Proposal of a Hotspot-based Approach to Identifying Social Impacts along the Product-Service Systems Life Cycle in the Early Design Phases

© 2017 The Authors. The potential for sustainability has been highlighted as one of the most important characteristics of product-service systems (PSS). Nevertheless, a PSS is not intrinsically sustainable. Methods and tools for PSS sustainability assessment should be developed to be integrated into the design process, especially in the early design phases, in order to conceive sustainable solutions. In addition, a PSS should be planned considering the three sustainability dimensions, from a life cycle perspective. However, PSS design and assessment considering the full life cycle is scarcely addressed in the literature, especially concerning the social dimension of sustainability. In this sense, this study proposes a streamlined life cycle assessment based approach to identify potential social impacts along the PSS life cycle that can be integrated into the early PSS design stages. The proposal is based on a hotspot analysis, which identifies where in the life cycle the most significant issues may occur. The proposal was developed in three main phases, anchored in both hotspots analysis and PSS literature. After developing it, 10 experts in PSS and sustainability assessed the proposal strengths and weakness. Some suggestions were offered by the researchers and improvements were introduced to the proposal regarding PSS life cycle phases and the social impact subcategories. The experts considered the hotspot analysis suitable to be applied in the early design stages when there is not much information yet regarding the system to conduct a complete life cycle assessment. The next step of this research is the proposal assessment by practitioners in industry. Further work will also integrate the environmental dimension of sustainability into the proposal

Digital transforming capability and performance: a microfoundational perspective

PurposeDrawing on the literature on dynamic capabilities and digital transformation, this paper conceptualises and investigates the relevant antecedents of an essential capability for digital transformation – the digital transforming capability – and its effect on the competitive advantage of firms.Design/methodology/approachA framework with individual and organisational microfoundations of the digital transforming capability is proposed based on previous research. The digital transforming capability is conceptualised as a second-order construct. The model is tested using data from a broad spectrum of large US companies. Structural equation modelling (SEM) is applied to test the proposed framework.FindingsThe study identifies three main microfoundations that, when combined, build a digital transforming capability (digital-savvy skills, digital intensity and context for action and interaction); in addition, the study tests the relationship between digital transforming capability and firm performance. The results validate the proposed theoretical framework. In addition to proposing relevant microfoundations of the digital transforming capability, we advance knowledge on the performance effects of those microfoundations.Originality/valueThe paper contributes to advancing the understanding of the digital transformation phenomenon by revealing the role of the primary components underlying the digital transforming capability. Yet the mechanisms by which the micro-level aspects are important for digital transformation and organisational outcomes are only suggested by anecdotal evidence. The paper also contributes to ongoing calls for further investigation to extend the understanding of the microfoundations of dynamic capabilities. Finally, by drawing on archival data, this study also contributes to calls to broaden the toolkit used in dynamic capabilities research.N/

Profiling of lung microbiota discloses differences in adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma

The lung is a complex ecosystem of host cells and microbes often disrupted in pathological conditions. Although bacteria have been hypothesized as agents of carcinogenesis, little is known about microbiota profile of the most prevalent cancer subtypes: adenocarcinoma (ADC) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). To characterize lung cancer (LC) microbiota a first a screening was performed through a pooled sequencing approach of 16S ribosomal RNA gene (V3-V6) using a total of 103 bronchoalveaolar lavage fluid samples. Then, identified taxa were used to inspect 1009 cases from The Cancer Genome Atlas and to annotate tumor unmapped RNAseq reads. Microbial diversity was analyzed per cancer subtype, history of cigarette smoking and airflow obstruction, among other clinical data. We show that LC microbiota is enriched in Proteobacteria and more diverse in SCC than ADC, particularly in males and heavier smokers. High frequencies of Proteobacteria were found to discriminate a major cluster, further subdivided into well-defined communities’ associated with either ADC or SCC. Here, a SCC subcluster differing from other cases by a worse survival was correlated with several Enterobacteriaceae. Overall, this study provides first evidence for a correlation between lung microbiota and cancer subtype and for its influence on patient life expectancy.We would like to thank all patients for donating their samples and for collaborating in this study. IPATIMUP integrates the i3S Research Unit, which is partially supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT). This work was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), financed by the European Social Funds (COMPETE-FEDER) and National Funds through the FCT (projects PEstC/SAU/LA0003/2013 and POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007274, fellowships SFRH/BPD/77646/2011 and SFRH/BPD/120777/2016 to S.G. and P.I.M., respectively, grant PTDC/BEXGMG/0242/2012 to S.S. and by Programa Operacional Regional do Norte (ON.2 – O Novo Norte and Norte 2020), through FEDER funds under the Quadro de Referência Estratégico Nacional (QREN; projects NORTE-07-0162-FEDER-00018 and NORTE-070162-FEDER-000067, and NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000029)

Inhibition of Y1 receptor signaling improves islet transplant outcome

Failure to secrete sufficient quantities of insulin is a pathological feature of type-1 and type-2 diabetes, and also reduces the success of islet cell transplantation. Here we demonstrate that Y1 receptor signaling inhibits insulin release in β-cells, and show that this can be pharmacologically exploited to boost insulin secretion. Transplanting islets with Y1 receptor deficiency accelerates the normalization of hyperglycemia in chemically induced diabetic recipient mice, which can also be achieved by short-term pharmacological blockade of Y1 receptors in transplanted mouse and human islets. Furthermore, treatment of non-obese diabetic mice with a Y1 receptor antagonist delays the onset of diabetes. Mechanistically, Y1 receptor signaling inhibits the production of cAMP in islets, which via CREB mediated pathways results in the down-regulation of several key enzymes in glycolysis and ATP production. Thus, manipulating Y1 receptor signaling in β-cells offers a unique therapeutic opportunity for correcting insulin deficiency as it occurs in the pathological state of type-1 diabetes as well as during islet transplantation.Islet transplantation is considered one of the potential treatments for T1DM but limited islet survival and their impaired function pose limitations to this approach. Here Loh et al. show that the Y1 receptor is expressed in β- cells and inhibition of its signalling, both genetic and pharmacological, improves mouse and human islet function.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Is the proteome of bronchoalveolar lavage extracellular vesicles a marker of advanced lung cancer?

Acellular bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) proteomics can partially separate lung cancer from non-lung cancer patients based on principal component analysis and multivariate analysis. Furthermore, the variance in the proteomics data sets is correlated mainly with lung cancer status and, to a lesser extent, smoking status and gender. Despite these advances BAL small and large extracellular vehicles (EVs) proteomes reveal aberrant protein expression in paracrine signaling mechanisms in cancer initiation and progression. We consequently present a case-control study of 24 bronchoalveolar lavage extracellular vesicle samples which were analyzed by state-of-the-art liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS). We obtained evidence that BAL EVs proteome complexity correlated with lung cancer stage 4 and mortality within two years´ follow-up (p value = 0.006). The potential therapeutic target DNMT3B complex is significantly up-regulated in tumor tissue and BAL EVs. The computational analysis of the immune and fibroblast cell markers in EVs suggests that patients who deceased within the follow-up period display higher marker expression indicative of innate immune and fibroblast cells (four out of five cases). This study provides insights into the proteome content of BAL EVs and their correlation to clinical outcomes.R.M. is supported by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (CEEC position, 2019–2025 investigator). This article is a result of the projects (iNOVA4Health—UID/Multi/04462/2013), supported by Lisboa Portugal Regional Operational Programme (Lisboa2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). This work is also funded by FEDER funds through the COMPETE 2020 Programme and National Funds through FCT—Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology under the projects number PTDC/BTM-TEC/30087/2017 and PTDC/BTM-TEC/30088/2017. This work was supported by the Wellcome Trust/DBT India Alliance Margdarshi Fellowship (grant number IA/M/15/1/502023) awarded to A.P. B.C.-S., M.C.S.C. and C.B. are supported by the Champalimaud Foundation and the EMBO Installation Grant 3921

Microdevices for extensional rheometry of low viscosity elastic liquids : a review

Extensional flows and the underlying stability/instability mechanisms are of extreme relevance to the efficient operation of inkjet printing, coating processes and drug delivery systems, as well as for the generation of micro droplets. The development of an extensional rheometer to characterize the extensional properties of low viscosity fluids has therefore stimulated great interest of researchers, particularly in the last decade. Microfluidics has proven to be an extraordinary working platform and different configurations of potential extensional microrheometers have been proposed. In this review, we present an overview of several successful designs, together with a critical assessment of their capabilities and limitations

Multi-Scale Stochastic Simulation of Diffusion-Coupled Agents and Its Application to Cell Culture Simulation

Many biological systems consist of multiple cells that interact by secretion and binding of diffusing molecules, thus coordinating responses across cells. Techniques for simulating systems coupling extracellular and intracellular processes are very limited. Here we present an efficient method to stochastically simulate diffusion processes, which at the same time allows synchronization between internal and external cellular conditions through a modification of Gillespie's chemical reaction algorithm. Individual cells are simulated as independent agents, and each cell accurately reacts to changes in its local environment affected by diffusing molecules. Such a simulation provides time-scale separation between the intra-cellular and extra-cellular processes. We use our methodology to study how human monocyte-derived dendritic cells alert neighboring cells about viral infection using diffusing interferon molecules. A subpopulation of the infected cells reacts early to the infection and secretes interferon into the extra-cellular medium, which helps activate other cells. Findings predicted by our simulation and confirmed by experimental results suggest that the early activation is largely independent of the fraction of infected cells and is thus both sensitive and robust. The concordance with the experimental results supports the value of our method for overcoming the challenges of accurately simulating multiscale biological signaling systems

Observation of associated near-side and away-side long-range correlations in √sNN=5.02 TeV proton-lead collisions with the ATLAS detector

Two-particle correlations in relative azimuthal angle (Δϕ) and pseudorapidity (Δη) are measured in √sNN=5.02  TeV p+Pb collisions using the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The measurements are performed using approximately 1  μb-1 of data as a function of transverse momentum (pT) and the transverse energy (ΣETPb) summed over 3.1<η<4.9 in the direction of the Pb beam. The correlation function, constructed from charged particles, exhibits a long-range (2<|Δη|<5) “near-side” (Δϕ∼0) correlation that grows rapidly with increasing ΣETPb. A long-range “away-side” (Δϕ∼π) correlation, obtained by subtracting the expected contributions from recoiling dijets and other sources estimated using events with small ΣETPb, is found to match the near-side correlation in magnitude, shape (in Δη and Δϕ) and ΣETPb dependence. The resultant Δϕ correlation is approximately symmetric about π/2, and is consistent with a dominant cos⁡2Δϕ modulation for all ΣETPb ranges and particle pT

Search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at √ s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Results of a search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum are reported. The search uses 20.3 fb−1 of √ s = 8 TeV data collected in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Events are required to have at least one jet with pT > 120 GeV and no leptons. Nine signal regions are considered with increasing missing transverse momentum requirements between Emiss T > 150 GeV and Emiss T > 700 GeV. Good agreement is observed between the number of events in data and Standard Model expectations. The results are translated into exclusion limits on models with either large extra spatial dimensions, pair production of weakly interacting dark matter candidates, or production of very light gravitinos in a gauge-mediated supersymmetric model. In addition, limits on the production of an invisibly decaying Higgs-like boson leading to similar topologies in the final state are presente