Towards the development of the psychosocial impact of assistive devices scale for continence (C-PIADS)

BACKGROUND: Current outcome measures for continence management devices do not adequately address psychosocial impact. The PIADS is an assessment tool that has been shown to reliably predict the adoption and use of assistive technology devices, but it is not widely used for continence devices. OBJECTIVE: To explore whether the PIADS requires modification to address the particular needs of continence device users and to inform any subsequent item development. METHODS: The study used interpretive methods in which qualitative information from semi-structured interviews was combined with the findings from cognitive interviews for questionnaire pre-testing. A total of 40 participants in UK and Canada were interviewed. RESULTS: Few participants had difficulty in understanding or relating to the majority of PIADS items. Several items were not considered relevant to continence and some areas for potential new items were uncovered. Embarrassment and concealment of urinary incontinence from others were common topics. CONCLUSIONS: The PIADS appears to fundamentally address many, but not all, of the important psychosocial concerns of adults who have continence difficulties. A version for continence, the C-PIADS, will require modification of the PIADS and is likely to contain some new items

A convoy protection strategy using the moving path following method

This paper considers the problem of convoy protection missions using a fixed-wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) in scenarios where the radius of the circular region of interest around the convoy is smaller than the UAV minimum turning radius. Using the Moving Path Following (MPF) method, we propose a guidance algorithmic strategy where a UAV moving at constant ground speed is required to converge to and follow a desired geometric moving path that is attached to the convoy center. Conditions under which the proposed strategy solves the convoy problem are derived. A performance metric that is proposed together with numerical simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Producing land use/cover maps with the integration of remote sensing and ancillary data in a GIS environment

The main purpose of the research presented in this paper is the development and validation, through the application to a case study, of an efficient form of satellite image classification that integrates ancillary information (Census data; the Municipal Master Plan; the Road Network) and remote sensing data in a Geographic Information System. The developed procedure follows a layered classification approach, being composed by three main stages: 1) Preclassification stratification; 2) Application of Bayesian and Maximum-likelihood classifiers; 3) Post-classification sorting. Common approaches incorporate the ancillary data before, during or after classification. In the proposed method, all the steps take the auxiliary information into account. The proposed method achieves, globally, much better classification results than the classical, one layer, Minimum Distance and Maximum- likelihood classifiers. Also, it greatly improves the accuracy of those classes where the classification process uses the ancillary data.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Moving path following for unmanned aerial vehicles with applications to single and multiple target tracking problems

This paper introduces the moving path following (MPF) problem, in which a vehicle is required to converge to and follow a desired geometric moving path, without a specific temporal specification, thus generalizing the classical path following that only applies to stationary paths. Possible tasks that can be formulated as an MPF problem include tracking terrain/air vehicles and gas clouds monitoring, where the velocity of the target vehicle or cloud specifies the motion of the desired path. We derive an error space for MPF for the general case of time-varying paths in a two-dimensional space and subsequently an application is described for the problem of tracking single and multiple targets on the ground using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) flying at constant altitude. To this end, a Lyapunov-based MPF control law and a path-generation algorithm are proposed together with convergence and performance metric results. Real-world flight tests results that took place in Ota Air Base, Portugal, with the ANTEX-X02 UAV demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Job crafting and job performance: The mediating effect of engagement

The main purpose of this study was to investigate whether work engagement mediates the relationship between job crafting and job performance. To this end, the following hypotheses were formulated: (1) job crafting establishes a positive and significant association with job performance; (2) job establishes a positive and significant association with work engagement; (3) work engagement establishes a positive and significant association with job performance; (4) work engagement mediates the association between job crafting and job performance. The sample was composed of 453 participants working in organisations based in Portugal. The hypotheses formulated in this study were tested by performing simple and multiple linear regressions. The results indicated that only increasing structural job resources and increasing challenging job demands established a positive and significant association with task performance. Increasing structural job resources, increasing social job resources, and increasing challenging job demands established a positive and significant association with citizenship performance and work engagement. Work engagement established a positive and significant association with task performance and citizenship performance. Only a partial mediating effect, through work engagement, was observed on the association between increasing challenging job demands and task performance, and between increasing social job resources and citizenship performance.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Espondilolise e espondilolistese ístmica de grau I no adolescente: Análise retrospectiva de 30 casos

Objectivo: a espondilolise e a espondilolistese ístmica grau I são causas de lombalgia nos adolescentes e associam-se a fractura de fadiga da pars interarticularis por movimentos repetidos de hiperextensão. Na literatura não existe consenso quanto aos benefícios do tratamento cirúrgico nestes doentes, muitas vezes atletas, e a controvérsia prolonga-se sobre qual a melhor técnica cirúrgica. Os autores descrevem a técnica cirúrgica que sistematicamente utilizam e analisam os resultados obtidos.Material e métodos: retrospectivamente, entre 2004 e 2013, foram avaliados 30 adolescentes, 12 com lise ístmica e 18 com espondilolistese ístmica grau I, operados pelo mesmo cirurgião. A reconstituição ístmica foi feita com autoenxerto de ilíaco e fixação pedicular posterior temporária. Avalia-se a taxa de consolidação, complicações, dor (VAS), função (ODI) e o grau de satisfaçãoResultados: a idade média foi 16.3 anos (13-18) e o seguimento 23.5 meses (14-48). Ocorreu consolidação em 100% dos casos. O VAS médio reduziu de 7.48 para 0.38 (p<0.0001) e, funcionalmente, o ODI médio melhorou de 38.55% para 1.59% (p<0.0001), de disfunção moderada para mínima. A todos os doentes foi retirado o material após 1 ano de reconstituição ístmica. No total, 63.3% dos doentes eram desportistas e todos retomaram o nível prévio. Não se verificou progressão da listese nem complicações significativas. Os doentes encontram-se satisfeitos e repetiriam o tratamento.Conclusão: as técnicas de artrodese obtêm bons resultados clínicos mas implicam perda de mobilidade segmentar e doença do nível adjacente. Comparativamente com técnicas dinâmicas, a técnica preconizada pelos autores permite não só a reconstituição ístmica eficaz como revela resultados superiores a médio prazo, o que supera a necessidade de segunda intervenção para extração do material. A reconstituição ístmica com autoenxerto e fixação pedicular posterior temporária na espondilolise ou espondilolistese ístmica grau I obteve excelentes resultados clínicos e elevada taxa de consolidação. Esta técnica é defendida pelos autores mesmo em atletas de alta competição