One way forward: non-traditional accounting disclosures in the 21st century

Recent empirical studies (Deegan and Rankin, 1999; Deegan et al., 2000) have indicated that although many corporations have begun to respond to perceived demand for environmental disclosures in published accounts, their perspective of organisational legitimacy is a narrow view, in which information is targeted towards specific stakeholders and not to the general public. This paper considers a range of models (variously called guidelines, standards and charters) which have been put forward by different organisations to aid the development of social and environmental disclosures. In all cases verification and attestation are part of the proposed regimen. The question which the papers attempts to answer is whether any one of the models would be capable of rapid adoption as part of an expanded GAAP, should the professional accounting bodies think that this is desirable. The outcome of our deliberations is cautious support for the use of EMAS and ISO 14000 as the basis for a modified GAAP plus the further development of the GRI 2000 guidelines into a set of standards covering both social and environmental reporting

A computerized program for statistical treatment of biological data

Biologists frequently conduct experiments which measure the patterns of inactivation of bacterial populations after exposure to a lethal environment. A computer program is discussed which calculates many of the quantities that have proven to be useful in the analysis of such experimental data

Oscillation Spectrum of a Magnetized Strongly Coupled One-Component-Plasma

A first-principle study of the collective oscillation spectrum of a strongly correlated one-component plasma in a strong magnetic field is presented. The spectrum consists of six fundamental modes which are found to be in good agreement with results from the Quasi-Localized Charge approximation. At high frequencies additional modes are observed that include Bernstein-type oscillations and their transverse counterparts which are of importance for the high-frequency optical and transport properties of these plasmas

Splanchnic metabolism of nutrients and hormones in steers fed alfalfa under conditions of increased absorption of ammonia and L-arginine supply across the portal-drained viscera

Effects of increased ammonia and/or arginine absorption on net splanchnic (portal-drained viscera [PDV] plus liver) metabolism of nonnitrogenous nutrients and hormones in cattle were examined. Six Hereford × Angus steers (501 ± 1 kg BW) prepared with vascular catheters for measurements of net flux across the splanchnic bed were fed a 75% alfalfa:25% (as-fed basis) corn and soybean meal diet (0.523 MJ of ME/[kg BW0.75.d]) every 2 h without (27.0 g of N/kg of DM) and with 20 g of urea/kg of DM (35.7 g of N/kg of DM) in a split-plot design. Net flux measurements were made immediately before and after a 72-h mesenteric vein infusion of L-arginine (15 mmol/h). There were no treatment effects onPDVor hepaticO2 consumption. Dietary urea had no effect on splanchnic metabolism of glucose or L-lactate, but arginine infusion decreased net hepatic removal of L-lactate when urea was fed (P < 0.01). Net PDV appearance of n-butyrate was increased by arginine infusion (P < 0.07), and both dietary urea (P < 0.09) and arginine infusion (P < 0.05) increased net hepatic removal of n-butyrate. Dietary urea also increased total splanchnic acetate output (P < 0.06), tended to increase arterial glucagon concentration (P < 0.11), and decreased arterial ST concentration (P < 0.03). Arginine infusion increased arterial concentration (P < 0.07) and net PDV release (P < 0.10) and tended to increase hepatic removal (P < 0.11) of insulin, as well as arterial concentration (P < 0.01) and total splanchnic output (P < 0.01) of glucagon. Despite changes in splanchnic N metabolism, increased ammonia and arginine absorption had little measurable effect on splanchnic metabolism of glucose and other nonnitrogenous components of splanchnic energy metabolism

The matter content of the jet in M87: evidence for an electron-positron jet

Recent observations have allowed the geometry and kinematics of the M87 jet to be tightly constrained. We combine these constraints with historical Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) results and the theory of synchrotron self-absorbed radio cores in order to investigate the physical properties of the jet. Our results strongly suggest the jet to be dominated by an electron-positron (pair) plasma. Although our conservative constraints cannot conclusively dismiss an electron-proton plasma, the viability of this solution is extremely vulnerable to further tightening of VLBI surface brightness limits. The arguments presented, coupled with future high-resolution multi-frequency VLBI studies of the jet core, will be able to firmly distinguish these two possibilities.Comment: 8 pages, 1 ps figure. Revised and accepted for publication in MNRA

Are the Nuclei of Seyfert 2 Galaxies Viewed Face-On?

We show from modeling the Fe Kalpha line in the ASCA spectra of four X-ray bright narrow emission line galaxies (Seyfert types 1.9 and 2) that two equally viable physical models can describe the observed line profile. The first is discussed by Turner et al. (1998) and consists of emission from a nearly pole-on accretion disk. The second, which is statistically preferred, is a superposition of emission from an accretion disk viewed at an intermediate inclination of about 48 degrees and a distinct, unresolved feature that presumably originates some distance from the galaxy nucleus. The intermediate inclination is entirely consistent with unified schemes and our findings challenge recent assertions that Seyfert 2 galaxies are preferentially viewed with their inner regions face-on. We derive mean equivalent widths for the narrow and disk lines of =60 eV and = 213 eV, respectively. The X-ray data are well described by a geometry in which our view of the active nucleus intersects and is blocked by the outer edges of the obscuring torus, and therefore do not require severe misalignments between the accretion disk and the torus.Comment: 19 pages, 3 postscript figures. Accepted for publication in ApJ