Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:22:15Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2009-02-11Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:48:25Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 bertozzo_f_me_botfca.pdf: 710173 bytes, checksum: 1c8e1c2c0b8b25a81c5c78b232c0a30c (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / A mamoneira (Ricinus communis L.) é uma planta oleaginosa de alto valor econômico. O óleo extraído de suas sementes é um dos mais versáteis encontrado na natureza; apresenta inúmeras aplicações em diversas áreas, podendo substituir de forma satisfatória o uso do petróleo em muitos produtos. Atualmente existe um grande interesse em aumentar a produtividade da planta mediante o aumento do número de flores femininas (pistiladas) que, conseqüentemente, aumentará o número de frutos e de sementes. Dessa forma, o objetivo desse trabalho foi através do método de melhoramento denominado seleção massal, selecionar e avaliar plantas de mamoneira da população FCA-UNESP-PB (porte baixo) para aumento da freqüência de flores femininas visando maior produtividade final. A seleção (ciclo de seleção) foi feita no ano de 2007 na fazenda Experimental Lageado e avaliada (ciclo de avaliação) em 2008 nas Fazendas Experimentais Lageado e São Manuel, ambas pertencentes à Faculdade de Ciências Agronômicas – UNESP – campus Botucatu e localizadas, respectivamente, nos municípios de Botucatu – SP e São Manuel – SP. O critério de seleção foram plantas que apresentaram 100% de flores femininas no racemo primário. As plantas com esse fenótipo que sofreram reversão sexual durante o ciclo de desenvolvimento, tiveram seus racemos autofecundados assim que passaram a produzir flores masculinas (estaminadas). Para o ciclo de avaliação foram colhidas sementes do racemo primário das plantas selecionadas com 100% de flores femininas - tratamento 1 (aberto);sementes dos racemos autofecundados dessas plantas inicialmente 100% femininas - tratamento 2 (autofecundado) e sementes colhidas ao acaso que serviram de controle – tratamento 3 (controle). Ao final do ciclo de avaliação pôde ser observado que houve aumento significativo a 1% de probabilidade... / Castor bean (Ricinus communis L.) is a high economic value oil crop. The oil extracted from its seeds is one of the most versatile found in nature, has many applications in different areas and it can satisfactorily replace the use of petroleum in many products. Currently there is great interest in increasing the grain yield of the plant by increasing the number of female flowers (pistillate) that, consequently, increase the number of fruit and seeds. The objective of this research was through the method called for mass selection, select and evaluates castor bean plants of the population FCA-UNESP-PB (dwarf height) to increase the frequency of female flowers aimed at increasing grain yield. The selection (selection cycle) was conducted in 2007 in Experimental Lageado farm and evaluate (evaluation cycle) in 2008 in Experimental Lageado and Experimental São Manuel farms, both belonging to the Agriculture College of São Paulo State University – UNESP - campus Botucatu, located respectively in Botucatu – SP and São Manuel – SP cities. The selection criterion was plants that had 100% female flowers on the first raceme. Plants with this phenotype had their racemes selfed when they start to produce male (staminate) flowers (sex reversal). For the evaluation cycle were harvested seeds of the first raceme of selected plants with 100% female flowers – treatment 1 (open); seeds of selfed racemes with plants initially 100% female – treatment 2 (selfed) and seeds taken at random who served as control - treatment 3 (control). At the end of evaluation cycle can be observed that there was significant increase with 1% of probability... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)

Företag som upprättar så kallade hållbarhetsredovisningar har blivit allt vanligare. Dock råder det inom forskningen på området en oenighet om vad hållbarhetsredovisning egentligen är. En mängd olika begrepp används om vartannat och några klara definitioner finns inte fastlagda. Syftet med denna studie är därför att göra en kartläggning av de olika begrepp som används inom den globala, akademiska hållbarhetsredovisningslitteraturen för att utreda innebörden av dessa begrepp samt för att utreda hur dessa begrepp förhåller sig till varandra. Studien genomförs med hjälp av en litteraturstudie där 12 artiklar väljs ut genom ett intensitetsurval och sedan analyseras och jämförs med varandra. Resultatet av detta blir en kartläggning där de olika begreppens betydelse och inbördes relationer utrönas. Studien mynnar ut i fastläggandet av fem stycken huvudbegrepp inom området; sustainability reporting/accounting, TBL reporting/accounting, CSR reporting, FCA och environmental accounting som tillsammans kan anses representera huvuddragen för vad hållbarhetsredovisning egentligen är. / Companies claiming to be accounting for sustainability are becoming more and more common. However, within the research on the area there are some disagreements regarding what accounting for sustainability really is. A large quantity of terms and concepts are being used interchangeably and there are no clearly established definitions. The purpose with this study is therefore to constitute an investigative screening on the different terms and concepts used within the global, academic, sustainability accounting literature to investigate the meaning of these terms and concepts and also investigate how these terms and concepts are relating to each other. The study is conducted by performing a study of literature where 12 articles are chosen with the help of an intensity sample. Thereafter the articles are analyzed and compared. This results in a clarification of the meaning of the terms and concepts, and of the internal relations in between them.  The study leads to the establishment of five main terms and concepts within the area; sustainability reporting/accounting, TBL reporting/accounting, CSR reporting, FCA and environmental accounting that together can be seen to form a foundation of what accounting for sustainability really is.

This dissertation examines the impact and determinants of government enforcement action related to compliance and corruption. Study I assesses whether Health Care Compliance (HCC) related government enforcement actions are effective at improving firms’ corporate social responsibility (CSR) scores. In a study of 37 enforcement actions, I find that the corporate social responsibility (CSR) score significantly increases during the three years after the enforcement settlement, compared to the period before the enforcement action. In particular, I find that the Diversity and Community CSR sub-scores improve following the enforcement settlement. However, there is little evidence that firms with poorer CSR ratings are more likely subject to enforcement action. Study II expands the reach of enforcement actions beyond the healthcare industry to all firms subject to Foreign Corrupt Practice Act (FCPA) enforcement actions. Based on 88 cases of such enforcement actions, I document increases of the overall CSR scores as well as several sub-scores post enforcement settlement, which is consistent with the results in Study I. I also find that firms start to improve their CSR ratings as soon as the identification of the misconduct occurs, which is on average four years prior to the settlement of the enforcement action. Furthermore, the improvement in CSR rating post misconduct year tends to be greater and more significant among firms that face larger monetary sanctions. This implies that the materiality of enforcement monetary penalties plays a significant role in shaping a firm’s timely response to government investigation of misconduct. Although I find that CSR ratings in Employee Relations and Product are significantly negatively related to the chance of being subject to enforcement action investigation, there is little evidence that firms with poor CSR ratings are more likely to subject to enforcement actions. This finding is consistent with the results from Study I. / Business Administration/Interdisciplinary

No description available.

Abstract Background: Sustainability reporting is an important communication channel for corporations to increase legitimacy in the public eye and handle different stakeholder demands (Blanc et al., 2017). In order to manage different stakeholder demands scholars have developed different theories to detect any inconsistencies between a corporation’s communication and actions, namely organizational façades and organizational hypocrisy. Purpose: The purpose of this master thesis is to understand in which way RBS are misleading, in form of communication, their customers in their sustainability reports. This phenomenon is investigated between 2008-2013. It is under this period the FCA (2016) investigation concluded that the bank had misled their customers. Method: This thesis adopts the qualitative content analysis when conducting the research. This method aids to categorize the text data which helps to make a large sample of text more attainable and easier to analyse and find connections within the data. In this thesis the textual data is coded into one of the three following codes: (i.) Rational façades - the organization meet fundamental norms of rationality. (ii.) Progressive façades - the organization do not only show rationality but also progress. (iii.) Reputational façades - statements that are disclosed in order to meet demands of the most critical stakeholders (Abrahamson, & Baumard, 2008) Conclusion: The results show that the most frequently apparent façades in the sustainability reports are progressive façades, followed by reputational façades and lastly rational façades. Moreover, the findings of this thesis uncovered clear sub-categories fitting under each façade. The sub-categories discovered were eight folded. Lastly, the results show that RBS shows signs of organizational hypocrisy, since their sustainability report disclosures and their actions are not in line, during the investigation period.

Orientador: Maurício Dutra Zanotto / Banca: Mirian Luiza Myczkowski / Banca: Flávio Rielli Mazetto / Banca: José Geraldo Carvalho do Amaral / Resumo: A mamoneira (Ricinus communis L.) é uma planta oleaginosa de alto valor econômico. O óleo extraído de suas sementes é um dos mais versáteis encontrado na natureza; apresenta inúmeras aplicações em diversas áreas, podendo substituir de forma satisfatória o uso do petróleo em muitos produtos. Atualmente existe um grande interesse em aumentar a produtividade da planta mediante o aumento do número de flores femininas (pistiladas) que, conseqüentemente, aumentará o número de frutos e de sementes. Dessa forma, o objetivo desse trabalho foi através do método de melhoramento denominado seleção massal, selecionar e avaliar plantas de mamoneira da população FCA-UNESP-PB (porte baixo) para aumento da freqüência de flores femininas visando maior produtividade final. A seleção (ciclo de seleção) foi feita no ano de 2007 na fazenda Experimental Lageado e avaliada (ciclo de avaliação) em 2008 nas Fazendas Experimentais Lageado e São Manuel, ambas pertencentes à Faculdade de Ciências Agronômicas - UNESP - campus Botucatu e localizadas, respectivamente, nos municípios de Botucatu - SP e São Manuel - SP. O critério de seleção foram plantas que apresentaram 100% de flores femininas no racemo primário. As plantas com esse fenótipo que sofreram reversão sexual durante o ciclo de desenvolvimento, tiveram seus racemos autofecundados assim que passaram a produzir flores masculinas (estaminadas). Para o ciclo de avaliação foram colhidas sementes do racemo primário das plantas selecionadas com 100% de flores femininas - tratamento 1 (aberto);sementes dos racemos autofecundados dessas plantas inicialmente 100% femininas - tratamento 2 (autofecundado) e sementes colhidas ao acaso que serviram de controle - tratamento 3 (controle). Ao final do ciclo de avaliação pôde ser observado que houve aumento significativo a 1% de probabilidade... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: Castor bean (Ricinus communis L.) is a high economic value oil crop. The oil extracted from its seeds is one of the most versatile found in nature, has many applications in different areas and it can satisfactorily replace the use of petroleum in many products. Currently there is great interest in increasing the grain yield of the plant by increasing the number of female flowers (pistillate) that, consequently, increase the number of fruit and seeds. The objective of this research was through the method called for mass selection, select and evaluates castor bean plants of the population FCA-UNESP-PB (dwarf height) to increase the frequency of female flowers aimed at increasing grain yield. The selection (selection cycle) was conducted in 2007 in Experimental Lageado farm and evaluate (evaluation cycle) in 2008 in Experimental Lageado and Experimental São Manuel farms, both belonging to the Agriculture College of São Paulo State University - UNESP - campus Botucatu, located respectively in Botucatu - SP and São Manuel - SP cities. The selection criterion was plants that had 100% female flowers on the first raceme. Plants with this phenotype had their racemes selfed when they start to produce male (staminate) flowers (sex reversal). For the evaluation cycle were harvested seeds of the first raceme of selected plants with 100% female flowers - treatment 1 (open); seeds of selfed racemes with plants initially 100% female - treatment 2 (selfed) and seeds taken at random who served as control - treatment 3 (control). At the end of evaluation cycle can be observed that there was significant increase with 1% of probability... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

Arbeitsgedächtnisdefizite lernbehinderter Kinder sind bisher vor allem im phonologischen Bereich nachgewiesen worden. Die eigene Studie untersucht mögliche Defizite im Bereich der zentralen Exekutive mit zwei Schwerpunkten: (a) Lassen sich bei der Steuerung selektiver Aufmerksamkeit spezifische Defizite Lernbehinderter identifizieren? (b) Zeigen sich Besonderheiten in den Alterszugewinnen selektiver Aufmerksamkeit? In der Untersuchung wurden Grundschulkinder gleichen mentalen und gleichen chronologischen Alters mit einer Gruppe lernbehinderter Kinder einer vierten Klasse verglichen. Zusätzlich wurden ältere Schulkinder (7. Klasse, 4. Klasse, 7. Klasse einer Sonderschule L) einbezogen, so dass auch prüfbar wird, inwiefern sich Alterszugewinne der kognitiven Funktionen bei lernbehinderten im Vergleich zu unauffälligen Schülern unterscheiden. Einbezogen wurden nur L-Schüler mit einem IQ < 85. Zur Erfassung der zentral-exekutiven selektiven Aufmerksamkeit wurden drei verschiedene Aufgabenanforderungen (TAP, Stopp-Signal, TEZEK) gewählt. Die Befunde deuten auf ein frühes Funktionsdefizit der lernbehinderten Kinder hin, das bis 14 Jahre weitgehend kompensiert werden kann.

As recently as the last decade or two, data-driven science workflows have become increasingly popular and semantic technology has been relied on to help align often parallel research efforts in the different domains and foster interoperability and data sharing. However, a key challenge is the size of the data and the pace at which it is being generated, so much that manual procedures lag behind. Thus, eliciting automation of most workflows. In this study, the effort is to continue investigating ways by which some tasks performed by experts in the nanotechnology domain, specifically in ontology engineering, could benefit from automation. An approach, featuring phrase-based topic modelling and formal topical concept analysis is further motivated, together with formal implication rules, to uncover new concepts and axioms relevant to two nanotechnology-related ontologies. A corpus of 2,715 nanotechnology research articles helps showcase that the approach can scale, as seen in a number of experiments conducted. The usefulness of document text ranking as an alternative form of input to topic models is highlighted as well as the benefit of implication rules to the task of concept discovery. In all, a total of 203 new concepts are uncovered by the approach to extend the referenced ontologies

This Master thesis examines a phenomenon that occurs in the upper polar atmosphere, namely, Polar Mesospheric Winter Echoes, or PMWEs. PMWEs are radar echoes observed by Very High Frequency Mesosphere Stratosphere Troposphere (VHF MST) radar, from altitudes of 60 to 76 km at 7 to 15 UT, in the winter months from the middle of September to the beginning of May. The aforementioned specifications are the partial results of this thesis.PMWEs are generally understood to be caused by turbulence; however, radar data indicate some rare cases where PMWEs can be created with velocities exceeding the speed of sound, which is not possible with current turbulence theory. Kirkwood et al., 2006 and Belova, Kirkwood, and Sergienko, 2013 hypothesised that infrasound could generate the necessary conditions for PMWEs with velocities equal to or exceeding the speed of sound. Observations of PMWEs presented in this thesis have been carried out by the MST radar ESRAD, located at Esrange (67 56’N, 21 04’E) near Kiruna in northern Sweden. The radar operates at 52 MHz and has been performing continuous radar observations since Dec 1996. Observations of the infrasounds presented in this thesis were carried out by a microbarometer located close to Rymdcampus in Kiruna. Access to the data is restricted, but through university administration, this master’s thesis has been granted permission to use the data for the study of PMWEs. The instrument performed continuous infrasound measurements from the 24th of May 2016 and forward. This thesis will perform a full analysis of all radar data from the 17th of Dec 1996 until the 31st of Jan 2021 to assess the altitude interval, diurnal interval and yearly interval. The data given in the first section are a result of this work. Additionally, space weather parameters relation with the occurrence of PMWEs is analysed. Space weather parameters are very important for the chemistry and conditions present in the mesosphere. It is shown thatt here is a strong relation between solar wind and PMWE occurrence, decent relation with Kp index and no to weak relation with solar particle event (SPE). Correlating space weather and PMWEs in greater detail could be the subject of other studies. Last but most interesting, microbarometer data will be analysed for days where high-speed PMWEs are detected. Because of the rarity of these high-speed PMWEs, only seven total cases were found from 24 May 2016 onward, making the analysis of the infrasound measurements very limited, and no connection was found. However, it was found that days with high-speed PMWEs had an abnormally low amount of infrasound detections, further making analysis difficult but raising questions of why. This could mean that infrasound signals might be hindered from reaching the ground on days where we have high-speed PMWEs. No further conclusions can be made, as this indicates relation but not causation. Airborne infrasound instruments could be used to detect weaker infrasound signals due to being unaffected by wind disturbance at the ground.

Efficient waste management enables the protection of human health, reducing environmental pollution, saving of natural resources, and achieving sustainable and profitable management of energy. In many countries, the general guidelines for waste management are set by national or local waste management plans. Various models provide local authorities with decision-making tools in planning long-term waste management scenarios.This study aims at providing a special model framework for the evaluation of ecological–economic efficiency (ECO-EE) of waste management. This will serve as an information support tool for decision making by actors of a solid waste management (SWM) scheme, primarily at the municipal and regional levels. The objective of this study is to apply the waste management’s efficient decision (WAMED) model along with the company statistical business tool for environmental recovery indicator (COSTBUSTER) model to SWM and municipal solid waste (MSW) schemes in general in order to evaluate and improve their ECO-EE. COSTBUSTER is a mathematical indicator for the size and extent of implementation costs of a certain SWM scheme, compared with the total size of the average financial budget of a SWM actor of a certain kind. In particular, WAMED is proposed for evaluating the suitability to invest in baling technology. Baling of solid waste is an emerging technology which is extensively used worldwide to temporarily store waste for either incineration or recovery of raw materials. The model for efficient use of resources for optimal production economy (the EUROPE model) is for the first time applied to emissions from baling facilities. It has been analysed how cost-benefit analysis (CBA) and full cost accounting (FCA) can facilitate environmental optimisation of SWM schemes. The effort in this work represents a continuation of such ambitions as an enlargement of the research area of CBA based modelling within SWM. In the thesis, certain theoretical and economic aspects of SWM were analysed as case studies. A shift of viewpoints within the field of waste management is presented. This shift is in accordance with the prevailing concept of sustainable development, as commonly understood. It is concluded that in the practical SWM context, the findings of the study point at the possibilities to modify the common CBA- and FCA-based methods by WAMED, COSTBUSTER, and EUROPE. Therefore, it can be said that estimations in a SWM scheme can be carried out by using certain economic model, if properly modified in a logical and plausible way. New principles for cost allocation to SWM residual products are presented in the current work. They imply strong industrial cost saving incentives through promoting the introduction of new and improved processing technologies for rest-waste. Such incentives then strongly promote investments that are likely to improve both the environment and the corporate profitability. Thereby, the occurrence of non-commercialised, and hence not utilized, wastes is reduced. This improves the short term corporate economy through saving raw materials such as solid waste fuel, spending less time for administrating waste flows, and less wear and tear of the plant machinery. Additional environmental advantages which affect the balance sheets in a favourable way are related to the long-term business economy and extended environmental goodwill. This is due to the recently introduced way of considering solid waste as regular goods in financial terms - the equality principle. If waste is seen as goods, and not wasted in landfills, the environment will improve. This, in turn, leads to an improved quality of life. Based on the current study, it is recommended to apply WAMED to SWM schemes in order to evaluate their ECO–EE to justify decision making and investments. Also, it is recommended to apply COSTBUSTER, based on the current WAMED outcome, to SWM schemes to determine their relative size and extent. It is recommended to apply EUROPE to the emissions in case of accidental burning, treatment of leachate, andabatement with odours at any SWM scheme, based on the induced economic incentives, in order to reduce unwanted substances and phenomena.