9,106 research outputs found

    Corporate Social Responsibility: the institutionalization of ESG

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    Understanding the impact of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) on firm performance as it relates to industries reliant on technological innovation is a complex and perpetually evolving challenge. To thoroughly investigate this topic, this dissertation will adopt an economics-based structure to address three primary hypotheses. This structure allows for each hypothesis to essentially be a standalone empirical paper, unified by an overall analysis of the nature of impact that ESG has on firm performance. The first hypothesis explores the evolution of CSR to the modern quantified iteration of ESG has led to the institutionalization and standardization of the CSR concept. The second hypothesis fills gaps in existing literature testing the relationship between firm performance and ESG by finding that the relationship is significantly positive in long-term, strategic metrics (ROA and ROIC) and that there is no correlation in short-term metrics (ROE and ROS). Finally, the third hypothesis states that if a firm has a long-term strategic ESG plan, as proxied by the publication of CSR reports, then it is more resilience to damage from controversies. This is supported by the finding that pro-ESG firms consistently fared better than their counterparts in both financial and ESG performance, even in the event of a controversy. However, firms with consistent reporting are also held to a higher standard than their nonreporting peers, suggesting a higher risk and higher reward dynamic. These findings support the theory of good management, in that long-term strategic planning is both immediately economically beneficial and serves as a means of risk management and social impact mitigation. Overall, this contributes to the literature by fillings gaps in the nature of impact that ESG has on firm performance, particularly from a management perspective

    Anuário científico da Escola Superior de Tecnologia da Saúde de Lisboa - 2021

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    É com grande prazer que apresentamos a mais recente edição (a 11.ª) do Anuário Científico da Escola Superior de Tecnologia da Saúde de Lisboa. Como instituição de ensino superior, temos o compromisso de promover e incentivar a pesquisa científica em todas as áreas do conhecimento que contemplam a nossa missão. Esta publicação tem como objetivo divulgar toda a produção científica desenvolvida pelos Professores, Investigadores, Estudantes e Pessoal não Docente da ESTeSL durante 2021. Este Anuário é, assim, o reflexo do trabalho árduo e dedicado da nossa comunidade, que se empenhou na produção de conteúdo científico de elevada qualidade e partilhada com a Sociedade na forma de livros, capítulos de livros, artigos publicados em revistas nacionais e internacionais, resumos de comunicações orais e pósteres, bem como resultado dos trabalhos de 1º e 2º ciclo. Com isto, o conteúdo desta publicação abrange uma ampla variedade de tópicos, desde temas mais fundamentais até estudos de aplicação prática em contextos específicos de Saúde, refletindo desta forma a pluralidade e diversidade de áreas que definem, e tornam única, a ESTeSL. Acreditamos que a investigação e pesquisa científica é um eixo fundamental para o desenvolvimento da sociedade e é por isso que incentivamos os nossos estudantes a envolverem-se em atividades de pesquisa e prática baseada na evidência desde o início dos seus estudos na ESTeSL. Esta publicação é um exemplo do sucesso desses esforços, sendo a maior de sempre, o que faz com que estejamos muito orgulhosos em partilhar os resultados e descobertas dos nossos investigadores com a comunidade científica e o público em geral. Esperamos que este Anuário inspire e motive outros estudantes, profissionais de saúde, professores e outros colaboradores a continuarem a explorar novas ideias e contribuir para o avanço da ciência e da tecnologia no corpo de conhecimento próprio das áreas que compõe a ESTeSL. Agradecemos a todos os envolvidos na produção deste anuário e desejamos uma leitura inspiradora e agradável.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

    A Decision Support System for Economic Viability and Environmental Impact Assessment of Vertical Farms

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    Vertical farming (VF) is the practice of growing crops or animals using the vertical dimension via multi-tier racks or vertically inclined surfaces. In this thesis, I focus on the emerging industry of plant-specific VF. Vertical plant farming (VPF) is a promising and relatively novel practice that can be conducted in buildings with environmental control and artificial lighting. However, the nascent sector has experienced challenges in economic viability, standardisation, and environmental sustainability. Practitioners and academics call for a comprehensive financial analysis of VPF, but efforts are stifled by a lack of valid and available data. A review of economic estimation and horticultural software identifies a need for a decision support system (DSS) that facilitates risk-empowered business planning for vertical farmers. This thesis proposes an open-source DSS framework to evaluate business sustainability through financial risk and environmental impact assessments. Data from the literature, alongside lessons learned from industry practitioners, would be centralised in the proposed DSS using imprecise data techniques. These techniques have been applied in engineering but are seldom used in financial forecasting. This could benefit complex sectors which only have scarce data to predict business viability. To begin the execution of the DSS framework, VPF practitioners were interviewed using a mixed-methods approach. Learnings from over 19 shuttered and operational VPF projects provide insights into the barriers inhibiting scalability and identifying risks to form a risk taxonomy. Labour was the most commonly reported top challenge. Therefore, research was conducted to explore lean principles to improve productivity. A probabilistic model representing a spectrum of variables and their associated uncertainty was built according to the DSS framework to evaluate the financial risk for VF projects. This enabled flexible computation without precise production or financial data to improve economic estimation accuracy. The model assessed two VPF cases (one in the UK and another in Japan), demonstrating the first risk and uncertainty quantification of VPF business models in the literature. The results highlighted measures to improve economic viability and the viability of the UK and Japan case. The environmental impact assessment model was developed, allowing VPF operators to evaluate their carbon footprint compared to traditional agriculture using life-cycle assessment. I explore strategies for net-zero carbon production through sensitivity analysis. Renewable energies, especially solar, geothermal, and tidal power, show promise for reducing the carbon emissions of indoor VPF. Results show that renewably-powered VPF can reduce carbon emissions compared to field-based agriculture when considering the land-use change. The drivers for DSS adoption have been researched, showing a pathway of compliance and design thinking to overcome the ‘problem of implementation’ and enable commercialisation. Further work is suggested to standardise VF equipment, collect benchmarking data, and characterise risks. This work will reduce risk and uncertainty and accelerate the sector’s emergence

    Towards personalized immunotherapy : development of in vitro models for imaging natural killer cell behavior in the tumor microenvironment

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    Tremendous advances in the tumor immunology field have transformed immunotherapy from a promising approach to a standard clinical practice. However, a subset of cancer patients is non-responsive to immunotherapy. More research is therefore needed to understand the mechanisms underlying tumor resistance to immunotherapeutic treatments. The aim of this doctoral work was to develop new tools to study the mechanisms of cancer immunosurveillance and to test immunotherapeutic treatments in vitro. In this thesis, I describe the methods developed, and I discuss the main biological findings obtained by using these methods. The thesis is organized as follows. A short historical background of immunotherapy is provided in Chapter 1. Chapter 2 describes the principles of NK cell-mediated cancer immunosurveillance, and provides an overview on rare cancers, mainly focusing on sarcoma. The research aims are listed in Chapter 3. In Chapter 4, I describe the cell culture methods and cell analysis techniques relevant for my doctoral work. In Chapter 5, I describe the methods we developed to culture tumor spheroids in vitro using ultrasonic standing waves in microwell chips, focusing on the theory, design, and applications. Chapter 6 and Chapter 7 focus on the biological findings obtained using our platform in combination with traditional immunological methods, followed by future implementations discussed in Chapter 8. The constituent papers are provided at the end of the thesis. In Paper I, we combined the use of the microwell chip, ultrasonic standing waves and a protein-repellent polymer coating to enable the production of spheroids from multiple cell types. In absence of cell adhesion to the chip, spheroids could be collected and further analyzed by off-the-chip techniques. In Paper II, we designed a novel multichambered microwell chip to perform multiplexed fluorescence screening of two- or three-dimensional cell cultures. The platform allows the direct assessment of drug or immune cell cytotoxic efficacy, making it a promising tool for individualized cytotoxicity tests for personalized medicine. In Paper III, we investigate the function of PVR receptors in NK cells interacting with renal carcinoma spheroids, and the impact of PVR in NK cell-based cellular immunotherapy. We demonstrated that variations in PVR expression are primarily recognized by the inhibitory receptor TIGIT, while DNAM-1 strongly contributes to NK cell activation mainly through PVR-independent mechanisms. We performed NK cell-based cytotoxicity assays against renal carcinoma spheroids in the microwell chip. Anti-TIGIT treatment was effective only for TIGIThigh NK cells both when used as monotherapy or in combination with other drugs, suggesting that only a fraction of patients might respond to anti-TIGIT therapy. In Paper IV, a similar approach was used with primary sarcomas. We cultured patient-derived sarcoma spheroids and tested NK cell-based immunotherapy in the microwell chip, either alone or in combination with antibody therapy, and we identified promising treatment combinations. In Paper V, we applied the use of expansion microscopy to visualize NK cells infiltrating renal carcinoma spheroids. In conclusion, our multi-disciplinary work shows the development of new imaging-based platform and its use to study the mechanisms of NK cell-mediated tumor surveillance and for personalized therapy

    The Adirondack Chronology

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    The Adirondack Chronology is intended to be a useful resource for researchers and others interested in the Adirondacks and Adirondack history.https://digitalworks.union.edu/arlpublications/1000/thumbnail.jp

    Oberflächenemittierende Laser mit vertikaler Kavität (VCSELs) und VCSEL-Arrays für Kommunikation und Sensorik

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    Future generations of optical wireless communication and sensing systems require compact, low-cost, reliable, and highly efficient light sources capable of transmitting modulated beams across free space at gigabit per second (Gbps) data rates and pulsed beams with sub-nanosecond rise and fall times. The infrared vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) is exactly one such light source. Fifth generation (5G) systems promise to connect billions of people and trillions of Internet of Things gadgets and sensors at 1 to beyond 20 Gbps via newly auctioned millimeter wave (30 GHz to 300 GHz) spectral bands. By circa 2030 sixth generation (6G) systems envision vast broadband capacity with zero latency – enabling real-time virtual and mixed realities, human-machine interfaces, autonomous vehicles, and much more. The 6G technology adds terahertz wave emitters including infrared VCSELs and VCSEL arrays to vastly increase data rates, boost energy and spectral efficiency, and take advantage of available and unregulated spectral bands. I design, fabricate, and test new experimental VCSEL diodes and novel two-dimensional (2D) VCSEL diode arrays. I study the physics and performance trade-offs of VCSEL light emitters aimed at 5G and 6G optical wireless communication and sensing applications. Via in-house computer modeling and simulation programs, I design VCSEL epitaxial structures – composed of nanometer-thick aluminum-gallium-arsenide, indium-gallium arsenide, and gallium-arsenide-phosphide layers – with peak target emission wavelengths of 940 and 980 nanometers. A commercial foundry grows my experimental VCSEL epitaxial wafers by metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy on 3-inch diameter gallium-arsenide substrates. In my university cleanroom, I fabricate my VCSELs as quarter wafer test pieces using a new VCSEL Array 2018 mask set which contains single VCSELs, and several variations of novel 2D electrically parallel triple (3-element), septuple (7-element), and novemdecuple (19-element) geometric device designs. My fabricated devices feature high frequency, coplanar ground-signal-ground metal contact pads, and top-epitaxial-surface emission. I perform all device tests in my university laser diode laboratory via direct, on-wafer electrical probing under computer control, starting with continuous wave light output power-current-voltage sweeps via a calibrated photodiode-integrating sphere and variable current source. For emission spectra and small-signal frequency response measurements, I collect the emitted VCSEL light with a standard OM1 multiple mode optical fiber (MMF) – connected to either an optical spectrum analyzer or a photoreceiver. For on-wafer data transmission tests across OM1 MMF patch cords, I modulate my VCSELs with nonreturn to zero, pseudorandom bit patterns in the form of 2-level pulse amplitude modulation. I achieve record combinations of optical output power, bandwidth, and efficiency for my large oxide aperture diameter (larger than 20 micrometers) VCSELs and for my VCSEL arrays. For example, I demonstrate 200 milliwatts of optical output power, a bandwidth of 18 GHz, and a wall plug efficiency of 35 percent with a 19-element VCSEL array. I set several records for error free data transmission, for example, 40 Gbps for my triple and septuple VCSEL arrays and 25 Gbps for my novemdecuple VCSEL arrays, well beyond the previous record of 10 Gbps. My work is the first to investigate trade-offs in the highly nontrivial physics of VCSEL arrays aimed at high power and high bandwidth arrays for free space data transmission – producing new guiding principles for further device optimization and product development.Zukünftige Generationen optischer drahtloser Kommunikations- und Sensorsysteme erfordern kompakte, kostengünstige, zuverlässige und hocheffiziente Lichtquellen, die modulierte Strahlen mit Datenraten von Gigabit pro Sekunde (Gbps) und gepulste Strahlen mit Anstieg- und Abfallzeiten im Sub-Nanosekundenbereich über den freien Raum übertragen können. Infrarote, oberflächenemittierende Laser mit vertikaler Kavität (VCSEL) sind genau eine solche Lichtquelle. Systeme der fünften Generation (5G) versprechen, Milliarden von Menschen und Billionen von Geräten und Sensoren für das Internet der Dinge mit 1 bis über 20 Gbps über neu versteigerte Millimeterwellen-Spektralbänder (30 GHz bis 300 GHz) zu verbinden. Bis etwa 2030 sehen Systeme der sechsten Generation (6G) eine enorme Breitbandkapazität ohne Latenzzeit vor – sie ermöglichen virtuelle und gemischte Realitäten in Echtzeit, Mensch-Maschine-Schnittstellen, autonome Fahrzeuge und vieles mehr. Die 6G-Technologie fügt Terahertz-Wellensender hinzu, einschließlich Infrarot-VCSELs und VCSEL-Arrays, um die Datenraten signifikant zu erhöhen, die Energie- und Spektraleffizienz zu steigern und die verfügbaren und noch unregulierten Spektralbänder zu nutzen. In der vorliegenden Arbeit werden neue experimentelle VCSEL-Dioden und neuartige zweidimensionale (2D) VCSEL-Diodenarrays entworfen, hergestellt und getestet. Die Physik der VCSEL-Lichtemittern, welche auf 5G- und 6G-optische drahtlose Kommunikations- und Sensoranwendungen ausgerichtet sind, wird untersucht und Performance-Tradeoffs für die angedachten Anwendungen werden identifiziert und analysiert. Über hauseigene Computermodellierungs- und Simulationsprogramme wurden epitaktische VCSEL-Strukturen – bestehend aus nanometerdicken Aluminium-Gallium-Arsenid-, Indium-Gallium-Arsenid- und Gallium-Arsenid-Phosphid-Schichten – mit Peak-Zielemissionswellenlängen von 940 und 980 Nanometern entworfen. Ein kommerzieller Hersteller hat die experimentellen VCSEL-Epitaxiewafer durch metallorganische Gasphasenepitaxie auf Gallium-Arsenid-Substraten mit einem Durchmesser von 3 Zoll gewachsen. In einem Reinraum an der Universität wurden die VCSELs als Viertelwafer-Teststücke mit einem neuen VCSEL Array 2018-Maskensatz gefertigt, der einzelne VCSELs und mehrere Variationen von neuartigen elektrisch parallelen 2D-Tripel- (3-Element), Septuple- (7-Element) und Novemdecuple- (19-Elemente) Strukturdesigns enthält. Bei den prozessierten Strukturen handelt es sich um Top-Emitter mit hochfrequenzkompatiblen koplanare Masse-Signal-Masse-Metallkontaktpads. Alle Device-Tests wurden computergesteuert in einem universitären Laserdiodenlabor durch direktes elektrisches On-Wafer Probing durchgeführt, beginnend mit Dauerstrich-Lichtausgangsleistung-Strom-Spannungs-Sweeps über eine kalibrierte Photodioden-Integrationskugel und eine variable Stromquelle. Für Emissionsspektren und Kleinsignal-Frequenzgangmessungen wurde das emittierte VCSEL-Licht mit einer standardmäßigen OM1-Multimode-Glasfaser (MMF) eingesammelt – verbunden mit einem optischen Spektrumanalysator oder einem Fotoempfänger. Für On-Wafer-Datenübertragungstests über OM1-MMF-Patchkabel wurden die VCSELs mit pseudozufälligen Bitmustern im Non-Return-To-Zero Format mit 2-Level-Pulsamplitudenmodulation moduliert. In dieser Arbeit werden bisher unerreichte Kombinationen von optischer Ausgangsleistung, Bandbreite und Effizienz für VCSEL und VCSEL-Arrays mit großer Oxid-Apertur (größer als 20 Mikrometer) demonstriert. Beispielsweise werden 200 Milliwatt optische Ausgangsleistung, eine Bandbreite von 18 GHz und eine Konversionseffizienz elektrischer zu optischer Leistung von 35 Prozent mit einem 19-Element-VCSEL-Array erreicht. Zudem werden mehrere Rekorde für fehlerfreie Datenübertragung aufgestellt, zum Beispiel 40 Gbps für Triple- und Septuple-VCSEL-Arrays und 25 Gbps für Novemdecuple-VCSEL-Arrays, weit über den bisherigen Stand der Technik von 10 Gbps hinaus. Diese Arbeit ist die erste, die Trade-Offs in der hochgradig nichttrivialen Physik von VCSEL-Arrays untersucht, die auf Arrays mit hoher Leistung und hoher Bandbreite für die Datenübertragung im freien Raum abzielen – und damit neue Leitprinzipien für die weitere Bauelementoptimierung und Produktentwicklung schafft.DFG, 43659573, SFB 787: Halbleiter - Nanophotonik: Materialien, Modelle, Bauelement

    How to Be a God

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    When it comes to questions concerning the nature of Reality, Philosophers and Theologians have the answers. Philosophers have the answers that can’t be proven right. Theologians have the answers that can’t be proven wrong. Today’s designers of Massively-Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games create realities for a living. They can’t spend centuries mulling over the issues: they have to face them head-on. Their practical experiences can indicate which theoretical proposals actually work in practice. That’s today’s designers. Tomorrow’s will have a whole new set of questions to answer. The designers of virtual worlds are the literal gods of those realities. Suppose Artificial Intelligence comes through and allows us to create non-player characters as smart as us. What are our responsibilities as gods? How should we, as gods, conduct ourselves? How should we be gods
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