CSR, tax and development

This article explores and critically examines the connections between tax and development on the one hand and tax and corporate social responsibility (CSR) on the other. It does so because, while there is increasing recognition of the importance of taxation to efforts to resource the state and to finance ways of tackling poverty, there is a surprising lack of attention to tax avoidance and evasion as a CSR issue for transnational corporations operating in the South, even among those companies that pride themselves on being CSR leaders. We review evidence of these trends, provide an empirical analysis of how leading firms deal with tax in their corporate reporting and make the case for including taxation as a new frontier in progressive CSR

An Analysis of Kinetic Response Variability

Studies evaluating variability of force as a function of absolute force generated are synthesized. Inconsistencies in reported estimates of this relationship are viewed as a function of experimental constraints imposed. Typically, within-subject force variability increases at a negative accelerating rate with equal increments in force produced. Current pulse-step and impulse variability models are unable to accommodate this description, although the notion of efficiency is suggested as a useful construct to explain the description outlined

Exceptionally Large Icebergs and Ice Islands in Eastern Canadian Waters: A Review of Sightings from 1900 to Present

A review of post-1900 sightings of ice islands and exceptionally large icebergs in eastern Canadian waters between Baffin Bay and the Grand Banks demonstrates that current estimates of the maximum expected iceberg lengths are below many of the reported values. Analysis of these sightings reveals that for the area south of 55 N the frequency of sightings and the maximum reported lengths were greater during the first half of this century than during the period 1950-90. However, recent sightings in 1991 demonstrate that exceptionally large icebergs should still be considered when designing fixed offshore structures for the Grand Banks or Labrador Shelf.Key words: icebergs, ice islands, Labrador Sea, Grand Banks, offshore oilUne recension des observations postérieures à 1900 concernant les îles de glace et les icebergs de taille exceptionnelle dans les eaux canadiennes orientales situées entre la baie de Baffin et les Grands Bancs de Terre-Neuve révèle que les estimations courantes des longueurs maximales d'icebergs escomptées se situent en dessous de bien des valeurs rapportées. Une analyse de ces observations montre que pour la zone au sud du 55° N, la fréquence des observations et les longueurs maximales rapportées étaient plus grandes durant la première moitié de ce siècle que durant la période allant de 1950 à 1990. De récentes observations faites en 1991 révèlent cependant que la conception des structures fixes en mer sur les Grands Bancs ou sur le plateau continental du Labrador devrait toujours tenir compte des icebergs de taille exceptionnelle.Mots clés : icebergs, îles de glace, mer du Labrador, Grands Bancs, pétrole exploité en me

JAPARA - A Java parallel random number generator library for high-performance computing

Copyright © 2004 IEEERandom number generators are one of the most common numerical library functions used in scientific applications. The standard random number generator provided within Java is fine for most purposes, however it does not adequately meet the needs of large-scale scientific applications, such as Monte Carlo simulations. Previous work has addressed some of these problems by extending the standard Random API in Java and providing an implementation that includes a choice of several different generator algorithms. One issue that was not addressed in this work was concurrency. Implementations of the standard Java random number generator use synchronized methods to support the use of the generator across multiple Java threads, however this is a sequential bottleneck for parallel applications. Here we present a proposal for further extending the standard API to support parallel generation of random number streams, which we have implemented in JAPARA, a Java Parallel Random Number Generator Library for high-performance computing.P. D. Coddington, A. J. Newel

Modelling Backward Travelling Holes in Mixed Traffic Conditions Using an Agent Based Simulation

A spatial queue model in a multi-agent simulation framework is extended by introducing a more realistic behaviour, i.e. backward travelling holes. Space corresponding to a leaving vehicle is not available immediately on the upstream end of the link. Instead, the space travels backward with a constant speed. This space is named a ‘hole’. The resulting dynamics resemble Newell’s simplified kinematic wave model. Furthermore, fundamental diagrams from homogeneous and heterogeneous traffic simulations are presented. The sensitivity of the presented approach is tested with the help of flow density contours

Do synaesthesia and mental imagery tap into similar cross-modal processes?

Synaesthesia has previously been linked with imagery abilities, although an understanding of a causal role for mental imagery in broader synaesthetic experiences remains elusive. This can be partly attributed to our relatively poor understanding of imagery in sensory domains beyond vision. Investigations into the neural and behavioural underpinnings of mental imagery have nevertheless identified an important role for imagery in perception, particularly in mediating cross-modal interactions. However, the phenomenology of synaesthesia gives rise to the assumption that associated cross-modal interactions may be encapsulated and specific to synaesthesia. As such, evidence for a link between imagery and perception may not generalize to synaesthesia. Here, we present results that challenge this idea: first, we found enhanced somatosensory imagery evoked by visual stimuli of body parts in mirror-touch synaesthetes, relative to other synaesthetes or controls. Moreover, this enhanced imagery generalized to tactile object properties not directly linked to their synaesthetic associations. Second, we report evidence that concurrent experience evoked in grapheme-colour synaesthesia was sufficient to trigger visual-to-tactile correspondences that are common to all. Together, these findings show that enhanced mental imagery is a consistent hallmark of synaesthesia, and suggest the intriguing possibility that imagery may facilitate the cross-modal interactions that underpin synaesthesic experiences. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'Bridging senses: novel insights from synaesthesia'

A pattern-recognition theory of search in expert problem solving

Understanding how look-ahead search and pattern recognition interact is one of the important research questions in the study of expert problem-solving. This paper examines the implications of the template theory (Gobet & Simon, 1996a), a recent theory of expert memory, on the theory of problem solving in chess. Templates are "chunks" (Chase & Simon, 1973) that have evolved into more complex data structures and that possess slots allowing values to be encoded rapidly. Templates may facilitate search in three ways: (a) by allowing information to be stored into LTM rapidly; (b) by allowing a search in the template space in addition to a search in the move space; and (c) by compensating loss in the "mind's eye" due to interference and decay. A computer model implementing the main ideas of the theory is presented, and simulations of its search behaviour are discussed. The template theory accounts for the slight skill difference in average depth of search found in chess players, as well as for other empirical data