Line bisection by eye and by hand reveal opposite biases

The vision-for-action literature favours the idea that the motor output of an action - whether manual or oculomotor - leads to similar results regarding object handling. Findings on line bisection performance challenge this idea: healthy individuals bisect lines manually to the left of centre, and to the right of centre when using eye fixation. In case that these opposite biases for manual and oculomotor action reflect more universal compensatory mechanisms that cancel each other out to enhance overall accuracy, one would like to observe comparable opposite biases for other material. In the present study, we report on three independent experiments in which we tested line bisection (by hand, by eye fixation) not only for solid lines, but also for letter lines; the latter, when bisected manually, is known to result in a rightward bias. Accordingly, we expected a leftward bias for letter lines when bisected via eye fixation. Analysis of bisection biases provided evidence for this idea: manual bisection was more rightward for letter as compared to solid lines, while bisection by eye fixation was more leftward for letter as compared to solid lines. Support for the eye fixation observation was particularly obvious in two of the three studies, for which comparability between eye and hand action was increasingly adjusted (paper-pencil versus touch screen for manual action). These findings question the assumption that ocular motor and manual output are always inter-changeable, but rather suggest that at least for some situations ocular motor and manual output biases are orthogonal to each other, possibly balancing each other out.

Intervenção de enfermagem na prevenção dos factores de risco na gestação

A gestação é algo natural que acontece na vida das mulheres, que envolve várias alterações, sendo elas física psicológicas e sociais, mas quando estas estão perante um factor de risco, há grande chance de aumentar a morbilidade e mortalidade, no binómio mãe e filho. A gravidez torna-se de risco quando surge um factor que comprometa a vida da mãe e do feto, por isso é preciso identificar esses factores precocemente. O tema do trabalho retrata as intervenções de enfermagem na prevenção dos factores de risco na gestação, e como minimizar as possíveis complicações. A escolha deu-se pelo facto de ser uma problemática cuja incidência tem vindo a aumentar na sociedade e dos casos de gestação de risco deparados ao longo do ensino clínico no Centro de Saúde Reprodutivo de Bela Vista. Para o desenvolvimento do trabalho foi utilizado revisão bibliográfica, através de revistas, artigos publicados, trabalhos de investigação académica, jornais e bases de dados on-line e também uma entrevista semi-estruturada com as enfermeiras do Centro referido anteriormente. Revelou-se pertinente para o trabalho recolher dados relativos aos factores de riscos mais prevalentes na população atendidas neste Centro. Na Entrevista feita aos enfermeiros, foi possível perceber que a enfermagem assume um papel importante para o acompanhamento da mulher na idade reprodutiva bem como na gestação, prevenindo os factores de risco e possivelmente futuras complicações. Constatou-se que a consulta pré-concepcional e pré-natal, são estratégias importantes na prevenção dos factores de riscos, e que, para isso é necessário actuar através da educação para saúde, atribuindo ao enfermeiro um papel importante no acolhimento da mulher quando procurar esses serviços. Nisto, o enfermeiro deve aconselhar, esclarecer as dúvidas, angústias e medo das mulheres que pretendem ter filhos ou que já se encontram grávidas. Para que a gestante tenha uma gravidez normal, é da competência do enfermeiro identificar os factores de risco predisponente de modo a melhorar a qualidade dos cuidados prestados como também intervir atempadamente frente a essas situações.

Estudos Mediáticos Programa de especialização

A evolução actual do ensino superior mostra claramente a importância crescente das formações ao nível de pós-graduação. Observamos também a proliferação de programas cada vez mais especializados e formatados para públicos exigentes. A preocupação com a qualidade dos serviços oferecidos contribui também para um maior interesse pela formação que permita acompanhar as novas tendências em diferentes áreas de conhecimento. O desenvolvimento rápido e disperso dos meios de comunicação resultou no aumento de trabalhadores nesta área. Não obstante, no caso de Cabo Verde, só alguns detêm a formação universitária adequada. O curso pretende, de alguma maneira, oferecer aos profissionais de comunicação e informação, a possibilidade de completar a experiência com conhecimentos específicos e actuais.

Internet como Ferramenta de Comunicação nas Instituições de Ensino Superior O caso da UniPiaget de Cabo Verde

O presente trabalho monográfico intitulado “Internet como Ferramenta de Comunicação nas Instituições de Ensino Superior: O Caso da UniPiaget de Cabo Verde”, enquadra-se no âmbito do curso de Licenciatura em Ciências da Comunicação ministrado pela Universidade Jean Piaget de Cabo Verde. Relativamente á metodologia, foi utilizada o método quantitativo, a amostra incluiu 109 participantes, na sua maioria (53,2%) são do sexo feminino e 46,8% do sexo masculino, pertencente a quatro faixa etária, menos de 25 anos de idade, entre 25 a 34, entre 35 a 44 e mais de 55 anos de idade. Os dados recolhidos foram submetidos a análise estatísticas, recorrendo-se ao Software SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Science). Pretende-se com este trabalho compreender a importância actual da Internet, analisar as conjunturas que proporcionaram a sua origem, características e potencialidades, visa ainda analisar a apreciação dos utilizadores sobre o sítio web da Universidade Jean Piaget de Cabo Verde. Um outro objectivo é compreender os sistemas de comunicação utilizada pela UniPiaget através de canais electrónicos.

A Qualidade Educativa no Ensino Básico Integrado Estudo de Caso – Escola Amor de Deus

Hoje, é cada vez mais evidente que, face às constantes mudanças sociais e consequentemente as necessidades provenientes dessas mudanças, surge novos desafios às instituições educativas que devem estar comprometidas com a qualidade da educação de modo a formar indivíduos competentes, responsáveis e pró-activos e que estejam comprometidos com o desenvolvimento do país. É nesta linha de raciocínio, que a qualidade da educação deve constituir uma das grandes prioridades das políticas educativas, visto que, a aquisição de um conhecimento útil, competências, capacidades de raciocínio, atitudes e valores são considerados condições fundamentais para uma cidadania activa, o que representa um meio importante para moldar o próprio futuro. Deste modo, a preocupação com a qualidade é um desafio que toda a organização deve procurar atingir nos seus serviços e que à semelhança das outras organizações, a escola também começou a ser pressionada para melhorar a sua eficácia interna de forma a preparar trabalhadores e cidadãos capazes de enfrentar a economia global e o rápido desenvolvimento tecnológico.No que se refere à realidade cabo-verdiana, a questão da qualidade da educação tem sido objecto de muitos debates quer por parte do Ministério da Educação e Desporto, quer pela sociedade civil através dos meios de comunicação social. A título exemplificativo, ilustramos citando o extracto de um artigo publicado num dos jornais on-line cabo-verdiano, datado de 29 de Novembro de 2010, assinado por Silva, opinando que “a qualidade do nosso sistema educativo é um tema que nos preocupa a todos, de uma forma ou de outra, porque dela depende, em grande parte, o “salto” que o país precisa dar para se afirmar como um País, realmente, de Rendimento Médio”. É mister ainda reforçar a mundividência do tema qualidade educativa, quando o próprio Ministério da Educação e Desporto apresenta como lema “Juntos por uma educação de qualidade”, por dois anos lectivos consecutivos, 2011-2012 e 2012-2013, respectivamente.No que concerne ao Ensino Básico Integrado, nosso campo de actuação, o caminho para alcançar o desidrato da qualidade educativa começou a ser desenhado com a reforma educativa de 1990, mas que teve maior impacto na massificação desse nível de ensino, conforme apuramos dos dados publicados no site do MED 1 ( www.minedu.gov.cv ) , que indica o registo de uma taxa líquida 2 de escolarização na ordem dos 96% e uma taxa bruta de 117%, sendo o acesso quase igualitário em ambos os sexos, meninas com uma taxa de 49% e meninos com 51%, e, um índice de paridade ( F/M) à volta dos 0,96 %. Nesta perspectiva emergiu a ideia de desenvolver uma pesquisa científica que aborde a Qualidade Educativa no Ensino Básico Integrado na escola “Amor de Deus”. Deste modo, ambicionamos realizar um estudo claro, objectivo, coerente e, fundamentalmente, que seja importante e útil na nossa vida profissional, o que aliás justifica o tema escolhido para este trabalho.

Simple and fast methods based on solid-phase extraction coupled to liquid chromatography with UV detection for the monitoring of caffeine in natural and waste waters as marker of anthropogenic impact

Two concentration methods for fast and routine determination of caffeine (using HPLC-UV detection) in surface, and wastewater are evaluated. Both methods are based on solid-phase extraction (SPE) concentration with octadecyl silica sorbents. A common “offline” SPE procedure shows that quantitative recovery of caffeine is obtained with 2 mL of an elution mixture solvent methanol-water containing at least 60% methanol. The method detection limit is 0.1 μg L−1 when percolating 1 L samples through the cartridge. The development of an “online” SPE method based on a mini-SPE column, containing 100 mg of the same sorbent, directly connected to the HPLC system allows the method detection limit to be decreased to 10 ng L−1 with a sample volume of 100 mL. The “offline” SPE method is applied to the analysis of caffeine in wastewater samples, whereas the “on-line” method is used for analysis in natural waters from streams receiving significant water intakes from local wastewater treatment plants

Toxic effects of brake wear particles on epithelial lung cells in vitro

Background: Fine particulate matter originating from traffic correlates with increased morbidity and mortality. An important source of traffic particles is brake wear of cars which contributes up to 20% of the total traffic emissions. The aim of this study was to evaluate potential toxicological effects of human epithelial lung cells exposed to freshly generated brake wear particles. Results: An exposure box was mounted around a car's braking system. Lung cells cultured at the air-liquid interface were then exposed to particles emitted from two typical braking behaviours ("full stop" and "normal deceleration"). The particle size distribution as well as the brake emission components like metals and carbons was measured on-line, and the particles deposited on grids for transmission electron microscopy were counted. The tight junction arrangement was observed by laser scanning microscopy. Cellular responses were assessed by measurement of lactate dehydrogenase (cytotoxicity), by investigating the production of reactive oxidative species and the release of the pro-inflammatory mediator interleukin-8. The tight junction protein occludin density decreased significantly (p < 0.05) with increasing concentrations of metals on the particles (iron, copper and manganese, which were all strongly correlated with each other). Occludin was also negatively correlated with the intensity of reactive oxidative species. The concentrations of interleukin-8 were significantly correlated with increasing organic carbon concentrations. No correlation was observed between occludin and interleukin-8, nor between reactive oxidative species and interleukin-8. Conclusion: These findings suggest that the metals on brake wear particles damage tight junctions with a mechanism involving oxidative stress. Brake wear particles also increase pro-inflammatory responses. However, this might be due to another mechanism than via oxidative stress. [Authors]

Adherence to oral anticancer treatment: focus on quality of execution during continuous schema of treatment

Background and objective: Oral anti-cancer treatments have expanded rapidly over the last years. While taking oral tablets at home ensures a better quality of life, it also exposes patients to the risk of sub-optimal adherence. The objective of this study is to assess how well ambulatory cancer patients execute their prescribed dosing regimen while they are engaged with continuous anti-cancer treatments. Design: This is an on-going longitudinal study. Consecutive patients starting an oral treatment are proposed to enter the study by the oncologist. Then they are referred to the pharmacy, where their oral anticancer treatment is dispensed in a Medication Event Monitoring System (MEMSTM), which records date and time of each opening of the drug container. Electronically compiled dosing history data from the MEMS are summarized and used as feedback during semistructured interviews with the pharmacist, which are dedicated to prevention and management of side effects. Interviews are scheduled before each medical visit. Report of the interview is available to the oncologist via an on-line secured portal. Setting: Seamless care approach between a Multidisciplinary Oncology Center and the Pharmacy of an Ambulatory Care and Community Medicine Department. Main outcome measures: For each patient, the comparison between the electronically compiled dosing history and the prescribed regimen was summarized using a daily binary indicator indicating whether yes or no the patient has taken the medication as prescribed. Results: Study started in March 2008. Among 22 eligible patients, 19 were included (11 men, median age 63 years old) and 3 (14%) refused to participate. 15 patients were prescribed a QD regimen, 3 patients a BID and 1 patient switched from QD to BID during follow-up. Median follow up was 182 days (IQR 72-252). Early discontinuation happened in four patients: side effects (n = 1), psychiatric reasons (n = 1), cancer progression (n = 1) and death (n = 1). On average, the daily number of medications was taken as prescribed in 99% of the follow-up days. Conclusions: Execution of the prescribed dosing regimens was almost perfect during the first 6 months. Maintaining this high degree of regimen execution and persistence over time might however be challenging in this population and need therefore to be confirmed in larger and longer follow-up cohort studies.

On the Condition Monitoring of Induction machines

The research of condition monitoring of electric motors has been wide for several decades. The research and development at universities and in industry has provided means for the predictive condition monitoring. Many different devices and systems are developed and are widely used in industry, transportation and in civil engineering. In addition, many methods are developed and reported in scientific arenas in order to improve existing methods for the automatic analysis of faults. The methods, however, are not widely used as a part of condition monitoring systems. The main reasons are, firstly, that many methods are presented in scientific papers but their performance in different conditions is not evaluated, secondly, the methods include parameters that are so case specific that the implementation of a systemusing such methods would be far from straightforward. In this thesis, some of these methods are evaluated theoretically and tested with simulations and with a drive in a laboratory. A new automatic analysis method for the bearing fault detection is introduced. In the first part of this work the generation of the bearing fault originating signal is explained and its influence into the stator current is concerned with qualitative and quantitative estimation. The verification of the feasibility of the stator current measurement as a bearing fault indicatoris experimentally tested with the running 15 kW induction motor. The second part of this work concentrates on the bearing fault analysis using the vibration measurement signal. The performance of the micromachined silicon accelerometer chip in conjunction with the envelope spectrum analysis of the cyclic bearing faultis experimentally tested. Furthermore, different methods for the creation of feature extractors for the bearing fault classification are researched and an automatic fault classifier using multivariate statistical discrimination and fuzzy logic is introduced. It is often important that the on-line condition monitoring system is integrated with the industrial communications infrastructure. Two types of a sensor solutions are tested in the thesis: the first one is a sensor withcalculation capacity for example for the production of the envelope spectra; the other one can collect the measurement data in memory and another device can read the data via field bus. The data communications requirements highly depend onthe type of the sensor solution selected. If the data is already analysed in the sensor the data communications are needed only for the results but in the other case, all measurement data need to be transferred. The complexity of the classification method can be great if the data is analysed at the management level computer, but if the analysis is made in sensor itself, the analyses must be simple due to the restricted calculation and memory capacity.

Nonlinear prediction based on score function

The linear prediction coding of speech is based in the assumption that the generation model is autoregresive. In this paper we propose a structure to cope with the nonlinear effects presents in the generation of the speech signal. This structure will consist of two stages, the first one will be a classical linear prediction filter, and the second one will model the residual signal by means of two nonlinearities between a linear filter. The coefficients of this filter are computed by means of a gradient search on the score function. This is done in order to deal with the fact that the probability distribution of the residual signal still is not gaussian. This fact is taken into account when the coefficients are computed by a ML estimate. The algorithm based on the minimization of a high-order statistics criterion, uses on-line estimation of the residue statistics and is based on blind deconvolution of Wiener systems [1]. Improvements in the experimental results with speech signals emphasize on the interest of this approach.

Students’ viewpoint on engineering subjects taught in English

The European Educational Institutions have the challenge and the commitment to enhance multilingual competence and teaching curricular subjects in a foreign language is seen as one of the most promising alternatives. In that context, professors teaching different engineering subjects at the School of Engineering of the UPC at Manresa (EPSEM) have been involved in projects aiming at analyzing the current linguistic situation and developing some on-line open access materials using CLIL as a strategy. They formed the u-Linguatech Research Group on Multilingual Communication in Science and Technology in order to provide such resources in an effective and efficient way. In this paper, we focus on students’ perception of the improvement of their multilingual competence throughout their Engineering degree, by means of subjects taught in English by non-native speakers. Data about the English level of current students are taken into account. We also describe the use of the above resources to improve the quality of subjects learning related to Chemical Engineering curricula.

Reverse osmosis membrane surface modification: effects on membrane performance

The aim of this thesis was to study the surface modification of reverse osmosis membranes by surfactants and the effect of modification on rejection and flux. The surfactants included anionic and nonionic surfactants. The purpose of membrane modification was to improve pure water permeability with increasing salt rejection. The literature part of the study deals with the basic principles of reverse osmosis technology and factors affecting the membrane performance. Also the membrane surface modification by surfactants and their influence on membrane’s surface properties and efficiency (permeability and salt rejection) were discussed. In the experimental part of the thesis two thin-film composite membranes, Desal AG and LE-4040, were modified on-line with three different surfactants. The effects of process parameters (pressure, pH, and surfactant concentration) on surface modification were also examined. The characteristics of the modified membranes were determined by measuring the membranes’ contact angle and zeta potentials. The zeta potential and contact angle measurements indicate that the surfactants were adsorbed onto the both membranes. However, the adsorption did not effect on membrane’s pure water permeability and salt rejection. Thereby, the surface modification of the Desal AG and LE-4040 membranes by surfactants was not able to improve the membrane’s performance.

Which Legal Standards Should Apply To Web-logs? The present legal position of Internet journals in the European iuris prudence in the light of the European Parliament Committee’s on Culture and Education report and Polish Supreme Court decision

The article discusses the present status of weblogs and examines whether legal standards applicable to traditional press and media should be applied to that specific forum. The analysis is based on two key documents: the Draft Report on the concentration and pluralism in the media in European Union (2007/2253(INI)) of the European Parliament Committee on Culture and Education presented in March 2008 and a landmark decision of the Polish Supreme Court from July 26, 2007 (IV KK 174/07) in the light of present judicial tendency in other European countries. The first of the mentioned documents calls for the “clarification of the legal status of different categories of weblog authors and publishers as well as disclosure of interests and voluntary labelling of weblogs”. It emphasizes that the “undetermined and unindicated status of authors and publishers of weblogs causes uncertainties regarding impartiality, reliability, source protection, applicability of ethical codes and the assignment of liability in the event of lawsuits”. The position of the European Parliament, expressed in the document, raises serious questions on the limits of freedom of thought and speech on the Internet and on the degree of acceptable state control. A recent Polish Supreme Court decision, which caused quite a stir in the Polish Internet community, seems to head in the very direction recommended by the EP Culture Committee. In a case of two editors of a web journal (“czasopismo internetowe”) called “Szyciepoprzemysku”, available on-line, accused of publishing a journal without the proper registration, the Polish Supreme Court stated that “journals and periodicals do not lose the character of a press release due solely to the fact that they appear in the form of an  Internet transmission”, and that ‘’the publishing of press in an electronic form, available on the Internet, requires  registration”. The decision was most surprising, as prior lower courts decisions declined the possibility to register Internet periodicals. The accused were acquitted in the name of the constitutional principle of the rule of law (art. 7 of the Polish Constitution) and the ensuing obligation to protect the trust of a citizen to the state (a conviction in this case would break the collateral estoppel rule), however the decision quickly awoke media frenzy and raised the fear of a need to register all websites that were regularly updated. The spokesman of the Polish Supreme Court later explained that the sentence of the Court was not intended to cause a mass registration of all Internet “periodicals” and that neither weblogs nor Internet sites, that were regularly updated, needed registration. Such an interpretation of the Polish press law did not appear clear based only on the original text of the judgment and the decision as such still raises serious practical questions. The article aims to examine the status of Internet logs as press and seeks the compromise between the concerns expressed by European authorities and the freedom of thought and speech exercised on the Internet.

A Literature Review on the Benefits of Ethnic and Minority Entrepreneurship

Ethnic/Minority entrepreneur is a business owner who does not represent the majority population of a country. Ethnic/Minority entrepreneurship can bring benefits to individual, society, region, economy, and globe too. So, understanding the importance of ethnic/minority entrepreneurship will really be useful to all the stakeholders. The unique culture and value system of ethnic minorities are the most wanted characteristics for any successful entrepreneur in general. Many industrial nations like U.S, U.K., Germany, etc. have utilised the ethnic minorities to build their economy. The future of the minority businesses looks bright as the world economy is booming, availability of experienced and already successful minority entrepreneurs as role models, and institutional support services. In this paper, literature relating to the benefits of ethnic and minority entrepreneurship is reviewed to understand its magnitude of benefits.

O impacto do turismo na qualidade de vida e bem-estar do turista

O turismo é actualmente uma das actividades de maior crescimento, de maior importância para a economia mundial e que gera mais emprego. No entanto, os benefícios do turismo não podem ser reduzidos aos económicos. Alguns autores defendem a existência de uma relação entre o turismo, a qualidade de vida e o bem-estar daqueles envolvidos na experiência turística, mas nenhum deles demonstra objectivamente essa relação, não havendo em Portugal qualquer investigação nesse sentido. O objectivo deste trabalho é, assim, avaliar o impacto do turismo na qualidade de vida e bem-estar do turista português. Para realizar esta análise foram utilizados dois instrumentos (WHOQOL-BREF e EBP), que estiveram disponíveis on-line durante um ano para quem quisesse responder voluntariamente. Foram obtidas 1059 respostas. Os resultados demonstraram que o turismo afecta positivamente a qualidade de vida e o bem-estar, sendo esta relação significativa no que respeita a algumas das dimensões da qualidade de vida e do bem-estar. Este estudo vem demonstrar que os gestores da área devem promover serviços que valorizem experiências pessoais satisfatórias, que gerem afectos positivos e que estes efeitos sejam duradoiros, uma vez que podem gerar lealdade com o destino, vontade de gastar mais e de recomendar quando se volta a casa.