A Communitys Urban Rejuvenation - The Cabarets Trouper

<p>The 1990s brought innovation to retail shopping, enabling consumers to begin to shop from the comfort of their own home. Today, Online shopping continues to revolutionise the industry, creating a highly competitive market space while advancing “convenience shopping”. As customers can now purchase anything at their fingertips, those that choose to shop in-store find their desires are also competitively meet. Evolution within the retail industry has meant that many stores have become a part of “big box” developments. These facilities provide customers with readily stocked merchandise and the in-store experience of “convenience shopping”. Online shopping and Big Box stores will continue to lure people away from what once were vibrant urban retail environments posing various adverse effects on our streets, city centres and local businesses. Broadway Avenue, Palmerston North is one of many streets that have fallen victim to these developments creating unpleasant retail experiences for the community. This thesis argues how interior architecture can assist rejuvenating desolate urban environments. It proposes that by applying selected interior principles to an urban street it can create a space that begins to challenge the current programme encouraging the street to adapt for the community. This design based research proposes to create a community space ‘living room’ by treating the street as though it is a residential space within a retail environment. It aims to preserve and maintain a sense of history and diversity within the cityscape. The existing site attributes will be used to create a set of design rules and regulations within the shopping environment to encourage internal and external spaces to feed off one another adapting frequently to cope with the competitive nature of the retail sector.</p>

A Communitys Urban Rejuvenation - The Cabarets Trouper

<p>The 1990s brought innovation to retail shopping, enabling consumers to begin to shop from the comfort of their own home. Today, Online shopping continues to revolutionise the industry, creating a highly competitive market space while advancing “convenience shopping”. As customers can now purchase anything at their fingertips, those that choose to shop in-store find their desires are also competitively meet. Evolution within the retail industry has meant that many stores have become a part of “big box” developments. These facilities provide customers with readily stocked merchandise and the in-store experience of “convenience shopping”. Online shopping and Big Box stores will continue to lure people away from what once were vibrant urban retail environments posing various adverse effects on our streets, city centres and local businesses. Broadway Avenue, Palmerston North is one of many streets that have fallen victim to these developments creating unpleasant retail experiences for the community. This thesis argues how interior architecture can assist rejuvenating desolate urban environments. It proposes that by applying selected interior principles to an urban street it can create a space that begins to challenge the current programme encouraging the street to adapt for the community. This design based research proposes to create a community space ‘living room’ by treating the street as though it is a residential space within a retail environment. It aims to preserve and maintain a sense of history and diversity within the cityscape. The existing site attributes will be used to create a set of design rules and regulations within the shopping environment to encourage internal and external spaces to feed off one another adapting frequently to cope with the competitive nature of the retail sector.</p>

A Measured Approach

<p>The supply of goods to large numbers of consumers results in large, standardised buildings. The typically introverted designs of these buildings reject context and difference in favour of efficiency and standardisation. Secondly, the prioritisation of vehicles over pedestrians often results in second rate public space. Big box retail (BBR) is the epitome of an architecture driven by efficiency, often resulting in a disconnect between architecture and place. This disconnect is amplified in ‘environments of natural beauty’ where the deployed typology results in an inert architecture that withdraws from, rather than engages with, its surrounding environment. What strategies can be utilised in the development of a site-specific BBR, which engages architecture and place avoiding isolation on the town’s periphery? And, how can this car-centric architecture be modified to contribute to the public realm, enhancing rather than detracting from the surrounding context? This inquiry is tested through design-led research: firstly the thesis explores the development of a design proposal for Wanaka (idyllically sited on the southern shore of Lake Wanaka with the Southern Alps forming the horizon). A critical reflection on this site-specific design enables a broader discursive discussion about architectural figure. The first chapter presents a design for central Wanaka. The iterative design process, producing and then critiquing form models (physical and computer), enables the project to comment on the BBR typology. The second chapter discusses the project through the lens of architectural figure, situating the project within the discipline and enabling a broader discussion of the qualities of the project. The third chapter discusses the idea of ‘tightness’. The idea of ‘tightness’ emerges from the design/critical-reflection, enabling a discussion of ‘tight’ vs. ‘loose’ architecture and positioning the design within the discipline. The notion of a tight relationship between form and programme, discussed through a critical reflection on the final design, enables a further discussion and conclusion. This discussion develops from Leon Battista Alberti’s idea of Beauty. Emerging from the design discussion, Ron Witte’s notion of ‘good figure’ and Patrik Schumacher’s concept of ‘Elegance’ enable a development of these ideas. The outcome is an architectural ‘tightness’. ‘Tightness’ offers one potential way that architecture can contribute in the creation of urban spaces through an engagement with the surrounding environment.</p>

A Measured Approach

<p>The supply of goods to large numbers of consumers results in large, standardised buildings. The typically introverted designs of these buildings reject context and difference in favour of efficiency and standardisation. Secondly, the prioritisation of vehicles over pedestrians often results in second rate public space. Big box retail (BBR) is the epitome of an architecture driven by efficiency, often resulting in a disconnect between architecture and place. This disconnect is amplified in ‘environments of natural beauty’ where the deployed typology results in an inert architecture that withdraws from, rather than engages with, its surrounding environment. What strategies can be utilised in the development of a site-specific BBR, which engages architecture and place avoiding isolation on the town’s periphery? And, how can this car-centric architecture be modified to contribute to the public realm, enhancing rather than detracting from the surrounding context? This inquiry is tested through design-led research: firstly the thesis explores the development of a design proposal for Wanaka (idyllically sited on the southern shore of Lake Wanaka with the Southern Alps forming the horizon). A critical reflection on this site-specific design enables a broader discursive discussion about architectural figure. The first chapter presents a design for central Wanaka. The iterative design process, producing and then critiquing form models (physical and computer), enables the project to comment on the BBR typology. The second chapter discusses the project through the lens of architectural figure, situating the project within the discipline and enabling a broader discussion of the qualities of the project. The third chapter discusses the idea of ‘tightness’. The idea of ‘tightness’ emerges from the design/critical-reflection, enabling a discussion of ‘tight’ vs. ‘loose’ architecture and positioning the design within the discipline. The notion of a tight relationship between form and programme, discussed through a critical reflection on the final design, enables a further discussion and conclusion. This discussion develops from Leon Battista Alberti’s idea of Beauty. Emerging from the design discussion, Ron Witte’s notion of ‘good figure’ and Patrik Schumacher’s concept of ‘Elegance’ enable a development of these ideas. The outcome is an architectural ‘tightness’. ‘Tightness’ offers one potential way that architecture can contribute in the creation of urban spaces through an engagement with the surrounding environment.</p>

Patterns of Legume Purchases and Consumption in the United States

Background: Legumes are an inexpensive, healthy source of protein, fiber, and micronutrients, have low greenhouse gas and water footprints, and enrich soil through nitrogen fixation. Although higher legume consumption is recommended under US dietary guidelines, legumes currently comprise only a minor part of the US diet.Objectives: To characterize the types of legumes most commonly purchased by US consumers and patterns of legume purchases by state and region, seasonality of legume purchases, and to characterize adults that have a higher intake of legumes.Methods: We examined grocery market, chain supermarket, big box and club stores, Walmart, military commissary, and dollar store retail scanner data from Nielsen collected 2017–2019 and dietary intake from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), 2017–2018.Results: The five leading types of legumes purchased in the US were pinto bean, black bean, kidney bean, lima bean, and chickpea. The mean annual per capita expenditure on legumes based on grocery purchases was $4.76 during 2017–2019. The annual per capita expenditure on legumes varied greatly by state with highest expenditure in Louisiana, South Carolina, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and lowest expenditure in Washington, New York, and Wisconsin. There were large regional differences in the most commonly purchased legumes. Of 4,741 adults who participated in the 24-h dietary recall in NHANES, 2017–2018, 20.5% reported eating any legumes in the previous 24 h. Those who consumed legumes were more likely to be Hispanic, with a higher education level, with a larger household size (all P &lt; 0.05), but were not different by age, gender, or income level compared to those who did not consume legumes.Conclusion: Although legumes are inexpensive, healthy, and a sustainable source of protein, per capita legume intake remains low in the US and below US dietary guidelines. Further insight is needed into barriers to legume consumption in the US.

Metal leaching from antimicrobial cloth face masks intended to slow the spread of COVID-19

Global health organizations recommend the use of cloth face coverings to slow the spread of COVID-19. Seemingly overnight, companies whose primary business is in no way related to healthcare or personal protective equipment—from mattresses manufacturers to big box stores—transitioned into the “mask business.” Many companies advertise antimicrobial masks containing silver, copper, or other antimicrobials. Often, the techniques used to load such antimicrobials onto mask fibers are undisclosed, and the potential for metal leaching from these masks is yet unknown. We exposed nine so-called “antimicrobial” face masks (and one 100% cotton control mask) to deionized water, laundry detergent, and artificial saliva to quantify the leachable silver and copper that may occur during mask washing and wearing. Leaching varied widely across manufacturer, metal, and leaching solution, but in some cases was as high as 100% of the metals contained in the as-received mask after 1 h of exposure.

Surpassing the Line: Urban-Oriented Strategies in the Development of Business Complexes in Poland

Development trends regarding the business-related urban complexes seem to evolve from the “big-box” towards the more “multi-use” types of structures. Within it, the special role is reserved for places, which—due to economic, political, and geographical reasons—have not been previously considered as major business hubs. Only recently, places like cities in Central and Eastern Europe have become attractive locations for business complexes. These could offer centrally located and attractive locations for new structures, which resulted in the development of the new type of commercial centers—in the form of multi-use districts, walkable, and complemented by other uses. Therefore, to some extent, these cities “surpassed the development line” of the commercial and business complexes, and have become home to something much more advanced. Within the article, the cases from Poland, including Gdańsk, Warsaw, Cracow, and Wroclaw, are discussed. Not only is the urban arrangement of selected complexes presented, but the planning and socio-economic, legal, and infrastructural aspects of these developments are also discussed.

Lower Back Injury Prevention and Sensitization of Hip Hinge with Neutral Spine Using Wearable Sensors during Lifting Exercises

The popularization and industrialization of fitness over the past decade, with the rise of big box gyms and group classes, has reduced the quality of the basic formation and assessment of practitioners, which has increased the risk of injury. For most lifting exercises, a universal recommendation is maintaining a neutral spine position. Otherwise, there is a risk of muscle injury or, even worse, of a herniated disc. Maintaining the spine in a neutral position during lifting exercises is difficult, as it requires good core stability, a good hip hinge and, above all, observation of the posture in order to keep it correct. For this reason, in this work the authors propose the prevention of lumbar injuries with two inertial measurement units. The relative rotation between two sensors was measured for 39 voluntary subjects during the performance of two lifting exercises: the American kettlebell swing and the deadlift. The accuracy of the measurements was evaluated, especially in the presence of metals and for fast movements, by comparing the obtained results with those from an optical motion capture system. Finally, in order to develop a tool for improving sport performance and preventing injury, the authors analyzed the recorded motions, seeking to identify the most relevant parameters for good and safe lifting execution.

Nightcrawler commodities: A brief history on the commodification of the humble dew worm

Each year, 500 to 700 million dew worms are sold from thousands of gas stations, convenience stores, big box retailers, making this particular species, Lumbricus terrestris, the most popular live bait for recreational freshwater fisherman across North America. In fishing parlance, these effective bait worms are referred to as “Canadian Nightcrawlers,” not because they are native to the region (they are not) or because they cannot be found elsewhere (they can), but because the entire global supply comes from a stretch of rural land between Toronto and Windsor in Ontario, Canada. How did this simple garden worm become a valuable commodity, and why is production relegated to one single region in the world? In this paper, I rely on newspaper archives and key informant interviews to construct a “capitalist commodification story” that explain why demand for Canadian Nightcrawlers emerged in North America, why the production of nightcrawlers is relegated to southwestern Ontario, and how this lowly living, breathing, squirming creature beneath our feet became a capitalist commodity producing value through competitive markets. In sum, I argue L. terrestris became a capitalist commodity when burgeoning demand from a new class of recreational fishermen increased competition between nightcrawler suppliers. The inability of capital to take hold of the ecological conditions of nightcrawler production relegated the most productive producers to southwestern Ontario who had the contingent privileges of useful soils combined and cheap and efficient labor. The materiality of L. terrestris physiology is thus constitutive of how capital seeks to accumulate surplus value in a peculiar industry. At the same time, this research shows that no matter how peculiar or banal a commodity may be capitalist logics are constantly experimenting with heterogenous peoples and environments to find a way to increase productivity and accumulate surplus value through market exchange.

"Treat everybody right": Examining foodways to improve food access

Detroit is regularly assumed to be a “food desert” despite contradicting evidence. With fruits and vegetables available at each of Detroit’s 70 independent, full-line grocery stores, there remains a lack of understanding among media and academics of residents’ perception and preferences for food access. A baseline study was initiated during the summer of 2014 to understand residents’ own perceptions of food access and to assess the socio-cultural foodways utilized by residents. A total of 207 Detroit residents participated in focus groups and interviews to discuss food provisioning. Residents identified a wide range of food access points, from home gardens and fishing to specialty meat markets and big-box stores. However, 60% of residents reported that their primary grocery store was a chain supermarket outside the city limits. Residents highlighted “customer service” and in-store treatment as key factors in choosing where to shop for food. These new findings present contradictions to assumptions about food access in Detroit and similar cities. The findings point to a significant opportunity to leverage geo-ethnographic methods in order to focus on resident perceptions and preferences to improve food access.