Virtual Special Issue on Responsible Innovation in Times of Crisis

The social and economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on humanity is already devastating. The pandemic demands responsibility from companies to step up for the service of society. Companies must show their commitment not only to shareholders but also to all of their stakeholders, while also putting their resources and expertise at the service of governments and the entire society. Firm responsible innovation is a positive impactful alternative to combat Covid-19. This Virtual Special Issue presents a collection of recent articles on responsible innovation —innovation oriented towards avoiding harm, doing good and developing responsible governance that involves establishing institutions, structures, and procedures to facilitate innovation (Voegtlin and Scherer, 2017)— connected to situations of crisis. We hope that these research works can help understand the business responsibilities in the current 2020 global Covid-19 pandemic even though this crisis is unprecedented and is demanding of much faster action to save lives. Briefly summarizing this set of articles covers the role of business in tackling grand societal challenges through innovation (Candi et al., 2019) and civic engagement (Skarmeas et al., 2019), the role of post-disaster business communities (Dinger et al., 2019), and innovation in multi-stakeholder settings (Rühli et al., 2017). This Virtual Special Issue also wants to serve as an action call to business ethics researchers to study how such global crisis is affecting the way businesses reorient their responsibilities, embark in cross-sector collaborations, and develop rapid responsible innovation to fight Covid-19

Companies vs Coronavirus: A Call for Rapid Responsible Innovation

This note is both a call for immediate action and hopefully also inspiration for companies to act against the COVID-19/Coronavirus outbreak in the form of rapid responsible innovation — innovation developed in a short period of time in a state of emergency with the hope of protecting people and saving lives. The current global pandemic has caught the entire world off guard and driven companies to step up in service of society. Companies now have the potential to show their commitment not only to shareholders but also to all their stakeholders

The United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals: Pros and Cons for Managers of Multinationals

The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are becoming a crucial mechanism for coordinating governments' efforts to address global challenges. However, their implementation by managers is challenging. In this article, we offer an overview of the pros and cons of the SDGs as mechanisms for managers of multinationals to help contribute to sustainable development. On the pro side, the SDGs are comprehensive and actionable. On the con side, they are vague, complex and may lend themselves to "rainbow-washing." We provide suggestions for managers to help them respond to these challenges by avoiding cherry-picking SDGs, using the SDGs to assess sustainability, and pursuing SDG projects via partnerships

Dense optical flow estimation in colonoscopy images using an unsupervised learning approach

[Resumen] La colonoscopia es la técnica de referencia en la detección del cáncer colorrectal. Sin embargo, los métodos asistidos por ordenador no se usan mucho en estos procedimientos. Este trabajo se enmarca dentro del proyecto EndoMapper, que tiene como objetivo crear reconstrucciones del colon que puedan ser utilizadas para ayudar a los médicos o para llevar a cabo cirugía robotizada. La asociación de datos es un elemento clave en estos sistemas, realizando la asociación entre píxeles de la imagen para permitir posteriores reconstrucciones 3D. En este trabajo, evaluamos un método de estimación de flujo óptico denso sobre imágenes de colonoscopia, adaptándolo al dominio del colon mediante aprendizaje no supervisado. Diseñamos un conjunto de datos para training, validation y test a partir de las secuencias reales de colonoscopia del conjunto de datos de Endomapper. El modelo se ha re-entrenado obteniendo una versión adaptada al dominio del colon. La validación experimental muestra cómo el modelo entrenado puede estimar el flujo de manera robusta bajo cambios de iluminación. También muestra una capacidad excepcional para estimar el flujo entre imágenes de colonoscopia muy separadas con grandes rotaciones.[Abstract] Colonoscopy is the gold standard in colorectal cancer screening. However, computer-assisted interventional methods are not widely used in these procedures. The Endomapper project, in which this work is embedded, aims to create reconstructions of the colon that can be used to assist doctors or for robotic surgery. Data association is a key element in these systems, performing the association between image pixels to enable subsequent 3D reconstructions. In this work, we evaluated a dense optical flow method on colonoscopy images, adapting it to the colon domain by using unsupervised learning. We built a dataset for training, validation and test from the real colonoscopy sequences of the Endomapper dataset. The model has been re-trained obtaining a version adapted to the colon domain. Experimental validation shows how the trained model is able to estimate flow robustly under illumination changes. It also shows an exceptional ability to estimate flow between widely separated colonoscopy images with large rotations.Ministerio de Educación y Formación Profesional; 22CO1/006926Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación; PID2021-127685NB-I00Gobierno de Aragón; DGA_T45-17

Effect of zinc on oropharyngeal mucositis in children with acute leukemia undergoing chemotherapy

Oropharyngeal mucositis (OM) is one of the main side-effects of oncological therapy. There is no treatment to prevent its occurrence, but some zinc-based therapies have been proven to help in decreasing its intensity. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of zinc in OM in children with acute leukemia in the early stages of oncological treatment. This quasi-experimental study evaluated OM in 2 groups (control group: conventional hospital management, and experimental group: administration of 50 mg of zinc gluconate daily plus conventional hospital management). OM severity was recorded at a two-month follow-up. Forty-nine patients (26 in the control group and 23 in the experimental group) were included. The mean age of the patients was 11.1 ± 2.7 years; 65.3% had a diagnosis of pre-B acute lymphoblastic leukemia. The incidences of OM in the control group and the experimental group were 46.2% and 26.1%, respectively, but the difference was not significant. Based on a negative binomial regression model, females had, on average, 1.5 more days with OM (p = 0.002), and patients assigned to the experimental group had, on average, 2 less days with OM than the control group (p = 0.001). The pain score was higher in the control group (p = 0.0009), as was the mean score on the WHO scale (p = 0.0012). Zinc facilitated a reduction in the severity and duration of OM; further studies focusing on children are needed to confirm the effects of this trace element

Insights from Operando and Identical Location (IL) Techniques on the Activation of Electrocatalysts for the Conversion of CO2: A Mini-Review

In this mini-review we compare two prototypical metal foam electrocatalysts applied to the transformation of CO2 into value-added products (e.g. alcohols on Cu foams, formate on Bi foams). A substantial improvement in the catalyst performance is typically achieved through thermal annealing in air of the as-deposited foam materials, followed by the electro-reduction of the pre-formed oxidic precursors prior or during the actual CO2 electrolysis. Utilizing highly insightful and sensitive complementary operando analytical techniques (XAS, XRD, and Raman spectroscopy) we demonstrate that this catalyst pre-activation process is entirely accomplished in case of the oxidized Cu foams prior to the formation of hydrocarbons and alcohols from the CO2. The actually active catalyst is therefore the metallic Cu derived from the precursor by means of its oxide electroreduction. Conversely, in their oxidic form, the Cu-based foam catalysts are completely inactive towards the CO2 reduction reaction (denoted ec-CO2RR). Oxidized Bi foams can be regarded as an excellent counter example to the above-mentioned Cu case as both metallic and the thermally derived oxidic Bi foams are highly active towards ec-CO2RR (formate production). Indeed, operando Raman spectroscopy reveals that CO2 electrolysis occurs upon its embedment into the oxidic Bi2O3 foam precursor, which itself undergoes partial transformation into an active sub-carbonate phase. The potential-dependent transition of sub-carbonate/oxides into the corresponding metallic Bi foam dictates the characteristic changes of the ec-CO2RR pathway. Identical location (IL) microscopic inspection of the catalyst materials, e.g. by means of scanning electron microscopy, demonstrates substantial morphological alterations on the nm length scale on the material surface as consequence of the sub-carbonate formation and the potential-driven oxide reduction into the metallic Bi foam. The foam morphology on a mesoscopic length scale (macroporosity) remains, by contrast, fully unaffected by these phase transitions

Implementing the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals in international business

Building on the concept of externalities, we propose an explanation of how multinationals can contribute to the enactment of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals as part of their ordinary investments. First, we suggest grouping the 17 Sustainable Development Goals into six categories based on whether they increase positive externalities – knowledge, wealth, or health – or reduce negative externalities – the overuse of natural resources, harm to social cohesion, or overconsumption. Second, we propose placing these categories within an extended value chain to facilitate their implementation. Third, we argue that multinationals’ internal investments in host-country subsidiaries to improve their competitiveness contribute to addressing externalities in host-country communities, while external investments in host communities to solve underdevelopment generate competitiveness externalities on host-country subsidiaries

Os efeitos da idade e do sexo no nível de ansiedade de nadadores de águas abertas

Objetivo: O presente estudo teve como objetivo investigar a ansiedade pré-competitiva em nadadores de águas abertas e analisar se a idade e o sexo alteram os níveis de ansiedade pré-competitiva. Metodologia: Para isso, o estudo contou com a participação voluntária de 129 nadadores com idade entre 14 e 49 anos de idade, de ambos os sexos, todos participantes de competições de águas abertas. Os participantes responderam um questionário. O questionário adotado foi o CSAI-2R (Competitive State Anxiety Inventory – 2r, versão reduzida). Resultados e discussão: Os resultados demonstraram que a autoconfiança apresentou valores elevados para todos os grupos amostrais e que a idade e o sexo não são fatores determinantes para os resultados. Além disso, foi encontrada uma correlação forte entre a subescala somática e a cognitiva, corroborando a teoria Multidimensional da ansiedade, na qual diz que quando a autoconfiança apresenta escores elevados, a ansiedade é baixa. Conclusão: Diante disso, os resultados mostraram que independentemente da idade e do sexo, os nadadores de águas abertas apresentam valores elevados de autoconfiança, o que influencia os escores baixos de ansiedade cognitiva e somática

MARCADORES DE COESÃO DE GRUPO NA GINÁSTICA ARTÍSTICA: EXISTEM DIFERENÇAS ENTRE RAPAZES E MOÇAS?

O presente estudo teve o objetivo de investigar a influência do gênero nos níveis de coesão de grupo de atletas de esportes individuais. A amostra do estudo foi composta por conveniência, com a participação de 19 atletas de ginástica artística (esporte individual), com média de idade de 12,74 ± 1,33 anos, todos de uma mesma equipe, divididos em dois grupos: homens e mulheres. Os ginastas responderam ao Questionário de Ambiente de Grupo – QEG. Os resultados de comparação entre homens e mulheres demonstraram que os ginastas apresentaram maiores escores para duas dimensões do instrumento: integração no grupo-tarefa (GI-T) e atração individual para o grupo-social (AI-S), quando comparados às mulheres. Nas análises intragrupo, homens apresentaram elevados escores para três dimensões (GI-T, AI-T - atração individual no grupo-tarefa - e AI-S), ou seja, as dimensões relacionadas à tarefa tiveram maior influência na coesão. Em relação as mulheres, não foram verificadas diferenças significantes entre as dimensões, com todas dimensões influenciando os níveis de coesão. Pode-se concluir que os homens apresentaram maior coesão em duas dimensões do QEG (GI-T e AI-S), quando comparados às mulheres, mas que ambos os grupos apresentaram bons índices de coesão de grupo, pois os escores de todas dimensões foram superiores a cinco

Dinamismo da subjetividade: interrelações entre o envelhecer e a personalidade

The present study aimed to compile relevant information about personality traits and coping with adversities resulting from the aging process. It consisted of an exploratory narrative review research. Works published from 2014 onwards were included in PubMed and Scielo databases, using Boolean descriptors the terms: “Aging” AND “Personality”. The findings demonstrate that, as intrinsic dispositions, personality traits influence the attribution of unique meanings and values to the aging process. As well as, they influence behaviors with the function of supplying the needs related to the personality configuration. The relevance of investigating other possible relationships between the variables presented and possible implications in everyday experiences is highlighted. It is noted that emotional stability can play a protective or risk role for the elderly in terms of coping with adversities and promoting mental health.El presente estudio tuvo como objetivo recopilar información relevante sobre los rasgos de personalidad y el afrontamiento de las adversidades derivadas del proceso de envejecimiento. Consistió en una investigación de revisión narrativa exploratoria. Los trabajos publicados a partir de 2014 se incluyeron en las bases de datos PubMed y Scielo, utilizando como descriptores booleanos los términos: “Envejecimiento” Y “Personalidad”. Los hallazgos demuestran que, como disposiciones intrínsecas, los rasgos de personalidad influyen en la atribución de significados y valores únicos al proceso de envejecimiento. Así como, influyen en los comportamientos con la función de suplir las necesidades relacionadas con la configuración de la personalidad. Se destaca la relevancia de investigar otras posibles relaciones entre las variables presentadas y posibles implicaciones en las experiencias cotidianas. Se advierte que la estabilidad emocional puede jugar un papel protector o de riesgo para el anciano en cuanto al enfrentamiento de las adversidades y la promoción de la salud mental.O presente estudo objetivou compilar informações relevantes acerca dos traços de personalidade e o enfrentamento das adversidades em decorrência do processo de envelhecer. Consistiu em uma pesquisa exploratória de revisão narrativa. Foram incluídas obras publicadas a partir do ano de 2014 nos bancos de dados PubMed e Scielo, utilizando-se descritores booleanos os termos: “Aging” AND “Personality”. Os achados demonstram que, enquanto disposições intrínsecas, os traços de personalidade influenciam na atribuição de significados e valores singulares ao processo de envelhecer. Assim como, influenciam comportamentos com a função de suprir as necessidades relacionadas com a configuração da personalidade. Salienta-se a relevância de investigar outras possíveis relações entre as variáveis apresentadas e possíveis implicações em vivências cotidianas. Nota-se que a estabilidade emocional pode exercer função protetiva ou de risco à pessoa idosa no que tange ao enfrentamento das adversidades e promoção da saúde mental