Intellectual capital communication: evidence from social and sustainability reporting

The purpose of this study is to investigate the level and quality of intellectual capital information communicated through social and sustainability report for a sample of 37 Italian listed company over two years (2005 and 2006). The study use the resource based theory to explain the relationship between corporate social responsibility and intellectual capital. Content analysis is applied through a multidimensional framework composed by three main disclosure profiles(time orientation, nature and type of information) which permits to analyse in depth the quality of intellectual capital information. The results highlight significant and increasing presence of intellectual capital information in CSR reports which is communicated principally in non financial, quantitative and non time specific terms. Human capital is the most reported category followed by relational and organisational capital. There are many similarities between the two typology of report contributing to the ongoing debate on corporate reporting practices.The results suggest that the integration between IC report and CSR report is a plausible issue and that could be useful to enhance the transparency and the understanding of company processes and activities both for internal and external stakeholders. Very few studies have analysed the intellectual capital in CSR report in atheoretical and mono-dimensional way. Moreover the resource base theory has been scarcely applied to explain the disclosure of intellectual capital even if there are several similarities between the two perspectives.intellectual capital, disclosure, social and sustainability reporting, resource based view, corporate social responsibility

Communicating Intellectual Capital: Evidence from Social and Sustainability Reporting

Since the work of Guthrie & Petty (2000) several studies on intellectual capital (IC) reporting have been made to analyze the company disclosure process both public and private communication channels. Within public communication channels, company annual report is the most used document but in general it shows a low level of IC information. Other analyzed public channels are the initial public offering (IPO) prospectuses (Bukh et al. 2005; Cordazzo, 2007), the intellectual capital statements (Bukh et al., 2001; Mouritsen et al., 2001, 2002) and the web sites (Gerpott et al., 2008), all showing different level of IC information. The aim of this paper is to assess in depth the intellectual capital disclosure (ICD) communicated through social and sustainability reports in a sample of 37 Italian listed companies by a longitudinal content analysis (2005, 2006). IC disclosure (on human, organizational and relation capital) is analyzed in quantitative & qualitative, time dimension and financial & non financial terms in order to analyzed more in depth the ICD process. Findings show an overall increase in all categories of intellectual capital over the two years with a particular relevance for the organizational capital category. Overall the amount of ICD is higher when compared to the majority of previous studies based on annual report and it demonstrates the need to investigate more in depth a wide range of company reports to understand carefully the companies intellectual capital disclosure process and the possibility to integrate intellectual capital report and social and sustainability reporting in a single report.

Motor kinematic differences in children with autism sepectrum disorder : ecological gameplay with a sensorised toy

Background Evidence suggests gross motor differences are present in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) from birth. Trevarthen and Delafield-Butt (2013) proposed that one of the early markers of ASD are abnormalities in the development of intentional movements, which are present before the manifestations of symptoms typically associated with autism, like deficiencies in social interaction and communication. A growing body of literature demonstrates kinematic and action patterns differences in children and adults with ASD. However, these experiments typically require expensive laboratory-based optical motion tracking systems. Here, we developed bespoke, sensorised wooden cubes for motor assessment of children’s play and report on the kinematic and action pattern differences of the children with autism compared to children developing typically. Objectives A description of ASD-specific action patterns and kinematics using sensorised toys. Methods Participants. Children 3 to 5 years diagnosed with ASD (n = 15) recruited from the Scottish Centre for Autism, Glasgow, UK. Children 3 to 5 years old developing typically recruited from nurseries in Glasgow, UK. Adults 20 to 25 years old without ASD recruited from Glasgow, UK. The study was approved by the University of Strathclyde Ethics Committee and consent obtained from the parents of children or the adults. In the case of the children with ASD, pre-screening with Vineland-II, AQ-Child and Leiter-R Brief IQ was performed. Procedure. The children were seated at a table and instructed to play two simple games that involved moving the cube from one position to another: a Serially Organized Action (SOA) game and a Single Repetitive Action (SRA) game. The first required complex motor sequencing and engagement with the experimenter, while the second consisted of a simple repetitive movement. Each game produced a single measured movement to a goal with 25 iterations or repetitions to yield 50 movements in total. An electronic board inside the cubes was equipped with tri-axial magnetometer, gyroscope and accelerometer wirelessly transferred the cube’s motion data to a laptop. The signal (raw motion data) was extracted through a Matlab-based platform and analysed. Data Analysis. Kinematic features of movement duration; maximum value of acceleration, velocity, and jerk during each movement; time to maximum value; % duration to maximum value; and the acceleration, velocity, and jerk action patterns profiles were calculated. Results The jerk profile of children with ASD was significantly different, showing increased maximum jerk, reduced time to maximum value and & duration to maximum value, and lower variability than typically developing children. Further, movement duration was shorter compared to age-matched typically developing children, and maximum velocity was significantly higher in children with ASD compared to children developing typically. Conclusion The increased jerk values and onset times in the ASD group are a particularly interesting finding that support new data appearing by other groups. It appeared, especially in the SRA game, that when moving the cube from one position to the next, the children with autism impacted on the surface of the table with greater velocity and typically included the resulting force immediately into to the next movement, giving it a greater jerk value in a shorter span of time that typically children. Typically developing children, on the other hand, paused for a moment (>100 ms) before commencing the next movement. Further, children with autism did not enjoy the SRA game, but they did enjoy the simpler, more repetitive SOA one. The repetitive simplicity of the SOA game and its resulting jerk profile appears to report on a particular behavioural motor feature distinct to ASD, namely stopping an action and starting a new one, while also describing an underlying motor difference that may contribute to it

A Phonology Of Asu

This thesis provides an analysis of the phonology of Asu, a small and endangered Nupoid language of Nigeria. Asu recognizes only two syllable structures, CV and CGV. The only syllables without onsets are formed by four noun class prefixes [è-,ē-, à-,ā-], that create Asu nouns without onsets word-initially. The phonemic inventory of consonants consists of seven pairs of corresponding voiced-voiceless obstruents at the labial, alveolar, labial-velar and velar points of articulation. In addition, there are six voiced sonorants. Front vowels cause palatalized allophones of many of the non-labial consonants. Asu has five oral phonemic vowels [i,e,a,o,u], and three nasal vowels [ã,ĩ,ũ]. There is a co-occurrence restriction on which vowels can occur in CV.CV roots. Those roots do not contain the expected random combination of vowels. The vowel harmony prevents front and back vowels from being present in the same root. There are three phonemic tones H, M, L. Two surface contours [HL] and [LH] are analyzed to be allophonic surface representations rather than phonemes. The acoustic section covers VOT of voiced and voiceless stops. It describes the acoustic difference between the phoneme /j/ and an allophonic [ʲ] which surfaces in palatalized allophones. The allophonic difference in final vowel duration is documented. An allophonic short pre-tap vowel is described and pitch level differences between H, M, L are documented

Entanglement transition in deep neural quantum states

Despite the huge theoretical potential of neural quantum states, their use in describing generic, highly-correlated quantum many-body systems still often poses practical difficulties. Customized network architectures are under active investigation to address these issues. For a guided search of suited network architectures a deepened understanding of the link between neural network properties and attributes of the physical system one is trying to describe, is imperative. Drawing inspiration from the field of machine learning, in this work we show how information propagation in deep neural networks impacts the physical entanglement properties of deep neural quantum states. In fact, we link a previously identified information propagation phase transition of a neural network to a similar transition of entanglement in neural quantum states. With this bridge we can identify optimal neural quantum state hyperparameter regimes for representing area as well as volume law entangled states. The former are easily accessed by alternative methods, such as tensor network representations, at least in low physical dimensions, while the latter are challenging to describe generally due to their extensive quantum entanglement. This advance of our understanding of network configurations for accurate quantum state representation helps to develop effective representations to deal with volume-law quantum states, and we apply these findings to describe the ground state (area law state) vs. the excited state (volume law state) properties of the prototypical next-nearest neighbor spin-1/2 Heisenberg model

Micro-processes of justification and critique in a water sustainability controversy:Examining the establishment of moral legitimacy through accounting

To analyse the micro-processes of moral justification and critique, this paper explores how managers combine different moral principles through the use of accounting, in order to establish the moral legitimacy of water sustainability practices. Drawing on the Economies of Worth framework and based on an exploratory case study of a water utility, this paper reveals four micro-processes of justification and critique - neutralising, enlisting, summoning and sensegiving - that reflect the different ways of moral legitimation mobilised by the managers. It also reveals the presence of different orders of worth which refer to the market, industrial, civic and green moral principles, and the dynamic role of accounting as a test of worth used to combine and bring them together. The findings suggest that moral legitimacy is not necessarily a dichotomous variable, but that it operates on a continuum established by managers and negotiated through the use of accounting. The paper illuminates the role of accounting in the unfolding of moral legitimation processes, and advances the micro-analysis of moral legitimacy in sustainability accounting research. It also contributes to sustainability disclosure research by showing that external disclosure reflects internal deliberations, and together they participate in the establishing of moral legitimacy

Entanglement transition in deep neural quantum states

Despite the huge theoretical potential of neural quantum states, their use in describing generic, highly-correlated quantum many-body systems still often poses practical difficulties. Customized network architectures are under active investigation to address these issues. For a guided search of suited network architectures a deepened understanding of the link between neural network properties and attributes of the physical system one is trying to describe, is imperative. Drawing inspiration from the field of machine learning, in this work we show how information propagation in deep neural networks impacts the physical entanglement properties of deep neural quantum states. In fact, we link a previously identified information propagation phase transition of a neural network to a similar transition of entanglement in neural quantum states. With this bridge we can identify optimal neural quantum state hyperparameter regimes for representing area as well as volume law entangled states. The former are easily accessed by alternative methods, such as tensor network representations, at least in low physical dimensions, while the latter are challenging to describe generally due to their extensive quantum entanglement. This advance of our understanding of network configurations for accurate quantum state representation helps to develop effective representations to deal with volume-law quantum states, and we apply these findings to describe the ground state (area law state) vs. the excited state (volume law state) properties of the prototypical next-nearest neighbor spin-1/2 Heisenberg model

Modeling neurocognitive and neurobiological recovery in addiction

This book focuses on "what to know" and "how to apply" information, prioritizing novel principles and delineating cutting-edge assessment, phenotyping and treatment tools

Impulsivity in abstinent alcohol and polydrug dependence: a multidimensional approach.

RATIONALE: Dependence on drugs and alcohol is associated with impaired impulse control, but deficits are rarely compared across individuals dependent on different substances using several measures within a single study. OBJECTIVES: We investigated impulsivity in abstinent substance-dependent individuals (AbD) using three complementary techniques: self-report, neuropsychological and neuroimaging. We hypothesised that AbDs would show increased impulsivity across modalities, and that this would depend on length of abstinence. METHODS: Data were collected from the ICCAM study: 57 control and 86 AbDs, comprising a group with a history of dependence on alcohol only (n = 27) and a group with history of dependence on multiple substances ("polydrug", n = 59). All participants completed self-report measures of impulsivity: Barratt Impulsiveness Scale, UPPS Impulsive Behaviour Scale, Behaviour Inhibition/Activation System and Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory. They also performed three behavioural tasks: Stop Signal, Intra-Extra Dimensional Set-Shift and Kirby Delay Discounting; and completed a Go/NoGo task during fMRI. RESULTS: AbDs scored significantly higher than controls on self-report measures, but alcohol and polydrug dependent groups did not differ significantly from each other. Polydrug participants had significantly higher discounting scores than both controls and alcohol participants. There were no group differences on the other behavioural measures or on the fMRI measure. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that the current set of self-report measures of impulsivity is more sensitive in abstinent individuals than the behavioural or fMRI measures of neuronal activity. This highlights the importance of developing behavioural measures to assess different, more relevant, aspects of impulsivity alongside corresponding cognitive challenges for fMRI.This article presents independent research funded by the Medical Research Council as part of their addiction initiative (grant number G1000018). GSK kindly funded the functional and structural MRI scans that took place at Imperial College. The research was carried out at the NIHR/Wellcome Trust Imperial Clinical Research Facility, the NIHR/Wellcome Trust Cambridge Research Facility and Clinical Trials Unit at Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust, and is supported by the North West London, Eastern and Greater Manchester NIHR Clinical Research Networks.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00213-016-4245-

A coordenação adversativa substitutiva não x, mas y: uma análise discursivo-funcional para o apagamento sintático

This paper investigates, from the perspective of Functional Discourse Grammar, the substitutive adversative coordination, in which the second coordinated member – and sometimes the first one too – is expressed by phrase or word, as in cê num dá tanto valor ao ídolo, mas à música dele. These structures have received little attention from functionalist studies, with the exception of the Semantics of Argumentation (ANSCOMBRE; DUCROT, 1977; VOGT; DUCROT, 1980). According to the theory adopted here, in these linguistic expressions, there are two related Discursive Acts, the second member of the coordination having a Thetic content frame with one Subact. Semantically, both members constitute Propositional Contents and, ultimately, predications, and the second member presents an Identificational, Classificational or Relational predication frame, formulated in an interaction between the Grammatical and Contextual components. Thus, the second member of the coordination is expressed by only a single phrase or word, as it aims to introduce a single new information (focal), considered important by the Speaker for updating the Addressee’s pragmatic information. We advocate, in line with the adopted theoretical model, that there is no reduction of predication constituents in the second member, but that the phenomenon is the result of mismatch between the pragmatic and semantic levels in Portuguese grammar.Este artigo investiga, sob a perspectiva da Gramática Discursivo-Funcional, a coordenação adversativa substitutiva, em que o segundo membro coordenado – e, às vezes, o primeiro também – é expresso por sintagma ou palavra, como em cê num dá tanto valor ao ídolo, mas à música dele. Essas estruturas têm recebido pouca atenção por parte de estudos funcionalistas, com exceção da Semântica Argumentativa (ANSCOMBRE; DUCROT, 1977; VOGT; DUCROT, 1980). De acordo com a teoria aqui adotada, nessas expressões, há dois Atos Discursivos relacionados, tendo o segundo membro da coordenação molde de conteúdo Tético com um Subato. Semanticamente, ambos os membros constituem Conteúdos Proposicionais e, em última instância, predicações, em que o segundo membro apresenta molde de predicação Identificacional, Classificacional ou Relacional, formulados numa interação entre os componentes Gramatical e Contextual. Assim, o segundo membro da coordenação é expresso por um único sintagma ou palavra, que introduz a informação nova (focal), considerada pelo Falante importante para atualizar a informação pragmática do Ouvinte. Advogamos, em consonância com o modelo teórico adotado, que não há apagamento de constituintes da predicação no segundo membro, mas que o fenômeno é resultado de uma discrepância (mismatch) entre os níveis pragmático e semântico na gramática do português