Corporate Social Reporting in Libya: A Research Note

Purpose Not enough is known about social accounting disclosure practices in developing countries. This research note adds strength and depth to the few other studies that take Libya as a point of departure to understanding the dynamic between disclosure practices and the context in which they are performed. Design/methodology/approach A sample of 270 annual reports from 54 companies, both public and private across a range of sectors and covering a five year period (2001-2005) were analysed using content analysis to ascertain patterns and trends in corporate social reporting by Libyan companies. Findings Libyan companies generally disclose some information related to social responsibility but at a low level compared with developed countries and only in certain areas. This situation changed little over the five year period under scrutiny. Research limitations/implications During the five year period examined, CSR remained largely unresponsive to significant changes in the political scene that occurred over a much longer period of time. This suggests further research is needed to illuminate the role and influence of societal culture and to understand the impact of organisational subculture on disclosure and responsibility practices. Originality/value Libya provides a point of departure for further research into other transitioning or developing economies, particularly those in the Arab world. It also offers unique insights and the possibility for comparative studies between them due to its particular character. This note augments and adds depth to other studies in the area

Projections of determinantal point processes

In computer experiments setting, space-filling designs are used to produce inputs, viewed as point patterns. A first important property of the design is that the point pattern covers regularly the input space. A second property is the conservation of this regular covering if the point pattern is projected onto a lower dimensional space. According to the first requirement, it seems then natural to consider classes of spatial point process which generate repulsive patterns. The class of determinantal point processes (DPPs) is considered in this paper. In particular, we address the question: Can we construct a DPP such that any projection on a lower-dimensional space remains a DPP, or at least remains repulsive? By assuming a particular form for the kernel defining the DPP, we prove rigorously that the answer is positive. We propose several examples of models, and in particular stationary models, achieving this property. These models defined on a compact set of $\mathbb{R}^d$ are shown to be efficient for Monte-Carlo integration problems; we show that the same initial spatial design, defined in $\mathbb{R}^d$, can be used to efficiently estimate integrals of $\mathbb{R}^\omega$-valued for any $\omega=1,\dots,d$

Airflow around conic tensile membrane structures

Sophisticated analytical models and computer software have facilitated the structural design of tensile membrane structures and this has produced a diverse and complex range of design and form solutions. The climate inside a typical fabric membrane enclosure is dependent on factors such as the shape (having a significant clear height) and the thermal properties of the thin “skin”, which differ considerably from traditional or more conventional “heavy” construction. However, there has been little consideration of the effect that these forms “shapes” have on their immediate environment, from the point of view of human comfort, even for the most basic of shapes. Tensile membrane structures can have an attractive dramatic effect and easily span a large area. In addition to the lighting and shading functions normally associated with tensile membrane skins, the topology of the construction type offers exciting opportunities to lend additional functionality and higher levels of comfort to the enclosure (ElNokaly et al, 2002). This paper describes the results of wind tunnel visualization and monitoring of the airflow patterns around and under conic tensile membrane structures covering open and semi-enclosed spaces. The experiments were conducted using a number of physical models representing a simple conical membrane structure. The study was designed primarily in order to ascertain the potential of conic membranes for modifying the microclimate and improving human comfort in their immediate vicinity. (Continued

Improved Orientation Sampling for Indexing Diffraction Patterns of Polycrystalline Materials

Orientation mapping is a widely used technique for revealing the microstructure of a polycrystalline sample. The crystalline orientation at each point in the sample is determined by analysis of the diffraction pattern, a process known as pattern indexing. A recent development in pattern indexing is the use of a brute-force approach, whereby diffraction patterns are simulated for a large number of crystalline orientations, and compared against the experimentally observed diffraction pattern in order to determine the most likely orientation. Whilst this method can robust identify orientations in the presence of noise, it has very high computational requirements. In this article, the computational burden is reduced by developing a method for nearly-optimal sampling of orientations. By using the quaternion representation of orientations, it is shown that the optimal sampling problem is equivalent to that of optimally distributing points on a four-dimensional sphere. In doing so, the number of orientation samples needed to achieve a indexing desired accuracy is significantly reduced. Orientation sets at a range of sizes are generated in this way for all Laue groups, and are made available online for easy use.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figure