Planetary health: an interdisciplinary perspective

This paper addresses the issue of planetary health under a multidisciplinary profile. It starts with defining the scope of planetary health, retracing its most salient historical points. It then reflects on the socio-political changes needed to achieve transformational change in society. The concepts of health literacy and environmental health literacy are explored as a useful means of disseminating and raising awareness about planetary health. Finally, a case study related to heart disease is explored to demonstrate why this approach is more necessary today than ever

Migrant population in local communities in Serbia

Publication “Migrant population in local communities in Serbia” is produced within the project “Opening a dialogue in local communities between citizens and migrants on mutual tolerance and non-violence”, which was realized from November 2013 to December 2014 by Citizens’ Association for Combat against Trafficking in Human Beings and all Forms of Violence against Women Atina, in partnership with AsylumProtection Centre, and with the support of the European Union and the Office for Cooperation with Civil Society of the Government of the Republic of Serbia. The goal of the initiative was to develop effective models of response and reduce xenophobia and prejudice in local communities in Serbia. A goal formulated in such a way can also be understood in the light of creating an adequate mechanism for prevention of human trafficking and other forms of exploitation and violence which migrant population in Serbia is potentially exposed to. Project activities were focused on strengthening capacities of civil society organisations and professionals whose engagement is directed towards providing support to, and protection of, migrants. A general situation in which the research took place is characterized by an increase in the number of migrants and asylum seekers, and by the obligation of Serbia to build an asylum system that would effectively enable admission, accommodation, exercise of rights to financial assistance, access to healthcare and education, etc. It certainly entails a coordinated approach of different sectors and different levels of government, including increased demands set in front of actors at the local level. At the same time, fundamental reform processes have been taking place for years now, in all the sectors relevant both to assistance and integration of the migrants - social welfare sector, healthcare, education, the police - and which, among other things, include gender sensitivity, orientation towards preventive programmes, approach based on human rights, as well as increased responsibilities of local governments when it comes to care for particularly vulnerable groups. The specific research goals are defined as follows: i) Understanding international standards of protection, in the fields of migration and asylum issues, relevant to national context; ii) Understanding national legislative and regulatory frameworks in the field of migrations, with a focus on standards in protection of the rights of migrant population; iii) Gaining an insight into the understanding of the migrations and vulnerability of migrant by professionals; iv) Gaining an insight into characteristics of the response of local systems to migrations and the status of migrants, as well as into the quality of cooperation between different actors; v) Understanding challenges and obstacles in the implementation of existing regulations and in exercising the rights of migrants, and particularly vulnerable groups of migrants, in local communities, with a special focus on attitudes towards migrants; vi) Formulating recommendations for improvement of the response to the needs of migrants. As the local context in which migrants interact with citizens has not been a subject of special studies so far, it was particularly important to combine different sources of qualitative and, to a lesser extent, quantitative data. Thus, responding to the first specific goal we used primary documents of international and national system which regulate the area of migration and asylum. In answer to other specific research goals, the analysis is primarily made on the basis of data obtained from focus-group interviews with representatives of different systems that have the authority to provide assistance, or work on measures of integration of migrant population at the local level. Their insights - primary data obtained from interviews, were combined with the data provided by state agencies and institutions

Revealing the Supply Chain 4.0 Potential within the European Automotive Industry

With the rapid advancements in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and the widespread enthusiasm of both theoreticians and practitioners, the broader transition to Industry 4.0 (I4.0) in major industries appears imminent. This empirical study analyzes business data from 1140 automotive companies operating in Europe, utilizing various business intelligence platforms and employing decision tree analytics to establish connections between enablers, drivers, company size, and financial resources. The goal is to identify persistent barriers hindering the rational transition to Industry 4.0. The findings reveal an uneven transformation within the industry nexus. While larger companies possess the financial means to allocate collective intelligence, technical resources, and drive necessary for fulfilling I4.0 requirements, smaller members of the nexus lag behind despite their enthusiasm and intent. This imbalanced evolution poses a threat to the comprehensive transformation required for realizing all the benefits of Industry 4.0 within the sector. The primary discovery indicates that small to medium-sized enterprises do not exhibit the same rates of Industry 4.0 adoption, a lag highly correlated with their available financial and human resources for digital transition. The decision tree proposed in this study offers guidelines for achieving an Industry 4.0-compliant nexus. Given its diversity and substantial global impact, the case study from the automotive industry proves intriguing and may later be generalized to other sectors. The study’s outcome could empower engineering managers and researchers to implement, execute, and assess the impact of digital strategies based on the financial capabilities of industrial institutions

As imagens da população negra nos ivros didádicos de geografia

TCC(graduação) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina. Centro de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas. GeografiaA sociedade brasileira é composta por diferentes grupos étnicos, repleta de uma diversidade no que tange a cultura destes povos, no entanto a população negra tem sido excluída dos espaços institucionais, por questões históricas e políticas. No campo educacional são muitos os fatores que reforçam esta exclusão, a desigualdade social e racial, a manutenção de um currículo pautado em valores eurocêntricos, o racismo institucional e a falsa ideia de uma democracia racial. O racismo fortalece estereótipos apresentados nos materiais didáticos. Diante disso, o objetivo deste trabalho é analisar as imagens da população negra nos livros didáticos de geografia, de modo que foram selecionadas duas coleções de livros didáticos (Expedições Geográficas e Território e Sociedade no Mundo Globalizado). Após esta escolha foram criadas quatro categorias: Vulnerabilidade socioeconômica, Neutralidade, Valorização e Outros. Na sequência as imagens da população negra presentes nas coleções foram selecionadas, categorizadas e analisadas à luz da Lei 10.639/03, do Plano Nacional do Livro Didático e dos autores Douglas Kellner e Ivaine Tonini. Em um total de 57 figuras analisadas, identificou-se 33 na categoria Vulnerabilidade socioeconômica, 5 na categoria Neutralidade, 12 na categoria Outros e 7 na categoria Valorização. Diante dos resultados obtidos, verificou-se que as imagens da população negra estão inseridas majoritariamente na categoria Vulnerabilidade socioeconômica, de forma a perpetuar estereótipos negativos sobre esta parcela da população

Identification of G-quadruplex DNA/RNA binders: Structure-based virtual screening and biophysical characterization

Background Recent findings demonstrated that, in mammalian cells, telomere DNA (Tel) is transcribed into telomeric repeat-containing RNA (TERRA), which is involved in fundamental biological processes, thus representing a promising anticancer target. For this reason, the discovery of dual (as well as selective) Tel/TERRA G-quadruplex (G4) binders could represent an innovative strategy to enhance telomerase inhibition. Methods Initially, docking simulations of known Tel and TERRA active ligands were performed on the 3D coordinates of bimolecular G4 Tel DNA (Tel2) and TERRA (TERRA2). Structure-based pharmacophore models were generated on the best complexes and employed for the virtual screening of ~ 257,000 natural compounds. The 20 best candidates were submitted to biophysical assays, which included circular dichroism and mass spectrometry at different K+ concentrations. Results Three hits were here identified and characterized by biophysical assays. Compound 7 acts as dual Tel2/TERRA2 G4-ligand at physiological KCl concentration, while hits 15 and 17 show preferential thermal stabilization for Tel2 DNA. The different molecular recognition against the two targets was also discussed. Conclusions Our successful results pave the way to further lead optimization to achieve both increased selectivity and stabilizing effect against TERRA and Tel DNA G4s. General significance The current study combines for the first time molecular modelling and biophysical assays applied to bimolecular DNA and RNA G4s, leading to the identification of innovative ligand chemical scaffolds with a promising anticancer profile. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled "G-quadruplex" Guest Editor: Dr. Concetta Giancola and Dr. Daniela Montesarchio

Spatializing Urban Forests as Nature-based Solutions: a methodological proposal

The Fifth Session of the UNEA-5 defines Nature-based Solutions (NbS) as “actions to protect, conserve, restore, sustainably use and manage natural or modified terrestrial, freshwater, coastal and marine ecosystems, which address social, economic and environmental challenges effectively and adaptively, while simultaneously providing human well-being, ecosystem services and resilience and biodiversity benefits”. A large number of the EU HORIZON 2020 research program projects include the implementation of NbS in urban settings. The proGIreg project implemented several NbS for urban regeneration with and for citizens in its Living Lab in the city of Turin (Italy), among others. Focusing on the NbS of urban forestry, this paper addresses the following question: where can NbS be implemented within the city, in order to maximize their social impact? To achieve this goal, by identifying neighborhoods in need of NbS implementation, the 3–30-300 rule proposed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) was adopted and implemented, taking greater account of environmental and social characteristics. The paper also proposes an index to identify neighborhoods of the city that could have precedence in the implementation of NbS. The results highlight 10 neighborhoods where there is a high need of NbS implementation

UninaStudents @ SardiStance: Stance Detection in Italian Tweets - Task A

This document describes a classification system for the SardiStance task at EVALITA 2020. The task consists in classifying the stance of the author of a series of tweets towards a specific discussion topic. The resulting system was specifically developed by the authors as final project for the Natural Language Processing class of the Master in Computer Science at University of Naples Federico II. The proposed system is based on an SVM classifier with a radial basis function as kernel making use of features like 2 char-grams, unigram hashtag and Afinn weight computed on automatic translated tweets. The results are promising in that the system performances are on average higher than that of the baseline proposed by the task organizers.Questo documento descrive un sistema di classificazione per il task SardiStance di EVALITA 2020. Il task consiste nel classificare la posizione dell’autore di una serie di tweets nei confronti di uno specifico topic di discussione. Il sistema risultante è stato specificamente sviluppato dagli autori come progetto finale per il corso di Elaborazione del Linguaggio Naturale nell’ambito del corso di laurea magistrale in Informatica presso l’università degli studi di Napoli Federico II. Il sistema qui proposto si basa su un classificatore SVM con una funzione radiale di base come kernel facendo uso di features come 2 char-grams, unigram hashtag e l’Afinn weight calcolato sui tweet tradotti in automatico. I risultati sono promettenti in quanto le performance sono in media superiori rispetto a quelle della baseline proposta dagli organizzatori del task

Design and pharmacological evaluation of Ibuprofen amides derivatives as dual FAAH/COX inhibitors

Fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) is a serine hydrolase enzyme responsible of the hydrolytic degradation of N-acylethanolamine endocannabinoids, such as the Arachidonoylethanolamide (anandamide, AEA), which it has been shown to alleviate pain and inflammation (1). In particular, the anti-nociceptive and anti-inflammatory effects of AEA could be enhanced by the simultaneous block of FAAH and COX enzymes (2). For this reason, several studies have been carried out in order to develop new FAAH/COX inhibitors (2). In 1997 it was reported that the NSAID ibuprofen inhibited FAAH, although with a modest potency (3), and successively the first dual inibhitor, the amide derivative of ibuprofen with a 2-amino-3-methylpyridine side chain (Ibu-AM5) was reported (4). -5). Benzylamides and piperazinoamides analogs of Ibuprofen have been also designed as less potent FAAH inhibitors than Ibu-AM5 (5). Here, I discuss the computational studies and the structure–activity relationships leading to the design, of novel Ibuprofen amide derivatives with a higher inhibition potency of FAAH and COX, which represent novel powerful anti-nociceptive agents