Methodical approaches to measuring sustainable development of industrial enterprises

The article is devoted to the problems of assessment of sustainable development at industrial enterprises with a dynamic scorecard based on growth rates of key performance indicators, arranged in the way allowing the evaluation of the sustainable development process when kept in the long time interval. The relative indicators allow comparing not only the incomparable values but also enterprises of different sizes. In addition the system allows comparing the results of current period to similar data from previous years, as well as to the results of other companies for the same period to determine their rating position or identify balance / imbalance. This system takes into account not only balanced state of environmental, economic and social spheres in particular time but also helps to reflect the positive changes in development process. This method is considered on the example of chemical industry, one of the leading in Russia.peer-reviewe

HIV-1 suppression and durable control by combining single broadly neutralizing antibodies and antiretroviral drugs in humanized mice

Effective control of HIV-1 infection in humans is achieved using combinations of antiretroviral therapy (ART) drugs. In humanized mice (hu-mice), control of viremia can be achieved using either ART or by immunotherapy using combinations of broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs). Here we show that treatment of HIV-1–infected hu-mice with a combination of three highly potent bNAbs not only resulted in complete viremic control but also led to a reduction in cell-associated HIV-1 DNA. Moreover, lowering the initial viral load by coadministration of ART and immunotherapy enabled prolonged viremic control by a single bNAb after ART was withdrawn. Similarly, a single injection of adeno-associated virus directing expression of one bNAb produced durable viremic control after ART was terminated. We conclude that immunotherapy reduces plasma viral load and cell-associated HIV-1 DNA and that decreasing the initial viral load enables single bNAbs to control viremia in hu-mice

Стейкхолдерский подход к устойчивому региональному развитию: результаты эмпирического исследования

Реализация концепции устойчивого развития ведет к существенной трансформации ценностей и интересов таких ключевых стейкхолдеров, как правительство, население и бизнес-сообщество. Поскольку учет интересов региональных стейкхолдеров имеет решающее значение для обеспечения устойчивого развития таких крупных стран, как Россия, особую актуальность приобретает разработка отсутствующего на текущий момент методического инструментария для оценки уровня реализации интересов стейкхолдеров, степени их сбалансированности и согласованности. В данной работе рассмотрены и классифицированы интересы ключевых региональных стейкхолдеров, разработана система показателей для оценки уровня их реализации. Предложен алгоритм расчета 9 групповых и 7 интегральных индексов, используемых для измерения степени социо-эколого-экономической сбалансированности и межсубъектной согласованности интересов. Данный методический инструментарий был апробирован на примере 17 регионов Приволжского и Уральского федеральных округов. Установлено, что уровень реализации интересов стейкхолдеров преимущественно характеризуется как «средний», по уровню реализации интересы разных стейкхолдеров в целом согласованы. Однако имеет место выраженный дисбаланс в социо-эколого-экономическом разрезе: отмечен преимущественно высокий уровень реализации социальных интересов в сочетании с низким уровнем экологических интересов. Регрессионное моделирование показало, что наличие этого дисбаланса оказывает негативное влияние на устойчивого развития российских регионов. Предлагаемая методология может способствовать расширению сферы аналитических исследований в области устойчивого развития

Innovative development of Russia: regional aspect

Regions of Russia differ significantly by their geographical, climatic, resource and other characteristics as well as by the level of innovative development of their economic systems. Low level of the innovative activity of most subjects of the Russian Federation hampers the solution of the strategic task of ensuring the country's economic growth through technological development. Using the methods of comparative and statistical analysis, this paper assesses the degree of differentiation of Russian regions by key indicators of innovative development as well as the impact of regional differentiation on the innovative results achieved. It has been established that the differences between the subjects of the Russian Federation in terms of their innovative development, as well as the concentration of innovative resources and innovative activity in certain regions of the country continue to be quite significant. No trends towards pronounced regional - and -convergence have been revealed. Meanwhile, the policy of concentration of innovative activity in certain regions that are the generators of innovative transformations has proved unsatisfactory. According to most indicators of the country's innovative development strategy for the period up to 2020, the target values have not been achieved. The results of econometric modeling clearly demonstrate that the high degree of differentiation of indicators of innovative development of Russian regions has a negative impact on the dynamics and the results of innovative activity in the country as a whole. Thus, leveling-off of the level of the innovative development of Russian regions and the formation of a single innovation space of the country are important factors for increasing the innovative level of the Russian economy

Population’s willingness to separate collection of plastic waste in Russian city

This paper examines people’s willingness to separate collection of plastic waste. The study is based on a questionnaire survey of Perm residents and visitors, the data were analyzed using econometric methods. We identified key factors that determine the ecological behavior of people - the importance for a person of the benefits that he carries for the environment, the willingness to devote personal time to measures to protect it and awareness of the environmental harm of plastic waste. On average, all things being equal, an individual’s awareness of the environmental hazards of plastic leads to increase the probability of his participation in the separate collection of plastic by 11.78%. On average, all things being equal, the proximity of containers for separate collection of plastic waste increases the probability that a person will participate in the separate collection of plastic by 45.57%. It should be noted that the probability of participation in a separate collection is lower for men than for women, all things being equal. Also, all things being equal, the probability of participation in the separate collection of plastic increases with age by 0.3%

Ecological innovations for regional sustainable development: an empirical study

The article is devoted to the study of sustainable regional development from the perspective of the value-driven approach and the assessment of the environmental innovations impact on the sustainability of the regional development. The methodological framework included the sustainable development concept, the main provisions of the regional economy, the rational use of natural resources principles and the value-driven management. The study determined the level of realization of the values and interests of the population, the business community and authorities in the economic, environmental and social spheres. It has been established that achieving sustainable development goals at the regional level requires reducing the environmental intensity of enterprises, reducing the volume of pollution of the atmosphere and water resources, as well as the volume of generated production and consumption waste. The regional environmental innovations implementation is considered the main driver of positive changes in the field of natural resource management and environmental protection. Using econometric modeling, an assessment was made of the impact of environmental innovations and factors of the regional environment on the level of realization of the sustainable development values in the context of key stakeholders of the territories and the degree of coordination of their interests, as well as on key indicators of the economic activity. The environmental innovations importance in the regional sustainable development is mathematically proved and the environmental innovations specificity in the context of improving regional policy is characterized

Negative Effects of Industrial Clustering on Region Social and Economic Development: System and Agglomeration Approach

The Present investigation illustrates the negative side of industrial clustering which often makes regional social and economic policy ineffective. Analyzing data from 790 papers, we identified and described 5 key negative clustering effects. Drawing from a system and agglomeration approach we propose a conceptual mechanism that illustrates cluster influence on a region, focusing on internal parameters which determine the impact nature (positive, negative or neutral). The investigation showed that the genesis of all the negative effects is connected with the tendency of industrial clusters to close in on itself in the medium term. Based on these findings, we propose recommendations on industrial cluster negative influence minimization

Phosphatidylinositol Stabilizes Fluid-Phase Liposomes Loaded with a Melphalan Lipophilic Prodrug

Previously, a liposomal formulation of a chemotherapeutic agent melphalan (Mlph) incorporated in a fluid lipid bilayer of natural phospholipids in the form of dioleoylglyceride ester (MlphDG) was developed and the antitumor effect was confirmed in mouse models. The formulation composed of egg phosphatidylcholine (ePC), soybean phosphatidylinositol (PI), and MlphDG (8:1:1, by mol) showed stability in human serum for at least 4–5 h. On the contrary, replacing PI with pegylation of the liposomes, promoted fast dissociation of the components from the bilayer. In this work, interactions of MlphDG-liposomes with the most abundant plasma protein—albumin—in function of the presence of PI in the formulation were explored using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The release of MlphDG from the liposomes was studied by asymmetrical flow field-flow fractionation (AF4) using micelles formed by a polyethylene glycol conjugate with phosphatidylethanolamine to mimic the physiological lipid sink like lipoproteins. Our results show that PI actually protects the membrane of MlphDG-liposomes from the protein penetration, presumably due to pairing between the positively charged MlphDG and negatively charged PI, which compensates for the heterogeneity of the lipid bilayer. The AF4 technique also evidences high stability of the formulation as a drug carrier

Spectroscopy Study of Albumin Interaction with Negatively Charged Liposome Membranes: Mutual Structural Effects of the Protein and the Bilayers

Liposomes as drug carriers are usually injected into the systemic circulation where they are instantly exposed to plasma proteins. Liposome–protein interactions can affect both the stability of liposomes and the conformation of the associated protein leading to the altered biodistribution of the carrier. In this work, mutual effects of albumin and liposomal membrane in the course of the protein’s adsorption were examined in terms of quantity of bound protein, its structure, liposome membrane permeability, and changes in physicochemical characteristics of the liposomes. Fluorescence spectroscopy methods and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), which provides information about specific groups in lipids involved in interaction with the protein, were used to monitor adsorption of albumin with liposomes based on egg phosphatidylcholine with various additives of negatively charged lipidic components, such as phosphatidylinositol, ganglioside GM1, or the acidic lipopeptide. Less than a dozen of the protein molecules were tightly bound to a liposome independently of bilayer composition, yet they had a detectable impact on the bilayer. Albumin conformational changes during adsorption were partially related to bilayer microhydrophobicity. Ganglioside GM1 showed preferable features for evading undesirable structural changes