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When the World Health Organization (WHO) analyzed the culprits of global warming, it was found that in developed countries with relatively few high-polluting heavy industries, the medical sector is one of the sources of high-density carbon emissions. Therefore, the medical industry has a noticeable impact on the environment. Amid the current COVID-19 epidemic, this study adopts the theory of planned behavior (TPB), widely used in decision-making science. We selected a regional teaching hospital with 339 employees in Taiwan to obtain valid questionnaire data. We explore the comparative analysis of different intra-organizational stakeholders’ “attitudes,” “subjective norms,” and “perceived behavioral control” on the hospital’s behavioral intention to promote green healthcare. The results show that the TPB model has reliable explanatory power. All three factors have a positive and significant effect on promoting green hospital behavior. Among them, perceived behavioral control was the most notable. A comparative analysis of the differences among stakeholders in the research model shows that “medical administrators” and “nursing staff” have a higher proportion of significant influence effects in various hypotheses, highlighting the critical roles of these two groups in promoting green hospitals. This research policy suggests that the cross-departmental staff in the hospital put forward green innovation ideas, strengthen internal environmental education and management, establish a good incentive system for front-line nursing staff, and implement the sustainable development strategy of the hospital.

Background In recent years, studies have disclosed that electronic WOM (eWOM) more directly reflects consumers' post-purchase psychological perception, and directly affects repurchase behavior, which is valued by institutions in various fields. Within the scope of service characteristic evaluation, medical service is the most invisible and difficult to evaluate service attribute. They are service organizations that must have high trust attributes. Therefore, the eWOM review will significantly influence people's decision-making process for choosing a healthcare provider. The purpose of this research is to combine eWOM reviews with the SERVQUAL scale in a comparative study of positive and negative eWOM reviews of a certain regional teaching hospital in Taiwan. Methods This research obtained data of eWOM reviews publicly available on Google maps from a Regional Teaching hospital in Taiwan in the past 10 years (from June 24, 2011, to December 31, 2021) by using website scraping technology. The semantic content analysis method was used in this study to classify WOM reviews according to the revised PZB SERVQUAL scale. Results Statistical analysis is then conducted. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the positive reviews have shown a downward trend. Among the five determiners of SERVQUAL of PZB, positive WOM reviews performed best in “Assurance”, with a positive review rate of 60.00%, followed by 42.11% of “Reliability”. In negative WOM reviews, “Assurance” performed the worst, with a positive rate of 72.34%, followed by “Responsiveness” at 28.37% and “Reliability” at 26.95%. Conclusion Since the onset of the COVID-19 in 2020, negative eWOM has increased significantly and exceeded the numbers of positive eWOM. Regardless of the positive and negative reviews, what patients care most about is “Assurance” of the professional attitude and skills of the medical staff, which needs to be strengthened most urgently. In addition, good “Reliability” will help to build up positive eWOM. However, the "Responsiveness" of poor service waiting time can easily lead to the spread of negative eWOM. This study suggests that the hospital management should focus on these few service-oriented qualities.

We herein report a facile approach for the preparation of horseradish peroxidase (HRP)-mimic glucose oxidase-conjugated graphene oxide/MnO2 (GOD-GO/MnO2) as new nanozyme to detect the glucose concentration in whole blood. The nano-sized of MnO2 nanoparticles embedded in bovine serum albumin (BSA)-coated GO by in situ growth were evaluated focusing on the principle of HRP-mimic activity catalyzing the oxidation of 3,3',5,5'-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) in the presence of hydrogen peroxide. Furthermore, we constructed dual sensing platforms based on the combination of a plasma separation pad and GOD-GO/MnO2 for direct detection of glucose concentration in whole blood by colorimetric assay without blood sample pretreatment. As a proof-of-concept, a limit of detection of 3.1 mg dL-1 for glucose was obtained with a wide linear quantification range from 25 mg dL-1 to 300 mg dL-1 through visual observation and quantitative analysis, suggesting potential clinical applications in blood glucose monitoring for diabetic patients.

La responsabilidad social empresarial es nuevo enfoque en el Ecuador, en el cual, las empresas buscan perdurar en el tiempo, mejorar el cuidado del medio ambiente, generar eficiencia, eficacia en sus clientes internos y fidelizar a los clientes externos. La presente investigación pretende evaluar a través de este criterio, como mejorar la calidad de los servicios que ofrece el laboratorio clínico Neolab. De tipo descriptiva con diseño no experimental. Como consecuencia, se evidencio que la responsabilidad social empresarial debe estar alineada en los objetivos del negocio, para que pueda mantenerse en el tiempo. Concluyendo que se debe trabajar en la búsqueda de personal que, a más de estar calificado, rompa sus paradigmas mentales en favor de la organización, mejorando la calidad de los servicios de Neolab.

Este artículo empieza explorando el significado de las alianzas o asociaciones público-privadas (APP) apuntando a múltiples interpretaciones que revisan la literatura sobre las APP. El documento identifica que uno de los grandes problemas en las APP es que carecen de soporte teórico, y en la práctica se viola el derecho al reclamo. Por lo tanto, es necesario contar con mecanismos formales para interpretar por qué un gobierno retiene un riesgo particular en un proyecto mientras se transfiere recursos a socios privados. Desde el punto de vista de la economía de costos de transacción (ECT), integrada con la visión basada en recursos de las capacidades organizacionales (RCO), este documento propone un marco teórico para entender la práctica de asignación de riesgos en proyectos de APP. Este marco teórico proporciona a las agencias gubernamentales y privadas una comprensión lógica y completa del proceso de selección de la estrategia de asignación para un riesgo particular en los proyectos de APP. Además, podría utilizarse para dirigir la estrategia de asignación de riesgos controlando ciertos determinantes críticos identificados en el estudio. El trabajo también establece sus limitaciones y las futuras direcciones de investigación.

We herein report a facile approach for the preparation of horseradish peroxidase (HRP)-mimic glucose oxidase-conjugated graphene oxide/MnO2 (GOD-GO/MnO2) as new nanozyme to detect the glucose concentration in whole blood. The nano-sized of MnO2 nanoparticles embedded in bovine serum albumin (BSA)-coated GO by in situ growth were evaluated focusing on the principle of HRP-mimic activity catalyzing the oxidation of 3,3',5,5'-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) in the presence of hydrogen peroxide. Furthermore, we constructed dual sensing platforms based on the combination of a plasma separation pad and GOD-GO/MnO2 for direct detection of glucose concentration in whole blood by colorimetric assay without blood sample pretreatment. As a proof-of-concept, a limit of detection of 3.1 mg dL-1 for glucose was obtained with a wide linear quantification range from 25 mg dL-1 to 300 mg dL-1 through visual observation and quantitative analysis, suggesting potential clinical applications in blood glucose monitoring for diabetic patients.

Natural products are favored because of their non-toxicity, low irritants, and market reacceptance. We collected examples, according to ancient wisdom, of natural products to be applied in transdermal delivery. A transdermal delivery system, including different types of agents, such as ointments, patches, and gels, has long been used for skin concerns. In recent years, many novel transdermal applications, such as nanoemulsions, liposomes, lipid nanoparticles, and microneedles, have been reported. Nanosized drug delivery systems are widely applied in natural product deliveries. Nanosized materials notably enhance bioavailability and solubility, and are reported to improve the transdermal permeation of many substances compared with conventional topical formulations. Natural products have been made into nanosized biomaterials in order to enhance the penetration effect. Before introducing the novel transdermal applications of natural products, we present traditional methods within this article. The descriptions of novel transdermal applications are classified into three parts: liposomes, emulsions, and lipid nanoparticles. Each section describes cases that are related to promising natural product transdermal use. Finally, we summarize the outcomes of various studies on novel transdermal agents applied to skin treatments.

This paper aims to evaluate the progressivity of different fuel subsidies in Ecuador as well as the budgetary and distributional effects of a potential elimination of such subsidies. Our analysis makes use of ECUAMOD, the tax-benefit microsimulation model for Ecuador, together with representative household microdata from ENIGHUR 2011-12. Our results show that domestic gas subsidy tends to be progressive, whereas gasoline and diesel subsidies tend to be regressive. Our simulations show that eliminating all fuel subsidies would increase poverty and inequality due to the importance of domestic gas subsidy for low-income households. Eliminating only gasoline and diesel subsidies would not impact poverty and inequality, while allowing to reduce government expenditure. We further show that using part of the budget saved from the elimination of fuel subsidies to increase social assistance payments in Ecuador, could be a mechanism to compensate low-income families for their loss following fuel subsidy elimination.

En esta ocasión tenemos por entrevistado al profesorSyed Mansoob Murshed quien nos habla sobre la política industrial en Latinoamérica. Empieza definiendo bajo sus preceptos lo que debería contener la política industrial y contrasta el proceso de industrialización entre Asia Oriental y Latinoamérica. No cree que es muy tarde para industrializarse en Latinoamérica; sin embargo, tiene que industrializarse de una manera que detalla en la entrevista. Nos habla sobre las prioridades de las políticas de industrialización: los retos de estabilidad macroeconómica, la potencialización de las capacidades y habilidades de la población, la diplomacia económica, la reforma de micropolíticas, y todo esto en relación con el caso de Botsuana con una alusión de vuelta a Latinoamérica. La entrevista continúa y discute sobre el impacto de la Inversión Extranjera Directa (IED), las fallas de la implementación de la IED y otras políticas industriales. Finalmente, da su opinión sobre si Latinoamérica debería abrir o no sus economías.

Los coordinadores de la revista entrevistan a Richard Kozul-Wright quien empieza su entrevista definiendo sueltamente la política industrial y explica la evolución de este término. Luego expone y detalla las herramientas de la política industrial y cómo ajustar las prioridades de acuerdo al contexto de cada país. Kozul-Wright contextualiza lo antes mencionado y lo reenfoca al caso latinoamericano, en el cual menciona la política de industrialización en la época de la sustitución de importaciones, la crisis de la deuda y la competencia con China. Contrasta la política industrial entre Latinoamérica, Asia oriental y China, en la cual puntualiza lecciones importantes sobre el balance de incentivos y castigos al sector productivo, el desarrollo de una burocracia continua y competente, y el fortalecimiento institucional para respaldar la continuidad de la política industrial.

Este artículo analiza la política económica exterior de China en Latinoamérica y el Caribe transversalizada por las relaciones comerciales, así como la naturaleza y los patrones de Inversión Extranjera Directa (IED). Basado en las estadísticas y datos hasta el año 2013, este trabajo también revisa el debate sobre si los impactos de las relaciones económicas entre China y América Latina han sido positivos o negativos para la región. Una vez aclarada la estructura de las relaciones económicas, este estudio sostiene que los países latinoamericanos que hacen hincapié en los efectos económicos positivos de China han sido demasiado optimistas y terminan reforzando la teoría centro-periferia, en la cual la competitividad china en la fabricación de productos manufacturados perpetúa la situación de una América Latina especializada en productos primarios. Esta situación se exacerba cuando se añade el flujo de IED chino destinado mayoritariamente a actividades extractivistas.

A device involving mass exchangers with a permeable membrane inserted to divide the open duct into two subchannels for conducting double-pass laminar countercurrent operations under asymmetric wall mass fluxes, which results in a substantial improvement of the mass transfer, has been developed and investigated theoretically. The resultant partial differential equations for such a double-pass forced-convection mass transfer problem are referred to as conjugated Graetz problems and solved analytically in this work by using an eigenfunction expansion in terms of power series for the homogeneous part and an asymptotic solution for the inhomogeneous part. The theoretical predictions of mass transfer efficiency improvement in double-pass, parallel-plate mass exchangers are obtained by suitably adjusting the permeable membrane location. They are represented graphically and compared with the results from an open duct of a single-pass operation (without a permeable membrane inserted). The increment of power consumption is also discussed.

Bronchiolitis obliterans organizing pneumonia (BOOP) is an uncommon pulmonary disorder which is a clinicopathologic syndrome. The typical symptoms include cough, fever and dyspnea. Corticosteroid therapy is effective. Death from progressive disease is infrequent. We report a case of BOOP in a 41-year-old male non-smoker, proved by pathologic findings. After steroid therapy (prednisolone 30 mg daily) for 10 days, he developed spontaneous pneumothorax of bilateral lung fields. Responses to steroid and chest tube thoracostomy were excellent. BOOP may be complicated with spontaneous pneumothorax which may adversely affect prognosis. BOOP should be included in the differential diagnosis of patients presenting with secondary spontaneous pneumothorax.