Entrepreneurial dynamics and institutional changes

Contemporary literature has paid considerable attention to the relationships between formal and informal institutions and early stage firms' behaviours in different institutional settings in recent years. Given a constantly changing business environment in which companies are operating, there is a need to continuously study how they deal with new challenges and how they achieve new goals. It is essential for not only nascent but also experienced entrepreneurs to discover new dynamics in order to stay at a competitive level. This special issue of Journal of Evolutionary Studies in Business aims to explore the role of dynamics that interact with institutional changes in surviving and growing ventures. We present the nine articles with a variety of studied contexts, which shed some light on how companies or organisations keep up with institutional changes at both macro and micro level, by actively transforming business practices and entrepreneurial processes

The impact of the circular economy on sustainable development: A European panel data approach

The circular economy (CE) has attracted considerable attention because of its potential to help achieve sustainable development (SD). This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the effect of the CE on the three dimensions of SD at the country level. We analysed the impact of each CE source of value (renewable energy, reuse, repair, recycling) and the influence of an overall factor-analysis-derived measure of the CE on the economic, environmental and social dimensions of SD. The aim was to compare the individual impacts and outcomes of the CE and its sources of value in a single study. Panel data analysis was performed using a sample of 25 European countries for the period 2010 to 2019. The findings show a major impact of the CE on achieving SD, which has positive effects on the economy, environment and society. However, the results show that the impact of each CE value source on the three SD dimensions varies. While renewable energies and reuse reduce the impact on the environment, recycling has no effect, and repair increases GHG emissions. However, repair is the only CE source with a positive economic impact at the country level. Finally, renewable energy, repair and recycling reduce unemployment. Decision makers should conduct impact analysis to design suitable, efficient and targeted measures depending on each country's specific objectives

The impact of the circular economy on sustainable development: A European panel data approach

The circular economy (CE) has attracted considerable attention because of its potential to help achieve sustainable development (SD). This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the effect of the CE on the three dimensions of SD at the country level. We analysed the impact of each CE source of value (renewable energy, reuse, repair, recycling) and the influence of an overall factor-analysis-derived measure of the CE on the economic, environmental and social dimensions of SD. The aim was to compare the individual impacts and outcomes of the CE and its sources of value in a single study. Panel data analysis was performed using a sample of 25 European countries for the period 2010 to 2019. The findings show a major impact of the CE on achieving SD, which has positive effects on the economy, environment and society. However, the results show that the impact of each CE value source on the three SD dimensions varies. While renewable energies and reuse reduce the impact on the environment, recycling has no effect, and repair increases GHG emissions. However, repair is the only CE source with a positive economic impact at the country level. Finally, renewable energy, repair and recycling reduce unemployment. Decision makers should conduct impact analysis to design suitable, efficient and targeted measures depending on each country's specific objectives

Objective Prediction of Human Visual Acuity Using Image Quality Metrics

This work addresses the objective prediction of human uncorrected decimal visual acuity, an unsolved challenge due to the contribution of both physical and neural factors. An alternative approach to assess the image quality of the human visual system can be addressed from the image and video processing perspective. Human tolerance to image degradation is quantified by mean opinion scores, and several image quality assessment algorithms are used to maintain, control, and improve the quality of processed images. The aberration map of the eye is used to obtain the degraded theoretical image from a set of natural images. The amount of distortion added by the eye to the natural image was quantified using different image processing metrics, and the correlation between the result of each metric and subjective visual acuity was assessed. The correlation obtained for a model based on a linear combination of the normalized mean square error metric and the feature similarity index metric was very good. It was concluded that the proposed method could be an objective way to determine subjects’ monocular and uncorrected decimal visual acuity with low uncertainty

Ultrasound evaluation of interstitial lung disease in rheumatoid arthritis and autoimmune diseases

Lung ultrasound; Rheumatoid arthritis; Autoimmune diseasesEcografia pulmonar; Artritis reumatoide; Malalties autoimmunesEcografía pulmonar; Artritis reumatoide; Enfermedades autoinmunesThe interpretation of lung ultrasound (US) is the result of the analysis of artifacts, rather than exact representations of anatomical structures, which appear when changes in the physical properties of the lung occur. Its application to the study of interstitial lung disease (ILD) associated with autoimmune diseases has aroused great interest in the last 10 years, as evidenced by a growing number of publications studying its usefulness in the diagnostic process, as a prognostic marker, and as an aid in monitoring of patients. The main elements in lung US interpretation in ILD are the B lines and the changes in the pleural line. B lines are vertical artifacts that are generated when there is a partial decrease in the air content of the lung parenchyma and/or the volume of the interstitial area expands. Pleural line alterations that can be seen are irregularities, thickening, fragmentation, or subpleural nodules. Both the B lines and the changes in the pleural line have shown a significant positive correlation with the evidence on chest computed tomography (high-resolution computed tomography [HRCT]) of ILD associated with autoimmune diseases, with sensitivity and negative predictive values of up to 100%. These results, together with the safety, accessibility, and low cost of lung US, support this imaging technique as a promising screening method for optimizing the indication for HRCT. The role of lung US regarding sensitivity to change needs further investigation with multicenter prospective studie

“El gran dia de Girona”, la restauració d’una obra de gran format

La singularitat del procés de conservació-restauració del quadre “El gran dia de Girona”, de Ramon Martí Alsina, rau en l’excepcionalitat de les dimensions de l’obra, però també en què constitueix un referent quant a l’aplicació de criteris molt poc intervencionistes en una pintura d’aquesta envergadura. Aquests han permès preservar les característiques originals del suport malgrat els dos grans estrips que travessaven pràcticament la totalitat de la tela, i respectar l’originalitat de la tècnica pictòrica de l’artista durant un procés tan complex com la neteja de la policromia

Understanding the Predictors of Economic Politics on Elite Sport: A Case Study from Spain

Sport federations (NSFs) are the main promoters of sport at a national level. Their complex management involves coordinating relations with private entities, public administrations, and international organisations. Therefore, the economic situation of a country and its sport support policies have significant influences on the achievement of the NSFs’ objectives and, therefore, on their sustainability and influence on an active population. This study analyses the determinants of the financial performance of 59 Spanish sport federations (SSFs), 28 Olympic and 31 non-Olympic, based on the relationship between the funding received and their international results during the period from 2007 to 2019 (both years included). The preliminary data analysis included an examination of the missing data, and a t-test was used to compare Olympic and non-Olympic sport federations regarding different variables related to their resources and results. In addition, multiple linear regressions identified the possible predictors of the financing of sport federations and were separately performed for Olympic and non-Olympic federations. The results showed that SSFs were able to maintain their results in the face of decreasing resources. In addition, Olympic SSFs were found to be less dependent on public funding than non-Olympic SSFs for competitive results. This is evidence of a paradigm shift in the management of Spanish federated sports, evolving towards a model that is less dependent on the state, more efficient, and therefore more sustainable

Quantum authentication with unitary coding sets

A general class of authentication schemes for arbitrary quantum messages is proposed. The class is based on the use of sets of unitary quantum operations in both transmission and reception, and on appending a quantum tag to the quantum message used in transmission. The previous secret between partners required for any authentication is a classical key. We obtain the minimal requirements on the unitary operations that lead to a probability of failure of the scheme less than one. This failure may be caused by someone performing a unitary operation on the message in the channel between the communicating partners, or by a potential forger impersonating the transmitter.Comment: RevTeX4, 10 page

Aprendiendo a diferenciar las hipertrofias del miocardio en la práctica diaria

Left ventricular hypertrophy is frequently seen in ecochardiographic laboratories and everyone knows that there are many etiologies involved in this condition. This is why we need keys that help us to diagnose the cause. It is true that there are not pathognomonic facts for every disease, but we can suspect the etiology using all the data collected in each patient, basically coming from echocardiography and cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR). In this article we sumarize the available information for pathologic conditions (hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, hypertensive cardiopathy, infiltrative diseases like amioloidosis and storage diseases like Fabry disease) and the heart of the athlete. The last one have been choosed due to, taht in some instances is an important differential diagnosis with a state of disease.La hipertrofia ventricular es una condición frecuente en los laboratorios de imagen cardíaca. Dado que es común a múltiples patologías es de gran importancia encontrar claves que permitan reconocer la causa. Aunque no hay datos patognomónicos para cada enfermedad, sí que es posible encontrar alteraciones que, combinadas, harán sospechar una determinada etiología. Para ello, se utilizará la información de la ecocardiografía y de la resonancia magnética cardíaca (cardio-RM). El presente artículo analiza la información disponible en grandes grupos de patología (miocardiopatía hipertrófica, cardiopatía hipertensiva, enfermedades infiltrativas [amiloidosis] y de depósito, con la enfermedad de Fabry como más característica) y el corazón de atleta, dada su importancia en el diagnóstico diferencial con situaciones patológicas