Search

A number of smaller municipalities have decreasing population rates. Generally, the young move out, increasing the proportion of older people. To increase our understanding of the living conditions of an ageing population in small municipalities, a postal survey was conducted in three small, semi-rural municipalities in southern Sweden. In the survey the respondents answered questions about their living situation and their housing plans. The aim of this study was to investigate the housing situation and housing plans of the very old in semi-rural areas and research questions analysed for this study concerned the current housing situation and plans for future housing. A total of 1386 surveys were sent out in March 2014, to all inhabitants aged 80 years or more, residing in the ordinary housing market in the three municipalities, the response rate was 60%. The results show that most of the respondents were firmly rooted in the area as most of them had lived in the municipality for more than 20 years and 60% had lived in their current dwelling for more than 20 years. Ageing in place was the dominating plan, although one quarter of the respondents answered that they did not know what would happen in the future. Those who planned to move wanted to move to housing that required less maintenance and to a more central location. Residential mobility is at play also in old age as 27% of the respondents had moved at some point during the last 10 years, i.e., after the age of 70.

Many municipalities in Sweden have decreasing population rates combined with an increasing proportion of older people. Such a demographic shift will influence the way life is led as the foundation ...

Considers the humanistic-historical dimension of ageing and substantiates new perspectives on family roles and intergenerational relationships. Also examines age discrimination, the impact of the increase in early retirement, the effect of old and new technology on older people's lives, and more.

The number of older residents in group homes for people with intellectual disability (ID) is increasing. This interview study was focused on how group home staff addresses issues of ageing and bein ...

This article aims to explore ways in which members of staff in group homes for people with intellectual disability experience participation, and what participation means for older people with intellectual disability. Qualitative interviews were performed with 15 members of staff at group homes in Sweden. The findings of this study are illustrated by considering two interacting themes and six subthemes. These involve staff experiences of the meaning of participation and factors which facilitate or inhibit it. The meaning of participation was expressed as doing and feeling. Staff described that participation for older people with intellectual disability was influenced by the individual characteristics of the residents, such as the relationship between age and disability. They also expressed the view that participation was influenced by organizational and physical contextual factors such as economics, time and space as well as the social environment. The latter included staff knowledge and skills, family and peers.

Through travel diaries and interviews with newly retired urban residents in Sweden our aim was to explore (1) mobility patterns in the transition to retirement, (2) the influence of space-time rest ...

This study aims to add to knowledge on the relation between ageing and masculinity in society by looking at how older unmarried and childless men in a small Swedish rural community articulate their ...

The aim of this article is to review research presented in occupational therapy journals with the elderly as respondents. With an increasing number of elderly people in society research including the elderly should play a vital role within occupational therapy especially since emphasis on subjective experience is an important factor in the core constructs of occupation. Through a review of six occupational therapy journals, covering the period 2001--2006, it was discovered that 15% of the total number of articles included the elderly as respondents. The published articles with the elderly as respondents were mainly quantitative with the most frequent subject being instrument developing and testing. Most studies had a population group of mixed ages, making it hard to draw conclusions concerning the elderly population. The conclusion is that more research of a qualitative nature reflecting the subjective perspectives of the elderly is needed, especially regarding the oldest age group since this is the fastest growing and there is still limited knowledge regarding their perspective on matters concerning their everyday lives and their doings. Technological developments are implied to benefit elderly people but more research and discussion is needed on how this will affect both the elderly and occupational therapy theory and practice.

The aim of this article is to explore how older people with intellectual disability (ID), who live in group accommodation, describe their lived experience in relation to ageing and later life. The article is based on a study with a phenomenological approach, grounded on the concept of life-world. Individual, qualitative interviews were conducted with 12 people with ID (five men, seven women), between the ages of 48 and 71 (mean=64), who lived in four different group accommodation units in southern Sweden. A descriptive phenomenological analysis method was used, which disclosed a structure consisting of themes and sub-themes. The findings of the study reveal the informants' lived experience of ageing and later life as a multifaceted phenomenon, expressed through the two themes, ‘age as a process of change’ and ‘existential aspects of ageing’, each with three sub-themes. The body is an essential element in their experience of ageing and growing old, and in how this experience is expressed. The study also found social, cultural and historical dimensions of the life-world to be important in the informants' experience of ageing and later life. This supports understanding of the existence of a collective life-world for older people with ID, the unique experiences the informants share because of their disability and its consequences for their lifecourse.

Purpose To investigate car use among newly retired people, to explore to what extent car transport is used for everyday mobility and how it is valued in comparison to other transport modes. Methods The data consists of travel diaries and qualitative interviews with 24 individuals, aged between 61 and 67, living in a middle-sized Swedish city. They were recruited via the local branch of one of the main associations of pensioners, one large employer in the municipality, and through another study. The informants filled in a travel diary during 1 week that were analysed by VISUAL- TimePAcTS, an application for visualising and exploring activity diary data. The semi-structured qualitative interviews were analysed using a qualitative content analysis. Results The car was used for several trips daily and often for short trips. The informants had a lot of everyday projects that they would not be able to perform if they did not have access to a car. The importance of the car does not seem to have changed upon retirement, albeit it is partly used for other reasons than before. The informant’s social context implies new space-time constraints. Commitments to family members, engagement in associations and spouses’ occupations affect how much and when they use the car, and their overall mobility. Conclusions In contrast to much research on older people’s mobility that has studied slightly older people, this study have focused on a specific group that are relatively healthy, well-off, and have the possibility to choose between different modes of transport. By combining travel diaries and qualitative interviews, we have explored how newly retired people reason as regard their travel behaviour but also how they actually travel. Although the car was used more than other transport modes, being able to walk and cycle now that they had more time as retirees was highly valued. Our results indicate that urban residents that are retiring now and in the future are a key target group in transport planning when it comes to reduce car use in favour of slow modes of transport. Funding agencies: Vinnova-Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems; Vinnova

The dynamic response of U-tubes to two-phase cross-flow has been studied in tests involving a simplified U-tube bundle with a set of flat-bar supports at the apex, subjected to air–water cross-flow over the mid-span region. Tube vibration and the interaction between tubes and supports were measured over a wide range of void fractions and flow rates, for three different tube-to-support clearances. The vibration properties and tube-to-support work-rates could be characterized in terms of the relative influence of fluidelastic instability and random-turbulence excitation. For the first time, in a U-bend tube bundle with liquid or two-phase flow, fluidelastic instability was observed both in the out-of-plane and in the in-plane direction. This raises the possibility of higher-than-expected tube-to-support work-rates for U-tubes restrained by flat bars, particularly if fluidelastic instability, random turbulence and loose supports combine adversely.

AECL has developed enhanced versions of the reactor physics computer codes for analysis of CANDU® reactors and the ACR-1000™. The central codes that comprise the analysis toolset are WIMS-AECL (a lattice code), RFSP (a core code) and MCNP5 (a Monte Carlo code). The toolset, with ENDF/B-VI nuclear data, has been validated for application to the ACR-1000 design. In addition to comparisons of code predictions against relevant experiments conducted in AECL’s ZED-2 critical facility, advanced methods based on cross-section sensitivity/uncertainty (S/U) analysis were used to extend the results of bias and uncertainty in reactivity coefficients, derived from analysis of ZED-2 tests, to the ACR-1000 reactor. The validation of this toolset with ENDF/B-VII nuclear data is proposed for application to analysis of a Thorium-fuelled CANDU Reactor (TCR). The TCR is based on the Enhanced CANDU 6™ (EC6™) reactor [1] and would operate with a fuel design that incorporates both low-enriched uranium (LEU) oxide and thorium oxide fuel elements in the same fuel bundle to achieve enhanced fuel and core performance with thorium fuel. For the initial TCR toolset qualification, important reactor physics phenomena would be validated using several relevant ZED-2 experiments performed in the past. Results from experiments with a variety of oxide fuels are available, including plutonium/thorium (Pu/Th), 233 U/Th, 235 U/Th, LEU and CANDU-MOX (containing a mixture of plutonium, uranium and dysprosium to simulate the reactor physics affects of fuel burnup). Taken together along with other relevant experimental data, these experiments would be expected to address the important isotopes and many phenomena for the TCR and to enable the validation of the reactor physics toolset for this design. Additional confirmatory experiments would reduce uncertainties. This paper describes the qualification process, including validation, which is proposed to support the use of the reactor physics toolset for the TCR.Copyright © 2010 by ASME

The purpose of this article is to explore how a group of elderly people, living and managing on their own, describe and experience their everyday doings. Interviews and observations were conducted with 18 community-living people aged 85 and above. The experiences of 'Doing everyday life' are described in five overarching themes: 'Experiencing being old', 'Doings in everyday life', 'Patterns of the day', 'Altered doings', and 'The importance of time'. What is done during an ordinary day does not differ much from earlier in life, but how the doings are performed has changed. Being occupied and staying healthy and sound in mind was stressed as important in old age and even if reduced energy and functional constraints limited the doings, a strong volition to manage independently was expressed. The participants perceived society as regarding the elderly as useless and worthless. Knowledge emanating from the very old themselves is vital to diversify the image of elderly people and to offer interventions and support adapted to their needs and desires.

In nuclear power plant steam generators, the vibration response of tubes in two-phase cross-flow is a general concern that in some cases has become a very real long-term wear problem. This paper summarizes the results of the most recent U-bend vibration-response tests in a program designed to address this issue. The tests involved a simplified U-tube bundle with a set of flat-bar supports at the apex, subjected to two-phase air-water cross-flow over the mid-span region of the U-bend. Tube vibration properties and tube-to-support interaction in the form of work-rates were measured over a wide range of flow velocities for homogeneous void fractions from zero to 90%, with three different tube-to-support clearances. The measured vibration properties and work-rates could be characterized by the relative influence of the two most important flow-induced excitation mechanisms at work, fluidelastic instability and random-turbulence excitation. As in previous similar tests, strong effects of fluidelastic instability were observed at zero and 25% void fraction for pitch velocities greater than approximately 0.5 m/s, whereas random turbulence dominated the tube vibration and work-rate response at higher void fractions. In both cases, a link between vibration properties and the effect of the flat-bar supports could be established by comparing the vibration crossing frequency, extracted from time-domain vibration signals, to the participation of the lowest few vibration modes and to the measured work-rate. This approach may be useful when fluidelastic instability, random turbulence and loose supports all combine to result in high work-rates. Such a combination of factors is thought to be responsible for excessive U-tube fretting-wear in certain types of operating steam generators.Copyright © 2002 by ASME