PROVIDING OPTIMUM WOUND HEALING CONDITIONS DURING THE PROLIFERATIVE STAGE USING KERRAFIBRE

Abstract : In order to analyze the role of a new structured fibrous dressing in the proliferative stage of chronic wound healing in hard to heal wounds, a case study was performed on a stagnant venous ulcer, which remained non-healed in the past 7 months. All chronicity factors that could affect wound healing were excluded, including biofilm (with the use of polihexanide+betaine, Prontosan range), and compression therapy was provided. The results were very interesting with healing achieved in 7 weeks of treatment. Most of times it is not easy to find/select a dressing to promote granulation and epithelisation, once ideal cleaning/debridement and bioburden control are achieved. Some dressings do not provide a good healing rate, lead to bioburden elevation during time and recurrence in the use of antimicrobials. Other options to promote proliferation are very expensive and need a secondary dressing. Treatment with kerrafibre showned to be very cost effective. Its is also implicit the important role of advanced wound care centers versus conventional care.This case study was originally presented as a poster at Wounds UK 2014 Conference, at Harrogate, England, United Kingdom.

An Artificial Intelligence Approach to Dyscalculia

Dyscalculia stands for a brain-based condition that makes it hard to make sense of numbers and mathematical concepts. Some adolescents with dyscalculia cannot grasp basic number concepts. They work hard to learn and memorize basic number facts. They may know what to do in mathematical classes but do not understand why they are doing it. In other words, they miss the logic behind it. However, it may be worked out in order to decrease its degree of severity. For example, disMAT, an app developed for android may help children to apply mathematical concepts, without much effort, that is turning in itself, a promising tool to dyscalculia treatment. Thus, this work focuses on the development of an Intelligent System to estimate children evidences of dyscalculia, based on data obtained on-the-fly with disMAT. The computational framework is built on top of a Logic Programming framework to Knowledge Representation and Reasoning, complemented with a Case-Based problem solving approach to computing, that allows for the handling of incomplete, unknown, or even contradictory information.

O papel dos sistemas de informação do Hospital de Curry Cabral na gestão hospitalar : Estudo de caso num serviço de radiologia

Os sistemas de informação, enquanto ferramenta da gestão, podem contribuir para o desenvolvimento das organizações sendo atualmente visível esta preocupação nos órgãos de gestão dos serviços de saúde. No processo de implementação dos sistemas de informação a economia da informação assume um destaque pela sua componente de mais-valia. No presente trabalho, fizemos uma caracterização dos sistemas de informação utilizados no serviço de radiologia do hospital Curry Cabral e percebemos como os profissionais trabalhavam e atualizavam a informação nesses mesmos sistemas. Analisámos posteriormente a produtividade através de índices criados para o próprio serviço, antes e depois da implementação dos sistemas de informação, para entender até que ponto podemos falar da economia da informação. Através de uma abordagem quantitativa pretendeu-se a realização de um estudo descritivo com recurso à técnica de inquérito através de questionário aplicado a 55 profissionais do serviço, nomeadamente a 17 médicos de radiologia, a 6 administrativas e a 31 técnicos de radiologia. De uma forma geral, os dados obtidos nesta investigação permitem verificar que a atualização dos sistemas de informação por parte dos profissionais deste serviço ocorre de uma forma bem conduzida e cuidada, nomeadamente pelos técnicos de radiologia. Entendemos também que de uma forma geral todos os profissionais estão cientes que os sistemas de informação contribuem para o auxílio na gestão principalmente devido a uma melhor monitorização do trabalho efetuado. Relativamente aos índices de produtividade percebemos que são difíceis de quantificar, no entanto, e de um modo geral esta aumentou em valores pouco significativos, cerca de 2,3%. ABSTRACT: The information Technology as a management tool can contribute to the healthy development of the organization. This fact has become visible by the interest showed on IT by the management body of the Health Services. On the implementation process of the IT Services the economy of information assumes a major role as a powerful and altering force to the landscape. ln this thesis we studied the IT services used by the Radiology Service of the Hospital Curry Cabral, and tried to understand how the professionals work, by using and improving the information on those systems. We analyze the productivity using markers built for the specified service, before and after the implementation of the IT Services to understand how far into the "IT Economics" we have traveled. Thru a direct approach a study was conducted using a questionnaire, and a target audience of 55 local radiology professionals, namely 17 radiology doctors, 6 service secretaries and 31 radiology technicians. ln general, the data gathered by this investigation, allowed us to verify that the data collected and updated by the Radiology professionals, is carefully collected, especially by the Radiology Technicians. We have also found that generally all Hospital professionals see the IT Services as a major help for management mainly thru better monitoring of accomplished work. ln relation to the productivity indexes we have found that they are hard to quantify, because certain aspects are close to impossible to ascertain, but in gross it has grown but in less than expected, more or less 2,3%.

Implementação de um sistema de gestão da qualidade nas organizações escolares

A Qualidade é um dos fatores dinâmicos de competitividade e é, incontestavelmente, um dos pilares fundamentais para a construção do sucesso das organizações. O conceito de Qualidade não é de fácil definição, dado que é algo complexo e de difícil consenso. E muitas são as noções de Qualidade existentes na literatura, mas todas elas convergem num sentido único da busca da melhoria contínua e da excelência. Por outro lado, a implementação da Contabilidade de Gestão (designadamente o Custeio Baseado em Atividades - ABC) numa organização, sobretudo numa instituição de ensino, fornece recursos suficientes para a identificação dos melhores indutores de custo. Assim, toma-se inevitável observar as atividades, inquirir os colaboradores internos e externos, desenvolver e aplicar métodos quantitativos que monitorizem os processos e os procedimentos e, especialmente, que exista o empenho da gestão de topo, de modo a que a estratégia e a qualidade organizacional se inter-relacionem. Este trabalho apresenta diversos aspetos referentes à temática dos custos da qualidade (ou da não qualidade), a própria técnica contemporânea ABC e os principais resultados obtidos através da aplicação de listas de verificação e de um inquérito por questionário, junto dos alunos, colaboradores docentes e não docentes, com o objetivo de analisar a situação dos custos da qualidade baseados na contabilidade e avaliar o grau de satisfação/motivação com a qualidade do serviço prestado na sede do Agrupamento de Escolas do concelho de Estremoz. Os resultados do presente estudo evidenciaram alguns benefícios e dificuldades da aplicabilidade da Gestão da Qualidade numa instituição de ensino. A cultura organizacional deste tipo de instituições será um dos aspetos a ter em consideração, de modo a que os princípios da Gestão da Qualidade sejam implementados de forma harmoniosa e que poderá encaminhar essas organizações num verdadeiro percurso de qualidade, numa filosofia de melhoria contínua até à excelência. ABSTRACT: As a crucial factor for competitiveness, quality is undoubtedly one of the foundations on which a successful organization rests. The complexity surrounding the notion of quality makes it hard to reach a consensus about its meaning, and that is why it has so many different definitions. However, all of them have one thing in common - that it involves a continuous search for improvement and excellence. Nowadays, an organization that uses accounting methods to support management (namely the Activity-based Costing method) has the necessary means to identify where the main costs are originating from, particularly if the organization is somehow related to teaching. It is therefore inevitable to study activities, inquire everyone involved in the organization's activities, as well as develop and apply quantitative methods to monitor processes and procedures. Moreover, it is especially important that top management is fully committed to quality in order to reflect it on its strategy. This work focuses on several aspects pertaining costs associated with quality- and lack of quality­ and shows the Activity-based Costing method in particular, as well as the main results gathered from the verification lists and questionnaires made to students, teachers and staff, with the purpose of analyzing - based on accounting - the amount of costs derived from quality, and evaluating the degree of satisfaction and/or motivation as regards the quality of service provided at a group of schools in Portuguese region of Estremoz. The results of this study show that there are some benefits in applying quality management to teaching institutions, but there are also some difficulties. The organizational culture of these institutions is one aspect that should be taken into consideration, so that quality management principles can be implemented harmoniously. This may direct these organizations to the true path of quality, so they can continuously seek improvement and achieve excellence.

Quality of Judgment Assessment

The intersection of Artificial Intelligence and The Law stands for a multifaceted matter, and its effects set the advances on culture, organization, as well as the social matters, when the emergent information technologies are taken into consideration. From this point of view, the weight of formal and informal Conflict Resolution settings should be highlighted, and the use of defective data, information or knowledge must be emphasized. Indeed, it is hard to do it with traditional problem solving methodologies. Therefore, in this work the focus is on the development of decision support systems, in terms of its knowledge representation and reasoning procedures, under a formal framework based on Logic Programming, complemented with an approach to computing centered on Artificial Neural Networks. It is intended to evaluate the Quality-of-Judgments and the respective Degree-of-Confidence that one has on such happenings.

Transferability of environmental favourability models in geographic space: The case of the Iberian desman (Galemys pyrenaicus) in Portugal and Spain

Transferring distribution models between different geographical areas may be problematic, as the performance of models outside their original scope is hard to predict. A modelling procedure is needed that gets the gist of the environmental descriptors of a distribution area, without either overfitting to the training data or overestimating the species’ distribution potential.We tested the transferability power of the favourability function, a generalized linear model, on the distribution of the Iberian desman (Galemys pyrenaicus) in the Iberian territories of Portugal and Spain.We also tested the effects of two of the main potential constraints on model transferability: the analysed ranges of the predictor variables, and the completeness of the species distribution data. We modelled 10 km×10km presence/absence data from Portugal and Spain separately, extrapolated each model to the other country, and compared predictions with observations. The Spanish model, despite arguably containing more false absences, showed good predictive ability in Portugal. The Portuguese model, whose predictors ranged between only a subset of the values observed in Spain, overestimated desman distribution when transferred.We discuss possible reasons for this differential model behaviour, and highlight the importance of this kind of models for prediction and conservation applications

Local Understandings of Soil Fertility, Rainfall and Conservation Agriculture in Laikipia, Kenya: A Qualitative Analysis.

Conservation Agriculture (CA) is mostly referred to in the literature as having three principles at the core of its identity: minimum soil disturbance, permanent organic soil cover and crop diversity. This farming package has been described as suitable to improve yields and livelihoods of smallholders in semi-arid regions of Kenya, which since the colonial period have been heavily subjected to tillage. Our study is based on a qualitative approach that followed local meanings and understandings of soil fertility, rainfall and CA in Ethi and Umande located in the semi-arid region of Laikipia, Kenya. Farm visits, 53 semistructured interviews, informal talks were carried out from April to June 2015. Ethi and Umande locations were part of a resettlement programme after the independence of Kenya that joined together people coming from different farming contexts. Since the 1970–80s, state and NGOs have been promoting several approaches to control erosion and boost soil fertility. In this context, CA has also been promoted preferentially since 2007. Interviewees were well acquainted with soil erosion and the methods to control it. Today, rainfall amount and distribution are identified as major constraints to crop performance. Soil fertility is understood as being under control since farmers use several methods to boost it (inorganic fertilisers, manure, terraces, agroforestry, vegetation barriers). CA is recognised to deliver better yields but it is not able to perform well under severe drought and does not provide yields as high as ‘promised’ in promotion campaigns. Moreover, CA is mainly understood as “cultivating with chemicals”, “kulima na dawa”, in kiswahili. A dominant view is that CA is about minimum tillage and use of pre-emergence herbicides. It is relevant to reflect about what kind of CA is being promoted and if elements like soil cover and crop rotation are given due attention. CA based on these two ideas, minimum tillage and use of herbicides, is hard to stand as a programme to be promoted and up-scaled. Therefore CA appears not to be recognised as a convincing approach to improve the livelihoods in Laikipia.