Metallo-Dielectric Colloidal Films as SERS Substrate

Along this chapter, we probe that the discrete dipole approximation models fairly well the optical response of periodic systems. Herein, we use it to model the reflectance and transmittance, at normal incidence, of colloidal films made of SiO2 spheres. As the thickness increases from 1 to 12 layers, the photonic band gap shifts to the blue tending to the value corresponding to a 3D opal, 442 nm. A film with more than eight layers resembles the bulk properties of a 3D opal. Our results are compared to a real sample. Besides, we show that taking advantage of the wide and asymmetrical absorbance spectrum of an opal with Au NPs is possible to identify the contribution of each component in the overall spectrum, through a deconvolution analysis. Finally, we present the electric field intensity as the content of metal NP increases in a monolayer. We consider NPs one order of magnitude smaller than the silica spheres, and then, 6, 9, and 17 NPs are hosted in the void. Similar average electric field intensities, about 11 times the incident intensity, are obtained with Au and Ag NPs. But, the spots with these intensities cover a bigger area with Ag NPs than with Au NPs

Influence of irrigation conditions in the germination of plasma treated Nasturtium seeds

Plasma treatments had emerged as a useful technique to improve seed germination. In this work we investigate the influence of different irrigation conditions and plasma treatments on the germination of nasturtium seeds. During plasma treatment, seeds experience a progressive weight loss as a function of treatment time that has been associated to water release, a process that is more pronounced after longer plasma treatment times. Seeds treated for short times (<30 s) are able to germinate more efficiently than untreated specimen under hydric stress (drought conditions), while plasma treatments for longer times (up to 300 s) impaired germination independently on irrigation conditions. Characterization analysis of plasma treated seeds by FTIR-ATR, SEM/EDX and XPS showed that plasma treatment affected the chemical state of pericarp while, simultaneously, induced a considerable increase in the seeds water uptake capacity. The decrease in germination efficiency found after plasma treatment for long times, or for short times under optimum irrigation conditions, has been attributed to that the excess of water accumulated in the pericarp hampers the diffusion up to the embryo of other agents like oxygen which are deemed essential for germination.España FEDER y MINECO MINECO (projects MAT2013-40852-R, MAT2016-79866-R, MINECOCSIC 201560E055)España, RECUPERA 2020 y Junta de Andalucía project P12-2265 M

The Effect of Corporate Social Responsibility on Earnings Management: Bibliometric Review

© 2021 by the authors. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). This document is the Published version of a Published Work that appeared in final form in International Journal of Financial Studies. To access the final edited and published work see https://doi.org/10.3390/ijfs9040068This review aims to study the knowledge development and research dissemination on the influence of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) on earnings management through a social network approach using a bibliometric review. A systematic bibliometric review was carried out on 329 papers obtained from the Clarivate Analytics Web of Science (WoS) Core Collection database. The data were analyzed by year, journal, author, institution, country, affiliation, subject area and term analysis. The results reveal the growing interest of researchers in studying the impact of CSR. Although the USA and China dominate publication production, there are a large number of authors from more than 50 countries around the world. The results also show that being prolific does not imply being influential in this area. The keyword patterns showed some interesting potential areas of study on this topic. The findings of this paper provide insight to the research on the analysis of the influence of CSR on earnings management. The most important findings consist of a number of gaps in the literature, such as gender diversity, voluntary disclosure of information and existence of an audit committee, among others, that allow for future fields of research to improve the analysis of the influence of CSR in EM. This research should also prove helpful to managers, owners and auditors. This is the first bibliometric review developed on this topic and it can be extrapolated to any place in the world

Corporate Social Responsibility as a vehicle for ensuring the survival of construction SMEs. The mediating role of job satisfaction and innovation

©. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ This document is the Accepted version of a Published Work that appeared in final form in IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT. To access the final edited and published work see https://doi.org/r 10.1109/TEM.2021.3114441The purpose of this article is to analyze the effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on performance through the mediating role of job satisfaction and innovation in a sample of 503 Spanish SMEs construction. Developing a partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to test our hypotheses, the results provide evidence that performance is influenced by CSR, job satisfaction, and innovation. These effects are not only direct and positive but, indirect effects which allow the positive effects of CSR to be enhanced are also obtained. This article by empir ically examining the relationship between CSR, job satisfaction, innovation, and performance provides an essential contribution to the literature by filling a gap related to the direct effect of CSR on performance, and the indirect effect by the mediation of job satisfaction and innovation. The findings show significant implications for policymakers and managers. The findings can help managers to invest in CSR, which, by improving the well-being of their employees and the innovative capacity of their company, will lead to better performance and the capacity to adapt to the current changing environment. In addition, our results provide evidence that SMEs with fewer resources should be able to count on public support to carry out CSR practices

A Bibliometric Analysis of Sustainability Education in Tourism Universities

©. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ This document is the Published, version of a Published Work that appeared in final form in [SAGE Open]. To access the final edited and published work see[ 10.1177/21582440231193215]There is growing interested in the analysis of academic training in the sustainable field of tourism. However, no explicit body of knowledge has focused on evaluating the performance of a scientific activity in this field. Accordingly, this study systematically reviews academic research on the sustainability of the educational background in tourism universities through a bibliometric analysis. For this purpose, bibliometric tools related to research activity impact indicators and analysis of coauthorship networks and keywords have been used. The results show that the topic analysed is recent and that the number of publications continues to grow. They also show that only some academics have addressed this topic, which implies that more research is needed. Therefore, in this framework, thematic specialization could be a strategic option. Researchers can use these results to approach future studies about suggested research avenues better

Carta arqueológica do concelho de Mértola

O projecto da Carta Arqueológica do Concelho de Mértola tem vindo a ser desenvolvido desde 1978 por alguns investigadores do Campo Arqueológico de Mértola, que por motivos vários se têm debruçado sobre este vasto território. Ao longo dos anos ficaram registados diversos sítios de interesse arqueológico, informações dispersas e para muitos desconhecidas, e que merecem ser salvaguardadas. Partindo deste conjunto de registos e de algumas referências bibliográficas, a equipa do Campo Arqueológico de Mértola começou em 2004 a organizar toda a informação, fazendo um ponto da situação que permitiu, em 2005, iniciar o trabalho de campo, prospecção arqueológica, em busca de resultados mais abrangentes

Next Reaction Method for Solving Dynamic Macroeconomic Models: A Growth Regressions Simulation

277-280Recent studies apply the Monte Carlo method to try to solve multiple data problems for dynamic macroeconomic models such as measurement errors, residue correlation, and omitted variables. This paper evaluates the estimate of economic growth regressions from the Solow model by applying the Next Reaction Method, similar to the Monte Carlo kinetic methods. Our results indicate that with the said algorithm the estimation of these models improves since they increase the levels of precision of the existing models simulated with Monte Carlo, achieving faster the convergence of the coefficients of the variables reduces the possible measurement errors and the level of deviations. These results can be very useful in their application in dynamic macroeconomic models, which help the estimation challenges of policymakers and other related stakeholders

Relationship between Innovation and the Performance of Small and Medium-Sized Businesses in the Industrial Sector: The Mediating Role of CSR

©. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This document is the Published, version of a Published Work that appeared in final form in [Economies]. To access the final edited and published work see[https://doi.org/10.3390/economies11030092]This paper analyses the effect of innovation on the performance of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and how Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) mediates this relationship. In order to evaluate our assumptions, a partial least squares structural equation model (PLS-SEM) was applied to a sample of 769 Spanish SMEs through a telephone survey conducted with company managers. The findings show that innovation and CSR have an impact on performance. Additionally, to these strong direct effects, CSR has a side effect that strengthens the beneficial effects of innovation on performance. Finally, the results demonstrate significant implications for both SME managers and owners, as they help them to develop innovation-related strategies, which will lead to higher organizational performance