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Does Symptom Recognition Improve Self-Care in Patients with Heart Failure? A Pilot Study Randomised Controlled Trial
Publication . Sousa, Joana Pereira; Neves, Hugo; Pais-Vieira, Miguel
Patients with heart failure have difficulty in self-care management, as daily monitoring and recognition of symptoms do not readily trigger an action to avoid hospital admissions. The purpose of this study was to understand the impact of a nurse-led complex intervention on symptom recognition and fluid restriction. A latent growth model was designed to estimate the longitudinal effect of a nursing-led complex intervention on self-care management and quality-of-life changes in patients with heart failure and assessed by a pilot study performed on sixty-three patients (33 control, 30 intervention). Patients in the control group had a higher risk of hospitalisation (IRR 11.36; p < 0.001) and emergency admission (IRR 4.24; p < 0.001) at three-months follow-up. Analysis of the time scores demonstrated that the intervention group had a clear improvement in self-care behaviours (βSlope. Assignment_group = −0.881; p < 0.001) and in the quality of life (βSlope. Assignment_group = 1.739; p < 0.001). This study supports that a nurse-led programme on symptom recognition and fluid restriction can positively impact self-care behaviours and quality of life in patients with heart failure. This randomised controlled trial was retrospectively registered (NCT04892004).
A study on microinjection moulding using moulding blocks by additive micromanufacturing
Publication . J C Vasco; Pouzada, A. S.
Microinjection moulding is one of the most efficient replication methods for polymeric components in microsystems. The manufacturing of moulding blocks for complex geometries is resorting increasingly to the techniques of rapid prototyping. This development on the use of additive microtechnologies can promote the massification of microsystems within a shorter tooling development cycle time. However, the microinjection moulding process itself has mechanical and thermal demands that must be addressed and require specific consideration of the selection of the tool material. This constrains the selection of the best-suited additive manufacturing process. The current state of the art of additive manufacturing technologies at the micrometric scale favours laser sources to process layer by layer the media contained in a vat. The media type, the laser power and the laser spot size are parameters that can influence the replication tool tolerances and physical properties. This work explores the possibilities of two additive technology tooling approaches for microinjection moulding, using different materials. The research parameters included replication detailing onto the plastic part, surface roughness, microtool integrity and wear. The evaluation of these parameters was carried out using both optical and hybrid microscopy, a laser perthometer as a non-contact solution for surface roughness evaluation, scanning electron microscopy and X-ray spec-troscopy. The results of this research work showed that the processed material and technology play an important role both on surface quality and tool life, enabling criteria definition for technology selection.
Emoções e Tecnologia no Turismo: O Papel da Robótica na Experiência Hoteleira
Publication . Monteiro, Catarina José; Barroso, Célia Maria Ramos Serra Reis; Martins , Rui Alberto de Freitas
A evolução tecnológica tem transformado profundamente o setor do turismo, especialmente com a introdução de tecnologias emergentes como a inteligência artificial e robótica em contextos de hotelaria. Em Portugal, observa-se que a adoção desta tecnologia é, ainda reduzida e concentrada em poucos estabelecimentos, tal como se verifica em outros países do continente europeu. O cenário atual revela a necessidade de os gerentes hoteleiros e académicos da área compreenderem o impacto que a adoção de robôs pode ter no comportamento dos turistas para determinar as tendências futuras e, consequentemente, entender se existe a necessidade de aplicação ou não. Este estudo procura perceber como os robôs de serviço são percecionados no setor hoteleiro português, analisando a influência das emoções nas avaliações cognitivas e comportamentais dos turistas, e de que forma isso afeta a perceção global da experiência, a satisfação e a fidelização à marca. Com recuso a uma metodologia mista e com base em estudos de casos, foi realizado um inquérito à população geral e aplicado um inquérito a funcionários de dois hotéis com abordagens distintas ao uso da robótica, complementados por entrevistas semiestruturadas. Os resultados quantitativos revelaram correlações positivas entre emoções positivas, perceções de facilidade de uso e eficácia dos robôs. A variável idade, embora destacada na literatura como fator relevante, não revelou relevância estatística neste estudo. A análise qualitativa reforçou as evidências empíricas, apontando para uma valorização simbólica dos robôs enquanto elementos funcionais e inovadores. A adoção desta tecnologia, embora com potencial, enfrenta, também, desafios contextuais, técnicos e culturais, tornando necessária uma implementação cuidadosa, que promova o equilíbrio entre automatização e hospitalidade humana.
Profile-based system for nutritional information management
Publication . Costa, Rui; Marcelino, Luis; Silva, Catarina
Nowadays health concerns are effectively becoming ubiquitous. Most people have the need to effectively control their nutritional consumptions, mostly due to health issues. Personal computational devices may assist this control with a solution that allows an efficient management of each individual nutritional profile.
In this work we propose a mobile service architecture that allows users to manage their nutritional information, using a profile-based system and build shopping lists based on the user’s profiles. This application may contribute to the improvement of the lifestyle of the population through the recommendation of food and drinks that fit their profile of restrictions and/or nutritional options (for instance, due to hypertension or obesity, among others). The person’s profile can be accessed and configured on a mobile device. A set of predefined templates provides the initial rules that may be customized to represent specific individual nutrition rules. The rules defined in the profile can later be used to filter the food presented to each user.
The paper includes preliminary usability results from experiments using real data to validate the approach. These results suggest it could be used in real scenarios, although it may
require more than simply filtering results.
Application for monitoring primary energy resources based on open source software
Publication . Álvarez, Marcelo; Ortiz, Diego; Sánchez, Wilson; Rivas, David; Aimacaña, Sixto; Sango, Wilson; Granizo, Rosa; Vayas, Germania; Toasa, Renato
In the project a monitoring system where a study or analysis of the quantity, availability and performance of the primary energy resource is made, for which a monitoring system of primary energy resources developed in the General
campus Guillermo Rodriguez Lara is implemented of the Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas - ESPE, for which sophisticated equipment that capture the signals of environmental variables is used, the objective is to develop a software-based open source handling such information application, and allows obtaining and storing environmental data, to conduct an analysis of them favoring decision-making, incorporating them into a web platform, the application also calculates the energy produced the day before, thus achieving construct an assessment tool parameters for future projects, which serve the information obtained in the feasibility analysis
to implement projects related to renewable energy, thus contributing to energy development.