Biomechanical analysis of older adults stepping up: a method of evaluating balance

The aim of this study was to analyze differences in biomechanical parameters between elderly and control participants when stepping up, to evaluate control of balance. Eleven control and 14 elderly participants performed a step from an initial static posture onto a 7-cm-high force plate. For the spontaneous-velocity condition, elderly participants performed a slower progression velocity than control participants. Elderly participants spent proportionally more time in stance phase, with a corresponding decrease in swing phase, than the control participants, irrespective of movement velocity. In contrast, at spontaneous velocity the parameters related to ground-reaction force (GRF) showed that anteroposterior and mediolateral forces at toe-off of the support limb and the slope of vertical force during weight transfer were significantly smaller for the elderly than for control participants. These GRF parameters depended on the stepping-up velocity. The elderly develop a spatiotemporal strategy and reduced movement velocity to control support balance.     

Recent Life Expectancy Divergence in Baltic Countries

Until the end of the 1990s, mortality patterns and trends in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were remarkably similar. However, from the year 2000 onwards, life expectancy trends in the three countries started to diverge. In particular, sustainable progress in Estonia over the period 2000–2007 contrasts with stagnation in Latvia, and even worsening trends in Lithuania. These contradictory changes seem to be mainly explained by contrasting dynamics in mortality from cardiovascular diseases, external causes of death and digestive system diseases. Whereas cardiovascular and external-cause mortality declined in Estonia and Latvia, worsening or stagnation of mortality from these causes of death was observed in Lithuania. The negative mortality changes in Lithuania were also reinforced by a striking increase in mortality from alcohol-related digestive system diseases. The findings suggest that the divergence in health trends between the three countries may be attributable to their varying degrees of success in implementing structural health care reforms and specific health policy measures. By contrast, the very recent improvement (since 2008) is parallel in the three countries and is largely because of the introduction of rather similar anti-alcohol measures.     

Regional Dispersion of Industrial Labour Costs in the European Community (1988)

ABSTRACT: The aim of this paper is to present a measure of regional labour costs in manufacturing industry in the European Community in 1988. As raw data, derived from the Eurostat Labour Cost Survey, are strongly dependent on sectoral distribution of employment in each region, a method is presented, based on reweighting techniques and loglinear modelling, to eliminate the composition effect. As a result, a regular geographical pattern does emerge. The same type of technique is then applied to the evolution of regional labour costs between 1984 and 1988; some correlation does appear with regional unemployment levels in the United Kingdom and France, pointing the way towards further research.     

Early Retirement: The Case of The Netherlands

ABSTRACT This article takes a closer look at the scope of actual early retirements, reasons for choosing early retirement, the popularity of different types of flexible retirement schemes, and the status of elderly employees within their own organization. It appears that positive reasons for choosing early retirement are more often mentioned by persons in higher professional groups, by those with a higher level of education, and by those who work in the civil service or the service sector. Neutral and negative reasons are mentioned more often by persons in lower professional groups, by those with a lower level of education, and by those working in the industrial sector. Although the motives for opting for early retirement differ, there do not appear to be great differences between categories of respondents if they have been able to choose their age at retirement personally, within specified age limits. Approximately a quarter of the respondents indicated they would leave work at the age of 60, even if this meant a 30% drop in net income.     

Biodiversity conservation in urban parks: a study of ground-dwelling ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Rio de Janeiro City

Urban Ecosystems - Urban green recreational spaces may provide habitat for animals and plants. We investigated the importance of urban public parks in the city of Rio de Janeiro with regard to the...     

Gini’s concentration index and the measurement of the distance between relative price vectors

A new measure is developed for the distance between relative price vectors. It is shown to be related to Gini’s Index of Concentration and is applied to cross-country data for the year 1975.