Is mental practice an effective adjunct therapeutic strategy for upper limb motor restoration after stroke? A systematic review and meta- analysis

Stroke is one of the most common conditions requiring rehabilitation, and its motor impairments are a major cause of permanent disability. Hemiparesis is observed by 80% of the patients after acute stroke. Neuroimaging studies showed that real and imagined movements have similarities regarding brain activation, supplying evidence that those similarities are based on the same process. Within this context, the combination of mental practice (MP) with physical and occupational therapy appears to be a natural complement based on neurorehabilitation concepts. Our study seeks to investigate if MP for stroke rehabilitation of upper limbs is an effective adjunct therapy. PubMed (Medline), ISI knowledge (Institute for Scientific Information) and SciELO (Scientific Electronic Library) were terminated on 20 February 2015. Data were collected on variables as follows: sample size, type of supervision, configuration of mental practice, setting the physical practice (intensity, number of sets and repetitions, duration of contractions, rest interval between sets, weekly and total duration), measures of sensorimotor deficits used in the main studies and significant results. Random effects models were used that take into account the variance within and between studies. Seven articles were selected. As there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups (MP vs control), showed a - 0.6 (95% CI: -1.27 to 0.04), for upper limb motor restoration after stroke. The present meta-analysis concluded that MP is not effective as adjunct therapeutic strategy for upper limb motor restoration after stroke.

Arte e terrorismo: meta-representações da Arte

Tendo como ponto de partida os estudos da performance para a análise do terrorismo, a presente dissertação teve como resultado a possibilidade de reflectir sobre tácticas de incorporação, reperformance e meta-teatro, três conceitos que permitem compreender de que forma a arte assimila e se compreende em relação com o terrorismo. Apresenta, por um lado, documentos oficiais que demonstram a existência de um conflito quanto à definição de terrorismo, reflectindo sobre “terrorismo de estado” e “contra-estado”. Por outro lado, a partir da análise dos Surveillence Camera Players e da performance Three Posters, ou de artistas como Hasan Elahy e Alyson Wyper, esta dissertação defende que a arte reperforma “táticas de representação” e realização mediática do terrorismo, nomeadamente, o teatro panóptico, a tortura como performance e os vídeo-testemunhos de mártires como retratos e vídeo-performances.

A historical case study analysis of the establishment of charismatic leadership in a Protestant Reformation cultic group and its role in the recourse to violence

La recherche sur les questions touchant aux leaders de groupes sectaires et à la violence sectaire a mené à l’étude du rôle joué par l’autorité charismatique, tel que défini par Weber (1922) et repris par Dawson (2010). À ce sujet, d’éminents spécialistes des études sur les sectes sont d’avis qu’un vide important dans la recherche sur l’autorité charismatique dans le contexte de groupes sectaires et de nouveaux mouvements religieux reste à combler (ajouter les références ‘d’éminents spécialistes’). Ce mémoire vise à contribuer à l’étude cet aspect négligé, le rôle de l’autorité charismatique dans le recours è la violence dans les groupes sectaires, par une étude de cas historique d’un groupe de la Réformation protestante du XVIe siècle, le Royaume anabaptiste de Münster (AKA), sous l’influence d’un leader charismatique, Jan van Leiden. Cette recherche s’intéresse plus spécifiquement aux divers moyens utilisés par Jan van Leiden, pour asseoir son autorité charismatique et à ceux qui ont exercé une influence sur le recours à des actes de violence. L’étude de cas est basé sur le matériel provenant de deux comptes-rendus des faits relatés par des participants aux événements qui se sont déroulés à pendant le règne de Leiden à la tête du AKA. L’analyse du matériel recueilli a été réalisé à la lumière de trois concepts théoriques actuels concernant le comportement cultuel et le recours à la violence.. L’application de ces concepts théoriques a mené à l’identification de quatre principales stratégies utilisées par Jan van Leiden pour établir son autorité charismatique auprès de ses disciples, soit : 1) la menace du millénarisme, 2) l’exploitation d’une relation bilatérale parasitique avec ses disciples, 3) l’utilisation de l’extase religieuse et de la prophétie, 4) l’utilisation du désir de voir survenir des changements sociaux et religieux. En plus de ces quatre stratégies, trois autres dimensions ont été retenues comme signes que le recours à la violence dans le Royaume anabaptiste de Münster résultait de l’établissement de l’autorité charismatique de son leader, soit : 1) la violence liée au millénarisme, 2) la notion d’identité et de violence partagée, 3) des facteurs systémiques, physiques et culturels menant à la violence.

Estudio de prefactibilidad del cultivo de lombrices para la producción y comercialización de humus en Acacías Meta

El proyecto comprende una descripción de los aspectos generales que hacen referencia al sector de los abonos orgánicos en Colombia, abarcando temas como: su comportamiento, volúmenes históricos de producción a nivel nacional y los resultados de encuesta aplicada al mercado objetivo del proyecto. Después viene el desarrollo de los estudios que componen la formulación del proyecto como: Mercado (determinación del mercado objetivo, descripción del producto, el precio y estrategias de comercialización), Técnico (descripción del proceso productivo, proyección de costos, plan de inversiones, etc.), Administrativos (determinación de personal, tipo de contrato y remuneración del trabajo), Legal (se menciona el marco regulatorio de los abonos orgánicos, beneficios fiscales), Ambiental (licencias, permisos para el desarrollo del proyecto) y Financiero (supuestos, flujo de caja, escenarios y los resultados derivados de estos).

Redimensionamiento programa académico de campo, promoción de la salud y prevención de la enfermedad con énfasis en salud pública

Objetivo: generar el redimensionamiento del programa académico de campo, promoción de la salud y prevención de la enfermedad con énfasis en salud pública en la Universidad del Rosario, con el fin de considerar los retos actuales de formación de recurso humano y el contexto nacional e internacional. Método: revisión documental. Resultados: los objetos de estudio y enfoques praxiológicos de las ciencias de la salud se han transformado a lo largo de la historia, generando un impacto en la formación de recurso humano. De esta manera, disciplinas como la fisioterapia, cuyo objeto de estudio es el movimiento corporal humano, reconocen la importancia de ampliar su marco disciplinar, considerando conceptos como las capacidades, libertades, oportunidades, participación y, por lo tanto, calidad de vida y desarrollo humano, con la meta de reorientar sus acciones desde enfoques biologicistas y reduccionistas hacia enfoques históricosociales, integrales y complejos, que permitan a los fisioterapeutas en formación desarrollar capacidades, destrezas y competencias para su desempeño en áreas de la salud pública. Conclusiones: desde las ciencias de salud se requiere la transformación en la formación de recurso humano, para afrontar la problemática de la salud pública de una manera global y transectorial, desarrollando competencias ciudadanas, abogacía, participación y responsabilidad social en los estudiantes. Palabras clave: salud pública, fisioterapia, formación de recurso humano.

Tratamiento de Artritis reumatoide con antagonistas del factor de necrosis tumoral alfa y su asociación con el desarrollo de melanoma cutáneo: revisión sistemática de la literatura y meta-análisis.

Introducción: El tratamiento con antagonistas del factor de necrosis tumoral alfa (anti TNF) ha impactado el pronóstico y la calidad de vida de los pacientes con artritis reumatoide (AR) positivamente, sin embargo, se interroga un incremento en el riesgo de desarrollar melanoma. Objetivo: Conocer la asociación entre el uso de anti TNF y el desarrollo de melanoma maligno en pacientes con AR. Metodología: Se realizó una búsqueda sistemática en MEDLINE, EMBASE, COCHRANE LIBRARY y LILACS para ensayos clínicos, estudios observacionales, revisiones y meta-análisis en pacientes adultos con diagnóstico de AR y manejo con anti TNF (Certolizumab pegol, Adalimumab, Etanercept, Infliximab y Golimumab). Resultados: 37 estudios clínicos cumplieron los criterios de inclusión para el meta-análisis, con una población de 16567 pacientes. El análisis de heterogeneidad no fue significativo (p=1), no se encontró diferencia en el riesgo entre los grupos comparados DR -0.00 (IC 95% -0.001; -0.001). Un análisis adicional de los estudios en los que se reportó al menos 1 caso de melanoma (4222 pacientes) tampoco mostró diferencia en el riesgo DR -0.00 (IC 95% -0.004 ; -0.003). Conclusión: En la evidencia disponible a la fecha no encontramos asociación significativa entre el tratamiento con anti TNF en pacientes con diagnóstico de AR y el desarrollo de melanoma cutáneo.

ontoReadiness: A meta-ontology for readiness certification and career portability

This paper argues the need for the information communication technology (ICT), labor exchange (job boards), and Human Capital ontology engineers (ontoEngineers) to jointly design and socialize an upper level meta-ontology for people readiness and career portability. These enticing ontology research topics have yielded "independent" results, but have yet to meet the more broader or "universal" requirement that emerging frameworks demand. This paper will focus on the need to universally develop an upper level ontology and provide the reader concepts and models that can be transformed into marketable solutions.

Categories, concepts and units: representing energy demand in and through time

Methods of data collection are unavoidably rooted in some sort of theoretical paradigm, and are inextricably tied to an implicit agenda or broad problem framing. These prior orientations are not always explicit, but they matter for what data is collected and how it is used. They also structure opportunities for asking new questions, for linking or bridging between existing data sets and they matter even more when data is re-purposed for uses not initially anticipated. In this paper we provide an historical and comparative review of the changing categories used in organising and collecting data on mobility/travel and time use as part of ongoing work to understand, conceptualise and describe the changing patterns of domestic and mobility related energy demand within UK society. This exercise reveals systematic differences of method and approach, for instance in units of measurement, in how issues of time/duration and periodicity are handled, and how these strategies relate to the questions such data is routinely used to address. It also points to more fundamental differences in how traditions of research into mobility, domestic energy and time use have developed. We end with a discussion of the practical implications of these diverse histories for understanding and analysing changing patterns of energy/mobility demand at different scales.

Concepts and principles in unjust enrichment : a comparative study

The Thesis was inspired by a perceived need better to understand the unique description of unjust enrichment by the Australian courts, as a unifying legal concept. It demonstrates that concepts and principles are essential features of the common law because they identify the character and taxonomy of rules. The comparative study, encompassing Australian and English law primarily, and law of other jurisdictions, modern and ancient, elucidates the special characteristics of the concepts and principles of Anglo/Australian unjust enrichment and of concepts and principles generally. A like concept has had a place in the common law since its inception under several characterisations. It bears the mark of ancient Roman jurisprudence, but relates to independent principles. The jurisprudence was formed by special characteristics of its history. It is distinct from modern Roman/Dutch law but the doctrinal overtones of its foundational case law reflect the basis of reasoning which in Continental law, is found in the adopted ancient codes. It is this foundation of reasoning and the firm rejection of a normative general principle that makes Anglo/Australian law different in character and jurisprudence from unjust enrichment in USA and Canada. Stifled for centuries by quasi contract misconceptions, the law of unjust enrichment entered the modern law in the 20th C through the seminal judgements of Lord Wright in Fibrosa Spolka Akcyjna v Fairbairn Lawson Coombe Barbour Ltd, and related cases and through the strong judicial and juristic following they inspired. That “…any civilised system of law is bound to provide remedies for … unjust enrichment…” became an imperative across the common law world: it has long held a place in the Roman Dutch jurisdictions of South Africa and Continental Europe. The special character of unjust enrichment in Anglo/Australian law is focussed upon a unique action where-by the law imposes an obligation upon the establishment of a recognised ground. The notion of breach of a primary rule does not arise: the obligation is therefore a primary obligation imposed by law, as distinct from a remedy for a breach. Important consequences flow from the characteristic. The juristic development of unjust enrichment in the common law has long been the sole prerogative of the superior courts. The place of historical features of the jurisprudence has however been subsumed by modern judicial methodology that is slowly assuming a unifying pattern of reasoning from case to case; from one ground to another. This is the special characteristic of the unifying legal concept and English principle of unjust enrichment. The thesis draws widely based conclusions about concepts and principles of unjust enrichment and the actions and obligations they sponsor. It portrays them as the substance of legal reasoning and analyses underlying theory. to this end, it addresses counter juristic and historical arguments. Its central conclusion are that there are sound jurisprudential arguments for actions based upon a unifying legal concept and English principle of unjust enrichment, and that the explanation of the unjust enrichment concept as the foundation of an independent branch of the common law and taxonomy is theoretically sustainable. In this manner concepts and principles of the common law are demonstrated as critical characteristics of the common law at large.

Studentship and oppositional behaviour within physical education teacher education : a case study ; and, Between the rings and under the gym mat : a narrative

This thesis represents a part of a program of study that is reaching a closure. The broadest brush that could be applied to my work is that it concerns Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE), that it focuses on aspects of professional socialisation, and that it involves various case studies utilising naturalistic inquiry. Whilst it would be impossible and naive to believe that the reading of these texts will produce the meanings that I encourage, or have internalised, nevertheless the order of reading is at least something that I can argue for. Read in the order I suggest throughout the thesis I am hopeful that my subjectivities, and the learning and understandings I have reached may become clear. The purpose of this two part thesis is an exploration of the interplay or dialectic that exists between PETE students, academic staff and the subject matter within PETE. I have had to come to understand the limitations and advantages of insider research as the work has been completed at my University in the School of Human Movement and Sports Science where I have worked for twenty years. This thesis examines the extent to which studentship and oppositional behaviour underlies the dialectic that exists between the students and the various discourses within the program. I have written the study in two very different formats, one, a collection of stories about PETE and the other, an interpretative case study conducted during 1993 and 1994. Within the case study, studentship and oppositional behaviour were viewed as a measure of the extent to which students react and push against the forces of socialisation within their PETE program that is seen to represent dominant discourses, The following broad research questions were considered to enable the above analysis. 1. What is the nature of studentship and oppositional behaviour in a high status subject within PETE compared to a subject that is seen by students to be of little relevance and of low status? 2. How are studentship and oppositional behaviour related to students subjective warrants? 3. How are the studentship and oppositional behaviours exhibited by students related to the pedagogy and discourses reflected in the knowledge, beliefs and practices within the two sites. The starting point for this research was a study conducted as a totally separate research task (Swan, 1992) that investigated the hierarchies of subject knowledge within a PETE site and investigated the influence of such hierarchies upon student intention. A great deal of meta analysis exists about the manner in which a technocratic rationality pervades PETE but very little case study material of what this means to students and academic staff within such institutions is available. The stories in Between The Rings And Under The Gym Mat, which is the second part of this thesis, represent ‘the data’ differently from the case study, but they speak their own truth. At times the nature of the story is indistinguishable from the reality of the case study. Wexler (1992) undertook an ethnographic study about identity formation in three very different high schools, and published the findings in a book entitled Becoming Somebody. His introductory words about the nature of the social story he tells, are significant to this study and story. Social history is recounted by creative intervention that can only be made from culturally accessible materials. Ethnography is neither an objective realist, nor subjective imaginist account. Rather, it is an historical artefact that is mediated by elaborated distancing of culturally embedded and internally contradictory (but seemingly independent and coherent) concepts that take on a life of their own as theory. So, this is not ‘news from nowhere,’ but a theoretically structured story where both the story and its structure are part of my times. (p.6) The case study before you is organised with an analysis of studentship and oppositional behaviour detailed in chapter one. The following chapter conceptualises studentship and oppositional behaviour in relation to particular themes of professional socialisation, resistance to oppression and youth culture. Chapter three locates the case study to the major paradigmatic debates about the value and nature of the subject matter content within PETE, Chapter four outlines the case site, the research process and the research dilemma’s confronted in this study. The remaining three chapters are the case record as I can best understand it. In Between the Rings and under the Gym Mat (part B) the story most directly concerned with studentship and oppositional behaviour, is called Tale of Two Classes’. It takes on a very different reality to the case study (part A) and much can be said about the reality of lived experience which can be portrayed in narrative form as opposed to a clinical case study. Many of the other stories pose similar images that are contradictory and never quite complete. I have written a separate methodological section for the narrative stories. It is my intention that the case study and the series of stories should be viewed as essentially complementary, but also a discrete representation of a part of PETE. As part of the Ed D program I have undertaken four discrete research tasks as the starting point for this research I have referred to the first one (Hierarchies of Subject knowledge within PETE). I also undertook an action research project about ‘Teaching Poorly by Choice.’ A further piece of research was a somewhat reflective effort to draw together what this has all meant to me from a subjective and reflexive perspective. Such efforts are often seen as being self indulgent, as subjectivity in the form of lived experience sits uneasily in academia. A final paper involved an evaluation of Between the Rings and Under the Gym Mat from a pedagogical perspective by PETE professionals around the world. And that's the way things turned out.

Instructional strategies integrating cognitive style construct : a meta-knowledge processing model

The overarching goal of this dissertation was to evaluate the contextual components of instructional strategies for the acquisition of complex programming concepts. A meta-knowledge processing model is proposed, on the basis of the research findings, thereby facilitating the selection of media treatment for electronic courseware. When implemented, this model extends the work of Smith (1998), as a front-end methodology, for his glass-box interpreter called Bradman, for teaching novice programmers. Technology now provides the means to produce individualized instructional packages with relative ease. Multimedia and Web courseware development accentuate a highly graphical (or visual) approach to instructional formats. Typically, little consideration is given to the effectiveness of screen-based visual stimuli, and curiously, students are expected to be visually literate, despite the complexity of human-computer interaction. Visual literacy is much harder for some people to acquire than for others! (see Chapter Four: Conditions-of-the-Learner) An innovative research programme was devised to investigate the interactive effect of instructional strategies, enhanced with text-plus-textual metaphors or text-plus-graphical metaphors, and cognitive style, on the acquisition of a special category of abstract (process) programming concept. This type of concept was chosen to focus on the role of analogic knowledge involved in computer programming. The results are discussed within the context of the internal/external exchange process, drawing on Ritchey's (1980) concepts of within-item and between-item encoding elaborations. The methodology developed for the doctoral project integrates earlier research knowledge in a novel, interdisciplinary, conceptual framework, including: from instructional science in the USA, for the concept learning models; British cognitive psychology and human memory research, for defining the cognitive style construct; and Australian educational research, to provide the measurement tools for instructional outcomes. The experimental design consisted of a screening test to determine cognitive style, a pretest to determine prior domain knowledge in abstract programming knowledge elements, the instruction period, and a post-test to measure improved performance. This research design provides a three-level discovery process to articulate: 1) the fusion of strategic knowledge required by the novice learner for dealing with contexts within instructional strategies 2) acquisition of knowledge using measurable instructional outcome and learner characteristics 3) knowledge of the innate environmental factors which influence the instructional outcomes This research has successfully identified the interactive effect of instructional strategy, within an individual's cognitive style construct, in their acquisition of complex programming concepts. However, the significance of the three-level discovery process lies in the scope of the methodology to inform the design of a meta-knowledge processing model for instructional science. Firstly, the British cognitive style testing procedure, is a low cost, user friendly, computer application that effectively measures an individual's position on the two cognitive style continua (Riding & Cheema,1991). Secondly, the QUEST Interactive Test Analysis System (Izard,1995), allows for a probabilistic determination of an individual's knowledge level, relative to other participants, and relative to test-item difficulties. Test-items can be related to skill levels, and consequently, can be used by instructional scientists to measure knowledge acquisition. Finally, an Effect Size Analysis (Cohen,1977) allows for a direct comparison between treatment groups, giving a statistical measurement of how large an effect the independent variables have on the dependent outcomes. Combined with QUEST's hierarchical positioning of participants, this tool can assist in identifying preferred learning conditions for the evaluation of treatment groups. By combining these three assessment analysis tools into instructional research, a computerized learning shell, customised for individuals' cognitive constructs can be created (McKay & Garner,1999). While this approach has widespread application, individual researchers/trainers would nonetheless, need to validate with an extensive pilot study programme (McKay,1999a; McKay,1999b), the interactive effects within their specific learning domain. Furthermore, the instructional material does not need to be limited to a textual/graphical comparison, but could be applied to any two or more instructional treatments of any kind. For instance: a structured versus exploratory strategy. The possibilities and combinations are believed to be endless, provided the focus is maintained on linking of the front-end identification of cognitive style with an improved performance outcome. My in-depth analysis provides a better understanding of the interactive effects of the cognitive style construct and instructional format on the acquisition of abstract concepts, involving spatial relations and logical reasoning. In providing the basis for a meta-knowledge processing model, this research is expected to be of interest to educators, cognitive psychologists, communications engineers and computer scientists specialising in computer-human interactions.

Towards a cultural historical theory of knowledge mapping: collaboration and activity in the zone of proximal development

This chapter locates knowledge mapping within the theoretical framework of cultural historical activity theory. Cultural historical activity theory provides an analytic tool for understanding how knowledge maps can act as “stimuli-means”: a cultural artefact that can mediate the performance of subjects (Vygotsky, 1978 ). Knowledge maps possess Vygotsky’s double nature: they not only enable students to enact academic practice but also allow refl ection on that practice. They enable students to build an “internal cognitive schematisation of that practice” (Guile, 2005 , p.127). Further, cultural historical activity theory gives the tools to analyse the social context of our use of knowledge maps and thus consider the mediating rules (tacit and explicit) and division of labour that mediate our use of knowledge maps. Knowledge maps can be viewed as acting within Brandom’s ( 2000 ) space of reasons , which allows learners to use reasons to develop and exchange judgements based on shareable, theoretically articulated concepts and collectively develop the ability to restructure their knowledge and enact these judgements (Guile, 2011 ). In particular multimodal collaborative knowledge maps can act as Vygotsky’s (Vygotsky, 1978 ) zone of proximal development , where teacher and peer-to-peer interaction allow students to solve problems and learn concepts and skills that they would be otherwise unable to tackle.

Meta inflação: uma nova abordagem para a política monetária

Este estudo introduz uma nova abordagem estratégica para a política monetária: o regime de meta de inflação. O trabalho começa com uma revisão da literatura sobre política monetária desde a Curva de Phillips, a seguir os regimes clássicos de política monetária são analisados e se introduz a estrutura conceitual do regime de meta de inflação. As experiências práticas de quatro países (Alemanha, Nova Zelândia, Canadá e Inglaterra) são detalhadamente examinadas. A análise de séries temporais é empregada para comparar o padrão de autoregressividade da inflação sob o novo regime com o período precedente. O estudo aponta o regime de meta de inflação como uma estratégia mais eficiente no longo prazo porque responde melhor aos desafios da teoria e da prática.

O serviço social no Brasil: a reinstrumentalização necessária

Pós-graduação em Serviço Social - FCHS

O acordo ortográfico da língua portuguesa e a meta de simplificação e unificação

The aim of this paper is to evaluate the Acordo Ortográfico da Língua Portuguesa within a historic context that continually demands simplification and unification to the orthographic fixations. The theoretical and methodological orientation is based on the metaorthography and the linguistic historiography directed towards the language orthographic issue. With this focus, a review of the Portuguese language orthographic agreements is done, paying attention not to the details of the several changes, but to the directions that governed all these orthographic agreements, concluding with an evaluation of the historical validity of this new measure.