A systematic review of the use of organization and management theories in climate change studies

Climate change studies have been gaining increasing importance in the academic debate, and also in the field of organizations and management. Scholars have contributed to this field by borrowing approaches from sustainable business research. However, some authors have raised unanswered questions about the contribution of these studies to the management theories. According to them, climate change studies have failed to provide theoretical insights and too often they have adopted a descriptive and practical approach. Our review describes the theoretical contribution of the climate change papers, identifying the most often used management theories. The analysis results for 28 different management theories indicate that, while some theories such as the institutional and stakeholder theories have been widely debated, the relation between business climate change strategies and other organization theories still appears to be unexplored

The Implementation of IPPC Directive in the Mediterranean Area

The implementation of IPPC Directive in the Mediterranean Area

Transferring the Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) Approach and Best Available Techniques (BAT) Concepts to Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco

The principles introduced by the Directive Concerning Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) (currently known as the Industrial Emissions Directive (2010/75/EU)) are innovative and have raised interests in the framework of the literature debate on environmental regulation. Many articles describe and analyze the application of the Directive in European countries, but only a few articles focus on how the interest for the Directive's principles, including the integrated approach, have reached countries outside the European Union. This paper aims to contribute to this topic, describing the experience of the authors in carrying out an EU-funded project on transferring the IPPC approach and Best Available Techniques (BAT) concepts to three Arab countries, i.e. , Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia. The paper presents the experience referring to two sectors falling within the scope of the IPPC Directive: the textile and dairy sector. The objectives, methodologies, activities and experiences are described and can be used and valorized to integrate the IPPC approach and BAT concepts in the current environmental legislation of the three countries

Hindering NAT8L expression in hepatocellular carcinoma increases cytosolic aspartate delivery that fosters pentose phosphate pathway and purine biosynthesis promoting cell proliferation

N-acetylaspartate (NAA) is synthesized by the mitochondrial enzyme NAT8L, which uses acetyl-CoA and aspartate as substrates. These metabolites are fundamental for bioenergetics and anabolic requirements of highly proliferating cells, thus, NAT8L modulation may impinge on the metabolic reprogramming of cancer cells. Specifically, aspartate represents a limiting amino acid for nucleotide synthesis in cancer. Here, the expression of the NAT8L enzyme was modulated to verify how it impacts the metabolic adaptations and proliferative capacity of hepatocellular carcinoma. We demonstrated that NAT8L downregulation is asso-ciated with increased proliferation of hepatocellular carcinoma cells and immortalized hepatocytes. The over -expression of NAT8L instead decreased cell growth. The pro-tumoral effect of NAT8L silencing depended on glutamine oxidation and the rewiring of glucose metabolism. Mechanistically, NAT8L downregulation triggers aspartate outflow from mitochondria via the exporter SLC25A13 to promote glucose flux into the pentose phosphate pathway, boosting purine biosynthesis. These results were corroborated by the analyses of human and mouse hepatocellular carcinoma samples revealing a decrease in NAT8L expression compared to adjacent non -tumoral tissues. Overall, this work demonstrates that NAT8L expression in liver cells limits the cytosolic avail-ability of aspartate necessary for enhancing the pentose phosphate pathway and purine biosynthesis, counter-acting cell proliferation

Eco-innovative practices for sustainable consumption and production: what are the possible benefits for companies ?

The paper aims to present some eco-innovative practices regarding Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP). The study also focuses on potential benefits for the actors who implement these practices, mainly with reference to companies. After a literature review on the actual importance of SCP and on the effects of eco-innovation tools and policies on companies, authors present the developed eco-innovation practices in three focus areas related to sustainable consumption and production. The aim of the study is to contribute to literature studies on SCP with the development of eco-innovative practices resulting by the integration of existing tools, by pointing out and valorizing their potentials and synergies. These practices have been pointing out in the framework of the international European project. Three focus areas are involved by the practices: sustainability of products and services, sustainability of production processes and sustainable management of industrial areas. Authors developed four eco innovative practices resulting from the integration of 15 existing tools. These practices offer many opportunities to many actors, mainly companies and public authorities, in order to achieve environmental and competitive benefits and implement eco-innovation principles with a cooperative and shared approach

Neuroendocrine Dysregulation in Irritable Bowel Syndrome Patients: A Pilot Study

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a multifactorial disorder, involving dysregulation of brain-gut axis. Our aim was to evaluate the neuroendocrine activity in IBS. METHODS: Thirty IBS and 30 healthy subjects were enrolled. Psychological symptoms were evaluated by questionnaires. Urinary 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA), plasma serotonin, endothelin, neuropeptide Y (NPY), plasma, and urinary cortisol levels were evaluated. Fourteen IBS subjects underwent microneurography to obtain multiunit recordings of efferent postganglionic muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA). RESULTS: Prevalent psychological symptoms in IBS were maladjustment (60%), trait (40%) and state (17%) anxiety, obsessive compulsive-disorders (23%), and depressive symptoms (23%). IBS showed increased NPY (31.9 [43.7] vs 14.8 [18.1] pmol/L, P = 0.006), serotonin (214.9 [182.6] vs 141.0 [45.5] pg/mL, P = 0.010), and endothelin [1.1 [1.4] vs 2.1 [8.1], P = 0.054], compared to healthy subjects. Moreover, plasma NPY, endothelin, cortisol and serotonin, and urinary 5-HIAA were associated with some psychological disorders (P < 0.05). Despite a similar resting MSNA, after cold pressor test, IBS showed a blunted increase in MSNA burst frequency (+4.1 vs +7.8 bursts/minute, P = 0.048; +30.1% vs +78.1%, P = 0.023). Baseline MSNA tended to be associated with urinary cortisol (ρ = 0.557, P = 0.059), and moreover, changes in heart rate and MSNA after mental stress were associated with urinary (ρ = 0.682, P = 0.021) and plasma cortisol (ρ = 0.671, P = 0.024), respectively. CONCLUSION: Higher concentrations of endothelin, NPY, and serotonin were found to be associated with some psychological disorders in IBS patients together with an altered cardiovascular autonomic reactivity to acute stressors compared to healthy subjects

Sub-Femto- g Free Fall for Space-Based Gravitational Wave Observatories: LISA Pathfinder Results

We report the first results of the LISA Pathfinder in-flight experiment. The results demonstrate that two free-falling reference test masses, such as those needed for a space-based gravitational wave observatory like LISA, can be put in free fall with a relative acceleration noise with a square root of the power spectral density of 5.2±0.1  fm s−2/Hz, or (0.54±0.01)×10−15  g/Hz, with g the standard gravity, for frequencies between 0.7 and 20 mHz. This value is lower than the LISA Pathfinder requirement by more than a factor 5 and within a factor 1.25 of the requirement for the LISA mission, and is compatible with Brownian noise from viscous damping due to the residual gas surrounding the test masses. Above 60 mHz the acceleration noise is dominated by interferometer displacement readout noise at a level of (34.8±0.3)  fm/Hz, about 2 orders of magnitude better than requirements. At f≤0.5  mHz we observe a low-frequency tail that stays below 12  fm s−2/Hz down to 0.1 mHz. This performance would allow for a space-based gravitational wave observatory with a sensitivity close to what was originally foreseen for LISA.CNES 1316634/CNRS 103747UnivEarthS Labex program/ANR-10-LABX-0023UnivEarthS Labex program/ANR-11-IDEX-0005-02DLRFederal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy/FKZ 50OQ0501Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy/FKZ 50OQ1601Agenzia Spaziale ItalianaInstituto Nazionale di Fisica NucleareAYA2010-15709 (MICINN)ESP2013-47637-P (MINECO)ESP2015-67234-P (MINECO)Fundacion General CSICSwiss Space Office (SSO)Swiss National Science FoundationUnited Kingdom Space Agency (UKSA)University of GlasgowUniversity of BirminghamImperial CollegeScottish Universities Physics Alliance (SUPA)U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA