Background: Gait impairments and postural deficits are very common in people with Parkinson Disease (PD), and also highly associated with fall risk and functional decline. Some evidence showed that in older adults, Nordic Walking (NW) could slow the progression of some gait impairments and increasing stride length and gait speed. Moreover, previous studies suggested that gait disturbances in PD are associated with less automatic gait performances and therefore gait requires more attention, as it is essential for regulation of postural balance. Further, research of this fact has very minimally been examined in PD population. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate whether Nordic walking can improve gait pattern in individual with PD after a 6-week training program, as well as determine the effect of performing a cognitive task while walking with and without the poles on gait characteristics. Methods: Gait spatial temporal and kinetics data was collected with and without poles in 12 adults with PD (age: 61.58±11.7 years; 9 male, 3 female; Hoehn and Yahr scale 1-3 stage; UPDRS III average: 11; the year of diagnosis: 6.72 years). Participants performed six 5m walking trials; 3 with poles and 3 without after 6-week training. Participants also performed four 90 seconds walking trials on a 25m pathway in four different conditions: NP (no poles) and no cognitive task, NW (Nordic walking) and no cognitive task, NP and a cognitive task, NW and a cognitive task. For this latter part of the experiment, gait characteristics and trunk kinematics were quantified by using a 6 inertial sensor accelerometry system (APDM, Oregon, USA). As for the 5m tasks, gait spatial temporal and kinetics were collected with an eight cameras 3-dimensional motion capture system (Vicon, Oxford, UK) and 2 force platforms (Kistler, Winterthur, Switzerland). All variables were assessed using paired t-test to compare NW to conventional walking and two-way ANOVA to compare cognitive and pole conditions. Results: When comparing NW to NP, the results showed significantly longer stride length, and larger single support time. The data also showed larger knee power generation during mid-stance as well as decreased power absorption at the knee during swing. Moreover, when assessing the effect of performing a cognitive task on gait, gait speed and cadence in both normal walking and Nordic pole walking was significant smaller when performing the cognitive task. The trunk frontal range of motion (ROM) and velocity were smaller compared NW to NP. When adding cognitive tasks, trunk frontal ROM and velocity were significantly smaller. Conclusions: Based on the results, 16 self-directed sessions of NW can help improve certain gait spatial-temporal characteristics as well as some aspect of the gait pattern kinetics, especially at the knee. Moreover it seems that a 16 sessions (45mintues per session) or even longer practice period is necessary for NW beginner, in order to gain perfect technique and restore gait to a more normal pattern than novice.

This work analyzes the political instrumentalization of culture. Specifically, it studies how this is done through cultural policy within Western democracies. The analysis takes, as an example, official Nordic cultural cooperation in the post-war period. During this time, cultural exchange among Nordic countries became the subject of political attention establishing itself as part of the Nordic inter-governmental cooperation framework. This work focuses on three key moments in the history of official Nordic cultural cooperation: (i) the failure of the NORDEK plan (a plan which envisaged extensive economic cooperation between the Nordic countries) and the establishment of the Nordic Council of Ministers in 1971; (ii) the collapse of the Soviet system at the end of the 1980s - beginning of the 1990s; and (iii) the movement towards promoting the Nordic region on the global market in the first decade of the 2000s. The analysis traces the lack of convergence between the official arm’s length principle in cultural policy and how cultural cooperation actually worked. The results of the research both demonstrate the various ways culture was instrumentalized and also prove that the politically defined concept of culture can receive different interpretations in the official discourse depending on current political goals.

In order to improve people’s living situation and decrease the use of fossil energy in the world, researchers’ attention has been focused on the energy side of the building sector. Especially single family houses in the Nordic countries Norway, Sweden and Finland have been given attention in the Increasing Energy Efficiency in Buildings (IEEB) project, with the purpose of increasing energy efficiency in buildings. In the project presented in this report, this has been studied by simulating a low energy single family house at different locations in Scandinavia, and applying the various national building codes to the house to see how it would match the energy requirements. The simulated locations included the different climates in Helsinki, Oulu (Finland), Oslo, Narvik (Norway), Piteå, Umeå, Karlstad, Borlänge, Stockholm and Kalmar (Sweden). The house fulfilled almost all the national energy requirements with more or less margin because of its low energy use. A comparison with actual measurements of the house did not match as good, because of uncertainty in measurement methods and climate aspects. The national building codes and climate in the Nordic countries turned out to be similar enough for a coordination of the building codes to be possible in the future.

Syftet med föreliggande undersökning var att identifiera faktorer som bidrog till känslan av "yrkesstolthet" hos anställda vid Försäkringskassan Dalarna inkluderande personalens tillfredsställelse med yrkesrollen. Sammanlagt 163 personer, 123 kvinnor och 40 män, från 25 till 66 år (X= 49,8 år) deltog i undersökningen. Denna genomfördes med hjälp av General Nordic Questionnaire for Psychological and Social Factors at Work (QPS Nordic) inkluderande 123 frågor samt 9 frågor gällande yrkesrollen. Frågorna besvarades väsentligen med hjälp av en 5-gradig skala av Likert-typ. Huvudresultatet uträknades med hjälp av Cronbachs Alpha, Principal Component Analysis och multipel regressionsanalys. Det konstaterades att beroendevariabeln "yrkesstolthets" variation förklarades till 62,7% av oberoende-variablerna "interaktionsintelligens" "yrkesrealism", "arbetstillfredsställelse" och "arbetsengagemang". Även kön, ålder, utbildning och yrkeserfarenhet hade betydelse.

Det har på senare tid uppstått en diskussion angående det asymmetriska vinstdelningssystemet i riskkapitalfonder. Diskussionen gäller hur s.k. carried interest ska beskattas. Uppsatsens fokus har legat på vilket inkomstslag carried interest är hänförligt till samt vem som är skattesubjekt. Skatteverket anser att carried interest är en prestationsbaserad ersättning och därför ska beskattas som en tjänsteinkomst. Motparterna menar att carried interest ska bedömas som en kapitalinkomst p.g.a. att ersättningen är hänförlig till avkastning på investerat kapital. Härmed råder en rättsosäkerhet för riskkapitalisterna.Syftet med uppsatsen är att analysera rättsområdet beträffande carried interest. En i branschen allmänt vedertagen fondstruktur kommer stegvis presenteras i uppsatsen. Beskrivningen av fondstrukturen innehåller de parter och avtal som finns representerade. Vidare redogörs ett aktuellt rättsfall inom området, det s.k. Nordic Capital–fallet. Andra europeiska länders beskattning av carried interest introduceras för att klargöra skillnader av rättsläget.Vi anser att carried interest är mer hänförlig till inkomstslaget kapital än tjänst p.g.a. den risk som tagits. Det finns visst samband mellan värdetillväxten och rådgivningsbolaget, men det rättfärdigar inte Skatteverkets samt domstolarnas användning av genomsyn. Sverige behöver klargöra dagens rättsläge via ett avgörande från Högsta förvaltningsdomstolen eller förtydligande lagtext, förslagsvis till liknande tysk rätt.

The purpose of this study is to overlook Nordic medias news coverage and framing of Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik. The study is based on printed editions of Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten, Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter and the Finnish newspaper Hufvudstadsbladet set on nine selected dates related to the issue between July 23th 2011 to August 25th 2012.     The study will display how Breivik was framed by each of the Nordic newspapers and even the total amount of news coverage the issue has been given. The media framing part of the study will mainly focus on the media framing of Breiviks personality and political ideology. The study will also investigate each newspapers handling of Breiviks manifesto, which he published only hours before killing 77 people on July 22th 2011.   The study is a quantitative content analysis, containing a total number of 245 articles. Aftenposten featured almost two times the total material of Dagens Nyheter and Hufvudstadsbladet combined. The study is based on news evaluation- and media framing theory.   The result shows that there are only slight differences in each newspapers framing of Breivik. The  most usual description based on our results is that Breivik is a right wing extremist, massmurder or terrorist with a deviant perception of reality. Sensationalism has put its imprint on the news coverage of Breivik by focusing on personal and psychological aspects. The result also shows that newspapers in neighboring countries Sweden and Finland put a larger emphasis on the hatred of the terrorist than domestic newspaper Aftenposten.

The purpose of this essay is to provide a guide to the published solo piano works of Jean Sibelius (1865–1957). Sibelius wrote more than 150 compositions for piano; yet, these are little known and are rarely performed. Through this project, Sibelius’s solo piano literature, currently unknown to many pianists and piano teachers, will become more accessible. The first chapter will provide biographical information about Sibelius, the second chapter will deal with the compositional style and historical background of his piano works, and the third chapter will be the guide to his published works for solo piano. The guide of each piece will include a brief stylistic overview, available publications, the length, the key, and leveling suggestions based on Maurice Hinson’s grading system from Guide to the Pianist’s Repertoire. This essay serves the purpose of encouraging the study, practice, and performance of the solo piano works by Sibelius. Although his piano compositions follow the tradition of 19th-century Romanticism especially that of Chopin, Liszt, and Brahms, the influence of Finnish folk traditions makes his music distinctive from other Romantic composers. This guide will provide pianists and piano teachers access to important information regarding each of his pieces.

Univ., Magisterarbeit, 2007--Frankfurt (Main).

The aim of this study is to examine how the EU ETS price has affected the price of electricity in the Nordic electricity market, and how future changes in the carbon price may affect the wholesale electricity prices. The Nordic countries included are Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland. The analysis builds on a reduced econometric model where the Nordic electricity price constitutes the dependent variable. Problem with autocorrelation implied that quarterly data rather than monthly data were used. This model is estimated using ordinary least square (OLS) regression technique. Four variables were found to be statistically significant. These include the EU ETS price, the hydro reservoir level, the coal price and the temperature. The estimated coefficients were used to conduct a simulation on what could happen if the EU ETS price increased to € 30 per ton. The results showed that the electricity price would than increase by about € 16 per MWh from its current level at about € 37 per MWh.

Background: Declines in gait velocity, stride length, cadence, and postural stability are common with advancing age and have further been linked to heightened fall risk and functional decline. Physical activity can slow or prevent such gait declines in older adults. In young adults, Nordic walking (NW) training has been shown to increase stride length and gait speed, yet has demonstrated inconsistent findings regarding joint loading, with reports of both increases and decreases in this respect. Further, research of this facet has very minimally been examined as it pertains to older adults. Purpose: The aim of the present study was to determine both the initial effect, and the prolonged effect following an 8-week intervention, of Nordic walking (NW) on older adult gait performance and postural alignment and stability. Methods: Gait and postural alignment and stability during NW and conventional walking were assessed and compared following an 8-week NW program (2x/week) in 12 healthy older adults (age: 68 ± 6.8 years; 8 female, 4 male). Participants performed six 5m walking trials, 3 with poles and 3 without, followed by two 6 Minute Walk Test (6MWT) trials, one with poles (WP) and the other without (NP). Gait characteristics and trunk measures in the sagittal and frontal planes were quantified using a 6 inertial sensor accelerometry system (APDM, Oregon, USA) as well as an eight camera 3-dimensional motion capture system (Vicon, Oxford, UK) with 2 force platforms (Kistler, Winterthur, Switzerland) embedded within. All variables were assessed using two-way repeated measures ANOVAs to compare NW to conventional walking and before and after the intervention. Results: When comparing walking WP to NP at initial pre-testing, significantly longer stride length, slower gait speed, and increased double support time were found to coincide with decreases in power generation and absorption at the hip and knee WP. However, following prolonged practice, a longer stride length, faster gait speed, and increased power generation at pre-swing at the hip and power absorption during loading and terminal swing about the knee were found WP post-intervention. Conclusions: An initial 8-week training period is necessary for novice NW in order to develop technique and to restore gait and postural alignment to more “normal” standards following training. Additionally, since the acquisition of the skill requires proper allocation of attention between two tasks: walking and pole manipulation, NW should be done so in a relatively safe environment, free of distraction and obstacles. Finally, with frail elderly, a longer acquisition period may be necessary since facilitation of movement must first occur.