Influence of Gender, Education, Age Group and Time in the Company on the Adoption of New Technologies and their Impact on Continuous Improvement

Continuous Improvement (CI) is a principle being adopted in many organizations around the world. It is present in relevant excellence models such as the Toyota Way, Shingo Model, and Lean Thinking. CI was implemented some years ago in a Public Company (Lipor) based in Porto, dedicated to municipal waste treatment, but the Covid-19 pandemic created some important challenges. The forced adoption of new technologies associated with I4.0 required important changes in the existing CI routines. This paper aims to assess the influence of gender, education, age group, and time in the company on adopting new technologies used in their IC routines. This study, based on employees' perceptions through questionnaires, shows that the CI system had, in general, a positive impact on their work and overall performance. Regarding the effect of forced teleworking caused by COVID-19 on office workers, this study shows that age, gender, education, and years in the company have an impact on the effective adoption of new technologies associated with digital transformation and Industry 4.0. The study also shows that those technologies effectively allow routines and culture of CI to be maintained when workers are forced to work remotely.

A home-lab experiment: resonance and sound speed using telescopic vacuum cleaner pipes

We propose a home laboratory in which a telescopic vacuum cleaner pipe and a smartphone are used to investigate sound speed and acoustic resonance. When the pipe is hit or the hands clapped near one end, the sound produced is registered by a smartphone. The resonant frequency is obtained using a smartphone and an appropriate application. Varying the pipe’s length and registering the corresponding resonant frequency allows to obtain the sound speed. This home-lab, first proposed during Covid-19 pandemic, has been incorporated as a home challenge to experiment with acoustic resonance in new normal times. © 2022 IOP Publishing Ltd.

IMPLEMENTING TELEMEDICINE IN UROGYNECOLOGY: A FEASIBILITY STUDY

Introduction: The use of telemedicine in urogynecology was accelerated in the context of Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, since it was considered an opportunity to minimize exposure without sacrificing treatments. Even though it is believed that low-and middle-income countries can benefit more from remote access to health care services, there is no data assessing its usage in this population. Objective: Evaluate the feasibility of implementing telemedicine, in the context of COVID-19 pandemic, in an urogynecology setting of a middle-income country. Methods: We included first visits and follow-up appointments of patients who's in-person visits were canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic and that had the diagnose of a condition possible to be followed by telemedicine according to Grimes et al (2020) guide. The appointments were performed between November 2020 and March 2021;Seven to 15 days after, a telephone call was made in order to assess if the patient was able to access the sent documents and to perform a satisfaction questionnaire. The feasibility of telemedicine was evaluated according to the composite outcomes: appointment resolvability, defined as the capacity of the physician to make a clinical decision based on the data of the appointment and the report from the patient that she felt the physician was able to understand her health-condition;technical feasibility, defined as the quality of the audio/video of the call, length of the appointment inferior to 20 minutes and access to the sent documents;and patient satisfaction, defined as the overall satisfaction and the acceptance to engage with telemedicine in future appointments. The statistical analysis consisted of a description of the variables and a Chi-squared test was performed to evaluate the association between patient's satisfaction with the others feasibility criteria. Results: From the 225 patients that had their appointment cancelled, 203 were eligible to telemedicine, we were able to contact 171 of them, 83 (48%) agreed to participate and 71 (85.5%) responded to the satisfaction survey. Most of the appointments (92,7%) were made through a telephone call. There were 27 (32,5%) first visits and 31,1% of all the appointments required an in-person visit afterwards. The mean appointment length was 12 minutes (SD: 5.48). The audio was considered adequate in 97.6% of the appointments by the physicians and 91.5% by the participants. From the 47 participants to whom a document was sent, 43 responded to the survey and 60.5% reported being able to access them. The resolvability criterion was met by 73,2% of the appointments, 78,9% were technically feasible and 57.7% of the patients were satisfied with telemedicine. There was no significant statistical association between the patient satisfaction with the appointment resolvability (P = 0,494) nor with the technical feasibility (P = 0,494). Conclusions: In spite of the potential benefits of telemedicine, this form of care still finds barriers to its implementation. The main difficulties found include technological resources and the patient acceptance to engage in this form of care. We believe telemedicine is feasible and should be implemented to this population, but actions to support patient's preferences and improve acceptance are needed.

Impacts on anxiety symptoms and alcohol consumption among people with disabilities and family caregivers in Latin America and the Caribbean during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to analyse associations between the COVID-19 pandemic, alcohol consumption and anxiety symptoms among people with self-reported disabilities and family caregivers in Latin America and the Caribbean. STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional study with secondary data analysis of the 'Alcohol Use during the COVID-19 pandemic in Latin America and the Caribbean', a Web-based cross-sectional survey conducted by the Pan American Health Organisation between March and June 2020. METHODS: Descriptive analyses were conducted on the individual, social environment characteristics, COVID-19 infection, quarantine compliance, anxiety symptoms (measured by Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale [GAD-7]) and change in frequency of heavy episodic drinking during the pandemic. Multinomial logistic regression was used to analyse associations among individuals with self-reported disabilities with anxiety symptoms and change in frequency of heavy episodic drinking during the pandemic. RESULTS: Family caregivers were more compliant with COVID-19 restrictive measures than individuals with and without disabilities. The majority of participants with disabilities did not change their drinking patterns during the pandemic (64.3%); however, 28.1% reported increased consumption. People with disabilities were 2.17 times more likely to have severe anxiety symptoms than no anxiety symptoms between March and June 2020 in Latin America and the Caribbean. CONCLUSIONS: This study observed a higher prevalence of the maintenance of heavy episodic drinking behaviour during the early phase of the pandemic in people with disabilities and family caregivers than in people without self-reported disabilities in Latin America and the Caribbean. People with disabilities showed more severe anxiety symptoms than those without disabilities, highlighting the need to develop inclusive health and quality-of-life policies to mitigate the effects of the pandemic in this vulnerable population.

Relational Capital and Organisational Resilience

In the current context, marked by the challenges of the digital transformation, the climate emergency, the risks of the Covid-19 pandemic and the economic and health crisis, resilience emerged as a concept explaining how societies, systems, and subsystems can respond to shocks and better manage the inherent risks that are constantly changing. With the digital transformation and the increasing use of the internet by organisations, relational capital has emerged as one of the components of intellectual capital with greater relevance for the resilience and agility of organisations. Through the most recent literature review, this study explores the relationship between relational capital and firms’ resilience indicators. The results provide empirical evidence for the positive relationship between the two concepts and present the basis for developing an auditing framework of organisational resilience. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Effects of face mask use on exercise during the COVID-19 pandemic: the principal component analysis (PCA)

The COVID-19 pandemic also raised questions about the practice of physical activity using a face mask and how this would affect breathing and performance. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of using a tissue face mask recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) on the variation of heart rate (HR), minute volume (VE), and muscle O 2 saturation (SO 2 m) parameters during performing the incremental load exercise and verifying the maximum time obtained at the end of the exercise. A 21-year-old male, 85 kg of total body mass and 1.68 m of height were selected. The individual performed an incremental load test to maximum exhaustion on the XT cycle ergometer (TRG Fitness ..) in two moments: No mask -Control (C);Cloth Mask (CM). The individual was instructed to maintain a cadence of 61-65 rpm and every 2 minutes a load of 30.8 watts was added until maximum exhaustion. A ventilometer VO2 Pro (Cefise ..) and a near infrared spectroscopy sensor (Moxy ..) were used, placed in the vastus lateralis muscle of the right leg. Data were analyzed every 20% of the total time (20%, 40%, 60%, 80% and 100%) under conditions C and CM. The parameters of HR, VE and SO 2 m were monitored throughout the test and the data were statistically processed by a software (Origin Pro .. 3.226) using a multivariate analysis technique (Principal Component Analysis -PCA) to analyze interrelationships between the variables. In test condition C, an eigenvalue of 2.979 was observed with two variables (VE and SO 2 m) associated with greater variation (PC1). The maximum time obtained at the end of the test was 1535 seconds. In the CM condition, na eigenvalue of 2.881 was observed with two variables (HR and SO 2 m) associated with greater variation (PC1). The maximum time obtained at the end of the test was1330 seconds. It is concluded that the use of CM reduces VE variation, which may be associated with greater airflow resistance. The greatest variation observed in HR was due to the use of CM, impacting the delay in the appearance of the plateau. In addition, the use of a tissue mask recommended by the WHO reduces the maximum exercise time performed on the cycle ergometer in a healthy individual. These findings are useful for evaluating the effects of using CM in high-performance sports. Additional studies in the elderly and people with lung or heart disease are needed.

Innovating to improve – An experience in a computer engineering programme

This paper presents a pedagogical experience carried out in a course unit of a master’s programme in Computer Engineering at the University of Minho. The course unit, Numerical Methods and Nonlinear Optimization, is placed in the first semester of the third year and the experience took place with 184 students in the academic year 2020-2021. Until then, it had been taught in a traditional way, with theoretical lectures and practical classes for solving exercises. There were several reasons to innovate, namely the need to move to online teaching due to COVID-19, which was an opportunity to introduce new methodologies and technologies, but also the need to foster students’ engagement and performance. A b-learning approach was implemented through a combination of strategies and resources, aiming to enhance motivation, interaction and participation in learning. Assessment was more diversified and distributed over time to foster ongoing study and progress. It included mini-tests and two MatLab projects carried out in teams with the main challenge of finding a real-world phenomenon for the application of a course concept, which implied connecting conceptual learning with reality and creating bridges with other areas of knowledge. The experience was evaluated on the basis of students’ assessment results and their perceptions collected in a survey. The new approach resulted in high levels of student engagement and satisfaction, promoting cooperation and the personal construction of knowledge, which are essential competences for lifelong learning. Nevertheless, the development of MatLab projects requires further improvements, not only as regards support to students but also the evaluation of their impact on learning. © 2021 University of Minho. All rights reserved.

Social support for homeless people: Interface with health, human rights and subjective dimension

The discussions on social support and its relations with health, human rights and subjective dimensions in the lives of homeless people are relevant in view of the growth of this population in all cities of Brazil and the world with the COVID-19 pandemic. The objective of this research was to analyze the social support of homeless people in Fortaleza (Ceará, Brazil), considering these three dimensions. The research was carried out with the application of 236 valid questionnaires to people living on the streets of Fortaleza in 2019. The most sought-after sources of social support by the homeless people were God, the Pop Center and Homeless Friends, and those less sought after were CAPS, the National Movement of the Homeless Population (MNPR) and the Therapeutic Communities. The processes of humiliation and shame were experienced with repercussions in health, human rights and subjective dimensions. Homeless people suffer high discrimination and is not considered as rights subjects, which reveals the State's disregard in proposing public policies. © 2021 Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Valparaiso. All rights reserved.

Psychosocial impact of COVID-19 pandemic among patients under oncological treatment

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic gave rise to worldwide concern about population's mental health as people were exposed to changes in their daily life routine. Chronic patients were more susceptible to the psychological and healthy impact in the pandemic. This observational, exploratory, multicenter study aims to evaluate the oncology patient's perception about the psychosocial impact of cancer treatment in the scenario of COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Data were collected from cancer patients who voluntarily answered two self-applied questionnaires. The hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS) were also used to assess the presence of depression and anxiety symptoms. High score was defined by cutoff > 8. Clinical characteristics and patients perception were reported as frequencies. Chi Square test was used to compare risk of anxiety/depression through HADS and categorical variables, including gender, type of cancer treatment and psychosocial aspects. Odds-Ratio was calculated using logistic regression. Results: 122 patients were included, 86% were receiving chemotherapy, 53.3% with palliative intention. Mean age was 54.8, and 59% were female. Most patients attended the hospital for cancer treatment every 14 days (44.2%). Regarding social isolation, 47.5% only left home when necessary;62.3% of respondents reported not being afraid of being infected by the virus when going to the hospital for treatment. This fact can be understood as 100% of the patients reported that the protocol changes adopted by the hospital in the pandemic were positive and beneficial. A total of 77.8% noticed changes during the pandemic, mainly related to reduced physical activity (53.4%), loss of family (62.2%) or social (54,9%) contact. According to HADS, anxiety and depression symptoms were reported in 17% and 15,5% respectively. Female patients scored higher on HADS-A (OR 4,091 (CI95% 1,114-15,021)). No difference was observed in HADS independently of line of chemotherapy or type of treatment. HADS score was not higher in inpatients. 52,4% of patients were more afraid of cancer than COVID infection. Patients who answered that the fear of cancer was higher than the fear of COVID-19 infection scored higher at HADS-D (OR 4,712 (CI95% 1,77-15,028)). Conclusions: Patients were more afraid of cancer than COVID-19 infection. Female patients had a higher anxiety score and more depression was observed in patients who were more afraid of cancer. This study indicates that, in a patientAs psychological view, the maintenance of treatment and consultations frequency during oncological care may be as important as restrictive strategies used to reduce the risk of COVID-19 infection.

Cerebral venous thrombosis in Brazil: A case series and literature review

Background and aims: Cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) is a rare cerebrovascular disease. Compared to the European spectrum, there have been few studies in the Brazilian population. Methods: This is a prospective and descriptive study. The aim is to describe a case series of 31 patients diagnosed with CVT by imaging findings between 2015 and 2020 in Sobral-Ceará, Brazil. Also, to present a discussion and literature review on the subject. Results: There was a predominance of women, with onset in the fourth decade of life, headache as the most common clinical event (96.8%), and oral contraceptive use as the most common risk factor (54.8%). Three patients presented COVID-19 infection. The transverse sinus was the most affected venous sinus (70.1%), and multiple sinus CVT was a frequent finding (64.5%). Death occurred in two patients. Conclusion: CVT is a rare cerebrovascular disease, though well studied worldwide. However, in Brazil, it is poorly documented: there have been only four Brazilian case series. The presence of headache and seizures should raise the suspicion of CVT. It presents many known risk factors, which affect the Virchow triad. Computed tomography is commonly the first requested imaging exam. The treatment aims to recanalize the occluded sinuses or veis, treat the prothrombotic state, and prevent a CVT recurrence. The prognosis is usually good. The characteristics of this series are similar to those of Brazilian populations. It should occur a raise and standardization of Brazilian CVT studies. By a continental comparison, South America presents the lowest number of CVT studies, while Europe presents the highest.

Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on smoking cessation treatment

Introduction: The new Coronavirus pandemic has had an impact on health systems worldwide. Smokers were directly affected by these changes. Objective: To measure the new Coronavirus pandemic impact on smoking cessation from the analysis of data from the Pernambuco State Tobacco Control Program. Method: Descriptive cross-sectional study, using data from the monitoring strategy of the State Tobacco Control Program of the State Health Secretariat of Pernambuco (SES-PE) as the unit of analysis, comparing services in the second quarter of 2019 and 2020. Results: Between May and August 2019, 3.282 smoking patients sought treatment for smoking cessation in SUS, in Pernambuco. In a similar period, between the months of May and August of the year 2020, treatment for smoking cessation was sought by 680 smoking users, representing a drop of 79,28%. In addition, the number of municipalities offering treatment for smoking cessation in SUS dropped from 97 to 36 (62,89%) and the number of primary health care units providing treatment for smoking cessation in SUS went from 277 to 80 (71,11%). Conclusions: The decrease in the offer of treatment by the State Program to Combat Smoking is worrying. Although its relation with COVID-19 has not been fully elucidated, the cessation of tobacco use has already established benefits. Thus, it is necessary to encourage the adoption of new strategies and technologies, using the window of opportunity that the fear of COVID-19/smoking association created.