Psychometric properties of the Child Health Assessment Questionnaire (CHAQ) applied to children and adolescents with cerebral palsy

Background: Cerebral palsy (CP) patients have motor limitations that can affect functionality and abilities for activities of daily living (ADL). Health related quality of life and health status instruments validated to be applied to these patients do not directly approach the concepts of functionality or ADL. The Child Health Assessment Questionnaire (CHAQ) seems to be a good instrument to approach this dimension, but it was never used for CP patients. The purpose of the study was to verify the psychometric properties of CHAQ applied to children and adolescents with CP. Methods: Parents or guardians of children and adolescents with CP, aged 5 to 18 years, answered the CHAQ. A healthy group of 314 children and adolescents was recruited during the validation of the CHAQ Brazilian-version. Data quality, reliability and validity were studied. The motor function was evaluated by the Gross Motor Function Measure (GMFM). Results: Ninety-six parents/guardians answered the questionnaire. The age of the patients ranged from 5 to 17.9 years (average: 9.3). The rate of missing data was low(< 9.3%). The floor effect was observed in two domains, being higher only in the visual analogue scales (<= 35.5%). The ceiling effect was significant in all domains and particularly high in patients with quadriplegia (81.8 to 90.9%) and extrapyramidal (45.4 to 91.0%). The Cronbach alpha coefficient ranged from 0.85 to 0.95. The validity was appropriate: for the discriminant validity the correlation of the disability index with the visual analogue scales was not significant; for the convergent validity CHAQ disability index had a strong correlation with the GMFM (0.77); for the divergent validity there was no correlation between GMFM and the pain and overall evaluation scales; for the criterion validity GMFM as well as CHAQ detected differences in the scores among the clinical type of CP (p < 0.01); for the construct validity, the patients' disability index score (mean: 2.16; SD: 0.72) was higher than the healthy group ( mean: 0.12; SD: 0.23)(p < 0.01). Conclusion: CHAQ reliability and validity were adequate to this population. However, further studies are necessary to verify the influence of the ceiling effect on the responsiveness of the instrument.

Test���retest repeatability of self-reported environmental exposures in Parkinson���s disease cases and healthy controls

There is substantial disagreement among published epidemiological studies regarding environmental risk factors for Parkinson���s disease (PD). Differences in the quality of measurement of environmental exposures may contribute to this variation. The current study examined the test���retest repeatability of self-report data on risk factors for PD obtained from a series of 32 PD cases recruited from neurology clinics and 29 healthy sex-, age-and residential suburb-matched controls. Exposure data were collected in face-to-face interviews using a structured questionnaire derived from previous epidemiological studies. High repeatability was demonstrated for ���lifestyle��� exposures, such as smoking and coffee/tea consumption (kappas 0.70���1.00). Environmental exposures that involved some action by the person, such as pesticide application and use of solvents and metals, also showed high repeatability (kappas>0.78). Lower repeatability was seen for rural residency and bore water consumption (kappa 0.39���0.74). In general, we found that case and control participants provided similar rates of incongruent and missing responses for categorical and continuous occupational, domestic, lifestyle and medical exposures.

Effects of stimulus modality and task condition on blink startle modification and on electrodermal responses

Participants in Experiments 1 and 2 performed a discrimination and counting task to assess the effect of lead stimulus modality on attentional modification of the acoustic startle reflex. Modality of the discrimination stimuli was changed across subjects. Electrodermal responses were larger during task-relevant stimuli than during task-irrelevant stimuli in all conditions. Larger blink magnitude facilitation was found during auditory and visual task-relevant stimuli, but not for tactile stimuli. Experiment 3 used acoustic, visual, and tactile conditioned stimuli (CSs) in differential conditioning with an aversive unconditioned stimulus (US). Startle magnitude facilitation and electrodermal responses were larger during a CS that preceded the US than during a CS that was presented alone regardless of lead stimulus modality. Although not unequivocal, the present data pose problems for attentional accounts of blink modification that emphasize the importance of lead stimulus modality.

Developing a meta model for the Bunge-Wand-Weber ontological constructs

At the core of the analysis task in the development process is information systems requirements modelling, Modelling of requirements has been occurring for many years and the techniques used have progressed from flowcharting through data flow diagrams and entity-relationship diagrams to object-oriented schemas today. Unfortunately, researchers have been able to give little theoretical guidance only to practitioners on which techniques to use and when. In an attempt to address this situation, Wand and Weber have developed a series of models based on the ontological theory of Mario Bunge-the Bunge-Wand-Weber (BWW) models. Two particular criticisms of the models have persisted however-the understandability of the constructs in the BWW models and the difficulty in applying the models to a modelling technique. This paper addresses these issues by presenting a meta model of the BWW constructs using a meta language that is familiar to many IS professionals, more specific than plain English text, but easier to understand than the set-theoretic language of the original BWW models. Such a meta model also facilitates the application of the BWW theory to other modelling techniques that have similar meta models defined. Moreover, this approach supports the identification of patterns of constructs that might be common across meta models for modelling techniques. Such findings are useful in extending and refining the BWW theory. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Selenium content of Australian foods: A review of literature values

The aim of this study was to review the published literature values for the selenium content of Australian foods. A secondary aim was to compare the results for Australian foods with food composition data from international sources to investigate the extent of geographical variation. Published food composition data sources for the selenium content in Australian foods were identified and assessed for data quality using established criteria. The selenium content is available for 148 individual food items. The highest values found are for fish (12.0-63.2 mug/100 g), meats (4.75-37.9 mug/100 g) and eggs (9.00-41.4 mug/100 g), followed by cereals (1.00-20.3 mug/100 g). Moderate levels are seen in dairy products (2.00-7.89 mug/100 g) while most fruits and vegetables have low levels (trace-3.27 mug/100 g). High selenium foods show the greatest level of geographical variation, with foods from the United States generally having higher selenium levels than Australian foods and foods from the United Kingdom and New Zealand having lower levels. This is the first attempt to review the available literature for selenium composition of Australian foods. These data serve as an interim measure for the assessment of selenium intake for use in epidemiological studies of diet-disease relationships. (C) 2002 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.

Sample surveys via electronic mail: a comprehensive perspective

Although postal questionnaires, personal interviewing, and telephone interviewing are the main methods of survey-based research, there is an increasing use of e-mail as a data collection medium. However, little, if any, published Western research in general and that of Turkish in particular have investigated e-mail survey technique from pure survey research perspective. Attempting to develop a framework to assess e-mail as a data collection mean, the purpose of this study is to explore e-mail-based questionnaire technique from complementary angles. To this goal, sample representativeness, data quality, response rates, and advantages and disadvantages of e-mail surveying are discussed.

Sistemas de informa����o ao p��blico nos transportes p��blicos de passageiros: an��lise cr��tica

Disserta����o para obten����o do grau de Mestre em Engenharia na ��rea de especializa����o em Vias de Comunica����o e Transportes

Profile and follow-up of patients with tuberculosis in a priority city in Brazil

OBJECTIVE To analyze the cases of tuberculosis and the impact of direct follow-up on the assessment of treatment outcomes.METHODS This open prospective cohort study evaluated 504 cases of tuberculosis reported in the Sistema de Informa����o de Agravos de Notifica����o (SINAN &#8211; Notifiable Diseases Information System) in Juiz de Fora, MG, Southeastern Brazil, between 2008 and 2009. The incidence of treatment outcomes was compared between a group of patients diagnosed with tuberculosis and directly followed up by monthly consultations during return visits (287) and a patient group for which the information was indirectly collected (217) through the city&#8217;s surveillance system. The Chi-square test was used to compare the percentages, with a significance level of 0.05. The relative risk (RR) was used to evaluate the differences in the incidence rate of each type of treatment outcome between the two groups.RESULTS Of the outcomes directly and indirectly evaluated, 18.5% and 3.2% corresponded to treatment default and 3.8% and 0.5% corresponded to treatment failure, respectively. The incidence of treatment default and failure was higher in the group with direct follow-up (p < 0.05) (RR = 5.72, 95%CI 2.65;12.34, and RR = 8.31, 95%CI 1.08;63.92, respectively).CONCLUSIONS A higher incidence of treatment default and failure was observed in the directly followed up group, and most of these cases were neglected by the disease reporting system. Therefore, effective measures are needed to improve the control of tuberculosis and data quality.

How to reduce energy consumption on pultrusion

The global warming due to high CO2 emission in the last years has made energy saving a global problem nowadays. However, manufacturing processes such as pultrusion necessarily needs heat for curing the resin. Then, the only option available is to apply all efforts to make the process even more efficient. Different heating systems have been used on pultrusion, however, the most widely used are the planar resistances. The main objective of this study is to develop another heating system and compares it with the former one. Thermography was used in spite of define the temperature profile along the die. FEA (finite element analysis) allows to understand how many energy is spend with the initial heating system. After this first approach, changes were done on the die in order to test the new heating system and to check possible quality problems on the product. Thus, this work allows to conclude that with the new heating system a significant reduction in the setup time is now possible and an energy reduction of about 57% was achieved.

Dimensionar a log��stica interna da f��brica Toyota Ovar para a produ����o de nova viatura

O projeto foi realizado na Toyota (divis��o fabril de Ovar), no ano letivo 2014/2015, teve por base um est��gio extracurricular que foi realizado para que desta forma tomasse contacto com uma realidade concreta e absoluta no contexto empresarial. O est��gio serviu, principalmente, como uma experi��ncia na compreens��o do funcionamento de uma ind��stria de autom��veis. Este projeto desenvolve-se no ��mbito do 2��ano do Mestrado de Log��stica e apresenta os contributos desenvolvidos no departamento de log��stica para a reorganiza����o da mesma para a produ����o de um novo modelo autom��vel. Atualmente, a Toyota, para os modelos de autom��veis que produz, recebe os componentes em CKD (Completed Knocked Down) provenientes do Jap��o em lotes de cinco unidades. Estes lotes s��o armazenados no armaz��m, de onde s�� saem quando for dada ordem para serem produzidos. Cada lote tem v��rias caixas, que s��o colocadas �� vez numa zona comum de abertura. S��o retidos os componentes das caixas CKD e colocados nos transportadores pr��prios dos postos correspondentes (supermercado de linha). Isto significa que sempre que �� solicitado uma viatura de um determinado lote, s��o obrigados a produzir as cinco unidades. Isto significa que as restantes unidades do lote ter��o que ficar em parque aberto a aguardar venda futura, para al��m de ter um stock desnecess��rio, estas unidades ficam vulner��veis e sofrem desgaste, pois est��o expostas �� intemp��rie, causando graves problemas de qualidade e respetivos custos associados. Recentemente, foi decidida a produ����o do modelo Land Cruiser 70 na unidade industrial de Ovar, Portugal, o que obrigou a uma reorganiza����o da produ����o e processos log��sticos para a sua produ����o. Os objetivos que a empresa pretende com a entrada de um novo projeto Land Cruiser 70, s��o os seguintes: Alterar o sistema de abastecimento, implementando o abastecimento unit��rio em toda a f��brica para o novo modelo, garantindo o ���one by one production���; Definir o funcionamento do processo log��stico desde a chegada dos componentes at�� ficarem dispon��veis no supermercado de linha. Para isso ser�� necess��rio dimensionar armaz��m e zona de abertura, definir layouts e quantidade de stocks, bem como definir sistemas de comunica����o entre abertura e supermercado; Verificar as pe��as que v��o fazer parte do chassi por posto e contabilizar os dolly��s1 necess��rios; Fazer o layout de abastecimento da linha do chassi; Calcular o tempo de abertura, de abastecimento e de picking do chassi e de triming. Este projeto tem em conta a pol��tica de melhoria cont��nua de forma a conseguir satisfazer o cliente (ser eficaz) utilizando cada vez menos recursos quer f��sicos quer humanos (ser eficiente, detetar e eliminar os desperd��cios). O presente projeto foi inserido na equipa de melhoria cont��nua da log��stica, maioritariamente no chassi. Em termos globais, os objetivos propostos neste est��gio foram atingidos com ��xito.

Produ����o Sustent��vel em BT- An��lise de Caracter��sticas de Contadores Inteligentes

A crescente necessidade de reduzir a depend��ncia energ��tica e a emiss��o de gases de efeito de estufa levou �� ado����o de uma s��rie de pol��ticas a n��vel europeu com vista a aumentar a efici��ncia energ��tica e n��vel de controlo de equipamentos, reduzir o consumo e aumentar a percentagem de energia produzida a partir de fontes renov��veis. Estas medidas levaram ao desenvolvimento de duas situa����es cr��ticas para o setor el��trico: a substitui����o das cargas lineares tradicionais, pouco eficientes, por cargas n��o-lineares mais eficientes e o aparecimento da produ����o distribu��da de energia a partir de fontes renov��veis. Embora apresentem vantagens bem documentadas, ambas as situa����es podem afetar negativamente a qualidade de energia el��trica na rede de distribui����o, principalmente na rede de baixa tens��o onde �� feita a liga����o com a maior parte dos clientes e onde se encontram as cargas n��o-lineares e a liga����o ��s fontes de energia descentralizadas. Isto significa que a monitoriza����o da qualidade de energia tem, atualmente, uma import��ncia acrescida devido aos custos relacionados com perdas inerentes �� falta de qualidade de energia el��trica na rede e �� necessidade de verificar que determinados par��metros relacionados com a qualidade de energia el��trica se encontram dentro dos limites previstos nas normas e nos contratos com clientes de forma a evitar disputas ou reclama����es. Neste sentido, a rede de distribui����o tem vindo a sofrer altera����es a n��vel das subesta����es e dos postos de transforma����o que visam aumentar a visibilidade da qualidade de energia na rede em tempo real. No entanto, estas medidas s�� permitem monitorizar a qualidade de energia at�� aos postos de transforma����o de m��dia para baixa tens��o, n��o revelando o estado real da qualidade de energia nos pontos de entrega ao cliente. A monitoriza����o nestes pontos �� feita periodicamente e n��o em tempo real, ficando aqu��m do necess��rio para assegurar a dete����o correta de problemas de qualidade de energia no lado do consumidor. De facto, a metodologia de monitoriza����o utilizada atualmente envolve o envio de t��cnicos ao local onde surgiu uma reclama����o ou a um ponto de medi����o previsto para instalar um analisador de energia que permanece na instala����o durante um determinado per��odo de tempo. Este tipo de monitoriza����o �� posteriori impossibilita desde logo a dete����o do problema de qualidade de energia que levou �� reclama����o, caso n��o se trate de um problema cont��nuo. Na melhor situa����o, o aparelho poder�� detetar uma r��plica do evento, mas a larga percentagem anomalias ficam fora deste processo por serem extempor��neas. De facto, para detetar o evento que deu origem ao problema �� necess��rio monitorizar permanentemente a qualidade de energia. No entanto este m��todo de monitoriza����o implica a instala����o permanente de equipamentos e n��o �� vi��vel do ponto de vista das empresas de distribui����o de energia j�� que os equipamentos t��m custos demasiado elevados e implicam a necessidade de espa��os maiores nos pontos de entrega para conter os equipamentos e o contador el��trico. Uma alternativa poss��vel que pode tornar vi��vel a monitoriza����o permanente da qualidade de energia consiste na introdu����o de uma funcionalidade de monitoriza����o nos contadores de energia de determinados pontos da rede de distribui����o. Os contadores s��o obrigat��rios em todas as instala����es ligadas �� rede, para efeitos de fatura����o. Tradicionalmente estes contadores s��o eletromec��nicos e recentemente come��aram a ser substitu��dos por contadores inteligentes (smart meters), de natureza eletr��nica, que para al��m de fazer a contagem de energia permitem a recolha de informa����o sobre outros par��metros e aplica����o de uma serie de funcionalidades pelo operador de rede de distribui����o devido ��s suas capacidades de comunica����o. A reutiliza����o deste equipamento com finalidade de analisar a qualidade da energia junto dos pontos de entrega surge assim como uma forma privilegiada dado que se trata essencialmente de explorar algumas das suas caracter��sticas adicionais. Este trabalho tem como objetivo analisar a possibilidade descrita de monitorizar a qualidade de energia el��trica de forma permanente no ponto de entrega ao cliente atrav��s da utiliza����o do contador el��trico do mesmo e elaborar um conjunto de requisitos para o contador tendo em conta a normaliza����o aplic��vel, as caracter��sticas dos equipamentos utilizados atualmente pelo operador de rede e as necessidades do sistema el��trico relativamente �� monitoriza����o de qualidade de energia.

Evaluation of a volunteered geographical information trust measure in the case of OpenStreetMap

Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Geospatial Technologies.

A relational algebra approach to ETL modeling

The MAP-i Doctoral Programme in Informatics, of the Universities of Minho, Aveiro and Porto

Desenvolvimento de um filtro ativo paralelo com CSI e controlo de corrente no barramento CC

Disserta����o de mestrado integrado em Engenharia Eletr��nica Industrial e Computadores

Resilienz bei Rehabilitanden der Orthop��die und Psychosomatik : Eine Querschnittstudie

Theoretical background: The construct of resilience is now used in many fields, such as in sports, corporate governance and in health care system. Against the backdrop of the unique system of rehabilitation in Germany, that empowers people to participate in a social and pro-fessional way, the concept of resilience is becoming increasingly important. Accordingly this cross-sectional study should explore the resilience of orthopedic and psychosomatic patients in more detail.Questions: Are there differences in the sample that lead to different sub-samples based on the RS-13? Are there differences between the sub-samples in terms of socio-demographic data, psychosocial problems, psychological stress, stress in the workplace and the experi-ence of stress? Do socio-demografic, employment, psycho-social and psychological varia-bles influence resilience?Method: For this investigation the data of n = 131 patients was used. The data was collected in an orthopedic clinic of rehabilitation and in a psychosomatic clinic of rehabilitation. On the basis of the results of the short Resiliencescale RS-13 the sample was split into two sub-samples of N1 = 51 patients with low resilience and N2 = 80 patients with higher resilience. The questions were examined by regarding the Brief Symptom Checklist (BSCL), the Ultra-Kurz-Screening (UKS), the Stressscale (from the DASS-Questionnaire) and the Employee Attitude Survey (BAuA). Additionally a literature research was done in databases like Psy-Content, Psyndex and Springerlink to acquire the theoretical background.Results: Within the sample, there were two sub-samples, one which included patients with low resilience while the other was characterized by high resilience. Patients with low resili-ence did not differ by considering the variables of age, sex, marital status, children, educa-tion, occupational status, industry and job stress. Patients with high resilience are older and rarer incap