The current status of radiological clinical audit and feedback on the ESR Guide to Clinical Audit in Radiology and the ESR Clinical Audit Tool (Esperanto) – an ESR Survey of European Radiology Departments

Clinical audit “according to national procedures” is a legal requirement as defined within the recently implemented European Council Basic Safety Standards Directive (BSSD), 2013/59/Euratom. A survey was undertaken in 2019 to assess the current status of clinical audit in European radiology departments and for feedback on the recently published “ESR Guide to Clinical Audit in Radiology” and the “ESR Clinical Audit Tool (Esperanto)”. The survey was distributed within the European Society of Radiology (ESR) EuroSafe Imaging Star network and also to European national radiological societies which are institutional members of the ESR

Generic algorithm for multicriteria ranking of crop technological options based on the “Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution” using ShinyApps

Many agricultural research and development programs aiming at enhancing tradeoffs related to different adoption, management and policy decisions face a methodological problem in which multi-criteria ranking is used to reach acceptable compromises between different objectives (e.g. those of farms, research managers, donors or policy makers). A typical situation is where many farm management options will result in different conflicting economic, social and environmental impacts. Ranking these options and the choice of those to promote is challenging. The literature provides a set of methodological solutions that need background data organization and simulation through coding using different computing software. Here, we provide a generic solution and friendly interface, made on Shiny (an R-package) based on the Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS). We apply this method for ranking different crop technological products of grain legumes and dry cereals based on their respective impacts on poverty, child malnutrition and economic benefits in more than 40 countries in eight different geographic zones across South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. • The developed algorithms and interface can help rank different options based on the weights (preferences) of their respective outcome indicators. • The interface allows for changing the weights (preferences) and automatically generates new ranking tables and graphs accordingly, which can serve for scenario simulations, which saves time compared to manually performing these calculations

CGIAR modeling approaches for resource constrained scenarios: IV Models for analyzing socio‐economic factors to improve policy recommendations

International crop-related research as conducted by the CGIAR uses crop modelingfor a variety of purposes. By linking crop models with economic models andapproaches, crop model outputs can be effectively used as inputs into socioeco-nomic modeling efforts for priority setting and policy advice using ex-ante impactassessment of technologies and scenario analysis. This requires interdisciplinarycollaboration and very often collaboration across a variety of research organizations.This study highlights the key topics, purposes, and approaches of socioeconomicanalysis within the CGIAR related to cropping systems. Although each CGIARcenter has a different mission, all CGIAR centers share a common strategy of strivingtoward a world free of hunger, poverty, and environmental degradation. This meansresearch is mostly focused toward resource-constrained smallholder farmers. Thereview covers global modeling efforts using the IMPACT model to farm householdbio-economic models for assessing the potential impact of new technologies onfarming systems and livelihoods. Although the CGIAR addresses all aspects of foodsystems, the focus of this review is on crop commodities and the economic analysislinked to crop-growth model results. This study, while not a comprehensive review,provides insights into the richness of the socioeconomic modeling endeavors withinthe CGIAR. The study highlights the need for interdisciplinary approaches to addressthe challenges this type of modeling faces

Modelling generalized firms' restructuring using inverse DEA

The key consideration for firms’ restructuring is improving their operational efficiencies. Market conditions often offer opportunities or generate threats that can be handled by restructuring scenarios through consolidation, to create synergy, or through split, to create reverse synergy. A generalized restructuring refers to a move in a business market where a homogeneous set of firms, a set of pre-restructuring decision making units (DMUs), proceed with a restructuring to produce a new set of post-restructuring entities in the same market to realize efficiency targets. This paper aims to develop a novel inverse Data Envelopment Analysis based methodology, called GInvDEA (Generalized Inverse DEA), for modeling the generalized restructuring. Moreover, the paper suggests a linear programming model that allows determining the lowest performance levels, measured by efficiency that can be achieved through a given generalized restructuring. An application in banking operations illustrates the theory developed in the paper

Carbenic nitrile imines: Properties and reactivity

Structures and properties of nitrile imines were investigated computationally at B3LYP and CCSD(T) levels. Whereas NBO analysis at the B3LYP DFT level invariably predicts a propargylic electronic structure, CCSD(T) calculations permit a clear distinction between propargylic, allenic, and carbenic structures. Nitrile imines with strong IR absorptions above ca. 2150 cm-1 have propargylic structures with a CN triple bond (RCNNSiMe 3 and R2BCNNBR2), and those with IR absorptions below ca. 2150 cm-1 are allenic (HCNNH, PhCNNH, and HCNNPh). Nitrile imines lacking significant cumulenic IR absorptions at 1900-2200 cm -1 are carbenic (R-(C:)-N=N-R′). Electronegative but lone pair-donating groups NR2, OR, and F stabilize the carbenic form of nitrile imines in the same way they stabilize "normal" singlet carbenes, including N-heterocyclic carbenes. NBO analyses at the CCSD(T) level confirm the classification into propargylic, allenic, and carbenic reactivity types. Carbenic nitrile imines are predicted to form azoketenes 21 with CO, to form [2+2] and [2+4] cycloadducts and borane adducts, and to cyclize to 1H-diazirenes of the type 24 in mildly exothermic reactions with activation energies in the range 29-38 kcal/mol. Such reactions will be readily accessible photochemically and thermally, e.g., under the conditions of matrix photolysis and flash vacuum thermolysis

Structural and functional insights into asymmetric enzymatic dehydration of alkenols

The asymmetric dehydration of alcohols is an important process for the direct synthesis of alkenes. We report the structure and substrate specificity of the bifunctional linalool dehydratase isomerase (LinD) from the bacterium Castellaniella defragrans that catalyzes in nature the hydration of β-myrcene to linalool and the subsequent isomerization to geraniol. Enzymatic kinetic resolutions of truncated and elongated aromatic and aliphatic tertiary alcohols (C5-C15) that contain a specific signature motif demonstrate the broad substrate specificity of LinD. The three-dimensional structure of LinD from Castellaniella defragrans revealed a pentamer with active sites at the protomer interfaces. Furthermore, the structure of LinD in complex with the product geraniol provides initial mechanistic insights into this bifunctional enzyme. Site-directed mutagenesis confirmed active site amino acid residues essential for its dehydration and isomerization activity. These structural and mechanistic insights facilitate the development of hydrating catalysts, enriching the toolbox for novel bond-forming biocatalysis