TQM and six sigma in accounting literature

This study is based on the investigation of the relation between management accounting, Total Quality Management and six sigma, in articles published in 5 of the most renowned accounting journals: Management Accounting Review; European Accounting Review; Accounting, Auditing and Accountability; Critical Perspectives on Accounting; and Accounting Organizations and Society. Despite the vast existent literature related to both management accounting and quality management, this investigation contributes by characterizing the relation between them. This study was developed by extracting and analyzing variables such as author‟s characterization, research method, studied subjects and underlying organizational theory. These variables where subsequently associated with each other. This study‟s results show that investigation in this area is largely dominated by male authors, generally affiliated to either Europe or the US. The preferred research method in Europe was the case study, while US authors preferred the survey method. Contingency theory was the most adopted organizational theory. Actor-network and institutional theories were also used in a relevant amount of studies. It is also important to state that no article was extracted from European Accounting Review journal, since none met this study‟s requirements.Este estudo tem por base a investigação da relação entre a contabilidade de gestão e as ferramentas de gestão de qualidade TQM e six sigma, em publicações nas principais revistas da área da contabilidade, especificamente contabilidade de gestão: Management Accounting Review; European Accounting Review; Accounting, Auditing and Accountability; Critical Perspectives on Accounting; and Accounting Organizations and Society. Apesar da vasta literatura existente sobre ambos os temas, este trabalho pretende contribuir para a investigação da relação entre ambos. Para tal, várias variáveis, como a caracterização dos autores, a metodologia de estudo, temas abordados e a teoria organizacional presente, foram analisadas e associadas de forma adequada. Os resultados deste estudo mostram que a investigação nesta área é dominada por autores do sexo masculino, na maioria afiliados com a Europa ou Estados Unidos, origem da maioria dos artigos analisados. O método de estudo preferido foi o case study na Europa e nos Estados Unidos o questionário. A teoria da contigencia foi a mais adoptada para este tipo de estudo, apesar das teorias actor-network e instititucional terem sido bastante adoptadas, também. É também de salientar que nenhum artigo correspondente aos requisitos deste estudo foi encontrado na revista European Accounting Revie

Epidemiologia do cancro do castanheiro. Dinâmica da distribuição espacial de Cryphonectria parasitica (Murrill) Barr

Com este trabalho pretendeu-se conhecer as características biológicas da população patogénica, os mecanismos de multiplicação e dispersão espaço-temporal e o efeito da remoção do inóculo no desenvolvimento da doença, aspectos que foram estudados durante três anos consecutivos num souto de Parada-Bragança, localizado num dos focos iniciais do aparecimento do cancro em Portugal

Youth’s physical activity and fitness from a rural environment of an Azores Island

This study aimed to characterize and compare physical activity (PA) and fitness levels by sex in 109 students of a rural environment. The participants were between 15 and 20 years old, from the Santa Maria High School in the Azores’ Santa Maria island. PA levels were assessed by International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ)-short form. The physical fitness was evaluated by the Fitnessgram battery tests. The sample of this study were physically active, 67.9% were classified with high and moderate PA levels. Regarding the sex comparisons, no significant differences between PA levels were founded. However, males presented higher values of vigorous physical activity, whereas females spent more time in moderate activity, such as walking. Moreover, females had more time in sitting positions during the week and weekend. Regarding the physical fitness levels, males presented significantly higher performances in the upper strength (p < 0.001) and aerobic capacity tests (p < 0.001), whereas females showed higher values in the sit and reach test (p < 0.001), in the trunk lift test (p < 0.005), and in the fat mass values (p < 0.001). It seems reasonable to assume that there is a sociodemographic influence on the PA and physical fitness levels in our sample. We may speculate that rural life provides more opportunities for youth for being physically active than urban life. No differences were founded between sexes for physical activity. However, differences were found between sex for strength, flexibility, cardiorespiratory fitness, and body composition. That might be explained by the biological differences and the type of physical activity habits that each sex use to have in rural environmental.This work is supported by National Funds through FCT—Foundation for Science and Technology under the project UID04045/2020 and was approved by the Education Regional Direction with process number DSP/15-29.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Study of postural misalignments between sex, school cycle and physical activity

This study aimed to characterize and compare postural behaviour between gender, school cycles and PA levels in 213 students, aged between 10 and 20 years, from Escola Básica e Secundária de Santa Maria. Postural assessment was made through visual scan analysis in a symmetrograph and the Adams test. PA level assessment was made using the IPAQ. Postural behaviour presented high percentages of imbalances in both sexes, with the highest prevalence in the head lateral flexion, shoulders level asymmetry, scoliosis, gibbosity, forward head and protracted shoulders. Lumbar scoliosis was significantly related to pelvic asymmetry (p < .001), protracted shoulders were related to forward head (p = .010) and dorsal hyperkyphosis (p = .048) and lumbar hyperlordosis was more prevalent in subjects with pelvic anteversion (p < .001). Dorsal hyperkyphosis manifested in males with a markedly higher prevalence than females (p = .006). Postural imbalances were present at all ages, with pelvic anteversion decrease (p = .028) with school cycles progression. Our sample proved to be physically active with 73.9% categorized with high and moderate levels of PA. Higher PA levels where related to forward head lower percentages (p = .006). It should be highlighted the importance of postural assessment school students.This work is supported by National Funds through FCT - Foundation for Science and Technology under the project UID04045/2020 and was approved by the Education Regional Direction with process number DSP/15-29

Spatial dynamics of chestnut blight disease at the plot level using the Ripley’s K function

We used the Ripley’s K function to describe the spatial dynamics of chestnut blight (Cryphonectria parasitica (Murrill) Barr) in sweet chestnut orchards to look at pattern in the pathogen distribution over time and the effect of the location of infected trees on the pattern of disease spread. We used data on infected and dead trees in 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2009 in 4 orchards located in Curopos parish, Portugal. We found both random and aggregated patterns of infected trees in the beginning of the study period and significant association of infected trees between successive dates, particularly at short distances. Two of the 4 studied orchards showed significant clustering of infected and dead trees in any of the dates observed but random spatial pattern in the remaining two which can possibly be explained by both natural propagation of the disease and management practices

Study of the association between postural misalignments in school students

Nowadays, postural misalignments prevalence in students is increasingly evident and its early detection is the best way to prevent complications in adulthood. It is also known that postural problems appear to have association between them. The aim of this study was to characterize and study the association between spine, scapular and pelvic girdles postural misalignments in 213 school students (124 males and 89 females), aged between 10 and 20 years, from Escola Básica e Secundária de Santa Maria (EBSSM). To understand the relation between postural misalignments we compare the head positioning with the shoulder girdle, the shoulder girdle with the dorsal spine and the lumbar spine with the pelvic girdle. The postural assessment was made by visual scan analysis in a symmetrograph based on photogrammetry and the Adams. We found high percentages of postural misalignments in all subjects. High prevalence was observed in the posterior view of the frontal plane in the head lateral flexion, shoulders vertical asymmetry, scoliosis and in the presence of gibbosity, whereas, in the right view of the sagittal plane forward head posture and protracted shoulders were observed. The lumbar scoliosis was more prevalent in subjects with iliac crest’s asymmetry (p < 0.001) and forward head posture was significantly related to the subjects with protracted shoulders (p = 0.010). The protracted shoulders were more prevalent in subjects with dorsal hyperkyphosis (p = 0.048) and lumbar hyperlordosis was related to the subjects with pelvic anteversion (p < 0.001). The students’ postural assessment showed a wide variety of postural misalignments. It also seems evident that there is a relationship between their occurrences. It should be highlighted the importance of postural assessment in physical education (PE) classes to determine postural misalignments among school students.This work is supported by the Douro Higher Institute of Educational Sciences and the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P. (project UIDB/04045/2021).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Avaliação da aprendizagem escolar:Um estudo sobre as concepções e práticas docentes nas disciplinas específicas do curso Técnico em Agropecuária do IFRO/Campus Colorado do Oeste

Dissertação apresentada ao Programa de Pós- Graduação: Mestrado Profissional em Educação Escolar - MEPE, da Universidade Federal de Rondônia (UNIR) como requisito final para a obtenção do título de Mestre em Educação Escolar. Orientador: Prof. Dr. Wendell Fiori de Faria.A presente dissertação apresenta o resultado de uma pesquisa realizada no Campus de Colorado do Oeste, do Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia de Rondônia (IFRO), tendo como objeto de análise a temática da avaliação da aprendizagem no Ensino Técnico Integrado ao Ensino Médio. O objetivo geral foi investigar as concepções e práticas de avaliação da aprendizagem dos professores das disciplinas específicas do Curso Técnico em Agropecuária, buscando alternativas para a melhoria da temática no contexto pesquisado. Com relação aos procedimentos metodológicos, adotou-se a abordagem qualitativa, de maneira que a entrevista semiestruturada foi o instrumento utilizado para a coleta de dados, os quais foram posteriormente transcritos e analisados segundo a técnica da Análise de Conteúdo, na categoria temática. Os sujeitos da pesquisa foram dez professores das disciplinas do núcleo profissionalizante, formados em cursos de bacharelado na área das Ciências Agrárias. Como fundamentação teórica, buscou-se dialogar com autores que abordam a avaliação da aprendizagem numa perspectiva formativa. Os principais resultados alcançados apontam para um contexto em que prevalece a avaliação com características classificatórias, com ênfase nas provas escritas, o que sugere a necessidade de formação continuada para o grupo de professores pesquisados, envolvendo a temática da avaliação, com o objetivo de contribuir para a superação das atuais práticas avaliativas

Recurrent pyogenic infections caused by a novel Gln1420* mutation in the C3 gene

Funding Information: The present publication was funded by Fundação Ciência e Tecnologia, IP national support through CHRC (UIDP/04923/2020).C3 is a crucial protein of the complement system. Congenital C3 deficiency is extremely rare and manifests through recurrent, severe infections and should always be considered as a differential diagnosis of recurrent pyogenic infections. We report a case of a patient with a novel C3 gene mutation, responsible for complete C3 deficiency with impaired complement system activation and recurrent infections.publishersversionpublishe

IoT-based solution to reduce waste and promote a sustainable farming industry

Waste and the necessity to increase sustainability in the farming industry are some of the challenges addressed in the agri-food chain. With the potential of digital technologies, e.g., the Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence, to revolutionize agriculture by enabling more efficient and intelligent monitoring, system architecture and IoT nodes were developed to support relevant parameters for composing a Sustainability Index for the Bio-economy (siBIO). These nodes are scalable, modular, capable of meeting on-demand production needs, and provide a cost-effective alternative to commercial solutions or manual data collection methods. The collected data is transmitted to middleware and then stored, analyzed, and displayed on a user-friendly dashboard, providing data to siBIO and consequently contributing to a more sustainable farming industry and reducing waste of resources and food. The results include the implementation of IoT nodes in a case study involving a vineyard and an apple orchard. The nodes are successfully collecting data on environmental, operational, and energy parameters such as temperature, air humidity, soil moisture, precipitation, and water and electricity consumption for irrigation. The tests of data transmission and collection, functionality and robustness of the proposed solution were promising, offering a way to quantify the sustainability index and facilitate the exchange of agricultural information in a reliable and standardized way.This work has been conducted under the project BIOMA Bioeconomy integrated solutions for the mobilization of the Agro-food market (POCI-01-0247-FEDER-046112). This work has been also supported by the Foundation for Sci- ence and Technology (FCT, Portugal) through national funds FCT/MCTES (PIDDAC) to CeDRI (UIDB/05757/2020 and UIDP/05757/2020) and SusTEC (LA/P/0007/2021). Authors Gustavo Funchal and Vict oria Melo thank the FCT for the PhD Grants 2022.13712.BD and 2022.13868.BD, respectively.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

RADIAL PULSATILE MASS — APPEARANCES CAN BE DECEIVING

Adventitial cystic disease (ACD) is a rare condition. It affects mostly the popliteal artery, with few cases reported affecting the radial artery. This condition is characterized by accumulation of mucinous content at the adventitious layer.