The Relation Between Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure and Financial Performance: Evidence from the Commercial Banking Industry

The purpose of this paper is to extend previous research on the relationship between corporate social responsibility disclosure and financial performance. Increase level of CSR disclosure can improve a firm‘s credibility but it can also incur extra cost and reduce firm‘s profit. The unique contribution of this study is the empirical analysis of this relation on a sample of international commercial banks, supplemented by ranking and deciles comparisons. Our findings show that no definitive relationship exists, neither positive nor negative, between CSR disclosure and financial performance in commercial banks

Linear Stability Analysis for Plane-Poiseuille Flow of an Elastoviscoplastic fluid with internal microstructure

We study the linear stability of Plane Poiseuille flow of an elastoviscoplastic fluid using a revised version of the model proposed by Putz and Burghelea (Rheol. Acta (2009)48:673-689). The evolution of the microstructure upon a gradual increase of the external forcing is governed by a structural variable (the concentration of solid material elements) which decays smoothly from unity to zero as the stresses are gradually increased beyond the yield point. Stability results are in close conformity with the ones of a pseudo-plastic fluid. Destabilizing effects are related to the presence of an intermediate transition zone where elastic solid elements coexist with fluid elements. This region brings an elastic contribution which does modify the stability of the flow

Australian community pharmacy services: a survey of what people with chronic conditions and their carers use versus what they consider important

Objective To explore the purpose/s for which people with chronic conditions and their carers use Australian community pharmacies, and compare this to what pharmacy services they consider important, from the perspectives of both consumers and pharmacists. Design An exploratory study involving a survey, which asked participants to indicate the pharmacy services they had ever used, and rate the importance of 22 pharmacy services to them, or the person they care for, or for their consumers if a pharmacist. Setting Four regions of Australia: Logan-Beaudesert and Mt Isa/North West region, Queensland, Northern Rivers, New South Wales, and the Greater Perth area, Western Australia. Participants Surveys were undertaken with 602 consumers and 91 community pharmacists. Results Community pharmacy is predominantly used to obtain advice about medication and whether a doctor's visit is necessary, as well as for monitoring and screening services. Pharmacy services that were patient centric were important, such as individualised medication advice and respectful care, as well as tools or procedures to facilitate streamlined medication access. Less important services included adult vaccinations and health and wellness programmes. Carers identified services that assisted them with their specific role/s to be important. Overall, community pharmacists had a good understanding of the services that were important to people with chronic conditions and their carers. Conclusions People with chronic conditions and their carers not only care about what services are delivered, but how they are delivered; they sought services that generally improved their access to medication and information, but in a way that was patient centred. Ultimately, pharmacists understood the importance of patient-centred care for people with chronic conditions and their carers, perhaps indicating a greater acceptance of integrating patient-centred care into their everyday practice

Optoelectronics with electrically tunable PN diodes in a monolayer dichalcogenide

One of the most fundamental devices for electronics and optoelectronics is the PN junction, which provides the functional element of diodes, bipolar transistors, photodetectors, LEDs, and solar cells, among many other devices. In conventional PN junctions, the adjacent p- and n-type regions of a semiconductor are formed by chemical doping. Materials with ambipolar conductance, however, allow for PN junctions to be configured and modified by electrostatic gating. This electrical control enables a single device to have multiple functionalities. Here we report ambipolar monolayer WSe2 devices in which two local gates are used to define a PN junction exclusively within the sheet of WSe2. With these electrically tunable PN junctions, we demonstrate both PN and NP diodes with ideality factors better than 2. Under excitation with light, the diodes show photodetection responsivity of 210 mA/W and photovoltaic power generation with a peak external quantum efficiency of 0.2%, promising numbers for a nearly transparent monolayer sheet in a lateral device geometry. Finally, we demonstrate a light-emitting diode based on monolayer WSe2. These devices provide a fundamental building block for ubiquitous, ultra-thin, flexible, and nearly transparent optoelectronic and electronic applications based on ambipolar dichalcogenide materials.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figure

Explore the Common Measuring Errors and Quantify the Errors of New Noise Barrier Designs for Mitigating Traffic Noise

Background and Objective: Noise pollution from road traffic has been a persistent problem in Hong Kong and there has been increasing attention on its association with risks to human health and well-being. Much research has been done in searching for an improved design of noise barriers as a direct noise abatement solution. Reflecting on the experience of supervising a recent acoustic barrier design project involving open field tests and using prototypes, this paper aims to explore the common errors in working and performing experiments with scaled models. Materials and Methods: The project team conducted tests in an open field for the three designs of noise barriers. Amplifiers were used to mimic traffic noise of 800-1200 kHz. The 3-D printing was deployed to make templates for casting concrete panels for their noise barrier models. Results: Test results showed some inconsistency with the teamʼs expectations. All models were capable of reducing sound at all the measurement points of different heights. At lower heights, the reduction was 4 to 11 dB(A), At higher heights, the reduction decreased to only 3 to 5 dB(A). When the data were plotted on a graph, sound measurements of all three designs showed a non-linear path by height. Therefore, it was difficult for the team to draw convincing conclusions from them. There are lessons learned at every stage of the project, from idea formulation to prototyping and experimentation. Conclusion: Hopefully, these lessons and suggested resolves will help in the future, especially those involving the use and testing of scale model prototypes

Cachexia as a major underestimated and unmet medical need: facts and numbers

Cachexia is a serious, however underestimated and underrecognised medical consequence of malignant cancer, chronic heart failure (CHF), chronic kidney disease (CKD), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), cystic fibrosis, rheumatoid arthritis, Alzheimer's disease, infectious diseases, and many other chronic illnesses. The prevalence of cachexia is high, ranging from 5% to 15% in CHF or COPD to 60% to 80% in advanced cancer. By population prevalence, the most frequent cachexia subtypes are in order: COPD cachexia, cardiac cachexia (in CHF), cancer cachexia, and CKD cachexia. In industrialized countries (North America, Europe, Japan), the overall prevalence of cachexia (due to any disease) is growing and currently about 1%, i.e., about nine million patients. The relative prevalence of cachexia is somewhat less in Asia, but is a growing problem there as well. In absolute terms, cachexia is, in Asia (due to the larger population), as least as big a problem as in the Western world. Cachexia is also a big medical problem in South America and Africa, but data are scarce. A consensus statement recently proposed to diagnose cachexia in chronic diseases when there is weight loss exceeding 5% within the previous 3–12 months combined with symptoms characteristic for cachexia (e.g., fatigue), loss of skeletal muscle and biochemical abnormalities (e.g., anemia or inflammation). Treatment approaches using anabolics, anti-catabolic therapies, appetite stimulants, and nutritional interventions are under development. A more thorough understanding of the pathophysiology of cachexia development and progression is needed that likely will lead to combination therapies being developed. These efforts are greatly needed as presence of cachexia is always associated with high-mortality and poor-symptom status and dismal quality of life. It is thought that in cancer, more than 30% of patients die due to cachexia and more than 50% of patients with cancer die with cachexia being present. In other chronic illnesses, one can estimate that up to 30% of patients die with some degree of cachexia being present. Mortality rates of patients with cachexia range from 10% to 15% per year (COPD), to 20% to 30% per year (CHF, CKD) to 80% in cancer

Antenatal influenza and pertussis vaccine uptake among Aboriginal mothers in Western Australia

Background: Antenatal influenza and pertussis vaccination prevent serious disease in mothers and infants. Aboriginal individuals are at increased risk of infection yet little is known about vaccine coverage among Aboriginal mothers. Aims: To estimate the uptake of influenza and pertussis vaccination among pregnant Aboriginal women in Western Australia and identify barriers and enablers to vaccination. Materials and methods: Four hundred Aboriginal women, aged ≥18 years, who gave birth to a live infant between April and October 2015, were randomly selected and invited to participate in telephone interviews. Of the 387 women who did not decline, 178 had a functioning phone number and 100 completed the survey. Analyses were weighted by maternal residence. Results: During pregnancy the majority of Aboriginal mothers were recommended influenza (66%; unweighted, 65/96 = 68%) and pertussis (65%; unweighted, 62/94 = 66%) vaccines, with 62% (unweighted, 56/94 = 56%) and 63% (unweighted, 60/93 = 65%) receiving the vaccinations, respectively. Almost all vaccinated women (98%) reported wanting to protect their baby as the reason for immunisation. Rural mothers were more likely than metropolitan mothers to have been vaccinated against influenza (odds ratio (OR) 4.1, 95% CI 1.7–10.2) and pertussis (OR 3.1, 95% CI 1.2–7.6). Recommendation by a healthcare provider was strongly associated with vaccine uptake (influenza: OR 15.6, 95% CI 4.9–49.5; pertussis: OR 13.3, 95% CI 4.6–38.0). Conclusion: Vaccination uptake among Western Australian Aboriginal mothers is comparable with rates reported for non‐Aboriginal populations worldwide. Provider recommendation is the single most important factor associated with vaccination uptake, underlining the importance of integrating vaccination into routine antenatal care

Roadside Vehicle Particulate Vertical Dispersion Model for Friction Course Materials: A Case of Hong Kong

Background and Objective: The rapid urban development has caused various pollution in Hong Kong. However, the current measures adopted are aimed at controlling the surface level emission, while the vertical dispersion of pollutants is less investigated. This research project aims to identify the vertical dispersion patterns of particulate matter and noise emitted from road traffic and their decay rates with increasing vertical distance from the source and examine the possible correlation between traffic noise frequency levels and vehicle-emitted particulate. Materials and Methods: Three sets of equipment have been installed at three different heights on building facades perpendicular to the road surface, facing traffic to monitor PM concentrations (PM1, PM2.5, PM4.25 and PM10), noise frequencies and other environmental data namely temperature, relative humidity and wind speed. Results: The study anticipates uncovering a positive relationship between vehicular particulate matter emissions and traffic-related noise on lower floors, specifically at an 800 Hz noise frequency. Analysis of the three dimensional plots indicates that pollutant concentrations are highest at lower levels. Notably, PM1, PM2.5 and PM4.25 demonstrate relatively high R-squared values (PM1 = 0.674, PM2.5 = 0.649 and PM4.25 = 0.538), indicating a satisfactory fit of these models to the data. Conclusion: By highlighting the often-overlooked vertical transmission of particulate matter and noise from vehicles, this research contributes to a deeper understanding of air and noise pollution levels in high-rise urban environments. These insights hold the potential to inform future urban planning initiatives aimed at enhancing public health outcomes

Spherically symmetric dissipative anisotropic fluids: A general study

The full set of equations governing the evolution of self--gravitating spherically symmetric dissipative fluids with anisotropic stresses is deployed and used to carry out a general study on the behaviour of such systems, in the context of general relativity. Emphasis is given to the link between the Weyl tensor, the shear tensor, the anisotropy of the pressure and the density inhomogeneity. In particular we provide the general, necessary and sufficient, condition for the vanishing of the spatial gradients of energy density, which in turn suggests a possible definition of a gravitational arrow of time. Some solutions are also exhibited to illustrate the discussion.Comment: 28 pages Latex. To appear in Phys.Rev.

High broad-band photoresponsivity of mechanically formed InSe-graphene van der Waals heterostructures

We exploit the broad-band transparency of graphene and the favorable band line up of graphene with van der Waals InSe crystals to create new functional heterostructures and high-performance photodetectors. The InSe-graphene heterostructure exhibits a high photoresponsivity, which exceeds that for other two-dimensional van der Waals crystals, and a spectral response that extends from the near-infrared to the visible spectrum. The highest photoresponsivity is achieved in device architectures where the InSe and graphene layers are vertically stacked, thus enabling effective extraction of photogenerated carriers from the InSe to the graphene electrodes