PLC, finding a place in the international market : a case on industry analysis and internationalization process

The metallic structures surface treatment and maintenance industry is a support industry for larger revenue-builders’ sectors, such as the oil and gas and hydroelectric industries. Nowadays, this industry, facing a globalized world and growing demand from its supporting industries, faces challenges that are testing its current growth and internationalization strategy. PLC is one company operating in that industry and struggling with the new paradigm of imposed subsidiary based growth – as demanded by some local governments – versus the ongoing project based growth into foreign markets. It is Mr. Santos job to recommend and prepare for the PLC board of directors their future internationalization strategy knowing that a radical change in current strategy may be unwelcomed and that the projects prospects in the Peruvian and Colombian markets are very appealing to PLC board despite lacking capacity to embrace them as it is. At the same time, disregarding managerial problems in the Brazilian and Angolan markets – which represent a big part of PLC revenues – may be fatal to PLC future success.A indústria de tratamento e manutenção de estruturas metálicas é uma das indústrias que suporta outros sectores de maior dimensão, como é o caso da indústria petrolífera e de gás natural. Actualmente, esta indústria, inserida num mercado globalizado e procura crescente por parte das indústrias que suporta, enfrenta desafios que estão a pôr à prova o seu actual crescimento bem como as estratégias correntes de internacionalização. A PLC é uma das empresas nessa indústria e está a tentar arranjar soluções para este novo paradigma entre a estratégia de crescimento com base na criação de subsidiárias, imposta por alguns governos locais, e a estratégia actual baseada em projectos pontuais em mercados externos. O objectivo do Sr. Santos é recomendar e preparar a futura estratégia de internacionalização para a direcção da PLC, sabendo que um mudança radical na estratégia actual pode não ser bem-vinda pela direcção e que os potenciais projectos nos mercados peruano e colombiano são muito atractivos aos olhos da direcção apesar da falta de capacidade para os abraçar de momento. Além disso, desconsiderar os problemas de gestão no Brasil e em Angola – mercados muito representativos em termos de vendas para a PLC – pode ser fatal para o futuro sucesso da PLC

Contaminantes da água com potencial genotóxico: cianotoxinas e subprodutos de desinfeção da água

A garantia da qualidade da água destinada ao consumo humano é, atualmente, uma preocupação universal, em termos de saúde pública. Assim, a presença de contaminantes de natureza microbiológica ou química, pode constituir um perigo para a saúde humana que importa avaliar, particularmente no que diz respeito a efeitos carcinogénicos. O presente trabalho representa uma abordagem multidisciplinar, abrangendo a caracterização de efeitos citotóxicos, genotóxicos e potencialmente carcinogénicos de toxinas cianobacterianas (microcistinas) e de subprodutos de desinfeção da água (derivados clorados de benzo[a] pireno e fluoranteno). As microcistinas têm sido detetadas em reservatórios de água doce, sendo sobretudo conhecidas pela sua hepatotoxicidade aguda. O nosso trabalho tem vindo a demonstrar que, por um lado, estas toxinas possuem também atividade citotóxica e genotóxica e que, por outro, essa atividade pode ser extensiva a células de outros órgãos, para além do fígado. Estes resultados suportam a hipótese, ainda alvo de alguma controvérsia científica, de que as microcistinas são agentes genotóxicos e potencialmente carcinogénicos. Os derivados clorados de hidrocarbonetos aromáticos policíclicos (HAP) podem formar-se pela reação do cloro, usado na desinfeção da água, com resíduos de HAP presentes na água, sendo que os seus efeitos biológicos são praticamente desconhecidos. O nosso trabalho compreendeu a preparação de três derivados clorados a partir do benzo[a]pireno (BaP) e fluoranteno (Fluo), a saber: 6-Cl-BaP, 3-Cl-Fluo e 1,3-Cl2-Fluo, tendo-se confirmado a sua formação em condições semelhantes às utilizadas em Estações de Tratamento de Águas. Mostrámos ainda que o 6-Cl-BaP apresenta um efeito genotóxico superior ao do BaP, o que veio justificar o alargamento deste estudo a novos subprodutos de desinfeção da água. No seu conjunto, os dados de ambos os estudos contribuíram para gerar evidência científica relativamente ao potencial impacto de contaminantes da água na saúde humana, com importantes implicações para a avaliação de risco e implementação de medidas preventivas, com vista a uma maior segurança na utilização dos recursos hídricos nacionais

Mycobacterium leprae diversity and population dynamics in medieval Europe from novel ancient genomes.

Funder: Max-Planck SocietyFunder: St John’s College, CambridgeFunder: Fondation Raoul FollereauFunder: University of Zurich’s University Research Priority Program “Evolution in Action: From Genomes to Ecosystems”Funder: the Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment (S-HEP) at the University of TübingenBackgroundHansen's disease (leprosy), widespread in medieval Europe, is today mainly prevalent in tropical and subtropical regions with around 200,000 new cases reported annually. Despite its long history and appearance in historical records, its origins and past dissemination patterns are still widely unknown. Applying ancient DNA approaches to its major causative agent, Mycobacterium leprae, can significantly improve our understanding of the disease's complex history. Previous studies have identified a high genetic continuity of the pathogen over the last 1500 years and the existence of at least four M. leprae lineages in some parts of Europe since the Early Medieval period.ResultsHere, we reconstructed 19 ancient M. leprae genomes to further investigate M. leprae's genetic variation in Europe, with a dedicated focus on bacterial genomes from previously unstudied regions (Belarus, Iberia, Russia, Scotland), from multiple sites in a single region (Cambridgeshire, England), and from two Iberian leprosaria. Overall, our data confirm the existence of similar phylogeographic patterns across Europe, including high diversity in leprosaria. Further, we identified a new genotype in Belarus. By doubling the number of complete ancient M. leprae genomes, our results improve our knowledge of the past phylogeography of M. leprae and reveal a particularly high M. leprae diversity in European medieval leprosaria.ConclusionsOur findings allow us to detect similar patterns of strain diversity across Europe with branch 3 as the most common branch and the leprosaria as centers for high diversity. The higher resolution of our phylogeny tree also refined our understanding of the interspecies transfer between red squirrels and humans pointing to a late antique/early medieval transmission. Furthermore, with our new estimates on the past population diversity of M. leprae, we gained first insights into the disease's global history in relation to major historic events such as the Roman expansion or the beginning of the regular transatlantic long distance trade. In summary, our findings highlight how studying ancient M. leprae genomes worldwide improves our understanding of leprosy's global history and can contribute to current models of M. leprae's worldwide dissemination, including interspecies transmissions

Mycobacterium leprae diversity and population dynamics in medieval Europe from novel ancient genomes

Background: Hansen’s disease (leprosy), widespread in medieval Europe, is today mainly prevalent in tropical and subtropical regions with around 200,000 new cases reported annually. Despite its long history and appearance in historical records, its origins and past dissemination patterns are still widely unknown. Applying ancient DNA approaches to its major causative agent, Mycobacterium leprae, can significantly improve our understanding of the disease’s complex history. Previous studies have identified a high genetic continuity of the pathogen over the last 1500 years and the existence of at least four M. leprae lineages in some parts of Europe since the Early Medieval period. Results: Here, we reconstructed 19 ancient M. leprae genomes to further investigate M. leprae’s genetic variation in Europe, with a dedicated focus on bacterial genomes from previously unstudied regions (Belarus, Iberia, Russia, Scotland), from multiple sites in a single region (Cambridgeshire, England), and from two Iberian leprosaria. Overall, our data confirm the existence of similar phylogeographic patterns across Europe, including high diversity in leprosaria. Further, we identified a new genotype in Belarus. By doubling the number of complete ancient M. leprae genomes, our results improve our knowledge of the past phylogeography of M. leprae and reveal a particularly high M. leprae diversity in European medieval leprosaria. Conclusions: Our findings allow us to detect similar patterns of strain diversity across Europe with branch 3 as the most common branch and the leprosaria as centers for high diversity. The higher resolution of our phylogeny tree also refined our understanding of the interspecies transfer between red squirrels and humans pointing to a late antique/early medieval transmission. Furthermore, with our new estimates on the past population diversity of M. leprae, we gained first insights into the disease’s global history in relation to major historic events such as the Roman expansion or the beginning of the regular transatlantic long distance trade. In summary, our findings highlight how studying ancient M. leprae genomes worldwide improves our understanding of leprosy’s global history and can contribute to current models of M. leprae’s worldwide dissemination, including interspecies transmissions

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

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 understanding 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,5,6,7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8,9,10,11 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 underrepresented in biodiversity databases.13,14,15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may eliminate pieces of the Amazon's biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological communities 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 organism 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 neglected 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 lost

Penilaian Kinerja Keuangan Koperasi di Kabupaten Pelalawan

This paper describe development and financial performance of cooperative in District Pelalawan among 2007 - 2008. Studies on primary and secondary cooperative in 12 sub-districts. Method in this stady use performance measuring of productivity, efficiency, growth, liquidity, and solvability of cooperative. Productivity of cooperative in Pelalawan was highly but efficiency still low. Profit and income were highly, even liquidity of cooperative very high, and solvability was good

Severe early onset preeclampsia: short and long term clinical, psychosocial and biochemical aspects

Preeclampsia is a pregnancy specific disorder commonly defined as de novo hypertension and proteinuria after 20 weeks gestational age. It occurs in approximately 3-5% of pregnancies and it is still a major cause of both foetal and maternal morbidity and mortality worldwide1. As extensive research has not yet elucidated the aetiology of preeclampsia, there are no rational preventive or therapeutic interventions available. The only rational treatment is delivery, which benefits the mother but is not in the interest of the foetus, if remote from term. Early onset preeclampsia (<32 weeks’ gestational age) occurs in less than 1% of pregnancies. It is, however often associated with maternal morbidity as the risk of progression to severe maternal disease is inversely related with gestational age at onset2. Resulting prematurity is therefore the main cause of neonatal mortality and morbidity in patients with severe preeclampsia3. Although the discussion is ongoing, perinatal survival is suggested to be increased in patients with preterm preeclampsia by expectant, non-interventional management. This temporising treatment option to lengthen pregnancy includes the use of antihypertensive medication to control hypertension, magnesium sulphate to prevent eclampsia and corticosteroids to enhance foetal lung maturity4. With optimal maternal haemodynamic status and reassuring foetal condition this results on average in an extension of 2 weeks. Prolongation of these pregnancies is a great challenge for clinicians to balance between potential maternal risks on one the eve hand and possible foetal benefits on the other. Clinical controversies regarding prolongation of preterm preeclamptic pregnancies still exist – also taking into account that preeclampsia is the leading cause of maternal mortality in the Netherlands5 - a debate which is even more pronounced in very preterm pregnancies with questionable foetal viability6-9. Do maternal risks of prolongation of these very early pregnancies outweigh the chances of neonatal survival? Counselling of women with very early onset preeclampsia not only comprises of knowledge of the outcome of those particular pregnancies, but also knowledge of outcomes of future pregnancies of these women is of major clinical importance. This thesis opens with a review of the literature on identifiable risk factors of preeclampsia

Search for heavy resonances decaying to two Higgs bosons in final states containing four b quarks

A search is presented for narrow heavy resonances X decaying into pairs of Higgs bosons (H) in proton-proton collisions collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC at root s = 8 TeV. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 fb(-1). The search considers HH resonances with masses between 1 and 3 TeV, having final states of two b quark pairs. Each Higgs boson is produced with large momentum, and the hadronization products of the pair of b quarks can usually be reconstructed as single large jets. The background from multijet and t (t) over bar events is significantly reduced by applying requirements related to the flavor of the jet, its mass, and its substructure. The signal would be identified as a peak on top of the dijet invariant mass spectrum of the remaining background events. No evidence is observed for such a signal. Upper limits obtained at 95 confidence level for the product of the production cross section and branching fraction sigma(gg -> X) B(X -> HH -> b (b) over barb (b) over bar) range from 10 to 1.5 fb for the mass of X from 1.15 to 2.0 TeV, significantly extending previous searches. For a warped extra dimension theory with amass scale Lambda(R) = 1 TeV, the data exclude radion scalar masses between 1.15 and 1.55 TeV