No description available.

No description available.

This study addresses the mechanisms and consequences of shifts and transitions at the apex of the international hierarchy of power. It begins with the assessment that in spite of recent advances, progress in this area has been limited by lack of theoretical consistency and rigor. To remedy this problem, a game-theoretic model is developed which conceives of power shifts as transitions in preferences and learning processes. The model is then tested against the case of the pre-World War I British-German power shift. Findings provide new insight into the dynamics of prewar European diplomacy, and suggest that the war fundamentally resulted from a German challenge to the British-led international order. As regards the current Sino-American power shift, this study suggests that relations between China and the U.S. are headed towards a Cold War-like pattern, the severity of which could be alleviated by a successful U.S. policy of engagement towards Beijing.

This thesis analyzes the effects of external shocks and government policy responses on the current account in Kenya. We attempt to isolate two effects on the current account which arise from the impact of external shocks to the economy. The first one is attributed to a direct response by private agents to the shock. The second arises from the optimal response by the government to counteract the effects of the shock on the economy and depends on the government's objectives. It is hypothesized that these two effects can explain the behavior of the current account in many developing countries. / Much of the literature in developing countries ignores the indirect effect of government policy on private sector behavior and hence its effect on the current account. Moreover, the models emphasize empirical analysis with little or no theoretical foundation. / In this thesis, an intertemporal framework is postulated with rational optimizing agents. It is assumed that following an external shock, the rational behavior of economic agents is to adjust their production and spending behavior in an optimal manner. Depending on the degree of flexibility in the economy, the effect of this response is to reduce domestic absorption and thus improve the current account. At the same time, the government responds by undertaking policies which optimize its objectives given the shock. The overall effect may or may not improve the current account. / The reactions of both the government and the private sector are analyzed in the context of a game in which it is assumed that each agent takes the other's behavior into account when formulating economic decisions. Two types of equilibria are examined: a Nash non-cooperative concurrent game; and a non-cooperative Stackleberg structure. / The theoretical framework is along the lines of Conway who has undertaken a similar study for Turkey, a semi-industrialized economy. The model specification and the estimating equations are however modified to capture key features of the Kenyan economy. / The empirical results show that external shocks, particularly increases in the price of imported inputs and exchange rate devaluation have a contractionary effect on the Kenyan economy. Fox example, producers responded to an increase in the price of imported inputs by reducing the demand for the inputs as well as the demand for labor. As predicted by the theory, both the government and private agents responded to the shocks in an attempt to maximize their objectives. It is argued that the optimal responses of these agents are not necessarily in each other's interest implying that each agent will react to counteract the undesirable effects of the other's behavior. The interaction between the government and the private sector can be explained by a Stackleberg game structure where the government is the leader. Also, both the direct and indirect effects of the shocks are found to be important in explaining the behavior of the current account in Kenya.

The purpose of this study was to assess the reliability and validity of a new computerized method of assessing balance and gaze control under a broad range of physical and visual conditions in people with vestibular hypofunction. Test retest reliability for balance performance as measured by COP excursion was good in all conditions with ICCs ranging from .64 to .90 in the AP and ML directions. Closed loop visual tracking as measured by COD had high reliability on the sponge and treadmill (ICC=.71-.75) as compared to open loop tracking (ICC=.325-.463) which was poor. Convergent validity showed poor correlation between clinical tests and the electronic balance and gaze assessments. Construct validity demonstrated that as physical and visual loads increased, balance performance decreased significantly on the sponge as measured by an increase in COP excursion and visual tracking performance decreased significantly on the treadmill as measured by a decrease in COD.

Substantial numbers of Canadians work shifts. The reasons individuals work shifts are varied and complex. Prior research regarding the relationship between work-family balance, gender, quality of life indicators and health has yielded mixed results. The goal of this research was to examine the association between work-family balance, quality of life indicators and Canadians' overall health status while controlling for socio-economic status, education, family structure and life satisfaction. The two objectives of this study were: 1) to explore how the relationship between work-related characteristics, quality of life and overall health status is different among Canadian male and Canadian female workers, controlling for age, education, socio-economic status, family structure, and life satisfaction and, 2) to examine the relationship between shift configuration and employees' overall health status, controlling for socio-economic status, gender, education, family structure and life satisfaction. This study involved analyses of cross-secional national data from the General Social Survey (GSS) 2006, Cycle 20. The sample for the study included employed men and women who were married or living in common-law relationships, ages 18 through 69. Bivariate and logistic regression analyses were conducted to address the stated research objectives. Appropriate survey weights were applied to estimate population characteristeics. To fully account for the survey's complex sample design, mean bootstrap weights were used for variance estimation and calculation of confidence intervals. Findings indicated that for women and shift workers, both work-to-family spillover and family-to-work spillover were predictve of poor self-rated health. Spillover was not a predictor of poor health for men or day workers. Shift configuration was not found to be significantly correlated with poor self-rated health. Analyses should be repeated to test for interaction between shift work and sleep quality as sleep quality was controlled for in this study.

No description available.

No description available.

THE EFFICIENCY OF KINESITHERAPY IN ORDER TO REHABILITATE THE MOVEMENT, COORDINATION AND BALANCE IN PRESENCE OF THE PROLONGED ISCHEMIC NEUROLOGICAL DEFICIENCY Izolda Jurjoniene Summary Key words: basic/ functional treatment, balance, coordination, movement The disorder of the brain blood circulation is a very important medical and social problem in Lithuania. Every year because of these diseases more than 2000 people become disabled ( V.Zulys, 1995). The brain circulation disorder is one of the most frequent and economically detrimental diseases. Kinesitherapy as one of the means of rehabilitation plays a very important and often an essential role. The training of movement is an urgent task of the theory and practice of kinesitherapy. The analysis of movement in neurophysiological aspect creates wider possibilities for patients’ testing and treatment. It can be maintained that in order to rehabilitate the disorders of the movement, coordination and balance of the patients in presence of the prolonged temporal ischemic brain stroke functional treatment is more efficient than basic one. The aim of this study is to establish the efficiency of kinesitherapy in order to rehabilitate the movement, coordination and balance of the patients in presence of the prolonged temporal ischemic brain stroke. The tasks to reach the aim of this study were: 1) to establish the efficiency of the basic and functional kinesitherapic treatment in order to rehabilitate the movement of the... [to full text]

SUMMARY Joint damages make a big part of orthopedic pathology and rheumatic diseases. One of the most often rheumatic diseases is osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis is a difficult and widespread joint disease requiring special public health care attention and healing expenses and it has caused especially great interest of scientists in the world. Exercise therapy is an important part of complex treatment of osteoarthritis. However, information about exercise therapy frequency, duration, intensity and different exercises influence upon functional possibilities is still limited. Research purpose. To determine exercise therapy influence upon functional activity of patients with leg joints osteoarthritis. Goals. 1) To evaluate strength exercise therapy effect on clinical and functional data of patients with leg joint osteoarthritis. 2) To evaluate balance exercise therapy impact upon clinical and functional data of patients with leg joints osteoarthritis. 3) To compare strength and balance exercise therapy influence upon clinical and functional data of patients with leg joints osteoarthritis. 4) To determine pain intensity and functional data interrelation of patients with leg joints osteoarthritis. Research methods and organisation. Patients with leg joint osteoarthritis volunteered to participate in research. The participants were divided into two groups, each consisting of 15 persons. The two groups were homogenous by main data: sex, age, height, weight, diseases duration... [to full text]