Research on Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting

The paper aims to revisit the relationship between reporting companies’ characteristics and the importance assigned to social and environmental disclosure, using statistical correlations. We conducted a content analysis on the extent of sustainability reports of the largest 50 companies classified by Global Fortune in 2009, in order to address the research hypotheses. Results show that size characteristics measured by assets and revenues cannot be correlated to the extent of Corporate Social Responsibility reports published by companies, but there is a significant negative correlation between change in revenues and return on equity and social and environmental disclosure for the sampled companies.corporate social responsibility; social and environmental reporting; companies’ characteristics; statistical correlations

Social and Environmental Issues in Corporative Management: A Romanian Story

The complex process of monitoring entities environmental impact entails ability, respect for the environment and reduction of the ecological footprint. This research defines Romanian trends as regards the effects and actions to adapt to climate change and characterizes corporate management in terms of compliance with environmental management systems requirements. The main objective is to assess the current state of environmental management implementation and identifies relevant social and environmental issues that companies use to include in corporate management. The current agenda would allow developing a framework for environmental management implementation in Romanian entities, in order to assume the corporate social responsibility

Exploring the perspectives of integrated reporting for future research opportunities

This paper investigates the perspectives of integrated reporting as an emerging field in mainstream academic literature. The current state of research and its development are explored by using the Structured Literature Review (SLR) method on publications indexed in Clarivate Analytics’ Web of Science. An analytical framework is designed for applying the coding procedure. The findings suggest an evolution of integrated reporting research from the phase of spreading awareness regarding the new reporting paradigm towards an impact analysis phase. The accounting and audit journals are noted to have greatly contributed to the shift of IR literature towards studying the integrated reporting as a reporting practice. A further purpose is to examine newly developed research interest in integrated reporting and to establish future paths to be followed. Future research might bring to discussion possible links between integrated reporting, governance and integrated thinking. The complex interrelationships influencing the companies’ ability to create value for the multi-stakeholders need to frame the practice-oriented research

Education for sustainability – a prerequisite for post-crisis economic competitiveness with possible inference for Romania

The need to integrate sustainability among the skills of specialists in economics and its accreditation for the university curricula was recognized in academic literature for over twenty years. Using the literature review and documentation, the present paper identifies the key factors in the assessment of the current state of the scientific research and the practice of European universities. The prime responsibility is for economic universities to adjust curricula to meet these demands. In this sense, the paper constructs a debate on the organisation and the projection of a strategy in developing the economic education towards sustainability in higher economic education in Romania

Social and Environmental Determinants of Risk and Uncertainties Reporting

Recently, risk reporting has gained interest in financial reporting practice, regulation, and international research. Social and environmental reporting is seen to benefit shareholders more by reducing risk than by increasing return. The researchers showed that the annual report is the most favoured channel of disclosure, along with presentation to investors. The general message is that, as far as annual reports go, quantified, verifiable disclosures have the most credibility and relevance. Our paper is meant to develop an analysis of specific requirements regarding risks and uncertainties reported into the financial statements according to different standards (US-GAAP, IFRS, and European Directives) and their connection to social and environmental information that an entity should disclose. We focus on fundamental research that is related to inductive accounting theory and uses scientific methods for identification of corporate reporting theoretical and practical difficulties in European and international economic entities

Tribological Behavior and Microstructural Analysis of Atmospheric Plasma Spray Deposited Thin Coatings on Cardan Cross Spindles

Cardan joints are used in transmissions between misaligned shafts, as in all-wheel-drive (AWD) cars and railway applications. Their functioning is accompanied by heavy cyclical loads, with the cardan cross spindles subjected to intensive abrasive wear and pitting. In this paper, a solution to the mentioned issue is proposed, thin anti-wear coatings of Metco 32 and Metco 72 metallic powders deposited by atmospheric plasma spray (APS) on cylindrical samples cut from spindles of two cardan crosses made of 40Cr10 and RUL2 steel. The morphological analysis of the coated surfaces was realized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and the elemental composition of the tested samples was elaborated by energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). To investigate the wear resistance of the coated samples in dry and grease-lubricated conditions, tests at constant load and constant speed were carried out using an AMSLER tribometer. The results of greased tests proved that the expulsion of the lubricant from the tribological contact occurred no matter the combination of coated or uncoated samples. During grease-lubricated tests of ten minutes, the least coefficient of friction was measured for uncoated specimens with better surface finishing; but in dry friction tests, the lowest values of the mean friction coefficients were obtained for the Metco 72 coatings. The porous coatings may act as lubricant reservoirs in long-lasting tests, providing a solution to the expulsion phenomenon of the lubricant to the boundary outside the area of the larger-diameter roller

BACTERIAL PROFILES FOR CHRONIC AND AGGRESSIVE PERIODONTITIS IN A SAMPLE POPULATION GROUP. A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

Aim. The study aims at determining some possible significant differences in the subgingival microbial profiles of patients with generalized chronic periodontitis (GCP) and generalized aggressive periodontitis (GAP), as a tool in helping with differential diagnostic. Materials and methods. 20 subgingival fluid samples (10 from GAP and 10 from GCP patients) were subjected to a Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction technique in order to determine the prevalence and the counts of 9 periodontal pathogens (Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans, Porphyromonas gingivalis, Treponema denticola, Tanerella forsythia, Prevotella intermedia, Peptostreptococcus micros, Fusobacterium nucleatum, Eubacterium nodatum and Capnocytophaga gingivalis). Results and discussion. Fusobacterium nucleatum was singnificantly correlated with the aggressive periodontitis group, but no significant differences were found for the other 8 periodontal bacteria. Conclusions. The prevalence or count of some periodontal pathogens could help clinicians make an easier differential diagnostic between GCP and GAP, however further studies, conducted on larger population samples, are still needed