Stakeholder engagement: Defining strategic advantage for sustainable construction

This is the accepted version of the following article: Rodriguez-Melo, A. and Mansouri, S. A. (2011), Stakeholder Engagement: Defining Strategic Advantage for Sustainable Construction. Bus. Strat. Env., 20: 539–552, which has been published in final form at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/bse.715/abstract.Although sustainable development is increasingly becoming a part of business plans, it is unclear what makes the economic, social and environmental dynamics strategically compatible. This research examines which of the following in sustainable development – government policy, managerial attitude and stakeholder engagement – is the most influential on the profitability of companies in the UK construction sector. Quantitative and qualitative analyses were rendered through a survey and semi-structured interviews. Patterns of ambiguity in legislation were discovered as an obstacle for changing the sector's mind-set. Stakeholder engagement was identified as the defining factor increasing managers' awareness, helping legislation to be effectively implemented and making sustainability highly appealing to clients. These findings indicate that to gain competitive advantage, companies should embark on long-term strategic alliances which adopt the proposals of environmental non-governmental organisations and closely follow public opinion. This, strengthens brand equity, allows for premium pricing, increases market share and maximizes profit

Difference schemes with point symmetries and their numerical tests

Symmetry preserving difference schemes approximating second and third order ordinary differential equations are presented. They have the same three or four-dimensional symmetry groups as the original differential equations. The new difference schemes are tested as numerical methods. The obtained numerical solutions are shown to be much more accurate than those obtained by standard methods without an increase in cost. For an example involving a solution with a singularity in the integration region the symmetry preserving scheme, contrary to standard ones, provides solutions valid beyond the singular point.Comment: 26 pages 7 figure

Transcription of toll-like receptors 2, 3, 4 and 9, FoxP3 and Th17 cytokines in a susceptible experimental model of canine Leishmania infantum infection

Canine leishmaniosis (CanL) due to Leishmania infantum is a chronic zoonotic systemic disease resulting from complex interactions between protozoa and the canine immune system. Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are essential components of the innate immune system and facilitate the early detection of many infections. However, the role of TLRs in CanL remains unknown and information describing TLR transcription during infection is extremely scarce. The aim of this research project was to investigate the impact of L. infantum infection on canine TLR transcription using a susceptible model. The objectives of this study were to evaluate transcription of TLRs 2, 3, 4 and 9 by means of quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) in skin, spleen, lymph node and liver in the presence or absence of experimental L. infantum infection in Beagle dogs. These findings were compared with clinical and serological data, parasite densities in infected tissues and transcription of IL-17, IL-22 and FoxP3 in different tissues in non-infected dogs (n = 10), and at six months (n = 24) and 15 months (n = 7) post infection. Results revealed significant down regulation of transcription with disease progression in lymph node samples for TLR3, TLR4, TLR9, IL-17, IL-22 and FoxP3. In spleen samples, significant down regulation of transcription was seen in TLR4 and IL-22 when both infected groups were compared with controls. In liver samples, down regulation of transcription was evident with disease progression for IL-22. In the skin, upregulation was seen only for TLR9 and FoxP3 in the early stages of infection. Subtle changes or down regulation in TLR transcription, Th17 cytokines and FoxP3 are indicative of the silent establishment of infection that Leishmania is renowned for. These observations provide new insights about TLR transcription, Th17 cytokines and Foxp3 in the liver, spleen, lymph node and skin in CanL and highlight possible markers of disease susceptibility in this model

Measurement of Aerosols at the Pierre Auger Observatory

The air fluorescence detectors (FDs) of the Pierre Auger Observatory are vital for the determination of the air shower energy scale. To compensate for variations in atmospheric conditions that affect the energy measurement, the Observatory operates an array of monitoring instruments to record hourly atmospheric conditions across the detector site, an area exceeding 3,000 square km. This paper presents results from four instruments used to characterize the aerosol component of the atmosphere: the Central Laser Facility (CLF), which provides the FDs with calibrated laser shots; the scanning backscatter lidars, which operate at three FD sites; the Aerosol Phase Function monitors (APFs), which measure the aerosol scattering cross section at two FD locations; and the Horizontal Attenuation Monitor (HAM), which measures the wavelength dependence of aerosol attenuation.Comment: Contribution to the 30th International Cosmic Ray Conference, Merida Mexico, July 2007; 4 pages, 4 figure

SPIRE imaging of M82: cool dust in the wind and tidal streams

M82 is a unique representative of a whole class of galaxies, starbursts with superwinds, in the Very Nearby Galaxy Survey with Herschel. In addition, its interaction with the M81 group has stripped a significant portion of its interstellar medium from its disk. SPIRE maps now afford better characterization of the far-infrared emission from cool dust outside the disk, and sketch a far more complete picture of its mass distribution and energetics than previously possible. They show emission coincident in projection with the starburst wind and in a large halo, much more extended than the PAH band emission seen with Spitzer. Some complex substructures coincide with the brightest PAH filaments, and others with tidal streams seen in atomic hydrogen. We subtract the far-infrared emission of the starburst and underlying disk from the maps, and derive spatially-resolved far-infrared colors for the wind and halo. We interpret the results in terms of dust mass, dust temperature, and global physical conditions. In particular, we examine variations in the dust physical properties as a function of distance from the center and the wind polar axis, and conclude that more than two thirds of the extraplanar dust has been removed by tidal interaction, and not entrained by the starburst wind.Comment: accepted in A&A Herschel special issu

Porcine colonization of the Americas: a 60k SNP story.

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Habitat fragmentation and the future structure of tree assemblages in a fragmented Atlantic forest landscape

The biodiversity value of human-modified landscapes has become a central question in the tropical forest conservation biology, yet the degree to which plant populations and communities are restructured in response to environmental change remains unclear. Here, we address tree species density in a fragmented Atlantic forest landscape to test the hypothesis that tree assemblages inhabiting edge-dominated forest habitats approach typical conditions of early successional systems. Seedlings and adults from 141 tree species were sampled across 39 0.1-ha plots: 19 in small fragments (55 % of all tree species exhibiting higher densities in small fragments than in mature forest, particularly pioneers (>60 % of all species). Seedlings and adults of these proliferating species differed from species exhibiting population declines in terms of wood density and seed size, respectively. Additionally, pioneers were more abundant than shade-tolerant species, as were hardwood species in the case of seedlings. Tree species showing highest population increases consisted largely of long-lived, light-demanding canopy species bearing soft or hardwood and small-to-medium-sized seeds. Tree assemblage structure also differed in terms of forest habitats with small forest fragments supporting few rare species, whereas the most rapidly proliferating species were much more widespread and abundant in fragments. However, 60 % of all adult pioneer species recorded in small fragments were not recorded as seedlings in this habitat type, although both seedling and adult assemblages were dominated by pioneer species. Edge-dominated tree assemblages are likely to experience long-term shifts toward greater dominance of long-lived, pioneer canopy species

On The GeV & TeV Detections of the Starburst Galaxies M82 & NGC 253

The GeV and TeV emission from M82 and NGC 253 observed by Fermi, HESS, and VERITAS constrains the physics of cosmic rays (CRs) in these dense starbursts. We argue that the gamma rays are predominantly hadronic in origin, as expected by previous studies. The measured fluxes imply that pionic losses are efficient for CR protons in both galaxies: we show that a fraction F_cal ~ 0.2 - 0.4 of the energy injected in high energy primary CR protons is lost to inelastic proton-proton collisions (pion production) before escape, producing gamma rays, neutrinos, and secondary electrons and positrons. We discuss the factor ~2 uncertainties in this estimate, including supernova rate and leptonic contributions to the GeV-TeV emission. We argue that gamma-ray data on ULIRGs like Arp 220 can test whether M82 and NGC 253 are truly calorimetric, and we present upper limits on Arp 220 from the Fermi data. We show that the observed ratio of the GeV to GHz fluxes of the starbursts suggests that non-synchrotron cooling processes are important for cooling the CR electron/positron population. We briefly reconsider previous predictions in light of the gamma-ray detections, including the starburst contribution to the gamma-ray background and CR energy densities. Finally, as a guide for future studies, we list the brightest star-forming galaxies on the sky and present updated predictions for their gamma-ray and neutrino fluxes.Comment: 15 pages, emulateapj format, accepted to ApJ, Table 1 fixe