Towards improved corporate social and environmental reporting in South Africa.

Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2007.This thesis contributes towards improving corporate social and environmental reporting (CSR) in South Africa, by determining what about CSR would need to be and could be improved. The sources of information for this were twofold. A comprehensive literature review, besides providing the background to the study, determined what specific criticisms have been levied against existing CSR disclosure and CSR systems. This thesis argued that many of these limitations arise out of the many primarily rule-based systems in existence and use, and that CSR should rather be based on sound fundamental principles and a conceptual framework, and be an enforceable standard i.e. with legal backing to ensure compliance. The second source of information on possible areas of improvement was from the users and or the stakeholders. In Part I of the thesis, these users or stakeholders were surveyed to determine which areas of reporting were important, and which needed to be better reported. What was important was that significant expectation gaps were found in CSR specifically regarding reporting the impacts on employees, the public and consumers and the physical and biotic environment. This provided evidence for the need for improvements in actual reporting in these traditional CSR areas, and hence il, . justification for the work ofthis thesis. Having identified areas of weakness and potential improvement in current CSR, an analysis was required to be performed to determine how these areas could be better reported. An assessment would need to be made if in fact these areas could be measured (and hence reported), which was undertaken in Part 2 of the thesis. The thesis revealed the need for improved CSR, and a greater degree of accountability and transparency by business that improved CSR could provide. It was argued that reporting, other than financial, which includes CSR should be prepared using a conceptual framework of principles, similar to that used in financial reporting, and thus a principle-based approach to CSR should be used as opposed to a rule based one. It was noted that such a principle-based approach would address many of the qualitative criticisms levelled against CSR practices, and current rule based systems. Using a systems based approach, a framework of interactions and impacts caused by businesses on social and physical systems was developed, which was used as the basis for a suggested CSR model. The model was validated using a peer and expert review process, and by comparison to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), which was used to represent international and South African best practice. However, it was noted that potential measurement difficulties would be encountered if the proposed model were used. It would also need to be determined what practical barriers would exist to implementingthese CSR models in business, which was the objective of Part 3 of this thesis. When the practical implementation of a comprehensive CSR system was evaluated in industry, both the proposed model and the GRI were considered. An important part ofthe measuring process was noted to be company risk assessment, often undertaken by the company's insurers. Where environmental impacts, health and safety, or other potential impacts (e.g. accidents or spills in the transport industry having significant impacts on other road users), were noted to be a significant risk, measurement systems and control procedures had been put in place by most companies. Perhaps the most significant part of risk, besides the potential loss in earning capacity, is potential litigation. Common law litigation would encourage companies to monitor and protect the health of their workers and consumers. Legislation e.g. National Environmental Management Act and Air Quality Act, would encourage companies to monitor their environmental impacts. Thus a combination of risk and legislation encourages monitoring and measurement. The findings of the third part of the thesis suggest that increased pressure should be placed on companies to become IS014001 certified as this would facilitate increased CSR reporting, however, this in itself is unlikely to occur unless increased pressure is placed on companies by (legal of customer). The author suggests that IS014001 certification would be more effective in ensuring environmental protection, than simple CSR disclosure. Significant challenges exist to the possible implementation of many of the key areas identified in the proposed CSR model (specifically where measurement problems exist), and no companies were found to be in a position to report on these aspects comprehensively. The findings of this thesis include that existing legislation and financial imperatives influenced measurement and recording of certain impacts and influences. At the same time, many managers suggested that lack of financial (and other resources), as well as the absence of legal requirements were some of the reasons why other impacts and influences were not measured. Thus it could be concluded that legislation enforcing CSR, together with financial incentives (or penalties for failure to meet such standards), could play a significant role in improving CSR in South Africa

Environmental reporting disclosure in South Africa, a comparative study of the expectations of key stakeholder groups.

Thesis (M.Env.Dev.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2003.Part A of this dissertation, represents the literature review and project outline for this study, and includes the definition of the research problem, aims, objectives and the proposed methodology. The literature review considers the emergence of environmental accounting and reporting in the context of the escalating environmental crisis. It reviews the role of accounting prior to the development of the concept of sustainable development, and subsequently focuses specifically on the rise to prominence of environmental reporting and accounting thereafter. It reviews major academic works in this field as well as major international guidelines, standards, protocols and charters on environmental reporting. In addition, the study also reviews the limitations and problems associated with traditional and environmental accounting, and environmental reporting. It proposes a framework that considers the forces influencing environmental reporting, and briefly examines the previous evidence of the contrasting attitudes and perceptions of both preparers and users of such environmental reports. Arising out of this literature review, a study was developed that would measure and compare the expectations of three key stakeholder groups with regard to environmental accounting and reporting, namely: • The companies responsible for preparation • Environmental professionals, who assist in the preparation of these reports or attest as to their validity, and • Environmental activists, pressure groups and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that rely on such reporting to assess the impact of a company's activities. The study would look at the perceived importance of environmental reports, the areas that are reported on, and the levels of disclosure. It would then contrast the expectations of the above three groups and compare these to the minimum reporting levels required by the only officially endorsed international reporting guideline in South Africa, the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). The second part of this dissertation (Part B), is presented in the form of a research paper, and is presented in the specific format required by the academic journal Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, a Wiley InterScience publication, to which it will be submitted for publication, (after final editing to reduce its overall length). This second part includes a brief review of key literature, the aims, objectives and hypothesis of the study. It then details the methodology and the findings, which are discussed in depth. These findings include significant differences that were found between the expectations of the three groups, and differences between these expectations and the reporting specifications of the GRI. The environmental activists and pressure groups were found to expect greater levels of disclosure than professional environmental consultants, who in turn expected higher levels of disclosure than companies and their representatives. There were also significant differences between the responses of the three groups with regards to the importance of specific areas of environmental disclosure. The responses were more skewed towards considering most specific areas of disclosure as very important or extremely important, by the environmental activists and pressure groups. This was more so than for the environmental professionals or company respondents who also considered most of these areas as important or very important

Palliative care: promoting general practice participation

Specialist palliative care services and services involved in the pre-palliative phase of a patient’s disease must accept GPs as an integral part of the care tea

Experimentally driven atomistic model of 1,2 Polybutadiene

We present an efficient method of combining wide angle neutron scattering data with detailed atomistic models, allowing us to perform a quantitative and qualitative mapping of the organisation of the chain conformation in both glass and liquid phases. The structural refinement method presented in this work is based on the exploitation of the intrachain features of the diffraction pattern and its intimate linkage with atomistic models by the use of internal coordinates for bond lengths, valence angles and torsion rotations. Atomic connectivity is defined through these coordinates that are in turn assigned by pre-defined probability distributions, thus allowing for the models in question to be built stochastically. Incremental variation of these coordinates allows for the construction of models that minimise the differences between the observed and calculated structure factors. We present a series of neutron scattering data of 1,2 polybutadiene at the region 120-400K. Analysis of the experimental data yield bond lengths for C-C and C=C of 1.54Å and 1.35Å respectively. Valence angles of the backbone were found to be at 112° and the torsion distributions are characterised by five rotational states, a three-fold trans-skew± for the backbone and gauche± for the vinyl group. Rotational states of the vinyl group were found to be equally populated, indicating a largely atactic chan. The two backbone torsion angles exhibit different behaviour with respect to temperature of their trans population, with one of them adopting an almost all trans sequence. Consequently the resulting configuration leads to a rather persistent chain, something indicated by the value of the characteristic ratio extrapolated from the model. We compare our results with theoretical predictions, computer simulations, RIS models and previously reported experimental results

Biomaterials for In Situ Tissue Regeneration: A Review

Funding: This research was funded by FCT (Portugal), grant number POCI-01-0145-FEDER-031146.This review focuses on a somewhat unexplored strand of regenerative medicine, that is in situ tissue engineering. In this approach manufactured scaffolds are implanted in the injured region for regeneration within the patient. The scaffold is designed to attract cells to the required volume of regeneration to subsequently proliferate, differentiate, and as a consequence develop tissue within the scaffold which in time will degrade leaving just the regenerated tissue. This review highlights the wealth of information available from studies of ex-situ tissue engineering about the selection of materials for scaffolds. It is clear that there are great opportunities for the use of additive manufacturing to prepare complex personalized scaffolds and we speculate that by building on this knowledge and technology, the development of in situ tissue engineering could rapidly increase. Ex-situ tissue engineering is handicapped by the need to develop the tissue in a bioreactor where the conditions, however optimized, may not be optimum for accelerated growth and maintenance of the cell function. We identify that in both methodologies the prospect of tissue regeneration has created much promise but delivered little outside the scope of laboratory-based experiments. We propose that the design of the scaffolds and the materials selected remain at the heart of developments in this field and there is a clear need for predictive modelling which can be used in the design and optimization of materials and scaffolds.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The use of scattering data in the study of the molecular organisation of polymers in the non-crystalline state

This research was funded by the Polytechnic of Leiria and FCT (Portugal) through UC4EP PTDC/CTM-POL/7133/2014) and UID/Multi/04044/2019, the University of Reading and EPSRC (UK).Scattering data for polymers in the non-crystalline state, i.e., the glassy state or the molten state, may appear to contain little information. In this work, we review recent developments in the use of scattering data to evaluate in a quantitative manner the molecular organization of such polymer systems. The focus is on the local structure of chain segments, on the details of the chain conformation and on the imprint the inherent chemical connectivity has on this structure. We show the value of tightly coupling the scattering data to atomistic-level computer models. We show how quantitative information about the details of the chain conformation can be obtained directly using a model built from definitions of relatively few parameters. We show how scattering data may be supplemented with data from specific deuteration sites and used to obtain information hidden in the data. Finally, we show how we can exploit the reverse Monte Carlo approach to use the data to drive the convergence of the scattering calculated from a 3d atomistic-level model with the experimental data. We highlight the importance of the quality of the scattering data and the value in using broad Q scattering data obtained using neutrons. We illustrate these various methods with results drawn from a diverse range of polymers.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

DDX50 is a viral restriction factor that enhances TRIF-dependent IRF3 activation

The transcription factors IRF3 and NF-κB are crucial in innate immune signalling in response to many viral and bacterial pathogens. However, mechanisms leading to their activation remain incompletely understood. Canonical RLR signalling and detection of viral RNA is dependent upon the receptors RIG-I, MDA5 and TLR3. Alternatively, the DExD-Box RNA helicases DDX1-DDX21-DHX36 activate IRF3/NF-κB in a TRIF-dependent manner independent of RIG-I, MDA5 or TLR3. Here we describe DDX50, which shares 55.6% amino acid identity with DDX21, as a component of the dsRNA sensing machinery and signalling pathway. Deletion of DDX50 in mouse and human cells impaired activation of the IFNβ promoter, IRF3-dependent endogenous gene expression and cytokine/chemokine production in response to cytoplasmic dsRNA (polyIC transfection), and infection by RNA and DNA viruses. Mechanistically, DDX50 co-immunoprecipitated with TRIF and DDX1, promoting complex formation upon stimulation. Furthermore, whilst MAVs/TBK1 induced signalling is intact in Ddx50 KO cells, TRIF-dependent signalling was impaired suggesting DDX50 drives TRIF-dependent Ifnβ transcription. Importantly, loss of DDX50 resulted in increased replication and dissemination of vaccinia virus, herpes simplex virus and Zika virus highlighting its important role as a viral restriction factor. Author summary The detection of viral RNA or DNA by host RNA or DNA sensors and the subsequent antiviral immune response are crucial for the outcome of infection and host survival in response to a multitude of viral pathogens. Detection of viral RNA or DNA culminates in the upregulation of inflammatory cytokines, chemokines and pathogen restriction factors that augment the host innate immune response, restrict viral replication and clear infection. The canonical RNA sensor RIG-I is a member of the large family of DExD/H-box helicases, however the biological role of many DExD/H-box helicases remain unknown. In this report, we describe the DExD-Box helicase DDX50 as a new component of the RNA sensing machinery. In response to DNA and RNA virus infection, DDX50 functions to enhance activation of the transcription factor IRF3, which enhances antiviral signalling. The biological importance of DDX50 is illustrated by its ability to restrict the establishment of viral infection and to diminish the yields of vaccinia virus, herpes simplex virus and Zika virus. These findings increase knowledge of the poorly characterised host protein DDX50 and add another factor to the intricate network of proteins involved in regulating antiviral signalling in response to infection

Feedback of evidence into practice

Concern about risks associated with medical care has led to increasing interest in quality improvement processes. Most quality initiatives derive from manufacturing, where they have worked well in improving quality by small, steady increments. Adaptations of quality processes to the healthcare environment have included variations emphasising teamwork; large, ambitious increments in targets; and unorthodox approaches. Feedback of clinical information to clinicians is a central process in many quality improvement activities. It is important to choose feedback data that support the objectives for quality improvement - and not just what is expedient. Clinicians need to be better educated about the quality improvement process to maintain the quality of their care

Language Models for Image Captioning: The Quirks and What Works

Two recent approaches have achieved state-of-the-art results in image captioning. The first uses a pipelined process where a set of candidate words is generated by a convolutional neural network (CNN) trained on images, and then a maximum entropy (ME) language model is used to arrange these words into a coherent sentence. The second uses the penultimate activation layer of the CNN as input to a recurrent neural network (RNN) that then generates the caption sequence. In this paper, we compare the merits of these different language modeling approaches for the first time by using the same state-of-the-art CNN as input. We examine issues in the different approaches, including linguistic irregularities, caption repetition, and data set overlap. By combining key aspects of the ME and RNN methods, we achieve a new record performance over previously published results on the benchmark COCO dataset. However, the gains we see in BLEU do not translate to human judgments.Comment: See http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/image_captioning for project informatio