Interventions for fall prevention in community-dwelling older persons

Falls in individuals over the age of 65 is a pervasive problem resulting in significant health and economic burden in our country. Thus, effective fall prevention strategies are an important public health measure, especially in an age group that is growing rapidly. Research has shown a multifactorial approach to fall prevention addressing environmental hazards, strength and balance, medications, and medical comorbidities to be most effective. Despite there being strong evidence to support this, many individuals are unaware of the factors that put them at risk and ways to mitigate them. An educational pamphlet containing evidence-based strategies to reduce fall risk was produced for distribution within the New Milford primary care clinic in New Milford, CT.https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/fmclerk/1511/thumbnail.jp

Phase equilibria in non polar gas-liquid binary systems at high pressure

Imperial Users onl

Novel Device for Measuring Lung Function using Oscillometry

The forced oscillation technique (FOT) is a non-invasive means of measuring lung mechanics. Broad-band oscillations in flow are delivered to the lungs while the resultant pressure oscillations are recorded. These signals are processed to yield the input impedance of the respiratory system (Zrs), which encapsulates the mechanical properties of the lung over the frequency range spanned by the oscillations. Clinically, can be used to assess pulmonary pathologies such as asthma and COPD. Standard methods of performing FOT are limited to the non-ambulatory clinical setting. Production of a light-weight device that operates without an external power source would allow real-time measurements of in a wide variety of more natural settings. Breath-driven oscillators, such as the Smith’s Medical Acapella and D R Burton vPEP, are currently used clinically to help cystic fibrosis patients clear mucus from their lungs by generating pressure oscillations that travel into the airways. We hypothesized that these oscillations could be used to determine . We performed FOT on healthy individuals without history of lung disease using a calibrated piston oscillator (Flexivent) to determine reference between 1 and 20 Hz. We then measured airway pressure and flow using the same sensors but with the oscillations produced by the Acapella and vPEP during tidal breathing. Respiratory resistance (Rrs), elastance (Ers) and Inertance (Irs) were determined by fitting the single-compartment model of the respiratory system to the time-domain signals from all three measurement devices. Correlation coefficients, Bland-Altman plots, and coefficients of variation were used to compare the results obtained with the three devices. We found bias values of 0.633857 [0.214382378, 1.053331908] cmH2O.s.L-1, 0.041333 [-0.38432604, 0.46699271] cmH2O.s.L-1 for comparing the Flexivent against the Acapella and vPEP, respectively. Coefficients of variation of 9.003%, 9.855%, and 9.643% were obtained for the Flexivent, Acapella, and vPEP, respectively. These results demonstrate that breath-driven oscillators are promising alternatives to conventional powered oscillators for the measurement of

Forging and severing connections between historical injustices and current experience

Past research on temporal self-appraisal theory has revealed that individuals are able to maintain a positive sense of self by subjectively moving favourable past events forward and unfavourable past events backward in time. The current study extends past work by examining whether individuals alter subjective distance from historical injustices to protect their collective identity. Men, as members of a perpetrator group, may perceive past injustices against women as a threat to their collective identity. As such, men may be motivated to subjectively move past injustices backward in time. On the other hand, women, as members of a victim group, may perceive past injustices against women as a crucial aspect of their collective identity. As such, women may be motivated to subjectively move past injustices forward in time. Study 1 examined subjective distance from past injustices and its relation to collective guilt and support for compensation. When the threat posed by past injustices had not been mitigated by the advances made in women\u27s rights , men distanced past injustices more than women. Furthermore, men who distanced injustices furthest in the past reported less collective guilt and less support for compensation; whereas women who perceived injustices to be closer to the present reported greater support for compensation. Study 2 examined the causal role of subjective distance in determining collective guilt and support for compensation. Further support was provided for the role of subjective distance in men\u27s acceptance of collective guilt and willingness to compensate women. However, results suggest that subjective distance may not have played as large a role for women\u27s assignment of collective blame. We discuss the powerful role of time perception in forging, or severing, connections between history and current experience

Acknowledging the Skeletons in Our Closet: Collective Guilt and Ingroup-Affirmation

Just as people defend against threats to personal identity, they also defend against threats to social identity. In the context of intergroup transgression, the defensiveness against social identity threat has the effect of undermining collective guilt and its prosocial consequences. However, there may be ways for perpetrator groups to alleviate threat without undermining guilt. Five studies examined whether perpetrator groups are more willing to acknowledge collective guilt once social identity threat has been buffered by ingroup-affirmation. As predicted, Study 1 revealed that men accepted greater collective guilt for the mistreatment of women after affirming their ingroup. Replicating this effect, Study 2 revealed that, following ingroup-affirmation, Canadians accepted greater collective guilt over the mistreatment of Aboriginal children in residential schools. In light of the theoretical distinction between collective guilt and collective shame, Studies 3 and 4 examined the effect of ingroup-affirmation on each emotion. Results revealed that, as with collective guilt, Canadians accepted greater collective shame following ingroup-affirmation. More importantly, ingroup-affirmation moderated the relation of each emotion with compensation. Specifically, when controlling for each other, collective shame predicted compensation only when social identity threat was left unchecked, whereas collective guilt predicted compensation only when social identity threat had been disarmed by ingroup-affirmation. Finally, Study 5 provided direct evidence that the effect of ingroup-affirmation is mediated by defensiveness. Specifically, ingroup-affirmation lowered defensiveness, which in turn freed group members to acknowledge greater collective guilt and greater collective shame. The theoretical and applied implications of these findings are discussed

Emerging strategies for Western Australian secondary school jazz ensemble directors: Improving engagement with drum set students

Drum set education is a specialised field, but its importance is often underestimated in Western Australian (WA) secondary school jazz ensembles. Many secondary school jazz ensemble directors specialise in instruments other than drum set, and consequently may lack knowledge and skills in this area to the detriment of both the drum set student and the ensemble. This research project investigated the interaction between selected secondary school jazz ensemble directors in WA, and their drum set students during rehearsals. In particular, it set out to examine the impact of the jazz ensemble director on student engagement, inclusion, leadership, collaborative learning and technical development. As part of an action research methodology, the study implemented a professional development intervention with the jazz ensemble directors and sought to assess the impact of the intervention in subsequent rehearsals. It noted an increase in positive interactions between ensemble directors and their drum set students. The study affirmed the value in instrument specific professional development for jazz ensemble directors to the benefit of both the jazz ensemble and in particular the drum set student

The impact of law changes on match loads in university rugby union players during the FNB Varsity Cup

Abstract: Rugby union is played at a high intensity making it an appealing sport for spectators to watch. Law changes have been implemented to make the sport more competitive, to create continuity in the sport and to improve the enjoyment factor for the players and spectators. First National Bank (FNB) Varsity Cup Rugby have strived to be innovative by introducing new law variations and strives to make a difference in sport. The aim of this study was to determine the effect that the law changes implemented and match situational variables in the FNB Varsity Cup Rugby during 2016 until 2018 had affected the players’ external load during match play. This study followed a longitudinal retrospective quantitative research design using secondary data from a university rugby union team. A total of 61 players’ external match load was captured on the Catapult Optimeye X4 micro-technology devices. The data was analysed and compared to each season’s data with reference to the law changes implemented during each season and match influencing factors such as match outcome, match location and quality of opponent. The tests done for the results of this research include independent t-tests, ANOVA, two-way ANOVA and Tukey HSD post-hoc analysis. The players’ total distances, high-speed running distances and PlayerLoad were more affected compared to other variables during the three seasons. The front row forwards covered the most distances in 2016 (4317±2017m) when compared to the other seasons, while the back-row forwards and inside backs had higher running distances in 2017 (4554±1787m; 5566±1852m). Whereas, the outside backs ran larger distances in the 2018 season (6337±737m). The backline players ran larger total distances than the forwards did during match play. Additionally, when separating the players into position specific groups, they differed in which year they ran more. It is evident that the running metrics of the players varied between each season analysed. This may indicate there is a difference between the seasons because of law variations introduced or amended. The match location and the iv match outcome also increased the external load when these situational variables change to playing at home and winning matches, respectively.M.Phil. (Sport Sciences

Remarks on the instability of black Dp-branes

We show that for black D$p$-branes having charge $Q$ and Hawking temperature $T$, the product $QT^{7-p}$ is bounded from above for $p\leq 5$ and is unbounded for $p=6$. While the maximum occurs at some finite value of a parameter for $p \leq 4$, it occurs at infinity of the parameter for $p=5$. As a consequence, for fixed charge, there are two black D$p$-branes (for $p\leq 4$) at any given temperature less than its maximum value, and when the temperature is maximum there is one black D$p$-brane. For $p=5$, there is only one black D5-brane at a given temperature less than its maximum value, whereas, for $p=6$, since there is no bound for the temperature, there is always a black D6-brane solution at a given temperature. Of the two black D$p$-branes (for $p\leq 4$), one is large which is shown to be thermodynamically unstable and the other is small which is stable. But for $p=5,6$, the black D$p$-branes are always thermodynamically unstable. The stable, small black D$p$-brane, however, under certain conditions, can become unstable quantum mechanically and decay either to a BPS D$p$-brane or to a Kaluza-Klein "bubble of nothing" through closed string tachyon condensation. The small D5, D6 branes, although classically unstable, have the same fate under similar conditions.Comment: 12 pages, LaTeX, 1 figure, v2: minor clarifications added, v3: added free energy calculation, version to appear in Phys. Lett.

Smooth Hilbert schemes: their classification and geometry

Closed subschemes in projective space with a fixed Hilbert polynomial are parametrized by a Hilbert scheme. We classify the smooth ones. We identify numerical conditions on a polynomial that completely determine when the Hilbert scheme is smooth. We also reinterpret these smooth Hilbert schemes as generalized partial flag varieties and describe the subschemes being parametrized.Comment: 21 page

City-Suburban Variations in Police Expenditures

The objective in this paper is to describe and explain city-suburban disparities in expenditures for police protection. The question is whether cities have higher police expenditures than suburbs be­cause they face different conditions or because they respond differ­ently to those conditions. A model for the determination of police compensation and employment levels is specified and tested on 1979 data for 66 SMSA\u27s with central city populations in excess of 100,000. The results of this analysis show that city-suburban disparities in per capita expenditures for police services are both pronounced and variable by region. In part the disparities are due to the greater need for police services in cities -- crime rate and population size exert important pressures on police spending in cities, but not in suburbs. In part, however, the disparities are due to institutional arrangements and policy choices -- unionization and local government structure