Women on boards and efficiency in a business‐orientated environment

This study proposes a new research approach to examining the relationship between board diversity in terms of gender differences and corporate performance, measured by technical efficiency. Moreover, this paper also examines the moderating role that institutional factors exert on this relationship through the cultural dimensions of the country of origin. The research questions are examined using an international sample of 2185 listed firms from 2006 to 2015, applying several truncated regression models for panel data and employing data envelopment analysis to examine efficiency as a measure of performance. This paper provides support for the assertion that female directors decrease the firm's technical efficiency; however, in more economically orientated cultures, institutional context exerts a moderating effect on the latter. The female directors of companies located in countries with higher economically orientated values adopt male stereotypes and have a significant and positive interest in improving efficiency

Women on boards and efficiency in a business‐orientated environment

This study proposes a new research approach to examining the relationship between board diversity in terms of gender differences and corporate performance, measured by technical efficiency. Moreover, this paper also examines the moderating role that institutional factors exert on this relationship through the cultural dimensions of the country of origin. The research questions are examined using an international sample of 2185 listed firms from 2006 to 2015, applying several truncated regression models for panel data and employing data envelopment analysis to examine efficiency as a measure of performance. This paper provides support for the assertion that female directors decrease the firm's technical efficiency; however, in more economically orientated cultures, institutional context exerts a moderating effect on the latter. The female directors of companies located in countries with higher economically orientated values adopt male stereotypes and have a significant and positive interest in improving efficiency

Socio-emotional wealth and corporate responses to environmental hostility:Are family firms more stakeholder oriented?

Do family firms care more for different stakeholders than nonfamily firms when operating in a hostile business environment? This study addresses this question and fills the existing void in family business research. It shows that family-controlled firms adopt corporate social responsibility strategies and balance the demands of internal and external interest groups to preserve their socio-emotional wealth while facing fierce competition, resource scarcity, and penurious economic conditions. More specifically, our analysis of an international sample of 956 listed firms from 2006 to 2014 reveals that family firms show a higher level of corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance and better stakeholder orientation than nonfamily firms. Our findings are useful for managers, policymakers, and responsible investors

Managerial entrenchment, corporate social responsibility, and earnings management

Many studies have examined the direct relationship between the two corporate practices: corporate social responsibility (CSR) and earnings management (EM); however, the results remain heterogeneous. To achieve the consensus, this study builds upon the classical agency theory and examines the role of managerial entrenchment in creating organizational facades related to CSR and EM. More specifically, it examines the relationship between CSR performance and EM in the presence of managerial entrenchment and the direct effect of managerial entrenchment on CSR decoupling. In doing so, this article provides evidence of a previously underappreciated yet fundamentally important aspect, that is, managerial entrenchment, that may significantly affect the quality of earnings as well as the level of alignment between CSR disclosure and performance. Our analyses of longitudinal data of an international sample for the period of 2007-2016 supports that managerial entrenchment significantly moderates the relationship between CSR performance and EM. Furthermore, our study reveals that entrenched managers decouple CSR disclosure and performance

The dialectic relationship between theory and practicein mathematics teacher education

The study presented here is a part of ongoing research, in which 'situated knowledge'and ‘cognitive apprenticeship’ form the framework that allows us to deal with theknowledge and the learning process of pre-service elementary school teachers. Ouraim is to determine how student teachers use conceptual tools provided in amathematics methods course. The search context of this paper is the curricularanalysis of the textbooks. Our research has shown the difficulty involved in usingdifferent conceptual tools to solve a proposed task. We have observed how, insituations in which the integration of conceptual tools has been achieved, the studentteachers have found distinct features that lead to different decisions. This shows theprofessional relevance of such integration and points out the need of advancing inthat research agenda

Responsabilidad del Estado colombiano sobre los perjuicios ocasionados a la salud de las personas por el deterioro de la calidad del aire de Medellín

El presente trabajo tiene como finalidad determinar la responsabilidad del Área Metropolitana del Valle de Aburrá y del Municipio de Medellín sobre las afectaciones y perjuicios que se generan en la población a causa de la mala calidad del aire en la ciudad de Medellín. Para esto se analizarán las diferentes normas y fallos jurisprudenciales de las altas cortes de Colombia, mediante la cual se les han otorgado a las entidades antes mencionadas las obligaciones y deberes sobre la preservación del medio ambiente y por ende de la buena calidad del aire. Asimismo se estudiaran los elementos para determinar la responsabilidad del Estado y así determinar la responsabilidad del Área Metropolitana y el Municipio de Medellín. Por ultimo se realizará un análisis a un estudio demográfico hecho y para así determinar cuál es la percepción de los habitantes de la ciudad de Medellín respecto de la problemática de la mala calidad del aire en la ciudad.The purpose of this thesis is to determine the responsibility of the Metropolitan Area of Valle de Aburrá and the Municipality of Medellín for the damages that are generated in the population due to poor air quality in the city of Medellín. For this, the different norms and jurisprudential rulings of the Colombian high courts will be analyzed

Combining object-based image analysis with topographic data for landform mapping: a case study in the semi-arid Chaco ecosystem, Argentina

This paper presents an object-based approach to mapping a set of landforms located in the fluvio-eolian plain of Rio Dulce and alluvial plain of Rio Salado (Dry Chaco, Argentina), with two Landsat 8 images collected in summer and winter combined with topographic data. The research was conducted in two stages. The first stage focused on basic-spectral landform classifications where both pixel- and object-based image analyses were tested with five classification algorithms: Mahalanobis Distance (MD), Spectral Angle Mapper (SAM), Maximum Likelihood (ML), Support Vector Machine (SVM) and Decision Tree (DT). The results obtained indicate that object-based analyses clearly outperform pixel-based classifications, with an increase in accuracy of up to 35%. The second stage focused on advanced object-based derived variables with topographic ancillary data classifications. The combinations of variables were tested in order to obtain the most accurate map of landforms based on the most successful classifiers identified in the previous stage (ML, SVM and DT). The results indicate that DT is the most accurate classifier, exhibiting the highest overall accuracies with values greater than 72% in both the winter and summer images. Future work could combine both, the most appropriate methodologies and combinations of variables obtained in this study, with physico-chemical variables sampled to improve the classification of landforms and even of types of soil.EEA Santiago del EsteroFil: Castillejo González, Isabel Luisa. Universidad de Córdoba. Departamento de Ingeniería Gráfica y Geomática; EspañaFil: Angueira, Maria Cristina. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Santiago del Estero; ArgentinaFil: García Ferrer, Alfonso. Universidad de Córdoba. Departamento de Ingeniería Gráfica y Geomática; EspañaFil: Sánchez de la Orden, Manuel. Universidad de Córdoba. Departamento de Ingeniería Gráfica y Geomática; Españ

Gender perspective in the mathematics class: a challenge for teacher training

Una educación matemática de calidad debe poner el énfasis en el carácter formativo que esta disciplina puede aportar a la sociedad del siglo XXI, sociedad que necesita una ciudadanía capaz de adaptarse, dar respuesta y actuar de manera responsable ante los cambios y desafíos de un mundo cada vez más globalizado. Los responsables de formar al futuro profesorado deben hacer hincapié en la educación STEM (Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology). El aprendizaje de los contenidos de distintas disciplinas, como pueden ser la científica y la matemática, se debe plantear desde un enfoque interdisciplinar e integrador (Moore y Smith, 2014; Shernoff, Sinha, Bressler y Ginsburg, 2017). Se debe además situar la perspectiva de género en el epicentro, con la finalidad de fomentar la presencia de mujeres en carreras universitarias de áreas de Ciencia y Tecnología.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech. PIE 17-02

Value of α‑fetoprotein as an early biomarker for treatment response to sorafenib therapy in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma

Sorafenib is an oral multikinase inhibitor with antiangiogenic and antiproliferative properties, and is used as the first‑line treatment for patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Previous studies have identified an improvement in overall survival and progression‑free survival in patients with a manageable toxicity profile. α‑fetoprotein (AFP) has been revealed to be of great diagnostic and predictive value for tumour staging in multiple studies; however, its role as a predictive factor of response to treatment with sorafenib is not entirely clear. The present study aimed to determine the effectiveness of sorafenib and investigate the value of AFP as a predictive factor of early response to sorafenib in patients with HCC. Effectiveness was analysed based on median overall survival (mOS) time, while to analyse the possible predictive value of AFP, patients were classified into two groups: Non‑responders (≤20% AFP reduction) and responders (>20% AFP reduction) at 6‑8 weeks of treatment when compared with basal AFP level. For assessment of toxicity, any adverse effects were recorded. A total of 167 patients were included, who collectively exhibited a mOS time of 11 months with a median treatment duration of 5 months. The mOS time was significantly higher for patients with better hepatic function (12 months in cases of Child‑Pugh score A vs. 8 months in cases of Child‑Pugh score B; P=0.03) and with basal AFP values ≤200 ng/ml (14 months vs. 8 months in patients with AFP levels >200 ng/ml; P=0.01). A >20% reduction of AFP at 6‑8 weeks was determined to be a positive predictive factor upon multivariate analysis (P=0.002), obtaining, for the responder patients, an mOS of 18 months compared with 10 months (P=0.004) for the non‑responders. The main adverse reactions were hand‑foot syndrome (35/167; 21%), diarrhoea (39/167; 23.4%), anorexia (29/167; 17.4%) and arterial hypertension (30/167; 18%). In conclusion, a >20% drop in AFP at 6‑8 weeks may be useful as a predictive factor of response to sorafenib, as indicated by its association with longer survival times in patients with advanced HCC following treatment with sorafenib in the present study

Corrosion Behavior of VM12-SHC Steel in Contact with Solar Salt and Ternary Molten Salt in Accelerated Fluid Conditions

Ternary low melting point mixtures with the addition of LiNO3 and Ca(NO3)2 have been presented as direct system candidates for CSP technologies due to having better physical and chemical properties than those of Solar Salt. In this study, thermal, physical and chemical properties are measured as is the corrosive behavior of stainless alloy VM12 (Cr 12%) when in contact with Solar Salt, 60% NaNO3-40% KNO3 (wt.%) and ternary 46% NaNO3-19% Ca(NO3)2-35% LiNO3 (wt.%). Gravimetric weight change measurements were performed on the test specimens, which were tested under accelerated fluid conditions (0.2 m s−1) at 500 °C for 2000 h. This research confirms the potential of this novel formulation as a thermal storage medium and validates the suitability of ferritic VM12-SHC stainless steel as a structural material for CSP technology with Solar Salt. Meanwhile, the results obtained by scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction indicate a reduction in the protective character of the oxide layer formed on this alloy when the medium contains calcium and lithium components.Depto. de Ingeniería Química y de MaterialesFac. de Ciencias QuímicasTRUEMinisterio de Ciencia, Innovaciónpu