Finding the jigsaw piece for our jigsaw puzzle with corporate social responsibility: the impact of CSR on prospective applicants’ responses

Purpose – This study aims to examine the influence of different corporate social responsibility (CSR) dimensions on prospective applicants’ responses, namely, organizational attractiveness and intention to apply for a job vacancy (IAJV). Design/methodology/approach – Using an experimental 2 × 3 crossed factorial design (n = 195), the level of engagement of a hypothetical company in socially responsible practices (high vs low) was manipulated concerning three dimensions of CSR (employees, community and environment and economic level). Participants were randomly assigned to one of the six conditions and, after reading the corresponding scenario, were asked to evaluate the extent to which the company was considered a good place to work and their IAJV in it. Findings – The level of engagement in socially responsible practices had a positive effect both on the degree to which participants favorably perceived the organization as a place to work and on their IAJV. Furthermore, the level of engagement in practices toward employees and in the economic domain had a stronger effect on participants’ responses than the engagement in practices that benefit community and environment. Research limitations/implications – Data were obtained in a laboratory setting, so the generalization of results to actual job search settings must be made with caution. Practical implications – CSR can be a source of competitive advantage in the recruitment of new employees. Because not all CSR dimensions have the same effect on applicants’ responses, companies should take into account the CSR dimensions in which they are engaged and communicate them to the public. Originality/value – As far as we know, this is the first study to examine the impact of different CSR dimensions both on organizational attractiveness and IAJV

Discrete Time Evolution and Energy Nonconservation in Noncommutative Physics

Time-space noncommutativity leads to quantisation of time and energy nonconservation when time is conjugate to a compact spatial direction like a circle. In this context energy is conserved only modulo some fixed unit. Such a possibility arises for example in theories with a compact extra dimension with which time does not commute. The above results suggest striking phenomenological consequences in extra dimensional theories and elsewhere. In this paper we develop scattering theory for discrete time translations. It enables the calculation of transition probabilities for energy nonconserving processes and has a central role both in formal theory and phenomenology. We can also consider space-space noncommutativity where one of the spatial directions is a circle. That leads to the quantisation of the remaining spatial direction and conservation of momentum in that direction only modulo some fixed unit, as a simple adaptation of the results in this paper shows.Comment: 17 pages, LaTex; minor correction

MUMAL: multivariate analysis in shotgun proteomics using machine learning techniques.

BACKGROUND: The shotgun strategy (liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry) is widely applied for identification of proteins in complex mixtures. This method gives rise to thousands of spectra in a single run, which are interpreted by computational tools. Such tools normally use a protein database from which peptide sequences are extracted for matching with experimentally derived mass spectral data. After the database search, the correctness of obtained peptide-spectrum matches (PSMs) needs to be evaluated also by algorithms, as a manual curation of these huge datasets would be impractical. The target-decoy database strategy is largely used to perform spectrum evaluation. Nonetheless, this method has been applied without considering sensitivity, i.e., only error estimation is taken into account. A recently proposed method termed MUDE treats the target-decoy analysis as an optimization problem, where sensitivity is maximized. This method demonstrates a significant increase in the retrieved number of PSMs for a fixed error rate. However, the MUDE model is constructed in such a way that linear decision boundaries are established to separate correct from incorrect PSMs. Besides, the described heuristic for solving the optimization problem has to be executed many times to achieve a significant augmentation in sensitivity. RESULTS: Here, we propose a new method, termed MUMAL, for PSM assessment that is based on machine learning techniques. Our method can establish nonlinear decision boundaries, leading to a higher chance to retrieve more true positives. Furthermore, we need few iterations to achieve high sensitivities, strikingly shortening the running time of the whole process. Experiments show that our method achieves a considerably higher number of PSMs compared with standard tools such as MUDE, PeptideProphet, and typical target-decoy approaches. CONCLUSION: Our approach not only enhances the computational performance, and thus the turn around time of MS-based experiments in proteomics, but also improves the information content with benefits of a higher proteome coverage. This improvement, for instance, increases the chance to identify important drug targets or biomarkers for drug development or molecular diagnostics

Biodiversidade de sirfídeos em olivais da região de Mirandela (Nordeste de Portugal)

As larvas de sirfídeo têm potencial como agentes de luta biológica e no olival podem ser particularmente importantes como predadores naturais de algodão-daoliveira, Euphyllura olivina Costa (Hemiptera: Psyllidae) e de larvas da geração filófaga da traça-da-oliveira, Prays oleae Bernard (Lepidoptera: Yponomeutidae). Com o presente trabalho pretendeu-se conhecer a diversidade da sirfideofauna em olivais na zona de Mirandela (Trás-os-Montes). O trabalho de campo foi realizado em duas parcelas de um olival conduzido em Modo de Produção Biológico (Valbom-dos-Figos) e em três olivais conduzidos em Modo de Produção Integrada (Cedães, Paradela e Suçães). A amostragem decorreu de agosto a outubro de 2009, de abril a novembro de 2010 e de maio a novembro de 2011. Os sirfídeos foram recolhidos com recurso a: (1) garrafas Olipe, (2) rede entomológica e (3) armadilhas cromotrópicas amarelas. Todos os sirfídeos recolhidos foram levados para o laboratório, separados, conservados em álcool e identificados até à espécie. A riqueza específica para os sirfídeos capturados nas garrafas Olipe variou entre uma a três espécies em 2011, três e cinco em 2010 e quatro em 2009. A espécie mais abundante para os três anos de amostragem e neste tipo de armadilha foi Episyrphus balteatus (De Geer), com uma abundância relativa que variou entre 36,4 e 64,62%. Através da rede entomológica foi possível capturar quatro espécies, sendo Sphaerophoria scripta (L.) a espécie dominante com 72,7% de abundância relativa. As armadilhas cromotrópicas capturaram um número muito baixo de sirfídeos, mas uma das espécies capturadas foi única neste estudo, Myathropa florea (L.). Neste estudo foi possível registar um total de nove espécies pertencentes à sirfideofauna no olival transmontano

Syrphid community in organic olive groves: can morphospecies be used as surrogates for species?

Syrphids are known as biological control agents of hemipteran pests and, in the olive grove, several species have been identified as predators of Euphyllura olivina (Costa). The objectives of this work were: (1) to study the syrphid community in organic olive groves and (2) to test the potential for the use of syrphid morphospecies as a surrogate for species. The field work was conducted in two organic olive groves located near Mirandela (Northeast of Portugal). The sampling period occurred in two seasons, from the middle of August to the end of October 2009 and from the beginning of April to the end of July 2010. Syrphids adults were separated in morphospecies by a parataxonomist in accordance with their morphological differences. Then, the species were identified by a taxonomist. The number of individuals collected was 64 in 2009 and 27 in 2010, for a total of 91. The morphological identification showed the presence of 12 morphospecies that corresponded to six species: Episyrphus balteatus (De Geer) the most abundant with 51.7% of relative abundance, followed by Sphaerophoria scripta (L.) with 23.1% and Eupeodes corolla (Fabricius) with 18.6%. The proportion of correctly assigned morphospecies to taxonomic species was 3.3%. However, during the identification, a 93.4% splitting and a 3.3% lumping error occurred. This study showed that species identification was relatively difficult when based only on parataxonomic traits, requiring a careful examination of characteristics such as the size of the eyes and their hair, the form of the antennae, the humeral plate and the squama, as well as the femur color and the size of the bands on the abdomen

Miocene sediments from Foz da Fonte and Penedo sections (Lower Tagus basin): clay minerals and isotopic data

Eight depositional sequences (DS) delimited by regional disconformities had been recognized in the Miocene of Lisbon and Setúbal Peninsula areas. In the case of the western coast of the Setúbal Peninsula, outcrops consisting of Lower Burdigalian to Lower Tortonian sediments were studied. The stratigraphic zonography and the environmental considerations are mainly supported on data concerning to foraminifera, ostracoda, vertebrates and palynomorphs. The first mineralogical and geochemical data determined for Foz da Fonte, Penedo Sul and Penedo Norte sedimentary sequences are presented. These analytical data mainly correspond to the sediments' fine fractions. Mineralogical data are based on X-ray diffraction (XRD), carried out on both the less than 38 nm and 2 nm fractions. Qualitative and semi-quantitative determinations of clay and non-clay minerals were obtained for both fractions. The clay minerals assemblages complete the lithostratigraphic and paleoenvironmental data obtained by stratigraphic and palaeontological studies. Some palaeomagnetic and isotopic data are discussed and correlated with the mineralogical data. Multivariate data analysis (Principal Components Analysis) of the mineralogical data was carried out using both R-mode and Q-mode factor analysis

Bronchiectasis: A retrospective study of clinical and aetiological investigation in a general respiratory department

AbstractBackgroundBronchiectasis can result from many diseases, which makes the aetiological investigation a complex process demanding special resources and experience. The aetiological diagnosis has been proven to be useful for the therapeutic approach.ObjectiveEvaluate how accurately and extensive the clinical and aetiological research was for adult bronchiectasis patients in pulmonology outpatient service which were not following a pre-existing protocol.MethodsWe retrospectively reviewed the records of 202 adult patients with bronchiectasis, including the examinations performed to explain the aetiology.ResultsThe mean age of the patients was 54±15 years, there was a predominance of female (63.9%) and non-smoker (70%) patients. Functional evaluation showed a mild airway obstruction.The sputum microbiological examination was available for 168 patients (43.1% had 3 or more sputum examinations during one year). Immunoglobulins and α1-antitrypsin were measured in around 50% of the patients. The sweat test and the CF genotyping test were performed in 18% and 17% of the patients, respectively.The most commonly identified cause was post-infectious (30.3%), mostly tuberculosis (27.2%). No definitive aetiological diagnosis was established in 57.4% of the patients. We achieved a lower aetiological diagnosis if we compare our series with studies in which a diagnostic algorithm was applied prospectively.ConclusionsThe general characteristics of our patients were similar with other series. Detailed investigation of bronchiectasis is not a standard practice in our outpatient service. These results suggest that the use of a predefined protocol, based on current guidelines, could improve the assessment of these patients and facilitate the achievement of a definitive aetiology

Designer solvent ability of alcohols in aqueous biphasic systems composed of deep eutectic solvents and potassium phosphate

Deep eutectic solvents (DES) have been proposed as phase forming components of aqueous biphasic systems (ABS). However, the DES hydrogen bonding complexes are not stable in the high concentrations of water present in this type of systems. Therefore, as previously shown, DES-based ABS should be treated as quaternary systems. This confers DES-based ABS with an extra degree of freedom for the design of separation processes since while one of the DES components acts as a phase forming component, the other could induce the modification of the ABS phase properties and, consequently, the control of the partition of various biomolecules. In this context, the designer solvent effect of the hydrogen bond donor (HBD), using four different alcohols – ethanol, n-propanol 1,2-propanediol and ethylene glycol – mixed at three different molar fractions (2:1; 1:1 and 1:2) with cholinium chloride (the hydrogen bond acceptor, HBA) in quaternary systems composed of K2HPO4 and water, was evaluated in this work. The results show that the presence of the HBD has an impact upon the liquid–liquid equilibrium, and these changes are dependent on the alcohol nature. The NRTL model was correlated to the tie-line experimental data with a low mean deviation. Moreover, several biomolecules (phenolic compounds, alkaloids, and amino acids) were use as molecular probes to evaluate the ability of alcohols to tune the partition in the studied systems. The alcohol presence changes the properties of the ABS’s phases and it is here shown that the HBD of the DES can indeed be used to modulate the partition behavior of target molecules.publishe

Noncommutative massive Thirring model in three-dimensional spacetime

We evaluate the noncommutative Chern-Simons action induced by fermions interacting with an Abelian gauge field in a noncommutative massive Thirring model in (2+1)-dimensional spacetime. This calculation is performed in the Dirac and Majorana representations. We observe that in Majorana representation when $\theta$ goes to zero we do not have induced Chern-Simons term in the dimensional regularization scheme.Comment: Accepted to Phys. Rev. D; 9 pages, Revtex4, no figures, references added, minor improvements, Eq.31 correcte