Ground-breaking fresh ideas: introduction to the special issue for young researchers

The IJTEL young researcher special issue on ‘Ground-breaking fresh ideas in technology enhanced learning’ is a bit different than other journal special issues. The main idea of IJTEL’s editor in chief Ambjörn Naeve was to have a platform where PhD students and early post-docs can present their visions for TEL. Freed from the empirical limitations of a dissertation, it should allow young researchers to take a step back and bring fresh ideas to the field. This concept was picked up by an enthusiastic group of guest editors consisting of PhD students and young postdocs at JTEL Summer School 2010. But not only is the theme something different, we also tried to innovate in the process: the programme committee included experienced reviewers as well as novel reviewers to get different perspectives on the submitted papers. Furthermore, we provided an ideas clinic, where potential authors could present their ideas and seek feedback and collaboration. An abstract submission prior to the full paper submission completed the effort to provide as much feedback and guidance as possible. The whole process was overseen by managing editor Fridolin Wild to guarantee the high quality standards of both IJTEL and Inderscience.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Lower limb dynamic activity significantly reduces foot skin perfusion: exploring data with different optical sensors in age-grouped healthy adults

Introduction: The human lower limb is widely used as a model to study in vivo microcirculatory physiology and pathophysiology. It is a preferential target for critical comorbidities (overweight, diabetes, and peripheral vascular disease). Movement and activity are consistently regarded as beneficial, but the related adaptive physiology is still poorly understood. Our goal was to better identify the foot microcirculatory changes after a regular walking gait activity in healthy subjects of different ages. Methods: Twelve healthy participants of both sexes, with normal BMI and Ankle-Brachial Index, were selected and grouped according to age - group I (21.0 ± 1 y.o.) and group II (55.8 ± 3 y.o.). The protocol involved 2 phases of 5-min duration each - phase 1, a static standing position, and phase 2, 5-min walking with a comfortable pace on a pre-established circuit. Perfusion changes were assessed in the dorsal region of both feet before (baseline, phase 1) and after (phase 2) the gait period by noninvasive optical technologies - laser Doppler flowmetry (LDF), photoplethysmography, and polarized spectroscopy (PSp). Comparative statistics were performed with a 95% confidence level. Results: All instruments detected asymmetric nonsignificant perfusion between right and left feet during rest in all participants with values in females consistently lower than men. Older participants exhibited lower baseline values than the younger group. Gait evoked a perfusion reduction in all participants relative to phase 1 detected with all technologies, with statistically significant changes recorded with LDF (group I, p = 0.033, and group II, p = 0.028) and PSp (group II, p = 0.041). Furthermore, LDF revealed that gait significantly reduced perfusion velocity in the older group (p = 0.003). Corresponding changes in the younger group were present but discrete. Recovery to baseline levels was also slower in the older group. Discussion/Conclusions: Our results confirm that perfusion is age-dependent and demonstrate the clinical relevance of simple dynamic activities such as gait. This reduction of the dorsal foot perfusion occurs in-depth, being more pronounced with the movement intensity, suggesting a wide application potential in early diagnostics as for rehabilitation.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Differential behavioural profiles and their associations with physical activity among adolescents

The purpose of this study was to identify behavioural patterns in adolescents and analyse their associations with physical activity (PA). This study is based on the fourth Health Behaviour in School-aged Children, which included 5050 Portuguese adolescents (2409 boys; Mage=14,0±1,7 years) studied on the 6th-, 8th-, and 10th grades. Students answered a survey about lifestyles, which included questions about health and risk behaviours as well as self-perceptions. Cluster analyses revealed four distinct profiles: the first one was composed by adolescents who reported low frequency of both health and risk behaviours (“low health and low risk”); the second cluster integrated adolescents who reported high frequency of health behaviours and low frequency of risky behaviours (“high health and low risk”); the remaining two clusters, profiles 3 and 4, were composed by those who reported low frequency of health behaviours and high frequency of risky behaviours (“high health and high risk”). However, these diverge in the fact that adolescents in cluster 3 reported a positive perception of health while those in cluster 4 reported low perception of health. Frequency of PA was significantly different between all clusters, with clusters 3 and 4 reporting more PA than clusters 1 and 4. These results call out for the need to identify and prevent behaviours that can be associated to PA but may be harmful to adolescents’ health as a way to optimise the well-established health benefits of PA

CURRICULARIZAR A EXTENSÃO OU EXTENSIONALIZAR O CURRÍCULO? APORTES TEÓRICOS E PRÁTICAS DE INTEGRAÇÃO CURRICULAR DA EXTENSÃO ANTE A ESTRATÉGIA 12.7 DO PNE

O Plano Nacional de Educação-PNE (BRASIL, Lei 13.005,2014) define, dentre suas estratégias, a integralização de, no mínimo, dez por cento do total de créditos curriculares exigidos nos cursos de graduação, através de programas e projetos de extensão em áreas de pertinência social, o que desafia as instituições de ensino superior brasileiras a repensarem suas concepções e práticas extensionistas, o currículo e a própria universidade. De cunho bibliográfico, descritivo, e prospectivo, o presente artigo apresenta um breve histórico dos Planos Nacionais de Educação sob a perspectiva do ensino superior versus o quadro teórico que resgata a trajetória da extensão universitária no Brasil. Seu objetivo é dimensionar, a partir da observação-participante em instituições comunitárias de ensino superior e em eventos promovidos pelo FOREXT, trajetórias possíveis da implementação da estratégia 12.7. Apresenta a síntese de um mapa conceitual alicerçado na quadríade extensão-pesquisa-ensino-gestão, na reconexão social/territorial das instituições, na ressignificação do ensino superior e no reconhecimento da extensão como função acadêmica integrada ao currículo

Intervenção terapêutica no controlo da ansiedade da pessoa internada com perturbação mental

As perturbações de saúde mental afetam milhões de pessoas em todo o mundo diariamente. As perturbações de ansiedade são consideradas as mais prevalentes, traduzindo-se em custos de saúde muito significativos, estando associadas a um grande desgaste ao nível da doença, afetando cerca de um terço da população ao longo da sua vida. Os enfermeiros especialistas em enfermagem de saúde mental e psiquiátrica, que representam a maior proporção da força de trabalho em saúde mental, são vitais para melhorar o acesso de milhões de pessoas a cuidados de saúde mental adequados. Sabendo-se de uma crescente demonstração de evidên- cia de que a intervenção terapêutica especializada destes profissionais traz benefícios para a pessoa na redução e controlo da sua perturbação de ansiedade, permitindo que a mesma recupere o seu bem-estar, a sua funcionalidade e a sua integração na família e comunidade, é importante aprofundar os conheci- mentos na mesma e adquirir competências na sua aplicação em pessoas com esta perturbação, permi- tindo ganhos em saúde e reduzindo os custos associados. Para tal, foi desenvolvido e aplicado um projeto de intervenção terapêutica no controlo da ansiedade da pessoa internada com perturbação mental, ali- cerçado nos modelos de enfermagem Neuman Systems Model de Betty Neuman e Tidal Model de Phil Barker e Poppy Buchanan-Barker. Os resultados alcançados apontam para uma melhoria do bem-estar das pessoas cuidadas, reduzindo o seu nível de ansiedade e aumentando a capacidade de controlo sobre a mesma.Mental health disorders affect millions of people around the world on a daily basis. Anxiety disor- ders are considered the most prevalent, translating into very significant health costs, being associated with a great deal of illness burden, affecting about a third of the population throughout their lives. Mental health and psychiatric nursing specialists, who represent the largest proportion of the mental health workforce, are vital in improving millions of people's access to adequate mental health care. With a growing body of evidence showing that specialized therapeutic intervention from these professionals bring benefits to individuals in reducing and controlling their anxiety disorders, enabling them to regain their well-being, functionality and integration into family and community, it is important to deepen knowledge in this area and acquire skills in its application to people with this disorder, allowing for health gains and reducing associated costs. For this purpose, a therapeutic intervention project was developed and applied to control anxiety in individuals hospitalized with mental disorders, based on the nursing models of Betty Neuman's Neuman Systems Model and Phil Barker and Poppy Buchanan-Barker's Tidal Model. The results achieved indicate an improvement in the well-being of those cared for, reducing their level of anxiety and increasing their ability to control it

Smart Speaker Recommendations: Impact of Gender Congruence and Amount of Information on Users' Engagement and Choice

The relevance of smart speakers is steadily increasing, allowing users perform several daily tasks. From a commercial perspective, smart speakers also provide recommendations of products and services that may influence the consumer decision-making process. However, previous studies have mainly focused on the adoption of smart speakers, but there is a lack of proper guidelines that help design the way these devices should offer their consumption recommendations. Based on a stimulus-organism-response approach, we analyze how two features of smart speakers' recommendations (the gender congruence between the customer and the speaker, and the length of the message) influence on the effectiveness of such recommendations (i.e., visiting intentions) through its impact on user engagement and attitude. Data was collected from a sample of undergrad students in Spain using an experiment design that focused on a restaurant recommendation, and analyzed using partial least squares. On the one hand, our results suggests that gender congruence generates user engagement with the smart speaker. On the other hand, message length is positively related to attitudes towards the restaurant, at a declining rate. In addition, while better attitudes lead to higher visiting intentions, the influence of engagement on visiting intentions is partially mediated via attitudes. Thus, our findings contribute to understand the antecedents of users' engagement with smart speakers, as well as its impact on the customers' willingness to follow smart speakers' recommendations, constituting a base to analyze the impact of artificial intelligence solutions aimed to smooth the transitions of a customer through the stages of purchase processThis research benefited from the Professorship Excellence Program in accordance with the multi-year agreement signed by the Government of Madrid and the Autonomous University of Madri

Seroprevalencija virusa Zapadnog Nila u ptica u europskim državama: sistematski pregled

West Nile fever is a mosquito-borne viral disease that can affect birds, humans and horses, causing asymptomatic infection, mild fever, meningitis, encephalitis, and death. The aim of this study was to perform a systematic review of West Nile virus (WNV) seroprevalence studies in birds in European countries between 2010 and 2023. Three electronic databases – PubMed, ScienceDirect and Scopus – were searched for relevant publications using predetermined keywords. A total of 4,872 papers were found, and 39 results included in the article, after removing duplicates and applying the eligibility criteria. Further monitoring and epidemiological studies of WNV in Europe is advised, considering the threat that this disease can pose to humans and animals.Groznica Zapadnog Nila je virusna bolest koju prenose komarci, a koja pogađa ptice, konje i ljude prouzročeći asimptomatsku infekciju, blagu groznicu, meningitis, encefalitis i smrt. Cilj je ove studije bio obaviti sistematski pregled za analizu studija seroprevalencije virusa Zapadnog Nila u ptica u europskim državama između 2010. i 2023. godine. Pretražene su tri elektroničke baze podataka – PubMed, ScienceDirect i Scopus ‒ za relevantne publikacije uporabom unaprijed određenih ključnih riječi. Prvotno je pronađeno ukupno 4.872 rada, a 39 rezultata je na kraju uključeno u članak, nakon uklanjanja duplikata i primjene kriterija prihvatljivosti. Savjetuje se daljnji nadzor i epidemiološke studije virusa Zapadnog Nila u Europi, s obzirom na prijetnju koju ova bolest može predstavljati za ljude i životinje

Length–area–volume of long bubbles in horizontal slug flow

The morphology of long bubbles in horizontal slug flows is experimentally investigated through images obtained with a high-speed camera. The flow conditions resulted in very long and interface-perturbed bubbles, so that a special procedure needed to be developed to correctly identify all of their geometric features. The procedure furnishes a complete characterization of the three-dimensional aspects of the nose, main body, hydraulic jump and tail of bubbles, including their fractal dimension and gas–liquid interface area. Image treatment and numerical computations were carried out with Wolfram’s Mathematica 8.0 software system. The results are compared with a previously advanced theory. Characteristic volumes and areas of long bubbles in slug flows are correlated through simple power-law expressions.Indisponível