Ministry Of Economic Affairs Research Articles

Effects of a cafeteria-based sustainable diet intervention on the adherence to the EAT-Lancet planetary health diet and greenhouse gas emissions of consumers: a quasi-experimental study at a large German hospital

SummaryBackgroundSustainable diets contribute to improving human health and reducing food-related greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE). Here, we established the effects of a facility-based sustainable diet intervention on the adherence to the EAT-Lancet Planetary Health Diet and GHGE of consumers.MethodsIn this quasi-experiment, vegan menus and educational material on sustainable diets were provided in the largest cafeteria of a German hospital for 3 months. Regular customers (> 1/week) in this cafeteria (intervention group) and in all other hospital cafeterias (control group) completed a questionnaire about their sociodemographic and dietary characteristics before and after the intervention period. We calculated difference-in-differences (DID), their 95% confidence intervals (CIs), and p-values for the adherence to the EAT-Lancet Planetary Health Diet Index (PHDI; 0–42 score points) and food-related GHGE. The protocol was registered at the German Clinical Trial Register (reference: DRKS00032620).FindingsIn this study population (N = 190; age range: 18–79 years; women: 67%; highest level of formal education: 63%), the mean baseline PHDI (25·1 ± 4·8 vs. 24·7 ± 5·8 points) and the mean baseline GHGE (3·3 ± 0·8 vs. 3·3 ± 0·7 kg CO2-eq./d) were similar between the intervention (n = 92) and the control group (n = 98). The PHDI increase was 0·6 points (95% CI: -0·4, + 1·6) higher in the intervention group than in the control group. This trend was stronger among frequent consumers of the vegan menu than among rare and never consumers. No between-group difference was seen for GHGE changes (DID: 0·0; 95% CI: -0·2, + 0·1 kg CO2-eq./d).InterpretationPending verification in a longer-term project and a larger sample, this quasi-experiment in a big hospital in Germany suggests that offering vegan menus and information material in the cafeteria enhances the adherence to healthy and environmentally friendly diets among regular customers. These findings argue for making sustainable food choices the default option and for improving nutrition literacy.FundingFederal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK), Else-Kröner-Fresenius Foundation (EKFS), Robert-Bosch Foundation (RBS).

Modeling of Economic And Military Expenditure of South Pacific Countries to Increase the Role of Indonesian Diplomacy through the South Pacific Defense Ministers Meeting (SPDMM) Forum

The South Pacific is a western lake for the West, Asia and China. This is because of its strategic location, abundant natural resources but minimal human resources in managing it, so that this region becomes a contest for superpower state hegemony. The purpose of this study is to analyze the relationship of causality, response in case of shock from a variable through impulse response, long-term and short-term effects of economic growth variables, investment, foreign debt, exports, imports and military expenditure, and forecasting based on actual data up to 2045. The method used in this study is VECM / VAR. Data collection was obtained from reports from the Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Economic Affairs, literature studies and previous research.

A proposal for a National Competency Framework for Career Professionals

This publication is a respond to the need presented in the Finnish National Strategy for Lifelong Guidance 2020–2023 (Valtioneuvosto, 2020) to prepare national competence descriptions for the field of guidance. The publication is based on a literature review and co-creation process involving several hundred guidance professionals and experts from all over Finland. Based on the competency framework, Kettunen et al. (2023) have developed assessment forms for career professionals and organisations. The project behind the competency framework development is described in detail in a separate report (Vuorinen et al., 2023). The competency framework proposal has been prepared as part of a national development project for lifelong guidance which is funded by the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility and coordinated by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, and the Development and Administrative Services Centre (KEHA Centre).

Exploring a Facile Synthetic Procedure of Iron-Based Platinum Group Metal-Free Electrocatalyst for Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells

The transportation sector, mainly powered by fossil fuels, is responsible for approximately 14% of all greenhouse gas emissions1. Polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs) are promising candidates for sustainable transport as they only emit water, can be refilled fast, and enable long ranges with a single refill. Their current costs and dependence on scarce materials challenge their broad implementation in heavy-duty vehicles and maritime transportation 2. Another challenge is the catalyst degradation during operation, therefore the goal of at least 35,000 lifetime hours for heavy-duty transportation is ambitious as existing fuel cell vehicles have been engineered for ca. 5,000 hours3. The state-of-the-art catalyst layers are based on platinum nanoparticles supported on carbon and global efforts have been made to develop high-activity catalysts with reduced platinum contents, including platinum alloys such as Pt-Ni4 and Pt-Co5, alternative supports such as nanotubes6, or a combination aforementioned methods. While platinum-based materials remain the most active for the oxygen reduction reaction, their elevated cost and instability during operation motivate the exploration of alternative materials.Platinum group metal (PGM)-free catalysts have gained prominence in the PEFCs field, where Fe-N-C based catalysts have shown high oxygen reduction reaction activity in acidic media7, approaching that of platinum-based catalyst layers, yet their practical application is hindered by insufficient stability under operating conditions8. Inspired by recent efforts7,8, our goal is to develop stable, active, and low-cost catalyst layers using earth-abundant materials. In this poster presentation, I will discuss my efforts in the synthesis of Fe-N-C catalysts by the incorporation of iron in a calcinated nitrogen-doped zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF). ZIFs are excellent supports due to their high porosity of approximately 60% and a surface area of 1600 m2/g, leading to a high density of active sites9. After the incorporation of iron, post-treatments are applied including leaching and the utilization of secondary nitrogen precursors, where efforts are made to develop non-hazardous activation approaches. The incorporation of secondary nitrogen precursors such as cyanamide have been shown to promote the formation of metal-N-C bonds and increase the performance towards the oxygen reduction reaction10,11. We employ microscopic, spectroscopic and electrochemical techniques, such as the rotating disc electrode, to correlate the catalyst composition with electrochemical performance and durability. With this work, we hope to gain an understanding of composition-structure relationships to enhance the performance of iron-based platinum-free catalysts for PEFCs. Acknowledgements SH2IPDRIVE has received funding from the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy, RDM regulation, carried out by the Netherlands Enterprise Agency. References W.F. Lamb et al., 2021, Environmental Research Letters vol. 16.S.T. Thompson et al., 2018, Solid State Ion 319, 68–76.D.A. Cullen et al., 2021, Nature Energy vol. 6 462–474.S.I. Choi et al., 2013, Nano letters 13(7), 3420-3425.P.R. Kumar et al., 2018, Surfaces and Interfaces 12,116-123.D. Schonvogel et al., 2017, Journal of the Electrochemical Society 164(9), F995.A. Mehmood et al., 2022, Nature Catalysis 5(4), 311-323.X. Wan, and J. Shui, 2022, ACS Energy Letters 7(5), 1696-1705.J.C.Tan et al, 2010, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 107(22), 9938-9943.X. Wu et al., 2022, Journal of The Electrochemical Society 169.1, 016507.N.D. Leonard et al., 2018, ACS Catalysis 8(3), 1640-1647.

High serum C-X-C motif chemokine ligand 10 (CXCL10) levels may be associated with new onset interstitial lung disease in patients with systemic sclerosis: evidence from observational, clinical, transcriptomic and in vitro studies

Systemic sclerosis-interstitial lung disease (SSc-ILD) is the leading cause of death in patients with SSc. There is an unmet need for predictive biomarkers to identify patients with SSc at risk of ILD. Previous studies have shown that interferon (IFN) pathways may play a role in SSc. We assessed the use of C-X-C motif chemokine ligand 10 (CXCL10) as a predictive biomarker for new onset of ILD in patients with SSc. One-hundred-sixty-five (Female, N=130) patients with SSc (SSc-ILD, N=41) and 13 (Female, N=8) healthy controls were investigated retrospectively. CXCL10 protein levels were measured by ELISA. We performed log rank analysis with baseline CXCL10 serum levels. CXCL10 nanoString data from lung tissues obtained from transplanted patients with SSc-ILD were extracted. Fifteen (Female, N=10) patients with SSc (SSc-ILD, N=7) were recruited for bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) procedure. Lung fibroblasts were treated with BAL-fluid or serum from patients with SSc with or without ILD. Inflammatory/fibrotic genes were assessed. Serum CXCL10 levels were higher in patients with SSc-ILD compared to SSc patients without ILD [Median (IQR):126pg/ml (66-282.5) vs. 78.5pg/ml (50-122), P=0.029, 95% CI: 1.5×10-6 to 0.4284]. Survival analysis showed that baseline CXCL10 levels >78.5pg/ml have a 2.74-fold increased risk of developing new onset of ILD (Log-rank: P=0.119) on follow-up. CXCL10 levels in BAL supernatant were not different in patients with SSc-ILD compared to SSc without ILD [76.1pg/ml (7.2-120.8) vs. 22.3pg/ml (12.1-43.7), P=0.24, 95% CI:-19.5 to 100]. NanoString showed that CXCL10 mRNA expression was higher in inflammatory compared to fibrotic lung tissues [4.7 (4.2-5.6) vs. 4.3 (3.6-4.7), P=0.029]. Fibroblasts treated with SSc-ILD serum or BAL fluids overexpressed CXCL10. Clinical, transcriptomic, and invitro data showed that CXCL10 is potentially involved in early SSc-ILD. More research is needed to confirm whether CXCL10 can be classified as a prospective biomarker to detect patients with SSc at higher risk of developing new onset ILD. This collaborative project is co-financed by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy of the Netherlands utilizing the PPP-allowance made available by the Top Sector Life Sciences & Health to stimulate public-private partnerships (PPP-2019_007). Part of this study is financially supported by Sanofi Genzyme (NL8921).

Understanding Taiwan’s offshore wind industry

Understanding taiwan’s offshore wind industry Here, Open Access Government speaks to Gwo-shyh Song, Chairman of MMA Global Aqua, and explores the challenges, successes and long term plans for the offshore wind power projects in Taiwan. Can you provide an overview of the current state of the offshore wind industry in Taiwan and its significance in the country’s energy transformation? Taiwan had no experience in offshore wind power development in the past. The offshore wind power industry includes wind farm developers, who conduct environmental assessments of wind farms, as well as wind turbine system suppliers, marine engineering companies, cable manufacturers, and wind farm operators. Therefore, the Ministry of Economic Affairs allows 100% foreign ownership to attract foreign investment and gradually increases domestic demand to cultivate local related companies in order to achieve the goal of offshore wind power localization.

The Labour-Market Attachment and Well-Being of Immigrants in Sparsely Populated Regions of Finland

Our research aimed to explore community well-being and individual well-being of immigrants with a special view to economic integration. We are applying objective and subjective variables for well-being at both community and individual level in the counties, which represent regions outside the “growth centres” of Finland and are experiencing a decrease in population: Kymenlaakso, North Savo, and Kainuu. The study, utilising data from Statistics Finland and the country’s Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, revealed that immigrants’ economic status and experiences at work and in their living area are important factors in the well-being of the community and individuals alike, as judged objectively and subjectively. These can get reflected in the level of community belongingness or lack of it. Feeling engaged with the region is a continuous process that affects interaction between individuals and their community.

Reclaimed water in Taiwan: current status and future prospects

According to the Taiwan Water Resources Agency, Ministry of Economic Affairs, the average water demand shortage is 530.6 million m3 yr−1 during the period of 2011 to 2019, and the situation will worsen in the near future due to global climate change. Therefore, reclaimed water has been an important new water source in Taiwan, particularly for industrial consumers such as high-tech industries in Science Parks. In order to meet the targeted reclaimed water supply of 1.32 million m3 d−1 (CMD) in 2031, Taiwan is focusing on two major reclaimed water sources, including reclaimed water from high water-consuming industries and municipal wastewater treatment plants. This report reviews current technologies used for reclaimed water including units for pretreatment, desalting, polishing, and reclamation. Case studies in Taiwan including reclaimed water from high water-consuming industries such as thin film transistor-liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) and semiconductor industries, as well as from municipal wastewater treatment plants are presented. The TFT-LCD company Innolux and semiconductor company Advaned Semiconductor Engineering have implemented total recycled water system to recycle and reclaim wastewater from manufacturing processes, achieving a total recycled water of 290 million m3 yr−1 with about 97% recovery and 3.5 million m3 yr−1 with 80% recovery, respectively. The Fengshan reclaimed water treatment plant produces 40,436 CMD reclaimed water from municipal wastewater for the China Steel Cooperation’s steel-making processes, at an overall operation and maintenance cost of 11.5 NT dollars m−3. Meanwhile the Yongkang plant produces 15,500 CMD of reclaimed water for semiconductor and TFT-LCD manufacturing processes at an overall operation and maintenance costs of 25.8 NT dollars m−3, which is due to low urea and boron limits requested by the user. Finally, challenges and future prospects for promoting the use of reclaimed water to meet the targeted supply in 2031 will be discussed.

ESG-Based Performance Assessment of the Operation and Management of Industrial Parks in Taiwan

The development of industrial parks plays an important role in the economic development of developed and developing countries, but it has recently been affected by globalization and the rise of environmental protection awareness, as 2050 net-zero carbon emissions are being pursued by the world’s major economies. To make their development more sustainable, this study evaluates the operational management performance of industrial parks in Taiwan from the perspective of ESG, to inform future industrial development strategies and policy research. First, 61 industrial parks managed by the Taiwanese Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) were selected and underwent a fuzzy Delphi expert questionnaire to screen the ESG-oriented performance indicators; performance was evaluated through the data envelopment analysis (DEA) undesirable outputs model and the window analysis method. The results indicate that the New Taipei Industrial Park performed best in terms of ESG, followed by the Feng-Shan and Anping industrial parks, with the worst performance from the Mei-Lun, Yun-Lin Island, and Hu-Pin industrial parks. Regarding factors affecting the performance of operation management, a Mann–Whitney U test showed that the northern industrial parks performed significantly better than those in the eastern region, those in the municipalities significantly outperformed the nonmunicipalities, and the industrial parks with more clustered industries and those in areas with convenient transportation performed substantially better. Finally, this study summarizes the important issues facing Taiwan’s industrial parks, and it makes policy recommendations, including promoting ESG sustainable development objectives in their operation and management, as well as increasing the investment of government resources and the clustering of industries and transportation.

Diabetes mellitus and inequalities in the equipment and use of information technologies as a socioeconomic determinant of health in Spain.

Inequalities in the equipment and use of information and communications technology (ICT) in Spanish households can lead to users being unable to access certain information or to carry out certain procedures. Accessibility to ICT is considered a social determinant of health (SDOH) because it can generate inequalities in access to information and in managing access to health services. In the face of a chronic illness such as diabetes mellitus (DM)-for which a comprehensive approach is complex and its complications have a direct impact on current healthcare systems-all the resources that patients may have are welcome. We aimed to analyze hospitalizations and amputations as direct consequences of DM among the autonomous communities of Spain (ACS) in 2019, along with socioeconomic factors related to health, including inequalities in access to ICT between territories, as well as citizens' interest in online information searches about DM. We used different databases such as that of the Ministerio de Sanidad (Spain's health ministry), Ministerio de Asuntos Económicos y transformación (Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation), Google Trends (GT), and the Instituto Nacional de Estadística (Spain's national institute of statistics). We examined the data with R software. We employed a geolocation approach and performed multivariate analysis (specifically factor analysis of mixed data [FAMD]) to evaluate the aggregate interest in health information related to DM in different regions of Spain grounded in online search behavior. The use of FAMD allowed us to adjust the techniques of principal component analysis (PCA) and multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) to detect differences between the direct consequences of DM, citizen's interest in this non-communicable disease, and socioeconomic factors and inequalities in access to ICT in aggregate form between the country's different ACS. The results show how SDOH, such as poverty and education level, are related to the ACS with the highest number of homes that cite the cost of connection or equipment as the reason for not having ICT at home. These regions also have a greater number of hospitalizations due to DM. Given that in Spain, there are certain differences in accessibility in terms of the cost to households, in the case of DM, we take this issue into account from the standpoint of an integral approach by health policies.

Advances in the Aqueous Processing of Ni-Rich Positive Electrodes

A sustainable and environmental friendly production process of the battery components is a crucial factor for a successful contribution of Li-ion batteries to a more sustainable energy supply. For carbon-based anodes the eco-friendly, water-based processing is already widely established, whereas the same procedure still poses several challenges for cathode materials, especially those with high Nickel content. One major challenge is the detrimental side-reaction of Ni-rich cathode active materials (CAM) with water, creating hydroxide and carbonate species which increase the pH of the paste to above 12. Consequently, the Al foil is corroded during the coating process. Therefore, it is essential to control the paste’s pH before casting the paste on the substrate Al foil. This step becomes more challenging the longer the electrode mixing and coating procedure takes. On top of this, a promising way of improving the aqueous-based processing is to identify a suitable water-based binder system to improve the electrochemical cycling stability.We present the application of a variety of different water-based binders, all used in combination with carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) as thickening agent. The paste pH is controlled by adding H3PO4. Electrodes with industry relevant areal capacities of up to 3 mAh/cm2 are electrochemically evaluated in full pouch cells. The long-term cycling stability determined with 1 C charge/discharge was highly dependent on the binder system. The best electrodes reached an excellent capacity retention of up to 88% after 1000 cycles. The NMP-based reference electrode reached 91%.The investigation of the aged cells via post mortem analysis suggests that the main source of cell aging is the cathode electrode. According to scanning electron microscopy data, no stronger cracking of the secondary CAM particles and no enhanced dissolution of transition metals were observed for the aqueous cathodes. However, a stronger rise in charge-transfer impedance was observed for the aged, water-based cathodes. This suggests that the formation of a blocking surface layer is the major reason for a stronger performance decay with increasing cycle number.AcknowledgmentThe presented work was financially supported by the project DigiBattPro4.0 BW (3–4332.62-IPA/69) by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labour and Housing Baden-Württemberg and by the project DigiBattPro4.0 BMBF funded by the German federal ministry of education and research Baden-Württemberg (03XP0374D).

Stent-retriever induces more endothelial damage than direct aspiration in endovascular therapy for acute ischemic stroke

Abstract Background Mechanical arterial recanalization is increasingly used to treat acute ischemic stroke. Known to inflict vascular injury, it might affect pro-thrombotic character and healing patterns. Stent-retriever thrombectomy (SR) and direct aspiration (DA) are both used for acute recanalization and not only lead to endothelial denudation, but also to platelet activation and local formation of microthrombi, potentially adding to the risk of distal embolization. Purpose We aimed to quantify and characterize endovascular damage, microthrombus formation, and vascular healing following SR and DA in a swine model of arterial thrombo-embolic occlusion. Methods Aged autologous thrombi, created under flow, were used to occlude swine extracranial arteries for two hours to mimic a thrombo-embolic occlusion. Arteries were randomized to SR, DA, or control (C). Injury was assessed acutely (SR n=8; DA n=7; C n=4), and at 3 days follow-up (SR n=8; DA n=7; C n=4) using Evans Blue (EB) dye-exclusion-testing to quantify injury, expressed as %EB-area in the treated area. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to characterize vascular injury and presence of microthrombi (<100 μm). Data are given as mean±SD or median (min-max). Results Regression analysis for EB-area (ANOVA p<0.001; Adj. R2=0.5) showed that SR induced more damage than DA (p=0.001). Both showed partial healing at 3 days (p<0.01) (Table 1). Only for DA, did more attempts lead to an increased EB-area (p=0.016), as for SR one attempt already resulted in almost complete denudation. For both SR and DA, SEM of acute injury showed endothelial denudation, microthrombi, and adhesion of leukocytes and activated platelets (Fig. 1A–C). At three days, SEM showed partial re-endothelialization with increased surface folds as a sign of endothelial activation (Fig. 1D). Microthrombi/cm2 decreased significantly from 7 (2–17) acutely to 1 (0–4) at 3 days (p<0.001). Conclusions Stent-retrievers induce more endothelial damage than direct aspiration. Both treatments yield microthrombi, platelet activation and leukocyte adhesion. After three days, the endothelium is significantly, but only partially recovered. Funding Acknowledgement Type of funding sources: Other. Main funding source(s): We acknowledge the support of the Netherlands Cardiovascular Research Initiative which is supported by the Dutch Heart Foundation (CVON2015-01: CONTRAST), the support of the Brain Foundation Netherlands (HA2015.01.06), and the support of Health∼Holland, Top Sector Life Sciences & Health (LSHM17016), Stryker, Medtronic and Cerenovus. The collaboration project is additionally financed by the Ministry of Economic Affairs by means of the PPP Allowance made available by the Top Sector Life Sciences & Health to stimulate public-private partnerships.

Overview of Biomass-to-Energy Supply and Promotion Policy in Taiwan

During the past two decades, Taiwan’s average dependence on imported energy was 97.6%, thus pushing the government to promote the indigenous energy supply. In this regard, the energy policy and regulatory incentives for promoting biomass-to-energy or bioenergy have been recently established. In this work, the updated statistics of biomass-derived waste and energy supply from biomass during the period of 2005–2021 were analyzed using national/official reports. It was found that the annual agricultural waste amounts in Taiwan ranged from 4.5 to 5.2 million metric tons, and about 80% of those were generated from rice-derived residues (rice straw and rice husk) and livestock/poultry-derived waste (manure). In addition, a decreasing trend was observed in the indigenous bioenergy supply, mostly from the solid-type biomass resources, including waste wood, rice husk, and sugarcane bagasse. In order to expand bioenergy diversification, the central competent authorities, including the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA), Council of Agriculture (COA), and Environmental Protection Administration (EPA), have announced the relevant policies for bioenergy promotion under the authorization of acts. Among them, the Renewable Energy Development Act is the legal foundation for promoting bioenergy and its industry development through economic incentives like feed-in-tariff (FIT), installation supports (or subsidies), and electrical grid connection.

Prehospital transdermal glyceryl trinitrate in patients with presumed acute stroke (MR ASAP): an ambulance-based, multicentre, randomised, open-label, blinded endpoint, phase 3 trial

Pooled analyses of previous randomised studies have suggested that very early treatment with glyceryl trinitrate (also known as nitroglycerin) improves functional outcome in patients with acute ischaemic stroke or intracerebral haemorrhage, but this finding was not confirmed in a more recent trial (RIGHT-2). We aimed to assess whether patients with presumed acute stroke benefit from glyceryl tr initrate started within 3 h after symptom onset. MR ASAP was a phase 3, randomised, open-label, blinded endpoint trial done at six ambulance services serving 18 hospitals in the Netherlands. Eligible participants (aged ≥18 years) had a probable diagnosis of acute stroke (as assessed by a paramedic), a face-arm-speech-time test score of 2 or 3, systolic blood pressure of at least 140 mm Hg, and could start treatment within 3 h of symptom onset. Participants were randomly assigned (1:1) by ambulance personnel, using a secure web-based electronic application with random block sizes stratified by ambulance service, to receive either transdermal glyceryl trinitrate 5 mg/day for 24 h plus standard care (glyceryl trinitrate group) or to standard care alone (control group) in the prehospital setting. Informed consent was deferred until after arrival at the hospital. The primary outcome was functional outcome assessed with the modified Rankin Scale (mRS) at 90 days. Safety outcomes included death within 7 days, death within 90 days, and serious adverse events. Analyses were based on modified intention to treat, and treatment effects were expressed as odds ratios (ORs) or common ORs, with adjustment for baseline prognostic factors. We separately analysed the total population and the target population (ie, patients with intracerebral haemorrhage, ischaemic stroke, or transient ischaemic attack). The target sample size was 1400 patients. The trial is registered as ISRCTN99503308. On June 24, 2021, the MR ASAP trial was prematurely terminated on the advice of the data and safety monitoring board, with recruitment stopped because of safety concerns in patients with intracerebral haemorrhage. Between April 4, 2018, and Feb 12, 2021, 380 patients were randomly allocated to a study group. 325 provided informed consent or died before consent could be obtained, of whom 170 were assigned to the glyceryl trinitrate group and 155 to the control group. These patients were included in the total population. 201 patients (62%) had ischaemic stroke, 34 (10%) transient ischaemic attack, 56 (17%) intracerebral haemorrhage, and 34 (10%) a stroke-mimicking condition. In the total population (n=325), the median mRS score at 90 days was 2 (IQR 1-4) in both the glyceryl trinitrate and control groups (adjusted common OR 0·97 [95% CI 0·65-1·47]). In the target population (n=291), the 90-day mRS score was 2 (2-4) in the glyceryl trinitrate group and 3 (1-4) in the control group (0·92 [0·59-1·43]). In the total population, there were no differences between the two study groups with respect to death within 90 days (adjusted OR 1·07 [0·53-2·14]) or serious adverse events (unadjusted OR 1·23 [0·76-1·99]). In patients with intracerebral haemorrhage, 12 (34%) of 35 patients allocated to glyceryl trinitrate versus two (10%) of 21 allocated to the control group died within 7 days (adjusted OR 5·91 [0·78-44·81]); death within 90 days occurred in 16 (46%) of 35 in the glyceryl trinitrate group and 11 (55%) of 20 in the control group (adjusted OR 0·87 [0·18-4·17]). We found no sign of benefit of transdermal glyceryl trinitrate started within 3 h of symptom onset in the prehospital setting in patients with presumed acute stroke. The signal of potential early harm of glyceryl trinitrate in patients with intracerebral haemorrhage suggests that glyceryl trinitrate should be avoided in this setting. The Collaboration for New Treatments of Acute Stroke consortium, the Brain Foundation Netherlands, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Stryker, Medtronic, Cerenovus, and the Dutch Heart Foundation.

Deep Learning for Forecasting Electricity Demand in Taiwan

According to the World Energy Investment 2018 report, the global annual investment in renewable energy exceeded USD 200 billion for eight consecutive years until 2017. In this paper, a deep-learning-based time-series prediction method, namely a gated recurrent unit (GRU)-based prediction method, is proposed to predict energy generation in Taiwan. Data on thermal power (coal, oil, and gas power), renewable energy (conventional hydropower, solar power, and wind power), pumped hydropower, and nuclear power generation for 1991 to 2020 were obtained from the Bureau of Energy, Ministry of Economic Affairs, Taiwan, and the Taiwan Power Company. The proposed GRU-based method was compared with six common forecasting methods: autoregressive integrated moving average, exponential smoothing (ETS), Holt–Winters ETS, support vector regression (SVR), whale-optimization-algorithm-based SVR, and long short-term memory. Among the methods compared, the proposed method had the lowest mean absolute percentage error and root mean square error and thus the highest accuracy. Government agencies and power companies in Taiwan can use the predictions of accurate energy forecasting models as references to formulate energy policies and design plans for the development of alternative energy sources.

Co-location with marketing value activities as manufacturing upgrading in a COVID-19 outbreak era

Co-location has been a relevant topic in the international business literature, yet the extant literature focuses on the co-location of research and development (R&D) and production activities and overlooks marketing value activities. Marketing innovation is an agile and effective way to respond to crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and many manufacturers in global value chains aim to upgrade functionally following the trajectory of the OEM-ODM-OBM. Thus, this study proposes the co-location of marketing activities as a flexible and organizational learning strategy for manufacturing upgrades, and explores the antecedents of marketing co-location in foreign direct investment (FDI) decisions. The proposed research framework was examined using survey data from 343 Taiwanese manufacturing firms in China, which were drawn from a database compiled by Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs in 2020. The results show that the breadth of international experience, linkage to R&D, marketing as a primary knowledge source in the host country, upgrading for local demands, and new product development for global supply are all positively associated with the co-location of marketing and production functions. Additionally, it was found that there was a negative association between FDIs that had been impacted by COVID-19 and marketing co-location. The findings provide valuable theoretical, practical, and strategic insights into how firms should manage their global value chains with respect to marketing co-location in case of another crisis.

Nachhaltigkeit in Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft

AbstractThe scientific advisory board of the federal ministry of economic affairs and climate protection conducted a symposium on sustainability at its 500th meeting. The UN’s sustainable development goals play an increasingly important role in economic policy and regulation. This article gives a survey of the trade-offs and implementation problems that were discussed at the symposium, in particular the operationalisation of sustainability in welfare economics, the implementation of sustainability goals in economic law, the relationship between competition policy and sustainability, the impact of sustainability concerns on monetary policy, and finally, supply chain regulation and sustainability objectives.

The Study on the Ballast Water Management of Mailiao Exclusive Industrial Harbor in Taiwan

In 2004, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) adopted the International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships Ballast Water and Sediments (BWM Convention). Taiwan’s government has been in line with the BWM Convention’s obligations by passing several administrative orders and adopted the 3 + 1 Port State Control (PSC) procedure. International trade ports in Taiwan include commercial ports and exclusive industrial harbors. The industrial harbor in Taiwan is unique in the world, so the 3 + 1 PSC procedure cannot be directly applied to the industrial harbor. Based on document analysis, this study discusses the similarities and differences between commercial ports and industrial harbors. The regulations and systems for ballast water management in Taiwan and how they can be applied to industrial harbors are also discussed. Judging from the results of this study of regulations, commercial ports and industrial harbors differ in applicable laws, competent authorities, and construction and management units. However, in operational practice, industrial harbors should be regarded as a commercial port whose use is restricted. Therefore, this study posits that industrial harbors should be classified as commercial ports in Taiwan’s ballast water management system. Classifying industrial harbors as falling outside commercial ports may cause management difficulties and may even cause trouble for international shipping. It is suggested that the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) first discusses with the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) and the Ocean Affairs Council (OAC) to confirm whether industrial harbors are inside or outside the category of commercial ports, and then decide on a management system and suitable laws and regulations for integrating industrial harbors with commercial ports and international affairs.

Safety and efficacy of aspirin, unfractionated heparin, both, or neither during endovascular stroke treatment (MR CLEAN-MED): an open-label, multicentre, randomised controlled trial

Aspirin and unfractionated heparin are often used during endovascular stroke treatment to improve reperfusion and outcomes. However, the effects and risks of anti-thrombotics for this indication are unknown. We therefore aimed to assess the safety and efficacy of intravenous aspirin, unfractionated heparin, both, or neither started during endovascular treatment in patients with ischaemic stroke. We did an open-label, multicentre, randomised controlled trial with a 2 × 3 factorial design in 15 centres in the Netherlands. We enrolled adult patients (ie, ≥18 years) with ischaemic stroke due to an intracranial large-vessel occlusion in the anterior circulation in whom endovascular treatment could be initiated within 6 h of symptom onset. Eligible patients had a score of 2 or more on the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale, and a CT or MRI ruling out intracranial haemorrhage. Randomisation was done using a web-based procedure with permuted blocks and stratified by centre. Patients were randomly assigned (1:1) to receive either periprocedural intravenous aspirin (300 mg bolus) or no aspirin, and randomly assigned (1:1:1) to receive moderate-dose unfractionated heparin (5000 IU bolus followed by 1250 IU/h for 6 h), low-dose unfractionated heparin (5000 IU bolus followed by 500 IU/h for 6 h), or no unfractionated heparin. The primary outcome was the score on the modified Rankin Scale at 90 days. Symptomatic intracranial haemorrhage was the main safety outcome. Analyses were based on intention to treat, and treatment effects were expressed as odds ratios (ORs) or common ORs, with adjustment for baseline prognostic factors. This trial is registered with the International Standard Randomised Controlled Trial Number, ISRCTN76741621. Between Jan 22, 2018, and Jan 27, 2021, we randomly assigned 663 patients; of whom, 628 (95%) provided deferred consent or died before consent could be asked and were included in the modified intention-to-treat population. On Feb 4, 2021, after unblinding and analysis of the data, the trial steering committee permanently stopped patient recruitment and the trial was stopped for safety concerns. The risk of symptomatic intracranial haemorrhage was higher in patients allocated to receive aspirin than in those not receiving aspirin (43 [14%] of 310 vs 23 [7%] of 318; adjusted OR 1·95 [95% CI 1·13-3·35]) as well as in patients allocated to receive unfractionated heparin than in those not receiving unfractionated heparin (44 [13%] of 332 vs 22 [7%] of 296; 1·98 [1·14-3·46]). Both aspirin (adjusted common OR 0·91 [95% CI 0·69-1·21]) and unfractionated heparin (0·81 [0·61-1·08]) led to a non-significant shift towards worse modified Rankin Scale scores. Periprocedural intravenous aspirin and unfractionated heparin during endovascular stroke treatment are both associated with an increased risk of symptomatic intracranial haemorrhage without evidence for a beneficial effect on functional outcome. The Collaboration for New Treatments of Acute Stroke consortium, the Brain Foundation Netherlands, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Stryker, Medtronic, Cerenovus, and the Dutch Heart Foundation.

Multimedia Pollution Prevention of Mercury-Containing Waste and Articles: Case Study in Taiwan

In response to the Minamata Convention on Mercury, effective 16 August 2017, the Taiwan government in recent years started to implement the sustainable material management of mercury-containing waste and articles. This was completed by a cross-ministerial collaboration for preventing the adverse effects of mercury on human health and the environment, based on the multimedia approach. The legislative or regulatory frameworks on the control and prevention of mercury emissions and releases have been established in environmental distributions, including air, water, soil, waste, food, and article (or commodity). Therefore, the central authorities included the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA), Council of Agriculture (COA), Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW), Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA), and Ministry of Labor (MOL). Furthermore, the implementation plans covered the reduction in mercury-containing products by restricted use and bans on its use, remediation of soil and groundwater for mercury-pollution sites, control of stationary source emissions, environmental monitoring, and compulsory recovery of mercury from electronic waste such as waste lightings. A successful case study on the recovery of mercury from electronic waste using a thermal treatment, and its capture control by activated carbon, was also addressed in this work. Due to the effectiveness of source control in Taiwan, the annual reported amount of mercury emissions from the stationary air pollution sources indicated a decreasing trend from 1.989 metric tons in 2016 to 1.760 metric tons in 2019. More significantly, the ministerial collaboration in implementing the Convention in Taiwan also echoed the United Nations (UN) Agenda 2030 for sustainable development goals (SDGs).