This study aims to find out how gender roles are portrayed in the series The Walking Dead. Using a quantitative content analysis where every episode of The Walking Dead was analyzed the study shows gender role portrayal in the everyday activities done by the characters. A qualitative study based on a semiotic analysis was also executed where focus lies on analyzing the characters attributes and their trait of character. The result shows that the series maintains a stereotypical representation of men and women. The men take on the typical “manly” work and the women do the majority of the domestic work. The killing of zombier and humans are mostly done by the men in the series. Their trait of character also shows a stereotypical gender role representation where the men are portrayed as tough, fighters, protectors and providers. The women on the other hand are more weak, sensitive and dependent.

Unilateral, below-knee amputees have altered gait mechanics, which can significantly affect mobility. For example, amputees often have asymmetric leg loading as well as higher metabolic cost and an increased risk of falling compared to non-amputees. Below-knee amputees lose the functional use of the ankle muscles, which are critical in non-amputee walking for providing body support, forward propulsion and leg-swing initiation. The ankle muscles also regulate angular momentum in non-amputees, which is important for providing body stability and preventing falls. Thus, compensatory mechanisms in amputee walking are developed to accomplish the functional tasks normally provided by the ankle muscles. In Chapters 2 and 3, three-dimensional forward dynamics simulations of amputee and non-amputee walking were generated to identify compensatory mechanisms and their effects on joint loading and metabolic cost. Results showed that the prosthesis provided body support, but did not provide sufficient body propulsion or leg-swing initiation. As a result, compensations by the residual leg gluteus maximus, gluteus medius, and hamstrings were needed. The simulations also showed the intact leg tibio-femoral joint contact impulse was greater than the residual leg and that the vasti and hamstrings were the primary contributors to the joint impulse on both the intact and residual legs. The amputee simulation had higher metabolic cost than the non-amputee simulation, which was primarily due to prolonged muscle activity from the residual leg gluteus maximus, gluteus medius, hamstrings, vasti and intact leg vasti and ankle muscles. In Chapter 4, whole-body angular momentum in amputees and non-amputees was analyzed. Reduced residual leg propulsion resulted in a smaller range of sagittal plane angular momentum in the second half of the gait cycle. Thus, to conserve angular momentum, reduced braking was needed in the first half of the gait cycle. Decreased residual leg braking appears to be an important mechanism to regulate sagittal plane angular momentum in amputee walking, but was also associated with a greater range of angular momentum that may contribute to reduced stability in amputees. These studies have provided important insight into compensatory mechanisms in below-knee amputee walking and have the potential to guide rehabilitation methods to improve amputee mobility. / text

Postprandial hypertriglyceridemia (PPHT), an independent risk factor for atherosclerosis (Smyth and Heron 2006; Nordestgaard, Benn et al. 2007), is strongly associated with metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular diseases (CVD) (Kolovou, Anagnostopoulou et al. 2005). It has been proposed that elevated triglycerides after a high-fat meal may be a postprandial phenomenon (Zilversmit 1979). PPHT are commonly concurrent with sedentary behaviors, such as extended sitting, which amplify PPHT (Levine, Vander Weg et al. 2006). The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of prolonged sitting with or without a balanced caloric diet and walking with a balanced diet on postprandial triglycerides (PPTG). Seven healthy, young men (age, 25.6 ± 3.7 y; height, 174 ± 5 cm; weight, 71.4 ± 6.2kg; VO2max, 49.3 ± 7.7 ml/kg/min) were recruited from a college and from within the Austin community. After 2 days of food and activity control (D1and D2), subjects performed one of three trials in a randomized, cross-over design for 2 days (D3 and D4); (1) active walking with a balanced diet (WB), (2) prolonged sitting with a hyper-caloric diet (SH), and (3) prolonged sitting with a balanced diet (SB). High fat tolerance tests (HFTT) were conducted on the following day, (D5), after 13 hour over-night fasting. Blood samples were obtained in the fasting state and every hour for 6 hours after subjects had eaten a high fat test meal consisting of 1.2 g fat, 1.1 g CHO, 0.2 g protein/kg body mass. All food was provided during the 5-day duration of the study. Body postures, heart rate, and daily steps were monitored. In both sit trials (SH and SB), subjects sat ~320 minutes longer and took 10 times fewer steps than WB. In WB, the total area under the curves for plasma triglycerides (AUC[subscript T] TG) was lower, compared to SH by 21.3% (p<0.001) and to SB by 19.7% (N.S.; p = 0.055), respectively. In WB, the incremental AUC TG (AUC[subscript I] TG), an index of postprandial response, was lower than both SH by 17.4% (p <0.005) and SB by 20.1% (p <0.05), respectively. Postprandial plasma insulin concentration was lower in WB, compared to SH by 19.4% (p <0.005) in AUC[scubscript T] and 18.8 % (p < 0.05) in AUC[subscript I]. No differences were shown in the metabolic responses between SB and SH despite the diet modifications. These findings indicate that two days of prolonged sitting significantly amplifies PPTG and suppresses insulin action. / text

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Many transportation and other social problems would be eased or solved if the automobile dependency which is now so pervasive in North American cities were reduced. Many planners, transportation engineers, and other professionals and activists are advocating walking, among other things, as a viable transportation alternative. Various measures and programs are being applied in an attempt to get people out of their cars and onto their feet. This thesis discusses an addition to the pro-pedestrian tool kit: community-based social marketing. Adapted from marketing concepts which have been remarkably successful in influencing the consumption of goods and services, social marketing is a bundle of techniques intended to influence the adoption of socially desirable behaviours. A demonstration of community-based social marketing in the community of West Point Grey in Vancouver, British Columbia shows how social marketing can be used to encourage walking within neighbourhoods. The demonstration shows social marketing to be a promising new tool in the hand of those eager to promote walking, although more work needs to be done to verify this conclusion.

Safe Routes to School is a national program funded by the Department of Transportation. The goal of the program is to increase children’s active transport to and from school, primarily by walking, in response to the epidemic of childhood obesity. Implementation at the state and local level has had varying success. In my capstone presentation, I discuss the creation, implementation, and ongoing success of the program at Oak Grove Elementary, a local public school in Georgia. The program is comprised of the 5 Es: Education, Encouragement, Enforcement, Engineering, and Evaluation. Each of these five components will be focused on, as well as ongoing challenges in the struggle to retrofit a school to make it more walker-friendly in a car-dependent environment.

During the 2010-11 school year, KFL&A Public Health partnered with Lancaster Drive Public School (LDPS) to develop and implement a Walking School Bus Program (WSBP). This study was designed as a pre-test post-test study to explore parental concerns and attitudes towards their children’s use of active transportation and the WSBP, perceptions of the social and built environment, and how these may be associated with parental willingness to allow their children to participate in the WSBP. However, a low response rate did not allow comparisons of pre- and post-test results. Therefore, this thesis uses the pre-test data as a pilot study to evaluate the methods, tools, and feasibility of a future, multi-school pre-and post-test study. As part of the pilot study, a questionnaire was developed and administered to 298 households. Parental willingness was assessed using one item rated on a 10-point scale. Concerns and attitudes were assessed from similar scales developed for this study. Social environment perceptions were measured using a neighbourhood collective efficacy scale and a name generator/interpreter social network instrument. Multinomial logistic regression analyses were conducted to assess the association of parental willingness with the aforementioned variables. Fifty parents participated, which may have contributed to low power to detect associations. However, even with low power, attitudes of parents whose children had already used active transportation to school were found to be significantly associated with willingness when contrasting high and low levels (OR: 1.61, 95%CI: 1.02-2.54). This association did not appear in parents of children who used inactive transportation. Significant correlations were seen between parental willingness and compositional aspects of parental social network ties, i.e., having ties to individuals of diverse ages (τ=0.271) and having ties to individuals with children of the same age as their own (τ=0.267). Qualitative analyses of concerns revealed sub-themes related to the traffic, the need to cross a street, and the need for a suitable place to walk and bicycle, as well as concerns about the WSBP. KFL&A Public Health, LDPS, and Kingston’s City Traffic Engineers can use these results to address barriers to the WSBP and to advocate for improvements in the community infrastructure. / Thesis (Master, Kinesiology & Health Studies) -- Queen's University, 2011-07-20 17:17:15.828

The portability, ease of use and improved accuracy of miniature inertial sensors brought by current microelectromechanical system (MEMS) technology has inspired researchers to develop human movement monitoring system with body-fixed sensors. Although a large number of studies have attempted to explore the use of miniature inertial sensors in estimating walking speed for the past two decades, there still remain some questions regarding applying inertial sensors in estimating walking speed under different walking conditions and for different subject populations. In this thesis, I focus on evaluating and improving the performance of a shank-mounted mounted inertial measurement unit (IMU) based walking speed estimation method. My research can be divided into four parts. The first part was a systematic review regarding the state of the art of current development of the inertial sensor based walking speed estimation method. A total of 16 articles were fully reviewed in terms of sensor specification, sensor attachment location, experimental design and spatial parameter estimation algorithm. In the second part, a comprehensive performance evaluation was conducted, which included the treadmill and overground walking experiments with constraint on the walking speed, stride length and stride frequency. A systematic error was observed in the error analysis of this study, which was adjusted by subtracting the bias by linear regression. In the third part, a post-stroke subject overground walking experiment was carried out with an improved walking speed estimation method that reduced the systematic error caused by previous false initial speed assumption. In addition to walking speed estimation, the gait asymmetry for post-stroke hemiparetic gait was also evaluated with the proposed method. The last part was the sensor error model analysis. We elaborately analyzed and discussed the estimation errors involved in this method in order to completely understand the sensor error compensation in walking speed estimation algorithm design. Two existing sensor error models and one newly developed sensor error model were compared with the treadmill walking experiment, which demonstrated the effect of each sensor error component on the estimation result and the importance of the sensor error model selection. / Thesis (Master, Mechanical and Materials Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2011-08-23 19:38:16.965

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Climate change is currently identified as one of the most challenging global issues, which makes low-carbon development an increasingly popular topic that needs serious consideration. Therefore, the way cities are planned, managed, and use energy will play a vital role in mitigating climate change and its impact on the environment. Some simple city facilities such as pedestrian walkways, safe bikeways, and different modes of transportations, as well as sustainable policies and action programs, could reduce automobile dependency and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission in many cities. This project will explore such sufficient and practical rules and policies to redesign neighborhoods to create more sustainable, livable, and low-carbon cities, which will be accessible and attractive for all groups of people. This study reviews, compares, and analyzes different sustainable urbanism principles under three pillars of the sustainable development concept, including environmental, economical, and social. It also analyzes similar successful projects in Europe to find the appropriate and practical rules that are compatible with community requirements. The results show that all the sustainable principles should work together to create a sustainable community with reduced greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, it is everyone’s responsibility to care about the future. It is necessary for urban planners, architects, and any related divisions of government to follow the proper rules to make cities a better place to live and also to increase residents’ awareness of both climate change issues and practical solutions. Urban planners are responsible for inviting people to be involved in making decisions and sharing their ideas to enrich communication, with the purpose of making a better city to live in.