Edgar Allan Poe has long been considered one of the great writers in Gothic literature. His works, as he himself suggested in his essay “The Philosophy of Composition,” are intended to strike a unique balance between mainstream appeal and higher literary craft. In many ways, my goals as a composer are similar, not just in mitigating this often tenuous dynamic, but also in tapping into powerful emotional states. Poe is a master at creating moods, for instantly drawing the reader into his dynamic worlds. Many of his works spend a significant amount of time, sometimes paragraph upon paragraph as in the opening to The Fall of the House of Usher, simply detailing his specific vision of the story’s tenor. In this piece, I was interested in musically depicting the imagery, which Poe so eloquently writes. I have chosen three of Poe’s short stories: The Black Cat, The Pit and the Pendulum, and The Fall of the House of Usher. In each movement, I deliberately avoid any programmatic connection to the story, that is to say specific events in the music do not coincide with any actual depiction of an event within the intended story. Rather this piece examines and details the specific tone of each story. Midnight Drearies: Three Moods on Edgar Allan Poe was written for Dan Welcher and the University of Texas New Music Ensemble. / text

Unilateral, below-knee amputees have altered gait mechanics, which can significantly affect mobility. For example, amputees often have asymmetric leg loading as well as higher metabolic cost and an increased risk of falling compared to non-amputees. Below-knee amputees lose the functional use of the ankle muscles, which are critical in non-amputee walking for providing body support, forward propulsion and leg-swing initiation. The ankle muscles also regulate angular momentum in non-amputees, which is important for providing body stability and preventing falls. Thus, compensatory mechanisms in amputee walking are developed to accomplish the functional tasks normally provided by the ankle muscles. In Chapters 2 and 3, three-dimensional forward dynamics simulations of amputee and non-amputee walking were generated to identify compensatory mechanisms and their effects on joint loading and metabolic cost. Results showed that the prosthesis provided body support, but did not provide sufficient body propulsion or leg-swing initiation. As a result, compensations by the residual leg gluteus maximus, gluteus medius, and hamstrings were needed. The simulations also showed the intact leg tibio-femoral joint contact impulse was greater than the residual leg and that the vasti and hamstrings were the primary contributors to the joint impulse on both the intact and residual legs. The amputee simulation had higher metabolic cost than the non-amputee simulation, which was primarily due to prolonged muscle activity from the residual leg gluteus maximus, gluteus medius, hamstrings, vasti and intact leg vasti and ankle muscles. In Chapter 4, whole-body angular momentum in amputees and non-amputees was analyzed. Reduced residual leg propulsion resulted in a smaller range of sagittal plane angular momentum in the second half of the gait cycle. Thus, to conserve angular momentum, reduced braking was needed in the first half of the gait cycle. Decreased residual leg braking appears to be an important mechanism to regulate sagittal plane angular momentum in amputee walking, but was also associated with a greater range of angular momentum that may contribute to reduced stability in amputees. These studies have provided important insight into compensatory mechanisms in below-knee amputee walking and have the potential to guide rehabilitation methods to improve amputee mobility. / text

This essay is a product of the author’s interest in silent films from Soviet, especially, documentary films. Before the 1920’s documentary filmmaking had mostly been limited to newsreels and short scenes. Only occasional feature-length documentaries had been made. During the 1920s, documentary film achieved new status, not only because of its use as propaganda; it was also identified as artistic cinema. Discussions how to use this genre were taking place all over Europe, and in the US. In France, many different journals on cinema were started. In Soviet the discussions later became politicised. It was a good climate for groundbreaking cinema, and Esfir Shub was one of the film pioneers in Soviet. The ambition with the essay is to give Esfir Shub theoretical approach to non-fiction film a greater acknowledgement. The thesis is how Esfir Shub combines titles and pictures with cutting in The Fall of the Romanov Dynasty (1927) and to theorise the film with Shub’s own conceptual ideas. The method is close reading of the film and the articles written by Shub. The conclusions made by the author, is that Shub uses titles and pictures, in a dynamic cross-cutting between the oppressor and the oppressed. She is faithful to her own theories. She is only using authentically material and not played scenes; otherwise she would distort historical facts. The montage is built in two different ways. Firstly Shub use an ironic tone in the titles when she introduces the oppressors from the old regime, and comment these images widely. Secondly she uses pictures of typical symbols of capitalism and does not need to comment in such matter as earlier, because the film material she had captured speaks for itself.

Fall prevention is a serious issue in the health and aging fields, and much attention and research is now being focused on examining why older adults fall and ways to prevent them from falling. Although it has been well-documented that older adults benefit from programs designed to decrease falling by promoting exercise participation, balance training, and fall education; little research has focused on specifically examining how older minority women view preventive exercise programs. This qualitative study explores the experiences of older minority women participating in a fall prevention program. The specific aims of the study are to: 1) gain an understanding of older minority women’s experiences and perceptions about falling and fall prevention; 2) establish what factors influence older minority women to participate in fall prevention programs; and 3) explore participants’ perceived outcomes of program participation. Post-test interviews with 21 participants were analyzed using the method of grounded theory to identify common themes and outcomes associated with participation in a fall prevention program. Findings from this study provide an in-depth look into the factors motivating older minority women to participate in exercise and explore their beliefs regarding falling and fall prevention.

Darbo objektas: Geriatrinių pacientų pusiausvyros gerinimas. Tyrimo problema: Pagyvenusiai ir senyvo amžiaus žmonių populiacijai sparčiai didėjant, labai svarbu yra išlaikyti fizinį aktyvumą, savarankiškumą, apsitarnavimą kasdieninėje veikloje bei sumažinti nelaimingų atsitikimų riziką. Pagrindinis veiksnys įtakojantis pagyvenusio amžiaus žmonių nelaimingus atsitikimus ir mirštamumą yra griuvimai. Todėl tampa labai svarbu iš anksto jiems užkirsti kelią ir taip gerinti pagyvenusio amžiaus žmonių gyvenimo kokybę. Tyrimo tikslas: nustatyti pratimų su grįžtamuoju ryšiu poveikį geriatrinių pacientų pusiausvyros lavinimui ir griuvimų prevencijai. Tyrimo uždaviniai: 1. Nustatyti tiriamųjų riziką nugriūti prieš ir po kineziterapijos programos 2. Nustatyti statinę ir dinaminę pusiausvyrą prieš ir po kineziterapijos programos Tyrimo metodika: tyrimas buvo atliktas Belgijoje, Gento mieste, Universitair Ziekenhuis Gent, Geriatrijos skyriuje 2012 – 2013 metais. Tyrime dalyvavo 5 pacientai atitikę šiuos kriterijus: • Amžius nuo 70-89 metų; • Griuvę per paskutinius metus bent vieną kartą ir patyrę kaulų lūžių ar kitų sužeidimų; • Nepatyrę galvos smegenų insulto; • Surinkę ne mažiau 25 balus pagal Berg pusiausvyros vertinimo skalę; Tyrimas buvo vykdomas keturias savaites. Kineziterapijos užsiėmimai buvo atliekami 5 kartus per savaitę, 40 min. – 1 val. per dieną. Tiriamieji buvo testuojami tris kartus, prieš pradedant tyrimą, praėjus dviems savaitėms ir paskutinę tyrimo dieną. Pusiausvyros... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Object of study: balance improvement in geriatric patients Problem of study: while the elderly populations keep on growing it is so important to sustain physical activity and independence in daily activities amongst them, while preventing the risk of fall. The main reason that impacts elderly people’s accidents is fall. That is why it is essential to prevent fall and it that way improve the quality of life Aim of study: to define the effect of balance exercises with feedback on falls prevention for geriatric patients Goals of study: 1. To identify factors that influence geriatric patients risk of falls. 2. To estimate effect of special balance and exercises with feedback for static and dynamic balance for geriatric patients Methods and organization of study: the research took place in Belgium, the city of Gent, Universitair Ziekenhuis Gent, in Geriatrics department in the year 2012 – 2013. Five patients participated in the research who: • Was aged between 70-89 years; • Had fallen down in the last year and suffered from the bone fractures or other injuries; • Haven’t suffered from stroke; • Reached not less than 25 points in Berg balance test; The study took place weeks. Physiotherapy exercises took place every day 5 times per week, 40 minutes till 1 hour. The participants were examined 3 times during the study Conclusions: 1. After performing special balance exercises with feedback there was detected statistically significant improvement of static and dynamic balance in... [to full text]

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In view of the expected increase in the proportion of elderly in the population in most western countries, we studied injuries among the elderly (&gt;60 years) by investigating hospital-treated injuries in inpatients and outpatients, and fatal injuries. One-year Hospital Injury Data - Even though the elderly made up only 15% of the injured in one year, they accounted for 42% of the total cost of trauma medical care, showing that injuries among the elderly place a disproportional burden on the health care system. The mean medical care cost increased significantly from the age of 60 years. Serious injuries (MAIS&gt;3) in the elderly cost almost 2.5 times more than those in the younger group (&lt;60 years). Study of 1,313 injury events in 1,268 elderly showed annual injury, fracture, and mortality rates per 1,000 elderly population of 57, 31, and 0.6, respectively. Almost half were injured in the home environment, and 23% in the traffic environment. Most of the severe and critical injuries (MAIS&gt;4) occurred in the traffic environment. Injury rate, severity of injuries, fractures, and the duration of hospitalization increased with age. Almost half of the injuries were fractures; most common were wrist and hip fractures. Women had a higher injury rate, more severe injuries, and longer duration in hospitalization than men had. Study of 621 injury events in 600 elderly injured in the home environment, showed annual injury and fracture rates of 30 and 15 per 1,000 elderly home population, respectively. Injuries were grouped into fall injuries (76%) and non-fall injuries (24%). The fall injury incidence was higher in women than in men. Most falls occurred indoors. Environmental factors played a role in half of the fall injuries, and intrinsic factors in at least one fifth. Intrinsic factors in falls became increasingly important with advancing age. Non-fall injuries were mostly sustained in woodworking. Fall injuries were of a greater severity and accounted for 80% of the cost of medical care of elderly in the home environment. Study of 298 injury events in 297 elderly injured in the traffic environment, showed that pedestrian falls accounted for 52% of the injuries, and vehicle-related events for 44%. The main groups in the vehicle-related injury category were bicyclists (48%), car occupants (34%), and pedestrians (4%). Two thirds of the pedestrian falls involved slipping on ice/snow. Ice/snow-related injuries (all categories) accounted for 37% of the total cost of all injuries in the elderly in the traffic environment. Vehicle-related crashes resulted in the most severe and critical injuries and the most fatalities, and cost (total and mean) more than pedestrian falls. Fatal Injury Data from Northern Sweden - Study of 379 elderly injured in the traffic environment in a ten-year period, showed that the car occupants (43%) made up the largest category followed by pedestrians (28%), bicyclists (15%), and two-wheel-motor-vehicle riders (8%), but the risk of fatal injury per unit distance travelled was highest for pedestrians and bicyclists. Males had double the death rate as females. Most car occupants were killed in multivehicle crashes, mostly in the daylight, and at intersections. Ice/snow was the major (31%) precrash factor. One quarter of pedestrians were injured at pedestrian crossings, and half of them during darkness. One in six pedestrians was under the influence of alcohol. All pedestrians and bicyclists were injured in collisions with motor vehicles and most were injured at intersections. Pedestrians and bicyclists had more serious head injuries than chest injuries. Study of 514 car drivers (&gt;18 years) injured in a 13-year-period, showed that fatalities per unit distance, and per licensed driver were highest for the &gt;70-year-old and 18-19-year-old drivers. Elderly (&gt;60 year old) and &lt;25 year old drivers had similar fatality frequencies. The older drivers (&gt;60 years) initiated the crash more often than younger (&lt;60 years) ones. Fatal head injuries decreased whilst chest injuries increased with age. The older drivers were more likely to die from post-trauma complications than younger ones. In a study of role of disease in 480 fatally injured drivers (&gt;18 years) who died within three days of the crash, a grading system was developed to assess the probability of contribution of medical intrinsic factors (MIF) to the crash. Almost one quarter of the drivers were found to have MIF. Drivers with MIF were more often at fault than those without. Medical intrinsic factors were probably an underlying cause in 1 of 17 fatal crashes in all ages, and 1 of 5 fatal crashes in the elderly; in 4% of the elderly the probability was strong. A "passive automatic" approach which does not require any action on the part of the elderly, is to be recommended when improving safety in the home and in the traffic environments. The elderly drivers can be regarded as the "miner's canary" to indicate which passive safety improvements are needed in the traffic environment. In view of the expected population trends, it is important that authorities and public health workers accept the challenge to continue and intensify the injury preventive work for the elderly. / <p>Diss. (sammanfattning) Umeå : Umeå universitet, 1994, härtill 7 uppsatser.</p> / digitalisering@umu

Abstract available in pdf file.

Rainforest is a dynamic ecosystem where species are affected by numerous biotic and abiotic factors. One important abiotic factor for many species is the availability of sunlight. The understory habitat under the closed undisturbed canopy is comparably constant with regard to sunlight and therefore also humidity and temperature. The canopy regulates the amount of sunlight that will reach the ground, which means that changes in canopy cover will change the understory environment. The main natural disturbances that affect the structure of rainforest are tree falls, that resulting in tree-fall gaps. The aim of this study was to compare the vertical stratification and species composition of fruit-feeding Nymphalidae butterflies between tree-fall gaps of different sizes and undisturbed understory in a primary rainforest in Madidi National Park, Bolivia. Fruit-baited traps were suspended at ground level (2 m) and in canopy (10-15 m) in 5 tree-fall gaps and adjacent undisturbed understory, a total of 40 traps. There were more species rich assemblages in gaps both at ground level and in canopy, compared to understory. The data show that there are different species assemblages in tree-fall gaps, undisturbed understory, canopy and at ground level. The vegetation structure affected by the amount of sun light was an important factor affecting butterfly assemblages. There was a tendency that differences among gap assemblages increased with gap size. These results indicate the importance of the mosaic pattern caused by natural tree-fall gaps, they contain specific resources that favor different butterfly assemblages.

Formål: Formålet var at beskrive variationen i ældres opfattelse af at falde, hvordan ældre håndterede fald, samt hvad der påvirkede ældres motivation til at deltage i faldforebyggende tiltag med henblik på at kunne målrette fremtidige indsatser. Metode: Der blev foretaget en kvalitativ interviewundersøgelse med 14 ældre mennesker over 65 år som efter et fald henvendte sig på en skadestue på et universitetshospital i Danmark. Fænomenografi blev anvendt som analysemetode. Resultater: Der blev dannet fem beskrivende kategorier med tilsammen 15 underkategorier. De fem kategorier var: Følelsesmæssig opfattelse af at falde; at falde har konsekvenser; tager hånd om situationen; støtte fra omgivelserne; og motivation og demotivation.Undersøgelsen viste variation i ældres opfattelse af at falde. De ældre accepterede at falde fordi de var blevet ældre. Opfattelsen var, at fald både var flovt og pinligt og havde en forklaring. Nogle ældre oplevede frygten for at falde som dominerende. De ældre opfattede ikke fald som en risikofaktor, der skulle tages hånd om, men håndterede situationen ved at begrænse deres bevægemuligheder eller ved at fravælge aktiviteter. Hvis kravene oversteg de ældres ressourcer, søgte de hjælp fra de pårørende eller den praktiserende læge. De ældre fik støtte, anerkendelse og accept til at foretage valgene af omgivelserne. De ældre blev motiveret af forhold, som autonomi, kompetence og sociale relationer og foretrak aktiviteter, der spredte glæde og nydelse og helst i sociale sammenhænge. De ældre værnede om deres identitet med at ville være medbestemmende om, hvad de deltog i, men mødte forhold i omgivelserne, som var hæmmende for deres motivation. Konklusion: Fremtidige faldforebyggende tiltag skal målrettes ældres behov og tage højde for, at der ikke er én måde men mange måder at opfatte fald på, og at ældre i høj grad selv klarer at håndtere fald, men at de valgte strategier, ikke nødvendigvis er de mest hensigtsmæssige. De ældres netværk og den praktiserende læge kan med fordel spille en aktiv rolle i forbindelse med faldforebyggelse. Ved planlægningen af faldforebyggende interventioner skal der tages hensyn til, at ældres motivation påvirkes af, i hvilken omfang programmerne understøtter de ældres behov for autonomi, kompetence og sociale relationer. / Aim: This study aimed to describe variations in elderly people’s perceptions of falling, and how they coped with falls. To target future initiatives to needs of the elderly, we also sought to determine what motivated them to participate in fall-prevention initiatives. Method: We collected data using semi-structured interviews with 14 elderly individuals (65 years +) who had contacted the emergency ward at a university hospital in Denmark. We analyzed the data using a phenomenographic approach that focused on describing varying perceptions by the elderly on the phenomenon of “falling.” Results: Five categories and 15 subcategories emerged from the interviews. The five main categories included emotional perceptions of falling; falling has consequences; handling the situation; support from the social network; motivation and demotivation. The study showed that older people’s perceptions of falling vary. Individuals accepted falling because they had become older. Falls were embarrassing and could be explained. The fear of falling was the foremost concern of some individuals. The elderly did consider falls a meaningful risk factor, but coped by restricting movements or dropping activities to prevent falls in the future. If demands exceeded resources, they asked their relatives or the GP for help. The elderly gained support, approval, and acceptance from their social network when deciding which coping strategies to use. The elderly were motivated by autonomy, competence, and relatedness and they preferred activities that increased happiness and enjoyment, preferably in a social atmosphere. The elderly protected their identity self-determining their activities, but they often encountered factors in their surroundings that restricted motivation. Conclusion: Future fall-prevention initiatives must target the needs of the elderly and consider that there are not one but many ways of perceiving falling. Further, the coping strategies that elderly individuals develop are not necessarily convenient. Social networks and the GP can play active roles in encouraging the elderly to participate in fall-prevention initiatives. When planning fall-prevention interventions, one should consider the extent to which such programs support the elderly individual’s need for autonomy, competence, and relatedness, because these factors affect motivation. / <p>ISBN 978-91-85721-70-2</p>