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Even in the context of increasing digitisation, the construction sector continues to be characterised by redundancy, multiplication and, at the same time, a lack of transparency and disaggregation of data and information, leading to ineffective management of the time, costs and quality of the project life cycle. This paper shows the results of the development of an ICT application, TRL 4-5, based on the integration of Building Information Modeling and blockchain technologies and designed to foster digitisation processes in the supply chain, in the direction of greater transparency of information flows, knowledge-based organisations and decision-making processes based on unambiguous ordered data. Starting from a broader industrial research collaboration, the project involves a university spin-off, companies operating as system integrators and leaders in the customisation of BIM solutions for the Italian construction market. The project, launched as part of a network of public and private stakeholders established in 2019 and developed between September 2020 and March 2021, is part of a territorial development strategy financed by European Structural Funds. As a result, the research output is a prototype of ICT tool, which implements the Common Data Environment, CDE, making the life cycle management unambiguous, certified and clear. In this regard, the results of the project are meant to respond to the supply chain's need to encourage the digitisation and automation of processes, as well as to encourage the acquisition of unambiguous data, according to a big data approach.

PurposeThis study aims to ascertain the extent to which a cooperative controlling a wine supply chain implements a performance measurement system (PMS) that monitors the effects of a circular economy (CE) strategy, developed through partnerships, on the economic and environmental sustainability of the value chain.Design/methodology/approachThe study analyzes the characteristics of the closed-loop business model and uses the PMS to assess the contribution of CE partnerships to the sustainability of the value chain. The case study is based on interviews conducted on the cooperative's top management and supplemented with an analysis of external reports, related documents and direct observations.FindingsThe PMS was underpinned by enterprise resource planning (ERP), through which CE indicators control for the benefits generated on behalf of the cooperative and its CE partners.Originality/valueGiven the paucity of the studies that address the performance measurement of CE at the supply chain level and its relation to sustainability, this study sheds light on the role that PMS can play in tracking the contribution of CE partnerships to the sustainability of a wine value chain operating in agro-waste valorization. Furthermore, the performance measurement of the CE strategy contributes to an assessment of the responsible production of sustainable development goals at the supply chain level.

It is generally accepted that adaptation to climate variability requires a technological advancement strategy. However, the innovation process has received little explicit consideration in this framework. We employ a panel endogenous switching regression model to explore whether and to what extent climate variability affects firm performance through the ability to induce the development of adaptation innovations in key resource-based sectors in Europe during the period 2007–2017. Our findings confirm that the knowledge generation process at the heart of climate change adaptation technologies enhances firm performance, especially for firms in the aquaculture and fishing sub-sectors in northern European countries.

Objective To develop a short, flexible, and comprehensive tool to measure psychological distress in caregivers of malignant mesothelioma (MM) patients: the Mesothelioma Psychological Distress Tool-Caregivers version (MPDT-C). Methods Based on a systematic review of the relevant literature, aspects associated with caregiver distress were derived. Expert researchers/clinicians developed a pool of items for each identified aspect. Content validity was assessed through a multiple mixed-methods approach. A multicenter study was conducted to explore the factorial structure of the 47-item MPDT-C through Bayesian factor analysis. Results The Bayesian exploratory factor analysis revealed an underlying three-factor structure. Factors were labeled Secondary Traumatic Stress, Engagement in Caring, and Meaningful Cognitive Restructuring. All scales showed sufficient reliability and corrected item-total correlations. Females scored higher than males for Engagement in Caring. Conclusions Taking care of malignant mesothelioma patients is a stressful process that influences the caregiver's physical, emotional, and social wellbeing. Our study offers preliminary evidence in support of the adequate psychometric properties of the MPDT-C, and these should now be replicated. Results suggest that the MPDT-C is a reliable tool with which to detect the psychological distress of this traumatized population.

Il saggio affronta il tema della circolarita economica e urbana intesa come sottoinsieme del paradigma della sostenibilita, evidenziando potenzialita e limiti di un nuovo modello in via di affermazione e diffusione a scala planetaria. Il ragionamento critico prende le mosse dalla recente produzione di documenti istituzionali e l'ancora ridotta produzione scientifica sull'argomento per proporre un'interpretazione non ortodossa sul rapporto fra circolarita e citta.

COVID-19 has triggered an unprecedented global crisis, the increasing recessions in many countries and related trade uncertainties are affecting the whole wine sector, from production to distribution, sales, and consumption. While the full recovery is still uncertain, and even worse scenarios are possible if it takes longer to bring back trust and financial stability on wine markets, the crisis risks to jeopardies recent developments and sustainability in wine territories. Developing from a mixed-method participatory research process that integrates recent economic prospective with diverse experience data, we offer a critical reflection made by researchers and stakeholders supporting several socio-economic narratives and policy implications in the light of the current crisis. Distinguishing between short and long-term implications, we offer a reflection on the policy needs to alleviate the ongoing suffering of the sector. The speed and scope of the pandemic crisis underscore the need for the wine sector to become more resilient by increasing the ability to cooperate and coordinate among supply chain actors and between policy levels. The latter offers a reflection on the balance between short-term interventions and the complementarity of post-2020 CAP measures to stabilize market and future incomes. We conclude that once the crisis abates, it will be necessary to reaffirm credible commitment and trust at all levels, not only with regard to the vineyard and the cellars but also on distribution, especially in the face of a changing demand that in the future will become more pressing for issues related to safety and sustainability.

PurposeThis paper aims to highlight the importance of (public) value(s) and publicness in accounting and accountability research. It pinpoints a range of issues that scholars need to contemplate when reconsidering publicness in accounting research and practice.Design/methodology/approachThe paper adopts an interdisciplinary literature review associated with a conceptual discussion of the actual and future challenges of public service accounting and accountability in considering public value(s).FindingsThe paper illustrates the centrality of (public) value(s) at the individual, organizational and societal levels in shaping and being shaped by calculative practices, and shows that looking at the interconnections between values and accounting is a fruitful research avenue. Moreover, it highlights the power of embracing interdisciplinary approaches to illuminate these interconnections and relate them to complex and current phenomena.Originality/valueThe paper’s originality lies in the reconsideration of (public) value(s) for public service accounting scholars, providing a critical reflection and setting new research avenues.

Background: Pierre Robin sequence (PRS) is a rare congenital anomaly. Respiratory disorders and feeding difficulties represent the main burden. Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the epidemiology of PRS using a cohort of cases from EUROCAT, the European network of population-based registries of congenital anomalies. Methods: We analysed cases of PRS born in the period 1998-2017 collected by 29 population-based congenital anomaly registries in 17 different countries. We calculated prevalence estimates, prenatal detection rate, survival up to 1 week, and proportions of associated anomalies. The effect of maternal age was tested using a Poisson regression model. Results: Out of 11 669 155 surveyed births, a total of 1294 cases of PRS were identified. The estimate of the overall prevalence was 12.0 per 100 000 births (95% CI 9.9, 14.5). There was a total of 882 (68.2%) isolated cases, and the prevalence was 7.8 per 100 000 births (95% CI 6.7, 9.2). A total of 250 cases (19.3%) were associated with other structural congenital anomalies, 77 cases (6.0%) were associated with chromosomal anomalies and 77 (6.0%) with genetic syndromes. The prenatal detection rate in isolated cases was 12.0% (95% CI 9.8, 14.5) and increased to 16.0% (95% CI 12.7, 19.7) in the sub-period 2008-2017. The prevalence rate ratio of non-chromosomal cases with maternal age ≥35 was higher than in cases with maternal age

The biotechnological potential of microalgae has gained considerable importance in many applied fields: biomass production for food and feed, cosmeceutical and pharmaceutical products, energy and phytoremediation. The driving force that inspires the progress in microalgae production is the need for new cultivation systems to obtain simultaneously the maximum yield, reduction of water and nutrients use, and production of economically interesting molecules, such as pigments, fatty acids and polysaccharides. We aim to test, for the first time, the co-cultivation in saline medium of Tisochrysis lutea (Haptophyta) and Nannochloropsis oculata (Ochrophyta) to obtain valuable compounds, i.e. pigments and lipids characteristic of each species, using a single culture process. Mono-cultures of each strain were used as controls. The two strains showed an increase in the concentration of chlorophylls and carotenoids in co-culture. At the end of the experiment, the fatty acid profile was analysed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. The lipids in the co-cultivated cell extracts were mainly attributable to N. oculata, which represented 97% of the total cells (ca. 83% of the total biomass) at the end of the experiment. Nevertheless, the ω-3 characteristic of T. lutea (DHA and SDA, absent in N. oculata) was also detectable. Although the co-cultivation of these two phylogenetically different species of microalgae did not show positive effects on the growth and on the total lipid production, however, this process resulted in a reduction of the production costs and a lower consumption of water and nutrients.

The paper presents the design and control strategy of an isolated DC microgrid, which is based on classical control techniques, predictive control and iterative algorithms. The design control parameters are maximum overshoot, settling time and voltage ripple. The strategy is designed to operate in two different modes, end-users minimum and maximum demand scenarios, and this is achieved through the incorporation of network dynamic loads. The control methodology developed allows to obtain a fast response of the design set points, and an efficient control for disturbance rejection. The simulation results obtained satisfy the proposed design guidelines by obtaining a maximum overshoot of 4.8%, settling time of 0.012 seconds and a voltage ripple of 0.1 percentage. The implemented system simulation was developed in Matlab-Simulink software.

We present new cross-country empirical evidence that tax system complexity affects the location of international investment. The evidence comes from a database of foreign direct investment (FDI) bi...

The use of short-selling bans in different countries has greatly caught the attention of policy modelling. Our study is among the first studies to try to explain the phenomenon of different bank price reactions in terms of country and stock market conditions, looking at both the stock price reaction and risk. Overall, our findings suggest that the impacts of these bans on overall market efficiency were heterogeneous and, in most cases, modest for the countries analysed. Indeed, either we do not observe any improvements or the improvements are only short-lived. For the first time, we document that banks react differently to ban restrictions mostly because of differences in terms of their fundamental factors (balance sheet indicators). Given that Us and Asia-Pacific banks react differently to a ban on short selling depending on the particular financial structure of each market, when taking these actions, policy makers should consider which firm characteristics are most important and should pay attention to whether these interventions are effective in the market. Moreover, short-selling restrictions did not contribute to containing the volatility of the financial stocks subjected to the bans; on the contrary, our results indicate that negative volatility increased in some countries.

In most industrialized countries, temporary and non-standard forms of employment have become a pervasive feature of the labor market. At the firm level, however, their diffusion is less uniform than expected. While some firms exhibit high propensity to use non-standard labor, others make no use of it. The most conventional explanations (market uncertainty, production regimes, competitive pressure) fail to account for such heterogeneity. In this article, the authors develop an alternative explanation that links non-standard employment to the firm-specific availability of managerial resources: Whenever the latter are relatively scarce, firms make larger use of non-standard labor to reduce coordination and operating costs. Using a linked employer–employee panel of manufacturing firms from the Emilia-Romagna region (Italy), the authors provide empirical support for this explanation. The result is robust to different estimation strategies and controlling for alternative drivers of non-standard employment. This finding suggests that the use of non-standard labor is motivated by the firm’s needs to compensate for specific managerial scarcities.

Background: Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative pathology covering about 70%of all cases of dementia. Adenosine, a ubiquitous nucleoside, plays a key role in neurodegeneration, through interaction with four receptor subtypes. The A2A receptor is upregulated in peripheral blood cells of patients affected by Parkinson’s and Huntington’s diseases, reflecting the same alteration found in brain tissues. However, whether these changes are also present in AD pathology has not been determined. Objective: In this study we verified any significant difference between AD cases and controls in both brain and platelets and we evaluated whether peripheral A2A receptors may reflect the status of neuronal A2A receptors. Methods: We evaluated the expression of A2A receptors in frontal white matter, frontal gray matter, and hippocampus/entorhinal cortex, in postmortem AD patients and control subjects, through [3H]ZM 241385 binding experiments. The same analysis was performed in peripheral platelets from AD patients versus controls. Results: The expression of A2A receptors in frontal white matter, frontal gray matter, and hippocampus/entorhinal cortex, revealed a density (Bmax) of 174±29, 219±33, and 358±84 fmol/mg of proteins, respectively, in postmortem AD patients in comparison to 104±16, 103±19, and 121±20 fmol/mg of proteins in controls (p

This paper proposes an adaptive sliding mode observer (ASMO)-based approach for wind turbines subject to simultaneous faults in sensors and actuators. The proposed approach enables the simultaneous detection of actuator and sensor faults without the need for any redundant hardware components. Additionally, wind speed variations are considered as unknown disturbances, thus eliminating the need for accurate measurement or estimation. The proposed ASMO enables the accurate estimation and reconstruction of the descriptor states and disturbances. The proposed design implements the principle of separation to enable the use of the nominal controller during faulty conditions. Fault tolerance is achieved by implementing a signal correction scheme to recover the nominal behavior. The performance of the proposed approach is validated using a 4.8 MW wind turbine benchmark model subject to various faults. Monte-Carlo analysis is also carried out to further evaluate the reliability and robustness of the proposed approach in the presence of measurement errors. Simplicity, ease of implementation and the decoupling property are among the positive features of the proposed approach.

This work investigates the impacts of the 2012 Emilia-Romagna earthquake and looks at the capacity of the regional economic system to adapt to the shock generated by the seismic event. We contribute to the literature by distinguishing two different effects: direct (i.e. damages to production factors of the focal firm) and indirect effects (e.g. disruptions that affected industrial and business partners). The original dataset used and the chronological sequence of the information allow us to provide insightful evidence. The analysis of the two related effects generated by the same shock provides insights on the overall capacity of a regional system to adapt. Namely, the indirect damages appear as relevant as the direct damages, especially when looking at indicators of firm performance. In addition, indirect impacts are also relevant in shaping firm strategies and thus firm resilience.

Nowadays organizations are increasingly engaged in talent management, because it allows firms to grow rapidly by leveraging on human capital. Most antecedent studies focused on expectations and motivations of talents living in developed countries. Though, a little is known about career expectations of talents in emerging economies, and whether they diverge from those of developed countries or not. However, this information might be of use for several motives. First, emerging countries have a high growth rate. Second, these talents may be effectively harnessed from domestic and non-domestic firms, depending on whether their expectations are met or not. Consistently, this study aims at exploring the career expectations of individuals in emerging countries, by capturing the heterogeneity of expectations between emerging and developed countries due to cultural, politic, economic, and religious differences. As a matter of fact, emerging countries are frequently characterized by low levels of both income and employment, differently from many developed countries. For such motives and because of the absence of valid employment alternatives, talents might be more willing to engage in entrepreneurial initiatives rather than attempting to be employed in an organization. Thus, the primary intent of this explorative study is to understand what are the factors that affect career expectations of talents in emerging countries. Consistently, a cross-sectional principal component analysis (PCA) was used for hypotheses testing. The sample refers to a set of African countries, based on data availability for 2019. Data used for the analysis are drawn from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) and they refer to individual entrepreneurial behaviours and attitudes. Notably, findings show that career expectations of talents are driven by motivation and opportunity, especially in the male groups. However, the study also originally shows that the need for achievement and the willingness to stand out are the main drivers of talents’ expectations. In a nutshell, talents may prefer independence over the employment status. Implications of the findings, at a business level, suggest that companies in emerging markets should revisit their talent management strategy in order to avoid the loss of many talented employees. As instance, they should grant more independence, raise the income, and favour internal and female entrepreneurship. Thereby, the original findings of the study contribute both theoretically and practically to the research domain by specifying that career needs of talented people vary according to context and time.

Background The Oxford Elbow Score (OES) is an English-language questionnaire specifically designed to evaluate surgical elbow outcomes. This scoring system has been translated into other languages. Given the lack of an Italian version of the OES, the present study was designed to establish, culturally adapt, and validate the Italian version. Methods The OES questionnaire was culturally adapted to Italian patients in accordance with the literature guidelines with a pilot phase including seven patients with elbow problems and seven healthy subjects. The study includes 110 participants from three hospitals, who underwent elbow surgery for acute (70%) or chronic diseases. At least one month after elbow surgery, at the “index visit”, the physician completed the Mayo Elbow Performance Index and patients completed the following questionnaires: the Italian OES, the shortened version of the Disability of Arm, Shoulder and Hand Questionnaire (QuickDASH) and the Short-Form 36 Health Survey. Internal consistency was evaluated using Cronbach's alpha. Reproducibility was assessed using the intraclass correlation coefficient in ten patients who completed the OES again two-three days after the index visit. Construct validity was assessed using Spearman correlation coefficients. Responsiveness was evaluated in 68 patients who answered the questionnaires four months after the index visit, using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test, the effect size and the standardized response mean calculation. Results Cronbach's alpha was excellent: 0.86 (0.82-0.90) for OES pain, 0.92 (0.90-0.94) for OES function, and 0.90 (0.87-0.93) for OES social/psychological. The intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.94 (0.78-0.98) for OES pain, 0.91 (0.71-0.97) for OES function, 0.95 (0.83-0.98) for OES social-psychological and 0.93 (0.76-0.98) for OES total. The Spearman ρ was >0.7 for OES pain and QuickDASH, for OES function and both QuickDASH and Mayo Elbow Performance Index, and for OES social-psychological and QuickDASH. Regarding responsiveness, the mean of the changes between the two visits ranged from 33.9 for OES pain, to 44 points for OES function and OES social/psychological. The effect size and the standardized response mean were >0.8 for all OES domains. Conclusion This study demonstrates that the Italian version of the OES, translated in accordance with the international standardized guidelines, is reliable, valid, and responsive in patients who have undergone elbow surgery.

This paper offers a critical assessment of the value added intellectual coefficient (VAIC) through the analysis of the coherence of the definitions of and semantic relationships among the theoretical constructs at the heart of the model. Some of the criticisms detected here refer to inconsistencies of the VAIC with the most consolidated concepts developed by the Intellectual Capital (IC) literature as well as to the constructs internal to the model and generated by the misalignment of Pulic’s theoretical assumptions with the way they have been translated into the mathematical model. Other criticisms derive from the time mismatch in the relationship among the variables constituting the three ratios and from the ambiguous meanings of human capital efficiency and structural capital efficiency. Implications for both researchers and managers are discussed.

In contemporary Bosnia and Herzegovina, rural poverty is an unresolved issue, despite farming having been a poverty coping strategy for many rural dwellers, especially after the end of the Balkan war. Eradicating poverty is among the priorities of the national government that aims at EU candidacy and accession. Being the most dynamic among agricultural sectors, berry farming is a key agricultural activity at the national level and had been the subject of rural development interventions, including the establishment of agricultural cooperatives. This article provides evidence from the largest agricultural cooperative in Bosnia and Herzegovina, to inform decision making and policy planning. The article aims at describing and analyzing the status and dynamics of poverty at the farm household level while highlighting their contributing factors, as well as at proposing possible development strategies based on the voice of local actors. Given the complexity and multifaceted features of the investigated issues, the methodological approach of this study relies on a mixed-methods research design, where the quantitative findings from the analysis of poverty status and dynamics and their contributing factors are complemented by qualitative findings from participatory activities. The results of the study pinpoint the successful contribution of the cooperative to the improvement of farmers' working conditions and market access and suggest that supporting collective action among berry farmers can be an effective rural development intervention to alleviate rural poverty and prevent poverty fallouts. To date, structural characteristics of farm holdings and households and climate and market-related conditions have significantly contributed to the farmers' poverty as well as to farmers’ exposure to poverty. Furthermore, bridging the gender gap is still a challenge in Bosnia and Herzegovina which should be addressed urgently to mitigate the problem of social exclusion and to promote bottom-up innovation.

Digital technologies are often seen as an opportunity to enable sustainable futures in agriculture and rural areas. However, this digital transformation process is not inherently good as it impacts on many aspects (e.g. economic, environmental, social, technological, institutional) and their relations. The Responsible Research and Innovation approach calls for a better understanding and anticipation of the often unknown impacts. To meet this aim we have developed a framework that allows to gain insight on the relations between the social, the cyber and the physical, i.e. a Socio-Cyber-Physical System and have described conditions for a successful digital transformation of such a system. These are design of, and creating access to digital technologies, and navigating system complexity. This framework allows for a better problematisation of digital transformation and has been illustrated through an example of digital dairy farming. It supports an enhanced understanding of moral responsibilities regarding digital transformation, fitting within the Responsible Research and Innovation approach, as well as the succinct step of understanding who is responsible or accountable for the identified (positive or negative) impacts, i.e. responsibilisation.

Background: Trans-apical, echo-guided NeoChord mitral valve (MV) repair is an innovative procedure to treat degenerative mitral regurgitation (MR) without concomitant annuloplasty. Recently, leaflet-to-annulus index (LAI) has been identified as a positive prognostic predictor of outcomes at 1-year follow up. The aim of this study is to develop a pre-operative predictor tool to assess probability of success with NeoChord procedure utilizing multi-factor echocardiographic and anatomic variables. Methods: We included ninety-one consecutive patients with prolapse/flail of the posterior mitral leaflet, who subsequently underwent NeoChord MV repair between November 2013 and October 2016. All patients completed post-operative echocardiographic follow-up assessments for up to 2 years. A random forest regression algorithm identified and ranked the most relevant predictors of moderate-severe MR. A multi-variable Cox regression model was performed at follow-up intervals, to assess variables associated with residual MR that was classified as mild or less. Bootstrapping re-samples were used to validate an estimated survival model. Predictive accuracy was assessed using a discrimination index that corrected for over-optimism. Results: We developed a nomogram which used the results of a multi-variable model to predict the probability of mild or less residual MR at follow-up periods (discharge, 1, 3, 6 months, 1 and 2 years). Identified predictors included LAI, systolic pulmonary artery pressure, indexed left ventricle end-systolic volume (iLVESV), prolapse/flail width (FW), systolic antero-posterior (AP) annulus diameter, systolic latero-lateral (LL) annulus diameter and presence of calcification. Conclusions: A NeoChord MV repair prediction tool would be helpful in clinical decision-making and in the identification of patients who may benefit from a ringless mitral valve repair using the NeoChord procedure.

International audience; The European Union faced several crises in the last twenty years that destabilized its macroeconomic equilibrium and development capacity. Standard economic methodologies were capable of neither predicting nor completely solving these crises through appropriate investments. To understand the overall development performance, the well-known Human Development Index (HDI) is the most widely deployed conceptual framework. In this article, we look at the components of welfare dynamics in the EU by examining socioeconomic performance. Through a 'beyond gross domestic product (GDP)' * The research is conceptually related to the activities of the European Topic Centre on Waste, materials and the Green Economy (ETC WMGE, European Environment Agency). It is also within the research activities of the 2018-2022 UNIFE project on Circular economy, Innovations and SMEs funded by MIUR Italian ministry under the 'Departments of excellence' programme, and the activities of the related CERCIS research centre on Circular Economy, Innovation and SMEs.

BackgroundWe aim to describe the characteristics and outcomes of the severe spectrum of paediatric emergency visits using a multi-site registry developed as part of an international cooperation project.MethodsThis observational registry-based study presented descriptive statistics of clinical and outcome data on urgent-emergency paediatric visits from 7 Nicaraguan hospitals, including the national referral paediatric hospital, between January and December 2017. Extensive piloting to ensure data collection feasibility, sustainability and accuracy was carried out in 2016 with substantial input and feedback from local stakeholders.ResultsOverall, 3521 visits of patients ConclusionsThe mortality rate of urgent-emergency paediatric visits in Nicaragua is high, with younger children being most at risk and the majority of deaths being eventually caused by septic shock or respiratory failure. Our data provide useful information for the development of a Paediatric Emergency Care network to help direct training efforts, resources and logistic/organisational interventions to improve children’s health in an emergency setting in Nicaragua.

This study is a systematic review of literature on the impact of international migration on rural areas. We examined this impact on six rural welfare indicators, including labour, livelihood activities, income, food security, land use, and rural development. We selected 44 papers from a pool of 1544 articles published from 2007 to 2018. We found that the impact of international migration on selected indicators varies and are highly context-specific. The results point to the existence of heterogeneity in impacts, capable of creating a space of losers and winners among migrants and non-migrants households. The immediate impact is the loss labour effect, which leads to a process of feminisation of agriculture and the use of child labour. In the intermediate, this trend changes the power relationship in rural areas, briefly increasing the opportunities for the non-migrants household to control land. However, remittance helps the migrant household to move up in the income ladder, improving their food security, enabling the repurchase of land and causing a transition away from agriculture. We submit that international migration from developing countries could create a dynamic process of structural and functional transformations in rural areas, which may ultimately lead to a transition away from agriculture. We provide several policy implications and identified some research gaps for future studies.

The objective of this text is to deepen the debate about a global economic crisis, which was already forming, but immensely catalyzed by the Covid-19 crisis. The analysis, comparison of data from authorized institutions, seeks, based on the indicators of the global crisis, to always do or contradict Brazil. One of the conclusions highlighted in the text is the current crisis, also called "Corona Crisis", is one of the most relevant in history and has already overcome the Great Depression of 1929, mainly in the speed with which the world economy is deteriorating. In this crisis, the worsening of macroeconomic and social indicators, which developed in the 1930s in three years, occurred in three weeks. The article also concludes that Brazil faces a sum of simultaneous crises, which influence each other. O objetivo deste artigo é aprofundar o debate sobre a crise econômica mundial, que já vinha se configurando, mas que foi imensamente catalisada pela crise do Covid-19. A análise, amparada em dados de instituições especializadas, procura, a partir dos indicadores da crise global, fazer sempre o contraponto com o Brasil. Uma das conclusões em destaque no texto é a de que a crise atual, também chamada de “corona-crise”, é uma das mais relevantes da história, e já supera a Grande Depressão de 1929, especialmente na velocidade com que a economia mundial se deteriora. Nesta crise, a piora dos indicadores macros econômicos e sociais, que nos anos de 1930, se desenvolveram em três anos, ocorreu em três semanas. O artigo também constata que o Brasil enfrenta um somatório de crises simultâneas, que se influenciam mutuamente.

The present study is aimed to design ethosomes and transethosomes for topical administration of quercetin. To overcome quercetin low bioavailability, scarce solubility and poor permeability that hamper its pharmaceutical use, the drug was loaded in ethosomes and transethosomes based on different concentrations of phosphatidylcholine. Vesicle morphology was studied by cryogenic transmission electron microscopy, while size distribution and quercetin entrapment capacity were evaluated up to 3 months, respectively, by photon correlation spectroscopy and high-performance liquid chromatography. The antioxidant property was studied by photochemiluminescence test. Quercetin release and permeation was investigated in vitro, using Franz cells associated to different membranes. In vitro assays were conducted on human keratinocytes and melanoma cells to study the behavior of quercetin-loaded nano-vesicular forms with respect to cell migration and proliferation. The results evidenced that both phosphatidylcholine concentration and quercetin affected the vesicle size. Quercetin entrapment capacity, antioxidant activity and size stability were controlled using transethosomes produced by the highest amount of phosphatidylcholine. In vitro permeation studies revealed an enhancement of quercetin permeation in the case of transethosomes with respect to ethosomes. Notably, scratch wound and migration assays suggested the potential of quercetin loaded-transethosomes as adjuvant strategy for skin conditions.

A new set of amino-3,5-dicyanopyridines was synthesized and biologically evaluated at the adenosine receptors (ARs). This chemical class is particularly versatile, as small structural modifications can influence not only affinity and selectivity, but also the pharmacological profile. Thus, in order to deepen the structure–activity relationships (SARs) of this series, different substituents were evaluated at the diverse positions on the dicyanopyridine scaffold. In general, the herein reported compounds show nanomolar binding affinity and interact better with both the human (h) A1 and A2A ARs than with the other subtypes. Docking studies at hAR structure were performed to rationalize the observed affinity data. Of interest are compounds 1 and 5, which can be considered as pan ligands as binding all the ARs with comparable nanomolar binding affinity (A1AR: 1, Ki = 9.63 nM; 5, Ki = 2.50 nM; A2AAR: 1, Ki = 21 nM; 5, Ki = 24 nM; A3AR: 1, Ki = 52 nM; 5, Ki = 25 nM; A2BAR: 1, EC50 = 1.4 nM; 5, EC50 = 1.12 nM). Moreover, these compounds showed a partial agonist profile at all the ARs. This combined AR partial agonist activity could lead us to hypothesize a potential effect in the repair process of damaged tissue that would be beneficial in both wound healing and remodeling.

BackgroundCongenital anomalies are the leading cause of perinatal, neonatal and infant mortality in developed countries. Large long-term follow-up studies investigating survival beyond the first year of life in children with rare congenital anomalies are costly and sufficiently large standardized cohorts are difficult to obtain due to the rarity of some anomalies. This study aimed to investigate the survival up to 10 years of age of children born with a rare structural congenital anomaly in the period 1995–2014 in Western Europe.MethodsLive births from thirteen EUROCAT (European network for the epidemiological surveillance of congenital anomalies) population-based registries were linked to mortality records. Survival for 12,685 live births with one of the 31 investigated rare structural congenital anomalies (CAs) was estimated at 1 week, 4 weeks and 1, 5 and 10 years of age within each registry and combined across Europe using random effects meta-analyses. Differences between registries were evaluated for the eight rare CAs with at least 500 live births.ResultsAmongst the investigated CAs, arhinencephaly/holoprosencephaly had the lowest survival at all ages (58.1%, 95% Confidence Interval (CI): 44.3–76.2% at 1 week; 47.4%, CI: 36.4–61.6% at 1 year; 35.6%, CI: 22.2–56.9% at 10 years). Overall, children with rare CAs of the digestive system had the highest survival (> 95% at 1 week, > 84% at 10 years). Most deaths occurred within the first four weeks of life, resulting in a 10-year survival conditional on surviving 4 weeks of over 95% for 17 out of 31 rare CAs. A moderate variability in survival between participating registries was observed for the eight selected rare CAs.ConclusionsPooling standardised data across 13 European CA registries and the linkage to mortality data enabled reliable survival estimates to be obtained at five ages up to ten years. Such estimates are useful for clinical practice and parental counselling.

1 INTRODUCCIÓN 2 PLATAFORMA ESTRATÉGICA DE LA EMPRESA 3 MARCO TEÓRICO O CONCEPTUAL 3.1 POTENCIA ELÉCTRICA 6 3.2 POTENCIA ELÉCTRICA EN SISTEMAS TRIFÁSICOS DE CORRIENTE ALTERNA 6 3.3 LAVADO CIP (CLEANING IN PLACE) 6 3.4 ULTRA-ALTA TEMPERATURA 3.5 SISTEMA DE ALIMENTACIÓN ININTERRUMPIDA 7 3.6 ESTERILIDAD COMERCIAL DE EQUIPOS Y DE ENVASES PARA EL PROCESAMIENTO Y ENVASADO ASÉPTICO DE ALIMENTOS 3.7 VALOR PRESENTE NETO(VPN) 3.8 TASA INTERNA DE RENDIMIENTO 8 3.8 TASA INTERNA DE RENDIMIENTO 8 4 DIAGNÓSTICO ESPECÍFICO DE LA EMPRESA 9 5 ACTIVIDADES DESARROLLADAS 10 5.1 CÁLCULO DE LA CARGA REQUERIDA DE LOS SISTEMAS DE ALIMENTACIÓN DE ENERGÍA ININTERRUMPIDA. 5.1.1 CÁLCULO DE LA CARGA DE LA UPS TENIENDO EN CUENTA EL CONSUMO REAL DE LOS EQUIPOS PERTENECIENTES AL ÁREA DE GENERACIÓN DE VAPOR Y ÁREA DE SERVICIOS. 5.1.2 CÁLCULO DE LA CARGA DE LA UPS PERTENECIENTE AL ÁREA DE GENERACIÓN DE VAPOR TENIENDO EN CUENTA LA POTENCIA NOMINAL DE LOS EQUIPOS OBTENIDA EN LA PLACA DE ESPECIFICACIONES DEL EQUIPO O EN EL CATÁLOGO DEL FABRICANTE. 5.1.3 CÁLCULO DE LA CARGA DE LA UPS PERTENECIENTE AL ÁREA DE ULTRA ALTA TEMPERATURA TENIENDO EN CUENTA LA POTENCIA NOMINAL OBTENIDA EN LA PLACA DE ESPECIFICACIONES DEL EQUIPO Y/O EL CONSUMO REAL. 5.2 ANÁLISIS DE VIABILIDAD PARA IMPLEMENTAR UN SISTEMA DE ALIMENTACIÓN ININTERRUMPIDA DISEÑADO PARA GARANTIZAR LA CONTINUIDAD DEL PROCESO DE ULTRA PASTEURIZACIÓN, CON BASE EN LOS SOBRECOSTOS CAUSADOS POR LAS INTERRUPCIONES. 5.2.1 MANO DE OBRA 20 5.2.2 ENERGÍA ELÉCTRICA 21 5.2.3 AGUA POTABLE 26 5.2.4 VAPOR 27 5.2.5 SODA CÁUSTICA Y ÁCIDO NÍTRICO 29 5.2.6 LIBERACIÓN (SWABS LUMINÓMETRO DE SUPERFICIE) 29 5.2.7 ALISTAMIENTO DE MÁQUINA LLENADORA DE LÍQUIDO 30 5.2.8 LUCRO CESANTE 31 5.3 DISEÑO DE MONTAJE DE LOS SISTEMAS E ALIMENTACIÓN DE ENERGÍA ININTERRUMPIDA 33 5.3.1 DIMENSIONES 33 5.3.2 CABLEADO 35 5.3.3 TIEMPO DE MONTAJE 36 5.3.4 UBICACIÓN 36 5.3.5 COSTO DE CERRAMIENTO 38 5.4 COSTO TOTAL DE LA IMPLEMENTACIÓN DE LOS SISTEMAS DE ALIMENTACIÓN DE ENERGÍA ININTERRUMPIDA 5.4.1 RESUMEN DE COSTOS DE IMPLEMENTACIÓN DE LOS SISTEMAS DE ALIMENTACIÓN ININTERRUMPIDA 5.5 ANÁLISIS DE LOS BENEFICIOS SECUNDARIOS PARA JUSTIFICAR LA IMPLEMENTACIÓN DE LOS EQUIPOS UPS. 6 PROPUESTA DE MEJORAMIENTO 44 8 CONCLUSIONES 48 9 RECOMENDACIONES 49 10 BIBLIOGRAFÍA 50 11 ANEXOS El área de ultra alta temperatura de la cooperativa Colanta ubicada en el municipio de Planeta Rica, Córdoba, actualmente cuenta con un problema que afecta de manera considerable y directa el proceso de producción de leche ultra pasteurizada. Este problema tiene relación con las fallas en el suministro eléctrico público, debido a que cada vez que se presenta una falla, se interrumpe totalmente el proceso de UHT, siendo esto una fuente de pérdidas monetarias para Colanta. Actualmente no se ha implementado ningún tipo de mejora o alternativa que permita reducir o eliminar por completo esta vulnerabilidad en el proceso. Las fallas en la red de energía eléctrica, son muy frecuentes en esta región del territorio colombiano, así está registrado en las bitácoras eléctricas de Colanta. El proceso de UHT, es un proceso muy estricto en cuanto a los requerimientos de vapor, aire comprimido y vapor, por esta razón no es suficiente con fijarse en los equipos correspondientes a el área de UHT sino también fijarse en los equipos que se encargan de la generación y el suministro de todos los servicios mencionados anteriormente, debido a que estos son críticos en este proceso y la falta de uno significaría la paralización total del proceso. Con este proyecto se busca plantear una alternativa que, al implementarse, permita la continuidad del proceso UHT, es decir, que no se presenten interrupciones en el proceso, cuando se presenten fallas en el suministro de energía eléctrica de la red pública. Debido a que es un sistema que mantiene los equipos en funcionamiento durante la falla eléctrica, y durante el tiempo requerido hasta que se active el sistema de generación de energía eléctrica mediante plantas generadoras de electricidad que funcionan a base de combustible. Pregrado Ingeniero(a) Mecánico(a) Práctica Empresarial

Graphical abstract, Highlights • Sonication-alkaline hydrolysis combination improve the bound phenolics extraction. • The obtained extracts demonstrated an increased antioxidant activity. • These botanicals were chemically characterized with various approaches. • These extracts are promising ingredient for cosmetic industry., Durum wheat and rice brans are by-products deriving from the milling industry and source of important phytochemicals, mostly phenolics in bound form. The objectives of this work were to evaluate the most effective method for the extraction of phenolic acids from these by-products with antioxidant and antimicrobial activity and to standardize the obtained extracts to encourage their commercialization in health field. Free phenolics were extracted with ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) and bound phenolics with alkaline hydrolysis (AH) and ultrasound-assisted alkaline hydrolysis (UAAH). Extracts were analyzed with HPTLC (high-performance thin-layer chromatography) and RPHPLC-DAD-ESIMS (reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography-diode array detector-electrospray ionization mass spectrometry); the content of trans-ferulic acid, p-coumaric acid, total phenolics were also quantified. The antioxidant activity was investigated using DPPH and ABTS methods. The antimicrobial activity was evaluated against Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis strains. Results obtained using UAAH showed the most interesting data, suggesting this method as the most effective to obtain active extracts from the by-products. Durum wheat, extracted with UAAH, exhibited the highest content of trans-ferulic acid (406.14 ± 0.65 μg FA/mg extract), total phenolics (610.58 ± 57.60 mg GAE/g dried extract) and good antioxidant and antimicrobial activities and it has been selected to formulate oil-in-water cosmetic products.

La pandemia de la covid-19 ha inducido una fuerte crisis económica, de duración e intensidad difíciles de prever. Muchas empresas de diferentes sectores han padecido sus efectos. ¿Qué puede hacerse para asegurar la supervivencia de las empresas, no solo frente a los efectos inmediatos de la crisis, sino, a más largo plazo, para superar las dificultades de un entorno progresivamente complejo e incierto? En este trabajo pretendemos aportar algunas respuestas al respecto. Por ello, tras examinar las características de esta crisis, tanto en sus diferencias como en sus similitudes con crisis anteriores, y aventurar algunas de las consecuencias esperables de la misma, se abordan sugerencias en el ámbito empresarial, tanto para superar sus efectos inmediatos como para afrontar la supervivencia empresarial a más largo plazo. A este último respecto, se plantea la consecución de dos propósitos básicos: la innovación y la sostenibilidad. Y para ello deben desarrollarse una serie de capacidades, en especial tres ambidestrezas.

Background High plasma levels of activated Factor VII-Antithrombin complex (FVIIa-AT) have been associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular mortality in patients with stable coronary artery disease (CAD). Objectives To investigate if FVIIa-AT levels are associated with activated factor X generation (FXaG) in modified assays. Patients/methods Forty CAD patients were characterized for FVIIa-AT levels by ELISA and for FXaG in plasma. Novel fluorogenic FXaG assays, based on aptamers inhibiting thrombin and/or tissue factor pathway inhibitor (TFPI), were set up. Results FXaG correlated with FVIIa-AT levels (RAUC = 0.393, P = 0.012). The combination of thrombin inhibition and FXaG potentiation by using anti-thrombin and anti-TFPI aptamers, respectively, favors the study of time parameters. The progressive decrease in lag time from the lowest to the highest FVIIa-AT quartile was magnified by combining TFPI and thrombin inhibitory aptamers, thus supporting increased FXaG activity in the coagulation initiation phase. By exploring FXaG rates across FVIIa-AT quartiles, the largest relative differences were detectable at the early times (the highest versus the lowest quartile; 5.0-fold, P = 0.005 at 45 s; 3.5-fold, P = 0.001 at 55 s), and progressively decreased over time (2.3-fold, P = 0.002 at 75 s; 1.8-fold, P = 0.008 at 95 s; 1.6-fold, P = 0.022 at 115 s). Association between high FVIIa-AT levels and increased FXaG was independent of F7 −323 A1/A2 polymorphism influencing FVIIa-AT levels. Conclusions High FVIIa-AT plasma levels were associated with increased FXaG. Hypercoagulability features were specifically detectable in the coagulation initiation phase, which may have implications for cardiovascular risk prediction by either FVIIa-AT complex measurement or modified FXaG assays.

This paper analyses the effect of innovation on firms' technical efficiency. Using climate-related patent data to proxy for innovation activity in different technological fields, the paper employs a stochastic frontier approach to estimate the impact of innovative efforts on agricultural firms' technical efficiency taking account of both unobservable heterogeneity and double heteroscedasticity in the inefficiency and idiosyncratic terms. Our findings confirm that innovation has a positive impact on firms' productivity (technical efficiency). While agricultural firms located in Germany and Sweden are more efficient compared to those in southern countries, all the European countries considered are distant from the maximum production frontier. This leaves room for governments to design economically sustainable agriculture policies, incentivize firms and foster technological innovation to achieve adaptations to present and future changes in climate.

Circadian rhythms are biological oscillations that occur with an approximately 24 h period and optimize cellular homeostasis and responses to environmental stimuli. A growing collection of data suggests that chronic circadian disruption caused by novel lifestyle risk factors such as shift work, travel across time zones, or irregular sleep-wake cycles has long-term consequences for human health. Among the multiplicity of physiological systems hypothesized to have a role in the onset of pathologies in case of circadian disruption, there are redox-sensitive defensive pathways and inflammatory machinery. Due to its location and barrier physiological role, the skin is a prototypical tissue to study the influence of environmental insults induced OxInflammation disturbance and circadian system alteration. To better investigate the link among outdoor stressors, OxInflammation, and circadian system, we tested the differential responses of keratinocytes clock synchronized or desynchronized, in an in vitro inflammatory model exposed to O3. Being both NRF2 and NF-κB two key redox-sensitive transcription factors involved in cellular redox homeostasis and inflammation, we analyzed their activation and expression in challenged keratinocytes by O3. Our results suggest that a synchronized circadian clock not only facilitates the protective role of NRF2 in terms of a faster and more efficient defensive response against environmental insults but also moderates the cellular damage resulting from a condition of chronic inflammation. Our results bring new insights on the role of circadian clock in regulating the redox-inflammatory crosstalk influenced by O3 and possibly can be extrapolated to other pollutants able to affect the oxinflammatory cellular processes.

The imbalances among countries belonging to the European Monetary Union (EMU) have been analysed under several angles in recent years, but often neglecting the evolution of economic and pro...