Politicians on the board : a driving force for Corporate Social Responsibility performance of german DAX 30 firms?

This paper aims to explore the following question: Do political directors on supervisory boards affect the corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance of firms? Based on identity theory, this paper predicts that politicians incorporate their political identity and social interests into their role as directors and consequently increase the CSR performance of the firm. Furthermore, this study explores whether gender diversity on the board of directors and the power of CEOs intensify this relationship. The empirical setting includes all 41 firms listed in the German DAX 30 between 2009 und 2020. In order to analyze the panel data set regression analyses are conducted. The results of the study indicate a non-significant result on the influence of political directors on CSR performance in the sample. A potential reason could be the often extremely high number of board members in German DAX 30 firms and the comparatively low influence of each individual or the low regional linkages of firms with politicians of this scale. Furthermore, additional post hoc analyses suggest that there are significant positive correlations between conservative as well as national politicians on CSR performance. This effect weakens under the influence of the moderating factors gender diversity and CEO power. Thus, these results indicate that the differentiation of political orientation, jurisdiction scope and other characteristics can contribute decisively to the understanding of the effect of political directors on CSR performance.Este documento pretende explorar a seguinte questão: Os directores políticos dos conselhos de supervisão afectam o desempenho das empresas em matéria de responsabilidade social empresarial (RSE)? Baseado na teoria da identidade, este documento prevê que os políticos incorporem a sua identidade política e interesses sociais no seu papel de directores e consequentemente aumentem o desempenho da empresa em termos de RSE. Além disso, este estudo explora se a diversidade de género no conselho de administração e o poder dos CEOs intensificam esta relação. A amostra inclui todas as 41 empresas listadas no DAX 30 alemão entre 2009 e 2020. A fim de analisar o conjunto de dados do painel, são efectuadas análises de regressão. Os resultados do estudo indicam um resultado não significativo sobre a influência dos directores políticos no desempenho da RSE na amostra. Uma razão potencial poderia ser o número frequentemente extremamente elevado de membros do conselho de administração nas empresas do DAX 30 alemão e a influência comparativamente baixa de cada indivíduo ou a baixa ligação regional das empresas com políticos desta escala. Além disso, análises post hoc adicionais sugerem que existem correlações positivas significativas entre políticos conservadores e políticos nacionais sobre o desempenho em termos de RSE. Este efeito enfraquece sob a influência dos factores moderadores diversidade de género e poder de direcção. Estes resultados indicam que a diferenciação da orientação política e do âmbito de jurisdição pode contribuir decisivamente para compreender o efeito dos directores políticos no desempenho da RSE

An Intelligent Web-Based Learning System for Group Collaboration Using Contracts

International audienceIn this paper we introduce an Intelligent Web-Based Learning System Virtus which supports role-based collaboration using a group contract model (a charter) based on roles and rules. The originality of our work consists, on the one hand, in proposing a declarative language to express contracts using declarative rules, commitments and role responsibilities and, on the other hand, in automatically executing the contract thanks to a knowledge-based system

Leaky wave antenna with amplitude controlled beam steering based on composite right/left-handed transmission lines

An antenna comprising two different composite right/left-handed transmission line structures is proposed which enables easy beam steering at an operation frequency of 10 GHz. The composite right/left-handed transmission lines are based on planar, periodically arranged via free unit cells, implemented in microstrip technology. Both transmission lines exhibit the infinite wavelength phenomenon which occurs at 9.72 GHz and 9.89 GHz, respectively. Thus, operating the different leaky wave structures at 10 GHz, radiation with azimuth angles of &plusmn;8&deg; and &plusmn;17&deg; can be achieved depending on the selected input port. In order to obtain a tunable main beam direction, the radiation patterns of both structures are superimposed by feeding them simultaneously. The influence of each guiding structure, and hence the direction of the main beam, can be controlled via the feeding amplitude. As a result of this, the beam can be steered between &plusmn;17&deg; with a gain of up to 10 dBi. The guiding structures are arranged in parallel with a clearance of <i>a</i>=12.2 mm which is less than half of the wavelength in free space. This allows in a further step the attachment of additional guiding structures in order to increase the tunable angle range or creating an antenna array with a small beamwidth in the elevation plane without the occurrence of grating lobes. An antenna prototype was fabricated and validated by measurements

Professoras: significações narradas frente às violências que afetam crianças em escolarização

Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro de Ciências da Educação, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Educação, Florianópolis, 2010Esta dissertação gestou-se na linha Ensino e Formação de Educadores, do Programa de Pós-Graduação do Centro de Ciências da Educação da Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina. Propus-me o desafio de compreender as narrativas de professoras que atuam junto a crianças em escolarização que vivenciam situações de violências e procurei descortinar as possíveis significações dadas por estas profissionais a estas violências. Para tanto, realizei o estudo junto a uma turma do 5º Ano do Ensino Fundamental e suas professoras, numa escola pública situada no município de Lages, SC, em um bairro nomeado como violento, no período entre outubro de 2009 e junho de 2010. Realizei a pesquisa sob um olhar etnográfico por meio de entrevistas, da observação participante em sala de aula e de registros em diário de campo. Busquei também dados relacionados às violências contra crianças e adolescentes no Conselho Tutelar do município de Lages e, para além das investigações na escola campo, a pesquisa contou com um levantamento bibliográfico sobre a infância, as violências e suas manifestações no espaço escolar. As professoras, através de suas narrativas, deixaram conhecer um pouco de seu cotidiano na escola, o que oportunizou reflexões em relação ao objetivo proposto - a compreensão das suas narrativas, no que diz respeito às situações de violências vividas por seus educandos em contexto escolar.This dissertation is nurtured in line Teaching and Teacher Training, Program Graduate Education Sciences Center, Federal University of Santa Catarina. I set myself the challenge of understanding the narratives of teachers who work with children in school experiencing situations of violence and sought to uncover the possible meanings given by these professionals to the violence. To that end, I conducted the study with a group of 5th year of elementary school and her teachers at a public school located in Lages, SC, in a named violent neighborhood for the period between October 2009 and June 2010. I conducted the research under an ethnographic look through interviews, participant observation in the classroom and daily records in the field. I also searched data related to violence against children and adolescents in the Guardianship of Lages and beyond the school field investigations, the survey also included a literature about childhood, violence and its manifestations in the school. The teachers, through their narratives let know a little of their daily lives at school, which some thoughts in relation to its purpose - to understand their narratives, with regard to situations of violence experienced by their children in school context

A jornada de uma mulher ao redor do mundo

The following text presents the translation of an extract of the work of the Austrian female writer Ida Pfeiffer (1797-1858). Traveler and writer, she made five big journeys in her lifetime, all of which were published in book format ”“ the last one was published after her death. Her third and fourth trips were actually journeys around the world and she visited, among of her travels, all continents except for Antarctic. The extract presented here is the beginning of the second chapter of her third book, Eine Frau fährt um die Welt (A woman's journey round the world). In this text, Ida Pfeiffer narrates her first travel around the world, a journey that took her from Austria to Brazil, Chile, China, India, Persia and Asia Minor. The first chapters of the book are dedicated both to her ship journey to the Southern Hemisphere and the description of her experiences in the country, as well as her departure to Chili. Among the cities that she visited in her two-month-stay in the country in 1846 are Rio de Janeiro, Petrópolis, Nova Hamburgo, São Paulo and Santos, as well as other small villages and an Indian settlement in the inland part of Rio de Janeiro. The second chapter specifically focuses in the impressions of the author of the then capital of Brazil, the city of Rio de Janeiro. To do such, the author describes the space of the city: squares, streets, churches, houses and shops. Besides, the author notices the social difference between white people and black people, that at the moment were still slaves, and registers her opinion against slavery and approbative of a more inclusive educational system. The extract finishes with the author´s description of art and science produced on Brazil, including the Academy of Arts and Municipal Museum and Theatre.A seguinte publicação apresenta a tradução de um excerto da obra da escritora austríaca Ida Pfeiffer (1797”“1858). Viajante e escritora, ela realizou em sua vida cinco grandes viagens, cujos registros foram publicados em cinco livros, um deles póstumo. A terceira e a quarta viagens que empreendeu foram voltas ao mundo e, entre suas jornadas passou por todos os continentes, com exceção da Antártida. O trecho selecionado e apresentado aqui corresponde ao começo do segundo capítulo do terceiro livro da autora, Eine Frau fährt um die Welt [A jornada de uma mulher ao redor do mundo]. Neste texto, a Ida Pfeiffer narra sua primeira volta ao mundo, uma jornada que a levou da Áustria para o Brasil, Chile, China, Índia, Pérsia e Ásia Menor. Os primeiros capítulos do livro são dedicados tanto à viagem de navio até o Hemisfério Sul quanto à descrição de Pfeiffer do país e de suas experiências no local, assim como sua partida com destino ao Chile. Entre as cidades que conheceu durante a estadia de mais de dois meses em 1846 estão Rio de Janeiro, Petrópolis, Nova Hamburgo, São Paulo e Santos, além de pequenos vilarejos e uma aldeia indígena no interior do estado fluminense. O segundo capítulo do livro se aprofunda nas impressões da autora sobre a então capital do país, o Rio de Janeiro. Para tanto, a autora faz uma descrição do espaço encontrado por ela na cidade, como praças, ruas, igrejas, casas e comércio. Além disso, a autora nota a diferença social existente entre brancos e negros, então escravizados, e registra sua opinião desfavorável à escravidão e sua defesa de uma educação mais inclusiva. O trecho apresentado termina com a descrição da autora da arte e da ciência produzidas no país, incluindo a Academia de Belas Artes, o Museu e o Teatro Municipais.&nbsp

Design and analysis of an isotropic two-dimensional planar Composite Right/Left-Handed waveguide structure

A two-dimensional isotropic Composite Right/Left-Handed (CRLH) waveguide structure is proposed which is designed for operation in <i>X</i>-band. The balanced structure possesses left-handed behaviour over a large bandwidth from 7.5 GHz up to its transition frequency at 10 GHz. Above this region, the unit cell behaves in a right-handed manner up to 13.5 GHz. Operating the structure within these bands yields a frequency dependent index of refraction ranging from &minus;2.5 &le; <i>n </i> &le; 0.8. Isotropic characteristics are obtained between 8.5 GHz &le; <i>f </i> &le; 12 GHz resulting in &minus;1.5 &le; <i>n</i> &le; 0.8. The planar CRLH structure is designed based on transmission line theory, implemented in microstrip technology and optimized using full-wave simulation software. An equivalent circuit model is determined describing the electromagnetic behaviour of the structure whose element values are obtained by even and odd mode analysis. The design of the unit cell requires an appropriate de-embedding process in order to enable an analysis in terms of dispersion characteristics and Bloch impedance, which are performed both

A Distributed Public Key Infrastructure Based on Threshold Cryptography for the HiiMap Next Generation Internet Architecture

In this article, a security extension for the HiiMap Next Generation Internet Architecture is presented. We regard a public key infrastructure which is integrated into the mapping infrastructure of the locator/identifier-split addressing scheme. The security approach is based on Threshold Cryptography which enables a sharing of keys among the mapping servers. Hence, a more trustworthy and fair approach for a Next Generation Internet Architecture as compared to the state of the art approach is fostered. Additionally, we give an evaluation based on IETF AAA recommendations for security-related systems