Does non-financial reporting regulation increase diversity and equal opportunity disclosures? Evidence from Poland

Purpose: The main aim of our study is to verify whether the implementation of non-financial reporting regulations, following the adoption of Directive 2014/95/EU, in-creased disclosures on diversity and equal opportunities in Polish listed firms. We study whether the diversity and equal opportunities disclosures differ significantly if we compare the information presented in companies’ non-financial reports in the pre-Directive period (2016) and the post-Directive period (2018). Methodology/approach: Guided by Clarkson et al. (2008), as well as by the Global Rerporting Initiative (GRI) standards, we have applied manual content analysis, using the coding scheme that is useful in capturing the types of disclosures. We implement Wilcoxon signed ranks test to verify the statistical significance of the differences be-tween the diversity and equal opportunities disclosures in the pre- and post-Directive periods. Findings: Our evidence suggests that disclosures on diversity and equal opportunities in Poland significantly increased after the implementation of the Directive, but the patterns of the prevalence of disclosure types have remained stable. Research limitations/implications: This evidence is provided for a relatively small sample of Polish listed firms (N=19) that issued CSR/sustainability reports in 2016 and 2018, which could be considered a limitation of our study. Nevertheless, our study has practical implications within the impacts of the regulatory framework of companies’ reporting schemes, as far as diversity and equal opportunities (DEO) disclosures are concerned. Originality/value: Our evidence fills an important gap within the studies that review the implementation of the Directive in developing European economies. At the same time, it provides evidence within the emerging field of studies that compare the various types of disclosures before and after the implementation of the EU Directive, which is relevant for revising the impact of regulatory frameworks on non-financial reporting

Von Neumann equations with time-dependent Hamiltonians and supersymmetric quantum mechanics

Starting with a time-independent Hamiltonian $h$ and an appropriately chosen solution of the von Neumann equation $i\dot\rho(t)=[ h,\rho(t)]$ we construct its binary-Darboux partner $h_1(t)$ and an exact scattering solution of $i\dot\rho_1(t)=[h_1(t),\rho_1(t)]$ where $h_1(t)$ is time-dependent and not isospectral to $h$. The method is analogous to supersymmetric quantum mechanics but is based on a different version of a Darboux transformation. We illustrate the technique by the example where $h$ corresponds to a 1-D harmonic oscillator. The resulting $h_1(t)$ represents a scattering of a soliton-like pulse on a three-level system.Comment: revtex, 3 eps file

Quantum morphogenesis : A variation on Thom’s catastrophe theory

Noncommutative propositions are characteristic of both quantum and nonquantum (sociological, biological, and psychological) situations. In a Hilbert space model, states, understood as correlations between all the possible propositions, are represented by density matrices. If systems in question interact via feedback with environment, their dynamics is nonlinear. Nonlinear evolutions of density matrices lead to the phenomenon of morphogenesis that may occur in noncommutative systems. Several explicit exactly solvable models are presented, including “birth and death of an organism” and “development of complementary properties.”Non UBCReviewedFacult