of aging and dual tasking on step adjustments to perturbations in visually cued walking

Making step adjustments is an essential component of walking. However, the ability to make step adjustments may be compromised when the walker's attentional capacity is limited. This study compared the effects of aging and dual tasking on step adjustments in response to stepping-target perturbations during visually cued treadmill walking. Fifteen older adults (69.4 ± 5.0 years; mean ± SD) and fifteen young adults (25.4 ± 3.0 years) walked at a speed of 3 km/h on a treadmill. Both groups performed visually cued step adjustments in response to unpredictable shifts of projected stepping targets in forward (FW), backward (BW) or sideward (SW) directions, at different levels of task difficulty [which increased as the available response distance (ARD) decreased], and with and without dual tasking (auditory Stroop task). In both groups, step adjustments were smaller than required. For FW and BW shifts, older adults undershot more under dual-task conditions. For these shifts, ARD affected the age groups differentially. For SW shifts, larger errors were found for older adults, dual tasking and the most difficult ARD. Stroop task performance did not differ between groups in all conditions. Older adults have more difficulty than young adults to make corrective step adjustments while walking, especially under dual-tasking conditions. Furthermore, they seemed to prioritize the cognitive task over the step adjustment task, a strategy that may pose aging populations at a greater fall risk. For comparable task difficulty, the older adults performed considerably worse than the young adults, indicating a decreased ability to adjust steps under time pressure

Extrapolating Metabolic Savings in Running: Implications for Performance Predictions

Training, footwear, nutrition, and racing strategies (i.e., drafting) have all been shown to reduce the metabolic cost of distance running (i.e., improve running economy). However, how these improvements in running economy (RE) quantitatively translate into faster running performance is less established. Here, we quantify how metabolic savings translate into faster running performance, considering both the inherent rate of oxygen uptake-velocity relation and the additional cost of overcoming air resistance when running overground. We collate and compare five existing equations for oxygen uptake-velocity relations across wide velocity ranges. Because the oxygen uptake vs. velocity relation is non-linear, for velocities slower than ∼3 m/s, the predicted percent improvement in velocity is slightly greater than the percent improvement in RE. For velocities faster than ∼3 m/s, the predicted percent improvement in velocity is less than the percent improvements in RE. At 5.5 m/s, i.e., world-class marathon pace, the predicted percent improvement in velocity is ∼2/3rds of the percent improvement in RE. For example, at 2:04 marathon pace, a 3% improvement in RE translates to a 1.97% faster velocity or 2:01:36, almost exactly equal to the recently set world record

Integrating copy number data of 64 iAMP21 BCP-ALL patients narrows the common region of amplification to 1.57 Mb

Background and purposeIntrachromosomal amplification of chromosome 21 (iAMP21) is a rare subtype of B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (BCP-ALL). It is unknown how iAMP21 contributes to leukaemia. The currently known commonly amplified region is 5.1 Mb.MethodsWe aimed to narrow down the common region of amplification by using high resolution techniques. Array comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH) was used to determine copy number aberrations, Affymetrix U133 Plus2 expression arrays were used to determine gene expression. Genome-wide expression correlations were evaluated using Globaltest.ResultsWe narrowed down the common region of amplification by combining copy number data from 12 iAMP21 cases with 52 cases from literature. The combined common region of amplification was 1.57 Mb, located from 36.07 to 37.64 Mb (GRCh38). This region is located telomeric from, but not including, RUNX1, which is the locus commonly used to diagnose iAMP21. This narrow region, which falls inside the Down Syndrome critical region, includes 13 genes of which the expression of eight genes was significantly upregulated compared with 143 non-iAMP21 B-other cases. Among these, transcriptional repressor RIPPLY3 (also known as DSCR6) was the highest overexpressed gene (fold change = 4.2, FDR DiscussionThe more precise definition of the common region of amplification could be beneficial in the diagnosis of iAMP21 based on copy number analysis from DNA sequencing or arrays as well as stimulate functional research into the role of the included genes in iAMP21 biology.</p