Analysis of Project Management Practices Within the Textile and Clothing Industry

The common challenges faced by companies/industries are often related to the ‘iron triangle’ categories, namely: deadlines, budget, scope and quality. The Project Management knowledge area proposes a systematic approach to overcome these difficulties, with the purpose of acquiring new knowledge and skills, as well as by implementing methodologies, tools, processes and techniques. The textile and clothing industry, or fashion industry, is not immune to the same type of challenges. The products of the fashion chain are collections, which are developed according to market specifications, trends and market profiles. These specifications evolve very rapidly and, therefore, have their main objective in the development of new and/or innovative products. To deliver a new collection, the whole process of elaborating these products is executed based on a per project approach. Each collection is unique, having a well-defined beginning and end. The development of a fashion collection should consider the processes that, at the industrial level, will originate the final product, thus requiring a methodology that integrates the development of the project from the initial phase – conception of the product idea – until the final stage – start of production / launch to the market. By trying to identify project management approaches in the Portuguese textile and clothing industry, this study allowed us to conclude that, despite of these organizations considering as being developing or involved in projects, the approaches followed are not formal, structured and systematic. Furthermore, there is still no complete application of any of the known project management methodologie

COVID-19 symptoms at hospital admission vary with age and sex: results from the ISARIC prospective multinational observational study

Background: The ISARIC prospective multinational observational study is the largest cohort of hospitalized patients with COVID-19. We present relationships of age, sex, and nationality to presenting symptoms. Methods: International, prospective observational study of 60 109 hospitalized symptomatic patients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 recruited from 43 countries between 30 January and 3 August 2020. Logistic regression was performed to evaluate relationships of age and sex to published COVID-19 case definitions and the most commonly reported symptoms. Results: ‘Typical’ symptoms of fever (69%), cough (68%) and shortness of breath (66%) were the most commonly reported. 92% of patients experienced at least one of these. Prevalence of typical symptoms was greatest in 30- to 60-year-olds (respectively 80, 79, 69%; at least one 95%). They were reported less frequently in children (≤ 18 years: 69, 48, 23; 85%), older adults (≥ 70 years: 61, 62, 65; 90%), and women (66, 66, 64; 90%; vs. men 71, 70, 67; 93%, each P < 0.001). The most common atypical presentations under 60 years of age were nausea and vomiting and abdominal pain, and over 60 years was confusion. Regression models showed significant differences in symptoms with sex, age and country. Interpretation: This international collaboration has allowed us to report reliable symptom data from the largest cohort of patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19. Adults over 60 and children admitted to hospital with COVID-19 are less likely to present with typical symptoms. Nausea and vomiting are common atypical presentations under 30 years. Confusion is a frequent atypical presentation of COVID-19 in adults over 60 years. Women are less likely to experience typical symptoms than men

Análise de abordagens de gestão de projetos aplicáveis à indústria têxtil e de vestuário

Dissertação de mestrado em Engenharia Industrial (área de especialização em Avaliação e Gestão de Projetos e da Inovação)Os desafios com que as empresas/indústrias se deparam mais frequentemente estão relacionadas com prazos, orçamento, âmbito e qualidade. A gestão de projetos propõe uma abordagem sistemática para debelar essas dificuldades, com a aquisição de novo conhecimento e competências, bem como a implementação de metodologias, processos e técnicas. Estes devem estar alinhados com as estratégias organizacionais, para atingir os objetivos estabelecidos e, consequentemente atingir sucesso. A indústria têxtil e de vestuário, ou indústria da moda, enfrenta os mesmos desafios. O produto da cadeia produtiva da moda são as coleções, que são desenvolvidas de acordo com especificações, tendências e perfis do mercado, especificações estas que evoluem muito rapidamente e, por isso, têm o seu objetivo principal no desenvolvimento de novos produtos e/ou produtos inovadores. Esta indústria tem uma necessidade de inovação permanente, incorporando novos estilos e formas de atrair novos clientes. Para se chegar a uma coleção nova, todo o processo de elaboração desses produtos é executado, tendo como princípio uma abordagem por projeto. Cada coleção é única, tendo um início e um fim bem definidos. O desenvolvimento de uma coleção de moda deve levar em consideração os processos que, a nível industrial, vão originar o produto final, sendo assim necessário uma metodologia que faça integração entre o desenvolvimento do projeto, desde a sua fase inicial – conceção da ideia do produto - até à fase final – início da produção / lançamento no mercado. É neste sentido que se pretendeu estudar as diferentes abordagens de gestão de projetos disponíveis, e constatar se há evidências de sua aplicabilidade na indústria têxtil e de vestuário. Este estudo permitiu concluir que, apesar das organizações abordadas afirmarem desenvolver ou estar envolvidos em projetos, não há uma aplicação formal, estruturada e sistemática, e feita de forma integral a nenhuma das abordagens conhecidas de gestão de projetos.The challenges companies/industries face most often relate to deadlines, budget, scope and quality. Project management proposes a systematic approach to overcome these difficulties, with the acquisition of new knowledge and skills, as well as the implementation of methodologies, processes and techniques. These should be aligned with organizational strategies, to achieve the stated goals and, consequently, to achieve success. The textile and clothing industry, or fashion industry, faces the same challenges. The product of the fashion chain are the collections, which are developed according to market specifications, trends and market profiles. These specifications evolve very rapidly and, therefore, have their main objective in the development of new and/or innovative products. This industry needs a permanent innovation, incorporating new styles and ways to attract new customers. To deliver a new collection, the whole process of elaborating these products is executed based on a per project approach. Each collection is unique, having a well-defined beginning and end. The development of a fashion collection should consider the processes that, at the industrial level, will originate the final product, thus requiring a methodology that integrates the development of the project from the initial phase – conception of the product idea – until the final stage – start of production / launch on the market. From this perspective what was intended was to study the different available approaches for project management, and to verify if there is any evidence of its applicability in the textile and clothing industry. This study allowed to conclude that, although the organizations considered to be developing or involved in projects, there is no formal, structured and systematic application, and there is no full application of any of the known approaches to project management

Adesão de mulheres de 18 a 50 anos ao exame colpocitológico na estratégia saúde da família Adhesión de mujeres de los 18 a los 50 años a una prueba de Papanicolaou en la estrategia de salud de la familia Adherence of women aged 18 to 50 years to a cervical smear test in the Family Health Strategy

Estudo descritivo exploratório de natureza quantitativa que teve como objetivo avaliar a adesão das mulheres ao exame colpocitológico (COP) na Estratégia Saúde da Família (ESF) de Iporá, Goiás, Brasil. A amostra do estudo foi composta por 114 mulheres com idade mínima de 18 e máxima de 50 anos de idade que compareceram nas unidades de ESF para realizar o COP nos meses de outubro e novembro de 2010. A análise descritiva realizada pelo programa Epi Info 3.5.1 mostrou que a maior adesão está na faixa etária de 46 a 50 anos de idade (24%) e a menor nas de 18 a 20 e de 41 a 45 (10% cada). Entre as entrevistadas, 70% realiza o exame a cada dois anos ou menos e 12% nunca o realizou. A unidade de ESF com maior adesão foi a do Jardim Monte Alto, com 16%, e a de menor adesão foi a do bairro Umuarama, com 8%. Concluiu-se que a prevenção é a principal justificação das mulheres para a realização do COP.Estudio descriptivo exploratorio de corte cuantitativo, que tuvo por objeto evaluar la adhesión de las mujeres a las pruebas de rastreo de Papanicolaou en la Estrategia Salud de la Familia (ESF) de Iporá, Goias, Brasil. La muestra del estudio consistió en 114 mujeres con una edad mínima de 18 años y una edad máxima de 50 años que asistieron a centros de ESF para realizar la citología entre los meses de octubre y noviembre de 2010. El análisis descriptivo realizado con Epi Info 3.5.1, mostró que la mayor adhesión se encuentra entre los 46 a 50 años de edad (24%) y la menor entre los 18 a 20 y 41 a 45 (10% cada uno). Entre las entrevistadas, el 70% realiza el examen cada dos años o menos y el 12% nunca lo ha realizado. La unidad de ESF con mayor adhesión fue la del Jardim Monte Alto (16%) y la de menor adherencia fue la del barrio Umuarama con 8%. Se concluyó que la prevención es la razón principal de las mujeres para hacerse el examen.A descriptive exploratory study of quantitative nature with the aim of evaluating the adherence of women to the smear test in the Health Family Strategy of Iporá, Goiás, Brazil. The study sample consisted of 114 women from 18 to 50 years old who attended the Family Health Strategy to have a smear test in October and November 2010. The descriptive analysis performed using Epi Info 3.5.1 showed that the higher level of adherence is in the 46 to 50 years age group (24%) and the lower level is at 18 to 20 and 41 to 45 years (10% each). Among the interviewees, 70% had the test every two years or less and 12% had never had it. The Family Health Strategy unit with higher adherence was Jadim Monte Alto with 16%, and the lower was Umuarama district with 8%. It was concluded that prevention is the main reason for women to take the smear test

Extraprensa. Cultura e comunicação na América Latina (Edição Especial sep 2019)

A revista Extraprensa é um periódico destinado à publicação da produção científica nas áreas da cultura e da comunicação no Brasil e América Latina, abrangendo temas como a diversidade cultural, cidadania, expressões das culturas populares, artes, mídias alternativas, epistemologia e metodologia em cultura e comunicação

NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES: a data set on carnivore distribution in the Neotropics

Mammalian carnivores are considered a key group in maintaining ecological health and can indicate potential ecological integrity in landscapes where they occur. Carnivores also hold high conservation value and their habitat requirements can guide management and conservation plans. The order Carnivora has 84 species from 8 families in the Neotropical region: Canidae; Felidae; Mephitidae; Mustelidae; Otariidae; Phocidae; Procyonidae; and Ursidae. Herein, we include published and unpublished data on native terrestrial Neotropical carnivores (Canidae; Felidae; Mephitidae; Mustelidae; Procyonidae; and Ursidae). NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES is a publicly available data set that includes 99,605 data entries from 35,511 unique georeferenced coordinates. Detection/non-detection and quantitative data were obtained from 1818 to 2018 by researchers, governmental agencies, non-governmental organizations, and private consultants. Data were collected using several methods including camera trapping, museum collections, roadkill, line transect, and opportunistic records. Literature (peer-reviewed and grey literature) from Portuguese, Spanish and English were incorporated in this compilation. Most of the data set consists of detection data entries (n = 79,343; 79.7%) but also includes non-detection data (n = 20,262; 20.3%). Of those, 43.3% also include count data (n = 43,151). The information available in NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES will contribute to macroecological, ecological, and conservation questions in multiple spatio-temporal perspectives. As carnivores play key roles in trophic interactions, a better understanding of their distribution and habitat requirements are essential to establish conservation management plans and safeguard the future ecological health of Neotropical ecosystems. Our data paper, combined with other large-scale data sets, has great potential to clarify species distribution and related ecological processes within the Neotropics. There are no copyright restrictions and no restriction for using data from this data paper, as long as the data paper is cited as the source of the information used. We also request that users inform us of how they intend to use the data

A multi-country analysis of COVID-19 hospitalizations by vaccination status

Background: Individuals vaccinated against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), when infected, can still develop disease that requires hospitalization. It remains unclear whether these patients differ from hospitalized unvaccinated patients with regard to presentation, coexisting comorbidities, and outcomes. Methods: Here, we use data from an international consortium to study this question and assess whether differences between these groups are context specific. Data from 83,163 hospitalized COVID-19 patients (34,843 vaccinated, 48,320 unvaccinated) from 38 countries were analyzed. Findings: While typical symptoms were more often reported in unvaccinated patients, comorbidities, including some associated with worse prognosis in previous studies, were more common in vaccinated patients. Considerable between-country variation in both in-hospital fatality risk and vaccinated-versus-unvaccinated difference in this outcome was observed. Conclusions: These findings will inform allocation of healthcare resources in future surges as well as design of longer-term international studies to characterize changes in clinical profile of hospitalized COVID-19 patients related to vaccination history. Funding: This work was made possible by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and Wellcome (215091/Z/18/Z, 222410/Z/21/Z, 225288/Z/22/Z, and 220757/Z/20/Z); the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (OPP1209135); and the philanthropic support of the donors to the University of Oxford's COVID-19 Research Response Fund (0009109). Additional funders are listed in the "acknowledgments" section

Association of Country Income Level With the Characteristics and Outcomes of Critically Ill Patients Hospitalized With Acute Kidney Injury and COVID-19

Introduction: Acute kidney injury (AKI) has been identified as one of the most common and significant problems in hospitalized patients with COVID-19. However, studies examining the relationship between COVID-19 and AKI in low- and low-middle income countries (LLMIC) are lacking. Given that AKI is known to carry a higher mortality rate in these countries, it is important to understand differences in this population. Methods: This prospective, observational study examines the AKI incidence and characteristics of 32,210 patients with COVID-19 from 49 countries across all income levels who were admitted to an intensive care unit during their hospital stay. Results: Among patients with COVID-19 admitted to the intensive care unit, AKI incidence was highest in patients in LLMIC, followed by patients in upper-middle income countries (UMIC) and high-income countries (HIC) (53%, 38%, and 30%, respectively), whereas dialysis rates were lowest among patients with AKI from LLMIC and highest among those from HIC (27% vs. 45%). Patients with AKI in LLMIC had the largest proportion of community-acquired AKI (CA-AKI) and highest rate of in-hospital death (79% vs. 54% in HIC and 66% in UMIC). The association between AKI, being from LLMIC and in-hospital death persisted even after adjusting for disease severity. Conclusions: AKI is a particularly devastating complication of COVID-19 among patients from poorer nations where the gaps in accessibility and quality of healthcare delivery have a major impact on patient outcomes

Respiratory support in patients with severe COVID-19 in the International Severe Acute Respiratory and Emerging Infection (ISARIC) COVID-19 study: a prospective, multinational, observational study

Background: Up to 30% of hospitalised patients with COVID-19 require advanced respiratory support, including high-flow nasal cannulas (HFNC), non-invasive mechanical ventilation (NIV), or invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV). We aimed to describe the clinical characteristics, outcomes and risk factors for failing non-invasive respiratory support in patients treated with severe COVID-19 during the first two years of the pandemic in high-income countries (HICs) and low middle-income countries (LMICs). Methods: This is a multinational, multicentre, prospective cohort study embedded in the ISARIC-WHO COVID-19 Clinical Characterisation Protocol. Patients with laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection who required hospital admission were recruited prospectively. Patients treated with HFNC, NIV, or IMV within the first 24 h of hospital admission were included in this study. Descriptive statistics, random forest, and logistic regression analyses were used to describe clinical characteristics and compare clinical outcomes among patients treated with the different types of advanced respiratory support. Results: A total of 66,565 patients were included in this study. Overall, 82.6% of patients were treated in HIC, and 40.6% were admitted to the hospital during the first pandemic wave. During the first 24 h after hospital admission, patients in HICs were more frequently treated with HFNC (48.0%), followed by NIV (38.6%) and IMV (13.4%). In contrast, patients admitted in lower- and middle-income countries (LMICs) were less frequently treated with HFNC (16.1%) and the majority received IMV (59.1%). The failure rate of non-invasive respiratory support (i.e. HFNC or NIV) was 15.5%, of which 71.2% were from HIC and 28.8% from LMIC. The variables most strongly associated with non-invasive ventilation failure, defined as progression to IMV, were high leukocyte counts at hospital admission (OR [95%CI]; 5.86 [4.83-7.10]), treatment in an LMIC (OR [95%CI]; 2.04 [1.97-2.11]), and tachypnoea at hospital admission (OR [95%CI]; 1.16 [1.14-1.18]). Patients who failed HFNC/NIV had a higher 28-day fatality ratio (OR [95%CI]; 1.27 [1.25-1.30]). Conclusions: In the present international cohort, the most frequently used advanced respiratory support was the HFNC. However, IMV was used more often in LMIC. Higher leucocyte count, tachypnoea, and treatment in LMIC were risk factors for HFNC/NIV failure. HFNC/NIV failure was related to worse clinical outcomes, such as 28-day mortality. Trial registration This is a prospective observational study; therefore, no health care interventions were applied to participants, and trial registration is not applicable