Social business as a sustainable business model: making capitalism anti-fragile

In the last two centuries, developed nations have had an unprecedented generation of wealth showing a strong economic progress. Unfortunately, such economic development has not been witnessed in all countries and it does not represent the holistic face of the social progress. The main reason stands in the ideological limitations of capitalism itself, often ignoring local communities and environment while focusing exclusively on profit maximization, market share, dividends and bonuses. This failure it is also because of the division between two basic entities: nonprofit and for profit sectors. The segregation created between the economic values and social values, has created a system where the two different entities have failed to capture and integrate the multi-dimensional nature of the human being to satisfy social needs. Because of this increasing tension, the society needs to find a common ground solution, where the social and economic benefits of these two entities are merged together to generate an anti-fragile system. This research is an attempt to determine if the social business (SB) is capable to solve the problems arose from the free market idealogy, nonprofit philosophy, and the consequent social and economic inefficiency. Thus, the boundaries between the private, public and nonprofit sectors need to be changed. In addition, it is aimed to show that SB can solve social, economic, and environmental problems by using the entrepreneurial engine and the profit instrument, proving at the end to be by default a sustainable business model that respects the triple bottom line approach. The investigation method is based on literature review and theory development from three different fields: economics, development studies, and nonprofit management.     

对我国生态系统服务研究局限性的思考及建议

自1997年生态系统服务的概念引入我国以来，我国学术界关于生态系统服务的研究呈现指数水平上升，但是研究的内容局限于不同区域和不同类型生态系统服务的价值化评估。评估结果的科学性和现实有效性受到质疑。本文结合我国目前的实际需求，我国生态系统服务研究的误区以及对千年生态系统评估（MA）研究成果的思考，认为目前和日后生态系统服务研究可以加强如下几个方面的研究：一是生态系统服务对人类福祉贡献的研究；二是生态系统服务功能退化现状的研究：三是生态系统服务退化原因和对策的研究。以丰富爱国生态系统服务研究的内窑。并为生态系统服务价值评估研究提供基础和补充。     

Recycled Polyethylene Composites Reinforced with Jute Fabric from Sackcloth: Part I-Preparation and Preliminary Assessment

In recent times, environmental safety has been on priority in the development of new materials leading to a recycling and reuse approach to conserve the materials resources. This has resulted in more focus on the application of natural materials such as lignocellulosic fibers. This paper presents the characterization of continuous and aligned jute fabrics obtained from new and used sacks as well as the preparation and characterization of their composites incorporated into recycled polyethylene or as isolated pieces up to 40 wt%. These environmentally friendly composites were subjected to bend test and the fracture surface analyzed by SEM. The fabric from new sacks showed greater damage tolerance than that from the used sacks. The flexural stress increased steadily with increasing used fabric content up to 30 wt%, which is explained using fractographic studies on ruptured specimens. Used jute fabric composites are found to be viable alternative materials for low strength conventional materials based on cost–performance comparison with conventional materials.     

Synthesis of Biobased Soft-Packaging Polyesters from 2,5 Thiophenedicarboxylic Acid

Journal of Polymers and the Environment - Demand for light-packaging materials for food and beverages is on the rise globally, especially in developing countries where several depend on packaged...     

Sequestration of prenylated benzoic acid and chromenes by Naupactus bipes (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) feeding on Piper gaudichaudianum (Piperaceae)

The curculionid beetle Naupactus bipes (Germar, 1824) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Brachycerinae) has shown feeding preference for leaves of Piper gaudichaudianum, demonstrating an unexpected specificity for an insect considered to be a generalist. The leaves of P. gaudichaudianum contain the prenylated chromenes gaudichaudianic acid (4, major compound) and its methyl ester (5) in addition to a chromene (3) lacking one prenyl residue. In addition to 4, roots contain the chromone methyl ester (1) and methyl taboganate (2, major compound). Feeding on roots, larvae of N. bipes sequester exclusively the root-specific compounds 1 and 2. Adult beetles sequester the leaf-specific chromenes 3 and 4, but were found to also contain compounds 1 and 2 that are absent in leaves. Therefore, it is suggested that 1 and 2 are sequestered by larvae and can be found in the body of adult insects after long-term storage. In addition, 3 and 4, the major compounds in leaves were found to be associated with the eggs.     

Robotic testing of radio frequency devices designed for industrial safety

An experimental setup is proposed to test the performance of safety devices based on radio frequency technology. The setup specifically tests devices designed for improving safety in dangerous areas of small size, such as those surrounding power press brakes. Tested here is a radio frequency identification (RFID) prototype, whose main objective is to prevent accidents by sending a stop signal to a machine when a worker’s wrist, bearing an RFID tag, gets too close to the dangerous area. An ABB IRB 2400L robot is used as a reference system; this system is capable of providing millimeter accuracy. A plastic hand and a wristband with at least one passive RFID tag are attached to the end of the robot arm, which emulates the behavior of a human arm. With this robotic approach, it is possible to test trajectories with different velocities and orientations and to simulate several risky situations associated with machine use. Several experiments are presented that were conducted with the RFID prototype, and statistics are reported on the distance detection capability of this safety system with respect to the plane that defines the dangerous area. A matrix approach is proposed for analyzing the robustness of safety devices that are designed to automatically prevent a worker entering in dangerous areas. The results show the benefits that development of a radio frequency device of this class could confer towards increasing worker safety.     

Heavy metals in top core sediments from the southern Campania shelf (Italy): Hints to define large-scale geochemical backgrounds

The results of a geochemical survey carried out on the southern Campania shelf (southern Italy) are illustrated, offering a tempting opportunity to discuss the statement and definition of regional geochemical backgrounds for selected heavy metals. A total of 104 top core sediments, collected on average 1.5 km from one another and covering a shelf area of about 1300 km², were analysed for grain size, organic carbon content (OC), and heavy-metal (As, Al, Fe, Cd, V, Cr, Zn, Cu, Ni, Hg, and Pb) concentrations. The characteristics of the area, scarcely influenced by industrial activities, and the extensive data set, make this study suitable for an appropriate multivariate and spatial geostatistical methodologies used for i) a reliable definition of large-scale marine sediments' geochemical backgrounds and ii) an accurate discrimination of different geological controls on trace-element distribution patterns. Enrichment factors estimated with respect to both the average shale composition and the weighted average metal concentrations measured in inland soils rule out significant anthropogenic inputs. A spatial-geostatistics approach (kriging of spatial component based on an accurate implementation of variographic surveying) was applied, and this is proposed as an appropriate quantitative methodology to define the geochemical backgrounds for the different heavy metals. Two nested spatial structures were identified for some of the heavy metals, thus allowing clear identification of local and regional geochemical controls related to the different spatial variability of grain size.