No / This paper discusses the aspect of student support that emerged as a key component of a longitudinal study into the experiences of nurses studying through open learning in the UK. Students engaged in this study were mature learners who were practicing nurses and predominantly, but not exclusively, women. Participants perceived entering higher education as a considerable challenge.

Yes / There is a major need for longitudinal research examining the experiences of people with dementia and their primary carers, as relatively little is known about how the factors associated with capability to ‘live well’ vary over time. The main aim of the IDEAL-2 study is to investigate how and why, over time, people with dementia and their primary carers might vary in their capability to live well with dementia, whilst exploring both their use of health and care services and their unmet needs. IDEAL-2 will build on the Improving the experience of Dementia and Enhancing Active Life (IDEAL) cohort of 1547 people (who, at recruitment between July 2014 and July 2016, had mild-to-moderate dementia), and their 1283 primary carers in Great Britain. The existing cohort will be enriched with additional participants with mild-to-moderate dementia (and their primary carers where available and willing) from the following groups: people with rarer forms of dementia, and/or those who are ≥90 years or < 65 years of age at time of recruitment. We will assess the primary outcome, capability to live well with dementia, and the factors influencing it using questionnaires at yearly intervals for 3 years. Additionally, we will seek to link the cohort data with administrative data to obtain information about health service use. Some participants will be invited for in-depth face-to-face interviews. The cohort study will be supplemented by linked research focusing on: the co-production of new measures of living well; including the perspectives of people with advanced dementia living in residential care settings; including people with dementia from black, Asian, and minority ethnic groups; and understanding the experience of people living with undiagnosed dementia. IDEAL-2 will provide evidence about the key indicators of, and factors associated with, living well over the course of dementia and how these differ for particular subgroups. It will tell us which combinations of services and support are most beneficial and cost-effective. Moreover, the IDEAL-2 study will gather evidence from underresearched groups of people with dementia, who are likely to have their own distinct perceptions of living well. / Alzheimer’s Society (grant number 348 (AS-PR2–16-001)). The University of Exeter is the sponsor of this study.

The linear variable stability Transfer Function Simulation Model (TFSM), inspired by the United States Air Force's NF-16D Variable stability In-flight Simulator Test Aircraft (VISTA) and created by Henrik Pettersson, can simulate any desired aircraft. The TFSM represents a non-linear aircraft model with its stability parameters - a collection of gain constants, time constants, damping ratios, and natural frequencies. Stability parameters for aircraft generally fall into two uncoupled modes: longitudinal and lateral-directional. Unfortunately, flight tests using the TFSM exhibited undesired lateral-directional coupling in the longitudinal responses. An S-turn maneuver, formation flight test, and an uncontrolled simulation with an initial bank angle of 60 degrees were the foundation for the investigation to pinpoint the TFSM's errors. The flight tests and subsequent analysis showed that although this model is highly versatile, it has three fundamental problems. First, the original creation of the TFSM incorrectly assumed that the time rate of change for the pitch angle (in the local-horizontal reference frame) is equal to the body-axis pitch-rate for all flight conditions. Second, the TFSM's dynamics do not contain gravity terms. Third, the TFSM cannot generate the angular rates needed in a turn. Integrating the aircraft's pitch, roll, and yaw angles with the equations of motion for aircraft fixed the first problem. Unfortunately, resolving this issue only intensified the second two problems. The results from this thesis show that the last two problems are part of the TFSM and cannot be fixed explicitly. / Master of Science

No

Yes / Late life involves a variety of different challenges to well-being. This study extends and qualifies propositions drawn from the paradox of well-being in aging using 15-year longitudinal data on depressive symptoms from old and very old participants in the Australian Longitudinal Study of Ageing (Baseline N 2,087; Mage 78.69 years; range: 65–103 years; 49.40% women). We first examined age-related trajectories in depressive symptoms from young-old to oldest-old, taking into account (changes in) relevant correlates, pathology, and mortality; and, second, we investigated gender differences in these trajectories. Results revealed that age-related trajectories of depressive symptoms were predictive of mortality hazards. The unique predictive effects of both level of, and change in, depressive symptoms were independent of one another and held after taking into account education as well as changes in marital status, living arrangements, cognitive function, and illness burden. In addition, results indicated that depressive symptoms were elevated among participants suffering from arthritis, and increased with age more markedly in men than in women. In particular, the significant Age Gender interaction indicated that the gender gap in depressive symptoms reduced from young-old to old-old and reversed in very old age when men showed more depressive symptoms than women. Qualifying the paradox of well-being in aging, findings demonstrated that depressive symptoms increased from young-old to oldest-old and suggest that age-, pathology-, and mortality-related changes should be examined in concert to advance our understanding of individual differences in depressive symptom trajectories in late life.

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1985 E22 / Master of Science

published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Curriculum Studies / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / English / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy