R&D and innovation project selection: can optimization methods be adequate?

This article proposes a comprehensive framework for R&D and innovation project selection under uncertainty and subject to real-world constraints applicable to the Brazilian electricity sector, using a combination of integer programming formulation and a PROMETHEE-based method. The objective is to contribute to this domain by offering an approach suitable for the challenges of this sector, but also applicable to other situations involving R&D and innovation investments under similar conditions. The manuscript presents applications using real data from an electricity company. It also compares the proposed method with similar approaches found in the literature such as PROMETHEE II and V. The application revealed the best performance of the proposed framework in dealing with the sector's regulatory constraints, which emphasize the companies' accomplishment with R&D and innovation expenditures obligations. In this way, although R&D and innovation project selection is not a typical case of optimization, under some particular regional, sector-based or organization boundaries this can be a better solution. (C) 2015 Published by Elsevier B.V.This article proposes a comprehensive framework for R&D and innovation project selection under uncertainty and subject to real-world constraints applicable to the Brazilian electricity sector, using a combination of integer programming formulation and a P55613621sem informaçãosem informaçã

Padrão tecnológico da agricultura brasileira

The evolution and characteristics of the most general technological standards of Brazilian agriculture are identified and discussed: colonial technology or agro-exporting, agro-exporting with technicalscientific information and multisectoral. In order to confirm this latter standard, facts are presented such as the construction (incomplete) of an industrial sector of production of goods for agriculture, the importance of state planning, the roles of the production industry of inputs and of agroindustrial processors, besides the increased efficiency of the structure of agricultural research. It is pointed out that non-occurence, as would be expected, of substancial and more profound internai social changes, is due to the fact that the most creative sectors of the modernization process — that of research, of development, and that of the project of the manufacturing process, do not yet represent a local phenomenon.Identifica-se e discute-se a evolução e as características dos padrões tecnológicos mais gerais da agricultura brasileira: o tecnológico colonial ou agroexportador, o agroexportador com informações técnico- científicas e o multissetorial. Para a afirmação desse último padrão são apontados fatos como a construção (incompleta) de um setor industrial de bens de produção para a agricultura, a importância do planejamento estatal, os papéis da indústria produtora de insumos e das agroindústrias processadoras, além da ampliação da estrutura de pesquisa agropecuária. É indicado que a não ocorrência, como seria de se esperar, das grandes e mais profundas mudanças sociais internas se liga ao fato de os setores mais criativos do processo de modernização — o de pesquisa, o de desenvolvimento e o de projeto do processo de fabricação — não se constituírem ainda num fenômeno local

Gestão da Inovação Tecnológica nas Organizações: Proposta de um Modelo Teórico-Conceitual Aplicável a Empresas do Setor Elétrico Brasileiro

A gestão da inovação tecnológica objetiva o ordenamento da inovação na ambiência organizacional, permitindo à empresa influenciar seus problemas e resultados. Em especial, torna-se relevante tal gestão mediante a existência de redes de P,D&I externas à empresa principal, o que configura um formato de inovação aberta. Na inovação aberta, as empresas podem compartilhar riscos, custos (de desenvolvimento e transação) e resultados econômico-financeiros com os parceiros da rede. Este artigo discute seis modelos de gestão da inovação presentes na literatura e propõe um modelo conceitual composto por fatores determinantes, processos e ferramentas, tendo o aprendizado como ação transversal. Ainda, o trabalho em tela aplica esse modelo à realidade de quatro empresas do setor elétrico brasileiro, selecionadas devido à sua relevância setorial. Por fim, argumenta que falta às empresas generalizarem a prática de comercialização e realizarem a avaliação de resultados ex-post das atividades de P,D&I para melhor sistematizarem o aprendizado

Diretriz da Sociedade Brasileira de Cardiologia sobre Diagnóstico e Tratamento de Pacientes com Cardiomiopatia da Doença de Chagas

This guideline aimed to update the concepts and formulate the standards of conduct and scientific evidence that support them, regarding the diagnosis and treatment of the Cardiomyopathy of Chagas disease, with special emphasis on the rationality base that supported it.  Chagas disease in the 21st century maintains an epidemiological pattern of endemicity in 21 Latin American countries. Researchers and managers from endemic and non-endemic countries point to the need to adopt comprehensive public health policies to effectively control the interhuman transmission of T. cruzi infection, and to obtain an optimized level of care for already infected individuals, focusing on diagnostic and therapeutic opportunistic opportunities.   Pathogenic and pathophysiological mechanisms of the Cardiomyopathy of Chagas disease were revisited after in-depth updating and the notion that necrosis and fibrosis are stimulated by tissue parasitic persistence and adverse immune reaction, as fundamental mechanisms, assisted by autonomic and microvascular disorders, was well established. Some of them have recently formed potential targets of therapies.  The natural history of the acute and chronic phases was reviewed, with enhancement for oral transmission, indeterminate form and chronic syndromes. Recent meta-analyses of observational studies have estimated the risk of evolution from acute and indeterminate forms and mortality after chronic cardiomyopathy. Therapeutic approaches applicable to individuals with Indeterminate form of Chagas disease were specifically addressed. All methods to detect structural and/or functional alterations with various cardiac imaging techniques were also reviewed, with recommendations for use in various clinical scenarios. Mortality risk stratification based on the Rassi score, with recent studies of its application, was complemented by methods that detect myocardial fibrosis.  The current methodology for etiological diagnosis and the consequent implications of trypanonomic treatment deserved a comprehensive and in-depth approach. Also the treatment of patients at risk or with heart failure, arrhythmias and thromboembolic events, based on pharmacological and complementary resources, received special attention. Additional chapters supported the conducts applicable to several special contexts, including t. cruzi/HIV co-infection, risk during surgeries, in pregnant women, in the reactivation of infection after heart transplantation, and others.     Finally, two chapters of great social significance, addressing the structuring of specialized services to care for individuals with the Cardiomyopathy of Chagas disease, and reviewing the concepts of severe heart disease and its medical-labor implications completed this guideline.Esta diretriz teve como objetivo principal atualizar os conceitos e formular as normas de conduta e evidências científicas que as suportam, quanto ao diagnóstico e tratamento da CDC, com especial ênfase na base de racionalidade que a embasou. A DC no século XXI mantém padrão epidemiológico de endemicidade em 21 países da América Latina. Investigadores e gestores de países endêmicos e não endêmicos indigitam a necessidade de se adotarem políticas abrangentes, de saúde pública, para controle eficaz da transmissão inter-humanos da infecção pelo T. cruzi, e obter-se nível otimizado de atendimento aos indivíduos já infectados, com foco em oportunização diagnóstica e terapêutica. Mecanismos patogênicos e fisiopatológicos da CDC foram revisitados após atualização aprofundada e ficou bem consolidada a noção de que necrose e fibrose sejam estimuladas pela persistência parasitária tissular e reação imune adversa, como mecanismos fundamentais, coadjuvados por distúrbios autonômicos e microvasculares. Alguns deles recentemente constituíram alvos potenciais de terapêuticas. A história natural das fases aguda e crônica foi revista, com realce para a transmissão oral, a forma indeterminada e as síndromes crônicas. Metanálises recentes de estudos observacionais estimaram o risco de evolução a partir das formas aguda e indeterminada e de mortalidade após instalação da cardiomiopatia crônica. Condutas terapêuticas aplicáveis aos indivíduos com a FIDC foram abordadas especificamente. Todos os métodos para detectar alterações estruturais e/ou funcionais com variadas técnicas de imageamento cardíaco também foram revisados, com recomendações de uso nos vários cenários clínicos. Estratificação de risco de mortalidade fundamentada no escore de Rassi, com estudos recentes de sua aplicação, foi complementada por métodos que detectam fibrose miocárdica. A metodologia atual para diagnóstico etiológico e as consequentes implicações do tratamento tripanossomicida mereceram enfoque abrangente e aprofundado. Também o tratamento de pacientes em risco ou com insuficiência cardíaca, arritmias e eventos tromboembólicos, baseado em recursos farmacológicos e complementares, recebeu especial atenção. Capítulos suplementares subsidiaram as condutas aplicáveis a diversos contextos especiais, entre eles o da co-infecção por T. cruzi/HIV, risco durante cirurgias, em grávidas, na reativação da infecção após transplante cardíacos, e outros.    Por fim, dois capítulos de grande significado social, abordando a estruturação de serviços especializados para atendimento aos indivíduos com a CDC, e revisando os conceitos de cardiopatia grave e suas implicações médico-trabalhistas completaram esta diretriz.&nbsp

Photography-based taxonomy is inadequate, unnecessary, and potentially harmful for biological sciences

The question whether taxonomic descriptions naming new animal species without type specimen(s) deposited in collections should be accepted for publication by scientific journals and allowed by the Code has already been discussed in Zootaxa (Dubois & Nemésio 2007; Donegan 2008, 2009; Nemésio 2009a–b; Dubois 2009; Gentile & Snell 2009; Minelli 2009; Cianferoni & Bartolozzi 2016; Amorim et al. 2016). This question was again raised in a letter supported by 35 signatories published in the journal Nature (Pape et al. 2016) on 15 September 2016. On 25 September 2016, the following rebuttal (strictly limited to 300 words as per the editorial rules of Nature) was submitted to Nature, which on 18 October 2016 refused to publish it. As we think this problem is a very important one for zoological taxonomy, this text is published here exactly as submitted to Nature, followed by the list of the 493 taxonomists and collection-based researchers who signed it in the short time span from 20 September to 6 October 2016

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear un derstanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5–7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8–11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world’s most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepre sented in biodiversity databases.13–15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may elim inate pieces of the Amazon’s biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological com munities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple or ganism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region’s vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most ne glected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lostinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio