Electricity in now available to 15,- 000,000 homes in the United States,  says Miss Zula M. Dowler in a thesis  A Study of the Operation Cost of an Electric- Oven  prepared at Iowa State College.  Electricity is expensive, but an attempt to reduce the cost by adopting more efficient methods may make it more widely used

McDaniel, Dorothy

Nisewanger, Melba

English

"Electricity in now available to 15,- 000,000 homes in the United States," says Miss Zula M. Dowler in a thesis "A Study of the Operation Cost of an Electric- Oven" prepared at Iowa State College. "Electricity is expensive, but an attempt to reduce the cost by adopting more efficient methods may make it more widely used."</p

Digital Repository @ Iowa State University (ISU)

Home Economics Research at Iowa State

Do you realize the amount of research in Home Economics that is being done right here at Iowa State College? At least 32 major problems in research have been completed by the graduate students in Home Economics this year. In Foods and Nutrition, nine have been completed; in Applied Art, four; in Textiles and Clothing, ten; in Home Administration, three; in Institutional Management, two and in Vocational Education, six. In addition to these problems done by graduate students, members of the faculty have done some studies, and at least 15 minor problems have been studied by undergraduate students.</p

4 THE IOWA HOMEMAKER Home Economics Research at Iowa State By DOROTHY McDANIEL AND MELBA NISEWANGER Effect of Cleaning and Pressing of Garments The statement ·made by the dry cleaners that cleaning and pressing of garments are means of preserving the life of the fabric seems to be true, ac-cording to a recent study of Miss Marion Etta Griffith on "The Effect o.f Dry Cleaning and Pressing Upon Wool-en and Worsted Materials Used for Men's Suitings." "In no case was there any decrease in bursting after dry cleaning nor was there after ten cleanings," says Miss Griffith. Two methods used in testing the materials were the bursting and break-ing methods. In the bursting method the material was placed under a cir-cular plate of the tripo-d of the Mullen tester and the upper wheel turned to the left fastening the material secure-ly over the rubber bulb which is forced up by pressure exerted by turning the hand wheel continuously to the right at a speed of approximately two revo-lutions a second until the material breaks. The gage recorded the burst-ing pressure in pounds per square inch. In the breaking method, strips of material of a definite size were placed in a Sc·ott Universal tester and strain-ed to the breaking point. Of the four types of materials tested, serge had the highest bursting and breaking point. This is perhaps clue to the quality of the fabric and the construction of the yarn. Tweed and mixture were next and flannel tested the poorest. This is perhaps due to the short length of the fiber. Points to be considered in choosing men's ·suitings, says Miss Griffith are: See that the fabric is firmly woven and the number of warp and filling threads evenly divided, and remember that the· quality of the fiber and construction of the fabric rather than price are the best guides to wearing quality. Lettuce for Underweight College Girls That lettuce is a _valuable food in the daily menu because it aids in maintain-ing the acid-base balance of the body, and adds bulk to the diet, yet increases only ·slightly the calorific intake, is the conclusion of Ruth Chapman from the results of the research for her master's thesis, "The Effect of Lettuce in the Diets of Underweight College Girls." Three separate experiments 'were conducted during the progress of the research. The first experiment, includ-ing both a study on weight and on the hemoglobin and red-blood cell count, was conducted for a period of two months. One group of underweight college girls supplemented their diet with 100 grams of lettuce daily. A sec-ond group acted as controls. Neither group attempted to- cnan~e the:r pre-vious food habits. Although there was a marked difference in the gain of weight of the two groups-77 percent of the girls who ate lettuce gained, while only 33 percent of the contro-ls gained-it was felt that no true evalu-ation of the effect of lettuce on weight could be made without further study because of the many variables. Analysis of hemoglobin co.ntent and of red-blood cell count of each girl was made at the beginning and at the end of the period. Here, also, the increase was higher among the lettuce eating group than among the controls. Be-cause of uncontrolled factors, however, definite conclusions were not warrant-eel. The second experiment, which was an analysis of tl1 e urinary specimens of five girls chosen from the lettuce-eating group, indicated that lettuce ad-ded to a random diet decreased the to-tal acidity of the urine, but increased the volume and the hydrogen ion con-centration. A comparison o.f the effect upon ur-inary acidity of a basal diet-and of a basal diet plus lettuce, comprised the third experiment. One girl, upon a five day basal diet composed of weighed food portions, showed a defi-nitely increasing acidity with lo.wer hydrogen ion concentration. With the addition of lettuce to the basal diet during the next five days, the higher hydrogen ion concentration and lower acidity which ensued, demonstrated the value of lettuce in · increasing the alkalinity o.f the urine. Dietary Study in a Home Man-agement House SH ERNIAN'.S recommendation for apportioning 20 percent of the food budget among each of the five classes of food: eggs, milk and milk pro.clucts; cereals; vegetables and fruits; sugars and meats, has been es-tabilshed as a desirable standard in food buying. Whether menus planned in compliance with tllese rules are proving nutritionally adequate and safe for home or institutional use is a problem which has rather recently be-gun to receive consideration. At the request O·f Miss Ruth Lind-quist, professor in household adminis-tration and director of the home man-agement houses, a dietary study of the menus so planned by senior .girls in the Mary B Welch house, was under-taken by . Miss Garnet Searle as the research problem fo.r her masters' thes-is. · The purpose of the study was two-fold: to ascerta.in the actual daily food consumption of the senior college girls in the home management house over a period of four weeks, and compare these findings with the standards sug-gested by Sherman, as well as to com-pare the data thus obtained with that of other investigations; to compare (Continued on page 17) Effect of Shoes on Feet "Only 28 of the 311 high school and junior high school girls examined had shoes of the correct length, 14 had shoes of the correct width and 269 had shoes both to short and too narrow," says Mrs Maude Eastwood Little in a recerit "Study of the Effect of Var-ious Types of Shoes Upon the Feet of the High School Girl." Mrs. Little, with the assistance of the school nurse, another nurse and teachers, made a study of the feet of the girls of the junior high school and high school in the Ames public schools, and also a study of the shoes worn by these girls. The most serious foot defects are among the high schools girls. Out of the 311 girls tested, 13 had fiat feet, which means that both arches have fallen. 'fhe cause of the frequency of this defect was in most cases due to wearing shoes too short and narrow and in some instances are due to high heels. Far more pumps and strap pumps are worn by the older girls than by the younger girls, indicating an in-creased interest in appearance and a willingness to sacrifice comfort for fashion. A calloused condition of the feet was more prevalent in high school girls probably due to the fact that they wore tllis type of a shoe which usually has thin sewed soles probably making it easier for the feet to be in-juured. Some points to be considered in choosing shoes for a high school girl, says Mrs. Little, are: '"For school · wear, choose oxfords; shoes with broad toes and low heels; shoes of correct length and widtll, that is, sufficiently long and wide to insure comfort and freedom of movement; choose a shoe with a flexible arch; in general, buy shoes of leather; avoid pumps with high heels and short vamps; avoid shoes with narrow pointed toes, and always have shoes properly fitted at the time of purchase." Researc.h at Iowa State Do yo urealize the amount of re-search in Home Economics that is be-ing done right here at Iowa State Col-lege? At least 32 major problems in res(1arch have been completed by the graduate students in Home Economics this year. In Foods and Nutrition, nine have been completed; in Applied Art, four; in Textiles and Clothing, ten; in Home Administration, three; in Institutional Management, two and in Vocational Education, six. In addi-t:on to these problems done by gradu-ate students, members of the faculty have done some studies, and at least 15 minor problems have been studied by undergraduate students. 

https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2061&amp;context=homemaker

Home Economics Research at Iowa State

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Digital Repository @ Iowa State University (ISU)

Digital Repository @ Iowa State University (ISU)