The Efficacy of Combined Physical and Mental Practice in the Learning of a Foot-Sequence Task after Stroke: A Case Report

2004 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 106-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip L. Jackson ◽  
Julien Doyon ◽  
Carol L. Richards ◽  
Francine Malouin

Objective. To investigate the effect of mental practice on the learning of a sequential task for the lower limb in a patient with a hemiparesis resulting from a stroke. Design. A single-case study. Setting. Research laboratory of a university-affiliated rehabilitation center. Patient. A right-handed 38-year-old man who had suffered a left hemorrhagic subcortical stroke 4 months prior. Intervention. The patient practiced a serial response time task with the lower limb in 3 distinct training phases over a period of 5 weeks: 2 weeks of physical practice, 1 week of combined physical and mental practice, and then 2 weeks of mental practice alone. Main Outcome Measures. Performance on the task measured through errors and response times. Imagery abilities measured through questionnaires. Results . The patient’s average response time improved significantly during the 1st 5 days of physical practice (26%) but then failed to show further improvement during the following week of physical practice. The combination of mental and physical practice during the 3rd week yielded additional improvement (10.3%), whereas the following 2 weeks of mental practice resulted in a marginal increase in performance (2.2%). Conclusion. The findings show that mental practice, when combined with physical practice, can improve the performance of a sequential motor skill in people who had a stroke, and suggest that mental practice could play a role in the retention of newly acquired abilities.

2014 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adele Kuckartz Pergher ◽  
Roberto Carlos Lyra da Silva

Observational, descriptive, exploratory, case study with the objective of measuring the stimulus-response time of the team to alarms monitoring invasive blood pressure (IBP) and analyzing the implications of this time for the safety of the patient. From January to March 2013, 60 hours of structured observation were conducted with registration of the alarms activated by IBP monitors in an adult ICU at a military hospital in the city of Rio de Janeiro. 76 IBP alarms were recorded (1.26 alarms/hour), 21 of which (28%) were attended to and 55 (72%) considered as fatigued. The average response time to the alarms was 2 min. 45 sec. The deficit in human resource and physical layout were factors determining the delay in response to the alarms. The increase in response times to these alarms may compromise the safety of patients with hemodynamic instability, especially in situations such as shock and the use of vasoactive drugs.


Author(s):  
Joost Bücker ◽  
Erik Poutsma ◽  
Hananja Monster

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to offer a timely assessment of the influence of human resource (HR) processes and policies on expatriates’ employability, using a Dutch international engineering firm as the study setting. Design/methodology/approach The qualitative study, based on in-depth interviews with 15 respondents in various roles, such as expatriates, repatriates, HR managers and line managers, is complemented by a document analysis of HR policy reports about expatriation processes. Findings Expatriation management influences the internal employability of engineering expatriates, yet most HR policies related to expatriation work are counterproductive in terms of in-company employability of expatriates. Research limitations/implications Further research could extend this single case study by differentiating engineering from management functions and addressing employability implications for other assignments and other forms of expatriation. Comparisons are also possible across various stakeholders with regard to social support. Practical implications HR management can follow several prescriptions revealed by this study to increase expatriates’ employability within the organization. Originality/value This study is among the first to relate expatriation processes to the dimensions of employability.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (T1) ◽  
pp. 526-529
Author(s):  
Korakot Apiratwarakul ◽  
Kamonwon Ienghong ◽  
Vajarabhongsa Bhudhisawasdi ◽  
Dhanu Gaysonsiri ◽  
Somsak Tiamkao

BACKGROUND: Motorcycles (motorlance) are often deployed as ambulances to the scene of an emergency to reduce response time. The COVID-19 pandemic has affected emergency medical services (EMS) in Thailand in many respects, and this study was conducted to examine its effect on motorlance operation time. AIM: The aim of the study was to examine motorlance operation time during the COVID-19 pandemic in comparison to normal periods. METHODS: This cross-sectional study examined all EMS motorlance operations dispatched from Srinagarind Hospital (Thailand). Data were collected from the Srinagarind Hospital EMS operation database and hospital information database system. Data from June 1, 2018, to December 31, 2019 (normal period) were compared with those from January 13 to April 21, 2020 (COVID-19). RESULTS: Eight hundred seventy-one EMS operations were examined over two periods. Mean patient age during the COVID-19 pandemic was 41.5 ± 6.2 years, and 54.6% (n = 59) were male. Average response time was 6.20 ± 1.35 min during the normal period and 3.48 ± 1.01 min during the pandemic (p = 0.021). Transport time was also significantly shorter during the latter period (2.35 vs. 5.20 min). CONCLUSIONS: Motorlance response and transport time during the COVID-19 pandemic were significantly shorter than usual.


2015 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 382-384 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dustin W. Anderson ◽  
Harinder S. Dhindsa ◽  
Wen Wan ◽  
David Salot

AbstractBackgroundThe current Fire/Emergency Medical Services (EMS) model throughout the United States involves emergency vehicles which respond from a primary location (ie, firehouse or municipal facility) to emergency calls. Quick response vehicles (QRVs) have been used in various Fire/EMS systems; however, their effectiveness has never been studied.ObjectivesThe goal of this study was to determine if patient response times would decrease by placing an Advanced Life Support (ALS) QRV in an integrated Fire/EMS system.MethodsResponse times from an integrated Fire/EMS system with an annual EMS call volume of 3,261 were evaluated over the three years prior to the implementation of this study. For a 2-month period, an ALS QRV staffed by a firefighter/paramedic responded to emergency calls during peak call volume hours of 8:00 am to 5:00 pm. The staging of this vehicle was based on historical call volume percentages using respective geocodes as well as system requirements during multiple emergency dispatches.ResultsPrior to the study, the citywide average response time for the twelve months preceding was 5.44 minutes. During the study, the citywide average response time decreased to 4.09 minutes, resulting in a 27.62% reduction in patient response time.ConclusionThe implementation of an ALS QRV in an integrated Fire/EMS system reduces patient response time. Having a QRV that is not staged continuously in a traditional fire station or municipal location reduces the time needed to reach patients. Also, using predictive models of historic call volume can aid Fire and EMS administrators in reduction of call response times.AndersonDW, DhindsaHS, WanW, SalotD. Does the implementation of an Advanced Life Support quick response vehicle (QRV) in an integrated Fire/EMS system improve patient contact response time?Prehosp Disaster Med. 2015;30(4):1 – 3.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaakko Kujala ◽  
Kirsi Aaltonen ◽  
Nadezhda Gotcheva ◽  
Pertti Lahdenperä

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to create a framework to analyze approaches for coordination, adaptation and safeguarding of exchanges in interorganizational project networks.Design/methodology/approachAn analysis framework to analyze governance in project networks was created based on a systematic review of existing literature. The framework was applied to analyze governance approaches used in a large infrastructure project implemented with an alliance project delivery method to illustrate the practical validity of the framework.FindingsThe analysis framework categorized governance in project networks in six dimensions: goal setting, rewarding, monitoring, roles and decision-making, coordination and capability building. A set of questions for each governance dimension was created and the analysis framework was applied in the context of a project alliance.Research limitations/implicationsThe focus of this research is on governance internal to a project network. The authors identified dimensions of governance in project networks and related governance approaches based on a systematic literature review. The practical applicability of the framework was validated in a single case study setting.Practical implicationsThe paper introduces a concept of governance in project networks, which takes the perspective that all actors that have an influence on project implementation are part of an interorganizational project network. The focal organization may have had a significant role in the design of governance, but governance also emerged from the network structure of companies and the interactions among them. The analysis framework created in this research can be used to design and analyze governance in different type of project context.Originality/valueThe paper introduces a concept of governance in project networks, which takes the perspective that all actors that have an influence on project implementation are part of an interorganizational project network.


Sensors ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (9) ◽  
pp. 2725 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sangyeon Woo ◽  
Jeho Song ◽  
Sungyong Park

A blockchain oracle problem is a problem that defines a mechanism for how to safely bring external data to the blockchain. Although there have been various research efforts to solve this problem, existing solutions are limited in that they do not support either data availability or data integrity. Furthermore, no solution has been proposed to minimize the response time when an oracle server is malicious or overloaded. This paper proposes a distributed oracle using Intel Software Guard Extensions (SGX). The proposed approach uses multiple oracle servers to support data availability. It also supports data integrity using Intel SGX and Transport Layer Security (TLS) communication. The reputation system, which favors oracle servers with short response times, minimizes the average response time even if some of the oracle servers are malicious. The benchmarking results show that the response time of the proposed approach with 3 oracle servers is only 14% slower than a centralized oracle called Town-crier and scales well even if the number of oracle servers is increased up to 9. The reputation system is also evaluated, and its feasibility is analyzed using various experiments.


2003 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 148-159
Author(s):  
Keith V. Bletzer

Migratory farm labor like other forms of migrant work both in and outside agriculture impedes on the opportunity to make choices. The following essay explores particular phases in the life of one man (a single case study) and examines how he considers turning points in his life that led to a long period of substance use, both as an immigrant in the country and as a working man in his home country, followed by a cessation of use and the beginning stages of recovery. / Para el migrante, viajar en busca de trabajo es díficil, ya sea que trabaje en agricultura o en otras labores. Este ensayo examina ciertas etapas en la vida de un hombre (estudio de un solo caso) que examina los cambios que le han ocurrido durante un período en que él consumía grandes cantidades de alcohol en los estados y en su país, seguido por un período de sobriedad (no tomaba alcohol, no usaba drogas) en este país en que él comienza una etapa de rehabilitación.


Author(s):  
Eleonora FIORE ◽  
Giuliano SANSONE ◽  
Chiara Lorenza REMONDINO ◽  
Paolo Marco TAMBORRINI

Interest in offering Entrepreneurship Education (EE) to all kinds of university students is increasing. Therefore, universities are increasing the number of entrepreneurship courses intended for students from different fields of study and with different education levels. Through a single case study of the Contamination Lab of Turin (CLabTo), we suggest how EE may be taught to all kinds of university students. We have combined design methods with EE to create a practical-oriented entrepreneurship course which allows students to work in transdisciplinary teams through a learning-by-doing approach on real-life projects. Professors from different departments have been included to create a multidisciplinary environment. We have drawn on programme assessment data, including pre- and post-surveys. Overall, we have found a positive effect of the programme on the students’ entrepreneurial skills. However, when the data was broken down according to the students’ fields of study and education levels, mixed results emerged.


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