Corporate Environmental Disclosure Practices in Different National Contexts: The Influence of Cultural Dimensions

The influence of different national contexts, including the effects of cultural environments, on corporate environmental disclosure practices has yet to be properly addressed in the literature. The purpose of this research is, therefore, to analyse how cultural factors affect the environmental disclosure practices of companies in different countries. This research is supported by the diversity of cultures across countries. Given that a cultural framework prompts different organisational actions and strategies, the question to be answered through this research is as follows: How do cultural aspects affect corporate environmental disclosure? Cultural factors are precisely those that can explain similarities and differences between stakeholders’ actions and preferences. The sample used in this research comprises companies in 28 countries and 9 economic sectors for the period 2004 to 2015. Our main findings show that companies operating in countries with individualist, masculine and indulgent cultures are less likely to disclose environmental information. Contrary to our predictions, cultures with a longterm orientation also discourage the reporting of environmental information, while uncertainty avoidance contexts tend to promote more environmental reporting

Notes sobre l'anellament i muda dels blauets (Alcedo atthis)

Aquest estudi presenta diversa informació sobre muda, datat i sexat del blauet. Totes les dades procedeixen dels anellaments efectuats a la llacuna de l'Encanyissada, al delta de l'Ebre. Els codis sobre edats i muda corresponen al d'EURING. La presència de blauets a la llacuna de l'Encanyissada és frequent a l'època postnupcial i la migració de tardor. Com a hivernant és rar i comença a arribar a partir del gener. Aquesta espècie és la que produeix un major índex de controls a la zona. Es comenten algunes dades sobre datat i sexat al llarg de l'any i també les diferències estacionals. S'estudia la seqüència de la muda dins de cada grup de plomes. Es discuteix la durada del creixement de les plomes en base a successius controls d'un mateix exemplar: 5 (estiu-tardor 1980, 4 vegades). Aquest blauet va trigar més de 92 dies en acabar la muda ja que va començar abans del 15.08.80 i el 15.11.80 encara mudava algunes cobertores del cos

Los líquenes y su conservación

Los líquenes u hongos liquenizados representan una asociación simbiótica entre un hongo (micobionte) y uno o dos organismos fotoautótrofos (fotobionte). Actualmente se estima que existen cerca de 17.000 especies que se incluyen en el grupo de los Hongos, apareciendo en todos los ecosistemas terrestres, desde los desiertos hasta la Antártida, desde los acantilados costeros hasta la alta montañ

Tax incentives and direct support for R&D : what do firms use and why?

The measurement of the effects that public support to private R&D has on R&D investment and output has attracted substantial empirical research in the last decade. The focus of this research has mostly focused on testing for possible crowding out effects. There is virtually no study aiming at understanding how and why these effects may or may not be occurring. In addition, the effects of the two most common tools of public support, direct funding through grants and loans, and tax incentives, have been studied separately. We contribute to existing work by focusing on the determinants of the use by firms of these two mechanisms and their potential link to sources of market failures. We think this is an important step to assess impact estimates. Using firm-level data from the Spanish Community Innovation Survey (CIS), we find that firms that face financial constraints, as well as newly created firms, are less likely to use R&D tax credits and more likely to apply for and obtain direct public funding. We also find that large firms that care about knowledge protection are more likely to apply for and obtain direct funding, while SMEs are more likely to use tax incentives. Our results show that direct funding and tax credits, as currently designed, are not perfect substitutes because firms are heterogeneous, and suggest that from a social perspective, and provided that crowding out effects can be ruled out for both instruments, some combination of both may be preferable to relying on only oneR&D subsidies, R&D tax credits, R&D, CIS, Policy evaluation

Infectivity decline of an RNA plant virus by increased mutagenesis supports the lethal defection model in vivo

Lethal mutagenesis is a new antiviral therapy based on increasing the mutation rate by using mutagenic base and nucleoside analogues whose molecular mechanisms are not fully understood. Most of the research has been conducted on animal RNA viruses in cell culture and, to a lesser extent, in vivo. There is experimental evidence supporting the model of lethal defection for lethal mutagenesis of RNA viruses. In this model, viral genomes with a low degree of mutation and low specific infectivity, termed "defectors", exert an interfering activity leading to virus loss. Lethal mutagenesis of plant viruses has not been addressed yet despite being excellent in vivo model systems that develop systemic infections, undergo rapid bottlenecks and pose no ethical issues. Here, we address lethal mutagenesis in vivo of Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV), a single-stranded positive RNA virus of 6.4 Kb. Nicotiana tabacum plants cultured in vitro were treated with 25, 50 and 100 µg/ml of the base analogue 5-fluorouracil (FU) and 24 h later were inoculated with 50 lesion forming units (lfu) of TMV. We analyzed the infectivity, viral load and mutant spectra of viral populations after 5 and 10 days of treatment, as well as of populations that went 10 days of treatment followed by 21 days of ex vitro growth in the absence of FU. The results show that TMV infectivity decreases when treated with 50 and 100 µg/ml FU for 10 days. TMV mutagenized populations grown without FU reach infectivity values higher than untreated populations. Predominant mutations in FU-treated populations with decreased infectivity at 10 dpi are U→C, A→G and G→A transitions, which are expected due to the action of FU. TMV replication is not affected by FU at any dose and there are no imbalances of ribonucleotide triphosphate pools measured by HPLC. No differences in mutation frequencies and Shannon Entropies between control and FU-treated populations with declined infectivity were found. However, we did found a dose-dependent decrease of specific infectivity in FU-treated populations, but not in untreated samples, as well as dominance of molecules with a low degree of mutation. Specific infectivity recovered to control levels after 21 days of growth without the analogue. Altogether, our results suggest that TMV defector molecules mediate the decrease in TMV infectivity. This is the first report that addresses the molecular basis of lethal defection in vivo using an RNA plant virus.Junta de Andalucía (P09-CVI-5428 y P10-CVI-6561), Plan Nacional I+D+i (BFU2007-65080 BMC) y Universidad de Málaga (Plan propio

Digital Competence and Literacy: Developing New Narrative Formats. The «Dragon Age: Origins» Videogame

The approach of this article is centered on the concepts of digital competence and new narrative formats. We aim to apply these dimensions to the videogame «Dragon Age Origins», winner of the 2009 videogame of the year award. Its features - plot, characters and interactivity – make it ideal reading material in other formats and are highly motivational for young people. The development of digital competence signifies new literacy, and it is necessary to find new stimulating resources that combine the fun and formative dimensions. Equally relevant are multimodal texts (Kress & Van Leeuwen, 2001), especially new narrative formats that imply social progress, as the ways of reading are different. The texts have acquired new formats with the same quality as books but they sometimes motivate users more. This is the case of «Dragon Age Origins», a dark heroic fantasy role-playing game set in a unique world containing a story to be read and experienced. Our analysis of the videogame discusses whether it should be considered a form of reading or not

Arte contemporáneo en Castilla y León (1960-2019): opiniones de los creadores y crítica artística

Muchos son los prejuicios que surgen en torno al arte contemporáneo, prejuicios que pesan sobre los artistas actuales de Castilla y León, y que, sumados a la falta de apoyo por parte de las instituciones, la falta de plataformas de promoción, las malas prácticas en el arte y el escaso interés por parte del público castellano en un arte que no se molesta ni en entender, hacen que los artistas luchen día a día por su supervivencia y que no siempre ganen esa guerra. En el siguiente trabajo se pretende poner en valor el arte contemporáneo de Castilla y León a través de algunos de nuestros mejores artistas, cuyas experiencias en el mundo del arte han servido de apoyo para formular una crítica artística desde la década de 1960, hasta la actualidad.Departamento de Historia del ArteGrado en Historia del Art

Compositional data for global monitoring: the case of drinking water and sanitation

Introduction At a global level, access to safe drinking water and sanitation has been monitored by the Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) of WHO and UNICEF. The methods employed are based on analysis of data from household surveys and linear regression modelling of these results over time. However, there is evidence of non-linearity in the JMP data. In addition, the compositional nature of these data is not taken into consideration. This article seeks to address these two previous shortcomings in order to produce more accurate estimates. Methods We employed an isometric log-ratio transformation designed for compositional data. We applied linear and non-linear time regressions to both the original and the transformed data. Specifically, different modelling alternatives for non-linear trajectories were analysed, all of which are based on a generalized additive model (GAM). Results and discussion Non-linear methods, such as GAM, may be used for modelling non-linear trajectories in the JMP data. This projection method is particularly suited for data-rich countries. Moreover, the ilr transformation of compositional data is conceptually sound and fairly simple to implement. It helps improve the performance of both linear and non-linear regression models, specifically in the occurrence of extreme data points, i.e. when coverage rates are near either 0% or 100%.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft