288 research outputs found
Reclamações ambientais em Aveiro, Portugal: atores, preocupações, padrão territorial e resoluções
No full textThis paper presents an environmental diagnosis based on public complaints on environmental
issues submitted to the Environmental Department of the Aveiro City Council, Portugal, between
2000 and 2005. It discusses the potential influences of these in local environmental planning
and governance. The paper has been organised into five sections. The first of these introduces
the study. The second section focuses on the conceptual approaches relating to environmental
grassroots movements, the main actors involved in these movements and the role played by
local government. It also contains a brief review of the most recent urban environmental
quality challenges in the European context together with a description of the main features of
the associated political and legal framework in Portugal. The third section describes the case
study and the methodology used. The results of the empirical study are detailed in the fourth
section. The final section critically analyses these results with emphases on the temporal
evolution of the submission of complaints, the actors involved, the local environmental problems
and their associated spatial pattern as well as the responses given by the City Council. This
information may then be used to provide a useful indicator for the perception of environmental
quality as well as a credible instrument for the visualisation and evaluation of local performance
in terms of environmental planning and management.AlBan Programme - n. E05M053040B
The effect of exercise training programs with aerobic components on C-reactive protein, erythrocyte sedimentation rate and self-assessed disease activity in people with ankylosing spondylitis: A systematic review and meta-analysis
No full textAIM: To examine the effect of exercise training programs with aerobic components on C-reactive protein, erythrocyte sedimentation rate and self-assessed disease activity in people with ankylosing spondylitis compared to non-aerobic rehabilitation. METHODS: A systematic review was undertaken of PubMED, Cochrane Library, Embase and Web of Science databases. Articles evaluating the effect of exercise training programs with aerobic components on C-reactive protein, erythrocyte sedimentation rate or Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index (BASDAI) in adults (>17 years) with ankylosing spondylitis were included. Control groups were defined as non-aerobic rehabilitation, including usual care or physiotherapy. RESULTS: Thirteen articles met inclusion criteria for qualitative and meta-analysis, involving 366 participants undertaking exercise and 361 controls. Exercise programs included modalities such as running, aerobic walking and swimming, and were between 3 weeks and 3 months in duration. Exercise programs significantly reduced C-reactive protein (weighted mean difference [WMD]: -1.09; 95% CI: -2.08 to -0.10; P = .03; n = 5) and BASDAI (WMD: -0.78; 95% CI: -0.98 to -0.58; P < .001; n = 13) compared to non-aerobic rehabilitation. BASDAI subgroup analysis revealed greater improvements compared to usual care than structured physiotherapy. Exercise programs did not reduce erythrocyte sedimentation rate (WMD: 0.16; 95% CI: -2.15 to 2.47; P = .89; n = 4). CONCLUSION: Exercise training programs with aerobic components reduced C-reactive protein and improved self-assessed disease activity in people with ankylosing spondylitis. Further research is required to investigate the effects of differing aerobic exercise modes, intensities and durations
The English household chapel, c. 1100 - c. 1500: an institutional study
No full textThis thesis examines the English medieval household chapel. Such chapels have only been studied previously in a partial and disjointed manner, as 'private', 'domestic' or 'castle' chapels, to name some categories. Past scholarship has assumed them to be maintained in an ad hoc manner, as the extraordinary consequence of individual piety, or the desire for social display. Instead, this thesis defines, for the first time, a discrete class of chapels based upon their primary function: the religious provision of medieval lordly households. It argues that individual households were instances of a wide-ranging and well- established ecclesiastical institution: 'the household chapel'. It posits that this institution had five principal elements: a basis in canon law; systems of maintenance and regulation; personnel (household chaplains); architectural and material expressions (household-chapel buildings and furnishings); and domestic religious routines. It argues that these elements were common to most household chapels between c. 1100 and c. 1500 (up to the English Reformation).Although aspects of these elements have received scholarly attention, none has-been examined from an institutional perspective. This thesis focuses primarily upon two: the canonical basis of the household chapel; and methods of establishment, maintenance and regulation. It argues that the household chapel possessed a clear remit in canon law, which enabled the widespread and uncontentious maintenance of such chapels; and that this canonical character was shaped in parallel with that of the English parish (and in some respects pre-dated its formation). This thesis also demonstrates that household chapels were maintained in an institutional manner, by the receipt of chapel grants, episcopal licences and papal privileges. Close examination of these demonstrates that household chapels were maintained on a large scale - by the majority of greater and gentle households - throughout this period, and that this maintenance was actively facilitated and supported by the contemporary ecclesiastical hierarchy. Alongside other classes of chapel (as yet unstudied), household chapels were a ubiquitous element of the English medieval church. This examination of the canonical and regulatory foundations of the household chapel establishes a framework within which chapel buildings, chaplains and domestic religious routines may be further studied, in an interdisciplinary manner, as elements of one institution. For instance, the disposition and form of some 250-350 extant chapel buildings must be considered in light of their institutional functions. Finally, this thesis challenges the scholarly assumption that household chapels were maintained either for the spiritual satisfaction of individual lords, or as a form of social display. Rather, it argues that the household chapel, as an institution, was a necessary and ubiquitous means of enabling the orthodox religious provision of greater and gentle medieval households who could not, for a variety of reasons, be served by the medieval parish, or fully belong to its communities
Cage or Support for Well-Tubing
No full textPatent for a well tubing cage which provides support for well tubes so that a second pipe is not required. Illustrations included
Grotesque in C. Dickens
No full textIntroduction grotesque " Real and apparent contradictions abound in discussions of the grotesque; it is an extremely flexible category " , as Geoffrey Galt Harpham reminds us (Harpham article 464). Whoever reads into the bulk of criticism attached to the grotesque will see instability as the first striking characteristic of a concept that Baudelaire called " this indefinable element of beauty […] that obscure and mysterious element " (Baudelaire 132). The purpose of this brief introduction is not to provide an exhaustive survey of the many nuances found in the exegesis of the grotesque, which would necessitate to foray deep into historical, architectural, aesthetic and literary approaches, but to sketch in the theories deemed essential to a correct assessment of the prominence and meaning of the grotesque in the European fiction of the 19 th century. The works of 20 th-century literary critics like Kayser, Bakhtin and Harpham (taken together perhaps) provide a reasonably clear insight into the fundamentally ambivalent concept. The grotesque was theorized in the 19 th century notably by Hugo, Ruskin and Baudelaire, who shed light on the significance of grotesque within Romanticism and Victorian realism. The grotesque famously borrows its name from the accident of the discovery around 1480 of the remains of Nero's Domus Aurea and its elaborate ornaments. Its meaning then gradually expanded from the designation of the decorative grotesque of the Renaissance to what may appear as a vague or all-inclusive category. Critics generally agree, however, on the central idea that the grotesque realizes the either harmonious or hair-raising, but always impossible, fusion of heterogeneous elements. The word has come more prosaically to designate an unexpected mixture of comic and horror or of comic and disgust. Laughter is central-distortion, even carried out to extremities, is not grotesque without laughter. " For an object to be grotesque, it must arouse three responses. Laughter and astonishment are two; either disgust or horror is the third " (Harpham article 463). Harpham's 1976 definition puts to the fore the essential idea that the grotesque originates in the subject of the gaze, that it isn't inherent in the grotesque object. This, Baudelaire had underlined as early as 1855: " Indian and Chinese idols are unaware that they are ridiculous; it is in us, Christians, that their comicality resides. " (Baudelaire 142). And to grasp the impact of the viewer's feeling of estrangement, his (at least initial) impossibility to make sense of the grotesque image, one must also remember that the grotesque emerges in a realistic context: " [The grotesque] threat depends for its effectiveness on the efficacy of the everyday, the partial fulfilment of our usual expectations. We must be believers whose faith has been profoundly shaken but not destroyed; otherwise we lose that fear of life and become resigned to absurdity, fantasy, or death " (Harpham 462).L'article analyse la projection de CD dans son oeuvre comme fantasme de lui-même en citoyen français
The effect of exercise training programs with aerobic components on C‐reactive protein, erythrocyte sedimentation rate and self‐assessed disease activity in people with ankylosing spondylitis: A systematic review and meta‐analysis
No full textConstruction of a daily precipitation grid for southeastern South America for the period 1961-2000
No full textDaily station precipitation totals are used to develop a gridded dataset for the region (14°–40°S, 45°–70°W) on a 0.5° × 0.5° latitude/longitude grid, primarily for comparison with regional climate model (RCM) simulations. The gridded dataset covers the period 1961–2000. Much of the paper discusses the quality control of the basic station precipitation series. Although the primary aim of the development has been RCM validation, we have assessed trends in seasonal precipitation totals as well as trends in two measures of precipitation extremes (R95p, the daily precipitation amount exceeded only 5% of the time and Rx5day, the maximum 5-d precipitation total during each season). Relatively few regions across the large domain have statistically significant trends, but those that do tend to be located in the eastern two thirds of the grid, particularly over southeastern Brazil and Uruguay. Significant trends are also more evident in the DJF and MAM seasons. There is good spatial agreement between the trends in seasonal totals and trends in the extreme indices.Fil: Jones, P. D.. University Of East Anglia; Reino UnidoFil: Lister, D. H.. University Of East Anglia; Reino UnidoFil: Harpham, C.. University Of East Anglia; Reino UnidoFil: Rusticucci, Matilde Monica. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Ciencias de la Atmósfera y los Océanos; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Rusticucci, Matilde Monica. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Ciencias de la Atmósfera y los Océanos; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin
Examiner reliability and clinical responsiveness of motion palpation to detect biomechanical dysfunction of the the hip joint
No full textSubmitted as the dissertation component in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of a Masters in Technology in Chiropractic in the department of Chiropractic and Somatology, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2017.Background: Hip pain is a common problem. Motion palpation is a manual technique applied by the hands in various degrees of joint motion that specifically evaluates range of motion in relation to specific anatomical landmarks, joint play and end feel. Motion palpation remains one of the most used diagnostic techniques and yet it remains unclear whether or not it is a reliable, sensitive and specific tool; especially in the hip joint.
Objectives: This study assessed intra- and inter-examiner reliability and clinical responsiveness of motion palpation when it is used as a diagnostic tool in patients with non-specific unilateral anterior hip pain and unilateral asymptomatic hip joints.
Methods: Ten participants, between the ages of 18 and 60, were included in this study (three ballet dancers, three golfers and four participants from the general population). The participants were assessed randomly by three blinded examiners. All of the participants then received one adjustment delivered by the researcher (half on the symptomatic side and half on the asymptomatic). The participants were then re-assessed. Data was recorded on a data collection sheet and analysed using SPSS version 23. Intra-examiner reliability and clinical responsiveness were analysed using McNemar’s test and the Chi-Square Test of Independence. Inter-examiner reliability was analysed using Fleiss’ Kappa.
Results: Intra-examiner reliability showed to be markedly better on the left-hand side for all three examiners. Kappa scores for inter-examiner reliability varied from none to perfect. The average pairwise agreement scores ranged from 33.3% to 100% at the first assessment, and from 46.6% to 100% in the second assessment. A mean and standard deviation were calculated for the pairwise agreements which represented the sensitivity and specificity respectively. Both showed improvement between the first and second assessments which is positive for inter-examiner reliability. Clinical responsiveness was shown to be absent for examiners A and B but was present for examiner C on the left.
Conclusion: This study found that, contrary to the expectations of many clinicians, motion palpation has limited to poor levels of intra-examiner reliability, inter-examiner reliability and clinical responsiveness. This is however limited by the small sample size and methodological limitations in this study. Therefore, the role of palpation as a diagnostic tool used in the diagnosis hip dysfunction may be limited.
Context and composition? : social capital and maternal mental health in low income countries
No full textBackground and rationale
Women and the poor are disproportionately affected
by
common mental
disorders
(CMD), yet few studies have explored their
aetiology
in low income
countries.
Social
capital may explain some of the geographical
variation
in
CMD.
A
systematic
review
shows that only one study has examined the
association
between individual
social
capital and CMD in low income countries.
No
study
has
explored
the
effect
of
ecological social capital on CMD in this
setting.
The
objective
of
this thesis is to
explore the relationship between individual
and
ecological measures
of social capital
and maternal CMD in four low income countries.
Methods
Cross-sectional data from the Young Lives (YL)
project with
information
across
234
communities in Peru, Ethiopia, Vietnam
and
Andhra
Pradesh
(India)
were
used.
The
mental health of caregivers of one-year-old children,
and
the individual
social
capital
of all caregivers was assessed.
Ecological
social capital
was
calculated
by
aggregating individual responses to the
community
level. Mothers
of
one year old
children were selected for analysis
(n=6909).
Multi-level
modelling
was used
to
explore the association between individual
and ecological social
capital
in
each of
the
four countries, adjusting for a
wide
range of
individual
and
community
level
confounders. Psychometric techniques and
qualitative
interviews
were used
in
Peru to
validate the tool used by YL to measure
social capital.
Results
of
these interviews
were supplemented with a literature review to
explore
the
nature
of social
capital
in
Peru, and analyses were conducted to
explore the
determinants
of
social
capital.
The
results of these analyses were used to
help interpret the
results
of
a
further
analysis
of
the Peruvian data.
Results
The comparative analysis of social capital
and
CMD
across
the four
countries
shows
that combined measures of individual cognitive
social
capital
are
associated
with
reduced odds of CMD. The results
for
structural
social
capital
are
more
mixed
and
culturally specific, with some aspects associated
with
increased
odds
of
CMD.
The
3 validation of the tool to measure social
capital
in
Peru
emphasises the
difficulties
of
measuring complex concepts in different
cultural settings, and
illustrates the
culturally
specific nature of social capital.
The description
and analysis
of
social capital
in
Peru
show it to be multi-dimensional and complex
and suggest that
social capital
may
have
different effects on CMD in different sub-groups.
Conclusions and implications
Contextual and compositional
factors
are
inter-related
and
are
both
associated
with
CMD. Structural social capital
has
context-specific
effects
and cognitive social
capital more universal effects on
CMD.
Social
capital
may
have different
effects
in
different sub-groups, with potentially damaging
effects
in
some
disadvantaged
groups.
While social capital is important for
mental
health, its
complex
and
context-specific
nature means that it is impractical to
use
it
as
an
intervention to
prevent
or treat
CMD.
Instead, its value is as a tool for understanding the
social
context
in
which
the
complex
relationship between an individual's own
characteristics
and
those
of their
environment is played out
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