Evaluation and experiences of a client-centred ADL intervention after stroke

The overall aim: The overall aim of this thesis was to identify and better understand the effects, experiences and meaning of client-centred activity in daily living (ADL) interventions aiming to enable agency in daily activities and participation in everyday life among people with stroke. Methods: Study I and II are based on a multicentre randomized controlled trial (RCT): Study I evaluated the effects of a client-centred ADL intervention (CADL) compared with the usual ADL intervention (UADL) 3 months after the start of the intervention on 280 people with stroke as regards the following: independence in ADL, perceived participation, life satisfaction, use of home help service and satisfaction with training. It also evaluated the effects on the significant others of people with stroke receiving CADL and UADL as regards caregiver burden, life satisfaction and provision of informal care. Study II compared changes regarding perceived participation, independence in ADL, life satisfaction between 3, 6 and 12 months after start of the intervention of CADL and UADL. Study III applied a phenomenological approach aiming to describe and understand what characterizes the meaning of CADL from the clients’ perspective. Study IV applied a grounded theory approach aiming to describe how occupational therapists (OTs) applied the CADL in their clinical practice by studying their experiences and reflections concerning their interaction with the clients with stroke. The findings: Study I and II showed no statistically significant differences in the primary outcome in the Stroke Impact Scale (SIS) domain eight “participation” at 3 months or in change up to 12 months after inclusion between the CADL and the UADL group. No significant differences were found between the groups in the secondary outcomes at 3, 6 or 12 months. At 3 months a significant difference was found in the SIS domain “emotion”, in favour of CADL. In Study II, between 3 and 12 months, there was a trend toward a clinically meaningful positive change in perceived participation that favoured CADL. At 3 months there were no differences in outcome between the significant others in the CADL and the UADL group (Study I). The findings in Study III suggested that therapeutic components in CADL contributed to transparency, which seemed to enable agency in the therapeutic process for clients with stroke. The findings in Study IV indicated that therapeutic components in CADL supported the OTs to guide their clients to enable agency in daily activities through sharing. Sharing seemed to be a necessary condition throughout the intervention process. Conclusion: No significant differences were shown in primary outcome (Study I and II) nevertheless in combination with the findings in the qualitative studies (Study III and IV), a client-centred ADL intervention seemed to enable agency and participation in everyday life. In the findings in Study III and IV, on how sharing and transparency facilitate each other and create change, from both the client’s and the therapist’s perspective, have not previously been described in the context of rehabilitation after stroke. A client-centred ADL intervention seemed to be of particular importance for the client's rehabilitation process in order to enable agency and for therapists to be able to support to the individual to enact agency. These contrasting findings confirm the importance of using qualitative methods for modeling the content of complex interventions. In addition, in this thesis, they facilitate our understanding of the therapeutic components underlying the rationale of the CADL

Lateglacial and early holocene environmental changes along the Northwest European continental margin

Palynological studies from two lacustrine sites, Lochan An Druim in northern Scotland and NikkupierjaVri in northern Finnmark, have demonstrated quantitative changes in the vegetation of the northwest European continental margin, following deglaciation (са 16.0 - 7.5 ka BP), and these changes have been correlated with the short term fluctuations and rapid changes in climate as recorded in the GRIP ice-core record. It has been shown that the palaeovegetation profiles from these sites, near to the potential extremities of northward penetration of warm ocean surface water during this time have recorded some of these events differentially, indicating a northward lag in response to Holocene warming that is not temporally consistent, and this has been attributed to the relative proximity of the North Atlantic Polar Front. เท addition, evidence is presented for a previously unrecorded early Holocene Icelandic cryptotephra from Lochan An Druim, together with evidence in support of a 'Younger Borroboľ cryptotephra from Lateglacial sediments of Allerød age at the same location

Senior Recital: Kevin Ranney

Kemp Recital HallMarch 28, 2012Wednesday Evening6:00 p.m

Computational surface partial differential equations

Surface partial differential equations model several natural phenomena; for example in uid mechanics, cell biology and material science. The domain of the equations can often have complex and changing morphology. This implies analytic techniques are unavailable, hence numerical methods are required. The aim of this thesis is to design and analyse three methods for solving different problems with surface partial differential equations at their core. First, we define a new finite element method for numerically approximating solutions of partial differential equations in a bulk region coupled to surface partial differential equations posed on the boundary of this domain. The key idea is to take a polyhedral approximation of the bulk region consisting of a union of simplices, and to use piecewise polynomial boundary faces as an approximation of the surface and solve using isoparametric finite element spaces. We study this method in the context of a model elliptic problem. The main result in this chapter is an optimal order error estimate which is confirmed in numerical experiments. Second, we use the evolving surface finite element method to solve a Cahn- Hilliard equation on an evolving surface with prescribed velocity. We start by deriving the equation using a conservation law and appropriate transport formulae and provide the necessary functional analytic setting. The finite element method relies on evolving an initial triangulation by moving the nodes according to the prescribed velocity. We go on to show a rigorous well-posedness result for the continuous equations by showing convergence, along a subsequence, of the finite element scheme. We conclude the chapter by deriving error estimates and present various numerical examples. Finally, we stray from surface finite element method to consider new unfitted finite element methods for surface partial differential equations. The idea is to use a fixed bulk triangulation and approximate the surface using a discrete approximation of the distance function. We describe and analyse two methods using a sharp interface and narrow band approximation of the surface for a Poisson equation. Error estimates are described and numerical computations indicate very good convergence and stability properties

An unfitted discontinuous Galerkin scheme for conservation laws on evolving surfaces

Motivated by considering partial differential equations arising from conservation laws posed on evolving surfaces, a new numerical method for an advection problem is developed and simple numerical tests are performed. The method is based on an unfitted discontinuous Galerkin approach where the surface is not explicitly tracked by the mesh which means the method is extremely flexible with respect to geometry. Furthermore, the discontinuous Galerkin approach is well-suited to capture the advection driven by the evolution of the surface without the need for a space-time formulation, back-tracking trajectories or streamline diffusion. The method is illustrated by a one-dimensional example and numerical results are presented that show good convergence properties for a simple test problem

Politik - Sport - Sprache

Diese Diplomarbeit erforscht die Sportreportsprache im österreichischen Nationalsozialismus anhand der Tageszeitung 'Illustrierte Kronen Zeitung'. Mithilfe einer qualitativen Inhaltsanalyse der Ausgaben dieser Zeitung in den Sommer Monaten der Jahre 1938 bis 1944. Es wird ermittelt, ob die Art der Sportberichterstattung durch die Nationalsozialisten geprägt wurde. Dies umfasst eine Auswertung von dem Sport zugeteiltem Raum, präferierten Sportarten sowie eine Analyse ausgewählter Schlüsselwörter. Es wurde festgestellt, dass das Erscheinungsbild der Artikel in den Kriegs- und Vorkriegsjahren wesentlichen Veränderungen unterworfen wurde. Besonders deutlich wird dies im Hinblick auf das sportjournalistische Vokabular.This work researches the language used in sport related articles during the nazi period. As showcase issues published during the summer months in the years from 1938 until 1944, as well as some years before and after, of the daily newspaper 'Illustrierte Kronen Zeitung' were analyzed. This covered a listing of area dedicated to sport articles, preferred sports and keywords used in those articles. It was discovered that during the pre war time and war itself, the appearance definitely changed. The major change happened in the vocabulary used by the journalists at that time

Woman and silent cinema

Der Film ist nicht nur eine Kunstform, die sich im Laufe der Zeit entwickelte, sondern auch ein Spiegel der Gesellschaft in der das jeweilige Werk entstanden ist. Filme, mit allen unterschiedlichen Ausprägungen, repräsentieren gesellschaftliche Verhältnisse, Anschauungen, Modetrends, Kritiken und auch geschlechtliche Rollenbilder und Rollenverteilungen. Der Aspekt der Darstellung der Frau, ist im Stummfilm zwischen 1910 und 1930 besonders interessant. Während im realen Leben Frauen unter dem Patriarchat der Männer standen und ihre Emanzipation gerade am entstehen war, so verzauberten junge Schauspielerinnen die weiblichen Rezipientinnen mit ihrer fröhlichen und unabhängigen Lebensweise. Mit diesen Darstellungen wurde auch der Ruf nach der eigenen Selbstständigkeit immer stärker und Frauen emanzipierten sich. Mit dem Weiblichkeitstyp der Neuen Frau war das perfekte filmische Vorbild gefunden, das von Frauen bewundert und kopiert wurde. Die vorliegende Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit der Darstellung der Frau im Stummfilm zwischen 1910 und 1930. Genauer: mit der Neuen Frau als Mythos des Flapper Girls. Anhand von zwei Filmbeispielen, It (USA, 1927) und Die Büchse der Pandora (GER, 1929), wird mithilfe von feministischen Filmtheorien die Darstellung der Frau genauer unter die Lupe genommen.Movies aren’t just an art form, which developed in the course of time; they are also a significant mirror for the society in which the movies were produced and where they are imbedded. They present different social relations, opinions, fashion trends, criticisms and sexual role models and role allocations. The aspect of the construction of women in silent movies between 1910 and 1930 is especially interesting. As women in real life were under the patriarchy of men, and women’s emancipation stood at the beginning, actresses on screen inspired their female audience with their cheerful and independent lifestyle. With such a demonstration of liberty, the request for personal independence of women got stronger and the sexual emancipation started. The prepotent demonstrated typ of women between 1910 and 1930 was the New Woman, which gave the perfect cinematic model to admire and copy. In the present work will be analyzed the construction of women in silent cinema between 1910 and 1930. More exactly: the New Woman as the Flapper Girl. On the basis of feministic film theories and two movies, It (USA, 1927) and Pandoras Box (GER, 1929), the construction of women should be demonstrated