Corporate Social Responsibility: A Stakeholders Perspective Applied to the Lebanese Heart Hospital

This research aims to assess Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practice applied to the Heart Hospital, Tripoli, Lebanon. A stakeholders (workers, patients, the local community, and the environment) perspective is considered. The population of the research includes all workers in the target hospital, however the research sample consists of 40 employees. This research is quantitative, descriptive and analytic based on a structured questionnaire designed and distributed to the respondents. The study found that the activities related to CSR were adapted and practiced to different levels. Employees’ responses about the dimensions of CSR were varied. Findings show that the hospital does exercise its social responsibilities towards patients (Mean=3.97), it does exercise its social responsibilities towards the environment (Mean=3.96), it moderately exercises its social responsibilities towards the local community (Mean=3.36), and it weakly exercises its social responsibilities towards its workers (Mean=2.75). Therefore, it is recommended that the hospital administrators must review their CSR strategy to reinstate one of the most critical factors for the success of the institution namely the human assets besides giving more attention to its local community needs

THE EFFECT OF Pd-OVERLAYERS ON THE MAGNETIZATION OF CHROMIUM FILMS

Measurements with a high vacuum torque magnetometer showed that the magnetic moment of thin Cr-films with Pd- or Ag-overlayers deposited on mica sheets was smaller than the magnetic moment of the mica sheet, similar to results found previously for pure Cr-films. This may mean that the average susceptibilities of the films are negative, and of the order of -10-4, or that small permanent moments form pointing perpendicular to the surface

From Summary Statistics to Gene Trees: Methods for Inferring Positive Selection

Methods to detect signals of natural selection from genomic data have traditionally emphasized the use of simple summary statistics. Here, we review a new generation of methods that consider combinations of conventional summary statistics and/or richer features derived from inferred gene trees and ancestral recombination graphs (ARGs). We also review recent advances in methods for population genetic simulation and ARG reconstruction. Finally, we describe opportunities for future work on a variety of related topics, including the genetics of speciation, estimation of selection coefficients, and inference of selection on polygenic traits. Together, these emerging methods offer promising new directions in the study of natural selection

Genomic islands of differentiation in a rapid avian radiation have been driven by recent selective sweeps

Numerous studies of emerging species have identified genomic "islands" of elevated differentiation against a background of relative homogeneity. The causes of these islands remain unclear, however, with some signs pointing toward "speciation genes" that locally restrict gene flow and others suggesting selective sweeps that have occurred within nascent species after speciation. Here, we examine this question through the lens of genome sequence data for five species of southern capuchino seedeaters, finch-like birds from South America that have undergone a species radiation during the last ∼50,000 generations. By applying newly developed statistical methods for ancestral recombination graph inference and machine-learning methods for the prediction of selective sweeps, we show that previously identified islands of differentiation in these birds appear to be generally associated with relatively recent, species-specific selective sweeps, most of which are predicted to be soft sweeps acting on standing genetic variation. Many of these sweeps coincide with genes associated with melanin-based variation in plumage, suggesting a prominent role for sexual selection. At the same time, a few loci also exhibit indications of possible selection against gene flow. These observations shed light on the complex manner in which natural selection shapes genome sequences during speciation