| 1. |
- Bixby, H., et al.
(author)
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Rising rural body-mass index is the main driver of the global obesity epidemic in adults
- 2019
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In: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 569:7755, s. 260-4
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Body-mass index (BMI) has increased steadily in most countries in parallel with a rise in the proportion of the population who live in cities(.)(1,2) This has led to a widely reported view that urbanization is one of the most important drivers of the global rise in obesity(3-6). Here we use 2,009 population-based studies, with measurements of height and weight in more than 112 million adults, to report national, regional and global trends in mean BMI segregated by place of residence (a rural or urban area) from 1985 to 2017. We show that, contrary to the dominant paradigm, more than 55% of the global rise in mean BMI from 1985 to 2017-and more than 80% in some low- and middle-income regions-was due to increases in BMI in rural areas. This large contribution stems from the fact that, with the exception of women in sub-Saharan Africa, BMI is increasing at the same rate or faster in rural areas than in cities in low- and middle-income regions. These trends have in turn resulted in a closing-and in some countries reversal-of the gap in BMI between urban and rural areas in low- and middle-income countries, especially for women. In high-income and industrialized countries, we noted a persistently higher rural BMI, especially for women. There is an urgent need for an integrated approach to rural nutrition that enhances financial and physical access to healthy foods, to avoid replacing the rural undernutrition disadvantage in poor countries with a more general malnutrition disadvantage that entails excessive consumption of low-quality calories.
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| 2. |
- Mishra, A, et al.
(author)
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Diminishing benefits of urban living for children and adolescents' growth and development
- 2023
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In: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1476-4687 .- 0028-0836. ; 615:7954, s. 874-883
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Optimal growth and development in childhood and adolescence is crucial for lifelong health and well-being1–6. Here we used data from 2,325 population-based studies, with measurements of height and weight from 71 million participants, to report the height and body-mass index (BMI) of children and adolescents aged 5–19 years on the basis of rural and urban place of residence in 200 countries and territories from 1990 to 2020. In 1990, children and adolescents residing in cities were taller than their rural counterparts in all but a few high-income countries. By 2020, the urban height advantage became smaller in most countries, and in many high-income western countries it reversed into a small urban-based disadvantage. The exception was for boys in most countries in sub-Saharan Africa and in some countries in Oceania, south Asia and the region of central Asia, Middle East and north Africa. In these countries, successive cohorts of boys from rural places either did not gain height or possibly became shorter, and hence fell further behind their urban peers. The difference between the age-standardized mean BMI of children in urban and rural areas was <1.1 kg m–2 in the vast majority of countries. Within this small range, BMI increased slightly more in cities than in rural areas, except in south Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and some countries in central and eastern Europe. Our results show that in much of the world, the growth and developmental advantages of living in cities have diminished in the twenty-first century, whereas in much of sub-Saharan Africa they have amplified.
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| 3. |
- Stevanovic, D., et al.
(author)
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Measurement invariance of the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS) across six countries
- 2021
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In: Autism Research. - : Wiley. - 1939-3792 .- 1939-3806. ; 14:12, s. 2544-2554
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS) is a simple and inexpensive tool for Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) assessments, with evidenced psychometric data from different countries. However, it is still unclear whether ASD symptoms are measured the same way across different societies and world regions with this tool, since data on its cross-cultural validity are lacking. This study evaluated the cross-cultural measurement invariance of the CARS among children with ASD from six countries, for whom data were aggregated from previous studies in India (n = 101), Jamaica (n = 139), Mexico (n = 72), Spain (n = 99), Turkey (n = 150), and the United States of America (n = 186). We analyzed the approximate measurement invariance based on Bayesian structural equation modeling. The model did not fit the data and its measurement invariance did not hold, with all items found non-invariant across the countries. Items related to social communication and interaction (i.e., relating to people, imitation, emotional response, and verbal and nonverbal communication) displayed lower levels of cross-country non-invariance compared to items about stereotyped behaviors/sensory sensitivity (i.e., body and object use, adaptation to change, or taste, smell, and touch response). This study found that the CARS may not provide cross-culturally valid ASD assessments. Thus, cross-cultural comparisons with the CARS should consider first which items operate differently across samples of interest, since its cross-cultural measurement non-invariance could be a source of cross-cultural variability in ASD presentations. Additional studies are needed before drawing valid recommendations in relation to the cultural sensitivity of particular items.
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| 4. |
- Hundzinski, L. N., et al.
(author)
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Sustainability standards and guidelines requirements for integrated management
- 2013
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In: 22nd International Conference on Production Research, ICPR 2013. - : International Foundation for Production Research (IFPR).
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Organizations are influenced by external demands which can be represented by changes on the markets organizations are part of. Companies are operating on a new context, where the importance of sustainability has been highlighted by events such as environmental problems, social responsibility issues and quality assurance of products and services. Those aspects are represented by the areas of the Triple Bottom-Line (3BL), which treat organizations operational performance on economic, environmental and social aspects. However, organizations are still trying to develop new performance measurement systems, which relate to the 3BL and that can be used for sustainable performance assessment and benchmarking. In order to address this need, this research aims to develop a process that enables standards and guidelines to be used as tools for the establishment of a performance measurement system which can address the needs of integrated management on behalf of sustainability aspects. The method used on the development of this article is based on concepts of the Process Approach methodology from Cambridge University, as well as Business Process Management Notation to represent processes for performance assessment. Those processes were built with a high emphasis on Performance Assessment frameworks and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) theories. The processes generated have been applied in a project of innovation in sustainable management, in which its application enabled to work with requirements from various standards and guidelines in a practical context, through the usage of indicators and performance measurement. Exemplifying the application of this process, the article will aim to clarify the usage of indicators based on standards and guidelines as a tool for sustainability assessment, through an integrated management of an organization set of standards and guidelines.
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| 5. |
- Kluska, R. A., et al.
(author)
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Correlation process in content analysis for a BPM modeling project
- 2013
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In: 22nd International Conference on Production Research, ICPR 2013. - : International Foundation for Production Research (IFPR).
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In the field of content analysis, there are several methods that aim to compare texts and analyze them to determine whether they are equivalent. Within the content analysis, we found techniques used to compare and correlate texts. Some of them are present in computational tools such as the Sphinx and Atlati. In General, these tools are closed solutions of difficult integration with other systems. In this context, it is not possible to set up an automated process including these tools. This difficulty became evident during operation activities of a sustainability indicators formulation model proposed by Machado et al. 2012. In this paper, the aim is to develop a content correlation methodology and make it operational in the form of an automated process of similar correlation texts and or equivalents. The research was driven by a methodological organization process. This process is the combination of methodological tools: action research, BPM Cycle-Business Process Management, Project Management and Process Approach. The correlation process developed by this research makes it possible to correlate texts that are grouped so that assignments are made that determine a degree of correlation between texts. It is known that with this model it is not possible to determine which texts are equivalent between themselves exactly, however, there is a qualifying list of correlation between the group texts.
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| 6. |
- Machado, Carla G., et al.
(author)
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Developing a sustainable operations maturity model (SOMM)
- 2013
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In: 22nd International Conference on Production Research, ICPR 2013. - : International Foundation for Production Research (IFPR).
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The concepts associated with sustainability have been gradually incorporated into business models in recent years. Particularly in the field of Operations Management (OM), the adoption of new performance indicators and the revision of operations strategy content and process frameworks are changing the way companies manage their operations regarding sustainability, creating the right conditions for new operations management model development. Such models were created in order to assess the impact and to characterize the progress of new initiatives in sustainability in the economic, environmental and social spheres (Triple Bottom Line-TBL). This paper, based on academic literature and professional models, proposes a framework for verifying the level of maturity of sustainable operations. Its distinguishing aspect contemplates the integrated approach over TBL along five proposed maturity levels, followed by descriptions of context, structure, processes, value chain and functional recommendations on implementation. The main objective of the Sustainable Operations Maturity Model (SOMM) is to be applied as a managerial tool to support organizations when evaluating the integration of sustainability into their strategies, and especially to provide guidelines for the evolution of sustainable operation processes.
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| 7. |
- Machado, Carla G., et al.
(author)
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Indicators Formulation Process For Sustainable Operations Management
- 2011
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In: Production systems and supply chain management in emerging countries : best practices. - Berlin : Springer. - 9783642260032 - 9783642260049
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The trend of globalization stimulated discussions concerning sustainability, creating a new context and, as a consequence, a new strategic operations vision related to the production of goods and services. Companies start to manage their processes seeking not to compromise the needs and interests of their stakeholders, adopting best practices in corporate governance and continuously assessing the impact of their operations on society and the environment in general, as well as on quality of working life in particular. This article purpose is to develop a sustainability indicators formulation process that could be applied to companies’ value chain operations, observing corporate governance best practices and the 3BL model, and taking as references a group of standards and guidelines based on the construction of socially responsible organizations, in relation to sustainable development: ISO 26000, ISO 14000, OHSAS 18000, SA 8000, ISO 9001, Global Compact and others. The methodology adopted is Cambridge’s Process Approach, in which the requirements presented by standards and guidelines set performance strategic objectives that could be converted into concrete actions that will be managed, evaluated and measured through sustainability indicators. These indicators are structured by performance measurement systems theoretical models integration, the insertion and categorization of the requirements referring to standards at the operations value chain context, and the structure of decision areas that bounds operations strategy. The validation of the formulated sustainability indicators consists of aspects regarding its consistency, accuracy, updatability and justification, together with its characteristics related to feasibility, utility and usability. Based on process application in a sustainable management innovation project, its usefulness in clarifying the standards requirements was verified. Additionally, a better view of the existent relationships between different standards, correlation between indicators, for measurement optimization and management was identified, in complement to a more direct association with the operations value chain. Therefore, the operations management based on indicators creates conditions for the continuous evaluation of the operations strategy in a sustainable development context.
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| 8. |
- Robitaille, Annie, et al.
(author)
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Transitions across cognitive states and death among older adults in relation to education: A multistate survival model using data from six longitudinal studies
- 2018
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In: Alzheimer's and Dementia. - : Wiley. - 1552-5260 .- 1552-5279. ; 14:4, s. 462-472
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- © 2017 the Alzheimer's Association. Introduction: This study examines the role of educational attainment, an indicator of cognitive reserve, on transitions in later life between cognitive states (normal Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), mild MMSE impairment, and severe MMSE impairment) and death. Methods: Analysis of six international longitudinal studies was performed using a coordinated approach. Multistate survival models were used to estimate the transition patterns via different cognitive states. Life expectancies were estimated. Results: Across most studies, a higher level of education was associated with a lower risk of transitioning from normal MMSE to mild MMSE impairment but was not associated with other transitions. Those with higher levels of education and socioeconomic status had longer nonimpaired life expectancies. Discussion: This study highlights the importance of education in later life and that early life experiences can delay later compromised cognitive health. This study also demonstrates the feasibility and benefit in conducting coordinated analysis across multiple studies to validate findings.
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| 9. |
- De Lima, E. P., et al.
(author)
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Developing and testing a design process for sustainable indicators
- 2014
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In: IIE Annual Conference and Expo 2014. - : Institute of Industrial Engineers. - 9780983762430 ; , s. 1826-1836
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In the last few decades the competitive context development trajectory is leading companies to increase their contribution for sustainable development. Stakeholders' accountability demands are being reflected in present multidisciplinary regulatory framework that is formed by standards, guidelines and guidance reports, and allows markets and society to have evidences from sustainable behavior, which is certified or formally agreed or signatory by companies. Operations strategy performance information could be addressed to a set of evolutionary performance indicators, which could represent sustainability present performance, and also could orient companies in reaching higher performance levels according to a preset maturity trajectory. The objective of this paper is to develop a process for generating an integrated set of performance measures for managing sustainability at value chain or operations system level. An applied research was conducted based on action research approach, operationalized by Cambridge process or engineering approach, and managed in research process management cycle. Performance measures are formally and detailed defined as metadata. Process application not only allows a better understanding on how sustainability indicators could be integrated and related to a maturity model, but also created an information system that could be used for auditing, assessment and reporting sustainability performance.
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| 10. |
- Dervish, Jessica, et al.
(author)
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Disclosing or concealing multiple sclerosis in the workplace : two sides of the same coin-insights from a Swedish population-based survey
- 2024
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In: Frontiers In Public Health. - : Frontiers Media S.A.. - 2296-2565. ; 12
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: People with multiple sclerosis (PwMS) face health and social challenges of living with a chronic and potentially disabling condition. To disclose or conceal MS at work may critically affect individuals' work situation, career opportunities, and health. PwMS may experience a dilemma when assessing if the possible benefits of disclosing the diagnosis outweigh the possible risks. However, concealing in the long-term may have health implications and prevent opportunities for support and work adjustments. Few studies have examined what drives PwMS to disclose or conceal MS at work and the consequences of these ways of managing MS.Objectives: To explore the reasons PwMS report for disclosing and/or concealing their MS diagnosis in the workplace, as well as the consequences they have experienced.Methods: A web-based survey of PwMS was conducted in 2021. All individuals aged 20-50 listed in the Swedish MS registry were invited to participate. The response rate was 52% and among these participants, 3,810 (86%) completed questions regarding workplace disclosure and/or concealment of MS. Free-text responses on these topics were analyzed using inductive content analysis.Results: It was common to disclose MS in the workplace (85%). Identified drivers for disclosure and concealment related to four categories: Work-related, Social, Personal and Circumstantial. Work-related drivers focused on employment or protecting one's career, and changing one's work situation versus maintaining it. Social drivers included the need for support, addressing or preventing stigma, and being considerate of others. Personal drivers were linked to moral values/personal beliefs and processing of the diagnosis. Circumstantial drivers related to involuntary or unforeseen events, timing factors, one's medical condition and external opinion/advice. Identified consequences for disclosure and concealment related to three categories: Work-life, Social, and Personal. Work-life consequences included work arrangements, and career opportunities. Social consequences were linked to MS awareness, stigma, interactions and social support, as well as dynamics of work relationships. Personal consequences involved levels of disease acceptance, and attitudes toward managing MS.Conclusion: PwMS often described the question of disclosure as challenging and navigated it with caution, as both disclosure and concealment can yield favorable and unfavorable outcomes.
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