Blockchain in Financial Intermediation and Beyond: What are the Main Barriers for Widespread Adoption?

Blockchain-enabled cryptocurrency instruments have gradually filtered into financial intermediation, disrupting traditional institutions. This paper discusses the benefits of blockchain to household welfare, focusing on financial intermediation services (FIS). Its main aim is to highlight points of incompatibility with current institutional frameworks and outlines the greatest barriers for its widespread adoption (i.e., regulatory, technological, and environmental). To support our discussion, we develop a stylized general equilibrium model with two competing FIS technologies (i.e., traditional and blockchain). We show that removing these barriers could displace traditional institutions with blockchain technology and raise welfare. Finally, we argue that the 2022 and 2023 cryptocurrency scandals and the ongoing calls for comprehensive, cross-country, institutional changes will be remembered as a turning point in terms of serious efforts to integrate this new technology and make it more mainstream

Space exploration as a propulsive industry in levelling up

In recent decades the importance of space exploration and its associated economy and industry have grown significantly. Beyond its scientific, technological, and engineering advantages space exploration has created significant direct and indirect socioeconomic benefits. Apart from economic growth, employment, and providing a fiscal contribution, these benefits include cultural, educational, environmental, and social benefits that can be termed community capitals. There are important distributional aspects to these benefits manifested in the way that the space sector is becoming a propulsive industry within the activity complex form of agglomeration economy. In regard to this potential impact on urban and regional economic development, it appears that the space industry can make a significant contribution to realising the policy objectives of levelling up in the United Kingdom (UK) and cohesion policy in the European Union (EU). The agency of this development is the evolution of industrial strategies and policies based upon the concept and practice of Industry 4.0 (I4.0) which evolves its space variant, Space 4.0. This article explores these possibilities from UK and EU perspectives to address the question of whether the space sector is becoming a key propulsive driver of regional policy in general and levelling up in particular

Periodontal Disease and Alzheimer’s: Insights from a Systematic Literature Network Analysis

Stefania Paladini - ORCID: 0000-0002-1526-3589 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1526-3589Evidence This study investigated the relationship between periodontal disease (PD) and Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) through a Systematic Literature Network Analysis (SLNA), combining bibliometric analysis with a Systematic Literature Review (SLR). Analyzing 328 documents from 2000 to 2023, we utilized the Bibliometrix R-package for multiple bibliometric analysis. The SLR primarily centered on the 47 most globally cited papers, highlighting influential research. Our study reveals a positive correlation between Periodontal Disease (PD) and Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), grounded in both biological plausibility and a comprehensive review of the literature, yet the exact causal relationship remains a subject of ongoing scientific investigation. We conducted a detailed analysis of the two main pathways by which PD could contribute to brain inflammation: (a) the Inflammatory Cascade, and (b) Microbial Involvement. The results of our SLNA emphasize the importance of oral health in reducing Alzheimer’s risk, suggesting that managing periodontal health could be an integral part of Alzheimer’s prevention and treatment strategies. The insights from this SLNA pave the way for future research and clinical practices, underscoring the necessity of interdisciplinary methods in both the investigation and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s. Furthermore, our study presents a prospective research roadmap to support ongoing advancement in this field.https://doi.org/10.14283/jpad.2024.79aheadofprintaheadofprin

Towards Supply Chain 5.0: Redesigning Supply Chains as Resilient, Sustainable, and Human-Centric Systems in a Post-pandemic World

From Springer Nature via Jisc Publications RouterHistory: received 2023-03-19, registration 2023-06-08, accepted 2023-06-08, epub 2023-07-29, online 2023-07-29, collection 2023-09Publication status: PublishedStefania Paladini - ORCID: 0000-0002-1526-3589 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1526-3589The purpose was to investigate the impact of the Industry 5.0 paradigm on the supply chain research field. Our study contributes to the conceptualization of supply chain 5.0, a term that has been receiving increased attention as supply chains adapt to the fifth industrial revolution. We conducted a systematic literature network analysis (SLNA) to examine the research landscape of Industry 5.0 supply chains. We used VOSViewer software and Bibliometrix R-package for multiple bibliometric analyses using 682 documents published between 2016 and 2022. We present a comprehensive framework of supply chain 5.0, including its key concepts, technologies, and trends. Additionally, this research offers a future research agenda to inspire and support further development in this field. We utilized three academic databases for bibliometric analyses: Dimension, Scopus and Lens. Additional databases could provide a wider research landscape and better field representation. We demonstrate how Industry 5.0 enables supply chain evaluation and optimization to assist companies in navigating disruptions without compromising competitiveness and profitability and provide a unique contribution to the field of supply chain 5.0 by exploring promising research areas and guiding the transition to this new paradigm for practitioners and scholars.pubpu

The Cost of (Un)regulation: Shrinking Earth’s Orbits and the Need for Sustainable Space Governance

Steph Paladini: ORCID: 0000-0002-1526-3589 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1526-3589Outer space is infinite, useable planetary orbits are not. This makes the Earth's orbit a unique case of an Area Beyond National Jurisdiction (ABNJ) complex to address, difficult to use in a sustainable and equitable way and almost intractable to regulate at an international level. As of 2023, we remain far from attaining a sustainable orbital environment, and future uses of the Earth's orbits for new satellites constellations appear now increasingly at risk. Adopting a probability-based empirical model to project the growth trajectory of objects in space, this article argues that the sector will cross a 'critical density' threshold within the upcoming years unless strong remedial actions to clear up the orbits are implemented and estimates the potential costs of active debris removal measures. Our findings suggest that orbital sustainability is unlikely to come from technology alone, no matter how advanced or ground-breaking. A long-term solution will necessarily require a radical rewriting of the outdated, often conflicting international regulatory framework, which contributed to creating this debris crisis in the first place, shrinking the Earth's orbit to (almost) the point of no return.pubpu

Role of serial ultrasound screening of venous thrombosis in oncologic children with central lines

Objective: Pediatric oncology patients are more likely to develop venous thromboembolic events related to central venous catheter (CVC). Study aim was to determine the incidence of catheter related thrombosis (CRT) in a cohort of pediatric oncology patients using vascular ultrasound (US). Methods: Consecutive children of a single cancer referral center, requiring medium to long term CVC implantation, were screened for CRT, using serial ultrasound exams. Measurements and main results: US examinations were taken 15, 30 and 90 days after CVC implantation. A total of 113 catheters were studied in 103 patients (median age 10.5 years old). Ultrasound screening was completed in 80.5% patients. Apart from three subjects, US investigations were well tolerated. Patients were followed for a median of 87 days. No symptomatic CRT was recorded throughout. Three cases of asymptomatic thrombosis were identified with early US screening; incidence of CRT events for 1000 catheter-days was 0.11. The presence of previous catheter-related infection and an history of one or more previous CVC placement were identified as risk factors. Conclusions: In our pediatric patients the incidence of CRT is low. Ultrasound monitoring is well tolerated and allows detecting asymptomatic CRT. Patients with previous CVC infection or insertion seem to have a higher risk of CRT (p =0.003 and p = 0.043 respectively). Keywords: Central venous catheters, Venous thrombosis, Vascular ultrasound, Vascular catheter infections, Childre

Anti-cancer activity of dose-fractioned mPE +/- bevacizumab regimen is paralleled by immune-modulation in advanced squamous NSLC patients

Background: Results from the BEVA2007 trial, suggest that the metronomic chemotherapy regimen with dose-fractioned cisplatin and oral etoposide (mPE) +/- bevacizumab, a monoclonal antibody to the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), shows anti-angiogenic and immunological effects and is a safe and active treatment for metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (mNSCLC) patients. We carried out a retrospective analysis aimed to evaluate the antitumor effects of this treatment in a subset of patients with squamous histology. Methods: Retrospective analysis was carried out in a subset of 31 patients with squamous histology enrolled in the study between September 2007 and September 2015. All of the patients received chemotherapy with cisplatin (30 mg/sqm, days 1-3q21) and oral etoposide (50 mg, days 1-15q21) (mPE) and 14 of them also received bevacizumab 5 mg/kg on the day 3q21 (mPEBev regimen). Results: This treatment showed a disease control rate of 71% with a mean progression free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) of 13.6 and 17 months respectively. After 4 treatment courses, 6 patients showing a remarkable tumor shrinkage, underwent to radical surgery, attaining a significant advantage in term of survival (P=0.048). Kaplan-Meier and log-rank test identified the longest survival in patients presenting low baseline levels in neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) (P=0.05), interleukin (IL) 17A (P=0.036), regulatory-T-cells (Tregs) (P=0.020), and activated CD83+ dendritic cells (DCs) (P=0.03). Conclusions: These results suggest that the mPE +/- bevacizumab regimen is feasible and should be tested in comparative trials in advanced squamous-NSCLC (sqNSCLC). Moreover, its immune-biological effects strongly suggest the investigation in sequential combinations with immune check-point inhibitors

Sustainable Economy and Emerging Markets

Steph Paladini: ORCID: 0000-0002-1526-3589 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1526-3589Item is not available in this repository.https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429325144pubpu