Managing Environmental and Economic Performance: a Review of Theory and Practice on Performance Measurement

As businesses struggle to maintain sustainability, a great deal of interest has focused on the issues of performance measurement systems. This paper provides a literature review on the evolution of performance measurement systems, from the traditional performance measures to the sustainable balanced scorecard. More importantly, this paper highlights the vital role of sustainable balanced scorecard as a tool that manages both economic and environmental performance. Majority of the existing sustainable balanced scorecard studies were found to be of normative nature giving limited information on how the integration process between economic and environmental dimensions is being carried out via balanced scorecard. Future research is needed to enhance the understanding of the role of the sustainable balanced scorecard as an important tool in the management of economic and environmental performance in the organization

Rios, ruas e redes: o papel das TICs no processo de desocultamento dos cursos de água da cidade de São Paulo

The city of São Paulo has developed based on an urbanization logic that hid a hydrographic network of more than three hundred watercourses. This article aims to investigate the role of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in the actions of collectives and social initiatives engaged in rediscovering these watercourses. The method of investigation and analysis consists of mapping and observing the collectives and network devices and architectures mobilized by these groups. This means tracing and describing the interactions between people, technologies and other spatial elements that also make up the process. In order to insert the discussion within a techno-communicational perspective, the analysis sought to highlight two aspects, namely, the nature and reticular form of the phenomenon investigated and the continuous hybridization between physical and digital-informational spaces and territories.A cidade de São Paulo se desenvolveu baseada em uma lógica de urbanização que ocultou uma rede hidrográfica de mais de trezentos cursos de água. Este artigo tem o objetivo de investigar o papel das Tecnologias da Informação e Comunicação (TICs) nas ações de coletivos e iniciativas sociais engajados no desocultamento dessas águas. O método de investigação e análise consiste no mapeamento e observação dos coletivos e dos dispositivos e arquiteturas digitais e em rede mobilizados por esses grupos. Isso indica traçar e descrever as interações entre pessoas, tecnologias e outros elementos espaciais que também compõem o processo. A fim de inserir a discussão dentro de uma perspectiva tecnocomunicacional, a análise buscou destacar dois aspectos, a saber, a natureza e forma reticular do fenômeno investigado e a contínua hibridação entre espaços e territórios físicos e digitais-informacionais

The impact of ICTs on social actions for mapping and restoring rivers and streams in the city of São Paulo

As the city of São Paulo grew and developed during the latter part of the 19th century and in the course of the 20th, its approximately 300 rivers were gradually built over, causing them to fade from use and public awareness. Various collectives and social initiatives are now engaged in the rediscovery of these watercourses. Using participant observation and document analysis, we investigated their activities and the impact of information and communication technologies (ICTs) on the process. Our research showed that, in addition to producing, distributing, storing and retrieving information in the digital environment, collectives and social initiatives also play a role in the creation and development of tools and platforms that reveal São Paulo’s hydrographic network. We conclude that ICTs allow these activist groups to provide São Paulo’s citizens with concrete tools for noticing channelised and buried rivers and streams. We also observe that hybridisation of the physical and digitalinformational territories suggests a new way of seeing and occupying the city

Hidrocidadania, redes digitais e a redescoberta dos rios e córregos de São Paulo // Hydro-citizenship, digital networks and the rediscovery the rivers and streams of São Paulo

o objetivo deste artigo é investigar o papel dos dispositivos e arquiteturas digitais e em rede utilizadas pelos coletivos que atuam no processo de redescoberta dos rios e córregos canalizados e enterrados na cidade de São Paulo. O método adotado é a observação etnográfica no ambiente digital, cuja abordagem permitiu o mapeamento e a descrição do fenômeno investigado com base na traçabilidade dos rastros deixados e das conexões engendradas. Observou-se que as tecnologias digitais e em rede não atuam apenas na divulgação de informações e conteúdos, mas elas também são fundamentais para o desocultamento dessas águas, pois fornecem ao imaginário social elementos concretos para a percepção da dimensão desses rios e córregos, além de propor uma nova maneira de ver e ocupar a cidade

Os paradoxos da Comunicação ante o Antropoceno

O Antropoceno define a presente época da história geológica da Terra, na qual a superfície terrestre foi transformada pela ação humana. O termo também sugere uma convergência entre a história natural do planeta e a história social da humanidade. Inseridas nesse novo cenário, a Comunicação e as suas tecnologias se veem diante de complexos paradoxos. Ora essas tecnologias atuam na construção de uma consciência ecológica planetária, ao inaugurar novas possibilidades comunicativas, ampliando narrativas e articulando redes de identificação e solidariedade, ora elas intensificam a devastação do planeta por meio dos processos de produção, funcionamento e descarte de dispositivos midiáticos, cujo aspecto material não pode ser ignorado

Probing the Influence of Single-Site Mutations in the Central Cross-β Region of Amyloid β (1–40) Peptides

Amyloid β (Aβ) is a peptide known to form amyloid fibrils in the brain of patients suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. A complete mechanistic understanding how Aβ peptides form neurotoxic assemblies and how they kill neurons has not yet been achieved. Previous analysis of various Aβ40 mutants could reveal the significant importance of the hydrophobic contact between the residues Phe19 and Leu34 for cell toxicity. For some mutations at Phe19, toxicity was completely abolished. In the current study, we assessed if perturbations introduced by mutations in the direct proximity of the Phe19/Leu34 contact would have similar relevance for the fibrillation kinetics, structure, dynamics and toxicity of the Aβ assemblies. To this end, we rationally modified positions Phe20 or Gly33. A small library of Aβ40 peptides with Phe20 mutated to Lys, Tyr or the non-proteinogenic cyclohexylalanine (Cha) or Gly33 mutated to Ala was synthesized. We used electron microscopy, circular dichroism, X-ray diffraction, solid-state NMR spectroscopy, ThT fluorescence and MTT cell toxicity assays to comprehensively investigate the physicochemical properties of the Aβ fibrils formed by the modified peptides as well as toxicity to a neuronal cell line. Single mutations of either Phe20 or Gly33 led to relatively drastic alterations in the Aβ fibrillation kinetics but left the global, as well as the local structure, of the fibrils largely unchanged. Furthermore, the introduced perturbations caused a severe decrease or loss of cell toxicity compared to wildtype Aβ40. We suggest that perturbations at position Phe20 and Gly33 affect the fibrillation pathway of Aβ40 and, thereby, influence the especially toxic oligomeric species manifesting so that the region around the Phe19/Leu34 hydrophobic contact provides a promising site for the design of small molecules interfering with the Aβ fibrillation pathway

Learning agility quotient and work readiness of graduating accounting students: embracing the dynamics of IR4.0

This study examines if the learning agility quotient (LAQ) is an important determinant for the work readiness of graduating accounting students in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (IR4.0) environment. Using a questionnaire survey involving 275 respondents, we find that those with higher intelligence quotient (IQ) and emotional quotient (EQ) have higher LAQ. We also find that LAQ mediates the positive impact of IQ and EQ on their work readiness. Our findings implicate accounting education as they highlight the significant role of LAQ in relation to IQ, EQ, and work readiness. Further research is needed to determine if educational and work environment factors can effectively support and enhance learning agility

Discursos que subyacen en la producciónconstitución de subjetividad de un grupo de estudiantes universitarios indígenas

La presente investigación tiene como objetivo comprender los discursos que subyacen en la producción-constitución de subjetividad de un grupo de estudiantes indígenas de la Universidad del Quindío. Son tenidos en cuenta autores como Foucault, para el tema de discursos y prácticas de sí, Dussel para entender el proceso de colonización, Castro para referirse al tema de colonialidad y decolonialidad, Escobar sobre globalización. La categoría de subjetividad abordada desde la perspectiva de Castro, así como Maldonado para hablar de colonialidad del ser. Se usó un enfoque cualitativo con el método de la hermenéutica pluritópica, la cual entiende la diferencia de lo múltiple y hace um diálogo intercultural, usando técnicas como lo son la entrevista a profundidad y talleres de expresión gráfica. El análisis de la información arroja datos en cuanto a las secuelas de la globalización sobre las subjetividades, el papel de agencias socializadoras como la iglesia y la escuela para replicar le pensamiento occidental y la lucha y resistencia por el rescate de lo propio y la identidad pese a los processos del desarrollo y la modernidad

Mudbanks and fisheries along the Kerala coast – myth and reality

Mudbanks, a unique coastal oceanographic phenomenon occurring along the southwest (SW) coast of India during the SW monsoon season, are synonymous with the fishery of this region. Here we examine the validity of the popular notion that mudbanks directly support rich fisheries, using a high temporal resolution water column data collected from the Alappuzha mudbank region in Kerala during April to September 2014, in conjunction with fisheries data. Our study reveals that the upwelling which occurs during the SW monsoon season along this coast brings oxygendeficient subsurface water to the upper water column. Escaping the oxygen-depleted waters, the fish aggregate within a thin upper layer allowing easy visual identification and capture of fish shoals. This process occurs throughout the coast and is not confined just to the mudbanks. Mudbank being a calm region, traditional fishermen using non-motorized country craft were able to carry out fishing within this region only during the SW monsoon. With the induction of motorized and mechanized fishing, the link between mudbanks and fisheries is becoming less prominent, although the former still continue to be important fish landing centres