The effect of DEFRA guidance on greenhouse gas disclosure

This paper investigates the effect of the 2009 guidance of the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs on greenhouse gas (GHG) disclosure. The sample comprises 215 companies from a population of London Stock Exchange FTSE 350 companies over four years (2008e 2011). To quantify GHG disclosure, a research index methodology is employed, with information derived from several GHG reporting frameworks. The econometric model is estimated using panel fixed effects. Our findings suggest that the publication of the 2009 guidance has had a significant effect on the level of GHG disclosure, and that corporate governance mechanisms (board size, director ownership, and ownership concentration) also affect the extent of GHG information disclosure. The results also indicate that companies increased their disclosures prior to the 2009 guidance in anticipation of its publication. These results have important implications for the government, suggesting that non-mandatory guidance could increase disclosure as much as do mandatory requirements

Hydrothermal Synthesis of Cr2Se3 Hexagons for Sensitive and Lowlevel Detection of 4-Nitrophenol in Water

We report a simple hydrothermal method used for the synthesis of Cr2Se3 hexagons (h-Cr2Se3) and its application towards electrochemical sensing of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP). The formation of h-Cr2Se3 was confrmed by using scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray difraction, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The electrochemical activity of the h-Cr2Se3 modifed screen-printed carbon electrode (SPCE) towards 4-NP was studied using cyclic voltammetry (CV) and amperometric i-t techniques. Typically,the obtained results were compared with those for a bare SPCE. The CV result clearly reveals that h-Cr2Se3 modifed SPCE has higher catalytic activity towards reduction of 4-NP than bare SPCE. Hence, h-Cr2Se3 modifed SPCE was concluded as a viable sensor for sensitive determination of 4-NP. Under optimized conditions, h-Cr2Se3 modifed SPCE demonstrates the excellent capacity to detect the 4-NP in a linear range from 0.05µM to 908.0µM. The LOD and sensitivity in detection of 4-NP were determined at 0.01µM and 1.24µAµM−1 cm−2 respectively. The sensor is highly selective and stable and shows reproducible recovery of 4-NP in domestic supply and river water samples