Thesis (doctoral)--Katholieke Universiteit te Nijmegen.

The primary goal of the American football helmet has been protection of players against skull fractures and other traumatic brain injuries (TBI) [Cantu 2003, Benson 2009]. TBI can result from short, high magnitude linear impact events typical of when the head impacts a hard surface [Gilcrhist 2003, Doorly 2007]. The modern helmet, which has evolved and become well designed to mitigate TBI injuries, does not offer sufficient protection against injury such as concussion, and the incident rate remains high in sport [Broglio 2009, Rowson 2012]. Researchers speculate rotation of the head leads to shear strain on the brain tissue, which may be the underlying mechanism of injury leading to concussive type injuries [Gennarelli 1971, Ommaya 1974, Gennarelli 1982, Prange 2002, Gilcrhist 2003, Aare 2003, Zhang 2004, Takhounts 2008, Greenwald 2008, Meaney 2011]. This has led researchers to investigate new liner materials and technologies to improve helmet performance and include concussive injury risk protection by attempting to address rotational acceleration of the brain [Mills 2003, Benson 2009, Caserta 2011, Caccese 2013]. To improve current football helmet designs, technology must be shown to reduce the motion of the brain, resulting in lower magnitudes of dynamic response thus reducing maximum principal strain and the corresponding risk of injury [Margulies 1992, Zhang 2004, Mills 2003, Kleiven 2007, Yoganandan 2008 Caserta 2011, McAllister 2012, Caccese 2013, Post 2013, Fowler 2015, Post 2015a/b]. Recent research has studied the use of decoupling liner systems in addition to the existing liner technology, to address resultant rotational acceleration. However, none of this previous work has evaluated the results in terms of the relationship between brain motion, tissue strain, and injury risk reduction. This thesis hypothesises the use of decoupling strategies to reduce the dominant coordinate component of acceleration in order to decrease maximum principal strain values. The dominant component of acceleration, defined as the coordinate component with the highest contribution to the resultant acceleration for each impact, is a targetable design parameter for helmet innovation. The objective of this thesis was to demonstrate the effect liner strategies to reduce the dominant component of rotational acceleration to decrease maximum principal strain in American football helmets.

Without seeking to reify a category of 'political romances', this study explores the participation of five Middle English poems (Havelok, The Tale of Gamelyn, Sir Orfeo, Sir Gowther, Robert of cisyle), normally classed among the romances, in the cultural process of constructing and regulating contemporary understandings of good kingship, tyranny, and community. In their participation in this discourse these romances cross generic boundaries, interacting with textual traditions (including historiography, hagiography, folk tale, and the literature of complaint), inscribing ideologies contesting romance's world-view. This study attempts to trace the ideological impact of these generic interactions on romance models of rule, investigating whether these romances cross generic boundaries in search of an idiom in which to critique dominant models of power relations, or whether, in attempting to appropriate the discourse of other genres, they seek to bolster dominant ideology by containing the subversive energies of its textual opponents. If these romances are identified as cultural products of a dominant ideology striving to perpetuate its own ascendancy, then it is a dominant ideology in the process of adapting itself in response to changing pressures, the nature of which I attempt to recover by attending to these texts' constructions and reconstructions of the hero's identity. I approach these romances not so much as the expression of the ideology of the dominant stratum, but part of the production of that ideology, called forth in a continuing dynamic response to contending discourses. I conclude that the energies of the genres with which these romances interact refuse appropriation, challenging the monologism of romance and continuing in their new narrative environment to propose their own political solutions. The resulting dialogization of romance indicates romance's diminishing ability to provide convincing resolutions to the contradictions of a changing society and to address the aspirations of a changing audience, In the ideological adjustments made by these romances in the process of interacting with other genres can be glimpsed the end of romance's insistence on heroic, and hence kingly, autonomy, and the replacement of heroic autonomy by community as the subject of romance.

Denna uppsats undersöker om konsumentens ålder påverkar det värde som upplevs efteranvändning av självscanningkassor i matvarubutiker. Med bakgrund i tidigare studier somtyder på att ålder har en påverkan på inställningen till att använda "self-service technologies",har en enkätundersökning genomförts för att utreda om detta samband även gäller för ålderoch det upplevda värdet efter användning. Enkätundersökningen genomfördes under en dagvid en matvarubutik i centrala Stockholm, där 226 respondenter svarade på enkäten.Påståendena presenterade i enkäten utformades utifrån fem attribut; Tid, Enkelhet, Pålitlighet,Kontroll och Nöje, där samtliga attribut påverkar det totala upplevda värdet. Resultatet avundersökningen visade att ålder har en betydelse gällande tre attribut: Tid, Enkelhet och Nöje.Sambandet mellan ålder och de resterande två attributen, Pålitlighet och Kontroll, visadeingen korrelation. Vidare visade vårt resultat att ålder hade en signifikant men låg påverkan pådet upplevda värdet. Med detta resultat kunde slutsatsen dras att ålder delvis påverkar detupplevda värdet efter användning av självscanningskassor.

Syfte: Motviktad enbenscykling är en ny träningsmetod som kan användas för att öka intensiteten. Tidigare studier har påvisat att det finns skillander mellan dominant och icke-dominant ben vid cykling med två ben. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka fysiologiska assymetrier vid motviktad enbenscykling. Metod: Åtta undersökningsdeltagare (ålder 24,1 ± 4,2 år, längd 177,0 ± 5,5 cm, vikt 74,6 ± 9,0 kg, vo2max 69,0 ± 6,4 ml/kg/min) deltog i studien. Undersökningsdeltagarna delades in slumpmässigt i två grupper (dominant eller icke-dominant). För att bestämma undersökningsdeltagarens dominanta ben användes Waterloo Footedness Questionnaire. Den dominanta gruppen utförde första intervallen vid testtillfälle två med sitt dominanta ben och den icke-dominanta gruppen med sitt icke-dominanta ben.Vid testtillfälle ett utfördes ett standardiserat nivåtest till utmattning på cykel. Testtillfälle två, som utfördes minst 48 timmar senare, bestod av fyra stycken tio minuters intervaller av motviktad enbenscykling, varannat ben. Testtillfälle två kördes blint. Resultat: Skillnader kunde observeras men dock inga signifikanta skillnader. Tendensen var att man uppmätte en högre effekt med dominant ben (dominant ben 168 ±18,9 W, icke-dominant ben 162 ±18,1W), men en högre kadens med icke-dominant ben (dominant ben 93 ± 12,7 rpm, icke-dominant ben 95 ± 10,3 rpm). Slutsats: Skillnader finns mellan dominant och icke-dominant ben vid motviktad enbenscykling, dock inga signifikanta skillnader. Vår slutsats är att inlärningseffekten påverkade resultatet i denna studie. För att motverka detta i framtida studier angående motviktad enbenscykling bör undersökningsdeltagarna genomgå en invänjningsperiod med träningsmetoden. / Purpose: Counterweighted single-leg cycling is a new training method that can be used to increase intensity. Studies have shown differences between dominant and non-dominant leg during normal cycling. The purpose of this study was to analyse physiological assymetries during counterweighted single-leg cycling. Method: Eight volunteers (age 24,1 ± 4,2 years, height 177,0 ± 5,5 cm , weight 74,6 ± 9,0 kg, vo2max 69,0 ± 6,4 ml/kg/min) participated in this study. Participants were randomly divided into two groups (dominant or non-dominant). Waterloo Footedness Questionnaire was used to decide participants dominant leg. The dominant group used their dominant leg in the first interval at the second test, and the non-dominant group used their non-dominant leg in the first interval. At the first test a standarized incremental cycling test was performed until exhaustion. The second test , >48 hours later, consisted of four ten-minute intervals of counterweighted single-leg cycling, alternating legs.The second test was blinded. Results: Differences were observed, but no significant differences. Tendencies showed a higher power-output with the dominant leg (dominant leg 168 ±18,9 W, non-dominant leg 162 ±18,1W), but a higher cadence with the non-dominant leg (dominant leg 93 ± 12,7 rpm, non-dominant leg 95 ± 10,3 rpm). Conclusion: Differences exist between dominant and non-dominant leg in counterweighted single-legged cycling, but no significant differences. Our conclusion is that the learning effect affected the results in this study. To counteract this in future studies concerning counterweighted single-legged cycling the studies should include a learning period with the training method.

This thesis examines the motivations for adopting multiculturalism. To this end, it examines a phenomenon that is commonplace in everyday life but is curiously absent from the academic literature: power. I argue that power provides a better causal explanation for the adoption of multiculturalism than previous explanations, such as desecuritization, and renders justifications for multiculturalism based exclusively on moral grounds insufficient and impractical in the world of politics. I divide the analysis into two parts: power acquisition as a factor that prompts dominant groups to enact multicultural policies, and power as a factor that enables non-dominant groups to mobilize for greater rights. In the process, I examine the structure of power in the modern nation-state, and claim, in short, that it is not only a network of boundaries, rules and institutions, but also an instrument used to delimit independence. I also claim that dominant groups will be most amenable to accepting multiculturalism if it does not alter the existing power praxis, and even reinforces the authority of the bearers of power. In areas of the world where multiculturalism is perceived as granting minorities too much power, it has been and will continue to be outright rejected. Moreover, I contend that minorities are not powerless and can effectively mobilize to acquire greater rights by engaging in ‘counterpower’. Ultimately, I conclude that the realistic prospects of diffusing multiculturalism, in light of the analysis of power, are poor, since in many areas of the world, authorities have too strong a grasp on power, and the counterpower of the masses is concordantly too weak. In this respect, a focus on the concept of power with regard to the adoption of multiculturalism reflects the political reality.

Cavitating flow through five perforated plates with different number of holes with preserved constant flow cross-section area in sum were experimentally examined. Dynamic characteristics such as dependence of pressure amplitudes and dominant frequencies on cavitation number in all regimes of cavitating flow: incipient cavitation, partial cavitation, fully developed cavitation and supercavitation are obtained. For determination of dominant frequencies several pressure transducers in two regimes of measurement were used. Results were validated with frequency spectra obtained from picture analysis based on high-speed camera records.

Aim The study aim was to explore the issues and challenges facing undergraduate nursing education in one Canadian province from an institutional theory perspective. The research questions were: What is the institutional field of nursing education? What are the issues and challenges facing nursing education? How is the institutional field of nursing education contributing to the issues and challenges? How are the issues and challenges contributing to the institutional complexity? Background Nursing education is essential for the health care of society, yet face various issues and challenges at the system level. Institutional theory has been used in higher education to better understand how higher education institutions are structured and operate. Institutional theory has not been used in nursing education. The issues facing nursing education have been examined from a critical or descriptive perspective, but a system-level perspective is missing. Institutional theory could fill this gap and examine the institution of nursing and how its structure, behaviours, and rules influence those issues and challenges. Methods An exploratory single-case study with embedded units design was used. Theoretical propositions from institutional theory informed the sample, recruitment, data collection, and data analysis. In 2019, representatives from organizations comprising the institutional field of nursing education and senior-level administrators were interviewed and relevant documents were collected and reviewed. The data were analyzed using deductive and inductive thematic analysis, building a case description, and visual analysis techniques. Findings The findings from sixty documents and seven interviews suggested the institutional field of nursing education is composed of postsecondary institutions, health service organizations, the regulatory body, the ministry for health, and the ministry for postsecondary education. The issues and challenges facing nursing education included demands on curricula, teaching and learning values versus practice, the relationship between education and practice, limiting financial supports, clarity of the RN role, and need for faculty. The institutional field of nursing education is complex and includes dominant organizations, such as the regulatory body and health service organization, and the non-dominant organization, postsecondary institutions. Discussion / Conclusion The use of institutional theory was beneficial to explore the issues and challenges facing undergraduate nursing education from a system-level perspective and captured the complexity within the system. The institutional field including the influences of structure, dominance, and complexity impact the issues and challenges facing nursing education. The institutional perspective of the issues and challenges diverges from previous examinations. In addition, the use of institutional theory in higher education offers strategies for advocacy in nursing education. Recommendations for nursing education practice, policy, and research include: (a) awareness of the organizations comprising the institutional field of nursing education, (b) including the nursing education accreditation body and the professional association within the interorganizational structures, (c) acknowledgement of the sources of dominance within the field, and (d) developing strategies for academic nurse leaders to navigate the complexity of nursing education. The most urgent consideration arising from this research is the dominant forces from regulation and health service organizations and the subsequent non-existence of the professional voice of nursing for nursing education within the institutional field. / Graduate

In the last few years, the world has seen a relative increase in female leadership in different areas such as political space and the corporate world. This rise has a significant impact on how these female leaders reproduce future leaders of their organizations. This study explores the concept of homosexual reproduction in female leadership roles through their interaction with fellow females in corporate settings. Furthermore, the study was used to determine the factors that prevent homosexual reproduction among female leaders. The study's strategy used a qualitative methodology supported by an inductive approach, empirically with semi-structured interviews to collect data from six experienced female leaders in Sweden and Zambia. Empirical data were analyzed using qualitative analysis of content. The interviews indicate that homosexual reproduction was not present in the female leadership, as most female leaders valued the skills, competency, and qualification. The result also suggests three factors that prevented homosexual reproduction in female leadership roles: competency and qualifications, job profiles, and home and family responsibilities. Female leaders were efficient in their roles because they focused on attaining organizational objectives when thinking about future leaders. The empirical data revealed differences in the barriers that prevented homosexual reproduction in Sweden and Zambia. In Zambia, all the barriers were manifest in the female leaders, while in Sweden, it was only the competency and qualifications aspect.

Ovarian steroids assist in the development of the follicle and its enclosed oocyte as well as prepare the maternal environment for pregnancy. The objective of experiment 1 was to elucidate the differences between dominant follicles of each follicular wave in terms of intraollicular concentration of steroids after 4 d of dominance. Differences in blood perfusion between the dominant follicle of the first and second non-ovulatory wave were also examined. Follicular waves were monitored daily via ultrasonography from emergence to aspiration of the dominant follicle. It was determined that although the dominant follicles aspirated from ovulatory waves possessed a greater concentration of estradiol and a greater ratio of estradiol to progesterone, there was no difference in concentrations of steroid hormones or the ratio of estradiol to progesterone between dominant follicles collected from non-ovulatory waves and ovulatory waves. In a subset of cows, blood perfusion tended to be greater in dominant follicles that developed during the second non-ovulatory wave. The objective of experiment 2 was to determine whether or not the follicular wave had an effect on diameter of the ovulatory follicle, thickness of the endometrium, or subsequent pregnancy rates. Estrus was synchronized in females in such a way that females would ovulate the dominant follicle of the first or second follicular wave at timed artificial insemination. Diameter of the ovulatory follicle and endometrial thickness were not different between treatments; however, increased pregnancy rates were observed in heifers that ovulated the dominant follicle of the second follicular wave. There was no effect of follicular wave on pregnancy rates in cows. In conclusion, the role of follicular wave on the dominant follicle, maternal environment, and subsequent pregnancy rates is not fully understood. Additional experiments need to be conducted to further elucidate the differences in developmental potential of the oocyte and maternal environment when the dominant follicle of the first and second wave are destined to become the ovulatory follicle at timed insemination.