Drawing on the institutional view of legitimacy theory, we examine whether and under which conditions a policy tool, mandatory corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting, enforced by ...constituents positively triggers firms to make substantive environmental responses. Using China's 2008 CSR reporting policy as a quasi‐natural experiment and the difference‐in‐differences estimation approach, the results reveal that after implementation of this policy, mandatory CSR reporting firms show substantially higher green innovation performance than non‐CSR reporting firms. We further find that this effect is stronger for firms located in areas with high environmental enforcement intensity, for state‐owned enterprises and for those with higher levels of media coverage. Moreover, we make a nuanced investigation on whether the media coverage is laden with a negative or positive tone, and find that both negative and positive coverage strengthen the relationship between mandatory CSR disclosure and green innovation.
•Unveiling low-temperature stress tolerance-related genomic variations in jute.•Sensitive variety O9897 specific SNPs were present in stress-related pathways.•Tolerant variety acc. 2015 possesses ...SNPs related to alternative cold tolerance functionalities.•InDels of acc. 2015 have tolerance utilities, but O9897 specific InDels cause ailments.•CNVs with gain of function were observed in cold stress-induced adaptation pathways.
Jute (Corchorus sp.), a commercially important and eco-friendly crop, is widely cultivated in Bangladesh, India, and China. Some varieties of this tropical plant such as the Corchorus olitorius. Variety accession no. 2015 (acc. 2015) has been found to be low-temperature tolerant. The current study was designed to explore the genome-wide variations present in the tolerant plant acc. 2015 in comparison to the sensitive farmer popular variety Corchorus olitorius var. O9897 using the whole genome resequencing technique. Among different variations, intergenic Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNPs) and Insertion-Deletion (InDels) were found in the highest percentage whereas approximately 3% SNPs and 2% InDels were found in exonic regions in both plants. Gene enrichment analysis indicated the presence of acc. 2015 specific SNPs in the genes encoding peroxidase, ER lumen protein retaining receptor, and hexosyltransferase involved in stress response (GO:0006950) which were not present in sensitive variety O9897. Besides, distinctive copy number variation regions (CNVRs) comprising 120 gene loci were found in acc. 2015 with a gain of function from multiple copy numbers but absent in O9897. Gene ontology analysis revealed these gene loci to possess different receptors like kinases, helicases, phosphatases, transcription factors especially Myb transcription factors, regulatory proteins containing different binding domains, annexin, laccase, acyl carrier protein, potassium transporter, and vesicular transporter proteins that are responsible for low temperature induced adaptation pathways in plants. This work of identifying genomic variations linked to cold stress tolerance traits will help to develop successful markers that will pave the way to develop genetically modified cold-resistant jute lines for year-round cultivation to meet the demand for a sustainable fiber crop economy.
This paper presents an examination of the joint impact of board structural elements at firm level and financial analysts as market‐level corporate governance (CG) on corporate social responsibility ...(CSR) performance. Our study contributes to the CG–CSR literature by adopting the bundling approach, a perspective that has recently attracted researchers’ attention as an answer to any heterogeneity and fragmentation in existing findings. It is based on an extensive sample consisting of 7,739 firm‐year observations of US firms for the 2006–2015 period. The findings suggest that financial analysts complement the corporate board with more independence, gender diversity and a specialized CSR committee to realize a certain level of CSR performance of a firm. The findings also indicate that analysts substitute for those internal governance factors that are associated with weaker boards – larger sizes and dual‐role CEOs. We also draw implications for research and practice from our findings.
Abstract
Internationalization of research and development (R&D) is a double-edged sword: on the one hand, it is understood as a driving force of global innovation performance; on the other hand, from ...a national perspective it is often perceived as a threat to domestic efforts. Against this background, we compare the contribution of domestic and international knowledge sourcing to the productivity of Swiss firms. We find a positive productivity effect of knowledge-sourcing activities in geographically close countries (in the European Union EU). Domestic knowledge alone or from other world regions does not yield positive productivity effects. We provide evidence that companies that source international knowledge to generate innovative products benefit disproportionately from knowledge sourcing in the EU and that both knowledge- and market-seeking motives may be relevant to this result.
Provincial battles, national prize? Stephenson, Laura Beth; Lawlor, Andrea; Cross, William P ...
Provincial battles, national prize?,
2019, 2019, 2019-10-03
eBook
"In parliamentary systems like Canada, voters directly contribute to the election outcome only in their own riding. However, the focus of election campaigns is often national, emphasizing the leader ...rather than the local candidate, and national rather than regional polls. This suggests that elections are national contests, but election outcomes clearly demonstrate that support for parties varies strongly by province. Focusing on the 2015 Canadian election campaigns in British Columbia, Ontario, and Quebec, three large provinces with different subnational party systems, Provincial Battles, National Prize? evaluates whether we should understand elections in Canada as national wars or individual provincial clashes. The authors draw upon voter and candidate surveys, party campaign behaviour and media coverage of the election to document how political parties vary their messages and strategies across provinces, how the media communicate and frame those messages, and how voters ultimately respond. The study shows that provincial variations in party support reflect differences in voters' political preferences rather than differences in party messages or media coverage. A novel and comprehensive study, Provincial Battles, National Prize? is the first and only thorough treatment of the party, media, and voter aspects of a federal election campaign through a subnational lens."--
Heuer zum elften Mal veranstaltete der Österreichische Bibliothekenverbund seinen jährlichen Verbundtag. Diesmal lud die Johannes Kepler Universität Linz auf ihren schönen Campus. Rund 100 ...Expertinnen und Experten trafen sich in offener Atmosphäre, um über Entwicklungen im Bibliothekswesen, anstehende Aufgaben des Verbundes und mögliche zukünftige Strategien zu beraten.
On 25 April 2015, a large earthquake of Mw 7.8 occurred along the Main Himalayan Thrust fault in central Nepal. It was caused by a collision of the Indian Plate beneath the Eurasian Plate. The ...epicenter was near the Gorkha region, 80 km northwest of Kathmandu, and the rupture propagated toward east from the epicentral region passing through the sediment-filled Kathmandu Valley. This event resulted in over 8000 fatalities, mostly in Kathmandu and the adjacent districts. We succeeded in observing strong ground motions at our four observation sites (one rock site and three sedimentary sites) in the Kathmandu Valley during this devastating earthquake. While the observed peak ground acceleration values were smaller than the predicted ones that were derived from the use of a ground motion prediction equation, the observed peak ground velocity values were slightly larger than the predicted ones. The ground velocities observed at the rock site (KTP) showed a simple velocity pulse, resulting in monotonic-step displacements associated with the permanent tectonic offset. The vertical ground velocities observed at the sedimentary sites had the same pulse motions that were observed at the rock site. In contrast, the horizontal ground velocities as well as accelerations observed at three sedimentary sites showed long duration with conspicuous long-period oscillations, due to the valley response. The horizontal valley response was characterized by large amplification (about 10) and prolonged oscillations. However, the predominant period and envelope shape of their oscillations differed from site to site, indicating a complicated basin structure. Finally, on the basis of the velocity response spectra, we show that the horizontal long-period oscillations on the sedimentary sites had enough destructive power to damage high-rise buildings with natural periods of 3 to 5 s.
Building on agency and resource dependence theories, we study the relationship between the value of initial public offerings and the extent of board independence, which we find to be an inverted ...U‐shape: beyond a certain threshold, board independence becomes excessive. Consistent with agency theory, the inverted U‐shaped relationship is more pronounced when ownership and control rights are separated. Consistent with resource dependence theory, the inverted U‐shaped relationship is more pronounced in companies with higher industry diversification and less pronounced when the roles of the CEO and president of the board of directors are separated.
Managed honey bee colony losses are of concern in the USA and globally. This survey, which documents the rate of colony loss in the USA during the 2015-2016 season, is the tenth report of winter ...losses, and the fifth of summer and annual losses. Our results summarize the responses of 5725 valid survey respondents, who collectively managed 427,652 colonies on 1 October 2015, an estimated 16.1% of all managed colonies in the USA. Responding beekeepers reported a total annual colony loss of 40.5% 95% CI 39.8-41.1% between 1 April 2015 and 1 April 2016. Total winter colony loss was 26.9% 95% CI 26.4-27.4% while total summer colony loss was 23.6% 95% CI 23.0-24.1%, making this the third consecutive year when summer losses have approximated to winter losses. Across all operation types, 32.3% of responding beekeepers reported no winter losses. Whilst the loss rate in the winter of 2015-2016 was amongst the lowest winter losses recorded over the ten years this survey has been conducted, 59.0% (n = 3378) of responding beekeepers had higher losses than they deemed acceptable.
•Stress change from the 2015 Mw 7.8 Gorkha earthquake is calculated.•The Gorkha earthquake triggered the Ms 5.9 Tingri and the Ms 5.3 Nyalam earthquakes.•The Gorkha earthquake loaded stress to the ...west and in the shallow fault section updip of the earthquake rupture.•The Gorkha earthquake increased seismic hazard of the normal and thrust faults in the southern Tibet.
We examine the co-seismic Coulomb stress change induced by the 2015 Mw 7.8 Gorkha, Nepal earthquake and investigate its influence on the seismic hazard in the southern Tibetan Plateau. We find that the location of the aftershocks coincides with areas where stress was enhanced. This stress enhanced area also covers the west and the shallow fault section updip of the 2015 Gorkha earthquake rupture in the Main Himalayan Thrust fault (MHT), signaling the raising hazard of the seismic gaps in the west and south to Kathmandu. The 2015 Gorkha earthquake strongly interacted particularly with the normal and thrust faults in the distance of around 100–250km from the rupture zone by bringing stress closer to the Coulomb failure. This fault interaction process increased stress by 12kPa and 100kPa at the southern end of the Tingkye and the Nyalam normal faults, respectively, triggering the Ms 5.9 Tingri earhquake on 25 May 2015 and the Ms 5.3 Nyalam earthquake on 26 May 2015. Stress in the Main Frontal Himalaya Thrust fault (MFT), the Main Boundary Thrust fault (MBT) in the Lalitpur area of Nepal was promoted by 40–100kPa. Such stress transfer should facilitate the future rupture on these active faults and raise seismic hazard in the southern Tibetan Plateau.
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