Impairments of upper limb function can negatively impact an individual???s ability to carry out everyday tasks. Children with cerebral palsy can have limitations of upper limb movement due to physiological and structural changes in their body. Current treatment regimes for children with upper limb involvement of cerebral palsy are assessed using a variety of qualitative assessment tools. These measures rely on subjective input from the assessor, and can be insensitive to significant functional improvements. Research methods in upper limb motion analysis are developing towards use as clinical tools. To date, there is a paucity of knowledge on the quantitative measures of range of motion (ROM) and function of upper limbs in healthy children. There is also lack of agreement on repeatable functional tasks of the upper limb for 3D measurement. The identification of a repeatable task in healthy children would facilitate the use of upper limb 3D motion analysis to guide clinical practice and improve patient outcomes. This thesis aims to describe upper limb joint range of movement in each degree of freedom and present normative three dimensional kinematic data of upper limb movement in healthy children during a repeatable upper limb functional task. This will provide a basis for comparison to children with movement disorders for future research and clinical practice. The UNSW kinematic upper limb model was found to successfully measure three dimensional upper limb anatomical and functional movements in healthy children. Normative kinematic data are reported for anatomical movements and two functional tasks. The results of the studies undertaken showed that differences in dominant and non-dominant limbs were present during anatomical and functional movements. Joint angles measured were found to be repeatable in healthy children. The results suggest that methods used were reliable for investigating upper limb kinematics. Functional movement time-series data were found to be repeatable for the group with the exception of wrist flexion/extension during the hand to mouth movement for both the dominant and non-dominant limbs. These findings improve current knowledge on upper limb kinematics in healthy children. This knowledge can assist the investigation of movement disorders in children to facilitate clinical decision making.

<p>The Laplace equation and the related p-Laplace equation are closely associated with Sobolev spaces. During the last 15 years people have been exploring the possibility of solving partial differential equations in general metric spaces by generalizing the concept of Sobolev spaces. One such generalization is the Newtonian space where one uses upper gradients to compensate for the lack of a derivative.</p><p>All papers on this topic are written for an audience of fellow researchers and people with graduate level mathematical skills. In this thesis we give an introduction to the Newtonian spaces accessible also for senior undergraduate students with only basic knowledge of functional analysis. We also give an introduction to the tools needed to deal with the Newtonian spaces. This includes measure theory and curves in general metric spaces.</p><p>Many of the properties of ordinary Sobolev spaces also apply in the generalized setting of the Newtonian spaces. This thesis includes proofs of the fact that the Newtonian spaces are Banach spaces and that under mild additional assumptions Lipschitz functions are dense there. To make them more accessible, the proofs have been extended with comments and details previously omitted. Examples are given to illustrate new concepts.</p><p>This thesis also includes my own result on the capacity associated with Newtonian spaces. This is the theorem that if a set has p-capacity zero, then the capacity of that set is zero for all smaller values of p.</p>

<p>Abstract</p><p>This thesis explores how secondary schoolteachers in Swedish, prioritise from the Swedish language history materials. The study includes interviews with two Swedish teachers and inquiries with students in two classes at the social science programme (third year). The student literature that is used has been analysed and the teaching is compared with the Swedish central teaching plan. The results show that the students are weak in placing language at different historical time periods and make conclusions of this. The results from both the inquiries and teaching contents disclose a general weakness as it comes to Swedish language history. The interviews points at the standardizing attitude towards the subject, from the teachers influence the size and the depth of teaching the students get in Swedish language history.</p>

<p>The purpose of this essay is to investigate different types of feedback and how they are used in schools, and to see which of them are preferred when it comes to error correction. Feedback is used in schools every day even though it is difficult to know if students really learn from it. Students tend to only glance briefly at the paper or test when it is returned and then throw it away. They are interested in how they scored but not really in how to improve their errors until next time. In this study, students wrote essays which were corrected with four different types of feedback and handed back to the students. The students got a chance to revise them and then the result was analyzed. The students were also given a questionnaire in order for me to find out what kind of feedback they liked the most and compare it to the result of the essay corrections. The different feedback types worked well with different students in general, although, underlining with description did not only work best, it was also chosen as the best type by most students. They seemed to think that this type was good for learning something from the feedback. Most students wanted to look for errors themselves instead of getting the correct answer from the teacher.</p>

We propose a computer integrated endoscopic simulator for training in upper endoscopy as a low-cost alternative to the traditional training methods and virtual reality simulators. The use of a real endoscope in conjunction with our simulator and computer system in an actual operating room setup makes the training environment similar to a real procedure. Endoscopic surgery is the performance of surgery through a small incision with the aid of special medical equipment called a flexible endoscope. The advantage of this technique over open surgery is that there is significantly less operative trauma, resulting in less pain and a shorter recovery time. Side effects of the surgery, such as the risk of infection, are also reduced. While endoscopy procedure has tremendous benefits, surgeons require considerable practice and time to develop competency. Traditionally, the procedure has been taught at the expense of patient comfort and safety, in other words, gastroenterology training fellows have performed the surgery under the supervision of physicians. Patients who undergo the endoscopies performed by fellows, particularly early in the training period, have been more likely to suffer more discomfort and prolonged procedures. In this study, we introduce a new type of simulator which combines the use of mechanical model and computer system as an additional or low-cost alternative for training in upper endoscopy. Our approach is to integrate a computer system with a realistic mechanical model to create a computer-based simulator for upper endoscopy training. The simulator will cover the basics of flexible endoscopy and teach a trainee the skills required to perform upper endoscopy. The mechanical training model with a sensor system that simulates a human upper gastrointestinal tract, including pathologies such as ulcers and polyps, will be built and integrated with computer software. The software offers the following functions: provides help to the trainee, provides curriculum-required learning tasks, and assesses the performance and diagnostic skills. Due to the optical nature of an endoscopic lens, the obtained image suffers from a barrel-type spatial distortion, which results in an inconsistent measurement of object size and distance. Our distortion correction system with automatic calibration, based on least squares estimation, offers a better perception of size and distance from the endoscopic images. In order to examine the endoscopic maneuvering skills of the trainee, the automatic evaluation system is created. The system uses images from the exam procedure to verify the trainee skills. We use Support Vector Machine to classify endoscopic images of different regions in upper gastrointestinal tract. The experimental results on the distortion correction and image classification are reported. Simulator validation survey result from gastroenterology surgeons and fellows is included in this dissertation. A recommendation for further study is also enclosed.

The Strain Index (SI) has repeatedly shown high levels of validity for differentiating between safe and hazardous tasks for the distal upper extremity (DUE). One limitation of the SI is the lack of reliability data. This study was designed to evaluate the test-retest repeatability of the SI. Fifteen raters, divided into five teams of three, were asked to use the SI to analyze 73 video AVI files of different job tasks; initially as individuals and then as teams. Several months later, raters were asked to repeat individual and team job task assessments. Raters were instructed to analyze tasks using five of six SI task variables, while the sixth was held constant. For three of these task variables, additional data was collected such as peak force and duration of job cycle. Test-retest repeatability was measured using Pearson's R, Spearman's rho, and tetrachoric correlation according to the nature of the variable. Spearman's rho values for individual and team task variable ratings ranged from 0.68 to 0.96 (0.88 average). Pearson's R for task variable data ranged from 0.76 to 0.99 for both teams and individuals with an average of 0.91. The Strain Index's rho values for individuals and teams were 0.70 and 0.84, respectively. For hazard classification, the tetrachoric correlation for individuals was 0.81 and 0.88 for teams. Results of this study support the conclusion that the Strain Index is repeatable when used by teams as well as individuals.

The aim of this study is to explore how young people act and the organisation of school practice, and what possibilities they have of influencing the content and the forms practiced. The study focuses on how the pedagogic practice is organised in two classes in their first year of upper secondary school, one Social Science programme class and one Vehicle programme class. This embraces questions as: How, where, when and for what cause do students act to influence, and then with what result? Are students offered influence, and in that case which students? How does the organisation of and the content in the pedagogic practice prepare students to act in order to be able to exert influence in the future? These questions have been studied with focus on differences between the programmes with regard to social background and gender. The thesis has its theoretical base in Bernstein’s theory of pedagogy and code (1990, 2000), feminist perspectives (Arnot, 2006; Arnot &amp; Dillabough, 2000; Connell, 1987; Gordon, 2006; Gordon, Holland &amp; Lahelma, 2000) as well as theories of structuration (Giddens, 1984). The empirical material of the thesis was ethnographically produced during one school year, through classroom observations, individual interviews with students, teachers and head teachers, and the gathering of school and teaching material. The main results in the analysis are that actions taken to gain influence were rare, that the organisation of and the content in the pedagogic practice was mainly focused on students as becoming, i. e. it focused students possibilities to be able to influence in the future and not the present. Furthermore, changing of pedagogic content or pedagogic forms was dependent on students’ own actions.   There was a lack of teacher organisation to promote student influence. Finally, what was evaluated in the pedagogic practice, i.e. factual learning, did not promote student influence. The thesis demonstrates how pedagogic practice was gendered and classed, which had consequences for how students could influence and how students were prepared to influence in the future. Since the Social Science programme mostly attracts students from a middle-class background and the Vehicle programme those with a working-class background, the content in the programmes contributed to reproducing hierarchical social relations. The content for the Vehicle students proved to be simplified, personal and context dependent, whereas the content of the Social Science programme was more advanced, general and context independent, knowledge which, in argumentation for influence, is usually highly valued. In previous research, working class masculinities have often been associated with opposition towards study-oriented   subjects.   However, the current  study indicates that there is an interest in studying Swedish, English and maths. The students argued that it was necessary for future employment, and that the Vehicle industry is now asking for this kind of knowledge.

The main objective of my dissertation was to evaluate the biomedical and psychosocial factors associated with pain and disability in patients following traumatic upper extremity nerve injuries. This was approached by conducting 3 studies. The first study surveyed peripheral nerve surgeons regarding the assessment of pain in patients with nerve injury. The results showed that only 52% of surgeons always evaluate pain in patients referred for motor/sensory dysfunction. Pain assessment frequently includes verbal response and assessment of psychosocial factors is infrequent. The second study was a retrospective review to assess disability, as measured by the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (DASH), in patients with chronic nerve injury. Results showed substantial disability (mean DASH 52 + 22) and a significantly lower health status (p < 0.001) compared with well-established norms. In the regression model, the factors associated with the DASH (R2 = 44.5%) were pain, older age and nerve injured. The third study was a cross-sectional evaluation of the biomedical and psychosocial factors associated with pain and disability after upper extremity nerve injury in 158 patients. DASH scores were significantly higher in patients with workers’ compensation or litigation (p = 0.03), brachial plexus injuries (p < 0.001) and unemployed patients (p < 0.001). In the multivariable regression analysis, the final model explained 52.7% of the variance with these predictors; pain intensity (Beta = .230, p = 0.006), nerve injured (Beta = -.220, p = 0.000), time since injury (Beta = -.198, p = 0.002), pain catastrophizing (Beta = .192, p = 0.025), age (Beta = .187, p = 0.002), work status (Beta = .179, p = 0.008), cold sensitivity (Beta = .171, p = 0.015), depression score (Beta = .133, p = 0.066), workers’ compensation/litigation (Beta = .116, p = 0.049) and gender (Beta = -.104, p = 0.09). Future investigation regarding treatments of the factors that are associated with disability and chronic pain will assist to improve health related quality of life in patients with traumatic nerve injury.

This thesis investigates the efforts of the West Indian Church to establish and run a fascinating Mission in an area of West Africa already influenced by Islam or traditional religion. It focuses mainly on the Pongas Mission’s efforts to spread the Gospel but also discusses its missionary hierarchy during the formative years in the Pongas Country between 1855 and 1863, and the period between 1863 and 1873, when efforts were made to consolidate the Mission under black control and supervision. Between 1873 and 1900 when more Sierra Leonean assistants were hired, relations between them and African-descended West Indian missionaries, as well as between these missionaries and their Eurafrican host chiefs, deteriorated. More efforts were made to consolidate the Pongas Mission amidst greater financial difficulties and increased French influence and restrictive measures against it between 1860 and 1935. These followed an earlier prejudiced policy in the mission that was strongly influenced by the hierarchical nature of nineteenth-century Barbadian society, which was abandoned only after successive deaths and resignations of white superintendents and the demonstrated ability of black pastors to independently run the Mission. Instrumentalism aided the conversion process and the increased flow of converts threatened both the traditional belief systems and social order of the Pongas Country, resulting in confrontation between the Mission and traditional religion worshippers, while the lack of more legitimate trade in the Pongas Country and allegations of black missionaries’ illicit sexual relations and illegal trading caused the downfall of John Henry A. Duport, the Mission’s first black Head Missionary. In the late 1800s, efforts to establish a self-supporting, self-generating, and self-propagating church together with initiatives toward African agency in the Pongas Country failed. However, it was French activities and eventual consolidation of their interests in the Pongas Country from 1890 and their demand that Mission schools teach in French, together with successful recruiting of Mission students by the Roman Catholics and Muslim clerics in Guinea, that finally crippled it. Thus, by 1935 when the Gambia-Pongas Bishopric was established in the hope of rescuing the Mission, this gender-biased Christian enterprise in West Africa was already a spent force.

Stroke is the primary cause of adult disability. To support this large population in recovery, robotic technologies are being developed to assist in the delivery of rehabilitation. A partially observable Markov decision process (POMDP) system was designed for a rehabilitation robotic device that guides stroke patients through an upper-limb reaching task. The performance of the POMDP system was evaluated by comparing the decisions made by the POMDP system with those of a human therapist. Overall, the therapist agreed with the POMDP decisions approximately 65% of the time. The therapist thought the POMDP decisions were believable and could envision this system being used in both the clinic and home. The patient would use this system as the primary method of rehabilitation. Limitations of the current system have been identified which require improvement in future research stages. This research has shown that POMDPs have promising potential to facilitate upper extremity rehabilitation.