Counterfeit medicines: relevance, consequences and strategies to combat the global crisis

Counterfeiting of medicines, also known as “falsification” or “adulteration”, is the process in which the identity, origin, or history of genuine medicines are intentionally modified. Currently, counterfeit medicines are a global crisis that affects and is mostly caused by developing countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. These countries lack strict law enforcement against this practice and have low-income populations with medicinal needs. Lately, the crisis has escalated, impacting developed countries as well, e.g., the US and the EU, mainly via the Internet. Despite this extension, some current laws aim to control and minimize the crisis’ magnitude. Falsification of medicines maintains an illegitimate supply chain that is connected to the legitimate one, both of which are extremely complex, making such falsification difficult to control. Furthermore, political and economic causes are related to the crisis’ hasty growth, causing serious consequences for individuals and public health, as well as for the economy of different countries. Recently, organizations, technologies and initiatives have been created to overcome the situation. Nevertheless, the development of more effective measures that could aggregate all the existing strategies into a large functioning network could help prevent the acquisition of counterfeit medicines and create awareness among the general population

Spatio-temporal dynamics of maize yield water constraints under climate change in Spain

Many studies have analyzed the impact of climate change on crop productivity, but comparing the performance of water management systems has rarely been explored. Because water supply and crop demand in agro-systems may be affected by global climate change in shaping the spatial patterns of agricultural production, we should evaluate how and where irrigation practices are effective in mitigating climate change effects. Here we have constructed simple, general models, based on biological mechanisms and a theoretical framework, which could be useful in explaining and predicting crop productivity dynamics. We have studied maize in irrigated and rain-fed systems at a provincial scale, from 1996 to 2009 in Spain, one of the most prominent >hot-spots> in future climate change projections. Our new approach allowed us to: (1) evaluate new structural properties such as the stability of crop yield dynamics, (2) detect nonlinear responses to climate change (thresholds and discontinuities), challenging the usual linear way of thinking, and (3) examine spatial patterns of yield losses due to water constraints and identify clusters of provinces that have been negatively affected by warming. We have reduced the uncertainty associated with climate change impacts on maize productivity by improving the understanding of the relative contributions of individual factors and providing a better spatial comprehension of the key processes. We have identified water stress and water management systems as being key causes of the yield gap, and detected vulnerable regions where efforts in research and policy should be prioritized in order to increase maize productivity.R. Ferrero gratefully acknowledges receipt of a grant from the Fundación Carolina. J. L. Gonzalez-Andujar and R. Ferrero were supported by FEDER (Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional) and the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness funds (AGL2012-33736). R. Ferrero and M. Lima acknowledge financial support from Fondo Basal-CONICYT grant FB-0002. We are grateful to LINCGlobal (Laboratorio Internacional en Cambio Global) for their support.Peer Reviewe

Criação de um Programa de Reconhecimento e Participação nos Resultados em Instituições de Ensino Superior com base no BSC

As Instituições de Ensino Superior (IES), percebendo o acirramento da concorrência, reconhecem a importância de repensar sua forma de gestão, buscando uma visão mais competitiva e continuada, bem como instrumentos que mobilizem e motivem todos os colaboradores. Nesse ambiente, a tarefa de criar um sistema de reconhecimento e premiação que possibilite a equalização dos interesses dos funcionários com os interesses da organização, de forma clara e objetiva, com objetivo de elevar o desempenho organizacional, torna-se uma tarefa de grande complexidade. Assim, com o intuito de contribuir para a gestão estratégica dessas instituições, especificamente as pertencentes à Associação Catarinense das Fundações Educacionais (ACAFE), utilizou-se nesse estudo a ferramenta de gestão Balanced Scorecard (BSC) como peça essencial para a criação de um programa de reconhecimento e participação nos resultados. Foram apresentadas questões importantes que devem ser levadas em consideração para a implantação de um programa de reconhecimento e participação bem como a proposta de etapas para o mesmo fim

Modelando o BSC para as Universidades do Sistema ACAFE

As Instituições de Ensino Superior (IES), percebendo o acirramento da concorrência, reconhecem a importância de repensar sua forma de gestão, buscando uma visão mais competitiva e continuada. Assim, com o objetivo de contribuir para a gestão estratégica dessas instituições, especificamente as pertencentes ao sistema ACAFE, foi utilizada neste estudo a ferramenta de gestão Balanced Scorecard (BSC). Algumas etapas foram necessárias à sua adequação às universidades fundacionais catarinenses. Apresentaram-se e identificaram-se algumas características existentes no ambiente das universidades fundacionais catarinenses e suas peculiaridades em relação a outras organizações que não integram esse setor; realizaram-se os ajustes necessários à ferramenta Balanced Scorecard às universidades do sistema ACAFE; bem como a proposta da ferramenta auxiliar denominado mapa estratégico. Por último demonstrou-se a possibilidade de se desenvolver e utilizar o BSC acadêmico institucional como forma de integrar mais de um campus a gestão focada na estratégia

Active photonic crystals based on surface acoustic waves

An active photonic crystal (PC) based on the modulation of a one-dimensional cavity resonator by electrically-generated surface acoustic waves is described. The high nonthermal population of surface modes combined with the enhanced Brillouin scattering in the cavity increases the intensity of the scattered light to values comparable to the excitation intensity. This process is employed to switch and modulate light beams in PCs