THE AREA OF CONCERN This thesis looks at two actual neighbourhoods within Vancouver - a high density urban, and a low density suburban environment. Using these neighbourhood environments, an attempt is made to see if children act or are affected in ways which can be traced to the layout and amenities of the physical environment. Data has been gathered concerning the physical structure of the environments, and is examined in relation to how the children use these environments, and in relation to the attitudes that parents, or institutions responsible for child socialization, have towards the effect of these environments on the children and themselves. THE METHODS OF INVESTIGATION This data has been gathered by my own observations, by interviewing children and key resource people who work or reside in the neighourhood, and by handing out questionnaires to parents involved with raising children in the sample areas. CONCLUSIONS The data shows that in different types of neighbourhood communities, children use and interact with the environment in different ways. It shows that the behaviour of children is modified because of the physical environment they grow up within. It shows that children of different ages and sexes have differing needs, and that their use of the environment is constantly changing as they grow and search for ways to satisfy these needs. The analysis of this data begins to show deficiencies and strengths in the planning and layout of the physical environments, and how these potentially affect children. From this analysis certain proposed solutions have been arrived at - solutions which the author feels can make the child’s environment more appropriate to his developmental needs,and more in keeping with the desires of his family and self. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Architecture and Landscape Architecture (SALA), School of / Graduate

This thesis is a comparative study of Juvenal and Lord Byron, with emphasis on the particularly kindred aspects of the poets' works.

This thesis attempts to better understand the importance and application of the personal influence model in relationship building between organizations and public decision makers. The personal influence model was added by Sriramesh and Grunig (1992) as a potential fifth model to Grunig and Hunt's (1984) four models of public relations practice (as cited by Grunig in Heath, 2007); however, this essential relationship building approach has not been examined in the public relations literature as it could have been. Scholarly research since the addition of the personal influence model has mostly occurred in Asia and India. Studies on the topic have been published in just a few instances in the United States. Furthermore, the studies have largely focused on internal communication or on exclusively domestic contexts, with no attempts to extend the examination to organizations that necessarily practice relationship building across national boundaries. This study seeks to contribute to the public relations literature based on the personal influence model by examining the practice of this model outside of Asia, in a global, non-profit religious organization that is headquartered in the United States, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (hereafter referred to as LDS Church). For three decades this global organization has implemented and emphasized the building and nourishing of one-on-one relationships with civic leaders and key decision makers across nations. This research will also examine the impact of such practices. The method chosen for this study is a qualitative exploration through personal interviews with ten public affairs practitioners of the organization, from both domestic and international arenas. The practitioners of this entity have accumulated decades of combined experiences in cultivating the personal influence model.

No description available.

With the large role that music and the media plays in our society today it, is necessary to examine the effects that they have on certain harmful behaviors. The current study was based upon the Cultivation and Social Cognitive theories. The purpose of this study was to further examine the relationship between music and risky sexual behaviors. A total of 715 participants from the University of Central Florida answered multiple questionnaires via the SONA system. Questionnaires included topics such as music listening/viewing habits, sexual behaviors, dating behaviors, and demographics. The sample was comprised of primarily Caucasian young adults, with an average age of 20.71. The study hypothesized that music is influential because listeners begin to think that the behaviors depicted via music lyrics and videos are normal, thereby influencing the sexual behaviors of listeners. A series of linear regression analyses were conducted using SPSS to determine how musical preference and listening habits relate to the sexual behaviors of participants. Data was also analyzed using a series of repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVAs) to determine any significant differences in how participants viewed their sexual behaviors in comparison to their perceived sexual behaviors of peers and friends. Results of the repeated measures ANOVAs indicated that African American participants exhibited more of a cultivation effect of their sexual behaviors than Caucasian or Hispanic participants.

No description available.

No description available.

A Hill-based muscle model was used to assess the influences of series elastic recovery in stretch-shortening cycle (SSC) contractions at the human elbow. Elbow torque, EMG and joint kinematics were recorded as eight male subjects performed a vari ety of elbow flexion and extension tasks. A significant performance enhancement was observed in SSC vs non-SSC elbow flexions (20% greater angular impulse). The muscle model used activation-force, length-tension and force-velocity functions to estimate instantaneous elbow flexor and extensor moments. These moments were summed with a passive elbow moment to obtain estimates of net elbow moment and angular impulse. The estimated values were compared to actual measures of joint torque and angular impulse. The model accurately estimated the angular impulse generated by non-SSC contractions, but demonstrated substantial underestimation errors in SSC contractions. The majority of the SSC performance enhancement could not be attributed to either neural potentiation or to a better exploitation of contractile component mechanics. Since the model was designed to account for these influences but did not possess an ability to account for series elastic recovery, the performance enhancement which was not accounted for by the model was attributed to the recovery of strain energy stored in the SEC of the flexor muscles during the stretch phase. Past studies of SSC enhancement in voluntary movements have been unable to discern between the influences of elastic recovery, neural potentiation and other SSC phenomena. The methods employed in this study permitted the influence of elastic energy recovery to be partitioned from a net SSC performance enhancement. The results indicate that elastic recovery can play an important role in human movement, and that Hill-based muscle models offer a useful tool for studying physiological phenomena which can not be isolated experimentally. / Thesis / Master of Science (MS)

Bacteriophages are promising biosensing systems in bioactive paper application due to their specific detection of bacteria. Different chemicals including wet strength resins were used to improve paper properties. This work investigated the influence of wet strength resins (PAE and PVAm) on bacteriophage activity, and proposed another method of using Poly NIP AM microgel to separate bacteriophage from paper surface. Compared with filter paper, the cationic polymer PAE and PVAm treated paper exhibited high phage binding efficiency but low phage activity due to the electrostatic interaction. PVAm had strong phage adsorption and almost completely deactivated the phage particle. Streptavidin was coupled to PolyNIPAM microgel in the presence of EDC, and T4 bacteriophage genetically modified with biotin was immobilized to microgel particle which resulted in a 10-fold improvement in attachment when compared with T4 wild-type phage. The microgel-phage coupling efficiency was very low, there were more than 10^6 micro gel particle for every active phage. And micro gel supported phages were deactivated after coating on the PAE/PVAm treated paper. / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

The pathological consequences of even mild increases in blood pressure warrant treatment for hypertension in its early stages. However, chronic drug treatment programmes are generally not advantageous during the early stages of hypertension. Augmented sympathetic outflow to the heart plays a role in the early stages of hypertension, and perhaps the development of hypertension. Environmental factors are often responsible for increases in sympathetic outflow to the heart. Therefore, an alternative hypertensive treatment involves behavioural control over increases in sympathetic activity. This treatment includes biofeedback training. The literature indicates that the R-wave to ear pulse wave interval (RPI) is the most appropriate index of sympathetic influences for biofeedback training. An experiment is reported in which unconstrained normotensive subjects were asked to produce changes in RPI with and without the aid of analog feedback. Five subjects learned to produce bidirectional changes in RPI. These subjects generally showed more RPI shortening than lengthening. The data indicate that moderately heavy levels of exercise were employed to shorten RPI. This is consistent with increased sympathetic activity. Some subjects were consistently able to lengthen RPI. However, this study produced converging evidence indicating that RPI lengthening was often a product of reduced left ventricular preload. Preload influences on RPI appear to have led subjects to adopt behavioural strategies which were inconsistent with reduced sympathetic activity during attempts to lengthen RPI. Therefore, caution must be employed when using RPI to index and teach control over sympathetic activity. It is suggested that incorporating information about left ventricular ejection time or cardiac interbeat interval will improve RPI as a measure of sympathetic influences on the human heart. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)