title: Neuropsychological Profiles of 5-Year Ischemic Stroke Survivors by Oxfordshire Stroke Classification and Hemisphere of Lesion

authors: Barker-Collo, Suzanne

subjects: classification

abstract: Background and Purpose—Although the neuropsychological literature typically examines stroke outcomes by hemisphere of lesion, the medical literature provides classifications more closely linked to circulatory distribution impacted by stroke. This article examined profiles of cognitive function by hemisphere and by Oxfordshire Community Stroke Project stroke classification.
Methods—This study included a sample of 315 5-year ischemic stroke survivors. Assessment included tests of verbal memory, visual memory, word finding/verbal fluency, abstract visual reasoning, executive functioning, and speed of processing.
Results—The sample produced scores within 1 standard deviation of the normative mean on tests of abstract visual reasoning, verbal memory, and visual recall. Impaired performances were observed for executive function and processing speed. Profile analysis revealed no significant differences in overall cognitive performance or in the profile of performance across measures by hemisphere of lesion. However, groups defined by Oxfordshire Community Stroke Project categories produced significantly different cognitive profiles. Post hoc analyses indicate those with posterior stroke performed best overall on all tests except the Stroop Dots trial, whereas those with total anterior stroke produced significantly worse scores on tasks requiring visual abstract reasoning (Block Design, Rey Figure Copy), word finding (Boston Naming Test), and processing speed (Stroop Dots, Trails A).
Conclusions—Oxfordshire Community Stroke Project stroke subtypes identified significant differences between groups, suggesting this classification system is of greater use than hemisphere of lesion in predicting poststroke cognitive outcomes.

text: Neuropsychological Profiles of 5-Year Ischemic Stroke Survivors by Oxfordshire Stroke Classification and Hemisphere of Lesion Background and Purpose—Although the neuropsychological literature typically examines stroke outcomes by hemisphere of lesion, the medical literature provides classifications more closely linked to circulatory distribution impacted by stroke. This article examined profiles of cognitive function by hemisphere and by Oxfordshire Community Stroke Project stroke classification.
Methods—This study included a sample of 315 5-year ischemic stroke survivors. Assessment included tests of verbal memory, visual memory, word finding/verbal fluency, abstract visual reasoning, executive functioning, and speed of processing.
Results—The sample produced scores within 1 standard deviation of the normative mean on tests of abstract visual reasoning, verbal memory, and visual recall. Impaired performances were observed for executive function and processing speed. Profile analysis revealed no significant differences in overall cognitive performance or in the profile of performance across measures by hemisphere of lesion. However, groups defined by Oxfordshire Community Stroke Project categories produced significantly different cognitive profiles. Post hoc analyses indicate those with posterior stroke performed best overall on all tests except the Stroop Dots trial, whereas those with total anterior stroke produced significantly worse scores on tasks requiring visual abstract reasoning (Block Design, Rey Figure Copy), word finding (Boston Naming Test), and processing speed (Stroop Dots, Trails A).
Conclusions—Oxfordshire Community Stroke Project stroke subtypes identified significant differences between groups, suggesting this classification system is of greater use than hemisphere of lesion in predicting poststroke cognitive outcomes.

year: 2012

title: Appropriate placement of vapour recompression in ultra-low energy industrial milk evaporation systems using Pinch Analysis

authors: Walmsley, Timothy Gordon

subjects: Pinch Analysis

abstract: This study focuses on applying Pinch Analysis to an industrial milk evaporator case study to quantify the potential energy savings. Modern milk evaporators are typically integrated using both mechanical and thermal vapour recompression technologies as the primary means for attaining a high level of energy efficiency. A significant step change in energy efficiency for milk evaporators is achieved in this study by appropriate placement of vapour recompression in a new improved two-effect milk evaporation system design. The Grand Composite Curve helps identify areas for process modifications and placements of vapour recompression that result in energy reduction. In particular, the innovative placement of Mechanical Vapour Recompression in the system unlocks significant energy, energy cost, and emissions savings. The new design requires 78% less steam (6397 kW) at the expense of 16% (364 kWele) more electricity use. The estimated cost savings associated with the improved design is $942,601/y and the emissions reduction is 3416 t CO2-e/y. Further energy efficiency improvements and cost savings of $1,411,844/y are gained through improved Total Site Heat Integration through recovery of waste heat from the dryer exhaust air and boiler return condensate streams.

text: Appropriate placement of vapour recompression in ultra-low energy industrial milk evaporation systems using Pinch Analysis This study focuses on applying Pinch Analysis to an industrial milk evaporator case study to quantify the potential energy savings. Modern milk evaporators are typically integrated using both mechanical and thermal vapour recompression technologies as the primary means for attaining a high level of energy efficiency. A significant step change in energy efficiency for milk evaporators is achieved in this study by appropriate placement of vapour recompression in a new improved two-effect milk evaporation system design. The Grand Composite Curve helps identify areas for process modifications and placements of vapour recompression that result in energy reduction. In particular, the innovative placement of Mechanical Vapour Recompression in the system unlocks significant energy, energy cost, and emissions savings. The new design requires 78% less steam (6397 kW) at the expense of 16% (364 kWele) more electricity use. The estimated cost savings associated with the improved design is $942,601/y and the emissions reduction is 3416 t CO2-e/y. Further energy efficiency improvements and cost savings of $1,411,844/y are gained through improved Total Site Heat Integration through recovery of waste heat from the dryer exhaust air and boiler return condensate streams.

year: 2016

title: Volunteering at the edge of chaos: A case study on the self-organising of younger volunteers during the Rena oil spill crisis

authors: Lockwood, Sarah Jane

subjects: volunteer

abstract: This thesis investigates the self-organising of younger volunteers during the 2011 Rena oil spill crisis in Aotearoa/New Zealand. It builds on emerging research that considers the relationships between volunteering and activism and focuses on the ways in which younger volunteers carved out a ‘volunteer-activist’ space for themselves on the edge of the formal crisis responses.  
The research adopts a case study approach and uses an interpretive lens to investigate three research questions: (1) How was volunteering conceptualised by younger volunteers involved in the Rena crisis?; (2) How did the generational dynamics of younger volunteers affect the various organising responses to the Rena event?; and, (3) How was self-organising conceptualised by younger volunteers involved in the Rena crisis?
The data comprised interviews with 53 participants, 38 of whom were classified as younger volunteers (16-29 years of age) and 15 who held positions of authority in the Rena crisis response and who had high levels of engagement with the younger volunteers. By examining the intersections and overlaps of self-organising, younger generations of volunteers, and crisis events through a social constructionist methodology combined with an interpretive lens and reflexive position, the thesis makes several theoretical and practical contributions.
At a theoretical level, the thesis challenges traditional crisis management approaches dominated by command and control, formal, or top down organisational structures and arrangements. The thesis demonstrates how, as active members of society, younger volunteers developed alternate forms of participation to strengthen crisis response. 
Power tensions between younger volunteers and crisis officials were grounded in a deep sense of frustration resulting from negative societal views toward younger generational cohorts and the structural workings of a risk society. By reconciling social and institutional grievances through self-organising, younger volunteers could take advantage of their marginalised position and enact self-reflexive responses in ways that were not readily available to them in everyday life. This sense of empowerment helped younger volunteers navigate the structural uncertainties they faced as they transitioned towards a competitive labour market and also to take greater control of their lives during a crisis.
From an Aotearoa/New Zealand, perspective, the thesis also provides insights into how younger Māori participants made sense of and enacted their ‘volunteer’ experience and how this experience was influenced by culturally embedded principles. Importantly, there appeared to be no generational differences between how younger and older Māori participants made sense of their ‘volunteer’ experience. Both groups were driven by collectivist orientations, which highlights the importance of contextualising culture in volunteer sector research. 
The social constructedness of the media technologies used by participants exposed broader power structures that existed within their generation-specific social worlds. To this end, media multiplexity showed how use of different communication technologies (1) supported the maintenance of relationships between participants and (2) was fundamental to the meaning participants attached to the different forms of technologies. These findings indicate the need to move away from the current literature’s focus on the tools of communication technologies used by younger people during crisis events, towards the meanings that exist behind the use of such technologies as well as the digital relationships fostered among volunteers. 
This thesis contributes to the scholarship on volunteering and activism by showing how self-organising emerged as an alternative form of activist—or activator—approach to volunteer participation within a crisis response. This approach enabled young volunteer-activators to move beyond their perceived sense of marginalisation and avoid those formal organisational forces that limit their sense of freedom and personal development. The result was an alternative crisis response of self-organised volunteering on the edge of chaos.

text: Volunteering at the edge of chaos: A case study on the self-organising of younger volunteers during the Rena oil spill crisis This thesis investigates the self-organising of younger volunteers during the 2011 Rena oil spill crisis in Aotearoa/New Zealand. It builds on emerging research that considers the relationships between volunteering and activism and focuses on the ways in which younger volunteers carved out a ‘volunteer-activist’ space for themselves on the edge of the formal crisis responses.  
The research adopts a case study approach and uses an interpretive lens to investigate three research questions: (1) How was volunteering conceptualised by younger volunteers involved in the Rena crisis?; (2) How did the generational dynamics of younger volunteers affect the various organising responses to the Rena event?; and, (3) How was self-organising conceptualised by younger volunteers involved in the Rena crisis?
The data comprised interviews with 53 participants, 38 of whom were classified as younger volunteers (16-29 years of age) and 15 who held positions of authority in the Rena crisis response and who had high levels of engagement with the younger volunteers. By examining the intersections and overlaps of self-organising, younger generations of volunteers, and crisis events through a social constructionist methodology combined with an interpretive lens and reflexive position, the thesis makes several theoretical and practical contributions.
At a theoretical level, the thesis challenges traditional crisis management approaches dominated by command and control, formal, or top down organisational structures and arrangements. The thesis demonstrates how, as active members of society, younger volunteers developed alternate forms of participation to strengthen crisis response. 
Power tensions between younger volunteers and crisis officials were grounded in a deep sense of frustration resulting from negative societal views toward younger generational cohorts and the structural workings of a risk society. By reconciling social and institutional grievances through self-organising, younger volunteers could take advantage of their marginalised position and enact self-reflexive responses in ways that were not readily available to them in everyday life. This sense of empowerment helped younger volunteers navigate the structural uncertainties they faced as they transitioned towards a competitive labour market and also to take greater control of their lives during a crisis.
From an Aotearoa/New Zealand, perspective, the thesis also provides insights into how younger Māori participants made sense of and enacted their ‘volunteer’ experience and how this experience was influenced by culturally embedded principles. Importantly, there appeared to be no generational differences between how younger and older Māori participants made sense of their ‘volunteer’ experience. Both groups were driven by collectivist orientations, which highlights the importance of contextualising culture in volunteer sector research. 
The social constructedness of the media technologies used by participants exposed broader power structures that existed within their generation-specific social worlds. To this end, media multiplexity showed how use of different communication technologies (1) supported the maintenance of relationships between participants and (2) was fundamental to the meaning participants attached to the different forms of technologies. These findings indicate the need to move away from the current literature’s focus on the tools of communication technologies used by younger people during crisis events, towards the meanings that exist behind the use of such technologies as well as the digital relationships fostered among volunteers. 
This thesis contributes to the scholarship on volunteering and activism by showing how self-organising emerged as an alternative form of activist—or activator—approach to volunteer participation within a crisis response. This approach enabled young volunteer-activators to move beyond their perceived sense of marginalisation and avoid those formal organisational forces that limit their sense of freedom and personal development. The result was an alternative crisis response of self-organised volunteering on the edge of chaos.

year: 2019