1969, Peter Drucker defined the phrase ¡§knowledge Economy¡¨ as the use of knowledge to produce economic benefits. The concept that knowledge and education can be treated as business products to be exported for high value return or productive asset becomes reality in the past decades due to the driving forces such as globalization, innovations in information and network technology. November 2004, Halo2, a video game designed exclusively for Microsoft¡¦s Xbox, sold 2.4 million copies and earned up to $125 million US in its first 24 hours on store shelves, thus out-grossing the film Spider-Man 2 as highest grossing release in entertainment history. May 2002, Taiwan Government announced that they will nurture Taiwanese Digital Content industry into a profound force of economy. Among the major members in digital content industry, digital game industry is the one with the most potential. Game Development Talent in Taiwan is well known in pan-Asia region, with the ability to produce high quality games and leading role in Chinese entertainment business. The future for Taiwan game development talent is, without a doubt, bright. Knowledge workers have always been a popular subject of academic research. However, scholars in the past have treated the concept of knowledge worker as a single entity, rather than sets of different sub-group. The paper attempts to focus on the group of who participated in game development with a quantitative approach. The aim is to gain in-depth understanding about the lifestyle of game developers. Socialists¡¦ view of the world consisted of sets of ¡§fields¡¨ with rules to guide behavioral pattern of the people living in it. The behavioral pattern, as well as the tastes and opinions about most things in daily life, is referred as lifestyle. Game developers pay heavy attention on their professions, care less about dining as well as other aspects in daily life. The long working-hour is a major feature in game developers¡¦ lifestyle, and they enjoy such a way of life.

Lifestyle, the external demonstration of personal values and preferences, has great influences on individual behavior. In terms of occupational choice, individuals would choose jobs that best fit with their lifestyles according to the values and preferences. The consistency of individual lifestyle and work-style created from the work environments will affect their job satisfaction and willingness to remain in the organizations. This study explores lifestyles of four coffee shop workers and three pub workers, and the results show that those two types of jobs create distinctive lifestyles, which would be caused by the personal characteristics and the different working hours. Based on the results, lifestyles could be used as the indicator of recruitment for employers of coffee shops and pubs, and criteria of occupational choice for individuals who are interested in working in coffee shops or pubs.

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Thesis (M.A.)--Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, 1992. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 61-66).

BACKGROUND: Dementia is the leading cause of dependence and disability in the elderly population worldwide. Effectively addressing the growing burden of dementia requires an understanding of the predictors of dementia in order to develop preventive strategies. Therefore, identifying potential associations between certain demographic and lifestyle characteristics and dementia may illuminate strategies for reducing the risk of dementia. This research analysis aims to highlight associations between demographic and lifestyle factors in midlife and dementia in later adulthood. METHODS: This is a secondary analysis of data that was collected as part of a longitudinal, prospective cohort study. Data from the Framingham offspring cohort was analyzed using the Cox proportional hazards regression model to examine the associations between the demographic and lifestyle characteristics and the risk of developing dementia. The multivariate analysis controlled for medical history factors that may also impact dementia risk. RESULTS: There were 2462 dementia-free participants (aged ≥ 40 and ≤ 65 years) at baseline at the time of the 2nd exam cycle, during which all demographic, lifestyle, and medical history factors were collected. During the follow-up period, 286 dementia events were observed (11% of participants). In univariate models, advanced age was significantly associated with an increased risk of dementia, while education level, alcohol use (vs. no use), and wine consumption demonstrated statistically significant protective effects against the development of dementia. After controlling for medical history in the multivariate model, older age remained a significant risk factor for dementia. CONCLUSION: This study supports established research regarding the relationship between advancing age and increased risk of dementia, and this significant association remained constant when controlling for factors such as gender and medical history. Further, the associations observed between alcohol consumption, and specifically wine, and dementia risk support continued research on alcohol use and its relationship with dementia; while these protective effects did not remain statistically significant in the multivariate model, other studies have observed significant associations between alcohol and dementia risk in adjusted analyses. Additional research would be helpful to further examine if there are any potential protective effects of alcohol, and determine whether consumption is a worthwhile preventative strategy. Overall, identifying potential risk factors for dementia is an important focus of study, due to the aging worldwide population, and the corresponding increasing significance of this disease. This analysis adds to the literature regarding the associations between certain demographic and lifestyle characteristics and the risk of dementia.

The built fabric of a city is predominantly comprised of solid and static structures that are often tightly packed together. Density defines a city. Space is extremely valuable. Despite this overarching density, small voids and tears in the urban fabric do exist. Many are too small or irregular to be feasible sites for development. Such spaces often become neglected and remain unused voids amongst the ever-growing surroundings. Architectural interventions on these niches of urban fabric can create desirable space that serves the community, its citizens and its visitors. Parasitic structures - prototypical, temporary and flexible in nature - can effectively make use of otherwise useless spaces and give them new life. / 0 / SPK / specialcollections@tulane.edu

The objective of this thesis is to create a spatial representation of a bipolar episode. The role of this concept is to investigate the nature of spaces and their relations with dissimilar spaces, resembling a first-hand account of spasmodic incidents experienced by a person with this manic depressive illness. The site is located in an abandoned mine as to represent a feeling of isolation, such as experience by a bipolar individual during an episode of depression. The existing infrastructure incorporated with the new formal experience is to be used in understanding the two poles of bipolar disorder and exploiting those values to create a unified space. The design will be used to spatially organize a chaotic experience to bring awareness of mental illnesses. "Bipolar disorder, also known as manic depressive illness, is a brain disorder that is a roller-coaster in mood, energy levels, and the ability to carry out day-to-day tasks. People with bipolar disorder experience periods of unusually intense emotion, cha es in sleep patterns and unusual behaviors. These distinct periods are called 'mood episodes,' either associated with mania or depression. Mood episodes are drastically different from the moods and behaviors that are typical for the average person."1 During mania, euphoria or irritability are manifested through symptoms such as: destructibility, insomnia, grandiosity, flight of irrational and high speed thought. Depression is characterized by feelings of exhaustion, self hatred, and suicidal thoughts. Mood episodes can include both manic and depressive symptoms, which is referred to as a mixed state can cycle rapidly between mania and depression phases, from three to four times a year to several times during a single day. Sometimes, a person with severe episodes of mania or depression also have psychotic symptoms, such as hallucinations or delusions. The psychotic symptoms tend to match the person's extreme mood. "Abnormalities in the prefrontal cortex result in a cognitive disconnect in planning, working memory, problem solving and temporal sequencing of information. Disrupted organization and execution of plans occur when there is damage to this region of the brain."2 The physical movement experienced by a bipolar individual across space can generate temporal illusions of reality. The distance between spaces and experience becomes a subjective experience. Space can be experienced as a relative location of objects of places, as the distance and expanse that separate or link place. The organization of space is dependent upon not only sight but psychological responses to reality. By shifting from one place to another, a person acquires a sense of direction. Forward, backward, and sideways are experientially differentiated, that is known subconsciously in perspicacity. / 0 / SPK / specialcollections@tulane.edu

Living sustainability is a set of behaviors for the long-term functioning of society. Sustainability VALS provides the clothing and textiles industry distinctive insight into comprehending the phenomenon through the application of the appropriate theoretical platform. The objectives are to identify the dimensionality of sustainability value, sustainability practices and sustainability stewardship in consumers’ perceptive, and to examine the impacts of sustainability value and stewardship on sustainability practices. Analyzing data (n = 239) from a southwestern university reveals the critical dimensions of sustainability lifestyle practices, sustainability value and sustainability stewardship. 62 out of 64 hypotheses were confirmed the significant impacts of sustainability values and stewardship on sustainability lifestyle practices. The findings revealed that the altruistic, openness to change, anthropocentrism, and ecocentrism values are influential sustainability values affecting on sustainability lifestyle practices. Given the theoretical perspective of sustainability VALS, sustainability stewardships can facilitate the holistic idea to incur consumer’s sustainability lifestyle practices.

Motivation In South Africa, various transitional changes parallel detrimental modifications in lifestyle behaviour of especially the lower socio-economic communities. We are currently double-burdened by a high prevalence of communicable and noncommunicable diseases such as diabetes, chronic respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, which is accompanied by a high cardiovascular mortality rate. Healthcare and treatment resources are limited and low-cost intervention strategies to lower this burden are urgently needed. Unhealthy lifestyle behaviours, such as excessive alcohol consumption and tobacco use, are known to augment inflammation as reflected by inflammatory markers such as C-reactive protein and interleukin-6, which are well-known risk factors for cardiovascular disease and mortality. Several studies showed the prognostic value of soluble urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (suPAR) in advanced disease states and that suPAR associates with different types of cancers, infectious diseases, diabetes, coronary artery disease and all-cause mortality. Since the discovery of suPAR in 1991, the role of this less known inflammatory marker in various diseases has been under debate. It was further reported that black individuals have higher suPAR levels than whites. However, whether an unhealthy lifestyle and cardiometabolic risk factors are related to suPAR, whether suPAR plays a role in the development of cardiovascular disease such as hypertension, and whether suPAR could predict all-cause and cardiovascular mortality, especially among the understudied black South African population, remain to be established. Aim The central aim of this thesis was to determine if suPAR associates with cardiovascular disease development in a black South African population. We therefore explored whether suPAR relates to lifestyle and cardiometabolic risk factors, associates with the development of hypertension and has prognostic value for cardiovascular and all-cause mortality over five years. Methodology This five-year prospective sub-study, which is embedded in the international Prospective Urban and Rural Epidemiology study, included black South African volunteers of ages older than 35 years from the North West province, South Africa. Baseline data collection took place in 2005 during which 2 010 men and women from urban and rural areas were examined. A total of 1 292 participants returned for examination and were followed-up for the first time in 2010. Of these participants, 214 were newly identified as being infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), while 233 died during the five year period. Standardised methods were used to capture all data and included health questionnaires (lifestyle factors, medication use, disease status and history, mortality outcome), cardiovascular and anthropometric measurements, as well as biochemical analyses of inflammatory markers (suPAR, C-reactive protein, interleukin-6), HIV status and relevant metabolic markers. In preparation for statistical analyses, non-Gaussian variables were logarithmically transformed. We compared means and proportions with independent t-tests, analysis of variance, analysis of covariance (for adjustments) and Chi-square tests, while dependent t-tests and McNemar tests were used for analysis of longitudinal data within individual groups. We determined relationships between variables with Pearson’s correlation coefficients. Independent relationships were determined with logistic regression, forward stepwise multiple regression and proportional Cox-regression analyses. Mortality rates were calculated using Kaplan-Meier survival function estimates and log-rank tests. In all cases, p≤0.05 were used to indicate statistical significance. Results and conclusions of each manuscript Three manuscripts were written in order to achieve the aim of this thesis. In the first manuscript we explored the cross-sectional relationships of suPAR with lifestyle and cardiometabolic risk factors in a black South African population. We showed that suPAR was independently associated with lifestyle behaviours, including alcohol consumption, as indicated by gamma-glutamyltransferase levels (β=0.24; p<0.001), tobacco use (β=0.13; p<0.001) and unemployment (β=0.07; p=0.039), despite no direct links with cardiometabolic factors such as blood pressure, dyslipidaemia, glycaemia or adiposity. These findings emphasise the important need to address lifestyle behaviours in order to limit the detrimental effect of modifiable risk factors on the health and mortality rate of this population. Secondly, we determined whether suPAR was associated with the development of hypertension over five years. We found that suPAR was higher and increased more prominently (14.2% vs. 6.94%; p=0.007) in participants that developed hypertensio than in those that remained normotensive. Change in systolic blood pressure was independently associated with baseline suPAR (β=0.14; p=0.043), while becoming hypertensive was associated with an increase in suPAR (odds ratio=1.41; p=0.015). Whether inflammation leads to the development of hypertension or vice versa, remains unclear. Our findings emphasise the need to acknowledge the role of inflammation in hypertension and may permit further investigation of the use of suPAR as a potential marker for early risk identification and intervention. The third manuscript investigated the prognostic value of suPAR, compared to other inflammatory markers C-reactive protein and interleukin-6, in all-cause and cardiovascular mortality. We showed for the first time in a black population that suPAR predicted both all-cause (hazard ratio=1.27; p=0.003) and cardiovascular mortality (hazard ratio=1.40; p=0.026), independent of interleukin-6. Future research is needed to clarify the mechanisms behind the association of suPAR with cardiovascular mortality and to explore the possibility of a suPAR cut-off value for early identification of those with increased risk for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in this population. General conclusion In this thesis we showed for the first time that suPAR has potential as a marker of cardiovascular disease development in black South Africans. SuPAR associated with hypertension and independently predicted all-cause and cardiovascular mortality over five years. Our findings, that suPAR is independently associated with adverse health behaviours such as alcohol and tobacco use, lend support for the use of suPAR as a novel approach for early risk identification and intervention strategies, which may be effective in combatting the high cardiovascular disease burden among the black South African community. / PhD (Physiology), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015