Sports operations management: examining the relationship between environmental uncertainty and quality management orientation

Research question: The outcome of a sporting competition is uncertain and one of the key reasons for the sustained popularity of spectator sport. Whilst unique and exciting, this context poses challenges for the management of the sporting experience as there is no control over the outcome of the competition; a disappointing result on-field may translate to a disappointing overall experience for the spectators. We wish to understand if and how quality management practices can be used in off-field operations to mitigate on-field uncertainty, and thus have greater control over spectator perception of the sporting experience. Research methods: A multi-country survey of operations managers of sporting stadia in the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand was conducted. We operationalize environmental uncertainty as spectator co-creation and enforced collaboration, and assess quality management orientation from both a customer and process perspective. Linear regression is used for data analysis. Results and Findings: Surprisingly, we find that environmental uncertainty does not encourage the orientation of quality management practices towards the customer. Instead, we find a greater application of process focus. In considering sporting fans as passive customers rather than active co-creators of value, quality management practices seem to have skewed towards process rather than person. Implications: Customer satisfaction appears as secondary to process performance in the sample of stadia examined. This is in contrast to studies that have encouraged a focus on the customer in contexts of environmental uncertainty. We suggest a renewed focus on the customer for the longevity of sporting stadia

Histopathological Changes in the Kidney following Congestive Heart Failure by Volume Overload in Rats

Background. This study investigated histopathological changes and apoptotic factors that may be involved in the renal damage caused by congestive heart failure in a rat model of infrarenal aortocaval fistula (ACF). Methods. Heart failure was induced using a modified approach of ACF in male Wistar rats. Sham-operated controls and ACF rats were characterized by their morphometric and hemodynamic parameters and investigated for their histopathological, ultrastructural, and apoptotic factor changes in the kidney. Results. ACF- induced heart failure is associated with histopathological signs of congestion and glomerular and tubular atrophy, as well as nuclear and cellular degeneration in the kidney. In parallel, overexpression of proapoptotic Bax protein, release of cytochrome C from the outer mitochondrial membrane into cell cytoplasm, and nuclear transfer of activated caspase 3 indicate apoptotic events. This was confirmed by electron microscopic findings of apoptotic signs in the kidney such as swollen mitochondria and degenerated nuclei in renal tubular cells. Conclusions. This study provides morphological evidence of renal injury during heart failure which may be due to caspase-mediated apoptosis via overexpression of proapoptotic Bax protein, subsequent mitochondrial cytochrome C release, and final nuclear transfer of activated caspase 3, supporting the notion of a cardiorenal syndrome

A framework for group decision-making: Including cognitive and affective aspects in a MCDA method for alternatives rejection

© Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2019. With the evolution of the organizations and technology, Group Decision Support Systems have changed to support decision-makers that cannot be together at the same place and time to make a decision. However, these systems must now be able to support the interaction between decision-makers and provide all the relevant information at the most adequate times. Failing to do so may compromise the success and the acceptance of the system. In this work it is proposed a framework for group decision using a Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis method capable of identify inconsistent assessments done by the decision-maker and identify alternatives that should be rejected by the group of decision-makers. The proposed framework allows to present more relevant information throughout the decision-making process and this way guide decision-makers in the achievement of more consensual and satisfactory decisions.INCT-EN - Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia para Excitotoxicidade e Neuroproteção(ANI|P2020 21958

Pathological alterations in liver injury following congestive heart failure induced by volume overload in rats

Heart failure has emerged as a disease with significant public health implications. Following progression of heart failure, heart and liver dysfunction are frequently combined in hospitalized patients leading to increased morbidity and mortality. Here, we investigated the underlying pathological alterations in liver injury following heart failure. Heart failure was induced using a modified infrarenal aortocaval fistula (ACF) in male Wistar rats. Sham operated and ACF rats were compared for their morphometric and hemodynamic data, for histopathological and ultrastructural changes in the liver as well as differences in the expression of apoptotic factors. ACF-induced heart failure is associated with light microscopic signs of apparent congestion of blood vessels, increased apoptosis and breakdown of hepatocytes and inflammatory cell inifltration were observed. The glycogen content depletion associated with the increased hepatic fibrosis, lipid globule formation was observed in ACF rats. Moreover, cytoplasmic organelles are no longer distinguishable in many ACF hepatocytes with degenerated fragmented rough endoplasmic reticulum, shrunken mitochondria and heavy cytoplasm vacuolization. ACF is associated with the upregulation of the hepatic TUNEL-positive cells and proapoptotic factor Bax protein concomitant with the mitochondrial leakage of cytochrome C into the cell cytoplasm and the transfer of activated caspase 3 from the cytoplasm into the nucleus indicating intrinsic apoptotic events. Taken together, the results demonstrate that ACF-induced congestive heart failure causes liver injury which results in hepatocellular apoptotic cell death mediated by the intrinsic pathway of mitochondrial cytochrome C leakage and subsequent transfer of activated caspase 3 into to the nucleus to initiate overt DNA fragmentation and cell death

A novel class of microRNA-recognition elements that function only within open reading frames.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are well known to target 3' untranslated regions (3' UTRs) in mRNAs, thereby silencing gene expression at the post-transcriptional level. Multiple reports have also indicated the ability of miRNAs to target protein-coding sequences (CDS); however, miRNAs have been generally believed to function through similar mechanisms regardless of the locations of their sites of action. Here, we report a class of miRNA-recognition elements (MREs) that function exclusively in CDS regions. Through functional and mechanistic characterization of these 'unusual' MREs, we demonstrate that CDS-targeted miRNAs require extensive base-pairing at the 3' side rather than the 5' seed; cause gene silencing in an Argonaute-dependent but GW182-independent manner; and repress translation by inducing transient ribosome stalling instead of mRNA destabilization. These findings reveal distinct mechanisms and functional consequences of miRNAs that target CDS versus the 3' UTR and suggest that CDS-targeted miRNAs may use a translational quality-control-related mechanism to regulate translation in mammalian cells

Including cognitive aspects in multiple criteria decision analysis

"First Online: 21 December 2016"Many Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) methods have been proposed over the last decades. Some of the most known methods share some similarities in the way they are used and configured. However, we live in a time of change and nowadays the decision-making process (especially when done in group) is even more demanding and dynamic. In this work, we propose a Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis method that includes cognitive aspects (Cognitive Analytic Process). By taking advantage of aspects such as expertise level, credibility and behaviour style of the decision-makers, we propose a method that relates these aspects with problem configurations (alternatives and criteria preferences) done by each decision-maker. In this work, we evaluated the Cognitive Analytic Process (CAP) in terms of configuration costs and the capability to enhance the quality of the decision. We have used the satisfaction level as a metric to compare our method with other known MCDA methods in literature (Utility function, AHP and TOPSIS). Our method proved to be capable to achieve higher satisfaction levels compared to other MCDA methods, especially when the decision suggested by CAP is different from the one proposed by those methods.This work was supported by COMPETE Programme (operational programme for competitiveness) within project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007043, by National Funds through the FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology) within the Projects UID/CEC/00319/2013, UID/EEA/00760/2013, and the João Carneiro PhD grant with the reference SFRH/BD/89697/2012.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A case study of Kanban implementation within the Pharmaceutical Supply Chain

The paper explores the implementation of the kanban system, which is a Lean technique, within the Pharmaceutical Supply Chain (PSC). The case study provides insight to the benefits and challenges arising from the application of this technique, within a group of cooperative pharmacists, in Greece. The research questions developed from the review of the literature were tested using evidence from field-based, action research within a pharmaceutical organisation. The reported case study contributes to the longer term debate on assessing the Lean maturity level within the healthcare sector. There are two primary findings: i) that the adoption of kanban system provides a strategic benefit and improves the quality of services. ii) it also provides a basis for a strategy of operational change; it gives the opportunity to the organisation to move away from the current push delivery and logistics systems toward improved logistics strategy models