Curricular Unit:			Code:
Biophysics and Biomechanics			1023BBIO
Year:	Level:	Course:	Credits:
1	Undergraduate	Speech Therapy	4 ects
Learning Period:		Language of Instruction:	Total Hours:
		Portuguese/English	52
Learning Outcomes of the Curricular Unit:
Objectives (OA) OA 1. To understand the relationship between physical quantities and their meaning and wave mechanics. OA 2. To understand an oscillatory variation. OA 3. To analyse oscillatory phenomena that have relevant interest in clinical practice and day to day. OA 4. To know and explain some fundamental concepts of wave mechanics, such as longitudinal / transverse waves and their characteristic parameters. OA 5. To understand resonance phenomena. OA 6. To know the most important devices for generating and capturing sound. OA 7. Understand the biophysical phenomena inherent in the dynamics of alveolar expansion and retraction. OA 8. To apply the physical concepts of fluid mechanics (gaseous) and wave mechanics (sound waves) to the air flow in the respiratory tree. OA 9. To understand the mechanism of generation of sound waves by the human vocal apparatus.
Syllabus:
CP 1- Mathematical tools to support the study of biophysics. Dimensional analysis. Linear variations. Use of differential notation. CP 2- Periodic variations. Electromagnetic waves. Mechanical waves. Wave kinetics. Standing waves. Harmonics and patterns. Numerical patterns associated with standing wave diagrams. CP 3 - Sound and bioacoustics. Sound wave. Frequency, tuning and human perception of the sound wave. Intensity of a sound wave. Speed of sound waves. Acoustic tubes and resonance. CP 4 - Respiratory Function: biomechanics of pulmonary ventilation. The respiratory system. The Respiratory Cycle and Hematosis. Biophysical notions. Lung surfactant. CP 5 - Biomechanics of the vocal tract. Voice production. Vocal fold biomechanics. Fundamental frequency of vibration. Voxmetry Program 4.
Demonstration of the Syllabus Coherence with the Curricular Unit's Objectives:
CP1 – Aims to achieve OA1, OA2. CP2 – Aims to achieve OA1, AO 2, OA4 e OA5. CP3 – Aims to achieve OA2, OA3, OA4, OA5, OA6. CP4 – Aims to achieve OA1, OA6, OA7, OA8. CP5 – Aims to achieve OA3, OA6, OA9.
Teaching Methodologies (Including Evaluation):
M1 - Use of the e-learning platform to store educational material that will available to the student. M2 - The material provided will support part of the “based problems learning” M3 - Independent research activities that will be based on development and research issues. M4 - Development of basic contents synthesis activities, after oral presentation, where students will have a proactive involvement. M5 - The use of demonstration videos about wave mechanics that will also be used to promote the discussion of the physical fundamentals inherent to them. Evaluation Two summative assessment tests (50% each of the final classification). The summative evaluation will include a cognitive test (open question that demonstrates the student's understanding of the relevance of content to the speech therapy domains).
Demonstration of the Coherence between the Teaching Methodologies and the Learning Outcomes:
The teaching methodologies adopted for this curricular unit are coherent with the objectives defined for it, since they allow a deepening of students' knowledge and their active participation in the classes, through active, participative and problematizing learning strategies combined with traditional methods. Thus, the teacher will be a facilitator of the student's learning process by fostering the relationship of concepts, the capacity for analysis, discussion and reflection, with establishment of connection of contents addressed and their relevance to the professional practice of Speech Therapist. M1 - Use of the e-learning platform to store educational material that will available to the student: All the objectives M2 - The material provided will support part of the “based problems learning” : OA1 to OA5 M3 - Independent research activities that will be based on development and research issues: OA3, OA8 e OA9. M4 - Development of basic contents synthesis activities, after oral presentation, where students will have a proactive involvement: All the objectives. M5 - The use of demonstration videos of relevant techniques in nursing will also be used to promote the discussion of the physical fundamentals inherent to them: OA5, OA6 e OA9.
Reading:
Bibliografia de consulta/existência obrigatória Gomes, L.R.; Biofísica para Ciências da Saúde, Ed. Universidade Fernando Pessoa, 2012. Zhaoyan Zhang (2016). Mechanics of human voice production and control. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 140, 2614. doi: 10.1121/1.4964509 https://doi.org/10.1121/1.4964509 http://www.ucl.ac.uk/voicebox/home/ Bibliografia adicional Harrington J., Cassidy S. (1999). The Physics of Speech. In: Techniques in Speech Acoustics. Text, Speech and Language Technology, vol 8. Springer, Dordrecht. C S N Vilas Bôas and S T Gobara (2018). A model to explain human voice production. Physics Education, 53 (3). IOP Publishing Ltd.