Vanhuus ja yksinäisyys

Kirjoitus perustuu 4.11.2011 Tampereen yliopistossa pidettyyn lectioon.

Associação entre composição corporal, equilíbrio e mobilidade de idosos com 80 anos ou mais

Study design: cross-sectional study. Objective: The objective of this study was to analyze the association between body composition, mobility and balance of elderly aged 80 years or older. Methods: The sample consisted of 123 elderly aged 80 and 95 years (83.2 ± 2.7 years) with 78 women (83.2 ± 2.9 years) and 45 men (83.2 ± 2, 4 years) residing in the city of Presidente Prudente - SP. Assessment of body composition was made by absorpiometria dual energy X-ray (DXA). The mobility and balance were assessed by means of tests of speed walking, and static balance lower limb strength. For statistical analysis we carried out the chi-square test, the software used was SPSS (13.0) and the significance level was set at 5%. Results: In males, those with higher performance in the functional tests showed higher percentages of muscle mass (MM) (35.6%) compared to lower performance (15.6%), p = 0.026. In the female group, the elderly with higher performance on tests showed higher bone mineral density (BMD) values (30.8%) compared with those with lower performance (20.5%) p = 0.041. Conclusion: MM for elderly males and BMD for females were the components of body composition that is associated with functional capacity.

Rotational constants and structure of para-difluorobenzene determined by femtosecond Raman coherence spectroscopy: A new transient type

Femtosecond Raman rotational coherence spectroscopy (RCS) detected by degenerate four-wave mixing is a background-free method that allows to determine accurate gas-phase rotational constants of non-polar molecules. Raman RCS has so far mostly been applied to the regular coherence patterns of symmetric-top molecules, while its application to nonpolar asymmetric tops has been hampered by the large number of RCS transient types, the resulting variability of the RCS patterns, and the 10³–10⁴ times larger computational effort to simulate and fit rotational Raman RCS transients. We present the rotational Raman RCS spectra of the nonpolar asymmetric top 1,4-difluorobenzene (para-difluorobenzene, p-DFB) measured in a pulsed Ar supersonic jet and in a gas cell over delay times up to ~2.5 ns. p-DFB exhibits rotational Raman transitions with ΔJ = 0, 1, 2 and ΔK = 0, 2, leading to the observation of J −, K −, A −, and C–type transients, as well as a novel transient (S–type) that has not been characterized so far. The jet and gas cell RCS measurements were fully analyzed and yield the ground-state (v = 0) rotational constants Aₒ = 5637.68(20) MHz, Bₒ = 1428.23(37) MHz, and Cₒ = 1138.90(48) MHz (1σ uncertainties). Combining the Aₒ, Bₒ, and Cₒ constants with coupled-cluster with single-, double- and perturbatively corrected triple-excitation calculations using large basis sets allows to determine the semi-experimental equilibrium bond lengths rₑ(C₁–C₂) = 1.3849(4) Å, rₑ(C₂–C³) = 1.3917(4) Å, rₑ(C–F) = 1.3422(3) Å, and rₑ(C₂–H₂) = 1.0791(5) Å.

Process systems modelling and applications in granulation: A review

Granulation is one of the fundamental operations in particulate processing and has a very ancient history and widespread use. Much fundamental particle science has occurred in the last two decades to help understand the underlying phenomena. Yet, until recently the development of granulation systems was mostly based on popular practice. The use of process systems approaches to the integrated understanding of these operations is providing improved insight into the complex nature of the processes. Improved mathematical representations, new solution techniques and the application of the models to industrial processes are yielding better designs, improved optimisation and tighter control of these systems. The parallel development of advanced instrumentation and the use of inferential approaches provide real-time access to system parameters necessary for improvements in operation. The use of advanced models to help develop real-time plant diagnostic systems provides further evidence of the utility of process system approaches to granulation processes. This paper highlights some of those aspects of granulation. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.