Manual wheelchairs are great! But…

Long term manual wheelchair (MW) self-propulsion causes prevalent problems such as shoulder pain due to subacromial impingement (42-66% incidence), wrist pain due to carpal tunnel syndrome (49-73% incidence), and general upper limbs muscular pain. The current approach to prevent such injuries is: appropriate and timely provision of wheelchair, and skills training. For long term MW users that already have injuries and pain, the current treatment approach is: physiotherapy, pain killers, surgery or switching to an electric wheelchair. Power assist devices use motors that drive the wheelchair back wheels to help the users self-propel with demonstrated reduction of effort, pain and injuries. We interviewed nine MW users regarding their needs and expectations on adding assistance for propelling their wheelchairs. We also reviewed the power assist devices available. We have found that although MW users understood the benefits of using powered propelling assistant devices, the technology is not widely used due to lack of awareness and unaffordability. A high quality, affordable, open source, fully mechanical and lightweight assist device is needed. While waiting for researchers to create such high quality affordable device, we recommend MW users to use tricycles or lever drive propulsion, when possible, instead of the standard inefficient handrim propulsion

Severe Legionella Pneumophila Infection in an Immunocompetent Patient: A Success Story 300 Kilometers Away.

The most significantoutbreak of Legionella pneumophila, or Legionnaires' Disease, ever registered in Portugal occurred in 2014, and was considered one of the largest in European history. This relatively rare infection has a dire prognosis if not timely identified and correctly treated, presenting with a high lethality rate. We describe a case of infection by Legionella pneumophila in a previously healthy individual during an outbreak that originated 300 kilometers away from our hospital. The patient presented to the Emergency Department and after an initial assessment, was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). He underwent supportive treatment with invasive mechanical ventilation and antibiotic therapy, having been discharged with functional improvement 21 days after admission. During follow-up, the patient presented well without residual clinical or radiological findings. Prompt management following established guidelines allowed for the appropriate treatment and a favorable prognosis. This case serves as a reminder that early management is important,healthy individuals without known risk factors may present withsevere infection, and there is the possibility for individual cases of Legionellosis to present far from the outbreak source

Exact Nonequilibrium Work Generating Function for a Small Classical System

We obtain the exact nonequilibrium work generating function (NEWGF), for a small system consisting of a massive Brownian particle connected to internal and external springs. The external work is provided to the system for a finite time interval. The Jarzynski equality (JE), obtained in this case directly from the NEWGF, is shown to be valid for the present model, in an exact way regardless of the rate of external work

Coworking in Lisbon: Experiences of collaboration and sharing on changing urban contexts

As innovative and creative ecosystems, Coworking Spaces (CWS) show high adaptability and recovery capacity in facing global event disruptions. This article is an exploratory study that aims to approach the development of coworking spaces in the city of Lisbon. It investigates the location patterns and adaptation of such ecosystems in Lisbon, by mapping the phenomenon and examining its spatio-temporal dynamics that was influenced by the urbanisation phases of the city, as well as the development and planning policies designed over the years. Starting from a broader view of CWS location in the city, this article moves on to present two particular cases, implemented in a different time and socio-economic circumstances in different parts of the city: LxFactory and The Creative Hub. This study is part of a broader contribution to COST Action (CA)18214 "The geography of the new workspaces and the impact on the periphery".info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Exploiting Resolution-based Representations for MaxSAT Solving

Most recent MaxSAT algorithms rely on a succession of calls to a SAT solver in order to find an optimal solution. In particular, several algorithms take advantage of the ability of SAT solvers to identify unsatisfiable subformulas. Usually, these MaxSAT algorithms perform better when small unsatisfiable subformulas are found early. However, this is not the case in many problem instances, since the whole formula is given to the SAT solver in each call. In this paper, we propose to partition the MaxSAT formula using a resolution-based graph representation. Partitions are then iteratively joined by using a proximity measure extracted from the graph representation of the formula. The algorithm ends when only one partition remains and the optimal solution is found. Experimental results show that this new approach further enhances a state of the art MaxSAT solver to optimally solve a larger set of industrial problem instances

Age and growth of hake Merluccius merluccius Linnaeus, 1758 from the Northeast Atlantic (ICES division IXa)

El objetivo de este estudio fue estimar los parámetros de edad y crecimiento de la merluza europea Merluccius merluccius Linnaeus, 1758 del nordeste atlántico (división IXa del CIEM, aguas continentales portuguesas), mediante el análisis de otolitos. Se observaron en total 951 cortes de otolitos, cubriendo un rango de longitud de peces de 10 a 80 cm, capturados en campañas realizadas entre octubre de 1996 y julio de 1997. La interpretación de los anillos anuales siguió los últimos criterios adoptados sobre atribución de edades, particularmente para los primeros grupos de edad. Se obtuvieron las claves trimestrales de edadlongitud considerando los sexos conjuntamente, así como la longitud media observada por edad. Se ha realizado una validación indirecta de los resultados basada en el análisis de las frecuencias de tallas utilizando el método de Bhattacharya. Los parámetros de crecimiento de la ecuación de Von Bertalanffy fueron L∞ = 110,6 cm, k = 0,08 años-1 y t0 = -0,97 años, valores similares a los estimados por otros autores para esta especie.The present study estimates age and growth parameters of the European hake Merluccius merluccius Linnaeus, 1758 from the Northeast Atlantic (ICES division IXa, Portuguese continental waters), based on otolith analysis. A total of 951 otoliths sections were examined, covering a length range of 10-80 cm, from fish taken during surveys carried out between October 1996 and July 1997. The annual ring interpretation followed the recently established standard ageing criteria, particularly for the first age groups. Quarterly age-length keys, for combined sexes, and the respective mean length at age were obtained. An indirect validation based on length-frequency analysis was performed using the Bhattacharya method. The estimated Von Bertalanffy growth parameters were L∞ = 110.6 cm, k = 0.08 year-1 and t0 = -0.97 year. These values are similar to those reported by other authors for the same species.Instituto Español de Oceanografí

Pneumatosis Coli Treated with Metronidazole and Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy: A Successful Case

A pneumatose intestinal, caracterizada pela presença de gás na parede do cólon, é uma condição incomum com um espectro de apresentação variável. Pode ser idiopática ou secundária a outras doenças. A tomografia computorizada é o método de diagnóstico com maior sensibilidade. Na ausência de sinais e sintomas sugestivos de complicações, como a perfuração e a peritonite, a pneumatose intestinal pode ser tratada de forma conservadora. Apresenta-se o caso de uma mulher de 59 anos com pneumatose cólica secundária a teratoma ovárico benigno. Após a cirurgia, manteve-se sintomática e foi tratada com sucesso com metronidazol e oxigenoterapia hiperbárica

Lamellae Stability in Confined Systems with Gravity

The microphase separation of a diblock copolymer melt confined by hard walls and in the presence of a gravitational field is simulated by means of a cell dynamical system model. It is found that the presence of hard walls normal to the gravitational field are key ingredients to the formation of well ordered lamellae in BCP melts. To this effect the currents in the directions normal and parallel to the field are calculated along the interface of a lamellar domain, showing that the formation of lamellae parallel to the hard boundaries and normal to the field correspond to the stable configuration. Also, it is found thet the field increases the interface width.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, submitted to Physical Review