Abstract

Abstract
In this paper we will maintain that cultural institutions are increasingly facing the inevitability of a profound revision in their traditional parameters of unidirectional communication. Given the increasing availability of tools for audiovisual production as well as the diversity of networked communication contexts, the roles of the user and the audience have come to assume a participatory potential in the content they consume and attend; this will dictate their repositioning in relation to the universe of institutions' work. In order to communicate new messages, media narratives, views or perspectives on the same reality are constantly constructed, deconstructed and reconstructed. In this age of 'Consumer-Generated Media', identities and representations are constantly changing. The idea and the concept of a brand now extends far beyond its own limits, taking on important emotional values, and people enjoy being a part of that brand's mythology. The Serralves Foundation, along with its Museum of Contemporary Art, in Porto, Portugal, was the subject of a first study of an empirical nature: a series of audio-visual objects were developed, in order to generate material for analysis and proposition. In this subsequent stage, we aim at the identification of new procedures and practices that may be effectively implemented within the institutional universe. We intend to establish more efficient communication contexts, including the maximizing of a set of relationships between institutions and audiences regarding dimensions that are traditionally outside the institutional radar: identity, narrative and affection. By referring to key examples, we will posit that in order to achieve more success in their missions, cultural institutions should focus on participatory education and communication processes regarding contemporary issues. By doing this, they will strengthen their engagement with their audiences and bring them into the institutions' projects. This project is currently undertaking a wide inventory and taxonomy of the various institutional paradigms in regards to communication practices. We aim at producing a map of vocations and positions within the institutional world in regards to the aforementioned issues that require participatory communication.

Abstract

Abstract
Local pulse-wave velocity (PWV) is recognized as the simplest and most reproducible process of non-invasively assessing the vascular marker of arterial stiffness that allowing the risk of cardiovascular diseases to be determinate. Devices currently available for local PWV measurement have not yet been generalized to clinical practice since they require high technical expertise and most of them are limited in precision, due to the lack of reliable signal processing methods. This work describes a new type of probes, based on a piezoelectric sensor in different configurations, single probe and double probe. The principle of PWV measurement involves determination of the pulse transit time between the signals acquired simultaneously by both piezoelectric placed 23 mm apart in the same probe. The double probe characterization is accomplished in different studies, carried out in a dedicated test bench system, capable of reproducing a range of clinically relevant properties of the cardiovascular system.

Abstract
This paper envisages showing the potential of innovative non-invasive techniques based on affordable and easily operated instrumentation as well as user-friendly computer aided algorithms in the screening of cardiovascular (CV) diseases. These techniques are based on the assumption that arterial stiffness is currently an important predicator of the CV diseases development and can be assessed by analyzing the arterial pressure waveform (APW). A previously developed PZ based device for non-invasive APW capture is currently under test in clinical environment, using a heterogeneous population constituted by healthy and unhealthy subjects. A dedicated Matlab analysis tool was designed and developed to extract relevant information and further APW analysis. Several recordings of the APW in the same day and in consecutive months are being performed by trained observers, to evaluate its reproducibility. Data mining analysis is subsequently the last task where the Weka 3-6-5 package software is used. The usefulness of developing data mining algorithms for cardiovascular applications can benefit the CV screenings contributing for the early identification of arterial stiffness related patterns.

Abstract