Civil economy as a path towards sustainability: An empirical investigation

Contemporary societies face a myriad of challenges that require the modification of patterns, ways of living, being and producing. Although climate change is one of the most glaring problems, it cannot be understood merely by environmental aspects. Many of these challenges are interrelated and have their roots in a set of crystallized structures that are obsolete, namely the economic ones. Contemporary capitalism has been proving its limitations and contribution to less fair, harmonious and sustainable societies. Evidence of this is the policy efforts that many organizations, such as the European Commission, are making to promote environmental transitions, the circular economy, and green innovations. This article argues that the concept of civil economy may be complementary to this green policy agenda for reflecting on current social challenges and emphasize the importance of cultural, environmental, spiritual and economic resources operating together. It pays attention to gift-giving as a form of civil economy, defining a framework inspired by positive sociology. The article uses the case study of "Los Portales", an intentional sustainable community located in Spain, with around 40 inhabitants and more than 40 years of existence. The study is of ethnographic character and based on in-depth interviews with experts on the economic governance of this community. The results show that the principles of the gift economy were crucial to the success and longevity of the community. They also suggest an agency-centred approach in which individuals should engage activities that promote personal happiness, collective happiness and prosperity.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Innovative and transition potential of intentional sustainable communities

The number of ecovillages – intentional sustainable communities – is showing signs of growth all over the world. These self-organized groups can be seen as agents of change that may contribute to the transition to a more sustainable environmental, social, economic and political paradigm. This article seeks to reflect on the ‘transitional potential’ of intentional sustainable communities as mechanisms that foster the development of social innovation practices. It is an exploratory study that debates the articulation between an empirical phenomenon, the existence of this type of communities, and a theoretical perspective, the study of transitions. This study is based on a systematic literature review to identify relevant analytical dimensions and suggests a conceptual model that provides comprehension of the phenomenon of intentional sustainable communities as a mechanism for social innovation and transformative change

Current status

Domino Liver transplant (DLT) is a strategy to address organ shortage and expand the liver donor pool for liver transplantation. Despite offering some unique technical challenges, DLT appears to be a safe and reasonable option to be considered for selected patients who would otherwise not benefit from liver transplantation. However, the benefit of expanding the donor pool must be balanced against the risk of disease transmission.In this review, we present where the DLT currently stands worldwide and our own experience with this procedure.publishersversionpublishe

Marine Operations with the SWORDFISH Autonomous Surface Vehicle

IEEE Robótica 2007 - 7th Conference on Mobile Robots and Competitions, Paderne, Portugal 2007This paper describes the design and development of the Swordfish Autonomous Surface Vehicle (ASV) system. The work focuses the sensors, actuators, communications and C4I of an unmanned vehicle for marine operations. SWORDFISH is an autonomous surface vehicle used as the central communications link between air, undersea, and terrestrial robotic vehicles of a network centric operation. It is used as a test bed platform for deployment and testing of advanced control and operational concepts for multi-vehicles systems. This new unmanned marine vehicle was done in the context of the PISCIS project. The PISCIS project concerns the development, test and evaluation of new vehicles and new concepts of operation for networked vehicle systems in oceanographic data collection. The PISCIS system includes two autonomous underwater vehicles, the Swordfish ASV, an acoustic navigation system, acoustic and radio communications and a distributed command and control system

Impact of Preoperative Chemotherapy Features on Patient Outcomes after Hepatectomy for Initially Unresectable Colorectal Cancer Liver Metastases: A LiverMetSurvey Analysis

Liver metastases; Liver resection; Preoperative chemotherapyMetástasis hepáticas; Resección hepática; Quimioterapia preoperatoriaMetàstasis hepàtiques; Resecció hepàtica; Quimioteràpia preoperatòriaBackground: Prognostic factors have been extensively reported after resection of colorectal liver metastases (CLM); however, specific analyses of the impact of preoperative systemic anticancer therapy (PO-SACT) features on outcomes is lacking. Methods: For this real-world evidence study, we used prospectively collected data within the international surgical LiverMetSurvey database from all patients with initially-irresectable CLM. The main outcome was Overall Survival (OS) after surgery. Disease-free (DFS) and hepatic-specific relapse-free survival (HS-RFS) were secondary outcomes. PO-SACT features included duration (cumulative number of cycles), choice of the cytotoxic backbone (oxaliplatin- or irinotecan-based), fluoropyrimidine (infusional or oral) and addition or not of targeted monoclonal antibodies (anti-EGFR or anti-VEGF). Results: A total of 2793 patients in the database had received PO-SACT for initially irresectable diseases. Short (<7 or <13 cycles in 1st or 2nd line) PO-SACT duration was independently associated with longer OS (HR: 0.85 p = 0.046), DFS (HR: 0.81; p = 0.016) and HS-RFS (HR: 0.80; p = 0.05). All other PO-SACT features yielded basically comparable results. Conclusions: In this international cohort, provided that PO-SACT allowed conversion to resectability in initially irresectable CLM, surgery performed as soon as technically feasible resulted in the best outcomes. When resection was achieved, our findings indicate that the choice of PO-SACT regimen had a marginal if any, impact on outcomes

Analytical validation and algorithm improvement of HepatoPredict kit to assess hepatocellular carcinoma prognosis before a liver transplantation

Funding Information: The authors wish to thank to the European Innovation Council for having partially financed this work with a grant under the EIC Accelerator scheme (Contract Nº946364). The authors also thank the patients, Neuralshift, and the pathology team from the Curry Cabral Hospital headed by António Figueiredo, with a special mention to Clara Rodrigues. Moreover, the authors particularly acknowledge the Biobank IRBLleida (PT20/00021) integrated in the Spanish National Biobanks Network and Xarxa de Bancs de Tumors de Catalunya sponsored by Pla Director d’Oncología Catalunya ( XBTC ), as well as the Biobank ISABIAL integrated in the Spanish National Biobanks Network and in the Valencia Biobanking Network for their collaboration. Funding Information: This work was supported by the EU EIC Innovation Council ( EIC accelerator grant GA No 946364). Funding Information: Samples: In this study, HCC samples preserved as FFPE tissue were used. FFPE HCC samples were acquired from four different suppliers: Biobank IRBLleida (PT20/00021), integrated in the Spanish National Biobanks Network and Xarxa de Bancs de Tumors de Catalunya (XBTC) sponsored by Pla Director d'Oncología de Catalunya; Biobank ISABIAL, integrated in the Spanish National Biobanks Network and in the Valencian Biobanking Network; and biorepositories from Amsbio (US) and Biotech (US). All samples were processed following standard operating procedures with the appropriate approval of the Ethical and Scientific Committees. Moreover, clinical samples from a retrospective clinical study approved by the ethics authorities and taking place in the Curry Cabral Hospital (Lisbon, Portugal), were also used. All HCC FFPE samples were acquired either sectioned with 3–5 μm thickness or as paraffin blocks that were then cut in 3–5 μm thick slices using a microtome (Leica SM2010R Sliding Microtome, Leica Biosystems) and mounted on a glass slide.This work was supported by the EU EIC Innovation Council (EIC accelerator grant GA No 946364).The authors wish to thank to the European Innovation Council for having partially financed this work with a grant under the EIC Accelerator scheme (Contract Nº946364). The authors also thank the patients, Neuralshift, and the pathology team from the Curry Cabral Hospital headed by António Figueiredo, with a special mention to Clara Rodrigues. Moreover, the authors particularly acknowledge the Biobank IRBLleida (PT20/00021) integrated in the Spanish National Biobanks Network and Xarxa de Bancs de Tumors de Catalunya sponsored by Pla Director d'Oncología Catalunya (XBTC), as well as the Biobank ISABIAL integrated in the Spanish National Biobanks Network and in the Valencia Biobanking Network for their collaboration. Publisher Copyright: © 2024 OphiomicsObjectives: To verify the analytical performance of the HepatoPredict kit, a novel tool developed to stratify Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC) patients according to their risk of relapse after a Liver Transplantation (LT). Methods: The HepatoPredict tool combines clinical variables and a gene expression signature in an ensemble of machine-learning algorithms to forecast the benefit of a LT in HCC patients. To ensure the accuracy and reliability of this method, extensive analytical validation was conducted to verify its specificity and robustness. The experiments were designed following the guidelines for multi-target genomic assays such as ISO201395-2019, MIQE, CLSI-MM16, CLSI-MM17, and CLSI-EP17-A. The validation process included reproducibility between operators and between RNA extractions and RT-qPCR runs, and interference of input RNA levels or varying reagent levels. A recently retrained version of the HepatoPredict algorithms was also tested. Results: The validation process demonstrated that the HepatoPredict kit met the required standards for robustness (p > 0.05), analytical specificity (inclusivity of 95 %), and sensitivity (LoB, LoD, linear range, and amplification efficiency between 90 and 110 %). The operator, equipment, input RNA, and reagents used had no significant effect on the HepatoPredict results. Additionally, the testing of a recently retrained version of the HepatoPredict algorithm, showed that this new version further improved the accuracy of the kit and performed better than existing clinical criteria in accurately identifying HCC patients who are more likely to benefit LT. Conclusions: Even with the introduced variations in molecular and clinical variables, the HepatoPredict kit's prognostic information remains consistent. It can accurately identify HCC patients who are more likely to benefit from a LT. Its robust performance also confirms that it can be easily integrated into standard diagnostic laboratories.publishersversionpublishe

Design and evaluation of a choreography-based virtual reality authoring tool for experiential learning in industrial training

The use of virtual reality (VR) for industrial training helps minimize risks and costs by allowing more frequent and varied use of experiential learning activities, leading to active and improved learning. However, creating VR training experiences is costly and time-consuming, requiring software development experts. Additionally, current authoring tools lack integration with existing data and are desktop-oriented, which detach the pedagogic process of creating the immersive experience from experiencing it in a situated context. In this article, we present a novel interactive approach for immersive authoring of VR-based experiential training by the trainers themselves, from inside the virtual environment and without the support of development experts. The design includes identifying interactable elements, such as 3-D models, equipment, tools, settings, and environment. The trainer also specifies by demonstration the actions to be performed by trainees, as a virtual choreography. During course execution, trainees’ activities are also registered as virtual choreographies and matched to those specified by the trainer. Thus, trainer and trainee are culturally situated within their area semantics and social discourse, rather than adopting concepts of the VR system for the learning content. We conducted a usability case study with professionals from an international wind energy company, using detailed models of wind turbines and real-world procedures. Trainers set up a training course using the immersive authoring tool, and trainees executed the course. The learning experience and usability were analyzed, and the training was certified by comparing real-world task completion between a user who had undergone virtual training and a user who did not.Manuscript received 25 June 2021; revised 30 November 2021 and 18 February 2022; accepted 2 March 2022. Date of publication 7 March 2022; date of current version 21 October 2022. This work was supported in part by the ERDF - European Regional Development Fund through the Operational Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalisation - COMPETE 2020 under the Portugal 2020 Partnership Agreement, in part by the Portuguese National Innovation Agency (ANI) under Project POCI-01-0247-FEDER038524, and in part by Portuguese funding agency, FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, under Project UIDB/50014/2020. An earlier version of this paper was presented in part at the 2021 IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D UserInterfaces[DOI: 10.1109/VRW52623.2021.00199].(Corresponding author: Fernando Cassola.) Fernando Cassola, Daniel Mendes, and Ant onio Coelho are with the INESC TEC, and Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, 4099-002 Porto, Portugal (e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]). Manuel Pinto and Hugo Paredes are with the INESC TEC and University of Tras-os-Montes e Alto Douro, 5000-801 Vila Real, Portugal (e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]). Leonel Morgado is with the INESC TEC and Universidade Aberta, 1250-100 Lisboa, Portugal (e-mail: [email protected]). Sara Costa, Luıs Anjos, David Marques, Filipe Rosa, Ana Maia, and Helga Tavares are with the Vestas Wind Systems, 2670-327 Loures, Portugal (email: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]). Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TLT.2022.3157065info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Neuromonitorização Intraoperatória Na Cirurgia Tiroideia – Um Salto Qualitativo?

&nbsp;Introduction: Identifying and preserving the recurrent laryngeal nerve is essential in thyroid surgery. Nerve Intraoperative Monitoring aids with this task and helps predict post-operative prognosis. Case Description: A 64-year-old male undergoes a Total Thyroidectomy with central and left lymphadenectomy for papillary thyroid cancer with intra-operative neuro-monitoring. Discussion: One of the most dreaded post-operative complications is bilateral recurrent nerve lesion. This can be prevented by using nerve intraoperative monitoring that allows mapping and detecting nerve lesion in real-time which, in turn, helps make surgical decisions such has completing the thyroidectomy. Conclusion: Although it doesn’t replace the surgeon’s expertise, nerve intra-operative monitoring contributes to safer surgical procedure.&nbsp;Introdução: A identificação e preservação da função do nervo laríngeo recorrente é essencial na cirurgia tiroideia. A neuro-monitorização intraoperatória auxilia nesta tarefa e prevê o prognóstico pós-cirúrgico. Descrição do caso: Homem de 64 anos é submetido a Tiroidectomia Total com linfadenectomia do compartimento central e lateral esquerdo por carcinoma papilar da tiróide, com recurso a neuromonitorização intraoperatória. Discussão: Uma das complicações pós-cirurgicas mais temidas é a lesão bilateral do nervo laríngeo recorrente. A sua ocorrência pode ser mitigada pela utilização de neuro-monitorização intraoperatória que permite localizar, mapear e avaliar a lesão em tempo real, auxiliando a tomada de decisões cirurgicas, nomeadamente a realização de tiroidectomia contra-lateral. Conclusão: Embora não substitua a expertise médico-cirurgica, a neuromonitorização contribui para uma prática cirúrgica mais segura

Body mass index as a predictor of the presence but not the severity of coronary artery disease evaluated by cardiac computed tomography

Background The relation between body mass index (BMI) and coronary artery disease (CAD) extension remains controversial. The aim of this study was to evaluate the correlation between BMI and CAD extension documented by coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA). Methods and results Prospective registry including 1706 consecutive stable patients that performed CCTA (dual source scanner) for the evaluation of CAD. The population was stratified by BMI: normal 530 (31.1\%), overweight 802 (47.0\%) and obesity 374 (21.9\%). BMI was significantly higher in patients with CAD (27.74.3vs 26.8 +/- 4.3kg/m(2), p5 segments with plaque (15.4\% patients). The prevalence of SIS >5 among the BMI classes was: 18.7\%, 13.7\% and 13.6\% for normal, overweight and obesity respectively (p values for the specific classes versus all other patients: 0.241, 0.450 and 0.663). Conclusions In this population of stable patients undergoing CCTA for suspected CAD, BMI was an independent predictor of its presence, but was not correlated with the coronary disease severity.publishersversionpublishe