How can the usage of data analytics help football clubs create a competitive advantage: a research on Liverpool football club

Given the huge complexity of the sport, clubs need to seek for contemporary approaches to the usage of data to improve the club’s overall performance. The purpose of this thesis is to understand how data science is shaping the decision-making of football clubs and how can clubs leverage on the power of data to gain a competitive edge in an extremely challenging industry. Further analysis on Liverpool F.C. suggests that indeed data analytics had an impact in its successful stride for silverware, with notorious improvements both sportingly and financially, however this might have been influenced by other factors

The Kuramoto model in complex networks

181 pages, 48 figures. In Press, Accepted Manuscript, Physics Reports 2015 Acknowledgments We are indebted with B. Sonnenschein, E. R. dos Santos, P. Schultz, C. Grabow, M. Ha and C. Choi for insightful and helpful discussions. T.P. acknowledges FAPESP (No. 2012/22160-7 and No. 2015/02486-3) and IRTG 1740. P.J. thanks founding from the China Scholarship Council (CSC). F.A.R. acknowledges CNPq (Grant No. 305940/2010-4) and FAPESP (Grants No. 2011/50761-2 and No. 2013/26416-9) for financial support. J.K. would like to acknowledge IRTG 1740 (DFG and FAPESP).Peer reviewedPreprin

Career satisfaction of medical residents in Portugal

Introdução: A satisfação com a profissão médica tem sido apontada como um fator essencial para a qualidade assistencial, o bemestar dos doentes e a estabilidade dos sistemas de saúde. Estudos recentes têm vindo a enfatizar um crescente descontentamento dos médicos, principalmente como consequência das alterações das relações laborais. Objetivos: Avaliar a perceção dos médicos de formação específica em Portugal, sobre as expectativas e grau de satisfação com a profissão, especialidade e local de formação; razões da insatisfação e intenção de emigrar. Material e Métodos: Estudo transversal. A colheita de dados foi efetuada entre Maio e Agosto de 2014 através de um Inquérito online sobre a “Satisfação com a Especialidade”. Resultados: De uma população total de 5788 médicos, foram obtidas 804 respostas (12,25% do total de médicos internos). Desta amostra, 77% das respostas correspondem a internos dos três primeiros anos de formação. Verificou-se que 90% dos médicos se encontram satisfeitos com a especialidade, tendo-se encontrado também níveis elevados de satisfação com a profissão (85%) e local de formação (86%). Por outro lado, constatou-se que estes diminuíam com a progressão ao longo dos anos de internato. A avaliação global sobre o panorama da prática médica foi negativa e 65% dos médicos responderam que consideram emigrar após conclusão do internato. Conclusão: Os médicos internos em Portugal apresentam níveis positivos de satisfação com a sua profissão. No entanto, a sua opinião sobre o panorama da Medicina e os resultados relativos à intenção de emigrar alertam para a necessidade de tomada de medidas para inverter este cenário.Introduction: The satisfaction with the medical profession has been identified as an essential factor for the quality of care, the wellbeing of patients and the healthcare systems’ stability. Recent studies have emphasized a growing discontent of physicians, mainly as a result of changes in labor relations. Objectives: To assess the perception of Portuguese medical residents about: correspondence of residency with previous expectations; degree of satisfaction with the specialty, profession and place of training; reasons for dissatisfaction; opinion regarding clinical practice in Portugal and emigration intents. Material and Methods: Cross-sectional study. Data collection was conducted through the “Satisfaction with Specialization Survey”, created in an online platform, designed for this purpose, between May and August 2014. Results: From a total population of 5788 medical residents, 804 (12.25 %) responses were obtained. From this sample, 77% of the responses were from residents in the first three years. Results showed that 90% of the residents are satisfied with their specialty, 85% with the medical profession and 86% with their place of training. Nevertheless, results showed a decrease in satisfaction over the final years of residency. The overall assessment of the clinical practice scenario in Portugal was negative and 65% of residents have plans to emigrate after completing their residency. Conclusion: Portuguese residents revealed high satisfaction levels regarding their profession. However, their views on Portuguese clinical practice and the results concerning the intent to emigrate highlight the need to take steps to reverse this scenario

Evaluation of a quality improvement intervention to reduce anastomotic leak following right colectomy (EAGLE): pragmatic, batched stepped-wedge, cluster-randomized trial in 64 countries

Background Anastomotic leak affects 8 per cent of patients after right colectomy with a 10-fold increased risk of postoperative death. The EAGLE study aimed to develop and test whether an international, standardized quality improvement intervention could reduce anastomotic leaks. Methods The internationally intended protocol, iteratively co-developed by a multistage Delphi process, comprised an online educational module introducing risk stratification, an intraoperative checklist, and harmonized surgical techniques. Clusters (hospital teams) were randomized to one of three arms with varied sequences of intervention/data collection by a derived stepped-wedge batch design (at least 18 hospital teams per batch). Patients were blinded to the study allocation. Low- and middle-income country enrolment was encouraged. The primary outcome (assessed by intention to treat) was anastomotic leak rate, and subgroup analyses by module completion (at least 80 per cent of surgeons, high engagement; less than 50 per cent, low engagement) were preplanned. Results A total 355 hospital teams registered, with 332 from 64 countries (39.2 per cent low and middle income) included in the final analysis. The online modules were completed by half of the surgeons (2143 of 4411). The primary analysis included 3039 of the 3268 patients recruited (206 patients had no anastomosis and 23 were lost to follow-up), with anastomotic leaks arising before and after the intervention in 10.1 and 9.6 per cent respectively (adjusted OR 0.87, 95 per cent c.i. 0.59 to 1.30; P = 0.498). The proportion of surgeons completing the educational modules was an influence: the leak rate decreased from 12.2 per cent (61 of 500) before intervention to 5.1 per cent (24 of 473) after intervention in high-engagement centres (adjusted OR 0.36, 0.20 to 0.64; P < 0.001), but this was not observed in low-engagement hospitals (8.3 per cent (59 of 714) and 13.8 per cent (61 of 443) respectively; adjusted OR 2.09, 1.31 to 3.31). Conclusion Completion of globally available digital training by engaged teams can alter anastomotic leak rates. Registration number: NCT04270721 (http://www.clinicaltrials.gov)