The present study validates the Treadmill Rehabilitation Platform (TRP) protocol that assessed standing balance performance; spatial and temporal gait variability; stability measures and visual spatial cognitive task performances. Healthy individuals (mean age = 61.4± 4.4 years; n = 30) performed tasks from the TRP protocol while standing and while walking on treadmill. Moderate to High test retest reliability was observed for the TRP tool measures with a few exceptions. Standing balance decreased significantly as visual task load increased. Spatial and temporal gait variability increased whereas walking stability decreased significantly as visual task load increased. Visual task performance decreased significantly as physical load increased. In conclusion, the TRP protocol allows us to assess the ability to prioritize the division of attention when visual spatial cognitive tasks are performed while standing and during walking. Also, it allows reliable assessment of the effects of compromised attention during the tasks performances.

It is generally agreed that language interpreting is cognitively demanding; how- ever, to date there is little evidence to indicate how working memory is involved in the task, perhaps due to methodological limitations. Based on a full considera- tion of key components of interpreting, two series of experiments were conducted to explore how working memory might play a role in discourse and sentence inter- preting. If working memory is implicated both in grammatical encoding into the target language, and in temporary storage of the discourse content, then higher demand in one function might compromise the other. Thus discourses that di er in word orders between languages could increase the processing load and leave less resource for memory maintenance, a ecting recall performance. In Experiment 1, Chinese-English bilingual participants' memory performance was compared when they translated passages from Chinese to English and from English to Chinese, where the expected word order was either congruent or incongruent between source and target. Recall was not sensitive to word order or direction of translation. Per- haps surprisingly, memory for incongruent discourses was numerically better than that for congruent sentences. Experiment 2 showed that interpreting trainees per- formed just like the participants in Experiment 1 did, suggesting that memory performance was not modulated by translation direction in pro cient translators. Experiment 3 explored the relationship between surface form transformation and recall. As discourse paraphrasing did not result in better recall than verbatim recall, it was concluded that the better memory performance for incongruent discourse in- terpreting suggested by Experiment 1 was not the result of active manipulation of word form or word order in interpreting. Finally, a free recall task among native English speakers showed that the incongruent discourses tested in earlier experi- ments were intrinsically more memorable than congruent discourses (Experiment 4). Despite this confound, this series of experiments highlighted the importance of comprehension in interpreting, but it did not rule out the role of working memory in the task. The role of working memory in interpreting was further explored using on-line measures in Experiments 5-8. Experiment 5 replicated a self-paced reading study by Ruiz, Paredes, Macizo, and Bajo (2008), comparing participants’ times to read sentences for translation to those to read them normally. The data showed that participants accessed lexical and syntactic properties of a target language in the reading-for-translation condition when resources were available to them. In order to explore the role of working memory in sentence interpreting, a dual-task paradigm was used in Experiment 6. When participants' working memory was occupied by a secondary task (digit preload), reading times were only different numerically between congruent and incongruent sentences. Crucially, reading times decreased as digit preload increased. Since there were no differences in the interpretations produced or in digit recall, it appears that participants were flexible in their resource allocation, suggesting that processing can be tuned up to optimise performance for concurrent tasks. Experiment 7 refined the procedure in the order of responses for the dual tasks but replicated the results of Experiment 6. A closer examination of participants’ interpretation responses showed that devices that could reduce processing load in target language production may have been strategically employed. Finally, another set of sentences were used in Experiment 8 in an attempt to replicate Experiment 5. A failure to replicate the earlier findings suggested that working memory demand might differ for different syntactic structures in sentence interpreting. All in all, this thesis shows that research in language interpreting benefits by taking a full account of the key components of interpreting. The use of on-line measures allowed us to take a ne-grained approach to the investigation of interpretation processes. It is proposed in this thesis that interpreting research may gain more insight from the data by incorporating some of the theories and methods typically used in research into language production.

We investigate the problem of minimizing a nonconvex function with respect to convex constraints, and we study different techniques to compute a lower bound on the optimal value: The method of using convex envelope functions on one hand, and the method of exploiting nonconvex duality on the other hand. We investigate which technique gives the better bound and develop conditions under which the dual bound is strictly better than the convex envelope bound. As a byproduct, we derive some interesting results on nonconvex duality. (author's abstract) / Series: Forschungsberichte / Institut für Statistik

Background Limitations in mobility resulting from balance impairments contribute substantially to falls in older adults. Aging also has a detrimental effect on cognition which influences mobility and balance. A low cost treadmill rehabilitation platform (TRP) and a custom computer game that provided single and dual task challenges while standing and walking were used to evaluate standing balance, gait variables, visual tracking and cognition game performances in active young and older adults. Objectives The study objectives were, 1) to determine the differences in performance-based measures of standing balance, treadmill walking, visual tracking and executive cognitive function between young and older adults and 2) to examine the effect of age and dual tasks on performance-based measures of balance, gait, visual tracking and cognition in both groups. Methods Thirty active young adults (Mean age: 26.7± 2 years) and thirty older adults (Mean age 61.4± 4.4 years) performed visual tracking and cognitive game tasks on three different physical and cognitive loads on the TRP. The treadmill was instrumented with a force sense array (FSA) pressure mat to record the centre of foot pressure excursions. A motion sense air mouse (Gyration Elite) mounted on a custom made helmet was used to interact with the on screen cursor of the computer screen to perform visual tracking and cognitive game tasks. Participants were also evaluated for balance using clinical tests. Results During single tasks, younger adults performed better than older adults in the AP direction while older adults demonstrated better balance in the ML direction. Single task walking did not demonstrate a difference between the two groups. During single task cognition, there was no difference during both cognitive games while young adults did better during the closed loop visual tracking task. During the dual tasks, both groups demonstrated a dual task effect in balance, walking and cognitive tasks. Younger adults performed better than older adults in all the physical and cognitive load conditions. Conclusion The study findings provided evidence for discussion on the effects of single and dual tasking conditions in young and older adults. Understanding the effects of dual tasks has important clinical implications because older adults engage themselves in a wide variety of activities that require cognitive, mobility and balance skills simultaneously. Identifying the age at which there is a compromise on the above and providing appropriate interventions would be very useful to prevent falls.

The present study validates the Treadmill Rehabilitation Platform (TRP) protocol that assessed standing balance performance; spatial and temporal gait variability; stability measures and visual spatial cognitive task performances. Healthy individuals (mean age = 61.4± 4.4 years; n = 30) performed tasks from the TRP protocol while standing and while walking on treadmill. Moderate to High test retest reliability was observed for the TRP tool measures with a few exceptions. Standing balance decreased significantly as visual task load increased. Spatial and temporal gait variability increased whereas walking stability decreased significantly as visual task load increased. Visual task performance decreased significantly as physical load increased. In conclusion, the TRP protocol allows us to assess the ability to prioritize the division of attention when visual spatial cognitive tasks are performed while standing and during walking. Also, it allows reliable assessment of the effects of compromised attention during the tasks performances.

Within Canada, high school sport is the most popular extracurricular activity (Statistics Canada, 2008). Previous research has found that teachers who take additional roles may increase their chances of role conflict and occupational dissatisfaction (Richards & Templin, 2012). Little research has examined the motivations teacher-coaches have for taking on a dual-role. Further, researchers assert that high school sport can facilitate positive youth development (Camiré, & Trudel, 2010). The purpose of this thesis was to gain a more in-depth understanding of this dual-role as well as perceptions related positive youth development. Results of the research are presented in two articles. The first article examines teacher-coaches motives for taking on a dual role position. The second article examines the perceptions teacher-coaches have related to the impact of participation in high school sport. Overall, the results produced rich insight into the world of volunteer teacher-coaches and student-athlete development in high school sport.

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Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 50-54). / ix, 120 leaves, bound 29 cm

The topic, Men’s health practices in dual income families, is worthy of investigation because social change continues to challenge gender roles that have been used to justify a segregation of parental responsibilities. Although child health has primarily been the responsibility of mothers, the increasing trend toward dual income families has resulted in mothers being less available for this role. An emerging substitute for maternal health care is that provided by fathers. Key researchers of fatherhood have reported that men desire more pragmatic interactions with their child, aimed at directly improving health and wellbeing (Burgess, 1990; Burgess & Ruxton, 1997; Burghes, et al., 1997). However, little is known about men’s willingness and capability in performing the range of practices necessary to effectively reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with child illness and injury (Hallberg, 2007; Laws, 2003a). This study used several methods of data collection that ultimately identified new knowledge of men’s health practices not previously recorded in the literature. Document searches, for evidence of men’s health practices, are presented as six chapters; each chapter explores a discrete category of child health or illness; Acute illness, Chronic illness, Mental health problems, Terminal illness, Health promotion and Accident and injury prevention. All six document searches revealed scant information on men’s health practices; this finding supported the need for additional methods. Focus group discussions and individual interviewsm aimed to identify men’s knowledge of child health problems, their repertoire of skills and experiences of practicing health. A questionnaire survey was distributed to households to assess respondent’s attitudes toward the concept of gender equity, shared parenting and to measure the actual health practices performed toward children. Analysis of focus group discussions and survey data revealed a) strong support for gender equity in the workplace and the home b) strong support for equitable parenting c) a repertoire of health practices and frequency of performance far in excess of that evident in the literature. These findings suggest more equitable parenting is occurring and a reclaimed fatherhood role. However, all three methods of data collection identify that men experience substantial barriers to expanding their parental role into child health care; these findings and emerging evidence indicate the need for health professionals and policy makers to develop strategies that enhance men’s inclusion, as partners, in child health practices. / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Population Health and Clinical Practice, 2009