Corporate governance for sustainability : Statement

The current model of corporate governance needs reform. There is mounting evidence that the practices of shareholder primacy drive company directors and executives to adopt the same short time horizon as financial markets. Pressure to meet the demands of the financial markets drives stock buybacks, excessive dividends and a failure to invest in productive capabilities. The result is a ‘tragedy of the horizon’, with corporations and their shareholders failing to consider environmental, social or even their own, long-term, economic sustainability. With less than a decade left to address the threat of climate change, and with consensus emerging that businesses need to be held accountable for their contribution, it is time to act and reform corporate governance in the EU. The statement puts forward specific recommendations to clarify the obligations of company boards and directors and make corporate governance practice significantly more sustainable and focused on the long term

Plastic materials used for the reinforcement of soils Durability of such materials

Translated from FrenchSIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:9057.2457(TRRL-Trans--3481)T / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Responses of leaf biomechanics and underlying traits to rangeland management differ between graminoids and forbs

International audienceQuestion: Although leaf biomechanical properties have been identified as critical traits for plant-herbivore interactions, their responses to grazing pressure have been poorly investigated. Intensification of rangeland management, associated with fertilization and an increase in grazing pressure, has been shown to favour fast-growing species that can compensate for biomass losses due to grazing. According to the postulated trade-off between resource acquisition and defence, it is often expected that acquisitive traits should be associated with low leaf mechanical resistance. Here we investigated the responses of two leaf biomechanical traits, and their underlying traits, to management intensification.Location: We used a long-term experiment in a rangeland located in the Mediterranean region of Southern France, in which three treatments corresponding to different fertilizer inputs and sheep grazing pressures were established.Methods: We sampled 24 abundant graminoid and forb species. The responses of work to shear and force to tear to the treatments were tested together with those of growth-related leaf traits (leaf mass per area, dry matter content). To better understand the observed patterns, we tested whether the difference between species’ leaf biomechanics could be explained by morpho-anatomical characteristics such as leaf thickness and density.Results: Consistent with the acquisition–defence trade-off hypothesis, we found that graminoids from fertilized and intensely grazed areas had lower leaf resistance than those in ungrazed areas. However, no difference in leaf biomechanics was found in forbs despite a significant decrease in leaf mass per area and leaf dry matter content with management intensification. Consistent with this, we found no significant effect of morpho-anatomical traits on either biomechanical trait in forbs.Conclusions: Our results suggest that the observed responses in graminoids result from phenotypic constraints between resource acquisition and biomechanical defence. However, these phenotypic constraints appeared to be released in forbs, questioning the idea of a universal relationship between these two functions

Attentional bias and response inhibition in severe obesity with food disinhibition: a study of P300 and N200 event-related potential

International audienceBACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: In obesity there is growing evidence for common mechanism between food intake regulation and substance use disorders, especially more attentional bias and less cognitive control. In the present study we investigated whether severely obese subjects with or without disordered eating exhibit electroencephalographic (EEG) event-related potential (ERP) modifications as observed in substance abusers. SUBJECTS/METHODS: A total of 90 women were included; 30 in the normal-weight (NW) group (18.5 \textless BMI \textless 24.5 kg/m(2); no food disinhibition or restriction on the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire) and 60 participants with BMI \textgreater/= 35 kg/m(2) were separated into two groups (n = 30): without food disinhibition (disinhibition score \textless/=8; ObFD- group) and with food disinhibition (score \textgreater8; ObFD+). Clinical and metabolic parameters as well as compartmental aspects (Eating Disorders Inventory-2, EDI-2) were assessed. Participants underwent an ERP recording with an auditory oddball paradigm. RESULTS: The mean +/- SD P300 amplitudes in Pz were significantly (p \textless 0.05) lower in ObFD- (12.4 +/- 4.6) and ObFD+ (12.5 +/- 4.4) groups than in the NW group (15.8 +/- 5.9). The mean +/- SD N200 amplitude in Cz was significantly lower in the ObFD- group (-2.0 +/- 5.4) than in the NW group (-5.2 +/- 4.2 vs; p = 0.035). N200 Cz amplitude was correlated with EDI-2 Binge eating risk score (rho = 0.331; p = 0.01), EDI-2 Body Dissatisfaction score (rho = 0.351; p = 0.007), and Drive for Thinness score (rho = 0.26; p = 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The present study provides evidence for reduction of P300 and N200 amplitude in obese women and that N200 amplitude may be related to more disordered eating and eating disorder risk. This leads to consider attentional bias and response inhibition as core mechanisms in obesity and as possible targets for new therapeutic strategy

Ghrelin concentration as an indicator of eating-disorder risk in obese women

International audienceAim. - Eating disorders (EDs), disordered eating (DE) and obesity are thought to have overlapping aetiological processes. DE in obesity can jeopardize weight-loss results, and acyl ghrelin (AG) is a hormone that stimulates food intake and reward processes. The main study objective was to determine whether higher-than-expected concentrations of AG in common obesity are associated with DE symptoms. Methods. - The study population included 84 women, aged 20-55 years, free of established EDs: 55 were severely obese (OB) and 29 were of normal weight (NW). OB participants were stratified into two groups according to their median concentration of fasting AG distribution. The OB women with a high fasting plasma ghrelin concentration (HGC) were compared with both OB women with a low fasting plasma ghrelin concentration (LGC) and NW women. Participants were assessed by the Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI-2), Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire (TFEQ) and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). Fasting glucose, insulin, leptin and ghrelin plasma concentrations were also quantified. Results. - Between the two AG groups of OB women, there was no statistical difference in either anthropometric or metabolic parameters, HADS, TFEQ or fasting hunger scores. However, the HGC group scored significantly higher than the LGC group on the drive-for-thinness subscale of EDI-2 (9.30 +/- 0.99 vs. 6.46 +/- 0.83, respectively; P = 0.033). Conclusion. - Results support the hypothesis of a potential relationship between fasting plasma AG concentrations and ED risk, regardless of mood and anxiety. AG may be considered a potential biomarker of vulnerability for developing EDs. (C) 2018 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved

Sectoral Issues and Environmental Causes: The Mobilization of the French Basque Fishermen after the Sinking of the Prestige

This article analyses the mobilization of French Basque fishermen following the sinking of the oil tanker Prestige off the coast of Galicia (Spain) in 2002. This environmental disaster led to intense political action and bottom-up mobilization in the French Basque region, especially within a profession already undergoing structural changes since the 1990s, partly because of the implementation of the EU Common Fisheries Policy. The Basque fishermen's reactions clearly illustrate the specific stakes and power game at play within the trade. The Prestige disaster occurred at a time of deep changes, if not destabilization, of the sectoral modes of regulation, thus straining relationships between Europe, nations and infra-national bodies. It led to a reorganization of the local institutional order. The management of the crisis also shed light on the paradoxical dimension of a fishing community caught in between solidarity and competitive localism, sectoral interests and environmental issues, unity of the milieu and internal fragmentation. It reopened debate over EU regulations in so far as two competing perceptions of Europeanization were revealed by this crisis — general awareness among professionals of the European dimension in environmental issues vs specific awareness of the EU's extensive regulatory framework for the fishing industry