Efficacy and Acceptability of Reduced Intensity Constraint-Induced Movement Therapy for Children Aged 9–11 years with Hemiplegic Cerebral Palsy: A Pilot Study

OBJECTIVE: Assess efficacy and acceptability of reduced intensity constraint-induced movement therapy (CIMT) in children with cerebral palsy (CP).

METHODS: Single-subject research design and semi-structured interviews. Children (9-11y) with hemiplegia underwent five baseline assessments followed by two weeks CIMT. Six further assessments were performed during treatment and follow-up phases. The primary outcome was the Melbourne Assessment of Unilateral Upper Limb Function (MUUL). Quantitative data were analysed using standard single-subject methods and qualitative data by thematic analysis.

RESULTS: Four of the seven participants demonstrated statistically significant improvements in MUUL (3-11%, p < .05). Two participants achieved significant improvements in active range of motion but strength and tone remained largely unchanged. Qualitative interviews highlighted limitations of the restraint, importance of family involvement, and coordination of treatment with education.

CONCLUSIONS: Reduced intensity CIMT may be effective for some children in this population; however it is not suitable for all children with hemiplegia.

On the Musical Reception of the 'Badisches Wiegenlied' in the German Folk Movement

This is a single-authored extended essay on the history of reception (musical and textual) of the Badisches Wiegenlied in the German folk song movement in both East and West Germany. As such it expands on the co-written short essay on the song Badisches Wiegenlied also published in the Liederlexikon. This is part of the AHRC and DFG funded project 'The History of Reception of the Songs of the 1848 Revolution' (2009-2013).

Transposing Musical Skill: Sonification of movement as concurrent augmented feedback enhances learning in a bimanual task

Concurrent feedback provided during acquisition can enhance performance of novel tasks. The ‘guidance hypothesis’ predicts that feedback provision leads to dependence and poor performance in its absence. However, appropriately-structured feedback information provided through sound (‘sonification’) may not be subject to this effect. We test this directly using a rhythmic bimanual shape-tracing task in which participants learned to move at a 4:3 timing ratio. Sonification of movement and demonstration was compared to two other learning conditions: (1) sonification of task demonstration alone and (2) completely silent practice (control). Sonification of movement emerged as the most effective form of practice, reaching significantly lower error scores than control. Sonification of solely the demonstration, which was expected to benefit participants by perceptually unifying task requirements, did not lead to better performance than control. Good performance was maintained by participants in the sonification condition in an immediate retention test without feedback, indicating that the use of this feedback can overcome the guidance effect. On a 24-hour retention test, performance had declined and was equal between groups. We argue that this and similar findings in the feedback literature are best explained by an ecological approach to motor skill learning which places available perceptual information at the highest level of importance.

Fiber optic sensors for the biomechanical study of the intervertebral disc

O presente trabalho teve como objetivo principal estudar o comportamento mecânico do disco intervertebral recorrendo a sensores em fibra ótica. Na expetativa de efetuar o melhor enquadramento do tema foi efetuada uma revisão exaustiva das várias configurações de sensores em fibra ótica que têm vindo a ser utilizadas em aplicações biomédicas e biomecânicas, nomeadamente para medição de temperatura, deformação, força e pressão. Nesse âmbito, procurou-se destacar as potencialidades dos sensores em fibra ótica e apresentá-los como uma tecnologia alternativa ou até de substituição das tecnologias associadas a sensores convencionais. Tendo em vista a aplicação de sensores em fibra ótica no estudo do comportamento do disco intervertebral efetuou-se também uma revisão exaustiva da coluna vertebral e, particularmente, do conceito de unidade funcional. A par de uma descrição anatómica e funcional centrada no disco intervertebral, vértebras adjacentes e ligamentos espinais foram ainda destacadas as suas propriedades mecânicas e descritos os procedimentos mais usuais no estudo dessas propriedades. A componente experimental do presente trabalho descreve um conjunto de experiências efetuadas com unidades funcionais cadavéricas utilizando sensores convencionais e sensores em fibra ótica com vista à medição da deformação do disco intervertebral sob cargas compressivas uniaxiais. Inclui ainda a medição in vivo da pressão intradiscal num disco lombar de uma ovelha sob efeito de anestesia. Para esse efeito utilizou-se um sensor comercial em fibra ótica e desenvolveu-se a respetiva unidade de interrogação. Finalmente apresenta-se os resultados da investigação em curso que tem como objetivo propor e desenvolver protótipos de sensores em fibra ótica para aplicações biomédicas e biomecânicas. Nesse sentido, são apresentadas duas soluções de sensores interferométricos para medição da pressão em fluídos corporais.

The economic consequences of Portuguese State’s movement towards business sector

Over the last 36 years, the relationship with the Portuguese state-owned enterprises registered several dynamics: nationalizations, privatizations and corporatization of public services. However, until now the State Business Sector from a national accounts perspective was never analyzed. Based on data collected and compiled for the first time at Statistics Portugal, this PhD thesis aims to test, analyzing in eight dimensions, whether the weight of the State Business Sector increased and if it contributed positively to the Portuguese economy, from 2006 to 2010. In addition to this analysis, an overview of the economic theory of state intervention in the economy, the paradigm changes of public policy in the international context, the evolution of the Portuguese State Business Sector since 1974, accompanied with a business and national accounting perspective between 2006 and 2010, are also presented. The results allow us to conclude that, in general, the weight of the State Business Sector in the Portuguese economy increased and had a tendency of a positive contribution to its economic growth. The State Business Sector also contributed positively to the nominal labour productivity (although with a decreasing trend of contribution to growth over the period under review) and the profitability of the non-financial corporations sector (although impairing the overall ratio of this sector). Nonetheless, the State Business Sector contributed negatively to the fairness in compensation of employees (although with an improvement trend) and to the competitiveness of labour cost, investment and sectorial sustainability of the Portuguese economy (reinforced by a falling trend). The results also suggest that the State Business Sector had an economic behaviour closer to a welfare maximizing model than to a profit maximizing model. This distinct performance with respect to the institutional sector in which is included, highlights the need to study and reassess the relationship of the state with public corporations, in light of agency theory using micro-data. Lastly, contributions to improve the economic performance of the State Business Sector and future prospects of evolution are presented.

The autobiographical you: letters in the gendered politics of the labour movement.

In this article, I consider the importance of epistolary narratives in the interface of autobiography and politics. In doing this, I read the letters of Fannia Mary Cohn, a Jewish immigrant worker, trade union activist and ardent labour organizer in the garment industry in the USA in the first half of the twentieth century. Cohn was a prolific writer and political activist and left a rich body of labour literature, but never wrote an autobiography or a diary or journal. It is in her letters to her comrades and friends in the labour movement that short autobiographical stories erupt and it is on such stories across her correspondence that this article focuses. The analysis is informed by Hannah Arendt’s theorization of narratives in their interrelation with politics and history. Drawing on a rich body of feminist literature around the relational self, what I argue is that an Arendtian reading of epistolary narratives is a useful analytical tool in understanding gendered politics in the diverse histories of the labour movement.

Playing immersive games on the REVERIE platform

REVERIE (REal and Virtual Engagement in Realistic Immersive Environments) [1] is a multimedia and multimodal framework, which supports the creation of immersive games. The framework supports the creation of games integrating technologies such as 3D spatial audio, detection of the player’s body movement using Kinect and WIMO sensors, NPCs (Non-Playable Characters) with advanced AI capabilities featuring various levels of representation and gameplay into an immersive 3D environment. A demonstration game was developed for REVERIE, which is an adapted version of the popular Simon Says game. In the REVERIE version, a player tries to follow physical instructions issued by two autonomous agents with different degrees of realism. If a player follows a physical instruction correctly, they are awarded one point. If not, they are deducted one point. This paper presents a technical overview of the game technologies integrated in the Simon Says demo and its evaluation by players with variable computer literacy skills. Finally the potential of REVERIE as an immersive framework for gaming is discussed, followed by recommendations for improvements in future versions of the framework.

Non-linear analysis of composite structures with integrated piezoelectric sensors and actuators

This paper deals with the geometrically non linear analysis of thin plate/shell laminated structures with embedded integrated piezoelectric actuors or sensors layers and/or patches.The model is based on the Kirchhoff classical laminated theory and can be applied to plate and shell adaptive structures with arbitrary shape, general mechanical and electrical loadings. the finite element model is a nonconforming single layer triangular plate/shell element with 18 degrees of fredom for the generalized displacements and one eçlectrical potential degree of freedom for each piezoelectric layer or patch. An updated Lagrangian formulation associated to Newton-Raphson technique is used to solve incrementally and iteratively the equilibrium equation.The model is applied in the solution of four illustrative cases, and the results are compared and discussedwith alternative solutions when available.

Liver-like biosensor: immobilized CYP3A4 sensors as tools for ligand binding and enzyme activity measurements

Cytochromes P450 constitute a super-family of enzymes involved in the metabolism of Xenobiotics, where human cytochrome P450 3A4 is the most abundant of all P450s, accounting for about 50% of all human liver cytochromes. This membrane anchored protein is responsible for the metabolization of a wide array of environmental drugs and intoxicants, mainly due to its haem domain properties, and active site cavity volume. These properties make this protein an excellent subject for biosensor application, although CYO3A4 enzyme is also famous for its instability. Enzyme inactivation at room temperature is a normal conversion process that this enzyme undergoes, that may hamper any biosensing approach.

Regulatory interactions between the metabolic sensors SIRT1 and AMPK in modulating PPARα linked functions, in obesity-dependent type 2 diabetes mellitus

Tese de doutoramento, Ciências Biomédicas (Ciências Funcionais), Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Medicina, 2014

Ocean bottom seismic noise : applications for the crust knowledge, interaction ocean-atmosphere and instrumental behaviour

Tese de doutoramento, Ciências Geofísicas e da Geoinformação (Geofisíca), Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências, 2014

The Triveneto transhumance: law, land, movement

North Italy's nomadic shepherds are a phenomenon unique in the world. Their nomadic nature is taken to the extreme since they move constantly rather than solely in the winter or the summer, as in the usual nomadism. Their home is on wheels and their territory is the tightly regulated yet sprawling Triveneto area. The Triveneto transhumance moves beyond private/public property divides, and indeed beyond lawful/unlawful distinctions, giving rise to what I have called an animal normativity. Relying on Valentina De Marchi's text 'Fame d'Erba' on the Triveneto transhumance, I show how territory becomes a question of animal hunger, and movement becomes an atmospheric, silent and imperceptible affect that crosses private property boundaries, state law limitations, reservation areas and road networks. This way of being, beyond the usual distinctions, offers an example of an alternative political and legal organisation that brings forth the continuum between the human, the natural and the legal/political.