41 research outputs found

    Balance assessment in Multiple Sclerosis and cerebellar ataxia: rationale, protocol and demographic data

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    A core set of standardized balance measures are required for use in rehabilitation among people with multiple sclerosis (MS) and cerebellar ataxia. An earlier systematic review and Delphi survey identified the Berg Balance Scale (BBS), the Timed Up and Go test (TUG), Posture and Gait sub-component of the International Co-operative Ataxia Rating Scale (PG of ICARS) and the gait, sitting and stance sub-components of the Scale for the Assessment and Rating of Ataxia (SARA Bal) as suitable balance measures. This study aims to estimate the reliability, validity and interpretability of these measures. This study will recruit 60 participants with multiple sclerosis with secondary cerebellar involvement across four centres in New Zealand and the United States of America. Participants will be assessed and videotaped performing the BBS, TUG, SARA Bal and PG of ICARS by trained physiotherapists. Barthel Index, Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS), Disease duration, ICARS and SARA will also be assessed to determine validity. A second assessment to determine reliability will be conducted by assessors watching the video-recording. Data collection is in progress, 44 samples have been collected and the demographic data are presented. The findings of this study will recommend a core set of reliable, valid and interpretable measures that are suitable for clinical practice and research for the assessment of balance among adults with MS and cerebellar ataxia. Minimal Clinically Important Difference (MCID) and cut-off scores to predict the use of assistive walking device will be established

    Is the story on my face? : Intertextual conflicts during teacher-class interactions around texts in early grade classrooms

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    Pauline Harris, Jillian Trezise and W. N. Winse

    Where is the story?: intertextual reflections on literacy research and practices in the early school years

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    Pauline Harris, Jillian Trezise and W. N. Winse

    An analysis of pump-induced artificial ionospheric ion upwelling at EISCAT

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    Ion outflow from the high-latitude ionosphere is a well-known phenomenon and an important source of plasma for the magnetosphere. It is also well known that pumping the ionosphere with high-power high-frequency radio waves causes electron heating. On a few occasions, this has been accompanied by artificially induced ion upwelling. We analyze such a controlled experiment at EISCAT up to 600 km altitude. The pump-enhanced electron temperatures reached up to ∟4000 K above 350 km, and ion upwelling reached up to ∟300 m/s above 500 km altitude. The pump-induced electron pressure gradient can explain the ion velocity below 450 km. Between 450 and 600 km the electron pressure gradient correlates equally with ion acceleration and ion velocity, which represents the transition altitude to free ion acceleration. The electron gas pressure gradient can explain ion upwelling, at least up to 600 km altitude. In addition, such active experiments open the possibility to estimating the F layer ion-neutral collision frequency and neutral density with altitude from ground-based observations

    A sociology of caravans

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    Why do caravans matter? Australians, like others, holiday in them, travel in them, cook, eat, drink, play, sleep and have sex in them. They also live in them, often involuntarily. Caravans have a longer history than this, however caravan life has almost no presence in existing historical or cultural sociology scholarship. Our immediate interest is in caravans in Australia, modernity and mobility. Some broader interest is apparent. Theoretical arguments about mobility on a global scale have been developed by Bauman and Urry. Sociologists like Jasper have connected mobility, masculinity and automobility in Restless Nation. The sociologist and writer Marina Lewycka has used caravans as the locus of everyday life study in her novel Two Caravans. In this paper we background some of these broader issues, and offer a case study of postwar caravan manufacturing. This paper anticipates a larger possible research project in these fields. We anticipate this project raising themes like freedom, mobility, escape, utopia; images of domesticity on wheels, dĂŠcor and design, materials, technology, DIY production and Fordism; caravan parks as homes and as itinerant and long-term accommodation. These themes and images are also necessarily interwoven with class, gender, sex and age. We are interested in the possibilities of using the caravan as a carrier for making sense of postwar Australia

    Sleep and performance in simulated Navy watch schedules

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    The article of record as published may be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2015.11.021To operate Navy ships 24h per day, watchstanding is needed around the clock,with watch periods reflecting a variety of rotating or fixed shift schedules. The 5/15 watch schedule cycles through watch periods with 5h on,15h off watch, such that watches occur 4h earlier on the clock each day–that is, the watches rotate backward. The timing of sleep varies over 4-day cycles, and sleep is split on some days to accommodate nighttime watchstanding. The 3/9 watch schedule cycles through watch periods with 3h on, 9h off watch, allowing for consistent sleep timing over days. In some sections of the 3/9 watch schedule, sleep may need to be split to accommodate nighttime watchstanding. In both the 5/15 and 3/9 watch schedules, four watch sections alternate to cover the 24h of the day. Here we compared sleep duration, psychomotor vigilance and subjective sleepiness in simulated sections of the 5/15 and 3/9 watch schedules. Fifteen healthy male subjects spent 6 consecutive days (5nights) in the laboratory. Sleep opportunities were restricted to an average of 6.5h daily. Actigraphically estimated sleep duration was 5.6h per watch day on average, with no significant difference between watch sections. Sleep duration was not reduced when sleep opportunities were split. Psychomotor vigilance degraded over watch days, and tended to be more variable in the 5/15 than in the 3/9 watch sections. These laboratory-based findings suggest that Navy watch schedules are associated with cumulative sleep loss and a build-up of fatigue across days. The fixed watch periods of the 3/9 watch schedule appear to yield more stable performance than the backward rotating watch periods of the 5/15 watch schedule. Optimal performance may require longer and more consistent daily opportunities for sleep than are typically obtained in Navy operations.Naval Postgraduate SchoolAward no. N62271-13-M-122
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