Working Memory and Falls Risk in Older Adults: An Event-Related Potential Study

BACKGROUND: The aging population is rapidly increasing, where currently in North America, the population of older adults (ages 60+) outnumbers the population of children. Falls are a major concern for older adults and their quality of life. Cognitive impairment has been shown to be declined in older adults at-risk for falls, but working memory has not been thoroughly investigated within this population. PURPOSE: To examine differences in Non-Fallers, Moderate Risk for Falls, and Fallers in a working memory task using electroencephalography (EEG). METHODS: Older adults (n=44, female=27) aged 60 – 80 years (m=68.8, SD=4.7) completed two sessions. The first session incorporated general demographic questionnaires and Tinetti’s Mobility Test. Participants were classified as Non-Fallers, Moderate Risk for Falls, or Fallers based on their Tinetti’s Mobility Test results and their falls history. The second session had participants complete the n-back, a working memory test, while behavioural and EEG results were recorded. RESULTS: We found that in the 2-Back test, behaviorally those who were at risk performed the worst (slower reaction time and decreased accuracy) in comparison to the Non-Fallers and Fallers. However, from the EEG results, Fallers were more cognitively impaired, with earlier latencies for the N2 and P3 components in comparison to the other groups, while the Moderate Risk for Falls group were significantly impaired in peak latencies in the N2 only in comparison to the Non-Faller group. CONCLUSIONS: Individuals at risk and fallers differ in their impairment in working memory in comparison to non-fallers. Working memory and falls risk should be further investigated as a proactive approach to the falls phenomena

Optimisation of Mobile Communication Networks - OMCO NET

The mini conference “Optimisation of Mobile Communication Networks” focuses on advanced methods for search and optimisation applied to wireless communication networks. It is sponsored by Research & Enterprise Fund Southampton Solent University. The conference strives to widen knowledge on advanced search methods capable of optimisation of wireless communications networks. The aim is to provide a forum for exchange of recent knowledge, new ideas and trends in this progressive and challenging area. The conference will popularise new successful approaches on resolving hard tasks such as minimisation of transmit power, cooperative and optimal routing

Multi-scale Models for Transportation Systems Under Emergency Conditions

The purpose of this study is to investigate human behavior in emergencies. More specifically, agent-based simulation and social force models were developed to examine the impact of various human and environmental factors on the efficiency of the evacuation process, through a series of case studies. The independent variables of the case studies include the number of exits, the number of passengers, the evacuation policies, and instructions, as well as the queue configuration and wall separators. The results revealed the location of the exits, number of exits, evacuation strategies, and group behaviors all significantly impact the total time of the evacuation. For the queue configuration, short aisles lower infection spread when rope separators were used. The findings provide new insights in designing layout, planning, practice, and training strategies for improving the effectiveness of the pedestrian evacuation process under emergency

Emotional, cognitive, and postural adaptations to repeated postural threat exposure

This thesis investigated initial threat-induced changes in emotional, cognitive, and postural control measures and adaptation of these measures to repeated threat exposure in healthy young and older adults. Twenty-seven young and twenty-seven older adults stood on a platform under no threat and threat conditions. Postural threat was manipulated by altering the expectation of a temporally and directionally unpredictable mediolateral support surface translation during quiet standing. Regardless of age, participants were more anxious, reported broad changes in attention focus, and increased centre of pressure (COP) amplitude and frequency with first threat exposure. With early threat exposure, participants were less anxious and increased COP frequency. With repeated threat exposure, participants were less anxious, reported reductions in threat-induced changes in attention focus, and decreased high frequency COP displacements. These results suggest young and older adults demonstrate similar patterns of emotional, cognitive, and postural adaptations to initial and repeated threat exposure

DEVELOPMENT OF A BALANCE RECOVERY CONFIDENCE SCALE FOR COMMUNITY-DWELLING OLDER ADULTS

Falls are concerning issues for older people. There is a lack of instruments that measure balance recovery confidence. Balance recovery confidence refers to the perceived ability to arrest falls. Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) are used to obtain information directly from the person being cared for. The overall aim of this thesis is to present the development of a PROM that measures balance recovery confidence in community-dwelling older adults. Methods: A sequential series of steps was taken to develop the PROM. First, a literature review was done to understand the self-efficacy theory, types of falls-related psychological concerns, PROMs used, the role of balance recovery control and the development of a PROM for the construct of interest. Four studies were then implemented. The first study systematically reviewed existing falls efficacy-related PROMs for their development, content validity and structural validity. The second study assessed the feasibility of studying near-falls and balance recovery among community-dwelling older adults. The third study constructed and validated the content of the balance recovery confidence scale with 22 community-dwelling older adults and 28 healthcare professionals. The final study assessed the psychometric properties of the newly developed PROM with 84 community-dwelling older adults in Singapore. Results and conclusions: Existing falls efficacy-related PROMs lack high-quality evidence in their development and content validity. The systematic review affirmed an absence of a suitable PROM of balance recovery confidence for community-dwelling older adults. The feasibility study demonstrated that balance recovery was a relatable concept for older adults. A 19-item balance recovery confidence scale was constructed and validated with experts’ consensus. Field testing showed that the scale has excellent psychometric properties, having moderate correlations with the Activities-specific Balance Confidence Scale, Falls Efficacy Scale-International, Late Life Function and Disability Instrument-Function and strong correlation with reactive postural control performance. Keywords: Patient-reported outcome measures, falls efficacy, balance recovery confidence, psychometric propertie

Jane Jacobs is still here: Jane Jacobs 100 Her legacy and relevance in the 21st Century

On the occasion of Jane Jacobs’ 100 anniversary, the chair of Spatial Planning and Strategy of the Delft University of Technology, together with the OTB Research Institute for the Built Environment and the Rotterdam Erasmus University College organised a two-day conference on Jane Jacob’s legacy at TU Delft on 24-25 May 2016. This event was complemented one year later by a ‘Jane Jacobs Year’ closing event. We wished to celebrate the life and accomplishments of one of the most important urban thinkers of our time, someone who has influenced generations of designers and planners and others concerned with the built environment: the great Jane Jacobs.  Jacobs’ theories and ideas are seminal to many different academic fields: urban design, planning, architecture, sociology, human geography, environmental psychology, economic geography and many more. Her writings have been influential for more than five decades. This alone tells us of her importance for urban studies and for understanding the complex relationship between urban space and society. This is reflected, among other things, in the immense popularity of Jane’s ideas among young planners and designers. A simple Google search of the term “urban planner†yields the following results: A line-up of male planners is headed by a woman, the most relevant of them all (at least according to Google’s algorithms), Jane Jacobs! This is ironic since Jane Jacobs would hardly see herself as a planner. Maybe, like Roberta Gratz (who was a friend of Jacobs’), she was an ‘anti-planner’, someone with a keen eye for careful empirical observation, for whom cities ought to be understood from the careful exploration of how the built environment influences and is influenced by human life. Jacobs was an astute observer of the life of cities and the processes that produce both cities and citizenship. In their contributions, the authors of the texts included in this book demonstrate how Jacobs is still relevant as a theorist in the realms of politics, economics and design, and how she can also help us understand how urban form yields meaning. But they also criticise and review her ideas in light of the experiences accumulated in more than 50 years since her main works were published, and the perspectives of places that have little similarity to New York or Toronto. This is relevant because indeed Jane Jacobs’ ideas are being reviewed reinterpreted and reinvented, and occasionally refuted, in contexts as diverse as Cairo, São Paulo or Addis Ababa. And it’s high time this happens. The conference aimed to explore those new insights on Jacobs’ legacy and to take her ideas forward in the context of globalisation, internationalisation and accelerated urbanisation in places like China, India and Brazil. The intensity and scale of current urbanization are unprecedented and new challenges have emerged since she published her texts. How are the ideas of Jane Jacobs still relevant for the understanding of the interplay between urban space and society? Or do we need new theories? To what extent have Jacobs’ ideas inspired today’s urban leaders and thinkers? How are they tackling urban issues such as growing inequality, spatial fragmentation, street life, safety in the public space and environmental decline? We discussed Jacobs’ ideas critically and to take stock of how those ideas have been used, misused and hopefully updated. We invited abstract submissions for six different tracks, exploring essential aspects of Jacobs’ ideas: Track 1: Jane Jacobs, ethics, and the just city Track 2: Jane Jacobs and Street Spaces – Streets as public places Track 3: Jane Jacobs and the dynamics of neighbourhoods Track 4: Jane Jacobs and the Reshaping old urban fabrics in Chinese cities Track 5: Jane Jacobs and organised complexity Track 6: Jane Jacobs and safety in public space The conference was organised by Roberto Rocco (TU Delft Urbanism), Brian Doucet (University of Waterloo, Canada, then Erasmus University College in Rotterdam) and Andre Ouwehand (TU Delft OTB)

Engineering data compendium. Human perception and performance. User's guide

The concept underlying the Engineering Data Compendium was the product of a research and development program (Integrated Perceptual Information for Designers project) aimed at facilitating the application of basic research findings in human performance to the design and military crew systems. The principal objective was to develop a workable strategy for: (1) identifying and distilling information of potential value to system design from the existing research literature, and (2) presenting this technical information in a way that would aid its accessibility, interpretability, and applicability by systems designers. The present four volumes of the Engineering Data Compendium represent the first implementation of this strategy. This is the first volume, the User's Guide, containing a description of the program and instructions for its use