Processing and Transmission of Information

Contains report on one research project.National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Grant NGL-22-009-013

Efficient optical communication in a turbulent atmosphere

Efficient optical communication in atmospheric turbulenc

Many ways to Rome: Exogenous and endogenous pathways to environmental and social performance

It is often taken for granted that corporate social responsibility (CSR) will bring about social benefits and environmental improvements. Yet there is little empirical evidence of outcomes of CSR initiatives for the natural environment or the wider society as studies have focused on the influence of CSR on financial performance rather than its societal outcomes. This study begins addressing this gap in the literature by empirically studying the environmental and social performance of CSR in 19 European companies. We analyse which configurations of institutional constraints and organizational CSR practices influence environmental and social performance. Based on this analysis, we identify two pathways that can lead to high environmental and social performance and we scrutinize configurations that lead to low performance. The exogenous pathway is characterized by the use of externally certified management tools and certificates and a high importance of external rating schemes. This pathway seems typical for large publicly listed firms. The endogenous pathway, in turn, includes firms that are characterized by internally developed means of conducting CSR

Value Efficiency Analysis for Incorporating Preference Information in Data Envelopment Analysis

We develop a procedure and the requisite theory for incorporating preference information in a novel way in the efficiency analysis of Decision Making Units. The efficiency of Decision Making Units is defined in the spirit of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), complemented with Decision Maker's preference information concerning the desirable structure of inputs and outputs. Our procedure begins by aiding the Decision Maker in searching for the most preferred combination of inputs and outputs of Decision Making Units (for short, Most Preferred Solution) which are efficient in DEA. Then, assuming that the Decision Maker's Most Preferred Solution maximizes his/her underlying (unknown) value function at the moment when the search is terminated, we approximate the indifference contour of the value function at this point with its possible tangent hyperplanes. Value Efficiency scores are then calculated for each Decision Making Unit comparing the inefficient units to units having the same value as the Most Preferred Solution. The resulting Value Efficiency scores are optimistic approximations of the true scores. The procedure and the resulting efficiency scores are immediately applicable to solving practical problems

Processing and Transmission of Information

Contains reports on three research projects.National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Grant NGL-22-009-013)Joint Services Electronics Programs (U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, and U.S. Air Force) under Contract DA 28-043-AMC-02536(E

Processing and Transmission of Information

Contains research objectives and reports on three research projects.National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Grant NsG-334)Joint Services Electronics Programs (U. S. Army, U.S. Navy, and U.S. Air Force) under Contract DA 28-043-AMC-02536(E

The effect of buffer strip width and selective logging on riparian forest microclimate

Riparian forests have cool and humid microclimates, and one aim of leaving forested buffer strips between clear-cut areas and streams is to conserve these microclimatic conditions. We used an experimental study set up of 35 streamside sites to study the impacts of buffer strip width (15 or 30 m) and selective logging within the buffer strips on summer-time air temperature, relative air humidity and canopy openness 12 years after logging. The buffer strip treatments were compared to unlogged control sites. We found that 15-meter buffer strips with or without selective logging and 30-meter buffer strips with selective logging were insufficient in maintaining temperature, relative humidity and canopy openness at similar levels than they were in control sites. In contrast, 30-meter buffer strips differed only little from control sites, although they did have significantly lower mean air humidity. Microclimatic changes were increased by southern or southwestern aspect of the clear-cut, and by logging on the opposite side of the stream. We also tested how the cover of three indicator mosses (Hylocomium splendens, Pseudobqum cinclidioides and Polytrichum commune) had changed (from pre-logging to 12 years post-logging) in relation to post-logging air temperature, relative air humidity and canopy openness. We found that each of the species responded to at least one of these physical conditions. Air humidity was the most significant variable for explaining changes in the cover of the indicator moss species, suggesting that the changes in this microclimatic component has biological impacts. We conclude that to preserve riparian microclimatic conditions and species dependent on those, buffer strips should exceed 30 m in width, and not be selectively logged. Wider buffer strips are required if the clear-cut is towards south or southwest, or if the two sides of the stream are logged at the same time or during subsequent years.Peer reviewe