The Relationship Between Motor Planning and Freezing of Gait in Parkinson’s Disease

Objective: To examine how a cued change in motor plan influences Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients with freezing of gait (FOG) (PD FOG; n=10), compared with those without FOG (PD non-FOG; n=10) and healthy controls (n=10). Methods: Participants walked through a doorway in three experimental conditions: no cue; cue before gait initiation; and cue after gait initiation. The light cue was presented at the end of the pathway and signified that individuals must walk to the cue, turn around and return to starting position. Results: Step-to-step variability (a known precursor to FOG) revealed a significant main effect of group (F2,27=32.83, p\u3c0.001), where PD FOG walked with greater step length variability than PD non-FOG and the control group. A significant interaction (F4,54=3.035, p=0.025) demonstrated that only the PD FOG group was most variable when the cue was present before gait initiation. Conclusion: This study concludes that motor planning deficits affect gait, specifically in individuals who experience FOG. This may have important implications for the design of therapeutic interventions in PD FOG

Serenidada Sinsoidal for orchestra

1. For orchestra 2. String Quartet2. String Quarte

Multifunctional metal-organic frameworks : from academia to industrial applications

After three decades of intense and fundamental research on metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), is there anything left to say or to explain? The synthesis and properties of MOFs have already been comprehensively described elsewhere. It is time, however, to prove the nature of their true usability: technological applications based on these extended materials require development and implementation as a natural consequence of the up-to-known intensive research focused on their design and preparation. The current large number of reviews on MOFs emphasizes practical strategies to develop novel networks with varied crystal size, shape and topology, being mainly devoted to academic concerns. The present survey intends to push the boundaries and summarise the state-of-the-art on the preparation of promising (multi) functional MOFs in worldwide laboratories and their use as materials for industrial implementation. This review starts, on the one hand, to describe several tools and striking examples of remarkable and recent (multi) functional MOFs exhibiting outstanding properties (e.g., in gas adsorption and separation, selective sorption of harmful compounds, heterogeneous catalysis, luminescent and corrosion protectants). On the other hand, and in a second part, it intends to use these examples of MOFs to incite scientists to move towards the transference of knowledge from the laboratories to the industry. Within this context, we exhaustively review the many efforts of several worldwide commercial companies to bring functional MOFs towards the daily use, analysing the various patents and applications reported to date. Overall, this review goes from the very basic concepts of functional MOF engineering and preparation ending up in their industrial production on a large scale and direct applications in society

The Master model on multi-actor and multilevel social responsibilities

This working paper contributes to a collective discussion in a workshop occurring in January 2011 at the International Institute of Social Studies, bringing scholars from Europe and Brazil and aiming inter-university research collaboration on linking policies on social responsibility to development and equity. The paper serves as an introductory discussion for reframing the concept of corporate social responsibility into a broader umbrella concept of multi-actor and multilevel social responsibility in a territorial scope – the Master model, connecting different stakeholders´ social responsibilities to the purpose of development and equity goals at territorial levels. The proposed Master model can be unfolded into parts of: specific layers of territorial scopes; engagement of social actors in the governance arena; delegation of complementary roles; choices of levels of ethical challenges; themes of social responsibility; and development of governance phases. It presents a synthesis and reflection on the current state of the art of the concept and tools of corporate social responsibility and multilevel governance and brings the contribution of a selection of globally referenced frameworks for policies on corporate social responsibility and development and equity goals. The Master model aims to serve as a mapping tool for research and policies purposes on linking social responsibility, governance, development and equity. Comments and contributions from readers are much welcome for future revisions on the paper

Interactions between states and markets in a global context of change

This working paper is part of ongoing research on international comparison between European and Brazilian public policies for cross-sector and multi-actor social responsibility based on a concept of stakeholders’ social responsibility as proposed by Ashley (2010). One of the propositions presented here is that the process and content of public policy-making and business strategies for CSR can be seen in a co-evolution process, which is co-shaped by social, economic, environmental, political and institutional aspects through interactions between markets, civil society and the State, either at local, regional and national level, as well as at the global level. This proposition can serve as lenses for comprehension on the variety of perspectives for public policies on CSR in an international context. The paper presents, in a first section, an analysis and discussion on a literature review concerning European public polices for corporate social responsibility. In a second section, it presents a discussion on some recent contributions for research on social responsibility at the organizational and inter-institutional levels. One contribution is the ISO 26000 revised final draft, which migrates from the concept of corporate social responsibility to organizational social responsibility. Another one is a model for an inter-institutional framework for multi-level and multi-actor governance of stakeholders’ social responsibility (Ashley, 2010), to be further developed as part of a research agenda from a perspective of critical social studies. It is here assumed that the choice of theories, methods and goals for a research agenda is also a political decision, affecting the role definition of higher education institutions as relevant contributors for policy making on development cooperation. Thus, one key aspect for future research is on the choice of scope of content – from narrow to broad concepts – and on the time-frame – short, medium or long term time-frames - adopted by researchers for the concept of social responsibility. Another key political aspect for a research agenda on social responsibility is considered on the embedded quality of political interaction between the State, markets and civil-society concerning the mutual contribution for an inter-institutional learning framework in the research agenda and design

Territorio-salud: el tejido de una relación desigual percibida por las y los trabajadores del banano, en el recinto San Rafael, Guayas-Ecuador, entre 2000 y 2013

El presente estudio describe cómo la relación territorio-salud es percibida por los y las trabajadoras de banano, en San Rafael, provincia del Guayas-Ecuador, entre 2000 y 2013. Men centro en entender cómo a través de las relaciones sociales que desarrolla este grupo social con varios actores locales, emergen, perpetuan e, inclusive, se adaptan a mecanismos de inequidad. Se evidencia mecanismos inequitativos como los de explotación, acaparamiento de oportunidades, emulación, adaptación, jerarquización, distanciamiento y exclusión. Estos mecanismos han sido instalados y mantenidos en el área de estudio hace ya tiempo, y su existencia ha hallado cabida en el contexto político-económico local-nacional. Todos estos mecanismos afectan nocivamente tanto a la salud del grupo de estudio, como al territorio en que habitan. Las relaciones verticales o jerárquicas, son la perfecta estructura para la presencia de mecanismos inequitativos, y éstas son tejidas con la mayoría de actores. En tanto que, las relaciones horizontales propician la emergencia de elementos como confianza y solidaridad entre los y las trabajadoras de banano y amas de casa que habitan en el recinto. La solidaridad y confianza entre pares trabajadores y trabajadoras de banano al interior de la finca productora son descritas como superficiales, lo que evidencia que las relaciones sociales son configuradas por el pero también configuran al territorio en que éstas se tejen. Territorio-salud es una relación que siempre está produciéndose, y en el territorio de San Rafael, su estructura histórica es inequitativa; sin embargo, en el mismo tejido se hallan valores que generan alegría de vivir

Vinho novo em odres velhos: sociedade de massa, espetacularização e novas tecnologias em Black Mirror

O texto trata-se de uma resenha crítica do livro Isso (não) é muito Black Mirror, lançado por André Lemos, em 2018. Nele o autor discute como, apesar de tocar em temas caros à comunicação – como sociedade midiática, mídias digitais, redes sociais, as questões do corpo, da vigilância e demais tecnologias – a série apenas tangencia questões cruciais do século passado. Mesmo que sem negar a importância dos temas discutidos, o livro faz uma crítica às abordagens já ultrapassadas de Black Mirror, que nem de longe conseguem vislumbrar os atuais problemas e desafios da contemporaneidade. Por trás de uma perspectiva que aparentemente fala do futuro, o que se tem, na realidade, são novas tecnologias sendo apresentadas com roupagens velhas.This text is a critical review of the book Isso (não) é muito Black Mirror, released by André Lemos in 2018. The author discusses how, despite touching important themes to Communication – such as media society, digital media, social networks, issues of the body, surveillance and other technologies – the television series only touches on crucial  issues of the last century. Even without denying the importance of the topics discussed,the book critiques the outdated approaches of Black Mirror, which are nowhere near able to glimpse the current problems and challenges of contemporary times. Behind a perspective that apparently speaks of the future, what we have, in reality, are new technologies being presented in old clothes