Corporate Social Responsibility, Negative Externalities, and Financial Risk: The Case of Climate Change

Certain types of corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities can generate an ‘insurance-like’ benefit for firms (Godfrey, 2005). Thus far, this risk management hypothesis has been verified for the effects of firm-specific negative events. We argue that this insurance-like benefit of CSR-activities can be equally expected in the context of long-term developments which threaten current business models. We develop our arguments for the incremental, long-term process of internalizing negative externalities. For this, we consider the negative externalities resulting from the emission of greenhouse gases (GHG) and perform a panel analysis of a sample of 1699 firms over a period of 7 years. Our results show that firms can reduce their market-based risk by curbing their GHG-emissions. We furthermore propose an opposing effect on accounting-based risk, but do not find empirical support for this. We conclude that CSR-activities aimed at reducing a firm’s exposure to specific long-term developments can be sound corporate risk management, even if such activities may not yet be profitable

EU-ACP Economic Partnership Agreements - Empirical Evidence for Sub-Saharan Africa

Since early 2008 interim trade agreements between the EU and six regions of ACP countries (respectively sub-groups within the region) are in force. These agreements could be stepping stones towards full Economic Partnership Agreements between the EU and all ACP countries. We estimate the welfare effects of the interim agreements for nine African countries: Botswana, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania, and Uganda. Our analysis is based on highly disaggregated data for trade and tariffs (HS six digit level) and follows a simple analytical model by Milner et al. (2006) to quantify the welfare effects of trade liberalization. We extend the literature in two principal ways: First, we estimate elasticities of import demand for the nine African countries importing from the EU and Sub-Saharan Africa respectively. Second, we apply the actual tariff reduction rates recently negotiated between the EU and the African countries to estimate the agreement's welfare effects of trade liberalization for the African countries. Results indicate that Botswana, Cameroon, Mozambique, and Namibia will significantly profit from the interim agreements, while the trade effects for Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda are close to zero. However, Tanzania and Uganda also have the potential to experience positive welfare effects, but predicted results of the liberalization based on the interim agreement's reduction rates fall short of the potential of a full liberalization

La poética dramática desde una perspectiva cuantitativa: la obra de Calderón de la Barca

El desarrollo de métodos computacionales cuantitativos para llevar a cabo un análisis estructural y formal de textos dramáticos es relativamente reciente en las Humanidades Digitales. En este artículo estudiaremos, a través de este enfoque cuantitativo, algunos aspectos de la obra de Calderón de la Barca. Para llevar a cabo el análisis se hará referencia a las poéticas dramáticas contem-poráneas de la Comedia nueva española, que se contraponen a las reglas establecidas en el teatro clásico francés, como las unidades de acción, lugar y tiempo, las reglas de distribución de los personajes, la convención sobre la separación de los estados sociales y sobre la composición en general. Las características cuantitativas se explorarán en los dos géneros dramáticos más empleados por Calderón, la comedia y el auto sacramental, detectando así los patrones y estructuras formales del autor

Microbiological safety and cost-effectiveness of weekly breathing circuit changes in combination with heat moisture exchange filters: a prospective longitudinal clinical survey

Aim: To assess the safety and cost effectiveness of a usage for seven days of breathing circuit systems (BCSs) in combination with heat moisture exchanger filters (HMEF) in operation room anesthesia

Attenuation of Post-Shock Increases in Brain Natriuretic Peptide with Post Shock Overdrive Pacing

Background: Predischarge defibrillation threshold testing is often performed a few days after ICD implantation in order to validate defibrillation thresholds obtained at the time of implant. Ventricular fibrillation is induced with such testing and causes an increase in serum Brain Natriuretic Peptide (BNP) levels. BNP is an indicator for cardiac stress. We wanted to examine the feasibility to alter the trend of BNP after predischarge testing in VVI, DDD and CRT ICD´s.Methods: We measured BNP before predischarge testing and 5, 10, 20 and 40 minutes after predischarge testing in 13 groups with each 20 patients. We evaluated patients without post shock pacing and patients with a post shock pacing frequency of 60, 70, 80, 90 and 100 bpm and a duration of 30 and 60 sec as well as a post shock pacing frequency of 80 and 90 bpm and a duration of 120 sec post shock pacing. Results: Patients without post shock pacing showed the highest BNP during the follow-up. The percentage values of BNP increased consistent significantly after 5 minutes compared with BNP before predischarge testing. The percentage values of BNP trend was significantly lower with a post shock pacing of 90 bpm and duration of 60 sec. In addition, we excluded a cardiac necrosis by predischarge testing because of similar values of myoglobin, cardiac troponin I and creatine kinase during the follow-up.Conclusions: Our results suggested that post shock pacing with 90 bpm and duration of 60 sec as the best optimized post shock pacing frequency and duration for VVI, DDD and CRT ICD´s. A reduction of cardiac stress is going to be achieved with the optimization of the post shock pacing frequency and duration

Homozygosity in any HLA locus is a risk factor for specific antibody production: the taboo concept 2.0

ObjectiveIn a cooperative study of the University Hospital Leipzig, University of Leipzig, and the Charité Berlin on kidney transplant patients, we analysed the occurrence of HLA-specific antibodies with respect to the HLA setup of the patients. We aimed at the definition of specific HLA antigens towards which the patients produced these antibodies.MethodsPatients were typed for the relevant HLA determinants using mainly the next-generation technology. Antibody screening was performed by the state-of-the-art multiplex-based technology using microspheres coupled with the respective HLA alleles of HLA class I and II determinants.ResultsPatients homozygous for HLA-A*02, HLA-A*03, HLA-A*24, HLA-B*07, HLA-B*18, HLA-B*35, HLA-B*44, HLA-C*03, HLA-C*04, and HLA-C*07 in the class I group and HLA-DRB1*01, HLA-DRB1*03, HLA-DRB1*07, HLA-DRB1*15, HLA-DQA1*01, HLA-DQA1*05, HLA-DQB1*02, HLA-DQB1*03(7), HLA-DQB1*06, HLA-DPA1*01, and HLA-DPB1*04 in the class II group were found to have a significant higher antibody production compared to the heterozygous ones. In general, all HLA determinants are affected. Remarkably, HLA-A*24 homozygous patients can produce antibodies towards all HLA-A determinants, while HLA-B*18 homozygous ones make antibodies towards all HLA-B and selected HLA-A and C antigens, and are associated with an elevation of HLA-DRB1, parts of DQB1 and DPB1 alleles. Homozygosity for the HLA class II HLA-DRB1*01, and HLA-DRB1*15 seems to increase the risk for antibody responses against most of the HLA class I antigens (HLA-A, HLA-B, and HLA-C) in contrast to HLA-DQB1*03(7) where a lower risk towards few HLA-A and HLA-B alleles is found. The widely observed differential antibody response is therefore to be accounted to the patient’s HLA type.ConclusionHomozygous patients are at risk of producing HLA-specific antibodies hampering the outcome of transplantation. Including this information on the allocation procedure might reduce antibody-mediated immune reactivity and prevent graft loss in a patient at risk, increasing the life span of the transplanted organ

Influence of the live cell DNA marker DRAQ5 on chromatin-associated processes

In the last decade, live cell fluorescence microscopy experiments have revolutionized cellular and molecular biology, enabling the localization of proteins within cellular compartments to be analysed and to determine kinetic parameters of enzymatic reactions in living nuclei to be measured. Recently, in vivo DNA labelling by DNA-stains such as DRAQ5, has provided the opportunity to measure kinetic reactions of GFP-fused proteins in targeted areas of the nucleus with different chromatin compaction levels. To verify the suitability of combining DRAQ5-staining with protein dynamic measurements, we have tested the cellular consequences of DRAQ5 DNA intercalation. We show that DRAQ5 intercalation rapidly modifies both the localization and the mobility properties of several DNA-binding proteins such as histones, DNA repair, replication and transcription factors, by stimulating a release of these proteins from their substrate. Most importantly, the effect of DRAQ5 on the mobility of essential cellular enzymes results in a potent inhibition of the corresponding cellular functions. From these observations, we suggest that great caution must be used when interpreting live cell data obtained using DRAQ5

SSL4EO-L: Datasets and Foundation Models for Landsat Imagery

The Landsat program is the longest-running Earth observation program in history, with 50+ years of data acquisition by 8 satellites. The multispectral imagery captured by sensors onboard these satellites is critical for a wide range of scientific fields. Despite the increasing popularity of deep learning and remote sensing, the majority of researchers still use decision trees and random forests for Landsat image analysis due to the prevalence of small labeled datasets and lack of foundation models. In this paper, we introduce SSL4EO-L, the first ever dataset designed for Self-Supervised Learning for Earth Observation for the Landsat family of satellites (including 3 sensors and 2 product levels) and the largest Landsat dataset in history (5M image patches). Additionally, we modernize and re-release the L7 Irish and L8 Biome cloud detection datasets, and introduce the first ML benchmark datasets for Landsats 4-5 TM and Landsat 7 ETM+ SR. Finally, we pre-train the first foundation models for Landsat imagery using SSL4EO-L and evaluate their performance on multiple semantic segmentation tasks. All datasets and model weights are available via the TorchGeo (https://github.com/microsoft/torchgeo) library, making reproducibility and experimentation easy, and enabling scientific advancements in the burgeoning field of remote sensing for a multitude of downstream applications

Rare ground data confirm significant warming and drying in western equatorial Africa

Background The humid tropical forests of Central Africa influence weather worldwide and play a major role in the global carbon cycle. However, they are also an ecological anomaly, with evergreen forests dominating the western equatorial region despite less than 2,000 mm total annual rainfall. Meteorological data for Central Africa are notoriously sparse and incomplete and there are substantial issues with satellite-derived data because of persistent cloudiness and inability to ground-truth estimates. Long-term climate observations are urgently needed to verify regional climate and vegetation models, shed light on the mechanisms that drive climatic variability and assess the viability of evergreen forests under future climate scenarios. Methods We have the rare opportunity to analyse a 34 year dataset of rainfall and temperature (and shorter periods of absolute humidity, wind speed, solar radiation and aerosol optical depth) from Lopé National Park, a long-term ecological research site in Gabon, western equatorial Africa. We used (generalized) linear mixed models and spectral analyses to assess seasonal and inter-annual variation, long-term trends and oceanic influences on local weather patterns. Results Lopé’s weather is characterised by a cool, light-deficient, long dry season. Long-term climatic means have changed significantly over the last 34 years, with warming occurring at a rate of +0.25 °C per decade (minimum daily temperature) and drying at a rate of −75 mm per decade (total annual rainfall). Inter-annual climatic variability at Lopé is highly influenced by global weather patterns. Sea surface temperatures of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans have strong coherence with Lopé temperature and rainfall on multi-annual scales. Conclusions The Lopé long-term weather record has not previously been made public and is of high value in such a data poor region. Our results support regional analyses of climatic seasonality, long-term warming and the influences of the oceans on temperature and rainfall variability. However, warming has occurred more rapidly than the regional products suggest and while there remains much uncertainty in the wider region, rainfall has declined over the last three decades at Lopé. The association between rainfall and the Atlantic cold tongue at Lopé lends some support for the ‘dry’ models of climate change for the region. In the context of a rapidly warming and drying climate, urgent research is needed into the sensitivity of dry season clouds to ocean temperatures and the viability of humid evergreen forests in this dry region should the clouds disappear