Suchergebnisse

This paper addresses the relationships between innovation, research and development (R&D) and productivity in domestic ICT firms in Costa Rica. Factors considered were the types of innovation outputs produced by domestic ICT firms, the relative importance of innovation inputs, the impacts of innovation on firm productivity, the protection of innovations, and impediments to innovation. While most firms engaged in all types of output and input innovations, they appear to be driven by retaining or increasing market share rather than increasing productivity. Half of firms do not formally protect the intellectual property created by their innovations, are not familiar with methods for protecting innovation or the availability of government grants for such purposes, and face barriers associated with the Costa Rican Patent Office. Other impediments include lack of knowledge about financial resources available and scarcity of human resources. There is also evidence of knowledge spillovers through worker mobility from multinationals operating in Costa Rica to domestic ICT firms.

La IMF está diseñada para democratizar el acceso a la práctica de actividad deportiva, concediendo créditos de consumo a las personas con limitada capacidad adquisitiva de manera digital e inmediata en el establecimiento comercial del distribuidor donde se exhibe el producto. La ventaja de Multicrédito radica en la sinergia generada con Industrias Bicicletas Milán, pues a diferencia de las otras IMF que actualmente prestan el servicio de financiamiento, Multicrédito generará una red de recaudo independiente y a su vez brindará mediante IBM, el beneficio inmediato de nota crédito al estado de cartera del propietario del establecimiento, asegurando el consumo continuo del distribuidor hacia los productos de IBM. Además, por ser de carácter social, parte de las ganancias serán invertidas en el apoyo a infantes para el desarrollo formal de actividades deportivas y facilitarles el transporte a algunos colegios en zonas rurales. Multicrédito está proyectada para ser registrada en enero de 2021 y su funcionamiento para marzo del mismo año. Con esto, su principal objetivo es fortalecer la cadena de valor en la comercialización de los productos de IBM, creando una mayor diferenciación contra ofertas actuales de la competencia. ; The MFI is designed to democratize access to sports activity, granting consumer loans to people with limited purchasing power digitally and immediately in the commercial establishment of the distributor where the product is displayed. The advantage of Multicrédito, lies in the synergy generated with IBM, because unlike the other MFIs that currently provide the financing service, Multicrédito will generate an independent collection network and at the same time provide through IBM, the immediate benefit of credit to the state portfolio of the owner of the establishment, ensuring the continuous consumption of the distributor towards IBM products. In addition, because they are of a social nature, part of the profits will be invested in supporting infants for the formal development of sports activities and facilitating transport to school in rural areas. Multicrédito is projected to be registered in January 2020 and its operation by March 2020, its main objective being to strengthen the value chain in the commercialization of IBM products, creating greater differentiation against current competitive offers.

This paper analyzes five Productive Development Policies (PDPs) implemented in Costa Rica, finding that they are not optimally addressing market failures. Moreover, government failures rather than market failures represent the main justification for PDPs. Even in the presence of market failures, the policy instruments applied are not necessarily the most economically efficient but rather the most politically feasible options. In addition, the lack of policy evaluation and monitoring prevents adjustments and corrections of such policies. Addressing the arguments for policy intervention and incorporating the results of evaluation into policy design and reform are necessary conditions for success. In spite of positive policy outcomes, limitations to enhance competitiveness and create the conditions for productivity growth are still present. An umbrella approach in the case of those PDPs that reinforce each other is necessary for productivity growth.

Um dos desafios da administração pública moderna é manter o seu quadro de pessoal capacitado para desenvolver as suas funções com qualidade e prestar um melhor serviço à sociedade. A educação a distância (EaD) apresenta-se como uma alternativa. Contudo, traz consigo uma questão que precisa ser melhor compreendida: o alto índice de evasão. O objetivo deste artigo é investigar os determinantes da evasão nos cursos EaD oferecidos pela Universidade Corporativa da Secretaria da Fazenda do Estado da Bahia. Para tanto, desenvolveu-se um estudo quantitativo em uma amostra composta por 530 inscritos nos cursos EaD oferecidos no primeiro semestre do ano de 2014, buscando identificar, entre as variáveis carga horária do curso, gênero, idade, localização do inscrito e cargo, evidências que explicassem os índices de evasão observados. Os resultados, obtidos por meio de regressão logística múltipla, sugerem que a localização do indivíduo exerce influência significativa na evasão.

World agriculture needs to find the right balance to cope with the trilemma between feeding a growing population, reducing its impact on biodiversity and minimizing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In this paper, we evaluate a broad range of scenarios that achieve 4.3 GtCO2,eq /year GHG mitigation in the Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land-Use (AFOLU) sector by 2100. Scenarios include varying mixes of three GHG mitigation policies: second-generation biofuel production, dietary change and reforestation of pasture. We find that focusing mitigation on a single policy can lead to positive results for a single indicator of food security or biodiversity conservation, but with significant negative side effects on others. A balanced portfolio of all three mitigation policies, while not optimal for any single criterion, minimizes trade-offs by avoiding large negative effects on food security and biodiversity conservation. At the regional scale, the trade-off seen globally between biodiversity and food security is nuanced by different regional contexts.

Universal vaccines can be prepared with antigens common to different pathogens. In this regard, the glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) is a common virulence factor among pathogenic bacteria of the genera Listeria, Mycobacterium and Streptococcus. Their N-ter-minal 22 amino acid peptides, GAPDH-L1 (Listeria), GAPDH-M1 (Mycobacterium) and GAPDH-S1 (Streptococcus), share 95–98.55% sequence homology, biochemical and MHC binding abilities and, therefore, are good candidates for universal vaccine designs. Here, we used dendritic cells (DC) as vaccine platforms to test GAPDH epitopes that conferred protection against Listeria monocytogenes, Mycobacterium marinum or Streptococcus pneumoniae in our search of epitopes for universal vaccines. DC loaded with GAPDH-L1, GAPDH-M1 or GAPDH-S1 peptides show high immunogenicity measured by the cellular DTH responses in mice, lacked toxicity and were capable of cross-protec-tion immunity against mice infections with each one of the pathogens. Vaccine efficiency correlated with high titers of anti-GAPDH-L1 antibodies in sera of vaccinated mice, a Th1 cytokine pattern and high frequencies of GAPDH-L1-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cells and IFN-γ producers in the spleens. We concluded that GAPDH-L1 peptide was the best epitope for universal vaccines in the Listeria, Mycobacterium or Streptococcus taxonomic groups, whose pathogenic strains caused relevant morbidities in adults and especially in the elderly. ; Ministry of Science and Innovation, grant number SAF2012-34203, co-funded in part with European FEDER funds "A new way of making Europe", the COST European action ENOVA, the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII) grant numbers, DTS18-00022 and PI19-01580 to C.A.-D., the intramural CIBER-BNN grant number, CIB16-NM009 to C.A.-D., to the Bio-Health Research Program of Cantabria Government, gran number INNVAL19/26 to S.Y.-D., I.C.P.D.M.-B. and C.A.-D. and INNVAL20/01 to C.A.-D.; SAF2016-75988-R "Comunidad de Madrid (S2017/BMD-3671. INFLAMUNE-CM) and Fondo de Investigaciones Sanitarias" (BIOIMID)

© 2020 Alvarez-Dominguez, Salcines-Cuevas, Teran-Navarro, Calderon-Gonzalez, Tobes, Garcia, Grijalvo, Paradela, Seoane, Sangari, Fresno, Calvo-Montes, Pérez Del Molino Bernal and Yañez-Diaz. ; The glycolytic enzyme and bacterial virulence factor of Listeria monocytogenes, the glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH, Lmo2459), ADP-ribosylated the small GTPase, Rab5a, and blocked phagosome maturation. This inhibitory activity localized within the NAD binding domain of GAPDH at the N-terminal 1–22 peptides, also conferred listeriosis protection when used in dendritic cell-based vaccines. In this study, we explore GAPDH of Listeria, Mycobacterium, and Streptococcus spp. taxonomic groups to search for epitopes that confer broad protection against pathogenic strains of these bacteria. GAPDH multivalent epitopes are selected if they induce inhibitory actions and wide-ranging immune responses. Proteomic isolation of GAPDH from dendritic cells infected with Listeria, Mycobacterium, or Streptococcus confirmed similar enzymatic, Rab5a inhibitory and immune stimulation abilities. We identified by bioinformatics and functional analyses GAPDH N-terminal 1–22 peptides from Listeria, Mycobacterium, and Streptococcus that shared 95% sequence homology, enzymatic activity, and B and T cell immune domains. Sera obtained from patients or mice infected with hypervirulent pathogenic Listeria, Mycobacterium, or Streptococcus presented high levels of anti-GAPDH 1–22 antibodies and Th2 cytokines. Monocyte derived dendritic cells from healthy donors loaded with GAPDH 1–22 peptides from Listeria, Mycobacterium, or Streptococcus showed activation patterns that correspond to cross-immunity abilities. In summary, GAPDH 1–22 peptides appeared as putative candidates to include in multivalent dendritic based vaccine platforms for Listeria, Mycobacterium, or Streptococcus. ; This research was funded by the CICYT program of the Ministry of Science and Innovation, grant number SAF2012-34203, the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII) grant numbers, DTS18-00022 and PI19-01580 to CA-D, the intramural CIBER-BNN grant number, CIB16-NM009 to IG and CA-D, to the Bio-health Research Program of Cantabria Government, grant number INNVAL19/26 to SY-D, CM, and CA-D; SAF2016-75988-R "Comunidad de Madrid (S2017/BMD-3671. INFLAMUNECM) and Fondo de Investigaciones Sanitarias" (BIOIMID) to MF and a Predoctoral contract to DS-C by Bio-health research program of Cantabria government. This study was co-funded in part with European FEDER funds, "A new way of making Europe" as well as funds from the COST European action ENOVA.