Federal Institute Research Articles

Lessons learned in a decade: Medical-toxicological view of tattooing.

Tattooing has been part of the human culture for thousands of years, yet only in the past decades has it entered the mainstream of the society. With the rise in popularity, tattoos also gained attention among researchers, with the aim to better understand the health risks posed by their application. 'A medical-toxicological view of tattooing'-a work published in The Lancet almost a decade ago, resulted from the international collaboration of various experts in the field. Since then, much understanding has been achieved regarding adverse effects, treatment of complications, as well as their regulation for improving public health. Yet major knowledge gaps remain. This review article results from the Second International Conference on Tattoo Safety hosted by the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) and provides a glimpse from the medical-toxicological perspective, regulatory strategies and advances in the analysis of tattoo inks.

Reverse logistics and sustainability: the case of the Federal Institute of Acre, Brazil

The implementation of sustainable practices in the educational context is fundamental to foster a culture of environmental and social responsibility. This study investigates reverse logistics practices at the Rio Branco Campus of the Federal Institute of Acre (IFAC), aiming to identify implemented actions, challenges faced, and propose strategies to strengthen the institutional commitment to sustainability. Using a mixed-method approach, we combined documentary analysis of the internal regulations and the Institutional Development Plan (IDP) with semi-structured interviews with members of the academic community. The documentary analysis revealed institutional alignment with sustainable practices, evidenced by environmental and social responsibility goals in IFAC's IDP. However, the lack of specific guidelines for post-consumer reverse logistics suggests the need for improvement. Interviews highlighted employees' awareness of sustainability and reverse logistics as positive, but pointed to the lack of clear guidelines as a gap. Although the Rio Branco Campus of IFAC demonstrates a commitment to sustainability, there is room for improvement in integrating post-consumer reverse logistics practices. We recommend the inclusion of specific goals and strategies for solid waste management in the IDP, as well as a more comprehensive approach to sustainability in institutional policies. These final considerations establish a basis for future research and practical improvements, aiming to strengthen the institutional commitment to sustainability at IFAC.

ОСОБЕННОСТИ ОПЕРАЦИОННОЙ СИСТЕМЫ ASTRA LINUX

The features of the Astra Linux operating system developed by based on the kernel of the Linux operating system as part of the implementation of the state program on the creation and use of free software with a license for free copying and installation for an unlimited number of users, including the structure of the architecture of the Linux operating system, characteristics of its kernel, features of file and graphic systems, as well as office software packages Star Office and K Office. Distributions of the Astra Linux operating system are described, which are used as part of the implementation of the plan for the transition of federal budgetary institutions to the use of free software. The proprietary graphical system (Astra Linux user shell) Fly, which is conceptually a mixture of Windows and KDE graphical environments, is examined in detail. The features of different versions of the «MyOffice» office software package are considered, including a text editor, a spreadsheet processor, a presentation program, a server, and a data storage system and client applications.

Effect of acyclovir therapy on the outcome of mechanically ventilated patients with lower respiratory tract infection and detection of herpes simplex virus in bronchoalveolar lavage: protocol for a multicentre, randomised controlled trial (HerpMV)

IntroductionHerpes simplex virus (HSV) is frequently detected in the respiratory tract of mechanically ventilated patients and is associated with a worse outcome. The aim of this study is to determine...

EXAMINING PRESIDENTIAL IMMUNITY: THE JANUARY 6 RIOT, TRUMP, AND THE 14TH AMENDMENT - AN IMPERATIVE CONSIDERATION OF CONSTITUTIONAL LAW

The work critically engulfs the events surrounding the January 6 riot, interactions, Trump’s alleged involvement, and the application of the 14th Amendment’s Section 3. The central question of the study puzzles on whether the said Amendment grants States jurisprudence to determine or alter presidential immunity. Drawing on Montesquieu's theory of separation of powers - a natural pillar of Federalism that was fundamental in drafting the US Constitution, the work embarks on an exploration that investigates the intersections of States prerogatives on Federal institutions. Building on these constructions, the work delves into intricate legal debates interlocking constitutional interpretation, and emphasizing its potential ramifications. The study employs comparative methodology; incorporating the ten Southern-States that barred Abraham Lincoln, and the case of USA vs Nixon. The approach illuminates political materialism, an enduring theme in American politics, thus, producing a better understanding of the state of the art, through the intrinsic corollaries of federalism in the ever evolving extensive milieus of political constitutionalism and legal canons.

Responsibilities and perception of course coordinating professors of the curso de Licenciatura em Matemática no IFSP regarding the scope of the function

This article, an excerpt from the author's thesis, presents the responsibilities and impressions of the teachers who served as Coordination of Degree in Mathematics, at the Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of São Paulo (IFSP), between 2008 (the first institutional offer of the course) and 2021 (date of data collection), regarding the exercise of the function. With the central objective of identifying how the function demands pedagogical and educational management dimensions, we started with institutional documents and qualitative research data, obtained in a questionnaire sent to all (former) coordinators of the aforementioned period. By opting to categorize the data, two dimensions were obtained: pedagogical and educational management. This movement resulted in the characterization of the function as articulating, formative and transformative, from the point of view of the pedagogical dimension. As well as educational management consisting of leadership, democratic processes, participatory management and organizational culture and climate. (In)directly impacting the initial training of future mathematics teachers.

Driving transformation in higher education: Exploring the process and impact of educational innovations for sustainability through interdisciplinary studies

AbstractIn recent years, there has been a growing focus on innovation research, particularly in the manufacturing and information technology sectors in the US and Europe. However, the disruptions caused by the recent pandemic called for more innovations, especially in the education industry. Innovation is viewed as an outcome of a set of various drivers. This study explored faculty perspectives on the drivers of innovation that can transform the curriculum into an interdisciplinary model to promote sustainability in education. Additionally, it examined the relationship between these drivers and the outcome of innovation, particularly at the process level. An explanatory sequential mixed‐method approach was employed to collect quantitative and qualitative data from a purposeful sample of 60 faculty members at one federal higher education institution in the United Arab Emirates. Findings indicated that while there is a correlation between the drivers and process of innovation and sustainability in education, other factors played a more significant role in facilitating this transformation. Empowering faculty members and involving them in the process of transformation, connecting them with the institutional vision and mission for innovation, fostering a clear understanding of the value of the transformation, providing faculty with continuous professional learning and development opportunities to promote the use of innovative pedagogical methods, are among the key factors.

Labor inclusion of deaf individuals: the education/work relationship

Many discussions have brought up the issue of Special/Inclusive Education as an essential factor for people with disabilities. However, after the educational period, a question is important to ask about the lives of these social actors. Survival is crucial and perhaps some will start to live off the charity of others or the state. It is believed that the insertion into the job market is also crucial for them to have autonomy and more independence. Therefore, this research presents the scenario of labor inclusion of deaf people, seeking to understand the education/work relationship. The primary objective of this article is to analyze the proportion of influence of the educational process on the inclusion of deaf people in the formal job market in São Luís/MA. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews in the city of São Luís/MA, with four deaf participants, formally linked to federal spheres and private companies, in the following federal public institutions: the Federal University of Maranhão (UFMA) and the National Institute of Social Security (INSS) and two private companies in the retail sector. The results showed that education strongly influences the inclusion of deaf people in the job market. Therefore, access to higher education is a big step towards seeking vacancies in public positions, with better salaries, while a process interrupted in secondary education could allow for more exhaustive jobs in private companies that hire deaf people just to comply with what the quotas law recommends.

Reckoning with Colonial Legacies of Harm: Victoria’s Yoorrook Justice Commission

ABSTRACT Australia’s colonial era is formally over. Yet the legacies of structural inequality, dispossession, exploitation and racism against Indigenous Australia remain alive and well. In 2021, Victoria established the Yoorrook Justice Commission, culminating in a formal truth-telling and treaty process. Seeking to address harm since colonization, the state process is unprecedented both nationally and abroad. This article considers the relevance of the commission to truth recovery, accountability and structural reform in Australia. To date, national efforts to deal with the colonial past have been piecemeal and relatively ineffective. The Yoorrook Justice Commission departs from previous single-issue inquiries as well as from reconciliation policies driven by white-Australian federal institutions. While the Commission is not a panacea for resolving colonial injustice, it provides an important means of relational and structural truth-telling towards more just relations and righting racial wrongs. Ultimately, the Yoorrook Justice Commission sets a valuable precedent for Australia and other postcolonial nations. Its level of Indigenous ownership, its authority as a Royal Commission and the breadth of its inquiry make it a significant transitional justice project.

Determinants of Academic Satisfaction: An Empirical Analysis of a Brazilian National Institute

Objective: The present investigation aims to identify the explanatory factors for academic satisfaction, as well as the influence that the identified factors have on the degree of academic satisfaction in its global context and on the chances of the institution's recommendation to friends and family.
  
 Method: The investigation was conducted with a sample of 290 students from the Federal Institute of Education, Science, and Technology of Piauí (FIEPI-Campus Oeiras). The instrument used for data collection was a questionnaire. The statistical techniques used were of a descriptive, exploratory, and multivariate nature for the treatment, analysis, and validation of the results.
  
 Results and Discussion: The results indicate that Academic Satisfaction is determined by the factors (1) Teaching Environment and (2) Structural Environment and that there is a significant decrease in Academic Satisfaction when students move from the group from High School to Higher Education due to the determinants satisfaction.
  
 Research Implications: The development of strategies for the maintenance and attraction of new students by FIEPI-Campus Oeiras and other educational institutions must be based on academic satisfaction considering their specificities, namely, concerning the different perceptions and expectations generated by students about educational services.
  
 Originality/Value: The relevance of this investigation is based on the fact that the measurement of student satisfaction by a given educational institution becomes essential for it to understand the perception of its students about its products and services, enabling the identification of new ways of generating satisfaction and loyalty.

Predictive value of a novel digital risk calculator to determine early patient outcomes after major surgery: a proof-of-concept pilot study

BackgroundA structured risk assessment of patients with validated and evidence-based tools can help to identify modifiable factors before major surgeries. The Protego Maxima trial investigated the value of a new digitized risk assessment tool that combines tools which can be easily used and implemented in the clinical workflow by doctors and qualified medical staff. The hypothesis was that the structured assessment and risk-grouping is predictive of short-term surgical quality reflected by complications and overall survival.MethodsThe Protego Maxima Trial was a prospective cohort analysis of patients undergoing major surgery (visceral, thoracic, urology, vascular and gynecologic surgeries) as key inclusion criterion and the absence of an acute or acute on chronically decompensated pulmo-cardiovascular decompensation. Patients were risk-scored with the software (The Prehab App) that includes a battery of evidence-based risk assessment tools that allow a structured risk assessment. The data were grouped to predefined high and low risk groups and aggregate and individual scores. The primary outcome was to validate the predictive value of the RAI score and the TUG for overall survival in the high and low risk groups. Secondary outcomes were surgical outcomes at 90-days after surgery (overall survival, Clavien-Dindo (CD) 1–5 (all complications), and CD 3–5 (major complications)). The study was carried out in accordance with the DIN ISO 14,155, and the medical device regulation (MDR) at Frankfurt University Hospital between March 2022 and January 2023.ResultsIn total 267 patients were included in the intention to treat analysis. The mean age was 62.1 ± 12.4 years. Patients with a RAI score > 25 and/or a timed up and go (TUG) > 8 s had a higher risk for mortality at 90 days after surgery. The low-risk group predicted beneficial outcome and the high-risk group predicted adverse outcome in the ROC analysis (Area Under the Curve Receiver Operator Characteristics: AUROC > 0.800; p = 0.01). Risk groups (high vs. low) showed significant differences for 90-day survival (99.4% vs. 95.5%; p = 0.04) and major complications (16.4% vs. 32.4%; p < 0.001).ConclusionThe proof-of-concept trial showed that a risk assessment with ‘The Prehab App’ may be viable to estimate the preoperative risk for mortality and major complications before major surgeries. The overall performance in this initial set of data indicated a certain reliability of the scoring and risk grouping, especially of the RAI score and the TUG. A larger data set will be required to proof the generalizability of the risk scoring to every subgroup and may be fostered by artificial intelligence approaches.Trial registrationEthics number: 2021-483-MDR/MPDG-zuständig monocentric; The Federal Institute for Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices/BfArM, reference number: 94.1.04-5660-13655; Eudamed: CIV-21-07-0307311; German Clinical Trial Registry: DRKS 00026985.

HIV status of individuals who underwent pre-employment medical screening at a federal tertiary health institution in southeast Nigeria

Background: The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) targets the host immune system, particularly the CD4 T cells. The host resistance to opportunistic and non-opportunistic infections such as tuberculosis, fungal infections, severe bacterial infections, and several malignancies is weakened as a result of destruction of these CD4 cells by HIV. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of HIV among individuals who participated in pre-employment medical screening at David Umahi Federal University Teaching Hospital Uburu, Ebonyi State, Nigeria, with the aim of connecting those who are HIV-positive to voluntary counseling and treatment programs.&#x0D; Methodology: This was a retrospective analysis of the medical records of 537 eligible participants who underwent pre-employment medical screening exercise, and whose blood samples were tested for presence of HIV antibodies at the University Teaching Hospital, using the Determine HIV-1/2 (T1) and Unigold HIV-1/2 (T2), and the tie breaker Statpak HIV-1/2 (T3) tests. The serological results were interpreted according to the national HIV testing algorithm, with test result declared negative for HIV antibodies if T1 was negative or if only T1 was positive but T2 and T3 were both negative.&#x0D; Results: Of the total record of 756 pre-employment participants for the medical screening exercise, only 537 met the inclusion criteria for the study. The mean age of the 537 participants was 34.2±6.9 and age range of 18-67 years; 325 (61.0%) were females while 212 (39.0%) were males. The seroprevalence of HIV among the study participants was 2.4% (13/537), with 1.4% (3/212) in the males and 3.1% (10/325) in the females (x2=0.879, OR=0.45; 95% CI=0.12-1.60, p=0.3485). Only participants in the age range 26–35 and 36–45 years were HIV seropositive, with prevalence of 2.9% (9/310) and 2.4% (4/169) respectively but the HIV seroprevalence was not significantly associated with age and gender of the participants (p&gt;0.05).&#x0D; Conclusion: The study findings provide useful information for the hospital administration of the HIV situation of its planned workforce, which will help with decisions on HIV positive participants to enrol in antiretroviral therapy program.&#x0D; Contexte: Le virus de l'immunodéficience humaine (VIH) cible le système immunitaire de l'hôte, en particulier les lymphocytes T CD4. La résistance de l'hôte aux infections opportunistes et non opportunistes telles que la tuberculose, les infections fongiques, les infections bactériennes graves et plusieurs tumeurs malignes est affaiblie en raison de la destruction de ces cellules CD4 par le VIH. Le but de cette étude était de déterminer la prévalence du VIH chez les personnes ayant participé à un dépistage médical préalable à l'emploi à l'hôpital universitaire fédéral David Umahi d'Uburu, dans l'État d'Ebonyi, au Nigeria, dans le but de connecter les personnes séropositives à des conseils volontaires et des programmes de traitement.&#x0D; Méthodologie: Il s'agissait d'une analyse rétrospective des dossiers médicaux de 537 participants éligibles qui ont subi un exercice de dépistage médical préalable à l'emploi et dont les échantillons de sang ont été testés pour la présence d'anticorps anti-VIH à l'hôpital universitaire, à l'aide du système de détermination du VIH-1/2 (T1) et Unigold HIV-1/2 (T2), ainsi que les tests de départage Statpak HIV-1/2 (T3). Les résultats sérologiques ont été interprétés selon l'algorithme national de dépistage du VIH, le résultat du test étant déclaré négatif pour les anticorps anti-VIH si T1 était négatif ou si seul T1 était positif mais que T2 et T3 étaient tous deux négatifs.&#x0D; Résultats: Sur le total de 756 participants préalables à l'emploi pour l'exercice de sélection médicale, seuls 537 répondaient aux critères d'inclusion de l'étude. L'âge moyen des 537 participants était de 34,2±6,9 ans et la tranche d'âge était de 18 à 67 ans; 325 (61,0%) étaient des femmes tandis que 212 (39,0%) étaient des hommes. La séroprévalence du VIH parmi les participants à l'étude était de 2,4% (13/537), dont 1,4% (3/212) chez les hommes et 3,1% (10/325) chez les femmes (x2=0,879; OR=0,45; 95% IC=0,12-1,60; p=0,3485). Seuls les participants âgés de 26 à 35 ans et de 36 à 45 ans étaient séropositifs au VIH, avec une prévalence de 2,9% (9/310) et 2,4% (4/169) respectivement, mais la séroprévalence du VIH n'était pas significativement associée à l'âge et au sexe des personnes les participants (p&gt;0,05).&#x0D; Conclusion: Les résultats de l'étude fournissent des informations utiles à l'administration hospitalière sur la situation VIH de sa main-d'oeuvre prévue, ce qui aidera à prendre des décisions concernant les participants séropositifs à s'inscrire à un programme de thérapie antirétrovirale.

Anglo-Russian Military Cooperation in the Year of 1799:&#x0D; Based on the Materials from the «Journal of the Dutch Expedition» by I. Fiodorov

For centuries England and Russia most often acted as antagonists during&#x0D; major military conflicts. Only three times in the century-long history of relations were&#x0D; they military-political allies and partners: in the late 18th and early 19th centuries&#x0D; during the First and Second World Wars. In this article, based on the analysis of the&#x0D; «Journal of the Dutch Expedition» by Ivan Fiodorov – a document stored in the archives of the Federal Institute of the Russian History of the Russian Academy of&#x0D; Sciences of St. Petersburg, which had never before been involved by historians, an attempt is made to characterize (based on the text of this document) Anglo-Russian military cooperation in the years of the Second Coalition war against Republican France, an important element of which was so-called «Secret Expedition» in the autumn of 1799 to Holland in which both English and Russian troops took part.

The Conflict between Regulatory Agencies over the 20,000-Fold Lowering of the Tolerable Daily Intake (TDI) for Bisphenol A (BPA) by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) recommended lowering their estimated tolerable daily intake (TDI) for bisphenol A (BPA) 20,000-fold to . BPA is an extensively studied high production volume endocrine disrupting chemical (EDC) associated with a vast array of diseases. Prior risk assessments of BPA by EFSA as well as the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have relied on industry-funded studies conducted under good laboratory practice protocols (GLP) requiring guideline end points and detailed record keeping, while also claiming to examine (but rejecting) thousands of published findings by academic scientists. Guideline protocols initially formalized in the mid-twentieth century are still used by many regulatory agencies. EFSA used a 21st century approach in its reassessment of BPA and conducted a transparent, but time-limited, systematic review that included both guideline and academic research. The German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) opposed EFSA's revision of the TDI for BPA. We identify the flaws in the assumptions that the German BfR, as well as the FDA, have used to justify maintaining the TDI for BPA at levels above what a vast amount of academic research shows to cause harm. We argue that regulatory agencies need to incorporate 21st century science into chemical hazard identifications using the CLARITY-BPA (Consortium Linking Academic and Regulatory Insights on BPA Toxicity) nonguideline academic studies in a collaborative government-academic program model. We strongly endorse EFSA's revised TDI for BPA and support the European Commission's (EC) apparent acceptance of this updated BPA risk assessment. We discuss challenges to current chemical risk assessment assumptions about EDCs that need to be addressed by regulatory agencies to, in our opinion, become truly protective of public health. Addressing these challenges will hopefully result in BPA, and eventually other structurally similar bisphenols (called regrettable substitutions) for which there are known adverse effects, being eliminated from all food-related and many other uses in the EU and elsewhere. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP13812.

Epirubicin for the Treatment of Sepsis and Septic Shock (EPOS-1): study protocol for a randomised, placebo-controlled phase IIa dose-escalation trial

IntroductionSepsis remains the major cause of death among hospitalised patients in intensive care. While targeting sepsis-causing pathogens with source control or antimicrobials has had a dramatic impact on morbidity and...

Reflections on the Social Challenges of Federal Institutes

O objetivo deste artigo é refletir sobre as lógicas da sociedade hegemônica das quais os Institutos Federais precisam compreender para  construir um novo modelo de educação profissional orientado a um novo modelo de sociedade mais igualitária social, cultural e econômica. As reflexões permitem compreender que as Instituições, em sua prática convencional, de forma inconsciente, reproduzem a estrutura de pensamentos responsável por gerar a desigualdades sociais. E conclui que, para cumprir com a missão social é necessário compreender a fundo estes mecanismos e readequar os processos pedagógicos para uma prática crítica e reflexiva.

Teachable monuments: using the captain Kirk memorial for formal and informal history education

This study, part of the project “Museums, Monuments and Communities: Places of Public Memory,” investigates the unique value of the Captain Kirk Memorial, including those of the Aniz Domingos Museum and the Archives of the Federal Institute of Paraná as pedagogical tools in formal and informal learning environments about the Contestado War (1912-1916). These spaces, located in União da Vitória-PR and Porto União-SC, respectively, are not just monuments but “living entities” that engage the public, especially the students of the Thomaz Padilha School. Inaugurated in 2015, the Captain Kirk Memorial celebrates the historical significance of the Contestado War, which influenced public memory and often diverged from other narratives.  Analyzing monuments and historical archives and conducting a community study between 2021 and 2022, we seek to deepen our understanding of the interconnections between monuments and memory, based on public history, and Oral history. We highlight the importance of pedagogical and exhibition practices, which not only provoke reflections on memory and history but also culminate in the creation of a monument for the centenary of the District of Taquara Verde, Caçador-SC, a significant site in the memory of the Contestado War. Thus, the project allowed the students and the community to connect with the past and reflect on the links between personal memory, the memory of the Brazilian army, and the memory of the thousands of caboclos-sertanejos (backlands) killed in the Contestado War. Therefore, these sites are not only educational means but also environments for dialog and understanding the dynamics of public memory. These are crucial for developing a diverse and shared historical consciousness.

Understanding moral distress in home-care nursing: An interview study.

Moral distress is a far-reaching problem for nurses in different settings as it threatens their health. This study examined which situations lead to moral distress in home-care nursing, how and with which consequences home-care nurses experience moral distress, and how they cope with morally stressful situations and the resulting moral distress. A qualitative interview study with reflexive thematic analysis was used. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 20 home-care nurses in Germany. The study was approved by the Data Protection Office and Ethics Committee of the German Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Twenty (14 female and 6 male) home-care nurses were interviewed between April and August 2023 at their chosen location. The situations leading to moral distress were inadequate care of the person in need of care, not being able to protect one's health, extended responsibility for the entire care arrangement, work-privacy conflicts, and conflicts between the understanding of care or professional ethics and the performance and billing system. The nurses experienced moral distress as they worked alone and provided care in the patient's territory. Short- and long-term strains with destructive cognitions, negative emotions, physical symptoms, and health consequences were reported. They faced challenges in coping with moral distress on institutional and individual levels. In cases of tension between the service and billing system and the understanding of these nurses' care services, moral distress is unavoidable. Alternative forms of organization and billing modalities, such as payment by time and the expansion and refinancing of service, should be implemented. The latter relates to systematic case and ethics meetings. Further, a transfer of medical activities, such as the prescription of wound material to registered nurses, could prevent morally stressful situations and improve patients' quality of care.

A material world: how can materiality assessments be used to define organizational sustainability priorities, while taking into account the United Nations’ SDGs?

Purpose This paper aims to contribute to existing academic work and business practice by presenting original empirical findings and by providing insights into priority setting on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in organizations. From an academic viewpoint, it not only adds to previous work on the topic of SDG materiality (e.g. Van Tulder and Lucht, 2019) but also aims to contribute new insights into the steps that are crucial and influence the adoption of the SDGs in materiality assessments. It may also add to the literature by providing new knowledge on the strategic considerations that organizations may make and institutional dynamics that encourage organizations to implement the SDG materiality method. Design/methodology/approach By executing a national survey research in Belgium through a collaboration between academics of Antwerp Management School, Louvain School of Management (UCLouvain) and the University of Antwerp, and supported by Belgium’s Federal Institute of Sustainable Development, the authors have obtained several insights into the SDG landscape in Belgium for various types of organizations, including companies, governmental and nongovernmental organizations and educational institutions. This research builds further on a first national survey (SDG Barometer Belgium, 2018) on the adoption and implementation of the SDGs. However, an important aim of this research is to shift the emphasis to more prominent new elements, such as whether or not organizations use the SDGs in materiality assessments. While the main part of the data for this research were collected through an online questionnaire, document analyses were conducted based on the sustainability reports of BEL 20 companies, the benchmark stock market index of Euronext Brussels consisting of 20 companies traded at the Brussels Stock Exchange, and seven interviews were held to obtain additional insights. Findings A total of 386 organizations across sectors responded to the question “Does your organization perform a materiality analysis”, of which 210 organizations completed the question “Does your organization align the materiality analysis with the SDGs,”after an “exit route” based on a positive answer to the first question. When diving into the survey results, the authors see that no more than 12% of the 210 organizations performing a materiality analysis align their materiality analysis with the SDGs, while 14% indicate that they do not account for the SDGs at all in their materiality analyses. The results show that 41% of the organizations take into account the SDGs to a certain degree when performing their materiality analysis. Speculating on an explanation for these results, it may be the case that organizations do not yet think about coupling the SDGs to their materiality assessment, experience difficulties in practice or generally lack the knowledge for relating the SDGs to the sustainability topics that are relevant to them. This seems in line with other research (e.g. Van Tulder and Lucht, 2019), as the results of this study indicate that it seems to be difficult for organizations to relate the SDGs to the existing sustainability priorities or materiality analyses of companies. Originality/value The real contribution of this paper essentially lies in the description of the Janssen Pharmaceuticals case. The company recognized that today’s internally focused approach to goal setting is not enough to address global challenges. Hence, looking at what is needed externally from a global perspective, taking into account sustainability thresholds and setting ambitions accordingly, is needed to bridge the gap between current performance and required performance. From the Janssen Pharmaceuticals case, the authors learned that external stakeholders are an extremely useful source of information to address the required performance by using the SDG framework. For sure, SDG materiality analyses are still in an early phase of development and knowledge on how to conduct such an analysis may be lacking. Future efforts – or the lack thereof – may indicate whether or not companies consider such analyses as sufficiently relevant. Although the uptake of the SDGs is in progress, it remains to be seen which, if any, materiality method will eventually turn out as a new dominant way of defining material issues. The findings presented in this study hopefully serve as a basis for further investigation of the topic.

Methodology for measuring photonuclear reaction cross sections with an electron accelerator based on Bayesian analysis

Accurate measurements of photonuclear reaction cross sections are crucial for a number of applications, including radiation shielding design, absorbed dose calculations, reactor physics and engineering, nuclear safeguard and inspection, astrophysics, and nuclear medicine. Primarily motivated by the study of the production of selected radionuclides with high-energy photon beams (mainly 225Ac, 47Sc, and 67Cu), we have established a methodology for the measurement of photonuclear reaction cross sections with the microtron accelerator available at the Swiss Federal Institute of Metrology (METAS). The proposed methodology is based on the measurement of the produced activity with a High Purity Germanium (HPGe) spectrometer and on the knowledge of the photon fluence spectrum through Monte Carlo simulations. The data analysis is performed by applying a Bayesian fitting procedure to the experimental data and by assuming a functional trend of the cross section, in our case a Breit-Wigner function. We validated the entire methodology by measuring a well-established photonuclear cross section, namely the 197Au(γ, n)196Au reaction. The results are consistent with those reported in the literature.