Integrated Product Policy and Environmental Product Innovations: An Empirical Analysis

The European Commission has recently stepped up its promotion of the ?Integrated Product Policy?. The objective of the IPP is to support the realisation of environmental product innovations and thus to achieve a broad reduction of all environmental impacts throughout a product?s life cycle. Based on a unique company level data set for the German manufacturing sector, this paper empirically examines the relationship between environmental organisational measures regarded as IPP measures by the European Commission and environmental product innovations. According to the econometric analysis, the certification of environmental management systems has a significantly positive effect on environmental product innovations. Waste disposal measures or product take-back systems appear to be an even more important driver of environmental product innovations. The econometric analysis also shows that other factors that have been suggested in the literature, such as environmental policy, technology push and market pull, as well as other specific company characteristics have a significantly positive influence on environmental product innovations. According to the descriptive analysis of environmental product innovators, economic aspects (i.e. higher prices) rather than soft factors appear to be the major obstacles to the commercial exploitation of environmental products and thus also to environmental product innovations. --Integrated Product Policy,Product Innovation,Environmental Innovation,Innovation Management,Technological Innovation,Discrete Choice Models

Localization of the genes for tumor necrosis factor and lymphotoxin between the HLA classI and III regions by field inversion gel electrophoresis

To clarify the position of the TNFA and TNFB genes on the HLA map, we have assigned TNFA to large DNA restriction fragments separated by field inversion gel electrophoresis, which hybridize with either class III- or class I-specific probes as well. These results prove that the TNFA locus is localized between the HLA class III region and the HLA-B locus

A Physical Map Including a New Class I Gene (cda12) of the Human Major Histocompatibility Complex (A2/313 Haplotype) Derived from a Monosomy 6 Mutant Cell Line

To avoid interpretative problems due to restriction fragment length polymorphisms, the monosomy 6 mutant cell line BM19.7 was employed to establish a molecular map of the human major histocompatibility (HLA) complex in the A2,B13,Bw4,DRw6,DRw52,DQw1,DPw2 haplotype. Results were obtained mainly by field-inversion gel electrophoresis and Southern blotting techniques. The map extends to 4800 kb and includes the HLA complex with a length of 4200 kb. Five HTF islands could be positioned on the map. The class I region has a size of about 2000 kb and includes nonclassical HLA class I genes, some of which must be localized within 200 kb telomeric of HLA-A. A new class I gene, cda12, distinct from HLA-A, HLA-B, or HLA-C, has been localized within 50 kb from HLA-A. The class I region contains a gap of about 500 kb, just telomeric of HLA-C, in which further class I genes could not be detected. The class II region has a size of 1000 kb, which is separated from the class I region by about 1200 kb. The 5' end of the HLA-B gene is situated centromeric, giving an orientation opposite to that of the TNFA and TNFB loci. The estimated length of the HLA complex correlates well with its size determined cytogenetically using mutant cell lines with interstitial deletions

N-{4-[4-(4-Fluoro­phen­yl)-1-(2-methoxy­ethyl)-2-methyl­sulfanyl-1H-imidazol-5-yl]-2-pyrid­yl}-2-methyl-3-phenyl­propionamide

In the crystal structure of the title compound, C28H29FN4O2S, the imidazole ring makes dihedral angles of 11.85 (7), 73.33 (7) and 22.83 (8)° with the 4-fluoro­phenyl, pyridine and phenyl rings, respectively. The 4-fluoro­phenyl ring makes dihedral angles of 77.91 (7) and 26.93 (8)° with the pyridine and phenyl rings, respectively. The phenyl and pyridine rings are nearly perpendicular, making a dihedral angle of 86.47 (9)°. The crystal packing shows an inter­molecular N—H⋯O hydrogen-bonding inter­action between the N—H and carbonyl groups of the amide functions

Conclusion

Can waste become a profitable business rather than a costly problem, creating green business opportunities and green jobs while protecting the environment? Might this reduce illegal trade and improper recycling of hazardous wastes by making the legitimate alternatives more attractive? Addressing these questions, this book examines environmentally sound waste management as a driver in the transition to a green economy, and discusses how this transition is challenged by technical limitations, weak regulatory environments and lack of financial incentives. This in-depth analysis of the link between waste management and a green economy identifies key elements of a solid overarching legal and policy framework that could address these challenges, noting that consistent implementation and enforcement is crucial. It complements its examination of the legal and policy issues with contributions on technical and economic aspects, taking into account the interdisciplinary nature of the problem, and offers a perspective from Asia, where the challenges of waste management as well as the possible opportunities are particularly significant. With interdisciplinary authorship and contributions drawn from academia and practice, this book will be a timely resource for academics and practitioners in the areas of law, policy and economics. It will also provide insights for civil servants engaged in waste policy and related areas, private sector operators engaged in waste management and sustainable development, and non-governmental organizations engaged in environmental protection and poverty reduction efforts

Eat Out to Help Out only had a short-lived effect on food outlets

The Eat Out to Help Out scheme aimed to support economic recovery after the first COVID-19 lockdown ended in the UK. Nicolás González-Pampillón, Gonzalo Nunez-Chaim and Katharina Ziegler (LSE) find that the policy led to higher footfall in retail and recreation venues on days when the discount was available, but it did not encourage people to go out for other purposes during the scheme or to eat out once it ended

Nonverbal Semantics Test (NVST)—A Novel Diagnostic Tool to Assess Semantic Processing Deficits: Application to Persons with Aphasia after Cerebrovascular Accident

Assessment of semantic processing capacities often relies on verbal tasks which are, however, sensitive to impairments at several language processing levels. Especially for persons with aphasia there is a strong need for a tool that measures semantic processing skills independent of verbal abilities. Furthermore, in order to assess a patient’s potential for using alternative means of communication in cases of severe aphasia, semantic processing should be assessed in different nonverbal conditions. The Nonverbal Semantics Test (NVST) is a tool that captures semantic processing capacities through three tasks—Semantic Sorting, Drawing, and Pantomime. The main aim of the current study was to investigate the relationship between the NVST and measures of standard neurolinguistic assessment. Fifty-one persons with aphasia caused by left hemisphere brain damage were administered the NVST as well as the Aachen Aphasia Test (AAT). A principal component analysis (PCA) was conducted across all AAT and NVST subtests. The analysis resulted in a two-factor model that captured 69% of the variance of the original data, with all linguistic tasks loading high on one factor and the NVST subtests loading high on the other. These findings suggest that nonverbal tasks assessing semantic processing capacities should be administered alongside standard neurolinguistic aphasia tests. View Full-Tex

In Time with the Beat: Entrainment in Patients with Phonological Impairment, Apraxia of Speech, and Parkinson’s Disease

In the present study, we investigated if individuals with neurogenic speech sound impairments of three types, Parkinson’s dysarthria, apraxia of speech, and aphasic phonological impairment, accommodate their speech to the natural speech rhythm of an auditory model, and if so, whether the effect is more significant after hearing metrically regular sentences as compared to those with an irregular pattern. This question builds on theories of rhythmic entrainment, assuming that sensorimotor predictions of upcoming events allow humans to synchronize their actions with an external rhythm. To investigate entrainment effects, we conducted a sentence completion task relating participants’ response latencies to the spoken rhythm of the prime heard immediately before. A further research question was if the perceived rhythm interacts with the rhythm of the participants’ own productions, i.e., the trochaic or iambic stress pattern of disyllabic target words. For a control group of healthy speakers, our study revealed evidence for entrainment when trochaic target words were preceded by regularly stressed prime sentences. Persons with Parkinson’s dysarthria showed a pattern similar to that of the healthy individuals. For the patient groups with apraxia of speech and with phonological impairment, considerably longer response latencies with differing patterns were observed. Trochaic target words were initiated with significantly shorter latencies, whereas the metrical regularity of prime sentences had no consistent impact on response latencies and did not interact with the stress pattern of the target words to be produced. The absence of an entrainment in these patients may be explained by the more severe difficulties in initiating speech at all. We discuss the results in terms of clinical implications for diagnostics and therapy in neurogenic speech disorders. View Full-Tex