Although there is consistent evidence of an inverse association between physical activity and colorectal cancer (CRC), it is unclear whether physical activity has to be lifelong in order to protect against CRC, or whether there are critical time periods in which physical activity is most protective. This thesis investigated the association between recreational physical activities in specific age periods and across the lifetime and CRC risk in data from a population-based case control study (n=1395) in Newfoundland and Labrador. There were no significant associations between recreational physical activity at any age period or across the lifetime. Lack of association with activity in early adulthood is consistent with other studies in which this has been investigated. Lack of association in later life and across the lifetime may in part be explained by low levels of recreational physical activity, with only 30% of participants meeting World Cancer Research Fund cancer prevention recommendations.

Mitants of Prosophila melanogaster which are paralysed by exposure to one temperature, but recover mobility at another temperature may aid in the investigation of the neural and muscular components which govern motor activity. With the help of a mechanical screening method, a recessive sex-linked temperature-sensitive paralytic mutant (parats -53°9) was discovered among the progeny of ethyl methane- sulphonate-treated males and attached-X females. Parats flies which had been raised at 22°C were paralysed within 5 seconds after transfer to 29°C, but quickly regained mobility when returned to 22°C. When left at 29°C for prolonged periods, the flies gradually regained mobility. Further studies indicated that the time required for recovery following an increase in temperature was directly related to the magnitude and rate of the temperature rise. Temperature-sensitive paralysis was seen only in adult flies. The abnormal movements which are characteristic of the behavioural mutants Hk1P, Hk2T , Sh⁵, when linked to parats in males,were quickly stopped and started by temperature shifts from 22°C to 29°C and 29°C to 22°C, respectively. The possible significance of these observations is discussed. parats/M(1)0 females exhibited temperature-sensitive paralysis. The possibility that the chromosome bearing the M(1)0 mutation might also carry a deletion or mutant allele of parats has not yet been investigated. A sex-linked dominant mutation which caused abnormal movements of the head and appendages under ether anaesthesia as well as shuddering movements in unetherised flies was also discovered. The mutation was called Shuddering (Shu – 55.1). The shuddering movements could be temporarily suppressed by feeding the flies media containing LiCl but not NaCl, NH₄Cl or KCl. The evidence presented in this and other studies suggests that the effects of parats and Shu mutations upon motor activity are mediated through their effects upon the nervous system. / Medicine, Faculty of / Medical Genetics, Department of / Graduate

Descriptions of the contemporary student radical movement in North America by writers in the social sciences have varied enormously. Some have described the movement as a relatively unified entity opposed to the dominant, social and cultural order,while others have found a collection of rival political groups and styles which will not give one another support. My thesis will attempt to uphold the second assertion, i.e. that there exist irreconcilable rifts within what is commonly called "the student movement”. Two radical political groups who held meetings at a large western Canadian university in 1968 will be examined with the aid of transcript data taken from tape-recordings. Evidence of tension and conflict between the differing political orientations adhered to by these two groups will then be presented. Kenneth Keniston's description of "political activist" and "culturally alienated" poles within the student movement provides a loose set of categories in terms of which the two groups may be viewed. The group calling itself SDS is seen to resemble Keniston's "political activists" who follow more traditional means of organizing political protest. Members of SDU, the group which preceded SDS chronologically, fit into Keniston's category of "culturally alienated" by being involved in a search for intensified subjective experience. They depart from his description, however, by emphasizing intersubjective encounter in a public group setting rather than remaining alienated social isolates. While SDS, with its goal of confrontation politics, resembles many other New Left groups described by writers on the Movement, SDU, with its goal of achieving a sense of community, remains unique. It is because of SDU's unique character that the problem of recruiting new members is explored in the final portion of the thesis. Newcomers to SDU had a difficult time understanding what was taking place as the meeting situation departed so greatly from their expectations of what a radical political meeting should look like. Problems with newcomers and the appearance of SDS as a rival political group led to the abandonment of SDU as an unusual attempt to create a communal experience of interpersonal encounter on campus instead of the more usual tactics of confrontation politics. / Arts, Faculty of / Anthropology, Department of / Graduate

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The focus of this study was to determine the impact of activity-based costing (ABC) on organizational performance. ABC can support the strategic management process and provide significant benefit to organizations. Empirical research has provided mixed results of ABC success, which has been the center of controversy since the 1980s. This examination utilized the contingency theory as a theoretical basis for the study. The researcher expected to find that ABC organizations succeed or fail to improve performance due to how well they fit their strategies, structures, and managerial accounting practices to the complex business environment. This study addressed the fundamental question does ABC improve organizational performance? The study found that management accounting practices could only significantly predict organizational performance, as measured by market price, EPS, and asset turnover. The results indicated that ABC organizations have higher asset turnover than non-ABC organizations. However, non-ABC organizations have higher market price and EPS than ABC organizations. The findings indicated no statistically significant differences in operating performance when either ABC or non-ABC accounting practices are used with a low-cost strategy. Finally, the results found no statistically significant differences in operating performance when ABC organizations use a strategy other than a low-cost strategy.

Abstract: En av de vanligaste folksjukdomarna i Sverige är demenssjukdomar. Personer med demenssjukdomar är i behov av vård och omsorg och ett hälsosamt liv med meningsfulla sysselsättningar. Syftet med denna litteraturstudie är att kartlägga vad aktuell forskning säger om aktiviteter för personer med demenssjukdomar och dess koppling till individens livskvalitet. Metoden som användes var en litteraturstudie med hjälp av scoping metoden som följer en sexstegsmodell som är framtagen av Arksey & O´Malley, (2005). Efter sökningen i databaserna Pubmed, Cinhal och Psykmed framkom det åtta artiklar som granskades. Resultaten visar att Gemenskaper, kunskaper om individens tidigare liv, individen i fokus och meningsfulla metoder har stor påverkan på personens livskvalitet. Det är genom personalens omvårdnad, respekt och professionellt bemötande den enskilde får uppleva trygghet och livskvalité. Individanpassade aktiviteter minskar ensamhet och isolering / Abstract: One of the most common public diseases in Sweden is dementia. People with dementia diseases need care and a healthy life with meaningful daily activity. The purpose of this literature review is to compile what current research says about activities for people with dementia diseases. Metod: A literature review was conducted using the scoping method following a six-step model developed by Arksey & O´Malley, (2005). Following the search in the databases Pubmed, Cinhal and Psykmed, the eight articles were examined. Results: shows that communities, knowledge of the past life of the individual, the individual in focus and meaningful methods greatly affect the person's quality of life. It is through the staff's nursing, respect and professional response, the individual's experience of safety and quality of life. Individual activities reduce loneliness and isolation.

Bakgrund: Stroke är en av de vanligaste orsakerna till dödsfall globalt. Man har sett att fysisk inaktivitet och stressrelaterad ohälsa var för sig är riskfaktorer för att drabbas av stroke, däremot saknas studier kring ifall där finns ett samband mellan dessa variabler.  Syfte: Undersöka sambandet mellan fysisk aktivitet under det senaste året och stressbeteende hos personer som drabbats av stroke eller TIA samt att studera om det föreligger könsskillnader vad gäller fysisk aktivitet och stress hos denna grupp.  Metod: Studien var en tvärsnittsstudie med korrelerande, komparativ och deskriptiv design. Data kommer från baslinjemätningar hos en randomiserad kontrollerad studie som inkluderade 79 personer som drabbats av stroke eller TIA. Fysisk aktivitet under det senaste året samlades in med Saltin Grimby Physical Activity Scale (SGPALS) och stressbeteende genom Hjärt-Lungfondens formulär kring stress.   Resultat: Ett lågt (r=-0.14) och icke signifikant samband (p=0.22) förelåg mellan den fysiska aktivitetsnivån och det självskattade stressbeteendet. Inga statistiskt signifikanta skillnader kunde urskiljas mellan män och kvinnor gällande fysisk aktivitet (p=0.81) respektive självskattat stressbeteende (p=0.72).  Slutsats: Det förelåg inget signifikant samband mellan fysisk aktivitet och stressbeteende hos personer som drabbats av stroke eller TIA. Nivå av fysisk aktivitet respektive stressbeteende skiljde sig inte åt mellan könen. Mer forskning inom ämnet behövs för att klargöra på vilket sätt fysioterapeuter ska kunna arbeta preventivt och identifiera personer som har en ökad risk att drabbas av stroke eller TIA. / Background: Globally stroke is one of the most common causes of death. Both physical inactivity and stress related illness are risk factors for suffering from a stroke, however there is a lack of studies regarding if there is a correlation between these variables. Aim: To examine the correlation between physical activity during the last year and stress behaviour among individuals affected by stroke or TIA and to study whether there were gender differences regarding levels of physical activity and stress within this group.  Method: The study was a cross sectional study with a correlative, comparative and descriptive design. Data collected comes from baseline measurements from a randomized controlled study that included 79 people affected by stroke or TIA. Physical activity during the last year was collected with Saltin Grimby Physical Activity Scale (SGPALS) and stress behaviour with the Swedish Heart-Lung Foundation form about stress.  Results: A low (r=-0.14) and not significant correlation (p=0.22) was present between the physical activity level and the self-estimated stress behaviour. No statistically significant differences could be discerned between women and men regarding physical activity (p=0.81) and self-estimated stress behaviour (p=0.72).  Conclusion: There was no significant correlation between physical activity and stress behaviour in people affected by stroke or TIA. Level of physical activity respective stress behaviour did not differ between the sexes. More research in the subject is needed to clarify in what way physiotherapists should be able to work preventively and identify people who have an increased risk to be affected by stroke or TIA.

Abstract available through the Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine.

Nanoparticles (NPs) are the basis of nanotechnology and finding numerous applications in various fields such as health, electronics, environment, personal care products, transportation, and catalysis. To fulfill these functions, the nanoparticles must be synthesized, passivated to control their chemical reactivity, stabilized against aggregation and functionalized to achieve specific performances. The chemistry of metal nanoparticles especially that of noble metals (Gold, Platinum…) is a growing field. The nanoparticles have indeed different properties from those of the corresponding bulk material. These properties are largely influenced by several parameters; the most important are the size, shape, and the local environment of the nanoparticles. One of the most common synthetic methods for the preparation of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) is based on stabilization by citrate. Since it was reported first by Turkevich et al. in 1951, this synthetic scheme has been widely used, studied and a substantial amount of important information regarding this system has been reported in the literature. The most popular method developed by Frens for controlling the size of the noble gold nanoparticles based on citrate was achieved by varying the concentration of sodium citrate. Despite a large number of investigations focused on utilizing Cit-AuNPs, the structural details of citrate anions adsorbed on the AuNP surface are still unknown. It is known only that citrate anions “coordinate” to the metal surface by inner sphere complexation of the carboxylate groups and there are trace amounts of AuCl4−, Cl−, and OH− on the metal surface. Moreover, it is generally accepted that the ligand shell morphology of Au nanoparticles can be partly responsible for important properties such as oxidation of carbon monoxide. The use of Au-NPs in heterogeneous catalysis started mostly with Haruta who discovered the effect of particle size on the activity for carbon monoxide oxidation at low temperature. The structure of the citrate layer on the AuNP surface may be a key factor in gaining a more detailed understanding of nanoparticle formation and stabilization. This can be affecting the catalytic activity. These thoughts invited us to systematically examine the role of sodium citrate as a stabilizer of gold nanoparticles, which is the main theme of this thesis. This research is focused on three main objectives, controlling the size of the gold nanoparticles based on citrate (and other carboxylate ligands Trisodium citrate dihydrate, Isocitric Acid, Citric acid, Trimesic acid, Succinic Acid, Phthalic acid, Disodium glutarate, Tartaric Acid, Sodium acetate, Acetic Acid and Formic Acid by varying the concentration of Gold/sodium citrate, investigating the interaction of the citrate layer on the AuNP surface, and testing the activity of the Au/TiO2 catalysts for the oxidation of carbon monoxide. This thesis will be divided into five chapters. In Chapter 1, a general literature study on the various applications and methods of synthesis of Au nanoparticles is described. Then we present the main synthetic pathways of Au nanoparticles we selected. A part of the bibliographic study was given to the use of Au nanoparticles in catalysis. In Chapter 2, we give a brief description of the different experimental procedures and characterization techniques utilized over the course of the present work. The study of the size control and the interaction between gold nanoparticles and the stabilizer (carboxylate groups) was achieved by using various characterization techniques such as UV-visible spectroscopy, Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Nuclear Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). In Chapter 3, we discuss the synthesis and size control of Au nanoparticles by following the growth of these nanoparticles by UV-Visible spectroscopy and TEM. We then describe the effect of the concentrations and of various type of the stabilizer, and the post-synthesis treatment on gold nanoparticles size. In Chapter 4, we focus on determining the nature of the interactions at molecular level between citrate (and other carboxylate-containing ligands) and AuNP in terms of the mode of coordination at the surface, and the formal oxidation state of Au when interacting with these negatively charged carboxylate ligands (i.e., LX- in the Green formalism). We achieve this by combining very advanced 13C CP/MAS, 23Na MAS and low-temperature SSNMR, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. A particular emphasis will be based on SS-NMR. In Chapter 5, we study the influence of pretreatment of 1% Au/TiO2 catalysts on the resulting activity in the oxidation of carbon monoxide, the effect of the concentration and the type of the ligands on the catalytic activity. The catalysts were characterized by TPO, XRD, and TEM spectroscopy.

Prediabetes, a condition in which glucose levels are higher than normal but not high enough to be diagnosed as type 2 diabetes, affects approximately 37% of adults in the United States and is a major public health concern. Extensive research has evaluated the association between physical activity (PA) and type 2 diabetes; however, few studies have examined the association between PA and prediabetes. Therefore, we evaluated the association between PA (including leisure time, occupational and total) and prediabetes status among adults, stratified by gender, using multinomial logistic regression models fit to serial cross-sectional 2007-2014 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data. After adjusting for age, race, body mass index, smoking status, family history of hypertension and education, results suggest that the association between leisure time [moderate PA: 0.98 (95% CI: 0.80–1.21); tertile 3: 1.05 (95% CI: 0.75–1.49)] and total PA [tertile 1: 1.15, (95% CI: 0.96–1.38); tertile 2: 1.00, (95% CI: 0.79–1.27); tertile 3: 0.96, (0.77–1.20)] and undiagnosed prediabetes and was not statistically significant among women. However, compared to women who engaged in no occupational PA, engaging in the highest tertile was statistically significantly associated with lower odds of undiagnosed prediabetes [tertile 3: 0.75, (95% CI: 0.58–0.97)]. Compared to men who engaged in no leisure time PA, men engaging in the highest tertile of leisure time PA had a statistically significant lower odds of undiagnosed prediabetes [Tertile 3: 0.79, ( 0.65–0.98)]. Compared to men who did not engage in any PA, men engaging in any PA did not have a statistically significant decrease in odds of undiagnosed prediabetes [tertile 1: 0.90, (0.71–1.16); Tertile 2: 0.93, (0.74–1.18); Tertile 3: 0.99, (0.80–1.21)]. Overall, our results show that for both men and women, there was a general lack of association between leisure-time, occupational, and total physical activity and prediabetes status in adjusted analyses.