Open research Europe最新文献

Background: Export Promotion Agencies (EPAs) play a crucial role in facilitating the internationalization of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), contributing significantly to economic growth. The complexity of their operations, diversity of services provided, and challenges in attributing outcomes complicate the effective implementation of Performance Management Systems (PMSs).

Method: This study investigates how the Logic Model framework can be utilized as a strategic, structured, and flexible tool to design and implement PMSs tailored to the unique operational needs of EPAs. A qualitative, exploratory multiple-case study approach was applied, involving various types of EPAs within Spain-including provincial, regional, national, and a regional EPA belonging to a European network.

Results: The research identifies significant variability in PMS sophistication and logic model adoption across agencies. The Logic Model, emphasizing causal linkages between inputs, activities, outputs, and outcomes, offers EPAs a coherent framework to enhance transparency, accountability, and strategic learning. An extended illustrative case of a European-networked regional EPA highlights best practices in integrating structured client journeys, performance monitoring, and dynamic feedback mechanisms into service delivery.

Conclusion: This research proposes a comprehensive methodology for implementing Logic Model-based PMSs within EPAs, emphasizing stakeholder participation, flexible indicators, systematic service quality evaluation, and continuous adaptive management. By addressing the identified gaps in performance management practices within EPAs, the study contributes to both academic literature and practical guidelines, ultimately supporting the international competitiveness of SMEs and economic development objectives.

Understanding the interplay between ecological processes and human-built environments is key to addressing the entangled dynamics of marine and terrestrial landscapes, yet these relationships are often studied separately. This paper addresses this issue by exploring the socioecological histories of North Atlantic fishing landscapes, with a focus on Ísafjörður, situated in the Westfjords of Iceland, a critical site in the history of cod ( Gadus morhua) fisheries. It presents the outcomes of a weeklong workshop that explored the connections between urban development and cod populations through three thematic lenses: 1) the urban development of Ísafjörður, 2) the life cycle of cod, and 3) Icelandic fisheries. A range of interdisciplinary methods was applied, including archival photography analysis, historical mapping, cod movement pattern reconstruction, oceanographic data assessment, investigation of vessel technology, and fisheries data analysis. Our findings reveal overlapping timelines that link fish population cycles with patterns of urban growth, highlighting points of convergence where ecological and social dynamics intersect. Visual representation was used as an integrative tool to translate between marine processes and the built environment. By reflecting on the workshop's experiments and achievements, this paper proposes strategies for future research at the intersection of ecology, fisheries, and architecture.

Background: Light exposure plays a crucial role in human health, influencing sleep, circadian rhythms, and visual development. As wearable light loggers are increasingly used to monitor real-world light exposure, their design must balance metrological accuracy with comfort and usability.

Methods: We assessed the perceived wearability and appeal of eight light logger designs and placements (chest pin, wrist, necklace, sleeve collar, collar pin, neck loop, hat pin, and glasses) using an online survey completed by 145 participants (mean age 32 years, 52% female) from the UK, USA, and other countries worldwide. Each design was rated on overall attractiveness, likelihood of wear at home, at work, in public settings, in social contexts, during exercise, expected wear duration, and perceived interference with daily activities.

Results: The chest pin received the highest overall ratings, followed by wrist and necklace, while glasses and hat pin placements were rated lowest across most contexts. Likelihood of wear was highest in the home setting and significantly lower in social (β = -0.92 ± 0.08) and work (β = -0.84 ± 0.08) contexts. Compared to the chest pin, other placements were rated up to 2.6 points lower (e.g., glasses: β = -2.62 ± 0.10). Wearing position significantly influenced all ratings (p < 0.001), while sample location and gender showed minimal effects. The thematic analysis of free-text responses revealed concerns around comfort, appearance, stability, and interference with daily activities.

Conclusions: These findings highlight the importance of user-centred design and offer practical guidance for wearable light loggers that are acceptable in everyday contexts.

The growing demand for reproducible research is based on the expectation that publishing research in this form will enable its reuse and the generation of new knowledge. However, reproducibility alone does not guarantee these benefits. Users still need to make considerable efforts to understand the data and analysis code before they can reuse these components in other contexts. To address this challenge, we introduce the Data-to-Knowledge Package (D2K-Package), a collection of research materials including source code and open FAIR data, virtual labs, web API services, and computational workflows. The D2K-Package's core is the reproducible basis composed of the data and source code on which an analysis is based. This core is designed such that the other components can be derived from it. The main goal of the package is to help researchers generate new knowledge by facilitating the understanding and encouraging the reuse of reproducible research. We demonstrate the applicability of the D2K-Package with a hydrological use case which can be also used for testing, and discuss its seamless integration into the research cycle.

Background: The objective of this study is to explore the potential of Oxazole (Oxa, C ₃H ₃NO), a fascinating heterocyclic compound naturally present, which is a potential ligand in the construction of Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) for the selective capture of CO ₂ in a nitrogen-rich atmosphere, using both molecular and solid-state simulation techniques.

Methods: This study investigates the equilibrium structures and binding energies of van der Waals aggregates formed by an Oxazole molecule with nonpolar molecules such as CO ₂ and N ₂, considering both two-body systems (Oxazole-CO ₂ and Owazole-N ₂) and three-body systems (Oxazole-CO ₂-N ₂ and Oxazole-CO ₂/N ₂-Au ₆/Cu ₆/Zn ₃O ₃). Molecular computations for these systems are conducted using ab initio calculations at the MP2/aug-cc-pVXZ level of theory, where X = (D, T). Additionally, solid-state simulations analyze the adsorption behaviors and energies of Oxazole-CO ₂ and Oxazole-N ₂ on metallic surfaces:Au, Cu and ZnO(111) through Monte Carlo methods.

Results: We find that the Oxazole exhibits more adsorption selectivity for CO ₂ than for N ₂. Adding a second gas to the most stable complexes, Oxazole-CO ₂ and Oxazole-N ₂, the Oxazole capture ability does not vary. On the contrary, it strengthens the adsorption energy of three-body complexes compared to two-body complexes. The addition of metallic clusters (Au ₆, Cu ₆, Zn ₃O ₃) and metallic surfaces (Au, Cu, ZnO) enhances the adsorption capacity, where Cu ₆ is particularly efficient. Both ZnO and Cu surfaces offer significant adsorption advantages while remaining economically feasible.

Conclusions: This study demonstrates that Oxazole exhibits a strong selectivity for CO ₂ over N ₂, with the addition of metallic clusters and surfaces significantly enhancing its adsorption capacity. These findings highlight the potential of Oxazole-based materials for effective gas capture and separation, with positive implications for environmental sustainability.

Background: Direct-to-consumer genetic testing (DTC-GT) which provides genetic information directly to the public, has become widely available at a moderate cost. Since DTC-GT companies frequently recommend that consumers consult healthcare professionals for assistance in interpreting and using genetic health risk information, this could potentially have an impact on healthcare systems.

Methods: We performed a systematic review to assess: (1) the sharing behavior of actual DTC-GT consumers, (2) experiences of healthcare professionals regarding DTC-GT consumers sharing their test results and (3) healthcare utilization following DTC-GT, with a particular focus on validation of DTC-GT results and subsequent clinical actions. Our systematic review was registered in PROSPERO under the registration number CRD42024517079.

Results: Our search identified 40 unique articles eligible for inclusion that were published between 2009 en 2022. The proportion of participants who shared their DTC-GT test results with a health care professional ranged from 1% to 57%. DTC-GT consumers most commonly reported sharing their results with a primary healthcare professional. The proportion of health care professionals that had experiences with DTC-consumers sharing their test results ranged from 19% to 76%. The percentage of participants sharing their DTC-GT test with family members ranged from 18% to 98%. More detailed analysis indicated that this was frequently the case with partners, parents, and siblings. Sharing of test results with extended family members occurred less frequently. Several studies reported on instances of DTC-GT result validation and clinical actions performed based on the DTC-GT findings.

Conclusion: Conclusion While initial concerns about the impact of DTC-GT on health care systems have not fully materialized, the increasing number of consumers consulting with healthcare professionals underscores the need for preparedness and appropriate policy responses. Future research should prioritize standardizing study methodologies and expanding investigations beyond the U.S. context to better capture the global impact of DTC-GT.

As mobile networks evolve towards 6G, sustainability must be a central focus to address the environmental impacts of increasing energy consumption and resource use. This open letter highlights insights from the "Towards Sustainable 6G" workshop, where seven EU-funded projects - 6G4Society, BeGREEN, COALESCE, IN2CCAM, CENTRIC, 6Green, and 6G-TWIN - showcased innovative solutions for integrating energy efficiency, renewable energy, and ecological resilience into next-generation mobile networks. The projects emphasize AI-driven optimisation, sustainable infrastructure design, and cross-disciplinary collaboration as key strategies for reducing the ecological footprint of 6G systems. A joint statement underscores the necessity of embedding sustainability into 6G design, with follow-up activities planned to advance green telecommunications.

Background: Cost-effective, practical, and reproducible culture of human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) is required for basic and translational research. Basal 8 (B8) has emerged as a cost-effective solution for weekend-free and chemically-defined hPSC culture. However, the requirement to home-produce some recombinant growth factors for B8 can hinder access and reproducibility. Moreover, we found the published B8 formulation suboptimal in widely-used normoxic hPSC culture. Lastly, the performance of B8 in functional applications such as genome editing or organoid differentiation required systematic evaluation.

Methods: We formulated B8 with commercially available, growth factors and adjusted its composition to support normoxic culture of WTC11 human induced pluripotent stem cell line. We compared this formulation (B8+) with commercial Essential 8 (cE8) and a home-made, weekend-free E8 formulation (hE8). We measured pluripotency marker expression and cell cycle by flow cytometry, and investigated the transcriptional profiles by bulk and single-cell RNA sequencing. We further assessed genomic stability, genome editing efficiency, single-cell cloning, and differentiation in both monolayer and organoids. Finally, we validated key findings using male (H1) and female (H9) human embryonic stem cells.

Results: hE8 performed comparably to cE8 across most functional assays and cell lines. In contrast, cells in B8+ displayed higher NANOG expression and improved genome editing efficiency. At the same time, B8+ led to gene expression changes indicative of marked lineage priming, reflected in altered morphology and differential response to some differentiation protocols. Both weekend-free media resulted in a modest transcriptional shift towards a less metabolically active state, consistent with intermittent media starvation.

Conclusions: Homemade weekend-free media can provide a cost-effective alternative to commercial formulations. hE8, integrating some features of B8 while resembling cE8, emerges as a robust and practical option with limited compromises. B8+, though advantageous in some contexts, warrants caution due to lineage priming effects that may impact differentiation outcomes.

Background: Data preparation is a fundamental aspect of data engineering, a prerequisite for later tasks such as data visualization, reporting, and training machine learning models. Despite the recurring patterns in data transformation processes, the specific steps often vary depending on the project context, data sources, and application domain.

Methods: To address these challenges, this paper presents a flexible and extensible framework that enables the coordinated execution of modular data processing steps defined in a configuration file. By adopting a declarative, configuration-driven approach, the framework promotes modular, step-by-step development while substantially improving code reuse, maintainability, and adaptability. The framework also supports basic iterative execution constructs, such as loops and limited recursion, within the data pipeline definitions to accommodate more complex workflows.

Results: By enabling the reuse of existing code snippets, the framework shifts development efforts toward enhancing and refining a shared code base, rather than repeatedly creating project-specific, disposable implementations. The long-term benefits of this approach become increasingly apparent as the system evolves. As more generalized modules and functions are developed, they can reduce duplication and improve maintainability without sacrificing flexibility.

Conclusions: To assess the effectiveness of the framework, we apply cyclomatic complexity as a metric, demonstrating how the proposed approach impacts the development effort across some relatively simple, real-world data engineering scenarios.

High-quality reference genomes are critical resources for understanding biodiversity and supporting conservation efforts. We present the chromosome-level assembly of the Spanish moon moth, Actias isabellae (Graells, 1849), a nocturnal lepidopteran protected under the EU Habitats Directive. The assembly spans 0.56 Gb across 31 pseudomolecules, including the Z chromosome, with a contig N50 of 18.9 Mb and a scaffold N50 of 20.4 Mb. The mitochondrial genome was also assembled into a 15,247 bp circular sequence. Annotation identified 11,805 protein-coding genes and 2,238 non-coding genes, with a BUSCO completeness of over 94%. Notably, no W chromosome was detected, suggesting a ZZ/Z0 sex determination system. This reference genome provides an essential foundation for studying sex chromosome evolution in Lepidoptera and enables advanced population genomics monitoring of this protected species. More broadly, it contributes to ongoing efforts within the European Reference Genome Atlas and the Earth BioGenome Project to harness genomics for biodiversity conservation.