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Study design is among the most fundamental factors influencing collection and interpretation of data. The purpose of this study is to understand the effect of design choices by evaluating gait mechanics in healthy control participants using three primary objectives: 1) determine the repeatability of marker placement, 2) determine the effect of set versus self-selected walking speed, and 3) examine the correlation between gait asymmetry and motor variability. Ten and fifty-one healthy control participants were recruited for aim 1 and aims 2/3, respectively. Reflective markers were placed on lower-extremity bony landmarks and participants walked on an instrumented treadmill while 3D motion capture data was collected. For aim 1, this procedure was repeated at two time points 30 minutes apart. For aims 2 and 3, participants completed set and self-selected speed trials. JMP Pro 13 was used to compare joint kinetics and gait kinematics for all aims. Marker placement was repeatable between time points. Participants walked slower in the self-selected walking speed trial, which resulted in both kinematic and kinetic gait mechanics alterations. Gait asymmetry was significantly correlated with motor variability for both spatial and temporal measures. Current study findings reiterated the importance of walking speed when evaluating gait symmetry, joint kinetics, and kinematics. The decision regarding whether to utilize a set or self-selected speed condition within a study design should be made based on whether the measures of interest are independent of walking speed. Gait asymmetry and motor variability are related and should not be treated as independent components of gait. / Master of Science / This study aims to evaluate gait mechanics in healthy young adults by evaluating the impact of multiple study design choices and relationships between different aspects of gait (walking). Loading and movement walking data was collected from a total of sixty-one participants. This data was then used to calculate several measures of gait including symmetry between limbs, joint ranges of motion, and variability of movement. The potential impact of study design choices including setting walking speed for all participants and evaluating loading asymmetry and movement variability independently are discussed based on the findings of the current study.

Resuspended floor dust constitutes up to sixty percent of the total particulate matter in indoor air. This fraction may also include virus-laden particles that settle on the floor after being emitted by an infected individual. This research focuses on predicting the concentration of influenza A viruses in resuspended dust, generated by people walking in a room, at various heights above the floor. Using a sonic anemometer, we measured the velocity field from floor to ceiling at 10-cm intervals to estimate the magnitude of turbulence generated by walking. The resulting eddy diffusion coefficients varied between 0.06 m2 s-1 and 0.20 m2 s-1 and were maximal at ~0.75-1 m above the floor, approximately the height of the swinging hand. We used these coefficients in an atmospheric transport model to predict virus concentrations as a function of the carrier particle size and height in the room. Results indicate that the concentration of resuspended viruses at 1 m above the floor is about seven times the concentration at 2 m. Thus, shorter people may be exposed to higher concentrations of pathogens in resuspended dust indoors. This study illuminates the possibility that particle resuspension could be a mode of disease transmission. It also emphasizes the importance of considering resuspension of particulate matter when designing ventilation systems and flooring in hospitals and residences. / Master of Science

Working from Charland's (1987) description of constitutive rhetoric, this thesis is concerned what the popular zombie apocalypse television series The Walking Dead (TWD) has to say regarding survival behavior in a post-apocalyptic world. TWD's plot focuses primarily on the relationships between survivor characters situated among the crumbling remains of society and humanity. An attempt is made to show how TWD (1) establishes a common ideology among its characters, and therefore (2) constitutes its characters as a primary audience through an ideology of inhumanity by three narrative ideological effects. In doing so, the study aims to advance understanding of constitutive rhetoric in a temporal sense and also to emphasize that popular culture artifacts suggest viewers as secondary audiences and implied auditors tied to ideologies. The results of this analysis suggest the new order of a post-apocalyptic world binds survivors into a collective and transhistorical subject. These characters are tied to their past before the apocalypse and also become relatively relatable for viewers. / Master of Arts

This study examined individual differences in spatial memory performance in 12-month-old infants using brain electrical activity and walking experience. Greenough's experience-expectant and experience-dependent model of development was used to examine EEG power values among infants with different levels of walking experience (non-walkers, novice, experienced). In accordance with this model, a trend was shown for novice walkers to have higher EEG power values than both non-walkers and experienced walkers only in the central region. Walkers were also found to score higher on an object retrieval (OR) spatial memory task than non-walkers, with amount of walking experience being inconsequential. In addition, infants who scored higher on the OR spatial memory task showed a trend for higher EEG power values in medial frontal, central and parietal areas than infants scoring lower on the OR task. This was not the case for the manual search spatial memory task (AB). There was no interaction among spatial memory performance, walking experience and brain electrical activity. The utility of OR as a spatial memory task that requires the integration of relevant perceptual-motor integration is discussed. / Master of Science

No / In recent years walking interviews have emerged as a valuable alternative to the standard research interview, particularly in studies related to place, community, and the urban environment (Clark and Emmel 2010). Although there is little literature on the use of walking interviews with people who have dementia, the method is particularly appropriate for this participant group, due to the strong memories for place and past events that are usually retained by people with dementia, even when short term memory deteriorates (Chaudhury 2008). Narrative biography work with people who have dementia shows a repeated tendency to use geographical markers as ¿signposts¿ to particular memories (Bryce et al 2010). In 2010 the authors piloted the use of walking interviews with three people with dementia within a care home environment. The film record of the process suggests that the combination of physical movement and reminiscence which was involved both facilitated and enhanced communication for people with dementia. These findings led to the present work which is based on walking interviews with people who have dementia in places which have particular meaning for them, such as the street where they grew up; the school they attended; a former workplace; public park; sports ground or other familiar space. The oral presentation will include film clips, contrasting ¿static¿ communication with each participant, with his or her verbal production, or non-verbal communication, in response to environmental prompts and recovered sights and sounds. In addition, we will draw on the film data to explore a series of thought-provoking questions related to changing inner and outer landscapes, the vagaries of memory, and the psychogeography of dementia. Can the frequently pathologised ¿wandering¿ of people with dementia in time and space be rehabilitated using situationist concepts such as the dérive and the flaneur?

Yes / Within the dominant biomedical discourse, late-life dementia is regarded as a pathological condition characterised by short-term memory loss, word finding difficulties and ‘problem behaviours’ such as ‘wandering and ‘repetitive questioning’. As its title suggests, one of the main purposes of this chapter is to shift the focus from what people with late-life dementia forget to what they remember, particularly as this relates to places they have known much earlier in life. A central part of my argument is that dementia, often somewhat crudely represented as wholesale memory loss, might better be regarded as a form of spatio-temporal disruption; a disruption which intersects with the theoretical territory of psychogeography.

The effects of an aerobic walking program, from 22 to 30 wk gestation, on aerobic fitness, vitamin B-6 status, and birth outcome was studied in 28 healthy, pregnant women aged 21-36 yr receiving vitamin-mineral supplements. Aerobic fitness was assessed by heart rate (HR) and relative oxygen consumption (VO₂, ml/kg/min) during 2 submaximal treadmill walking tests (22 and 30 wk). HR responses were significantly lower for walking subjects (W; n=18) compared to nonwalking (NW; n=10) at 2 and 4 min and near significance at 6 min of the 30 wk treadmill test. HR increased significantly at 2 min for NW from 22 to 30 wk. Oxygen consumption significantly decreased for W from 22 to 30 wk at 2, 4, and 6 min of exercise but remained unchanged for NW. Mean vitamin B-6 intake, minus the 10 mg supplement, was at least two-thirds the 1980 Recommended Dietary Allowance. Values for plasma total vitamin B-6 assessed microbiologically were in the low-normal range for only 3 subjects (1 W at 22 wk and 2 W at 30 wk). Values for plasma pyridoxal phosphate levels assessed radioenzymatically were in the low-normal range for only 2 subjects (1 W at 22 wk and 1 W at 30 wk). Birth weight, Apgar scores, and labor duration were similar for both groups. Participation in a walking program by pregnant women taking vitamin-mineral supplements slightly improved aerobic fitness without affecting vitamin B-6 status (probably due to the supplement usage) or birth outcome. / M.S.

Yes / Tranquil spaces can be found and made in the city and their promotion and use by residents and visitors is an important means of building resilience. Studies have shown that spaces that are rated by visitors as tranquil are more likely to produce higher levels of relaxation and less anxiety that should ultimately result in health and well-being benefits. Such spaces can therefore be classed as restorative environments. Tranquil spaces are characterized by a soundscape dominated by natural sounds and low levels of man-made noise. In addition, the presence of vegetation and wild life has been shown to be an important contributory factor. Levels of rated tranquillity can be reliably predicted using a previously developed model TRAPT and then used to design and identify tranquil spaces, improve existing green spaces and develop Tranquillity Trails to encourage usage. Tranquillity Trails are walking routes that have been designed to enable residents and visitors to reflect and recover from stress while receiving the benefits of healthy exercise. This paper describes Tranquillity Trails designed for three contrasting areas. Predictions of the rated tranquillity have been made along these routes and feedback from users was elicited at one site that confirmed the expected benefits. / Bradford Centre for Sustainable Environments in the Faculty of Engineering and Informatics at the University of Bradford.