Fixing ESG: Are Mandatory ESG Disclosures the Solution to Misleading Ratings?

This Note provides an overview of the debate around the current state of ESG disclosure practices, and the perceived need for the SEC to establish a system of mandatory ESG disclosures. Part I explores the inherent difficulty of defining ESG, the problematic nature of quantifying and measuring ESG factors, and the tools currently being used by market-leading ratings firms and investment vehicles. In particular, this part addresses the inconsistencies of ESG self-reporting, the influence of this practice on the ensuing ratings, and the potential for investors to be misled as a result. Part II of the Note explores the possible consequences of a system of mandatory ESG disclosure, weighing the main arguments in favor and against the establishment of a regulation that mandates ESG disclosures. Drawing from a 2018 SEC submission by the law professors Cynthia A. Williams and Jill E. Fisch, Part II explores the arguments around general market efficiency, U.S. capital markets competitiveness, and the ultimate goal of giving investors access to better, more consistent, and fairly comparable information, while keeping the costs of increased reporting outweighed by the benefits of it. Part III closes by describing current proposals in favor mandating ESG disclosures. In particular, the Note presents the proposal by Professor Fisch, under which the SEC may mandate a discussion on ESG, while allowing companies the flexibility to decide what factors to address and how to address them in view of materiality considerations for their specific industries

Incitement And Defamation In Saudi Arabia: The Case Of Human Rights Lawyer Waleed Abu Al-Khair

Saudi human rights lawyer and pro-democracy activist Waleed Abu Al-Khair was convicted for “inciting public opinion” and “harming the reputation of the King.” As a result, he is currently serving a fifteen-year prison sentence in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This Article analyzes Abu Al-Khair’s criminal conviction under international law, with a focus on the universal standard for the protection of freedom of expression. Specifically, this article explores international law rules that call for narrow constructions of the offenses of “incitement” and “defamation” under domestic law when dealing with public figures and public affairs. Portions of this paper have been reproduced with updates from a prior 2016 Human Rights Foundation Report, written by the same authors of this article. This Article is intended to replace the 2016 Report previously publishe

Tourism, heritage territorial and development in the Northeastern Middle Atlas (Morocco)

Las montañas del nordeste del Medio Atlas marroquí constituyen una zona frágil y aislada, donde la población presenta precarias condiciones de vida. Desde el punto de vista natural y cultural, ocupan un lugar relevante en el conjunto de las montañas marroquíes al contar con recursos territoriales y patrimoniales. El turismo constituye una alternativa viable para activar el desarrollo económico y social. En este artículo se plantean las luces y las sombras que tendría la puesta en marcha de actividades propias del turismo, con un enfoque participativo y descentralizado.The mountains of northeastern Middle Atlas (Morocco) constitute a fragile and isolated area, where the population has precarious living conditions. From the point of natural and cultural, figure prominently in all the Moroccans to have territorial heritage resources and mountains. Tourism is a viable option to activate the economic and social development alternative. This article describes the lights and shadows that would start up of own tourism activities, with a participatory and decentralized approach arise.Unión Europea, Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores, Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional al desarrollo A/023361/1

Autobiographical memories for negative and positive events in war contexts

The aim of the present study was to examine the phenomenological qualities of self-reported negative andpositive memories. The study was conducted in the Gaza Strip, Palestine, and a total of 134 autobiographi-cal memories about negative and positive events were analyzed using a version of the PhenomenologicalQuestionnaire for Autobiographical Memory (Manzanero & López, 2007). Participants were universitystudents, 80 percent were women and 20 percent were men. Results showed that negative memories aremore confused, more complex, and decay more over time than positive ones. In contrast, no differenceswere found between positive and negative memories on sensory information, spatial location, vividness,definition, accessibility, fragmentation, recall perspective, doubts about the accuracy of the memory, andhow much participants recovered and talked about the event. High Dimensional Visualization (HDV)graph revealed that there were individual differences between negative and positive memories but noconsistent differences across participants

Finite elastic deformations of transversely isotropic circular cylindrical tubes

We consider the finite radially symmetric deformation of a circular cylindrical tube of a homogeneous transversely isotropic elastic material subject to axial stretch, radial deformation and torsion, supported by axial load, internal pressure and end moment. Two different directions of transverse isotropy are considered: the radial direction and an arbitrary direction in planes normal locally to the radial direction, the only directions for which the considered deformation is admissible in general. In the absence of body forces, formulas are obtained for the internal pressure, and the resultant axial load and torsional moment on the ends of the tube in respect of a general strain-energy function. For a specific material model of transversely isotropic elasticity, and material and geometrical parameters, numerical results are used to illustrate the dependence of the pressure, (reduced) axial load and moment on the radial stretch and a measure of the torsional deformation for a fixed value of the axial stretch

Ceratophyllum demersum L. as Phytoindicator and Potential Phytoremediator of Lead Under Hydroponic Conditions

[EN] The contamination of water by heavy metals like Pb is a huge problem for the environment. In this paper, we test Ceratophyllum demersum L. plants as phytoindicator. These were exposed to different concentrations of Pb for 1¿21 days, under hydroponic conditions, where they exhibited both adsorption and absorption efficiency. These efficiencies influenced in concentration and duration in a dependent manner. For the three initial treatments 0.125, 0.250, 0.500 ¿g/ml, the values of regression coefficients described the occurred variance on the rapid decrease in the Pb concentration in the hydroponic media, reflecting highest removal efficiency by C. demersum. Significant variation (P< 0.05) was recorded between the concentration of Pb accumulated in C. demersum at 0.125 and 0.250 ¿g/ml, while a highly significant value (P< 0.01) was recorded between them at 0.500 ¿g/ml. The regression coefficient denotes the pronounced impact of treatment concentration on the accumulation rate (R^2 = 0.9987). The adsorption efficiency of C. demersum appeared to be influenced by the Pb hydroponic media concentration, where after 21 days, the higher Pb adsorption was recorded at 0.125 ¿g/ml and the lowest one was obtained at 0.500 ¿g/ml. Results suggest that plants responded positively to the increase of Pb concentrations and they accumulated a high amount of metal. Due to metal removal coupled with detoxification potential, the plant appears to have potential for its use as phytoremediator species in aquatic environments.This work has been partially supported by the European Union through the ERANETMED (Euromediterranean Cooperation through ERANET joint activities and beyond) project ERANETMED3-227 SMARTWATIR by the Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte, through the Ayudas para contratacion predoctoral de Formación del Profesorado Universitario FPU (Convocatoria 2016). Grant number FPU16/05540.Fawzy, M.; El-Khatib, A.; Badr, N.; Abo-El-Kasem, A.; Rocher-Morant, J.; Basterrechea-Chertudi, DA. (2019). Ceratophyllum demersum L. as Phytoindicator and Potential Phytoremediator of Lead Under Hydroponic Conditions. IARIA XPS Press. 20-26. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/180618S202

The azygos system as a rare alternative for chronic indwelling catheters placement

Chronic indwelling catheters are plagued with a high rate of complications, including infection, central venous occlusion, or thrombosis. When direct access to the superior or inferior vena cava is not possible, venography may identify alternatives that might be viable with current endovascular techniques. This case report describes the successful placement of a tunneled catheter for total parenteral nutrition in the azygos arch through a small collateral vein from the left jugular vein in a patient with no other alternatives because of superior vena cava occlusion and inferior vena cava thrombophlebitis