A third of over 65s have at least one fall per year whilst a quarter of over 45s endure foot pain. Footwear is associated with both fall risk and foot pain hence its investigation is of great importance. This thesis explores the potential benefits of minimalist footwear for the older adult population. Chapter 2 ascertained the kinematic and kinetic differences between walking barefoot versus in footwear whilst highlighting the limited research on minimalist footwear, older adults and muscle activity differences. Accordingly, Chapter 3 outlined that minimalist footwear is kinematically more similar to barefoot, irrespective of age, thus offering a viable alternative. Similarly, Chapter 4 showed walking in minimalist footwear and walking unshod exhibit similar lower leg muscle activation patterns whilst differences exist to conventional footwear. Chapter 6 demonstrated how increasing intrinsic foot strength improved functional and static balance whilst Chapter 7 showed promise for minimalist footwear improving foot strength, functional balance, balance confidence as well as reducing foot and joint pain in a sample of older adults. In conclusion, this thesis highlights the need for future work to continue to investigate minimalist footwear in both older adults and other age groups for benefits to stability, foot health and joint pain.

The vestibular system provides vital information about head position and motion; which is used for the control of balance through vestibulospinal reflexes. Chapter 2 explores the process of transforming head position to body coordinates, with and without vision. The results show when vision is available, the evoked response is less precise. Chapter 3 explores the transformation process before and after 60 days of bedrest. After this period of inactivity, participants swayed more, and their EVS-evoked sway response was less precise. This decrement in precision appears to begin recovery 6 days postbedrest. Chapter 4 focuses on vestibulo-ocular reflexes rather than postural reflexes. Electrical vestibular stimulation is used to evoke measurable torsional eye-movements. The magnitude of the response is modulated by stimulus frequency. Results suggest that CNS interprets electrical vestibular stimulation as a velocity signal rather than a position or acceleration signal. This technique is an ideal measure of pure vestibular function, Chapter 5 utilised the technique in a clinical environment. Vestibular schwannoma patients, with known unilateral vestibular deficit, were tested to identify if the proposed technique can detect this deficit. Results showed that asymmetries could be detected, and, the test may be more sensitive than previously used measures of vestibular asymmetries.

My general premise is that sports and recreations are among the most revealing mirrors of many societies, offering a distinctive insight into social patterns, cultural values and even economic conditions. From this it follows that research on the USSR, using the sport-system as a case-study, may throw light on important characteristics of social processes in Soviet-type societies -- all the more so because the place of sport is evidently more central in the Soviet social system. This study attempts to show the extent to which the forms of recreation which developed in the USSR have or have not coincided with the predictions and aspirations of Marxist writers about playful activities in the society of the future. The study contains a historical account of sport in Russia and the USSR, with sections devoted to each of the main periods into which Russian and Soviet history is conventionally broken down according to the stages of its economic and political development. In addition, a special section is devoted to Soviet sport as s reflection of Soviet foreign policy. Sport is taken in the widest sense to include, too, the systems of physical education which developed in Russian and Soviet schools and colleges. The Introduction examines the various western and Soviet concepts of physical culture, sport and recreational activities.

This aim of this thesis was to critically examine the features of an elite performance centre in facilitating coaches’ professional learning experiences. In response to existing coach development literature that is negative about the formal education experiences coaches encounter, contemporary research has suggested a conceptual and practical shift towards professional learning (e.g. learning as form of social practice), which in turn has led to a greater focus on the workplace as a legitimate site for the development of professional knowledge. A focus on workplace learning requires an understanding of the social, structural, and cultural factors that facilitate or inhibit coach learning. Drawing on an ethnographic case study approach, 6 professional coaches and 3 administrative staff within an Olympic High Performance centre participated in the project over an 8 month period. Utilising a constructivist version of grounded theory, the findings build upon current understandings of coach education, suggested learning experiences are a condition of the interrelationship between negotiated personal engagement, workplace structures, and contextual mediating conditions. This relationship is captured within the model ‘Negotiated Community Transitions’, characterising coaches’ as individuals that move and participate across communities, each with its own distinct culture. As such, the coaching workplace is portrayed as a contested and fluid landscape.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-27T14:32:12Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Monica Ferreira de Araujo.pdf: 403893 bytes, checksum: d4a408b351ce111149edf4edcb559e98 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-04-10 / Servico Nacional de Aprendizagem Comercial / The present research is aimed to investigate leisure and its articulation with the education, through the students and professors conceptions, in a college extension course about growing old and education, in a teaching institution located in the city of São Paulo. I highlight as presumptive, the ignorance, considering the extension of the themes, leisure and education associated to the process of growing old. This term was developed, based on theoretical aspects observing leisure concepts indicated by researchers of the area. Its relations to questions such as time, attitude, lived culture, activities, space; and the articulation which exists, with the possibility of permanent education, as well as the search for improvement of life quality, inserted in the process of growing old, from the students and professors conceptions in a college extension course about education and the growing old period / A presente pesquisa tem por objetivo investigar o lazer e a sua articulação com a educação, através das concepções de alunos e professores de um curso de extensão universitária sobre Educação e Envelhecimento , de uma instituição de ensino, localizada no município de São Paulo. Destaco como pressuposto, o desconhecimento quanto à amplitude das temáticas Lazer e Educação associados ao processo de envelhecimento. O trabalho é desenvolvido com base nos aspectos teóricos, observando as concepções de lazer indicadas por pesquisadores da área; suas relações com questões como o tempo, a atitude, a cultura vivida, as atividades, os espaços; e a articulação existente com a possibilidade de educação permanente assim como a busca pela melhoria da qualidade de vida em meio ao processo de envelhecimento, a partir das concepções de alunos e professores de um curso de extensão universitária sobre Educação e Envelhecimento

O problema central desta tese está na carreira de corredores participantes em um grupo de corridas no sul do Brasil o que levou à reflexão sobre como ela se relaciona com seu envelhecimento. Fez-se uma tentativa por explicar esse elemento aproximando-o da proposta conceitual de lazer de Robert A. Stebbins (2008) dentro de um contexto ainda pouco conhecido e explorado. Foram propostos os seguintes objetivos específicos para a exploração: 1. aproximar a perspectiva de lazer de Stebbins (2008) ao contexto estudado, com ênfase no conceito de carreira; 2. identificar as características das práticas de lazer dos corredores do grupo de corridas; 3. analisar as inter-relações entre as práticas de lazer dos corredores e suas carreiras com o seu envelhecimento. Para a compreensão do lazer no grupo de corredores, foram feitas observações diretas e participantes, incluindo conversas informais com os atores do meio social e mantendo-se seus registros em diário de campo. Adicionalmente, foram feitas entrevistas semi-estruturadas, com o objetivo de captar informações que não eram alcançáveis pelas observações. Para a construção dos dados, as entrevistas foram transcritas e codificadas e, cruzadas com as informações obtidas nas observações, sendo possível identificar temas relevantes para os corredores. Com a concatenação de tais temas, foi possível conceber um modelo teórico que explica e evidencia os possíveis delineamentos das carreiras dos corredores dentro de um contexto que engloba seus elementos mais amplos, como os processos que envolvem a constituição de grupos de corridas e configuram o lazer e envelhecimento dos corredores; elementos que se relacionam com a forma de interpretação e interação dos corredores com o contexto em que experimentam o lazer, como a relativização de valores e o humor; e, finalmente, elementos que são parte inerente do lazer que elegeram por realizar, como a aprendizagem das habilidades necessárias ao desenvolvimento das atividades. Como forma de aproximar o modelo à educação, há uma síntese propositiva de elementos educacionais que bem poderiam ser aprofundados por futuras pesquisas e discutidos em relação ao envelhecimento e carreira dos corredores do grupo. / The core problem in this thesis is on the career of runner who participates in a running group in Southern Brazil which led to reflection about how it relates to their aging. It was done an attempting to explain this element in an unexplored and almost unknown field as part of serious leisure perspective, the theoretical framework proposed by Robert A. Stebbins (2008). As specific objectives it was proposed: 1. to get the group activities close to the serious leisure perspective, emphasizing on career; 2. to identify the features of runners leisure in the running group; 3. to analyze the interrelations among leisure practices of runners, their careers and aging. Aiming to comprehend the leisure of the running group, direct and participant observations were held, including informal talking with social actors, and they were recorded in a field notebook. Additionally, semi structured interviews were held intending to catch information not reachable just through observations. To data construction, the interview were transcribed and coded and crossed with information obtained in observations, being it possible to identify relevant themes on runners’ careers. Concatenating these themes, it was possible to develop a theoretical model to explain the runners’ career and its possible designs in a context which includes its broader elements, as the processes of constitution of the running group which configures leisure and aging of runners; elements related to the way runners interpret and interact with the context they experience their leisure, as the values relativization and humour; and, finally, elements which are inherent part of the kind of leisure they chose to do, as learning required abilities and skills. As a way of put close the model and education it was done a propositional synthesis of educational issues which could be detailed in future investigations and discussed in their relation to aging and career in the running group.

The purpose of this Master thesis is to examine and describe dog breeders’ information activities. Questions posed in this study are:• What are the information needs of dog breeders?• How does the dog breeder seek and use information?• How can the relationship between serious leisure and information activities be described?The theoretical framework consists of the sociologist Robert A Stebbins’ theory about serious leisure. The study is based on a qualitative methodology. Nine dog breeders of nine different breeds have been interviewed and the interviews have been transcribed and analyzed. The analysis has been conducted with a model for information use and its effects, formulated by Lars Höglund. When analyzing the information sources an additional model has been used; also formulated by Lars Höglund, and Olle Persson. The results show that the main information needs of dog breeders concern health, pedigree, mentality, hunting ability and the history of the breed. Information sources preferred are the Internet and personal contacts. Magazines and books are also used but not as frequently as the other two sources. Another finding is that the breeders do not use the public library as often as they did before the arrival of the Internet. The nine breeders organize their information about their breeding activities in a similar way, using files and folders. The connection between dog breeding as serious leisure and information activities appears to be very strong. The information activities are to be seen as one of the prerequisites for dog breeding. The results also indicate that the Swedish Kennel Club that organizes the breeders plays a very important role as information mediator.

This thesis presents a fully integrated and modular framework for social and emotional game companion that focuses on realistic social interaction between the player and Non-Player Characters (NPCs) in a game environment. Moreover, this thesis proposes integrated computational models for a formulation of action selection rules based on the game companion's personality, the relation between player and game companion and the perceived (non-)verbal actions to enhance the NPC's believability and the player's interaction in a game context. The rules were derived from data collections of both human-human and human-machine interactions. This thesis argues that NPC with such capability will accommodate a new experience when playing games. To illustrates the effectiveness of the proposed framework and computational models, the author implemented the framework and computational models into two game scenarios: The Smile Game where a human player who abides in the real world played with an ECA who inhabits a virtual world. The second scenario was The Skyrim Game, where an avatar represented the human player, who played with a virtual NPC in a virtual world. With a total of 117 participants in 217 interactions with the system, the results show that the players evidently perceived the NPCs' personality in accordance with the one set to them. The NPCs' ability to display emotions appropriately also provides the feeling of immersion in games to the players. Moreover, the ability to forge relationships naturally with the game companions gives the sentimental feeling towards the game companions. The main contribution of the work presented to the field of Intelligence Virtual Agents specifically in the domain of computer games, in this thesis is A fully integrated and modular framework for social-affect-aware game design complete with the computational models for social interaction with game companions. Several games have been built in several scenarios with simple social interactions between players and the game companions using the framework and computational models proposed to explore the opportunities of the framework and models. Finally, this thesis also presents some scenarios for data collections to construct interaction rules for game companions.

This ethnographic study explores the ways in which a group of social actors participate in the everyday life of a woodland nature reserve, the relationships they establish with each other, the way they engage with the nonhuman materiality of the woodland and how they are affected by this engagement. An autoethnographic approach was taken which was based on the researcher’s immersion in the research setting. This made possible a deep understanding of the affective experiences of the research participants and facilitated an appreciation of the meanings of the woodland materiality for informants which were often ‘beyond words’. The study focussed on a group of staff and volunteers and the everyday practical tasks that they engaged in which were mainly coppicing the reserve’s ancient woodland and ecological surveying and monitoring of its woodland and wildlife. These activities are central to the everyday life of the reserve and take place in the context of the environment and wildlife conservation cultural fields. They are conceptualised as core activities and generate fulfilment for those who engage in them. The analytical framework used brings together the concepts of habitus (Bourdieu, 1997), dwelling (Ingold, 1993), and ‘becoming with’ (Despret, 2004; Haraway, 2008) and allows an understanding of how informants’ habitus (both general and specific) derived from the cultural fields they experienced during childhood and in employment, shape not only their participation in the everyday life of the reserve but also how this participation is experienced and their ways of being-in-the-woodland. These last are analysed as occupying a spectrum from an instrumental relationship, through becoming with and dwelling fleetingly to dwelling. Dwelling is associated with a woodland habitus. One of my key findings is that involvement in the practices of wildlife conservation immerses social actors in a nonhuman woodland world that for most transforms their way of being-in-the-world.

Background The world’s ageing population is frequently cited as presenting economic and social burdens and critical challenges to healthcare systems, with falls and mental health featuring as two of the biggest burdens. Whilst physical activity is recommended for older adults to optimise functional independence and guidelines for the intensity, duration and frequency of physical activity exist, there are few guidelines on the specific types of exercises that are recommended. As a physical activity that incorporates the recommended aspects of aerobic, strengthening and balance work, the aim of this study was to explore the influence of ballroom dancing on the physical, mental and social health of community-dwelling older adults. Method A qualitative-dominant, concurrent mixed-methods design was utilised. Ethical approval was granted via the University of Huddersfield’s research ethics panel. Participants were community-dwelling older adults (over 55 years of age) who were recruited from local ballroom dancing classes in West Yorkshire. They participated in ballroom dancing classes for at least one hour per week for 12 months and were tested during this period at baseline, and after 3, 6, 9 and 12 months. Demographic details were collected at baseline and the incidence of falls, changes to medical history or medications and levels of exercise were recorded at each data collection point. Quantitative measures of physical function were assessed using the Functional Reach Test (FR test), Timed-Up-and-Go Test (TUGT), the Four Square Step Test (FSST) and Tinetti’s test. In addition, balance was specifically assessed using a Biodex Balance System SD (BBS). The Falls Efficacy Scale-International (FES-I) was completed alongside the Clinical Outcomes in Routine Examination-General Population (CORE-GP) for well-being. The qualitative aspect of the study used semi-structured interviews at baseline, 6 and 12 months. Forty-one interviews were performed with participants individually or in dancing pairs. Qualitative data were managed and analysed using the Framework Analysis approach. Results Of the 26 older adult ballroom dancers recruited to the study who consented to participate, 23 (10 male, 13 female) completed the 12-months of data collection (mean age 66.5 years (SD 5.96 years; age range 58-83 years)). Using a Framework Analysis approach, 4 key themes were identified amongst the sample of older adults. ’Active ageing’ considers physical health perceptions, the acceptance, adaptation and frustrations of ageing and maintaining an active body and mind. The theme ‘class commitment and congruence’ highlights factors that were deemed important to the success of a dancing class and would encourage participants to keep dancing. The ‘Social dance community’ theme considers the influence and dynamics of dancing partnerships and the importance of building social networks. Finally, ‘enjoyment’ acknowledges the role of ballroom dancing for well-being. This study demonstrated a low attrition rate, no adverse effects due to ballroom dancing and a low falls risk in this sample of older adults. The primary outcome was assessment of functional changes between baseline and 12 months, with the 3-monthly intervals serving as interim data collection points. Over the 12-month period, whilst not expected in a feasibility study, there were no significant changes in the FR test, TUGT, FSST or Tinetti’s test. For the CORE-GP scale 97.5% of recordings were within the ‘healthy’ well-being score range, and there was a 10% decrease in points-score for the FES-I, indicating a possible substantive finding for clinical practice. The BBS tests demonstrated women had a statistically significant better level of postural stability then men, and as a group, their scores on the FR test were significantly lower than normalised scores for their age group. Discussion The findings suggest that ballroom dancing should be promoted by health professionals as a socially inclusive,safe physical activity that provides considerable pleasure. In addition to the current literature, the ‘pleasure of practice’and the ‘pleasure of community’are two types of pleasure suggested to be associated with ballroom dancing. Ballroom dancing also enhances opportunities for physical, psychological and social resilience in older adults by resisting age-related physical decline, assisting with acceptance of the ageing body, providing a strong sense of enjoyment and well-being and helping to form strong social connections, which are all important factors for resilient ageing. It is recommended that future comparative studies are of an adequate power to detect group differences that may exist in quantitative outcome measures, such as assessing balance with the BBS. A control group should be used for comparison with the ballroom dancing intervention group, with the intervention group all starting ballroom dancing at baseline. Given the findings of this study that the participants appeared to be high functioning when performing physical tests, it is recommended that alternative outcome measures are sought that will discriminate sufficiently amongst community-dwelling older adults.