Performance Management Analytics for the Automotive Industry: An Empirical Study

The automotive industry is permanently collecting data about the business that is then used to calculate high level Key Performance Indicators (KPI) that are organized on a Performance Management System (PMS) to help on the decision making process. However, these KPIs represent uniquely the past. The business, in order to be proactive "i.e." create the future, must predict how it will be. Using Data Mining, Machine Learning, Statistics and Artificial Intelligence tis project creates and compares predictive models to acquire future values for KPIs

A doença de Chagas como um modelo mecanicista para testar uma nova hipótese

The association between depression and cardiovascular disease is well documented. Nevertheless, the process through which they are linked remains unknown, as does the direction of this relationship. Studies have suggested both that depression is a risk factor for heart disease and that heart disease is a risk factor for depression. A number of studies have established that a relationship exists between depression and inflammation, with alterations in the levels of inflammatory markers (IL-1, IL-6, TNF-alpha and others). Depressive symptoms have also been identified in many diseases characterized by inflammatory processes e.g. rheumatoid arthritis, bronchial asthma, diabetes, tuberculosis and cardiovascular diseases. In this brief viewpoint, we explain and propose how to use Chagas disease, a disorder characterized by inflammatory processes and leading to cardiovascular and autonomic problems, as a model for studying the directionality of the relationship between heart disease and depression.A associação entre depressão e doença cardiovascular está bem documentada. Não obstante, o processo pelo qual está associada permanece desconhecido, assim como o sentido desta associação. Estudos têm sugerido que tanto a depressão é um fator de risco para a doença cardiovascular quanto esta o é para a depressão. Uma série de trabalhos tem estabelecido que uma relação existe entre depressão e inflamação, com alterações evidenciadas por marcadores de inflamação (IL-1, IL-6, TNF alfa e outros). Sintomas de depressão também têm sido identificados em diversas doenças caracterizadas por processos inflamatórios, tais como artrite reumatoide, asma brônquica, diabete, tuberculose e doenças cardiovasculares. Nesta breve opinião é explicitado e proposto como empregar a doença de Chagas, um agravo caracterizado por processos inflamatórios e indutor de problemas cardiovasculares e autonômicos, como um modelo de estudo da direcionalidade da relação entre doença cardíaca e depressão

Patient-physician discordance in assessment of adherence to inhaled controller medication: a cross-sectional analysis of two cohorts

We aimed to compare patient's and physician's ratings of inhaled medication adherence and to identify predictors of patient-physician discordance.(SFRH/BPD/115169/2016) funded by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT); ERDF (European Regional Development Fund) through the operations: POCI-01-0145-FEDER-029130 ('mINSPIRERS—mHealth to measure and improve adherence to medication in chronic obstructive respiratory diseases—generalisation and evaluation of gamification, peer support and advanced image processing technologies') cofunded by the COMPETE2020 (Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalização), Portugal 2020 and by Portuguese Funds through FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Memorado - Da APG a um novo paradigma, a “Ordem dos Geólogos”.

A Associação Portuguesa de Geólogos (APG) foi fundada em 11 de Novembro de 1976. É uma associação sócio-profissional, sem fins lucrativos, que congrega profissionais da Geologia que se dedicam a domínios diversificados e especializados no âmbito das Ciências da Terra. É membro fundador da Federação Europeia de Geólogos (FEG) e membro da Federação Portuguesa das Associações e Sociedades Científicas (FEPASC). No âmbito da FEG a APG, através da Comissão Nacional de Acreditação e em estreita colaboração com o “Internacional Licensed Body” da FEG, participa na atribuição do título de Eurogeólogo (EurGeol) reconhecido e aceite internacionalmente como um padrão de qualidade, deontologia e ética no exercício da profissão de geólogo. Os Eurogeólogos podem ainda ser considerados “Profissionais Competentes” pelo “Pan-European Reserves and Resources Reporting Committee” (PERC). Volvidos 44 anos, verifica-se que a APG ainda não atingiu plenamente os objetivos para que foi entusiasticamente criada, no que toca à defesa da profissão de geólogo e sua representação, a promoção da excelência na aplicação da prática geológica, a dinamização do conhecimento, a elevação ética, a independência e o prestígio da profissão, e a contribuição para uma consciencialização pública da importância das geociências na sociedade. Designadamente não foi, até agora, conseguido um estatuto de representatividade formal da profissão que no contexto português terá de passar por uma organização com maior capacidade de intervenção, o que segundo a Lei n.º 2/2013, de 10 de janeiro, corresponde à criação da associação pública profissional dos geólogos, vulgarmente designada por “Ordem dos Geólogos”, com estatuto legal para regulamentar o exercício da profissão e defender perante a sociedade a credibilização da atividade profissional de geólogo. No estado atual, a visibilidade pública da geologia e dos geólogos em Portugal continua incipiente num quadro de exigência europeia e mundial, o que é particularmente negativo para os geólogos e para os portugueses. A APG faz a sua parte, mas deverá, necessariamente, evoluir para um paradigma de maior responsabilização e exigência profissional com os seus membros e consequente interação e perceção para uma sociedade mais esclarecida. Promover a profissão do geólogo passa por dialogar com outras profissões de matrizes técnico-científica afins e comunicar de forma clara e assertiva para os cidadãos, para os media e para os decisores políticos, a importância do trabalho do geólogo numa base eco-responsável e ambiental, de elevada competência técnico-científica, de deontologia e ética irrepreensíveis

Identification of clusters of asthma control: A preliminary analysis of the inspirers studies

This work was funded by ERDF (European Regional Development Fund) through the operations: POCI- -01-0145-FEDER-029130 (“mINSPIRERS—mHealth to measure and improve adherence to medication in chronic obstructive respiratory diseases - generalisation and evaluation of gamification, peer support and advanced image processing technologies”) co-funded by the COMPETE2020 (Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalização), Portugal 2020 and by Portuguese Funds through FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia).© 2020, Sociedade Portuguesa de Alergologia e Imunologia Clinica. All rights reserved. Aims: To identify distinct asthma control clusters based on Control of Allergic Rhinitis and Asthma Test (CARAT) and to compare patients’ characteristics among these clusters. Methods: Adults and adolescents (≥13 years) with persistent asthma were recruited at 29 Portuguese hospital outpatient clinics, in the context of two observational studies of the INSPIRERS project. Demographic and clinical characteristics, adherence to inhaled medication, beliefs about inhaled medication, anxiety and depression, quality of life, and asthma control (CARAT, >24 good control) were collected. Hierarchical cluster analysis was performed using CARAT total score (CARAT-T). Results: 410 patients (68% adults), with a median (percentile 25–percentile 75) age of 28 (16-46) years, were analysed. Three clusters were identified [mean CARAT-T (min-max)]: cluster 1 [27(24-30)], cluster 2 [19(14-23)] and cluster 3 [10(2-13)]. Patients in cluster 1 (34%) were characterised by better asthma control, better quality of life, higher inhaler adherence and use of a single inhaler. Patients in clusters 2 (50%) and 3 (16%) had uncontrolled asthma, lower inhaler adherence, more symptoms of anxiety and depression and more than half had at least one exacerbation in the previous year. Further-more, patients in cluster 3 were predominantly female, had more unscheduled medical visits and more anxiety symp-toms, perceived a higher necessity of their prescribed inhalers but also higher levels of concern about taking these inhalers. There were no differences in age, body mass index, lung function, smoking status, hospital admissions or specialist physician follow-up time among the three clusters. Conclusion: An unsupervised method based on CARAT--T, identified 3 clusters of patients with distinct, clinically meaningful characteristics. The cluster with better asthma control had a cut-off similar to the established in the validation study of CARAT and an additional cut-off seems to distinguish more severe disease. Further research is necessary to validate the asthma control clusters identified.publishersversionpublishe

SARS-CoV-2 introductions and early dynamics of the epidemic in Portugal

Genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in Portugal was rapidly implemented by the National Institute of Health in the early stages of the COVID-19 epidemic, in collaboration with more than 50 laboratories distributed nationwide. Methods By applying recent phylodynamic models that allow integration of individual-based travel history, we reconstructed and characterized the spatio-temporal dynamics of SARSCoV-2 introductions and early dissemination in Portugal. Results We detected at least 277 independent SARS-CoV-2 introductions, mostly from European countries (namely the United Kingdom, Spain, France, Italy, and Switzerland), which were consistent with the countries with the highest connectivity with Portugal. Although most introductions were estimated to have occurred during early March 2020, it is likely that SARS-CoV-2 was silently circulating in Portugal throughout February, before the first cases were confirmed. Conclusions Here we conclude that the earlier implementation of measures could have minimized the number of introductions and subsequent virus expansion in Portugal. This study lays the foundation for genomic epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 in Portugal, and highlights the need for systematic and geographically-representative genomic surveillance.We gratefully acknowledge to Sara Hill and Nuno Faria (University of Oxford) and Joshua Quick and Nick Loman (University of Birmingham) for kindly providing us with the initial sets of Artic Network primers for NGS; Rafael Mamede (MRamirez team, IMM, Lisbon) for developing and sharing a bioinformatics script for sequence curation (https://github.com/rfm-targa/BioinfUtils); Philippe Lemey (KU Leuven) for providing guidance on the implementation of the phylodynamic models; Joshua L. Cherry (National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health) for providing guidance with the subsampling strategies; and all authors, originating and submitting laboratories who have contributed genome data on GISAID (https://www.gisaid.org/) on which part of this research is based. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not reflect the view of the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Health and Human Services, or the United States government. This study is co-funded by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia and Agência de Investigação Clínica e Inovação Biomédica (234_596874175) on behalf of the Research 4 COVID-19 call. Some infrastructural resources used in this study come from the GenomePT project (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-022184), supported by COMPETE 2020 - Operational Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalisation (POCI), Lisboa Portugal Regional Operational Programme (Lisboa2020), Algarve Portugal Regional Operational Programme (CRESC Algarve2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), and by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

2 nd Brazilian Consensus on Chagas Disease, 2015

Abstract Chagas disease is a neglected chronic condition with a high burden of morbidity and mortality. It has considerable psychological, social, and economic impacts. The disease represents a significant public health issue in Brazil, with different regional patterns. This document presents the evidence that resulted in the Brazilian Consensus on Chagas Disease. The objective was to review and standardize strategies for diagnosis, treatment, prevention, and control of Chagas disease in the country, based on the available scientific evidence. The consensus is based on the articulation and strategic contribution of renowned Brazilian experts with knowledge and experience on various aspects of the disease. It is the result of a close collaboration between the Brazilian Society of Tropical Medicine and the Ministry of Health. It is hoped that this document will strengthen the development of integrated actions against Chagas disease in the country, focusing on epidemiology, management, comprehensive care (including families and communities), communication, information, education, and research

estudos artísticos

A revista Gama, Estudos Artísticos estabeleceu-se como um instrumento para a disseminação do conhecimento em torno da arte e da cultura numa perspetiva que se crê inovadora, e que nos caracteriza: estudar arte e artistas através do olhar formado e privilegiado dos companheiros de profissão. Artistas estudam outros artistas. A revista Gama pertence assim a um projeto de resistência: resistência ao centrismo do artworld, ao esmagamento pelos discursos dominantes, às lógicas de reprodução da legitimação instituída. Há uma característica que prevalece em todos os 28 artigos reunidos na presente edição: a reflexão informada sobre autores e obras de arte, que propõe novas leituras e novas redes de conhecimento. Todas juntas constituem um tecido que descobre sentidos, na sua integração global na nova paisagem cultural.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio