The purpose of this study is to construct a macroeconometric model for the Saudi Arabian economy in order to assess the effects of external shocks through such variables as the price of (oil) exports, real (oil) exports, and the price of imports. This model follows the methodology of the aggregate demand and supply. Due to the absence of interest rates, the formulation of the aggregate demand, following the monetary approach to the income determination, is done by combining the equations from the monetary sector in addition to the government and foreign sectors of the economy. The aggregate supply side of the economy is formulated by combining the equations from the oil and non-oil production sectors. The model determines the behaviours of such important endogenous variables as the real absorptive capacity, real oil and non-oil GDP, real imports, velocity of money, money supply, balance of payments, government oil and non-oil revenues, government expenditure, government deficit, and non-oil GDP and general price inflation rates. The estimated model satisfactorily simulates the reality of the economy for the estimation period of 1971-1994. This, therefore, justifies the use of the model for both multiplier and scenario analyses. The multiplier analysis evaluates the cffects of a 10% change in the price of (oil) exports, real (oil) exports, and the price of imports on the endogenous variables. The scenario analysis, however, examines the behaviours of the endogenous variables for 1999-2005 based on several scenarios on the price of (oil) exports, real (oil) exports, and the price of imports. Concentrating on three sets of scenarios corresponding to low, moderate, and high level of oil prices, our study concludes that a sound economy into the next century requires more aggressive privatisation policies. That is, the government policies should drastically limit the government expenditure and, instead, encourage the private sector to invest and participate more aggressively in the economic development projects.

Šio darbo tikslas: Įvertinti proaktyvios ir reaktyvios strategijų taikymo įtaką pusiausvyrai ir eisenos greičiui pacientams, patyrusiems galvos smegenų insultą. Tikslui pasiekti išsikelti uždaviniai: 1. Įvertinti pusiausvyrą ir eisenos greitį proaktyvios strategijos lavinimo grupės pacientams reabilitacijos pradžioje ir pabaigoje. 2. Įvertinti pusiausvyrą ir eisenos greitį reaktyvios strategijos lavinimo grupės pacientams reabilitacijos pradžioje ir pabaigoje. 3. Palyginti pusiausvyros ir eisenos greičio kaitą tarp grupių reabilitacijos metu. 4. Įvertinti pusiausvyros ir eisenos greičio sąsajas pacientams, patyrusiems galvos smegenų insultą. Metodika: tyrime dalyvavo 32 pacientai patyrę galvos smegenų insultą. Tiriamieji atsitiktine tvarka buvo suskirstyti į tiriamąją ir kontrolinę grupes. Tiriamųjų amžius svyruoja nuo 60 iki 70 metų. Tyrimas atliktas Kauno klinikinės ligoninės FMR skyriuje. Visiems pacientams kiekvieną dieną buvo atlikti du kineziterapijos užsiėmimai. Vieno užsiėmimo metu su visais pacientais dirbama pagal reaktyvią strategiją, o kitas užsiėmimas buvo orientuotas į eisenos ir pusiausvyros gerinimą; su kontroline grupe šio užsiėmimo metu dirbama taikant reaktyvią, o tiriamąja grupe – proaktyvią lavinimo strategiją. Visi tiriamieji prieš ir po reabilitacijos buvo įvertinti „Stotis ir eiti“ testu, pusiausvyros mėginiais pagal Schmitz ir Berg pusiausvyros skale. Apibendrinus rezultatus pateikiamos išvados: 1. Proaktyvi lavinimo strategija pacientams... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The aim of this work: to evaluate influence of proactive and reactive strategies towards balance and walking speed of the patients who suffered from the stroke. The tasks of the work: 1. to evaluate balance and walking speed of the patients in the group of proactive strategy at the beginning of rehabilitation and at the end. 2. to evaluate balance and walking speed of the patients in the group of reactive strategy at the beginning of rehabilitation and at the end. 3. to compare the change of balance and walking speed between groups during the rehabilitation. 4. to evaluate the links between balance and walking speed of the patients who suffered from stroke. Methodology: 32 patients who suffered from the stroke took part in the research. They were divided into analyzed and control groups in random order. The age of the patients is from 60 to 70 years. The research was carried out in FMR department Kaunas Clinical hospital. All patients had two physiotherapy periods every day. During one period they have been working according to reactive strategy. The other period was oriented towards the improvement of balance and walking. During the second period patients of control group have been working according to reactive strategy and patients of analyzed group have been working according to proactive strategy. All patients before and after the rehabilitation were evaluated according to “Stand and go” test and balance samples of Schmitz and Berg balance scale. Conclusions: 1... [to full text]

Recovery of the ability to maintain balance during standing is one of the primary and essential goals of rehabilitation programs for individuals with Spinal Cord Injury (SCI). Regaining functionality during standing by means of a neuroprosthesis would decrease secondary complications and increase independence, and would consequently improve the quality of life of these individuals. However, the development of a standing neuro- prosthesis requires techniques to generate reliable and predictable torque vectors in the lower limbs. We proposed and tested a method based on surface Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) and the idea that three independent muscles can form a basis that would span the joint torque vector space. We tested the proposed stimulation technique on the quadriceps muscles that produce knee extension. The results of this study suggest that the quadriceps muscle basis vectors are insufficient to cover the knee joint vector space.

Nowadays in the world, energy usage effectiveness has always been an issue which blocks people’s development. How to effectively use the energy is becoming more and more important. Energy audit can appraise the energy usage condition of a building, and come up with improvement advices through systematic calculation and analysis the existing problems and reasons for energy wastes, in order to bring the object of effective usage of energy into reality. HiG student hostel 23 is situated in Gävle, a coastal city in the east of Sweden. There are three floors in Hostel 23, the first and second floor have 18 single rooms, 4 double rooms and 2 communal kitchens and the third floor is storeroom. The aim of this thesis is to explore indoor climate and energy use for this student hostel and find out the reason of the low temperature inside the room, seeking some ways to improve the thermal comfort inside the building during winter conditions. First, collect date from every part in energy balance by measurement and interview with administrator, then calculate and analyze the data. At last, the whole energy balance can be estimated. Through analyzing the whole energy balance, the suggestion is to change the window type and design a new ventilation system operating plan. Through the optimization, energy loss is reduced, and about 10% of the energy is preserved. Besides this, the building infiltration loss is too high through this energy audit; it states there still exists some problems. If these problems can be solved, it will be helpful to keep a good thermal comfort inside the building.

Achieving high quality, consistency, and testing efficiency in wind tunnel tests using internal balances is accomplished through the use of new testing methods, analysis of data output, and standardized documentation of test procedures at the Texas A&M Low Speed Wind Tunnel. The wind tunnel is capable of performing internal balance testing on models that experience less than 500 pounds of normal force. Testing has shown less than a 3% mean flow variation with the sting mount installed and a turbulence intensity of less than 0.25%. Documentation of procedures and check- lists for installation of internal balance testing equipment and test execution provide higher efficiency and consistency during a test. A step-by-step examination of the data analysis routines and associated uncertainty equations show uncertainty in the force and moment coefficients for the Mark XIII internal balance to be approximately ± 0.05 and ± 0.02, respectively. Quantifying the uncertainty of the primary output parameters and showing repeatability of the data within the defined uncertainty limits achieved higher quality results.

Introduction: A review of the literature shows that standard clinical balance measures do not adequately predict fall risk in community-dwelling older individuals. There is significant evidence demonstrating the interactions of fear, anxiety, and confidence with the control of standing posture. Little is known however about the nature of this relationship under more challenging balance conditions, particularly in the elderly. The primary purpose of this work was to evaluate the relationship between fear of falling, clinical balance measures and fall-risk. Methods: Three studies were conducted evaluating the effects of postural threat (manipulated by support surface elevation) and/or cognitive loading (working memory secondary task) on clinical balance performance and task-specific psychological measures. Predictive and construct validity as well as test-retest reliability was evaluated for measures used to assess fear of falling and related psychological constructs . Results: Postural threat resulted in reduced balance confidence and perceived stability as well as increased state anxiety and fear of falling. These changes were significantly correlated to decrements in performance of clinical balance tasks. Neither standard clinical scales of balance and mobility nor generalized psychological measures, alone or in combination, could predict falls in community-dwelling elderly. However, combined scores on selected challenging clinical balance tasks could significantly predict falls. Furthermore, improved predictive precision resulted from having these tasks performed under combined postural threat and cognitive loading. Finally, the inclusion of task-specific psychological measures resulted in further improvements to predictive precision. Psychological measures demonstrated fair to excellent test-retest reliability in both healthy young and independent-living older individuals. Conclusions: Clinical balance tasks performed under more challenging conditions likely better reflect everyday experiences in which a fall is likely to occur. Incorporating easy-to-administer task-specific psychological evaluations and self-reported health estimates with clinical balance assessments might improve the likelihood of correctly identifying community-dwelling individuals at risk for falls. Improved estimates of fall-risk may lead to a reduction in the number of falls experienced in this population, thereby reducing the significant burden of fall-related hospitalizations, treatments and rehabilitation on the individual, families and health care system.

Soil salinity affects an estimated one billion hectares worldwide. Excess salinity inhibits plant growth, limiting crop production. This is caused by osmotic stress in saline soil, nutrient imbalance and specific ion toxicity. There have been many methods of remediation investigated, including excavation, soil washing and phytoremediation. Phytoremediation involves the growth of plants on impacted soils to degrade or sequester contaminants. The remediation of salts relies on the uptake of ions into plant biomass where the salt is sequestered and the biomass can then be harvested. This method removes the salt from the site and leaves the top soil in place, which aids in revegetation after site remediation is completed. Plant-growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) improves plant growth by lowering the levels of stress ethylene within the plant, thereby increasing the biomass available to sequester ions. The objectives of this research were to investigate the efficiency of phytoremediation of salt impacted soils in field remediation sites. Previously isolated strains of PGPR (UW3, Pseudomonas putida; UW4, Pseudomonas putida; and CMH3, Pseudomonas corrugata) were used in field trials involving the planting of oats (Avena sativa), annual ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum), tall wheatgrass (Agropyron elongatum) and tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea C.V. Inferno). The salt tolerance of various switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) cultivars (Cave-In-Rock, Southlow, Forestburg, and common) was compared to tall wheatgrass and Inferno tall fescue to investigate the potential of switchgrass for phytoremediation. Improvement of seed germination under salt stress by H2O2 pre-treatment was investigated both as an individual treatment and in combination with CMH3 treatment. The ion uptake into plant biomass was iii compared to the change in salinity, to determine how much of the decrease in site salinity is accounted for by uptake of salt by plants. H2O2 pretreatment resulted in a 50% increase in root and shoot emergence of tall wheatgrass under 75 mM NaCl stress compared to control treatments, which matched the germination improvement observed with PGPR treatment. The combination of H2O2 and CMH3 showed a similar improvement to root emergence under stress, but had no observable effect on shoot emergence when compared to the no-H2O2-no-PGPR control. Switchgrass cultivars showed a lower germination rate than tall wheatgrass at salt levels from 0 mM to 150 mM NaCl. The measured uptake of Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+ and Cl- into plant biomass during a phytoremediation field trial was able to account for approximately 70% of the observed change in salinity in 2008. In 2009 the uptake of Na+ and Cl- into Kochia scoparia, a weed species that invaded the field site after a hard frost, was able to account for 36% of the observed change in salinity.

There has been an increased focus on balancing multiple life roles and managing the boundary between work and family. To minimize employees’ work life balance issues, organizations have turned to policies such as flextime, on-site childcare, and other mechanisms to ensure that engaging in one’s family does not interfere with work (Rothbard, 2001). The purpose of this study is to explore employees’ use of tactics to manage their work and life stress; particularly the employees’ use of resources and social support as well as their perceptions of flexibility. Eight employees who work in the not-for-profit sector were interviewed. Narrative inquiry was used and qualitative interviews were conducted. What was found was that employees seek flexibility, support and understanding from their supervisor.

There has been a dramatic increase in the number of females entering the orthodontic profession over the past few decades, however, there is very little published literature on female orthodontists and work-family balance. A qualitative study, using the framework of phenomenology, was used to analyze data obtained from semi-structured telephone interviews of a purposive sample of Canadian female orthodontists. Results conveyed that the issue of work-family balance is of paramount importance to the women interviewed. They defined balance in terms of having success, and satisfaction, in both their family life and professional life. However, they recognized the requirement of compromising and prioritizing. The participants discussed the specific challenges of work-family balance in orthodontic practice, and outlined adaptations to the maternal role and the professional role, to help achieve balance. Finally, they identified areas where they experienced the most role conflict. / Medical Sciences - Orthodontics

This study explores the paradoxical nature of cultural norms of feminine perfection and the strategies women employ to manage those paradoxes. Following an analysis of the cultural discourses surrounding women and perfection, this study uses portraiture to highlight how five women face perfection in their lives. Portraiture as a method employs careful, detailed narratives of a participant. The portraits from five participants, from different generations, ethnicities, races, and socio-economic backgrounds are provided and analyzed. Each portrait participant in this study represented a facet of feminine perfection, such as physical, relational, or career. From these portraits, distinct management strategies emerged. While each participant experienced perfection in unique ways, they all were able to transcend the paradoxical tensions of perfection by framing and creating boundaries around how they would personally manage perfection. These accounts suggest that women work within the constraints of cultural norms to create stable identities.