The convergence between sustainability and conventional stock indices. Are we on the right track?

The growth of passive and socially responsible (SR) investment makes that sustainability indices play an important role in defining what constitutes a sustainable investment. In order to know the suitability of sustainability indices as benchmarks for SR investors, we used different linear regressions to compare the compositions of sustainability indices and their conventional counterparts and to compare the levels of corporate social responsibility (CSR) of both types of indices. We showed that the composition of sustainability indices gradually converged towards their conventional peers. Moreover, the difference between the CSR levels of both type of indices remained the same or even decreased over time. We concluded that a change in the weighting method of sustainability indices such as the equally weighted criterion would significantly increase the difference from their conventional counterparts. However, due to the relationship between CSR and size, this change would penalize the CSR level of the index. These results raise the question of whether SR passive investors will be able to meet their non-financial expectations as a consequence of the convergence. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland

Astronomical Observations of Volatiles on Asteroids

We have long known that water and hydroxyl are important components in meteorites and asteroids. However, in the time since the publication of Asteroids III, evolution of astronomical instrumentation, laboratory capabilities, and theoretical models have led to great advances in our understanding of H2O/OH on small bodies, and spacecraft observations of the Moon and Vesta have important implications for our interpretations of the asteroidal population. We begin this chapter with the importance of water/OH in asteroids, after which we will discuss their spectral features throughout the visible and near-infrared. We continue with an overview of the findings in meteorites and asteroids, closing with a discussion of future opportunities, the results from which we can anticipate finding in Asteroids V. Because this topic is of broad importance to asteroids, we also point to relevant in-depth discussions elsewhere in this volume.Comment: Chapter to appear in the (University of Arizona Press) Space Science Series Book: Asteroids I

Microhábitats de foraminíferos bentónicos en la ría de Vigo y su aplicación a la interpretación paleoecológica.

En este trabajo se han analizado las asociaciones actuales y subactuales de foraminíferos bentónicos a lo largo del eje central de la ría de Vigo con tres objetivos fundamentales: establecer los parámetros ambientales que controlan los microhábitats de estos organismos, determinar el efecto tafonómico y sentar las bases para una interpretación paleoecológica precisa de los ambientes de rías. Los resultados obtenidos en las biocenosis ponen de manifiesto que la distribución de foraminíferos bentónicos en un medio concreto está en equilibrio dinámico con las condiciones ambientales. Las acusadas variaciones espaciales y estacionales observadas se deben fundamentalmente a cambios en el aporte de materia orgánica al fondo. Sin embargo, el exceso de alimento introducido por la surgencia de agua oceánica durante el verano, causa un rápido empobrecimiento en oxígeno en el interior del sedimento, pasando a ser este parámetro el principal factor limitante de la infauna. Por consiguiente, los microhábitats de los foraminíferos bentónicos no son constantes, sino que se modifican como respuesta a las variaciones en la disponibilidad de alimento y a la oxigenación. Por su parte, las tanatocenosis/tafocenosis poseen unas características generales semejantes a las de las biocenosis, por lo que reflejan de forma bastan 99 P. Diz et al. Microhábitats de foraminíferos bentónicos en la ría de Vigo... te exacta la paleoecología del medio. No obstante se han establecido algunas diferencias tanto cualitativas como cuantitativas que deben ser tenidas en cuenta para interpretar de forma más acertada el registro fósil. Algunas especies son más abundantes en las asociaciones muertas que en las biocenosis, mientras que un menor número de taxones que se encuentran vivos frecuentemente, son destruidos por los procesos fosildiagenéticos y están subestimados en el registro sedimentario.In this work living and dead benthic foraminifera assemblages from the central axis of the ria de Vigo have been analysed. The main goals were: establishing the environmental parameters controlling benthic foraminifera microhabitats, determining the taphonomic effects, and stating the elements for an accurate paleoecological interpretation of the rias environment. The living assemblages show that benthic foraminifera distribution in the studied area reflects the dynamic equilibrium with the environmental conditions. The sharp spatial and seasonal changes observed are caused by organic matter supply fluctuations. Nevertheless, summer upwelling events produce an excess of organic flux to the bottom which accelerates the oxygen consumption into the sediment. So the oxygenation level becomes the main limiting parameter for infaunal species. As consequence, benthic foraminifera microhabitats are not stable, but they change according to food and oxygen availability. On the other hand, the dead assemblages show similar features to those from living ones. Then, the dead assemblages are an accurate expression of the paleoenvironmental conditions. However some qualitative and quantitative differences should be taken into account for a better understanding of the fossil record. Several species are more abundant in the dead assemblages than in the living ones, whereas there are some taxa that are more frequent alive. These taxa were destroyed by fossildiagenetic processes and thus are underestimated in the dead assemblages

Design and control of electronics based medical emergency system using a Quadcopter

Thesedays, there are many incidents that lead to road accidents, some being very severe. These accidents sometimes even result in loss of many lives. One of the major reasons for this loss is the lack of timely first aid. In fact, we observed from our survey conducted at an RTO that most deaths during accidents occur, due to delay or lack of first aid. The project focuses on developing a prototype of the system which would cater to the need of medical emergencies that arise during road accidents. This will be accomplished by use of a quadcopter which will deliver the required first aid. With this project, we are attempting to bring about faster accessibility to the patient, than other present means of medical emergency system. In order to achieve this goal, various means of communication will be utilized. The use of a camera will help to view the accident site. This will help to considerably bring down the death rates caused due to lack of timely first aid during accidents

An Investigation of Behavioural and Self-Reported Cognitive Empathy Deficits in Adolescents With Autism Spectrum Disorders and Adolescents With Behavioural Difficulties

© 2021 Vilas, Reniers and Ludlow. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Deficits in empathy have been considered hallmarks in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) but are also considered to underlie antisocial behaviour associated with individuals with callous unemotional traits (CU). Research has suggested that individuals with autism spectrum disorders show more difficulties with cognitive empathy, and that individuals diagnosed with behaviours difficulties, characterised by CU traits and antisocial behaviour, demonstrate low affective empathy. In the current manuscript we present findings of two studies. The first study describes the validation of a new stimulus set developed for the empathic accuracy task, focused on its cognitive component. The second study compares the performance of 27 adolescents with ASD, 27 age matched typically developing adolescents and 17 adolescents with behavioural difficulties on the empathic accuracy task and a self-report measure of empathy. While, no differences were observed between the three groups across the empathy accuracy task, the adolescents with ASD and CD showed deficits in their cognitive empathy across the self-report measure. Adolescents with ASD showed lower scores in particularly their perspective taking abilities, whereas the adolescences with behavioural difficulties showed more difficulties with their online simulation. No differences in self-reported affective empathy across the three groups were observed. Clinical implications of the findings are discussed.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio