Agriculture, Profitability and Climate Change: Can Accounting Help Identify Best Farming Practices? Empirical Case Study in Spain

We perform an empirical analysis on the benefits of, and the challenges faced by, sustainability accounting in measuring the effects of climate change for a sample of Spanish rice farms. We use farm yields, revenues and incomes as indicators of economic performance, and greenhouse gas emissions, and direct and indirect energy consumption as indicators of climate change effects. According to our data, farms with higher yields, revenues and income are responsible for a greater environmental impact, measured in total gigajoules of energy consumed and tons of carbon dioxide emitted, than farms with a lower economic performance. Results show that in our sample the achievement of higher yields is attributable to the greater use of chemical inputs and fossil fuels and not to innovative and sustainable farming practices. The results indicate that accounting for climate change effects is not only possible but also necessary to provide more accurate information on the overall costs and benefits of farming. Greater transparency in accounting information should serve to highlight which farming activities are better able to reduce climate change impacts

Rice farming, profitability and climate change. Can accounting help to identify best practices? Empirical case study in Spain

We perform an empirical analysis on the benefits of, and the challenges faced by, sustainability accounting in measuring the effects of climate change for a sample of Spanish rice farms. We use farm yields, revenues and incomes as indicators of economic performance, and greenhouse gas emissions, and direct and indirect energy consumption as indicators of climate change effects. According to our data, farms with higher yields, revenues and income are responsible for a greater environmental impact, measured in total gigajoules of energy consumed and tons of carbon dioxide emitted, than farms with a lower economic performance. Results show that in our sample the achievement of higher yields is attributable to the greater use of chemical inputs and fossil fuels and not to innovative and sustainable farming practices. The results indicate that accounting for climate change effects can provide useful information to reduce climate change impacts

Productivity and environmental costs from intensification of farming. A panel data analysis across EU regions

This paper addresses the need of finding new ways of measuring environmental and economic performance of farming. The aim of this study is to inquire on the impacts that excessive intensification has on productivity and environmental costs in the long term and, additionally to explore empirically the trend of these two indicators over time. The contribution of this study is twofold: (a) to engage in the discussion that although intensification can boost yields and lower costs in the short-term, it might lead in the opposite direction in the long-term due to environmental and economic issues and (b) to explore current trends of productivity and environmental costs of farming. To this end, this paper performs a panel data analysis of productivity and environmental costs on a farm accounting database across European regions over the 1989-2009 period. The methodology uses output as an indicator of productivity and expenditures on energy, pesticides and fertilisers as proxy indicators of environmental costs. Results provide empirical evidence that regions under study have a negative trend of productivity and a positive trend of environmental costs in the years under study. These results correlate negatively with both, economic and environmental sustainability of farms. Arguably, this is aggravated in the latter due to hidden environmental costs valued at zero in traditional accounting

An empirical analysis of environmental externalities incidence on financial performance

An increasing body of scientific evidence continues to fuel concerns regarding the effects of economic human activity on the environment. In this call, environmental accounting attempts to increase accounting transparency in order to facilitate environmentally sound decision-making. The main objective of this dissertation is to actively engage in the design and implementation of new ways of integrating environmental and accounting information. To this end, it examines the potential of environmental indicators as a tool for this integration. The use of indicators to estimate variables that cannot be measured precisely has been well documented through the history of environmental sciences and is considered appropriate in accounting where variables cannot be directly observed. This dissertation is made up of three independent articles exploring different aspects of the topic. The first article addresses boundaries setting of environmental indicators for sustainability reporting. The contribution of this study is twofold: (a) it inquires into the methodological foundations of boundary setting for improved sustainability reporting and (b) it explores current corporate practice in this area. This article adopts a survey methodology and performs content analysis on a a sample of 92 sustainability reports from companies included in the 2012 Financial Times Global 500 list. Results show that in our sample reporting boundaries are financially restricted and therefore they do not allow to disclose a complete and inclusive view on entities environmental performance. The second article is related with the use of proxy indicators. Most environmental impact have no available market valuation. A way of assessing the value of environmental impact is the use of something that approaches the measurement of immeasurable variables. The study performs a panel data analysis of environmental costs on a farm accounting database across European regions over the 1989-2009 period. It uses farm output per hectare as an indicator of productivity and expenditures on energy, pesticides and fertilisers per hectare as proxies of environmental costs. Results show decreasing productivity and a significant steady increase in environmental costs across time. The third article uses weighting and aggregation to allow aggregate group of materials with common characteristics. It performs an empirical analysis on the relationship between environmental and economic performance using own collected data from 9 rice farms located in Spain. It uses yields, revenues and incomes as indicators of economic performance. It considers greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption as indicators of environmental performance. It applies the AgriClimateChange Tool software that allows the calculation of energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Results show that in the farms under study, the achievement of higher yields is attributable to the greater use of chemical inputs and fossil fuels. The contribution of this thesis is to find empirical evidence suggesting that environmental indicators can be a good way to integrate environmental and accounting information. Overall, results in three chapters included in this thesis suggest that although it is undoubted that companies will not survive without natural resources, unfortunately, there is still a disjunctive perspective between corporation and environmental perspective. The integration of environmental indicators into the accounting framework could help to optimize natural resource usage and, as a consequence, to improve the economy as a whole and, more importantly, ecosystems sustainability

Effect of heme and non-heme ligands on subunit dissociation of normal and carboxypeptidase-digested hemoglobin. Gel filtration and flash photolysis studies.

The dissociation of normal and carboxypeptidase-digested human hemoglobin has been studied by gel filtration under several experimental conditions. These include (a) different derivatives, notably deoxy-, oxy-, and CO-hemoglobin, (b) changes in solvent composition and in pH, and (c) addition of inositol hexaphosphate. In normal hemoglobin, in agreement with previous results, the deoxygenated derivative is much less dissociated than the oxy or CO ones. This difference is observed also in some of the digested hemoglobins, but tends to vanish in those proteins in which, as a result of extensive digestion, the conformational change accompanying ligand binding is abolished. The dissociation of normal and digested hemoglobins is affected by solvent composition, is at a minimum at pH near 8, and is decreased by the addition of inositol hexaphosphate. Parallel flash photolysis experiments, performed under conditions identical with those used in the gel filtration studies, indicate that the appearance of quickly reacting material parallels dissociation into dimers in normal hemoglobin. Both in normal and digested hemoglobins conditions which decrease dissociation decrease the fraction of rapidly reacting material. In the digested hemoglobins the fraction of rapidly reacting material may be much higher than can be accounted for by the amount of dimers, indicating in these cases that the tetramers may be rapidly reacting. The data point once again to the critical role of the COOH-terminal residues in maintaining the subunit structure of hemoglobin and the interaction effects associated with it

Los sistemas de control de gestión en el éxito competitivo y rendimiento de las pymes

Key factors such as internationalization and human capital training foster competitive advantages that increase performance. The adoption of a set of management control tools enables the correct management of these factors, however, the effect of those systems has not been sufficiently analyzed in the literature. The main objective of this paper is to determine the mediating effect of the diversity of use of the management control systems (MCS) in the relationship between the success factors –human capital training and internationalization–, and performance. Using a sample of Spanish firms from the food industry, the results show that internationalization has a direct positive impact on organizational performance, while human capital training is indirectly and positively related to performance through the use of a high diversity of MCS.Los factores clave de éxito, como la internacionalización y la formación del capital humano, permiten obtener ventajas competitivas que redundan en aumentos del rendimiento. La adopción de diversas herramientas de control de gestión permite la correcta gestión de estos factores, sin embargo, qué efectos producen no ha sido suficientemente analizado. El objetivo principal de este trabajo es determinar el efecto mediador del uso de una diversidad de sistemas de control de gestión (SCG) en la relación entre los factores de éxito –capital humano formado y capacidad de internacionalización– y el rendimiento. Tomando como muestra el sector agroalimentario español, los resultados evidencian que, la internacionalización tiene una relación directa y positiva con el rendimiento, mientras que la formación del capital humano se relaciona indirecta y positivamente con el rendimiento a través de un alto uso de diversos SCG

Estudio sobre la adopción de prácticas de contabilidad gerencial en empresas hoteleras de Florianópolis, SC, Brasil

El objetivo del estudio es analizar la adopción de prácticas de contabilidad gerencial en empresas hoteleras. Para alcanzar ese objetivo, se aplicó un cuestionario a 15 hoteles de la gran Florianópolis-Santa Catarina (Brasil), afiliadas a la ABIH (Asociación Brasileña de la Industria de Hoteles), entre abril de 2014 y mayo de 2016. Los resultados muestran que la contabilidad gerencial es adoptada en gran parte de las empresas hoteleras, siendo el destaque para: el uso de los métodos de costeo por absorción y de costeo estándar; la utilización del presupuesto para planificación anual y control de costos; medidas de rentabilidad y análisis de rentabilidad del producto y de clientes; y análisis de los puntos fuertes y débiles y posición de los competidores. Esto demuestra que generalmente los hoteles adoptan prácticas tradicionales, de primera y segunda etapa. Entre los posibles cambios, en los próximos tres años, apuntados por los gestores hoteleros está la utilización de medidas no financieras relacionadas con la innovación y la Gestión Basada en Actividades.O objetivo deste estudo é analisar a adoção de práticas de contabilidade gerencial em empresas hoteleiras. Para atingir esse objetivo, um questionário foi aplicado a 15 hotéis da grande Florianópolis, SC, Brasil, filiados à Associação Brasileira da Indústria de Hotéis (ABIH), no período de abril de 2014 a maio de 2016. Com essa limitação, os resultados servem para o escopo específico e mostram que a contabilidade gerencial é adotada em grande parte das empresas hoteleiras pesquisadas. Dos resultados, pode-se destacar o uso dos métodos de custeio por absorção e de custeio padrão, a utilização do orçamento para planejamento anual e controle de custos, medidas de rentabilidade e análise de rentabilidade do produto e de clientes, e análise dos pontos fortes e fracos e da posição dos concorrentes. Isso mostra que geralmente os hotéis adotam práticas tradicionais, de primeiro e segundo estágio. Entre as possíveis mudanças apontadas pelos gestores hoteleiros para os próximos três anos está a utilização de medidas não financeiras relacionadas à inovação e à gestão baseada em atividades.This study aims to analyze the adoption of management accounting practices in hotels. To reach this objective, a questionnaire was applied to 15 hotels in the metropolitan region of Florianópolis, Santa Catarina (Brazil), affiliated to ABIH (Brazilian Hotel Industry Association), from April 2014 to May 2016. Through this accounting, the results serve as specific scope and show management accounting is adopted in most of the hotels. Among those results, it can be highlighted the use of absorption costing and standard costing methods; budget use for annual planning and cost control; measures and analysisof product and customers profitability; and strengths and weaknesses and competitors position analysis. This shows that hotels usually adopt first and second stage traditional practices. The use of non-financial measures related to innovation and Activity-Based Management are among the possible changes pointed by hotel managers for the nextthree years

Persistent and transient olfactory deficits in COVID-19 are associated to inflammation and zinc homeostasis

IntroductionThe Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is mainly a respiratory syndrome that can affect multiple organ systems, causing a variety of symptoms. Among the most common and characteristic symptoms are deficits in smell and taste perception, which may last for weeks/months after COVID-19 diagnosis owing to mechanisms that are not fully elucidated. MethodsIn order to identify the determinants of olfactory symptom persistence, we obtained olfactory mucosa (OM) from 21 subjects, grouped according to clinical criteria: i) with persistent olfactory symptoms; ii) with transient olfactory symptoms; iii) without olfactory symptoms; and iv) non-COVID-19 controls. Cells from the olfactory mucosa were harvested for transcriptome analyses. Results and discussionRNA-Seq assays showed that gene expression levels are altered for a long time after infection. The expression profile of micro RNAs appeared significantly altered after infection, but no relationship with olfactory symptoms was found. On the other hand, patients with persistent olfactory deficits displayed increased levels of expression of genes involved in the inflammatory response and zinc homeostasis, suggesting an association with persistent or transient olfactory deficits in individuals who experienced SARS-CoV-2 infection

A case of dengue type 3 virus infection imported from Africa to Italy, October 2009.

In October 2009, a traveller returning from Africa to Italy was hospitalised with symptoms suggestive of a haemorrhagic fever of unknown origin. The patient was immediately placed in a special biocontainment unit until laboratory investigations confirmed the infection to be caused by a dengue serotype 3 virus. This case reasserts the importance of returning travellers as sentinels of unknown outbreaks occurring in other countries, and highlights how the initial symptoms of dengue fever resemble those of other haemorrhagic fevers, hence the importance of prompt isolation of patients until a final diagnosis is reached

Collective health research assessment : developing a tool to measure the impact of multistakeholder research initiatives

Background: The need to more collaboratively measure the impact of health research and to do so from multidimensional perspectives has been acknowledged. A scorecard was developed as part of the Collective Research Impact Framework (CRIF), to engage stakeholders in the assessment of the impacts of health research and innovations. The purpose of this study was to describe the developmental process of the MULTI-ACT Master Scorecard (MSC) and how it can be used as a workable tool for collectively assessing future responsible research and innovation measures. Methods: An extensive review of the health research impact literature and of multistakeholder initiatives resulted in a database of 1556 impact indicators. The MSC was then cocreated by engaging key stakeholders and conducting semi-structured interviews of experts in the field. Results: The MSC consists of five accountability dimensions: excellence, efficacy, economic, social and patient-reported outcomes. The tool contains 125 potential indicators, classified into 53 impact measurement aspects that are considered the most relevant topics for multistakeholder research and innovation initiatives when assessing their impact on the basis of their mission and their stakeholders’ interests. The scorecard allows the strategic management of multistakeholder research initiatives to demonstrate their impact on people and society. The value of the tool is that it is comprehensive, customizable and easy to use. Conclusions: The MSC is an example of how the views of society can be taken into account when research impacts are assessed in a more sustainable and balanced way. The engagement of patients and other stakeholders is an integral part of the CRIF, facilitating collaborative decision-making in the design of policies and research agendas. In policy making, the collective approach allows the evaluation perspective to be extended to the needs of society and towards responsible research and innovation. Multidimensionality makes research and innovations more responsive to systemic challenges, and developing more equitable and sustainable health services.publishedVersionPeer reviewe