This study was to determine the effects of a six-week program of dynamic weight training upon flexibility.

Preliminary normative data for the Brief Multidimensional Students' Life Satisfaction Scale (BMSLSS) total score were collected from 2,987 South Carolina middle school students in Grades 6 though 8. Tests for gender and ethnicity (African-American vs. Caucasian) effects were non-significant. Statistically significant differences between grade levels were discovered, but the magnitude of these differences was quite small. Thus, a single set of norms is appropriate for use when interpreting middle school students' responses to the BMSLSS.

Recent geologic research has shown that earthquakes more destructive than formerly expected are likely to occur in the Pacific Northwest. To mitigate catastrophic loss, planners are gathering information to make decision on implementing regional seismic retrofit programs. This research develops a model to estimate regional earthquake losses for existing buildings, and determine optimal retrofit priorities and budgets. Fragility curves are developed to provide earthquake damage estimates for a range of seismic intensities. The published earthquake damage estimates of a large group of prominent earthquake engineering experts are extended to include the combined effect of structure type, earthquake-sensitive variations in building design, site-specific soil conditions, and local seismic design practice. Building inventory data from a rapid visual screening survey of individual buildings form the basis for modeling structural variations. Earthquake Hazard Maps are the basis of modeling the effect on building damage of ground motion amplification, soil liquefaction, and slope instability. Published retrofit effectiveness estimates and retrofit cost data are used to estimate post-retrofit damage avoided, lives saved, and retrofit cost. A Building Classification System is formulated to aggregate buildings with similar retrofit benefit magnitudes. A cost-benefit analysis is used as the basis for a retrofit prioritization and efficiency analysis, to establish the cut-off point for an optimal retrofit program. Results from an Expected Value and a Scenario Earthquake Event are compared. Regional Earthquake Loss and Retrofit Analysis Program (REAL-RAP) software was developed, and used to make a loss estimate for more than 7,500 buildings inventoried in the 1993 Portland Seismic Hazards Survey. One hundred percent of the loss of life is attributed to only 10-percent of the buildings. A retrofit analysis is made for a Design Basis Earthquake. Twelve-percent of the building inventory was identified for the optimal retrofit program, wherein 98-percent of the loss of life is avoided at less than one-quarter the cost of retrofitting all the buildings. An alternate optimal retrofit program was determined using an Expected Value Analysis. Most of the buildings in the Design Basis Earthquake optimal retrofit program are also contained in the alternate program.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

When an individual interacts socially with a conspecific, their behavioural phenotype is affected directly by their genotype (‘direct genetic effect’, DGE), but may also be affected indirectly by the genotype of the opposing individual (‘indirect genetic effect’, IGE). While there is no doubt that IGEs occur in various organisms and contexts, it is unknown how properties of the environment may influence the relative magnitude of DGEs, IGEs, and their covariance. To gain insight into this, I examined territorial interactions in Drosophila melanogaster. Due to their short generation time and relatively simple care requirements, D. melanogaster has been used extensively in quantitative genetic research. Using offspring from a half-sib breeding design, I constructed an arena for documenting multiple dyadic territoriality assays with two sizes of a food resource. With this apparatus, 618 territoriality contests between 1,236 individuals were recorded and scored for four key aggressive behaviours. The results revealed significant genetic variation in how opponent effects on focal individuals changed between environments (i.e., genetic variation in the plasticity of IGEs). In addition, changes in DGEs and IGEs between environments were strongly and positively correlated (i.e., there was a DGE × IGE × environment interaction), although confirmation of this result in further studies is warranted because it was non-significant (P = 0.10), likely due to large uncertainties arising in part from some small variance component estimates. As a high throughput system for quantify IGEs in territoriality in Drosophila, my approach holds promise but there are issues to resolve, including automating phenotyping behaviors in place of manual scoring to enable many more trials. Additionally, modifications to increase humidity during trials might result in increased expression of certain territorial behaviours.

No description available.

Exercise associated muscle induced bone strain has potential osteogenic effects that may increase skeletal density, bone cross-sectional area and structural strength. Whether the effects of exercise and the muscle-bone relation are similar in weight bearing and nonweight bearing bones remains to be determined. This study compared bone density, geometry and biomechanical properties, and bone and muscle cross-sectional areas of 13 elite adolescent male cross-country skiers with height, weight, age and maturity matched non-athletic controls. Total bone mineral density (BMDror), and trabecular bone mineral density and total bone cross-sectional area (CSAror) were measured at the distal 4% of the radius (DR) of the dominant (D) and non-dominant (ND) arms, and tibia (DT) using peripheral quantitative computed tomography (pQCT); BMDror, CSAror, cortical BMD, cortical thickness (CrtTH) and area (CSAcoRr), stress-strain index polar, x, y, polar moment of inertia, axial moment of inertia, and muscle cross-sectional area (mCSA) were measured at the 66% length of the proximal tibia (PT) and proximal radius (PR) of the D and ND arms. Whole body BMD, whole body bone area, and hip areal bone mineral density were measured using dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). Speed of sound along the bone was measured using quantitative ultrasound (QUS) at the 1/3 DR and PT. There were no differences between the skiers and controls for any of the descriptive measures, however, there was a trend (p=0.06) for skiers to have lower percent body fat than controls. There were no differences between skiers and controls for the bone outcome measures using pQCT, DXA or QUS, except for CrtTH at the PT which was significantly higher in skiers (5.42±0.25mm, p=0.03) than controls (5.18±0.28mm). Cross-country skiers had increased CrtTH at the PT suggesting little differential effect of mechanical loading on bone density, geometry or biomechanical properties associated with skiing. / Thesis / Master of Science in Kinesiology

No description available.