Improving quality of medical service with mobile health software

An increasing number of m-Health applications are being developed benefiting health service delivery. In this paper, a new methodology based on the principle of calm computing applied to diagnostic and therapeutic procedure reporting is proposed. A mobile application was designed for the physicians of one of the Portuguese major hospitals, which takes advantage of a multi-agent interoperability platform, the Agency for the Integration, Diffusion and Archive (AIDA). This application allows the visualization of inpatients and outpatients medical reports in a quicker and safer manner, in addition to offer a remote access to information. This project shows the advantages in the use of mobile software in a medical environment but the first step is always to build or use an interoperability platform, flexible, adaptable and pervasive. The platform offers a comprehensive set of services that restricts the development of mobile software almost exclusively to the mobile user interface design. The technology was tested and assessed in a real context by intensivists.

Empatia no desenvolvimento típico: relação entre autorrelatos e comportamentos empáticos

Dissertação de mestrado integrado em Psicologia

Fashion communication: a way to change comsumption behaviour towards ethical fashion

In view of the major social and environmental problems, with which we are faced nowadays, we noticed a certain absence of values in society, where man draws many more resources than nature can replace in the short or medium term. Within the framework of fashion emerges the ethical fashion as a movement in this direction, intending to change this current paradigm. Ethical fashion encompasses different concepts such as fair trade, sustainability, working conditions, raw materials, social responsibility and the protection of animals. This study aims to determine which type of communication are fashion brands using in this context, and if this communication aims at educating the consumer for a more ethical consumer behavior. For this study were selected 44 fashion brands associated with the Ethical Trade Initiative. The method used for the research development was content analysis for which first was made a data collection of the information provided on the websites and social networks of the selected fashion brands. The data was analyzed taking into account the quality and type of information published related to ethical fashion, for which an ordinal scale was created as a way of measuring and comparing results.

The role of liquid-based cytology and ancillary techniques in pleural and pericardic effusions: An institutional experience

BACKGROUND: Fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) of serous membrane effusions may fulfil a challenging role in the diagnostic analysis of both primary and metastatic disease. From this perspective, liquid-based cytology (LBC) represents a feasible and reliable method for empowering the performance of ancillary techniques (ie, immunocytochemistry and molecular testing) with high diagnostic accuracy. METHODS: In total, 3171 LBC pleural and pericardic effusions were appraised between January 2000 and December 2013. They were classified as negative for malignancy (NM), suspicious for malignancy (SM), or positive for malignancy (PM). RESULTS: The cytologic diagnoses included 2721 NM effusions (2505 pleural and 216 pericardic), 104 SM effusions (93 pleural and 11 pericardic), and 346 PM effusions (321 pleural and 25 pericardic). The malignant pleural series included 76 unknown malignancies (36 SM and 40 PM effusions), 174 metastatic lesions (85 SM and 89 PM effusions), 14 lymphomas (3 SM and 11 PM effusions), 16 mesotheliomas (5 SM and 11 SM effusions), and 3 myelomas (all SM effusions). The malignant pericardic category included 20 unknown malignancies (5 SM and 15 PM effusions), 15 metastatic lesions (1 SM and 14 PM effusions), and 1 lymphoma (1 PM effusion). There were 411 conclusive immunocytochemical analyses and 47 molecular analyses, and the authors documented 88% sensitivity, 100% specificity, 98% diagnostic accuracy, 98% negative predictive value, and 100% positive predictive value for FNAC. CONCLUSIONS: FNAC represents a primary diagnostic tool for effusions and a reliable approach with which to determine the correct follow-up. Furthermore, LBC is useful for ancillary techniques, such as immunocytochemistry and molecular analysis, with feasible diagnostic and predictive utility.

Characterization of the oculomotor alterations in inicial phase of Multiple Sclerosis

Dissertação de mestrado em Advanced Optometry

Effect of argon ion energy on the performance of silicon nitridemultilayer permeation barriers grown by hot-wire CVD on polymers

One of the authors (S.M.) acknowledges Direction des Relations Extérieures of Ecole Polytechnique for financial support.

Digital literacy, technology and social inclusion: making sense of one-to-one computer programmes around the world

This book was produced in the scope of a research project entitled “Navigating with ‘Magalhães’: Study on the Impact of Digital Media in Schoolchildren”. This study was conducted between May 2010 and May 2013 at the Communication and Society Research Centre, University of Minho, Portugal and it was funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (PTDC/CCI-COM/101381/2008).

Foreword [to Digital literacy, technology and social inclusion: making sense of one-to-one computer programmes around the world]

(Excerto) In times past, learning to read, write and do arithmetic was to get on course to earn the “writ of emancipation” in society. These skills are still essential today, but are not enough to live in society. Reading and critically understanding the world we live in, with all its complexity, difficulties and challenges, require not only other skills (learning to search for and validate information, reading with new codes and grammar, etc) but, to a certain extent, also metaskills, matrixes and mechanisms that are transversal to the different and new literacies, are necessary. They are needed not just to interpret but equally to communicate and participate in the little worlds that make up our everyday activities as well as, in a broader sense, in the world of the polis, which today is a global world.

Introduction [to Digital literacy, technology and social inclusion: making sense of one-to-one computer programmes around the world]

This book was produced in the scope of a research project entitled “Navigating with ‘Magalhães’: Study on the Impact of Digital Media in Schoolchildren”. This study was conducted between May 2010 and May 2013 at the Communication and Society Research Centre, University of Minho, Portugal and it was funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (PTDC/CCI-COM/101381/2008). As we shall explain in more detail later in this book, the main objective of that research project was to analyse the impact of the Portuguese government programme named ´e-escolinha´ launched in 2008 within the Technological Plan for Education. This Plan responds to the principles of the Lisbon Strategy signed in 2000 and rereleased in the Spring European Council of 2005.

The Portuguese programme one laptop per child: political, educational and social impact

In 2008, the XVII Portuguese Constitutional Government launched the ‘e.escolinha’ programme, within the Technological Plan for Education, which set out the distribution of a computer, called ‘Magalhães’, designed for chil-dren attending the 1st cycle of basic education. Suspended in 2011 by the XIX Government, this programme has allowed, however, almost 500 000 children to have access to a personal computer. It was expected that this political measure would “revolutionise” the national education system by bringing changes to the pedagogical practices of teachers and the learning processes of children and by achieving educational success, in general. Based on documental analysis and on a set of interviews with key decision-makers in conceiving, implementing and monitoring this governmental initiative, the fi rst part of this chapter presents and analyses the ‘e.escolinha’ initiative and the policies be-hind that governmental programme, seeking to disassemble those objectives and provide some insights into the relationship between discourses, rhetoric, and reality. After that, the chapter focuses on children’s uses and practices with the ‘Magalhães’ laptop, at school and at home. Based on the results of questionnaires fi lled in by approximately 1500 children from 32 First Cycle public schools of the municipality of Braga (north of Portugal) and also from questionnaires applied to their parents and teachers, this chapter intends to analyse the real impact of this initiative for children, family and school. It also seeks to discuss the contribution of this educational policy to children’s digital literacy and also to their own and their families’ social and digital inclusion. To understand if it represented an added value to teachers’ pedagogical practice is another of its aims. The fi ndings point out a major focus on technology and access rather than on uses and competences or even on social, educational and cultural change. In fact, a major conclusion is the existence of a strong gap between the policy and the practices, typical of a top-down policy design. This study is an integrant part of a research project titled “Navigating with ‘Magalhães’: Study on the Impact of Digital Media in Schoolchildren” conducted at the University of Minho, Portugal, financed by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology [PTDC/CCI-COM/101381/2008] and co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund [COMPETE: FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-009056].

Aromatic amines sources, environmental impact and remediation

Aromatic amines are widely used industrial chemicals as their major sources in the environment include several chemical industry sectors such as oil refining, synthetic polymers, dyes, adhesives, rubbers, perfume, pharmaceuticals, pesticides and explosives. They result also from diesel exhaust, combustion of wood chips and rubber and tobacco smoke. Some types of aromatic amines are generated during cooking, special grilled meat and fish, as well. The intensive use and production of these compounds explains its occurrence in the environment such as in air, water and soil, thereby creating a potential for human exposure. Since aromatic amines are potential carcinogenic and toxic agents, they constitute an important class of environmental pollutants of enormous concern, which efficient removal is a crucial task for researchers, so several methods have been investigated and applied. In this chapter the types and general properties of aromatic amine compounds are reviewed. As aromatic amines are continuously entering the environment from various sources and have been designated as high priority pollutants, their presence in the environment must be monitored at concentration levels lower than 30 mg L1, compatible with the limits allowed by the regulations. Consequently, most relevant analytical methods to detect the aromatic amines composition in environmental matrices, and for monitoring their degradation, are essential and will be presented. Those include Spectroscopy, namely UV/visible and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR); Chromatography, in particular Thin Layer (TLC), High Performance Liquid (HPLC) and Gas chromatography (GC); Capillary electrophoresis (CE); Mass spectrometry (MS) and combination of different methods including GC-MS, HPLC-MS and CE-MS. Choosing the best methods depend on their availability, costs, detection limit and sample concentration, which sometimes need to be concentrate or pretreated. However, combined methods may give more complete results based on the complementary information. The environmental impact, toxicity and carcinogenicity of many aromatic amines have been reported and are emphasized in this chapter too. Lately, the conventional aromatic amines degradation and the alternative biodegradation processes are highlighted. Parameters affecting biodegradation, role of different electron acceptors in aerobic and anaerobic biodegradation and kinetics are discussed. Conventional processes including extraction, adsorption onto activated carbon, chemical oxidation, advanced oxidation, electrochemical techniques and irradiation suffer from drawbacks including high costs, formation of hazardous by-products and low efficiency. Biological processes, taking advantage of the naturally processes occurring in environment, have been developed and tested, proved as an economic, energy efficient and environmentally feasible alternative. Aerobic biodegradation is one of the most promising techniques for aromatic amines remediation, but has the drawback of aromatic amines autooxidation once they are exposed to oxygen, instead of their degradation. Higher costs, especially due to power consumption for aeration, can also limit its application. Anaerobic degradation technology is the novel path for treatment of a wide variety of aromatic amines, including industrial wastewater, and will be discussed. However, some are difficult to degrade under anaerobic conditions and, thus, other electron acceptors such as nitrate, iron, sulphate, manganese and carbonate have, alternatively, been tested.

Childhood history of abuse and child abuse potential: the role of parent’s gender and timing of childhood abuse

It has been suggested that being physically abused leads to someone becoming a perpetrator of abuse which could be associated to parents' gender, timing of the physical abuse and specific socio-demographic variables. This study aims to investigate the role the parents' gender, timing of childhood abuse and socio-demographic variables on the relationship between parents' history of childhood physical abuse and current risk for children. The sample consisted of 920 parents (414 fathers, 506 mothers) from the Portuguese National Representative Study of Psychosocial Context of Child Abuse and Neglect who completed the Childhood History Questionnaire and the Child Abuse Potential Inventory. The results showed that fathers had lower current potential risk of becoming physical abuse perpetrators with their children than mothers although they did not differed in their physical victimization history. Moreover, the risk was higher in parents (both genders) with continuous history of victimization than in parents without victimization. Prediction models showed that for fathers and mothers separately similar socio-demographic variables (family income, number of children at home, employment status and marital status) predicted the potential risk of becoming physical abuses perpetrators. Nevertheless, the timing of victimization was different for fathers (before 13 years old) and mothers (after 13 years old). Then our study targets specific variables (timing of physical abuse, parents' gender and specific socio-demographic variables), which may enable professionals to select groups of parents at greater need of participating in abuse prevention programs.