The Formation of Swedish Media Studies, 1960–1980

Around 1960, the politics of the emerging media society in Sweden tended to fixate the formative functions of mass communication. The monopoly of public service broadcast media, press subsidies and new tendencies in film policy were some of the issues around which uncertainty prevailed. New methods to provide reliable data were sought by politicians, since empirical facts were required as arguments for an updated media policy. This article examines the different ways that the field of media studies was introduced in Sweden between 1960 and 1980. We argue that Swedish academic media studies departed from, and emerged within, a rather diffuse borderland between industry, politics and academia. The formation of national media research in Sweden can partly be seen as an effect of politicians and the media industry wanting to be better informed on issues such as media influence, media ownership and the habits and composition of the media audience.     

Granularity of algorithmically constructed publication-level classifications of research publications: Identification of topics

The purpose of this study is to find a theoretically grounded, practically applicable and useful granularity level of an algorithmically constructed publication-level classification of research publications (ACPLC). The level addressed is the level of research topics. The methodology we propose uses synthesis papers and their reference articles to construct a baseline classification. A dataset of about 31 million publications, and their mutual citations relations, is used to obtain several ACPLCs of different granularity. Each ACPLC is compared to the baseline classification and the best performing ACPLC is identified. The results of two case studies show that the topics of the cases are closely associated with different classes of the identified ACPLC, and that these classes tend to treat only one topic. Further, the class size variation is moderate, and only a small proportion of the publications belong to very small classes. For these reasons, we conclude that the proposed methodology is suitable to determine the topic granularity level of an ACPLC and that the ACPLC identified by this methodology is useful for bibliometric analyses.     

Effects of muscle-tendon length on joint moment and power during sprint starts

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of muscle-tendon length on joint moment and power during maximal sprint starts. Nine male sprinters performed maximal sprint starts from the blocks that were adjusted either to 40 degrees or 65 degrees to the horizontal. Ground reaction forces were recorded at 833 Hz using a force platform and kinematic data were recorded at 200 Hz with a film camera. Joint moments and powers were analysed using kinematic and kinetic data. Muscle - tendon lengths of the medial gastrocnemius, soleus, vastus medialis, rectus femoris and biceps femoris were calculated from the set position to the end of the first single leg contact. The results indicated that block velocity (the horizontal velocity of centre of mass at the end of the block phase) was greater (P < 0.01) in the 40 degrees than in the 65 degrees block angle condition (3.39 +/- 0.23 vs. 3.30 +/- 0.21 m . s(-1)). Similarly, the initial lengths of the gastrocnemius and soleus of the front leg in the block at the beginning of force production until half way through the block phase were longer (P < 0.001) in the 40 degrees than in the 65 degrees block angle condition. The initial length and the length in the middle of the block phase were also longer in the 40 degrees than in the 65 degrees block angle condition both for both the gastrocnemius (P < 0.01) and soleus (P < 0.01-0.05) of the rear leg. In contrast, the initial lengths of the rectus femoris and vastus medialis of the front leg were longer (P < 0.05) in the 65 degrees than in the 40 degrees block angle condition. All differences gradually disappeared during the later block phase. The peak ankle joint moment (P < 0.01) and power (P < 0.05) during the block phase were greater in the 40 degrees than in the 65 degrees block angle condition for the rear leg. The peak ankle joint moment during the block phase was greater (P < 0.05) in the 40 degrees block angle for the front leg, whereas the peak knee joint moment of the rear leg was greater (P < 0.01) in the 65 degrees block angle condition. The results suggest that the longer initial muscle-tendon lengths of the gastrocnemius and soleus in the block phase at the beginning of force production contribute to the greater peak ankle joint moment and power and consequently the greater block velocity during the sprint start.     

Knee extensor and flexor torque development with concentric and eccentric isokinetic training

This study assessed muscular torque and rate of torque development following concentric (CON) or eccentric (ECC) isokinetic training. Thirty-eight women were randomly assigned to either CON or ECC training groups. Training consisted of knee extension and flexion of the nondominant leg three times per week for 20 weeks (SD = 1). Eccentric training increased ECC knee extension and flexion peak torque more than CON training. The ECC group improved acceleration time and time to peak torque with ECC movements versus the CON group. Slow-velocity ECC isokinetic training yielded greater ECC and similar CON torque development gains versus CON training over the course of 20 weeks in young women.     

The graph-theoretic field model— II. application of multi-terminal representations to field problems

This paper is a sequel to a paper entitled “The Graph-Theoretic Field Model—I: Modelling and Formulations” (1). Herein, the Theory of Multi-Terminal Representations is applied to the Graph-Theoretic Field Model to provide mathematical models of finite elements. The element models are obtained solely from the algebraic building blocks of the Graph-Theoretic Field Model, without recourse to any functional mathematics. The theory of Multi-Terminal Representations is developed for both linear and non-linear problems. Examples of the application of the theory to one- and two-dimensional field problems are presented from heat conduction and electrostatics.