With a triple-bottom-line lens on sustainability, this study examines the effects of culture on companies’ economic, social, and environmental sustainability practices. Drawing on institutional ...theory and project GLOBE, we delineate cultural practices dimensions that consistently predict sustainability practices related to each of the three domains. Based on a sample of 1924 companies in 36 countries and nine cultural clusters, we find that future orientation, gender egalitarianism, uncertainty avoidance, and power distance practices positively, and performance orientation practices negatively, predict corporate sustainability practices. Further, our findings suggest that these effects might vary according to the country vis-à-vis cluster level of analysis.
In France, agriculture is responsible for 98% of ammonia (NH3) emissions with over 50% caused by nitrogen (N) fertilization. The current French national inventory is based on default emission factors ...(EF) and does not account for the main variables influencing NH3 emissions. To model the spatio-temporal variability of NH3 emissions due to mineral and organic N fertilization, we implemented a new method named CADASTRE_NH3. The novelty lies in the combined use of two types of resources: the process-based Volt'Air model and geo-referenced and temporally explicit databases for soil properties, meteorological conditions and N fertilization. Simulation units are the Small Agricultural Regions. Several sources of information were combined to obtain N fertilization management: census and surveys of the French Ministry of Agriculture, statistics on commercial fertilizer deliveries, and French expertise on physicochemical properties of organic manure. The practical interest of this new framework was illustrated for France during the crop year 2005/06. Aggregation at crop year level showed a reasonable agreement between estimated values derived from CADASTRE_NH3 and those from the French inventory method, for N and ammoniacal-N (TAN) application rates, total NH3 emissions and NH3 EF. Discrepancies were large for organic manure only; national TAN application rates and NH3 emissions were 62–63% lower with CADASTRE_NH3. This was due to divergences in the representation of cattle farm yard manure and in the TAN:N ratio of solid manure. Annual emissions for fertilization in France were estimated to be 270 Gg NH3, 29% lower than the French national inventory estimate. At the regional level, organic manure contributed to 73% of field NH3 emissions in intensive livestock husbandry areas and to 41% in the other areas. The CADASTRE_NH3 framework can be seen as a Tier 3 approach able to estimate specific regional EF for different mineral fertilizers and organic manure.
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•Estimated NH3 emissions from N fertilization are quantified using a new method.•2005/06 NH3 emissions in France are 29% lower than the official French inventory.•Spatial variability is due to N fertilizer use and type and pedoclimatic conditions.•Temporal variability depends on seasonal timing of N fertilizer applications.•Specific French emission factors are estimated per fertilizer and per region.
Corruption – the (mis)use of entrusted power or public office for private gain – is a widely researched and discussed subject matter with various descriptions. Understanding the meaning and nature of ...corruption from the perspectives of criminal justice and anti-corruption officials is essential for developing effective anti-corruption measures and strategies. However, justice and anti-corruption officials’ perspectives of what corruption means are under-explored. Addressing this gap, the current study explores Ghanaian justice and anti-corruption officials’ understanding of corruption and factors that might influence their perceptions. The study uses a qualitative design of interviews with judges, prosecution lawyers, police officers, defence lawyers and anti-corruption officials. The results show that colonialism, Western domination and historical and cultural practices are key factors underpinning officials’ understanding and explanation of corruption. The discussion depicts clashes between Western values and cultural practices of developing countries like Ghana. Finally, the article concludes by discussing the implications of the results for policy and practice.
Although national culture is an important regulator of entrepreneurship, there is a dearth of studies that: (1) explore the effects of national cultural practices on entrepreneurial behaviors by ...individuals; (2) use appropriate multilevel research designs; (3) consider the effects of culture on different entrepreneurial behaviors, such as entry and post-entry growth aspirations. We combined Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) and Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness (GLOBE) data from 42 countries for 2005—2008 to address these gaps, using a multilevel design. We found societal institutional collectivism practices negatively associated with entrepreneurial entry, but positively associated with entrepreneurial growth aspirations. Uncertainty avoidance practices were negatively associated with entry but not with growth aspirations, and performance orientation practices were positively associated with entry. Our analysis highlights the differential effects of cultural practices on entrepreneurial entry and growth aspirations, and demonstrates the value of multilevel techniques in analyzing the effect of culture on entrepreneurship.
microRNAs (miRNAs) bind Argonaute proteins in order to form RNA-induced silencing complexes (RISCs) that can silence the expression of complementary mRNAs. Plant miRNAs can mediate the cleavage of ...their target mRNAs as well as the repression of their translation. Here, by using an in vitro system prepared from plant culture cells, we biochemically dissect the mechanisms by which Arabidopsis thaliana ARGONAUTE1 RISC (AtAGO1-RISC) silences its mRNA targets. We find that AtAGO1-RISC has the ability to repress translation initiation without promoting deadenylation or mRNA decay. Strikingly, AtAGO1-RISC bound in the 5′ untranslated region or the open reading frame can sterically block the recruitment or movement of ribosomes. These silencing effects require more extensive base pairing to the target site in comparison to typical animal miRNAs. Our data provide mechanistic insights into miRNA-mediated translational repression in plants.
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•Plant AGO1-RISC can repress translation initiation without promoting deadenylation•Plant AGO1-RISC bound in the ORF can block movement of ribosomes•Plant AGO1-RISC requires extensive complementarity for target binding and silencing
The pathogen Phytophthora capsici, which causes black pepper foot rot, is the most detrimental disease that affects black pepper productivity and lowers qualitative and quantitative spike yields in ...southwest Ethiopia. The effectiveness of several fungicides and cultural methods against Phytophthora capsici in black pepper was tested in a field experiment. Five commercial fungicides and cultural practices were examined, and a natural Phytophthora capsici infection was noted. Disease incidence was determined by visually observing leaf blight, spike infection, leaf shedding, and vine yellowing. The most effective fungicide, with a disease incidence of 14.3%, was Koka blue 50 WG (Copper oxychloride) spraying when combined with cultural approaches. More 720 WP (Mancozeb + Cymoxanil), a combination of cultural practices and 19.1% disease incidence, came next. Agro-laxyl 63.5 WP (Metalaxyl + Mancozeb) and Progress 250 EC (Propiconazole 25%) combined with cultural practices were also effective against Phytophthora infection and found better than only cultural practices applied plot and control.
Int. J. Agril. Res. Innov. Tech. 13(1): 48-50, June 2023
Worldwide sucking pests predominantly impact the cultivation of tea (Camellia sinensis (L.) Kuntze), an economically significant crop. Sucking pests consume the plant sap by puncturing the vascular ...tissue of the host plant. Their trophic activity results in the curling of the tea leaves, followed by a dark brown or silver appearance with black spots. Sometimes, the symptom is confined to dry, dark, and dead leaves. All these symptoms have significantly reduced tea production over the past few decades. Sucking pests like mosquito bugs, thrips, jassids, aphids, and mites are primarily responsible for these damages in tea plants. It is crucial to use all the available eco-friendly resources to effectively implement integrated pest management strategies that reduce the sucking pest population in the tea plant ecosystem and produce pesticide-free tea. This review gives a comprehensive idea of sucking pests in tea plantations, their habits, age-old traditional methods used to control such pests, widely used synthetic pesticide treatments for instant pest control, pesticide tolerance management, and lastly, emerging sustainable methods to minimize the level of pesticide residue in this foliage crop. All these practices will help to decrease the adversities caused by pesticides to the environment.
•Major sucking pests of tea plants have developed pesticide resistance over time.•Symptomatic responses in tea are discussed against all the major sucking pests.•Biological control is effective in combination with integrated pest management.•Application of entomopathogenic bacteria, fungi and viruses are contemporary methods.•A critical understanding of methods is helpful in finding a better control strategy.
•The extent of metal accumulation in agricultural soil in Dehui.•Potential sources of metals in agricultural soils.•Spatial distribution of heavy metals in Dehui.
The characterization of the content ...and source of heavy metals in soils are necessary to establish quality standards on a regional level and to assess the potential threat of metals to food safety and human health. The surface horizons of 114 agricultural soils in Dehui, a representative agricultural area in the black soil region, Northeast China, were collected and the concentrations of Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn, and Pb were analyzed. The mean values of the heavy metals were 49.7±7.04, 20.8±3.06, 18.9±8.51, 58.9±7.16, and 35.4±9.18mgkg−1 for Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn, and Pb, respectively. Anthropic activities caused an enrichment of Cu and Pb in soils. However, metal concentrations in all samples did not exceed the guideline values of Chinese Environmental Quality Standard for Soils. Multivariate and geostatistical analyses suggested that soil Cr, Ni, and Zn had a lithogenic origin. Whereas, the elevated Cu concentrations in the study area were associated with industrial and agronomic practices, and the main sources of Pb were industrial fume, coal burning exhausts, and domestic waste. Source identification of heavy metals in agricultural soil is a basis for undertaking appropriate action to reduce metal inputs.
It is a near consensus among materialist philosophers of mind that consciousness must somehow be constituted by internal neural processes, even if we remain unsure quite how this works. Even friends ...of the extended mind theory have argued that when it comes to the material substrate of conscious experience, the boundary of skin and skull is likely to prove somehow to be privileged. Such arguments have, however, typically conceived of the constitution of consciousness in synchronic terms, making a firm separation between proximate mechanisms and their ultimate causes. We argue that the processes involved in the constitution of some conscious experiences are diachronic, not synchronic. We focus on what we call phenomenal attunement in this paper—the feeling of being at home in a familiar, culturally constructed environment. Such a feeling is missing in cases of culture shock. Phenomenal attunement is a structure of our conscious experience of the world that is ubiquitous and taken for granted. We will argue that it is constituted by cycles of embodied and world-involving engagement whose dynamics are constrained by cultural practices. Thus, it follows that an essential structure of the conscious mind, the absence of which profoundly transforms conscious experience, is extended.
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