What aspects of rehabilitation provision contribute to self-reported met needs for rehabilitation one year after stroke - amount, place, operator or timing?

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: To a large extent, people who have suffered a stroke report unmet needs for rehabilitation. The purpose of this study was to explore aspects of rehabilitation provision that potentially contribute to self-reported met needs for rehabilitation 12 months after stroke with consideration also to severity of stroke. METHODS: The participants (n = 173) received care at the stroke units at the Karolinska University Hospital, Sweden. Using a questionnaire, the dependent variable, self-reported met needs for rehabilitation, was collected at 12 months after stroke. The independent variables were four aspects of rehabilitation provision based on data retrieved from registers and structured according to four aspects: amount of rehabilitation, service level (day care rehabilitation, primary care rehabilitation and home-based rehabilitation), operator level (physiotherapist, occupational therapist, speech therapist) and time after stroke onset. Multivariate logistic regression analyses regarding the aspects of rehabilitation were performed for the participants who were divided into three groups based on stroke severity at onset. RESULTS: Participants with moderate/severe stroke who had seen a physiotherapist at least once during each of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd-4th quarters of the first year (OR 8.36, CI 1.40-49.88 P = 0.020) were more likely to report met rehabilitation needs. CONCLUSION: For people with moderate/severe stroke, continuity in rehabilitation (preferably physiotherapy) during the first year after stroke seems to be associated with self-reported met needs for rehabilitation.

Opting out of oppositionality : toward an informed and engaged "third wave" feminism

I begin by citing a definition of "third wave" from the glossary in Turbo Chicks: Talking Young Feminisms at length because it communicates several key issues that I develop in this project. The definition introduces a tension within "third wave" feminism of building and differentiating itself from second wave feminism, the newness of the term "third wave," its association with "young" women, complexity of contemporary feminisms, and attention to multiple identities and oppressions. Uncovering explanations of "third wave" feminism that go beyond, like this one, generational associations, is not an easy task. Authors consistently group new feminist voices together by age under the label "third wave" feminists without questioning the accuracy of the designation. Most explorations of "third wave" feminism overlook the complexities and distinctions that abound among "young" feminists ; not all young feminists espouse similar ideas, tactics, and actions; and for various reasons, not all young feminists identify with a "third wave" of feminism. Less than a year after I began to learn about feminism I discovered Barbara Findlen's Listen Up: Voices From the Next Feminist Generation. Although the collection nor its contributors declare association with "third wave" feminism, consequent reviews and citations in articles identify it, along with Rebecca Walker's To Be Real: Telling the Truth and Changing the Voice of Feminism, as a major text of "third wave" feminism. Re-reading Listen Up since beginning to research "third wave" feminism, I now understand its fundamental influence on my research questions as a starting point for assessing persistent exclusion in contemporary feminism, rather than as a revolutionary text (as it is claimed to be in many reviews). Findlen begins the introduction with the bold claim, "My feminism wasn't shaped by antiwar or civil rights activism ..." (xi). Framing the collection with a disavowal of the influence women of color's organizational efforts negates, for me, the project's proclaimed commitment to multivocality. Though several contributions examine persistent exclusion within contemporary feminist movement, the larger project seems to rely on these essays to reflect this commitment, suggesting that Listen Up does not go beyond the "add and stir" approach to "diversity." Interestingly, this statement does not appear in the new edition of Listen Up published in 2001. And the content has changed with this new edition, including several more Latina contributors and other "corrective" additions.

Analysis of the four wave mixing effect (FWM) in a dispersion decreasing fiber (DDF) for a WDM system

We did a numerical investigation of the propagation of short light pulses in the region of 1.55 mu m and the conversion efficiency (CE) for the four wave mixing generation (FWM) of ordinary and dispersion decreasing fibers for use in wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) systems, Our simulations studies three different profiles, linear, hyperbolic. and constant, One conclude that for all the profiles there is decrease of the conversion efficiency with the increase in the channel separation. The hyperbolic profile present a higher efficiency of around 1000 above in magnitude compared with the others profiles at 0.2 nm of channel separation. We calculate the conversion efficiency versus the fiber length for the three profiles. The conversion efficiency for the hyperbolic profile is higher when compared to the constant and linear profiles. The other interesting point of the hyperbolic profile is that the increase of the CE in the beginning of the fiber does not show my oscillation in the CE value (log eta), which was observed for the constant and linear profiles. For all the profiles there is an increase of the conversion efficiency with the increase of the pump power. The compression factor C-i for the generated FWM signal at omega(3) was measured along the DDF's and the constant profile fibers. One can conclude that with the use of decreasing dispersion profile (DDF) fibers one can have a control of the (CE) conversion efficiency and the compression factor of the four wave mixing (FWM) generation in WDM systems. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Abundance of sedentary consumers and sessile organisms along the wave exposure gradient of subtropical rocky shores of the south-west Atlantic

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Occupational exposure of physical therapists to electric and magnetic fields and the efficacy of Faraday cages

Objective. Measure physical therapists' exposure to the electric and magnetic fields produced by 17 shortwave diathermy devices in physical therapy clinics in the city of Presidente Prudente, São Paulo State, Brazil. Compare the observed values with the exposure levels recommended by the International Commission on Non-ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP). Observe the efficacy of Faraday cages as a means of protecting physical therapists from exposure to oscillating electric and magnetic fields.Methods. Electric and magnetic field measurements were taken at four points during actual physical therapy sessions: in proximity to the operator's pelvis and head, the devices' electrical cables, and the electrodes. The measuring equipment was a Wandel & Goltermann EMR-200.Results. The values obtained in proximity to the electrodes and cables were 10 to 30 times higher than ICNIRP's recommended occupational reference levels. In the shortwave diathermy treatment rooms with Faraday cages, the fields were even higher than in treatment rooms not so equipped-principally the magnetic field, where the values were more than 100 times higher than the ICNIRP exposure limit.Conclusions. The electric and magnetic field intensities obtained in this study are generally above the exposure levels recommend in ICNIRP standards. It was also observed that the Faraday cage offers physical therapists no protection, and instead, increases their level of exposure.

Incommensurate spin-density-wave and metal-insulator transition in the one-dimensional periodic Anderson model

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Material processing by plasma shock wave generated in an inverse Z-pinch plasma expander

The applicability of plasma shock wave for material processing was investigated using modified inverse Z-pinch device. Shock wave expanding speed and plasma spectral analysis were studied using an internal magnetic,probe and spatially collimated light spectroscopy. The material processing capability of the device was shown by many different surface analysis techniques such as AES, IRS, EPM and SEM. The interactions between a plasma shock wave of similar to4x10(6) cm/s speed with a Si substrate surface shows some ion implantation capability using a nitrogen plasma and thin film formation using a methane plasma.

Viscosity measuring cell using ultrasonic wave mode conversion

This work presents a cell to measure dynamic viscosity of liquids using ultrasonic wave mode conversion from longitudinal to shear wave. The strategy used to obtain the viscosity is based on the measurement of the complex reflection coefficient of shear waves at a solid-liquid interface. Viscosity measurements of automotive oils (SAE90 and SAE140) were obtained in the frequency range from 1 to 10 MHz. These results are compared with the Maxwell model with two relaxation times, showing the dependency of viscosity with frequency. Several parameters affecting viscosity measurements, including the solid material properties, liquid viscosity, and operating frequency are discussed.

Estimativa das máximas pistas de vento no reservatório da barragem de Ilha Solteira, Estado de São Paulo

Most methods employed to estimate the height of waves generated by the wind require the surface length over which the wind blows. The choice of method depends on the nature of the water body, being applicable to ocean areas or interior water bodies, such as bays, lakes and reservoirs. One of the usual solutions has been the direct usage of the method validated in ocean waters for interior waters, therefore, not taking into consideration the effect of the restriction imposed by the shores. Nevertheless, the excessive quantity of operations of the method applied to interior water bodies (where the shore is a restraint condition) may not assure a satisfactory precision degree, unless an accurate enough graphic base of the shore with the addition of the operator's subjectivity is used. Thus, this scientific community brings this discussion to light, proposing a classic solution based on the application of the adequate method to interior waters (Saville et al., 1954) via automatized processing. Therefore, a program in AutoLISP, a computational language, has been developed. The application of the program has determined the maximum wind fetches in Ilha Solteira, state of São Paulo, reservoir as being between 9.5 and 12.5 km, in contrast with a previous study which has predicted far longer fetches (factor of three).

Colombeau's theory and shock wave solutions for systems of PDEs

In this article we study the existence of shock wave solutions for systems of partial differential equations of hydrodynamics with viscosity in one space dimension in the context of Colombeau's theory of generalized functions. This study uses the equality in the strict sense and the association of generalized functions (that is the weak equality). The shock wave solutions are given in terms of generalized functions that have the classical Heaviside step function as macroscopic aspect. This means that solutions are sought in the form of sequences of regularizations to the Heaviside function that have to satisfy part of the equations in the strict sense and part of the equations in the sense of association.