Suchergebnisse

Life Cycles of both products and services significantly consume renewable and non-renewable resources across a worldwide scale. Thus, eliciting an enormous environmental impact, that is known to disproportionately instigate crises into the socio-economic and political domains of our civilization. Therefore, Creation of Shared Value and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) have been considered by Policy makers, Public and Private Institutions. In addition to Corporate Philanthropy, CSR practices also encompass a wide spectrum of activities, including Stakeholder safety/welfare, designing sustainable products and ecological restoration to name a few which are ascertained to capital and knowledge intensive in nature. Therefore, this paper primarily structures the scope of CSR and proposes a mechanism for trading Corporate Social Responsibility credits in order to incentivize stakeholder centered business practices. Furthermore, the CSR credits trading methodology would entail similar mechanisms used by its remotely successful predecessors namely, tax incentives, tradable credits/certificates and flexible mechanisms for implementing sustainable projects. The CSR credits trading methodology is envisioned to entail a more holistic approach towards overall Sustainability when compared to Carbon Offsets/Renewable Energy Certificates which are more focused towards reducing the environmental footprint. ; The author acknowledges the contribution of MIT Portugal Program, University of Minho and Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT), Portugal (Foundation Of Science and Technology, Portugal) for the scholarship grant SFRH / BD / 33794 / ...

First published: 1 September 2013 ; The inefficacy of the currently used therapies in achieving the regeneration ad integrum of the periodontium stimulates the search for alternative approaches, such as tissue-engineering strategies. Therefore, the core objective of this study was to develop a biodegradable double-layer scaffold for periodontal tissue engineering. The design philosophy was based on a double-layered construct obtained from a blend of starch and poly-ε-caprolactone (30:70 wt%; SPCL). A SPCL fibre mesh functionalized with silanol groups to promote osteogenesis was combined with a SPCL solvent casting membrane aiming at acting as a barrier against the migration of gingival epithelium into the periodontal defect. Each layer of the double-layer scaffolds was characterized in terms of morphology, surface chemical composition, degradation behaviour and mechanical properties. Moreover, the behaviour of seeded/cultured canine adipose-derived stem cells (cASCs) was assessed. In general, the developed double-layered scaffolds demonstrated adequate degradation and mechanical behaviour for the target application. Furthermore, the biological assays revealed that both layers of the scaffold allow adhesion and proliferation of the seeded undifferentiated cASCs, and the incorporation of silanol groups into the fibre-mesh layer enhance the expression of a typical osteogenic marker. This study allowed an innovative construct to be developed, combining a three-dimensional (3D) scaffold with osteoconductive properties and with potential to assist periodontal regeneration, carrying new possible solutions to current clinical needs . ; The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013; under Grant Agreement No. REGPOT-CT2012-316331-POLARIS) and from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT; Grant No, MIT/ECE/0047/2009). Joao Requicha acknowledges the FCT for his PhD scholarship ( Grant No. ...