The new oil derivatives transportation scheme proposed by the 2013 Mexican Energy Reform allowed new participants to enter the sector. The new legal framework requires fulfilling many requirements and corresponding duties for the transportation of oil products. The Mexican government already has an institution dedicated to measuring the regulatory cost of each federal procedure. This work aims to quantify the regulatory costs associated with the procedures and their compliance to obtain permits for transporting oil products by truck. We use the standard cost method to measure these costs, considering all associated costs. The results showed that two government offices did not adequately measure these costs. They did not consider relevant information on frequency and opportunity costs, resulting in undervaluation and leading to wrong expectations. As a result of this research, we provide a more accurate way of estimating these costs, which brings greater certainty in the budgeting of these projects and, therefore, increases the probability of survival and success.

Regardless of the importance of accreditation and the role faculty play in a such process, not much attention was given to those in dental colleges This study aimed to explore faculty perceptions of accreditation in the College of Dental Medicine and its impact, the challenges that hinder their involvement in accreditation, and countermeasures to mitigate these barriers using a convergent mixed methods approach. The interviewees were faculty who hold administrative positions (purposeful sample). The remaining faculty were invited for the survey using convenience sampling. Quantitative data were analyzed by Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests at 0.05 significance. A consensus was achieved on the positive impact of accreditation with an emphasis on the collective responsibility of faculty for the entire process. Yet their involvement was not duly recognized in teaching load, promotion, and incentives. Quality Improvement and Sustainability Tools and Benchmarking were identified as common themes for the value of accreditation to institutions and faculty. Global ranking and credibility as well as seamless service were key themes for institutional accreditation, while education tools and guidance or unifying tools were central themes for faculty. Regarding the challenges, five themes were recognized: Lack of Resources, Rigorous Process, Communication Lapse, Overwhelming Workload, and Leadership Style and Working Environment. To mitigate these challenges, Providing Enough Resources and Leadership Style and Working Environment were the identified themes. This research endeavors to achieve a better understanding of faculty perceptions to ease a process that requires commitment, resources, and readiness to change.

In today’s manufacturing sector, high-quality materials that satisfy customers’ needs at a reduced cost are drawing attention in the global market. Also, as new applications are emerging, high-performance biocomposite products that complement them are required. The production of such high-performance materials requires suitable optimization techniques in the formulation/process design, not simply mixing natural fibre/filler, additives, and plastics, and characterization of the resulting biocomposites. However, a comprehensive review of the optimization strategies in biocomposite production intended for infrastructural applications is lacking. This study, therefore, presents a detailed discussion of the various optimization approaches, their strengths, and weaknesses in the formulation/process parameters of biocomposite manufacturing. The report explores the recent progress in optimization techniques in biocomposite material production to provide baseline information to researchers and industrialists in this field. Therefore, this review consolidates prior studies to explore new areas.

The article examines the issues of application and improvement of the methodology for evaluating industrial enterprises as recipients of state support within the framework of the implementation of industrial policy. The authors considered approaches to the content of industrial policy, investigated the factors influencing its efficiency, identified aspects of its imperfections that arise when applying an incomplete list of important parameters of economic development and ambiguity in the interpretation of previously applied estimates. The article presents proposals to improve the methodology for assessing potential recipients of state support based on the development of a comprehensive indicator for assessing enterprises (recipients of support), taking into account not only the classical parameters of the economic efficiency of industrial enterprises applying for state financial assistance, but also such aspects as the development of budgetary funds, belonging to priority sectors of the economy, characteristics of sustainable development and export and innovation potential. Combining the results of a comprehensive assessment of the recipient of state support with a map of the business demography of the territory allows making a decision not only about the fact of support and its efficiency, but also to predict the assessment of the life cycle of the enterprise and its subsequent development.