The thesis applies the neomedieval theoretical framework on the contemporary political map of the world. The thesis argues, that the contemporary international politics cannot be understood by an application of the unified geopolitical setting and that the key divergencies in the geopolitical environment play a crucial role for the actors operating in different regions. As an outcome of the theoretical works dealing with the selected theory, a three-world model is being presented dividing the political map among these settings - Durable Disorder (defined by networking and privatization), Westphalian System (defined by a dominant position of strong centralized state), and Chaotic Anarchy (lacking stable political power and control over means of violence). This model is consequently applied on the global political map with the consequent analysis of the strategies of different actors located inside specific environments and mutual interactions of these three worlds.

The thesis "Psychological and Spiritual Guide through Middle-Age Crisis" contains a synthesis of knowledge about middle-age crisis from the interdisciplinary point of view of psychology and spiritual theology in its first part. The fundamental opinion declares that middle-age crisis is not something to be suffered through but, in spite of all its demands, it is an opportunity and challenge for fuller and more authentic life, for maturation of a man and for getting closer to oneself and to God. In the second part of the thesis, knowledge and procedures of psychotherapy, crisis intervention and pastoral theology are used to concretize and extend the conclusions of the first part in a more practical way; hence, the paper can be used as a guide for those who are undergoing this period of life or those who want to accompany someone else on this way. The thesis is intended primarily, but not exclusively, to Christians who lack education in the psychosocial area and who is middle-age crisis a personal topic of themselves or of people around them for-be it their relatives or friends, or, in case of pastoral workers, clients in their professional care. This work is rather singular in the Czech language due to its conception, scope and synthesis of its starting points as well as their elaboration. Keywords...

Falls remain one of the most reportable, serious and costly type of adverse events costing an estimated $3,500 to $27,000 depending on the injury. The research often focuses on the elderly and their risk for falls and injury. Increasingly higher rates of falls are being reported in the middle-age inpatient 45 to 64 years of age. While predictors of falls and injuries have been studied across all adult inpatients, research has not specifically addressed fall risk characteristics in the middle-age. The World Health Organization’s (WHO), “Risk factor model for fall in older age”, framework was adapted for the middle-age inpatient. This framework identifies extrinsic and intrinsic variables from four risk factor groupings of biological, socioeconomic, behavioral, environmental and related outcomes to describe characteristics of the middle-age inpatient’s fall injury risk. Hitcho et al. (2004) seminal article was also used to identify pertinent inpatient characteristics. The purpose of this exploratory retrospective quantitative study described fall risk factors specific to the middle-age inpatient. The aims: (1) described risk factors of falls and fall injury; (2) described unit specific data, fall numbers with type of falls, injuries from falls, and prevention strategies (3) compare the incidence of fall and injury rates in the middle-age (45- 64) patients to the other hospital adult age-groups (ages 21-44 and 65-90). This study used retrospective hospital occurrence data to identify middle-age inpatient falls and related characteristics reported by staff. Chart review of inpatient falls identified 439 individual falls occurring from January 2012 through July 2014. The study sample included inpatients that fell either one-time or had a repeat fall during the study period. Analysis for data included use of descriptive statistics, crosstabs, and Poisson regression. Outcomes collected included demographics, admitting diagnosis, chief complaints, cormorbities, and discharge status, type of falls and areas of falls. There was no significant difference in rates of falls between units or in staffing ratios that had a bearing on the middle-age inpatient. Fall prevention interventions were found to be universally applied, not specific to the individual, nor based on outcomes of risk screening of anticipated physiological risk factors. In comparison of the middle-age inpatient population with those age 65 -90 years of age the rates per 1000 patient days for both falls (p=.637) and injuries (p=.626) had no significant difference. Males fell at a significantly higher rate (p=.000) than females in the middle-age inpatient and those aged 64-90 years. The middle-age inpatient fell at an alarming rate of 42% of all falls. This research provided insight into a population with acute and multiple chronic disease conditions and comorbidities that contribute to altered mental status, abnormal gait and frequently awaking at night to void. This population often overestimates their limitations and strives to maintain their autonomy. The age of the patient should not influence staff assessment of alertness and orientation. The findings of the characteristics in this research provide rich information for further research in how to include the middle-age patient in clinical decision making and education of this age group.

The purpose of the study is to examine how women around forty describes appearance and age. The focus of the analysis is the idea of age, appearance and gender. The study is based on seven interviews. The analysis of the material is based on a cultural analytic perspective, with inspiration from the theory of performativity, a constructivist understanding of gender, appearance and age, intersectionality and Pierre Bourdieus capital theory. The results of the study show that experience of age and appearance is constructed and given meaning in relation to other aspects of power, including gender and social class. The experience of age is constructed in relation to norm systems and context. The results show an experienced dissonance between subjective and chronological age. Appearance-based age changes are associated with negativity. Attempts to escape aging can be understood as a way to seek control over death. The study concludes that conceptions of appearance and aging affect the interviewers’ way of understanding and talking about themselves.

Using a matched-partner dataset of 660 midlife couples, this study examined dating relationships at midlife from the perspective of both male and female partners. It also explored ways various life course factors such as marital history, children, cohabitation, relationship length, and social approval related to partners' perceptions of one another and to subsequent relationship quality. Findings indicated heterogeneity in midlife dating experiences. Actor and partner effects of enhancement were most often linked with greater satisfaction and fewer problems for never-married couples, yet enhancement was not related to relationship stability for them. For couples where only one partner had been previously married, partner enhancement was linked to stability but not to other relationship outcomes. Life course factors played an important role in midlife dating relationships. Further research is needed to examine longitudinal trends.

[pt] No presente trabalho pretendo analisar as profundas mudanças que ocorrem no Ocidente Medieval do século XII e que foram notadas por Haskins como uma forma distinta de Renascimento. Bem como essas são representadas dentro do conjunto de textos satíricos, os Carmina Burana. Para isso mobilizarei um esforço, em um primeiro momento, para compreender a formulação do conceito de Renascimento Cultural, que é estabelecido em seus devidos contornos por Jakob Burckhardt e é utilizado por Haskins para pensar uma era de rompimentos e fluidez sociais, que eram atípicas a uma sociedade ligada a estabilidade que uma cultura agrária, conforme nos mostrou Ernst Gellner, possuía. Essa discussão de caráter historiográfico é importante para percebermos o momento de formulação de um conceito bem definido e totalmente explicativo e de outro modo apresentar uma instabilidade que não desmerece as formulações de 70 anos de historiografia, mas compreender uma outra via de explicação do real-passado que não age pela via conceitual, mas por uma outra via formativa da linguagem, isto é, a Metáfora. Dentro dessas compreensões pretendo levar, por um caminho híbrido, um esforço para demonstrar a formatividade desses versos, sua ambiência e como eles, por certa via, dão conta de uma experiência de real e assim demonstrar minha hipótese principal de ter nos textos risíveis dos Carmina Burana uma forma metafórica de construção de um conhecimento sobre o passado. / [en] In this paper we analyze the profound changes taking place in the twelfth century Medieval West and were noted by Haskins as a distinct form of Renaissance. And these are represented within the set of satirical texts, Carmina Burana. For this mobilizarei an effort, at first, to understand the formulation of the concept of Cultural Renaissance, which is established in their proper contours by Jakob Burckhardt and is used by Haskins to think an era of breakups and social fluidity, which were atypical to a company linked to stability that an agrarian culture, as we showed Ernst Gellner, possessed. This discussion of historiographical character is important to realize the time to formulate a well-defined concept and fully explanatory and otherwise present an instability that does not diminish the formulations of 70 years of history, but to understand another way of real-last explanation does not act via the conceptual, but another via formation of language, that is, the metaphor. Within these understandings intend to take, by a hybrid way, an effort to demonstrate the formativeness these verses, their surroundings and how they, in some way, realize a real experience and thus demonstrate my main hypothesis have the laughable texts of Carmina Burana a metaphoric way of building knowledge about the past.

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Bakgrund: Vid medelåldern drabbas många individer av muskuloskeletala sjukdomar som kan förebyggas och rehabiliteras genom styrketräning. Studier har gjorts på vad som motiverar människor till fysisk aktivitet men är bristfällig gällande motivation till styrketräning. Syfte: Syftet med studien var att undersöka vilka faktorer som motiverar styrketränande personer i medelåldern till att styrketräna, samt att redogöra för hur kön, grupp- och individuell träning, träningsvolym och hur länge en person styrketränat påverkar motivationsfaktorerna. Metod: Femtiofem personer mellan 40-60 år besvarade ett digitalt frågeformulär om vad som motiverar dem till att styrketräna. En del av enkäten innehöll bakgrundsfrågor om deltagarna. Den andra delen innefattade en modifierad version av formuläret RM 4-FM. Resultat: Deltagarna drevs främst av inre motivation och identified regulation. Det fanns en signifikant skillnad i typ av motivation mellan könen, där kvinnorna skattade högre på frågor gällande identified regulation (p=.028). Det fanns ingen signifikant skillnad mellan personer som tränade individuellt eller i grupp (external regulation: p=.500, introjected regulation: p= .517, identified regulation: p=.391, intrinsic regulation: p=.918) och inget samband mellan antal tränade timmar per vecka (p=.109) eller hur länge en person har styrketränat (p=.663) med relative autonomy index (RAI. Konklusion: Resultaten ger insikt i att personer i medelåldern drivs mer av inre motivation till styrketräning och att kvinnor tenderar att motiveras mer av inre drivkrafter, men kan inte generaliseras till hela populationen. Fortsatt forskning krävs för att undersöka relationen mellan motivation och styrketräning hos personer i medelåldern. / Background: During the middle-age, it is common to obtain a variety of musculoskeletal conditions, however, strength training reduces the risk to obtain these complications. There are many studies with the goal to research motivational factors that contribute to physical activity, however, there are few studies that have similar objectives related to strength training.  Objective: The objective of this study was to better understand what motivates middle aged individuals to strength train.  Method: In this study, 55 participants between 40 to 60 years old, completed a questionnaire about motivational factors to strength training. The first part consisted of background questions and the second part, a modified version of the RM 4-FM questionnaire.  Results: The results from the questionnaire showed that a majority of the sample were driven by intrinsic motivation and more specifically identified regulation. Group comparisons showed that women on average scored higher on the questions related to identified regulation (p=.028). There were no significant differences between individuals who train individually or in group (external regulation: p=.500, introjected regulation: p= .517, identified regulation: p=.391, intrinsic regulation: p=.918) nor seen in correlation between training volume (p=.109) and training experience (p=.663) with RAI. Conclusion: The results of this study show that individuals who strength train are predominantly incentivised by intrinsic motivation and women tend to have a stronger intrinsic motivation than men, however further research is required to continue to explore the complex relationship between motivation and strength training habits.

The purpose of this study was to examine the structure of the midlife marriage, focusing on identity, intimacy, and marital satisfaction. The investigator sought to identify the identity issues that midlife men and women are experiencing, describe the intimacy issues they face as couples, and show if/how these factors relate to marital satisfaction. Data were collected from a purposive sample of 48 midlife couples in the Roanoke Valley area. These couples were subgrouped into two categories: twenty-rive couples were classified as nonclinical couples (not in marital counseling at the present time) and twentythree were classified as clinical couples (currently in marital counseling). Information from the Waring Intimacy Questionnaire (WIQ) was used to analyze identity and intimacy issues and to examine factors that influenced marital satisfaction. Information from the Marital Satisfaction Scale was used to assess the level of marital satisfaction for both nonclinical and clinical couples. The results of the study indicated that (1) men and women who are in marital counseling are in the process of examining their identity issues. Women appear to be reassessing their roles as wives and mothers and are beginning to concentrate on their individuality. The issues for men were less clearly defined. They continued to view work as of central importance in their lives and did not seem to have made the transition from work to family as their main source of identity as Levinson, Darrow, Klein, Levinson, and McKee (1978) predicted. Based on WIQ scores and qualitative responses on the questionnaire, men in both the nonclinical and clinical subgroups, and women in the clinical subgroup did not feel they had an intimate relationship with their spouses. Contrary to the premises of this study, identity and intimacy were not the most significant factors affecting marital satisfaction for these midlife couples. The two factors that most determined their couples· level of marital satisfaction were social desirability and compatibility. / Ph. D.