Browsing by Author "Nogueira, Isabel"
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- Impacte de um programa de exercício físico na capacidade funcional de idosos institucionalizadosPublication . Nogueira, Isabel; Caldevilla, Maria Nilza; Araújo, F.Introduction: Preventive, promotion and rehabilitation actions such as physical exercise have been able to improve the functional capacity of the institutionalized elderly. Aims: To evaluate the impact of a physical exercise program on the functional capacity of institutionalized elderly. Method: Quantitative study with a quasi-experimental design, without control group, with pre and post intervention evaluation, in a convenience sample of 23 elderly. The instrument for data collection was the form with outcome and independent variables. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Escola Superior de Enfermagem do Porto. Results: The majority are female (60.9%), with a mean age of 82.4 years and a high prevalence of cerebrovascular disease (91.3%). ¾ of the sample (74%) is polymedicated. The occurrence of falls in the last 12 months was low (13%). There was a significant improvement in joint amplitude and muscular strength in all movements and joints of the upper and lower limbs. Palmar grip strength improved in both hands. A better performance was observed in the implementation of POMA I, and the number of risk-free elderly people with a high risk of falls increased. The repercussion of improvements in self-care capacity was not effective in some domains, although the mean scores obtained showed a slight improvement trend. Of the psychosocial effects, most participants (60.9%) agreed that they improved health and mood. Conclusions: The physical exercise program implemented to institutionalized elderly, without cognitive deficit, improved the functional and psychosocial capacity.
- Participation of students in the project Valorbio: A case study to accelerate the implementation of sustainability principles in the curriculumPublication . Mateus, D. M. R.; Pinho, Henrique J. O.; Nogueira, Isabel; Rosa, Manuel; Cartaxo, Marco; Nunes, ValentimPurpose – The present work describes the case of the Valorbio research project, in which students of different high-level programs were involved in the experimental work and in the dissemination of results in collaboration with the research team. Design/methodology/approach – The inclusion in higher education curricula of content related to the sustainable development should be a preferred mechanism for the dissemination of good practices of sustainability. Another equally important way to achieve this is to involve students in research projects that seek solutions to the societal challenges related to sustainable growth. The Valorbio project aims to meet the needs for treating and reusing wastewater and solid waste. Its main goal was the development of modular systems for wastewater treatment based on constructed wetlands,exploring the possibility of the treatment systems being composed of solid waste and by-products from significant industrial sectors. Findings – The students’ contributionto the research workwas relevant, and simultaneously allowedthem to acquire skills on sustainable development. Additionally, the students contributed to the dissemination of the results. The Valorbio project can thus be considered a successful application of the concept of project-based learning,as a way to include sustainability issues content in the higher education curricula. Originality/value – The applied experimental work had an original approach regarding the equipment design, the waste materials valuation, as well as the integration of waste treatment processes in the circular economy paradigm.This paper is the first reported project-based learning experience involving students of short-cycle technical-professional programs in partnership with first and second-level students and a research team.
- Physical Exercise Program on Fall Prevention Using Technological Interface: Pretest StudyPublication . Nilza Caldevilla, Maria; Silva, Joana; Nogueira, Isabel; Pacheco, Maria Neto; Lopes, Joana; Araújo, F.Background: Prevention of falls among older adults has boosted the development of technological solutions, requiring testing in clinical contexts and robust studies that need prior validation of procedures and data collection tools. Objective: The objectives of our study were to test the data collection procedure, train the team, and test the usability of the FallSensing Games app by older adults in a community setting. Methods: This study was conducted as a pretest of a future pilot study. Older adults were recruited in a day care center, and several tests were applied. Physical exercise sessions were held using the interactive FallSensing Games app. Nurse training strategies was completed. Results: A total of 11 older adults participated. The mean age was 75.08 (SD 3.80) years, mostly female (10/11, 91%) and with low (3-6 years) schooling (10/11, 91%). Clinically, the results show a group of older adults with comorbidities. Cognitive evaluation of the participants through the Mini Mental State Examination showed results with an average score of 25.64 (SD 3.5). Functional capacity assessed using the Lawton Instrumental Activities of Daily Living Scale (overall score from 0-23, with lower scores reflecting worse capacity to perform activities) showed impairment in different instrumental activities of daily living (average score 14.27). The data collection tool proved to enable easy interpretation; however, its structure needed small adjustments to facilitate the data collection process. Despite the length of the questionnaire, its implementation took an average of 21 minutes. For the assessment of the prevalence of fear of falling, the need to add a question was identified. The performance of functional tests under the guidance and presence of rehabilitation nurses ensured the safety of the participants. The interactive games were well accepted by the participants, and the physical exercises allowed data collection on the functionality of the older adults, such as the number of repetitions in the tests, range of movement (angle), duration of the movements, and execution of each cycle. Concerning the training of the nurses, it was crucial that they had experience with the platform, specifically the position of the chair facing the platform, the position of the feet, the posture of participants, and the use of sensors. Conclusions: In the future pilot study, the researchers point out the need to design a study with mixed methods (quantitative and qualitative), thus enriching the study results.
- Preliminary SEM studies on normal and altered gonads of Catostylus tagiPublication . Lisboa, Raquel; Nogueira, Isabel; Gil, Fátima; Mascarenhas, Paulo; Morais, Zilda"Catostylus tagi, the sole European Catostylidae, is an edible Scyphozoa which occurs in summer at Tagus and Sado estuaries. Some aspects of its application in health sciences have already been studied. To start the study of its life cycle, the characterization of gonads regarding size and sex were carried out by optical (OM) and electronic microscopies (SEM)."
- Solid Waste Valorisation for Wastewater Treatment ProcessesPublication . Cartaxo, Marco; Rosa, Manuel; Nogueira, Isabel; Nunes, Valentim; Pinho, Henrique J. O.; Mateus, D. M. R.The present work was part of a research project, which pursued the treatment and reuse of urban and industrial wastewaters as well as solid waste. Its main goal was the development of modular systems for wastewater treatment based on constructed wetlands (CWs). The project involves the concept of circular economy and the rationale of "using waste to treat waste", exploring the possibility of the treatment systems being composed of solid waste and by-products from significant industrial sectors. The work thereof presented describes the physical and chemical characterization of five waste solids, which were used as lab-scale fillers. Optical microscopy observations, μFRX and FTIR-ATR analyses were conducted to characterize the solid wastes before and after use in the CWs treating urban type wastewater. Results indicated that, among the five solid wastes studied, limestone fragments from construction showed favorable conditions to biofilm growth, and coal slags from power plants and cork granulates showed the highest indication of adsorption of organic compounds.
- The statoliths of Catostylus tagi, chemical characterization by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopyPublication . Santos, Gonçalo; Nogueira, Isabel; Morais, Zilda"The scyphozoan Catostylus tagi, native to the estuaries of theTagus and Sado, has been studied for health application purposes. In order to start the studies of C. tagi as a model in ototoxicity tests, the chemical nature of its statoliths was determined as described for other cnidarians."
- A Usability Study on Widget Design for Selecting Boolean OperationsPublication . Chambel Lopes, Diogo; Mendes, Helena; Portal, Ricardo; Klerk, Rui de; Nogueira, Isabel; Lopes, Daniel SimõesApplying the correct set of Boolean operations is a fundamental task in constructive solid geometry (CSG), which is a staple in automated manufacturing systems. Although textual buttons and icons are the most common interfaces to apply such operations, these require an unnecessary cognitive load that hampers the solid modeling process. This study presents VennPad, a novel CSG widget that gathers all Boolean operations under the same user interface control element and is represented as a two-set Venn diagram. Contrary to conventional CSG widgets, VennPad supports a graphical interface that gives simultaneous access to several types of Boolean operations (intersection, union, difference, symmetric difference and split). A usability study was conducted to ascertain whether VennPad is a more natural interface compared to textual buttons and icon-based widgets for different solid modeling tasks. VennPad proved to be an effective interface to perform Boolean operations. Qualitative feedback places VennPad as the preferred interface, but efficiency results are operation dependent, thus, opening the way to new design iterations.
- What is the best etching timing in a resin infiltrant used on enamel surface after remineralization with CPP-ACP?Publication . Carmo, Joana; Ascenso, Carla; Jorne, Ana; Peixoto, André; Nogueira, Isabel; Manso, Ana Garcia