Innovations Developed by Patients and Informal Caregivers for Needs Associated to Rheumatic Diseases

Funding: The authors are grateful for the funding provided by the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) through the project Revolutionizing Healthcare: Empowering patients by valuing innovation and promoting entrepreneurship (PTDC/EGEOGE/32573/2017).Until recently, innovation in healthcare was mainly achieved through the development of new drugs, therapies, and medical devices by big pharma and medtech companies; however, the innovative potential for this field is much broader. The patients and caregivers' role in healthcare is often associated with disease management, demand for their own illness data, and its exchange with other patients. However, the patients and caregivers' capacity to innovate to cope with limitations associated with their health condition is a growing phenomenon and starting to be supported by healthcare stakeholders to achieve a truly patient-centric system. Our previous research has shown that these uncommon innovators can develop a wide range of solutions, from simple adaptations and products to highly technological biomedical devices. In this paper, we present novel solutions developed by rheumatic patients, their caregivers, and collaborators, published on the “Patient Innovation” platform (https://patient-innovation.com/), with a focus on the innovator profile, the need that triggers the innovative process, the type of motivation behind the product, and the products developed. The most significant needs that motivate innovation are the will to increase the level of independence (71%) and to be able to perform daily routine activities (65%). In over 80% of cases, the fact that the market does not fully fulfill the needs felt during daily activities is the main motivation to innovate. It is thus concluded that there is room for innovation in rheumatic diseases with solutions developed by patients and informal caregivers that intend to solve needs that the healthcare market is not covering.publishersversionpublishe

O parto desejado : expectativas de um grupo de grávidas

O parto representa um evento marcante na transição para a maternidade com repercussões a nível da ligação afetiva entre a mãe e o recém-nascido. Sabemos que as expectativas criadas ao longo da gravidez e à volta do parto são fatores de influência positiva ou negativa para a experiência do mesmo. Importa por isso conhecer quais são estas expectativas, para assim orientar as intervenções durante o parto, visando proporcionar uma experiência mais positiva para as mulheres. Foi realizado um estudo qualitativo, do tipo descritivo, com o objetivo de conhecer as expectativas das grávidas em relação ao parto e perceber qual o seu conceito de parto natural. A amostra foi constituída por nove grávidas no segundo e terceiro trimestre de gravidez, a realizar a sua vigilância de gravidez no Centro de Saúde de Paços de Ferreira. Foram realizadas entrevistas semiestruturadas, após o preenchimento de um formulário para caracterização demográfica. Os discursos recolhidos foram analisados com recurso ao programa NVivo8 e utilizando uma metodologia de acordo com a Grounded Theory recorrendo à categorização aberta. Desta análise surgiu uma categoria principal - as expectativas do parto - com as subcategorias: expectativas face ao local do parto, quanto ao tipo de parto, face ao controlo da dor de trabalho de parto, face ao papel do acompanhante e face aos profissionais. A análise dos dados recolhidos mostra que as expectativas em relação ao parto são de que “tudo corra bem”, o desejo de um parto rápido e sem dor, ou pelo menos com uma dor tolerável, e que a criança nasça sem problemas e saudável. O papel a desempenhar pelo acompanhante será de apoio através da sua presença junto da parturiente. Dos profissionais é espectável um atendimento competente, em que a atenção e valorização das necessidades das parturientes, o acompanhamento individualizado e a disponibilização da informação sobre a evolução do trabalho de parto são considerados essenciais, sendo também valorizada a possibilidade de uma participação nas decisões tomadas durante o processo. A conclusão do estudo realizado salienta que as grávidas que participaram no estudo consideram que as decisões a tomar durante o parto pertencem aos profissionais, e não assumindo como suas essas mesmas decisões.Birth represents a landmark event in the transition to motherhood with an impact on the emotional bond between mother and newborn. The expectations raised during pregnancy around the delivery can be a positive or negative influence on the quality and satisfaction with the experience of birth. The knowledge of these expectations will guide the professional’s interventions during labor aiming a more positive experience. The present study was realized with the aim to know what expectations had pregnant women about their childbirth and realize what their concept of natural childbirth was. It is a qualitative descriptive study. The sample is consisted on nine pregnant women who were in the second and third trimester of pregnancy and were monitoring their pregnancy in the Health Center of Paços de Ferreira. Semi-structured Interviews were conducted after completing a demographic form. The collected speeches were analyzed using the program NVivo 8 and it was used the Grounded Theory methodology using the open categorization. From the analysis emerged a major category - the expectations of childbirth – and the subcategories: expectations regarding the place of delivery, the type of delivery, the control of pain in labor, the role of caregiver and the role of professionals. The analysis show that the expectations for delivery are that "everything goes well”, and the desire of a quick and painless childbirth, or at least with a manageable pain, and that the child will be healthy and without any problems. The presence of the supporting person is considered important. The role of the professionals expected is of a competent service, where the attention and appreciation of the needs of pregnant women, an individualized guidance and the provision of information on the progress of labor are considered essential. Women also valued the opportunity to be involved in the decisions made during the labor and expect to have a good outcome and experience of birth. However the conclusions results that women delegate in the professionals the decisions to be made during delivery considering them the ones in the knowledge to do i

Dinâmicas do director de turma na promoção do envolvimento da família na escola: um contributo para a diminuição da indisciplina

Dissertação de Mestrado em Administração e Gestão Educacional apresentada à Universidade AbertaResumo - O presente estudo pretende contribuir para a análise da problemática do relacionamento entre a escola e a família perante situações de indisciplina no 2º e 3º ciclos do ensino básico, tendo como figura principal o Director de Turma, enquanto interface (Diogo, 1998) e mediador das relações entre os diversos actores, nomeadamente, professores, família e alunos perante situações de indisciplina. O enquadramento teórico é organizado em dois capítulos. O primeiro apresenta o conceito do director de Turma no desempenho das suas competências a nível das três dimensões designadas por Mintzberg (1973), o papel interpessoal, o papel informacional e o papel decisional, bem como os conceitos que se correlacionam directamente com ele, nomeadamente a formação cívica e a formação do Director de Turma. O segundo capítulo apresenta o conceito do Director de Turma relacionado com os conceitos de família e de indisciplina, a nível da prevenção e da intervenção na escola. Neste âmbito, pretendemos com este estudo contribuir para um melhor conhecimento de uma parte da realidade educativa das escolas, através da identificação e comparação das perspectivas dos Directores de Turma face ao envolvimento parental na escola, bem como as estratégias utilizadas para promover este mesmo envolvimento, no sentido de contribuírem para a diminuição da indisciplina. O nosso estudo exploratório realizou-se em duas escolas do 2º e 3º ciclos do ensino básico situadas em meios com características diferentes, a nível socioeconómico e cultural, enquadrando-se a primeira na classe média, média/alta (Alfa) e a segunda na classe baixa (Beta). Utilizámos dois instrumentos, o inquérito por entrevista, através do qual construímos o inquérito por questionário, que foi aplicado aos Directores de Turma de ambas as escolas da Área Metropolitana de Lisboa. Também realizámos a análise dos regulamentos internos de ambas as escolas. Posteriormente, procedemos à triangulação dos resultados das entrevistas, dos questionários e dos regulamentos internos. Os principais resultados, que não podem ser generalizados, apontam para diferenças significativas a nível das perspectivas dos Directores de Turma das duas escolas, relativamente não só ao envolvimento da família na escola, como também a nível de estratégias utilizadas por estes +para promover esse envolvimento, de forma a prevenir e a intervir em situações de indisciplinaAbstract - This work intends to contribute to the analysis of the question related to the relationship between school and family in situations of indiscipline in the 2nd and 3rd cycles while having the classroom teacher as main element, as interface (Diogo, 1998) and mediator of relationships between the different actors, mainly teachers, family and students in cases of indiscipline. The theoretical background is organised in two chapters. The first presents the concept of “classroom teacher” in the performance of his competences, constituted by three dimensions called by Mintzberg (1973), the interpersonal role, the informational role and the decisional role, as well as the concepts that correlate directly with them, mainly “Formação Cívica” and his development as Classroom teacher. The second chapter presents the concepts of Classroom teacher related to the concepts family and indiscipline at preparational and interventional level at school. In this context and with this work we want to contribute for an improved knowledge of a part of school’s reality through the identification and comparison of the classroom teacher’s perspectives on parental involvement at school, as well as the strategies used to promote this involvement in the sense of contributing to the decrease of indiscipline. Our study took place in two schools of the 2nd and 3rd cycles in environments with different characteristics in terms of social-economic background. The first belongs to predominate upper/middle-classes (Alfa) and the second to lower classes (beta). We used two instruments, a interview used to build a questionnaire, further applied to classroom teachers of both schools of the Metropolitan Area of Lisbon. We also made an analysis of the internal regulations from both schools. Then we proceeded to comparison of the results of the interview, questionnaires and internal regulations. The main results that can be generalized, indicate significant differences at the perspectives of classroom teachers between both schools, concerning the involvement of the family in school, as well as at the level of strategies used to promote involvement to prevent and intervene in situations of indisciplin

A importância da arte no desenvolvimento afectivo-relacional

Dissertação de Mestrado, Psicologia da Educação, especialidade Necessidades Educativas Especiais, Faculdade de Psicologia e de Ciências Humanas e Sociais, Universidade do Algarve , 2006O presente estudo centra-se na importância e papel das actividades artísticas como recurso disponível para promover e/ou potenciar o desenvolvimento afectivo-relacional das pessoas, em geral, e das pessoas com Necessidades Educativas Especiais, em particular.The present study is centred on the importance and role of artistie activities as an available resource to promote and/or to increase people's emotional-relational development generally, and, particularly, those with special cducational needs

Desafios e oportunidades da Educação para a Cidadania

A cidadania é uma meta do sistema educativo, cujo processo exige mais do que a sua prescrição normativa ou declarativa. Partindo da constatação empírica do fosso entre o currículo prescrito e a formação e prática dos docentes na área da cidadania importa compreender os fatores explicativos desse problema, além de fomentar o conhecimento para promover propostas políticas e medidas nos domínios curriculares e programáticos na área da cidadania, com vista à sua realização prática.  A metodologia é quantitativa e insere-se num design de investigação inferencial. Este artigo realça resultados provados a partir do conhecimento dos principais atores educativos.

Development of a double Skin Facade system applied in a virtual occupied chamber

In this study a system constituted by seven double skin facades (DSF), three equipped with venetian blinds and four not equipped with venetian blinds, applied in a virtual chamber, is developed. The project will be carried out in winter conditions, using a numerical model, in transient conditions, and based on energy and mass balance linear integral equations. The energy balance linear integral equations are used to calculate the air temperature inside the DSF and the virtual chamber, the temperature on the venetian blind, the temperature on the inner and outer glass, and the temperature distribution in the surrounding structure of the DSF and virtual chamber. These equations consider the convection, conduction, and radiation phenomena. The heat transfer by convection is calculated by natural, forced, and mixed convection, with dimensionless coefficients. In the radiative exchanges, the incident solar radiation, the absorbed solar radiation, and the transmitted solar radiation are considered. The mass balance linear integral equations are used to calculate the water mass concentration and the contaminants mass concentration. These equations consider the convection and the diffusion phenomena. In this numerical work seven cases studies and three occupation levels are simulated. In each case the influence of the ventilation airflow and the occupation level is analyzed. The total number of thermal and indoor air quality uncomfortable hours are used to evaluate the DSF performance. In accordance with the obtained results, in general, the indoor air quality is acceptable; however, when the number of occupants in the virtual chamber increases, the Predicted Mean Vote index value increases. When the airflow rate increases the total of Uncomfortable Hours decreases and, after a certain value of the airflow rate, it increases. The airflow rate associated with the minimum value of total Uncomfortable Hours increases when the number of occupants increases. The energy production decreases when the airflow increases and the production of energy is higher in DSF with venetian blinds system than in DSF without venetian blinds system.SAICT-ALG/39586/2018, CRESC Algarve 2020info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Energy production in solar collectors in a university building used to improve the internal thermal conditions in winter conditions

In this numerical study the energy production in solar collectors in a University building used to improve the internal thermal conditions is made. Passive and active solutions, using external solar collector and internal thermo-convectors, are used. The numerical simulation, in transient conditions, is done for a winter typical day with clean sky. This numerical study was carried out using a software that simulates the Building Dynamic Response with complex topology in transient conditions. The software evaluates the human thermal comfort and indoor air quality levels that the occupants are subjected, Heated Ventilation and Air Conditioned energy consumption, indoor thermal variables and other parameters. The university building has 107 compartments and is located in a Mediterranean-type environment. External solar water collectors, placed above the building’s roof, and internal thermo-convectors of water/air type, using mixing ventilation, are used as passive and active strategies, respectively. The thermal comfort level, using the Predicted Mean Vote index, and the indoor air quality, using the carbon dioxide concentration, are evaluated. The results show that in winter conditions the solar collectors improve the thermal comfort conditions of the occupants. The indoor air quality, in all ventilated spaces, is also guaranteed.SAICT-ALG/39586/2018info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Production of thermal energy in university building greenhouses in cold climate conditions

The present work focuses on the production of thermal energy in University building greenhouses in cold climate conditions. The building model uses a system of energy and mass balance integral equations, which are solved by the Runge–Kutta–Felberg method with error control. This numerical study is about the thermal behaviour of a university building with complex topology, in winter and transient conditions. The thermal comfort of the occupants, using the Predicted Mean Vote index, and the indoor air quality, using the carbon dioxide concentration, are evaluated. This building has 319 compartments distributed by four floors and it is equipped with one internal greenhouse in the third floor. This greenhouse is located on the south facing facade and the heated air in this space will be transported to compartments located on the north facing façade. The spaces subject to the influence of the heated air coming from the greenhouse improve the level of thermal comfort of its occupants. The level of indoor air quality in occupied spaces is acceptable according to international standards.SAICT-ALG/39586/2018; (CRESC Algarve 2020)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Application of semi-circular double-skin facades in auditoriums in winter conditions

The DSF (double-skin facade) system is an important element in building design and is used in adjacent spaces to control the inlet solar radiation, heat the air, reduce energy consumption, decrease the acoustics levels, and produce photovoltaic energy, among other improvements. The DSF system can, for example, be used in winter conditions to heat the air, which is then transported to non-adjacent spaces to improve the thermal comfort level and the indoor air quality that the occupants are subjected to. Smooth DSF systems, which are a focus in the literature, are subjected to higher solar radiation levels at a specific hour of the day. The semi-circular DSF system used in this work, which was built from a group of smooth DSF systems with different orientations, guarantees the reception of the highest incident solar radiation throughout the entire day. This work presents a numerical study of a new DSF system, called the semi-circular DSF. The DSF system consists of a set of 25 smooth DSFs with different orientations, each one consisting of an outer glazed surface and an inner surface provided by the outer facade of the auditorium, both separated by an air channel. In this work, the influence of the radius of the semi-circular DSF system and the opening angle of the DSF system on the thermal response of the auditorium was analysed. Thus, six auditoriums were considered: two sets of three auditoriums with radii of 5 m and 15 m, with each of the auditoriums having a different DSF opening angle (45°, 90°, and 180°). It was found that the greater the radius of the semi-circular DSF and the opening angle of the DSF system, the greater the area of its glazed surface and, consequently, the greater the availability of solar heating power. Therefore, during the occupation period, only the set of auditoriums with the largest semi-circular DSF radius managed to present acceptable levels of thermal comfort, which were verified from mid-morning until late afternoon. As for the opening angle of the DSF system, the influence was not very significant, although slight improvements in thermal comfort were noted when the value of this angle was reduced (see Case F as an example) due to the corresponding decrease in the volume of indoor air to be heated. In all auditoriums (see Case A to Case F), it was verified that the indoor air quality was acceptable for the occupants, so the airflow rate was adequately promoted by the ventilation system.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio