How do different LGBTQ-friendly policies affect firm performance : An Empirical Study of U.S. Companies from 2005 to 2019

The LGBTQ community refers to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people. The controversy surrounding sexual minorities never ends. Academic research on the LGBTQ community has gone through three stages, with early research on sexual minorities being studied as a disease and subsequent research examining negative attitudes toward the LGBTQ community. Currently, scholars focus on the relationship between institutions and LGBTQ. As society becomes more liberal, acceptance of the LGBTQ community increases and more and more people support the LGBTQ community's fight for equal rights with heterosexuals. In this liberal culture, companies adopting LGBTQ-friendly policies take social responsibility. These companies that adopt LGBTQ-friendly policies try to create an equal work environment internally. Externally, companies demonstrate their pursuit of diversity and equality to their stakeholders. Based on corporate social responsibility theory and stakeholder theory, this paper examines the relationship between firms' adoption of LGBTQ-friendly policies and firm performance through empirical regressions. This study aims to examine which LGBTQ policies have the most significant impact on firm performance. And how these policies work, i.e., whether they improve firm performance by increasing productivity or by attracting outside investment. This paper uses the Corporate Equality Index for U.S. public companies from 2005 to 2019 and financial data for the empirical study. The CEI comes from the Human Rights Fund Committee, and the financial data are all from Reuters. Corporate LGBTQ friendliness is measured by CEI data in four areas: equal employment opportunity, inclusion benefits, LGBTQ diversity committee, and public commitment. Financial performance is measured by Tobin's Q, ROA, factor productivity, and employee productivity. The empirical results of the study indicate that more LGBTQ-friendly firms have higher stock market valuations and profitability but have lower factor productivity and employee productivity. This positive impact is magnified in open states, influenced by less religious and more liberal social norms, while the negative impact is magnified in more conservative states. Of the four policies that make up the CEI index, public commitment is the most influential LGBTQ-friendly policy

Slope stability analysis under seismic load by vector sum analysis method

AbstractThe vibration characteristics and dynamic responses of rock and soil under seismic load can be estimated with dynamic finite element method (DFEM). Combining with the DFEM, the vector sum analysis method (VSAM) is employed in seismic stability analysis of a slope in this paper. Different from other conventional methods, the VSAM is proposed based on the vector characteristic of force and current stress state of the slope. The dynamic stress state of the slope at any moment under seismic load can be obtained by the DFEM, thus the factor of safety of the slope at any moment during earthquake can be easily obtained with the VSAM in consideration of the DFEM. Then, the global stability of the slope can be estimated on the basis of time-history curve of factor of safety and reliability theory. The VSAM is applied to a homogeneous slope under seismic load. The factor of safety of the slope is 1.30 under gravity only and the dynamic factor of safety under seismic load is 1.21. The calculating results show that the dynamic characteristics and stability state of the slope with input ground motion can be actually analyzed. It is believed that the VSAM is a feasible and practical approach to estimate the dynamic stability of slopes under seismic load

Leaf Nitrogen and Phosphorus Stoichiometry of Natural Plant Community and Restorable Plant Community in the Northern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, China

The human engineering activities (highway, railway, cable, gas line and high line construction) has a negative impact on the alpine grassland ecosystem in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP), and the natural restoration of plant community in land used for engineering construction is an important part of the rehabilitation of the degraded alpine grassland ecosystem. Previous studies have shown that the plant species and community diversity relationship in natural plant community and restorable plant community vary with the elevation (Guo et al. 2007) and restoration duration of land for engineering construction is more than 20 years at present (Ma et al. 2004). Understanding the mechanisms of plant species replacement in the process of plant restoration is important to restore the land used for engineering construction. The ecological stoichiometry is considered as an effective tool to disclose the inter-specific competition process and determine the succession trend (Güsewell 2004; Güsewell 2005; Yin et al. 2010). However, the stoichiometry relationship between natural plant community and restorable plant community is not well known yet. The objective of this study is to investigate the nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) stoichiometry of natural plant community and restorable plant community and its changes with elevation

Settlement analysis of the giant open caisson during the construction of the Changtai Yangtze River Bridge

With the increasing size of open caissons in large-span bridge projects, the overall settlement of giant open caissons is vital to the safe construction of bridge superstructures. Taking the engineering case of the Changtai Yangtze River Bridge, the overall deformation of an open caisson was studied during the construction stage of the bridge’s superstructures. First, the theoretical layer-wise summation method was utilized to analyze the settlement of the open caisson. Then, a 3-D finite element model was established to simulate the installation stage of the bridge superstructure. Finally, a large centrifuge model test was performed to obtain the deformation of the open caisson at each step of bridge’s construction. The results of these approaches demonstrated that final settlements were quite consistent—approximately 225 mm when the bridge superstructure was completely installed—and the settlement deformation curve could be divided into three stages: slowly increasing, rapid, and stabilizing. This study can provide significant guidance for the construction of the Changtai Yangtze River Bridge and be a reference for similar open caisson engineering projects

Food adulteration and traceability tests using stable carbon isotope technologies

Due to the fractionation of stable carbon isotopes in plant photosynthesis, bio-decomposition processes, environmental factors, plant physiology, geographical factors, climatic conditions and agricultural practices, different foods exhibit significant differences in stable carbon isotope ratios. Therefore, stable carbon isotope ratio analysis (SCIRA) presents an effective tool for detecting food adulteration and food traceability control. In addition, stable carbon isotopes can frequently be used as markers to identify veterinary drug residues, pesticide residues and toxic substances remaining in foods by isotope dilution mass spectrometry (IDMS). The emphasis of this review, which will help readers to modify stable carbon isotope technologies more easily and extend their application in adulteration and traceability for foods, is on the characteristics of various instruments and the data processing methods in SCIRA and IDMS technologies. The latest research is also reviewed and highlighted. This paper reviews potential applications of these technologies to improve current food detection and protect consumers’ rights

Cdc42 is essential for the polarized movement and adhesion of human dental pulp stem cells

Objective: Stem cell-based tissue repair and regeneration require the regulation of cell migration and adhesion. As a regulator of cell polarization, Cdc42 (cell division control protein 42) plays a basic role at the initial stage of cell migration and adhesion. This study explores the effect of Cdc42 on the polarized migration and adhesion of hDPSCs (human dental pulp stem cells). Design: HDPSCs were isolated from extracted third molars and transfected with siRNA targeted against Cdc42. Scratch wound assays and transwell assays were performed to detect the migration of human dental pulp stem cells. Polarization assays were applied to explore the polarized movement of Golgi bodies and nuclei. Western blot was used to examine the expression of related proteins. Results: The expression of Cdc42 was knocked down by siRNA transfection, which inhibited the migration of hDPSCs in both the scratch wound assays and transwell assays. Meanwhile, the proportion of polarized hDPSCs during migration was also decreased, and the adhesion ability of hDPSCs was downregulated. Western blot demonstrated that these effects were dependent on FAK (focal adhesion kinase), β-catenin and GSK3β (Glycogen synthase kinase-3β). Conclusion Our study demonstrates that Cdc42 plays an essential role during the polarized movement and adhesion of hDPSCs

Microwave-assisted non-thermal hemp degumming

The microwave-assisted non-thermal degumming of hemp fibre has been studied and then compared with the water bath heating under different time and temperature conditions. The results show that the residual gum content of the lean hemp using microwave-assisted heating method is lower than that obtained using water bath heating. The residual gum content gap between the two degumming processes increases first and then decreases as the heating time and temperature are increased. This proves the existence of non-thermal effects in microwave heating process besides the thermal effects in water bath heating. In addition, the structures of the lean hemp fibres obtained from these two methods are also studied by scanning electron microscopy and fourier transform infrared spectroscopy.

Microwave-assisted rapid and regioselective synthesis of N-(alkoxycarbonylmethyl) nucleobases in water

A facile and eco-friendly approach has been developed for the preparation of N-(ethyoxycarbonylmethyl) nucleobases and N-(iso-propoxycarbonylmethyl) nucleobases, which are important building blocks for Peptide Nucleic Acids (PNA). All the nucleobases are regioselectively alkylated and the desired products are obtained in moderate to high yields under microwave irradiation for 8 min in water as the solvent and in the presence of Et3N as the base

Meta-analysis of the effects of denosumab and romosozumab on bone mineral density and turnover markers in patients with osteoporosis

PurposeTo assess the alterations in bone mineral density and bone turnover marker concentrations following the administration of denosumab and romosozumab therapies in patients with osteoporosis.MethodsPubMed was searched for studies published until January 28, 2023, that investigated the clinical efficacy and bone turnover marker changes of denosumab and romosozumab in the treatment of osteoporosis, with a minimum follow-up of 3 months in each study. Studies were screened, and data on changes in bone mineral density (BMD), P1NP, and TRACP-5b levels after treatment were extracted and included in the analysis.ResultsSix studies were analyzed. At 3 months after treatment, the romosozumab group showed greater changes in lumbar BMD and bone turnover markers. BMD of total hip and femoral neck was relatively delayed. Beginning at 6 to 12 months, romosozumab showed greater changes in bone mineral density and markers of bone turnover.ConclusionBoth romosozumab and denosumab have antiosteoporotic effects, with greater effects on BMD and bone turnover markers observed within 12 months of romosozumab treatment.Systematic Review Registrationhttps://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero, identifier CRD42023395034