No abstract

There are very different outcomes in the literature regarding the influences of corruption on business innovation and also arguments for both "sanding the wheels" and "greasing the wheels" approaches. The main goal pursued in this paper is to broaden the understanding of the corruption influence on business innovation, considering seven representative dimensions of corruption at governmental structures and institutions' level and also four relevant dimensions of business innovation, less approached so far. The originality and relevance of this paper are based on that these seven different dimensions of corruption are targeting three characteristic features of it, as bribery's prevalence, the bribery's spread and the companies' propensity to offer gifts for overcoming the bureaucratic pressures. Moreover, the four different new dimensions of business innovation are targeting the company's propensity for innovating and strengthening its image and the way of connecting with business partners in a changing business environment. Considering an extensive data set for 110 emergent countries from four continents for the period between 2002 and 2014 and using the generalized linear model framework, this research study is emphasizing that corruption at governmental structures and institutional level has a significant negative impact on business innovation, adversely affecting innovation perspectives.

Immobilization of horseradish peroxidase (HRP) within alginate beads was enabled by chemical modification of the enzyme and polysaccharide chains. HRP and alginate were oxidized by periodate and subsequently modified with ethylenediamine. Highest specific activity of 0.43 U/ml of gel and 81% of bound enzyme activity was obtained using aminated HRP and alginate oxidized by periodate. Immobilized enzyme retained 75% of its original activity after 2 days of incubation in 80% (v/v) dioxane and had increased activity in basic solutions compared to native enzyme. During repeated use in batch reactor for pyrogallol oxidation immobilized peroxidase retained 75% of its original activity.

The ageing population has become one of the major issues, with manifold consequences upon the economic welfare and elderly living standards satisfaction. This paper grasps an in-depth assessment framework of the ageing phenomenon in connection with the labor market, with significant implications upon economic welfare, across the European Union (EU–27). We configure our research on four distinctive groups of the EU–27 countries based on the Active Ageing Index mapping, during 1995–2018, by acknowledging the different intensities of ageing implications on economic well-being from one group of countries to another. The methodological endeavor is based on Structural Equation Modelling. Empirical results highlight that the ageing dimensions and labor market productivity notably shape the socioeconomic development of EU countries, visibly distinguished across the four panels. The economic development induced remarkable positive spillover effects on the welfare of older people, under the influence of the ageing credentials and dynamic shaping factors. Our research advances the literature underpinnings on this multifaceted topic by investigation made on specific groups of the EU countries and distinctive strategies proposed for each group of countries, as effective results for improving the well-being of older people. Constant policy rethinking and adequate strategies should be a top priority for each specific group of EU countries, to further sustain the ageing phenomenon, with positive implications mostly on elderly welfare.

The phenomenon of digitisation of the public sector is an irreversible process that affects both the way public institutions are organised and the communication relationships between people and institutions. The COVID-19 pandemic represented a challenge and a strong impetus in accelerating the digitisation process of public administration at the global level such that it is currently difficult to make a clear distinction between governance and e-governance. The purpose of this research is to investigate the impact of the intensification of the digitisation process of public services in increasing the efficiency of governments at the level of the member states of the European Union, based on a cluster analysis. A robust least squares regression method was used to estimate the effects of the three dimensions of the e-government development index (EGDI) on government effectiveness. The results of the analysis highlighted the fact that the skills of the population in using online services determine the increase in a double percentage of government efficiency in intensively digitised states compared to states where the digitisation of public services is less developed. The development of the telecommunications infrastructure also has a significant positive impact on the efficiency of the government. However, online services offered by public authorities have proven to negatively influence government efficiency in both clusters.