CSR in metallurgy sector in Greece: A content analysis

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has become one of the most widespread business topics among the academic community. Various issues like environmental pollution, economic crisis, corruption, poverty are of major importance these days and besides governments and policy makers responsibility it is obvious that corporations are also part of these problems. In Europe the last 15 years, governments, NGOs, small and large enterprises are making an effort to establish in their business CSR strategies so as to become more competitive and innovative in the global market. The research presents the way 8 Greek companies from the metallurgy sector publish CSR activities and which dimensions of CSR are more common among Greek companies. The companies were selected according to a study of ICAP Group about CSR and Leading Employers in Greece. The findings reveal how Greek companies during the economic crisis make their effort to be more active especially on environmental issues, human resources, health and safety and contribution to local communities. The results of their efforts are controversial as far as their CSR strategy concerns.     

Calculating resource restoration for an oil discharge in Lake Barre,Louisiana, USA

Under the United States Oil Pollution Act of 1990, natural resource trustees are charged with assessing natural resource impacts due to an oil spill and determining the type and amount of natural resource restoration that will compensate the public for the impacts. Habitat equivalency analysis is a technique through which the impacts due to the spill and the benefits of restoration are quantified; both are quantified as habitat resources and associated ecological services. The goal of the analysis is to determine the amount of restoration such that the services lost are offset by services provided by restoration. In this paper, we first describe the habitat equivalency analysis framework. We then present an oil spill case from coastal Louisiana, USA, where the framework was applied to quantify resource impacts and determine the scale of restoration. In the Louisiana case, the trustees assessed impacts for oiled salt marsh and direct mortality to finfish, shellfish, and birds. The restoration project required planting salt-marsh vegetation in dredge material that was deposited on a barrier island. Using the habitat equivalency analysis framework, it was determined that 7.5 ha of the dredge platform should be planted as salt marsh. The planted hectares will benefit another 15.9 ha through vegetative spreading resulting in a total of 23.4 ha that will be enhanced or restored as compensation for the natural resource impacts.     

Calling energetics of a neotropical treefrog,Hyla microcephala

Summary We investigated the calling energetics of Hyla microcephala, a neotropical treefrog with an unusually complex vocal repertoire. Males respond to the calls of other individuals by adding secondary click notes to their calls, thereby increasing the total number of notes given per minute. Rates of oxygen consumption of males calling in metabolic chambers were 0.41–2.80 ml O₂/(g·h), corresponding to calling rates of 205–6330 notes/h. Note rate explained 95% of the variance in meta-bolic rate; the effect of variation in body size and temperature was small. Data from playback experiments with males in the field showed that note rate increased as as the number of notes in a stimulus call increased, and this resulted in substantial increases in the cost of calling. Average metabolic rates for males in the field were about 1.7 ml O₂/(g·h), for a net cost of calling of about 20 J/h for an average-size male. However, estimated metabolic rates varied by more than 300% and were strongly influenced by the proximity and calling activity of other males in the chorus. Male H. microcephala appear to conserve energy by reducing calling rates when only a few males are active and increasing calling efforts only when vocal competition among males is intense.     

An empirical study of spatial-temporal growth patterns of a voluntary residential green infrastructure program

Voluntary residential green infrastructure (GI) stormwater management retrofit programs can help cities comply with environmental regulations while also improving quality of life. Previous research has identified influential factors in residents’ willingness to adopt GI, but few have simultaneously studied the spatial and temporal dynamics of GI. I use a six-year record of participation in a voluntary residential GI program in Washington DC to explore how neighborhood characteristics and social influence affect GI adoption over time. Statistical regression and Monte Carlo permutation resampling techniques are used to explain the spatial-temporal patterns of growth of the program. I demonstrate empirical evidence that participation location is increasingly determined by the locations of previous participants. These findings suggest that past participants will increasingly influence spatial clustering of GI in the city.     

Influence of habitat on the reproductive biology of the deep-sea hydrothermal vent limpet <Emphasis Type="Italic">Lepetodrilus fucensis</Emphasis> (Vetigastropoda: Mollusca) from the Northeast Pacific

Habitat selection by the hydrothermal vent limpet, Lepetodrilus fucensis, in Northeast Pacific hydrothermal vent ecosystems, may influence its reproductive output, as it occupies habitats with varying physico-chemical conditions that reflect the availability of nutritional resources. Histological techniques were used to determine size at first reproduction, gametogenesis, reproductive output, and fecundity in relation to shell length (SL), through examination of the gonads of male and female L. fucensis, collected from five different hydrothermal vent habitat types with different temperature anomalies and hydrothermal fluid flow vigour: vigorous (VIG), diffuse (DIF), tubeworm bushes (TWB), peripheral (PER), and senescent areas (SEN). Both male and female L. fucensis exhibited early maturity, with the first reproductive event occurring at 3.8 and 3.9 mm shell length, respectively. All stages of gamete development were present in the gonads of males and females, suggesting continuous gametogenesis and asynchronous reproduction in this species. Gametogenic maturity of limpets did not vary among actively venting habitats (VIG, DIF, TWB, and PER), but was significantly lower in males and females from SEN habitats. Mean oocyte diameter was largest in females from VIG habitats, and smallest in females from SEN habitats, than in those from the other habitats (DIF, TWB, and PER). Females from actively venting habitats also had greater actual fecundity than those from senescent habitats. While the gametogenic pattern of L. fucensis appears phylogenetically constrained, selection of actively venting habitats by L. fucensis maximizes its reproductive output. The multiple feeding strategies of L. fucensis may allow for a constant supply of energy to be allocated to reproduction in any habitat except senescent vents. Early maturity, high fecundity, and continuous production of gametes suggest a reproductive strategy characteristic of an opportunistic species, and may be contributing to the extremely abundant populations of L. fucensis observed in the Northeast Pacific vent ecosystem.     

Maryland's Green Infrastructure—Using Landscape Assessment Tools to Identify a Regional Conservation Strategy

Maryland is growing at a very rapid pace. Compounding the problems associated with rapid growth is the scattered pattern of development that consumes an excessive amount of land and fragments the landscape. As land use changes, wildlife habitat and migration corridors are lost and normal ecosystem functions are disturbed or destroyed. While land use planners and developers are attempting to minimize such impacts, they do not always know where key natural lands and corridors are situated. The Green Infrastructure Assessment (GIA) provides this information and can be used to identify a greenway network that will protect the most critical lands in the state before they are gone foreover. Using GIS and principles of landscape ecology, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources is identifying an interconnected network of "hubs" and "corridors" that are now the focus of state and local agency deliberations and revisions. Elements of the network are being prioritized for conservation and restoration activities based on ecological parameters (e.g., sensitive species, important wetlands or riparian zones, etc.) and threat parameters (e.g., protection status, development pressure, etc.). The goal of GIA is to help identify an ecologically sound open space network, and ultimately, to incorporate the agreed upon network into state and local land conservation planning.     

WATERSHED WEIGHTING OF EXPORT COEFFICIENTS TO MAP CRITICAL PHOSPHOROUS LOADING AREAS1

ABSTRACT: The Export Coefficient model (ECM) is capable of generating reasonable estimates of annual phosphorous loading simply from a watershed's land cover data and export coefficient values (ECVs). In its current form, the ECM assumes that ECVs are homogeneous within each land cover type, yet basic nutrient runoff and hydrological theory suggests that runoff rates have spatial patterns controlled by loading and filtering along the flow paths from the upslope contributing area and downslope dispersal area. Using a geographic information system (GIS) raster, or pixel, modeling format, these contributing area and dispersal area (CADA) controls were derived from the perspective of each individual watershed pixel to weight the otherwise homogeneous ECVs for phosphorous. Although the CADA‐ECM predicts export coefficient spatial variation for a single land use type, the lumped basin load is unaffected by weighting. After CADA weighting, a map of the new ECVs addressed the three fundamental criteria for targeting critical pollutant loading areas: (1) the presence of the pollutant, (2) the likelihood for runoff to carry the pollutant offsite, and (3) the likelihood that buffers will trap nutrients prior to their runoff into the receiving water body. These spatially distributed maps of the most important pollutant management areas were used within New York's West Branch Delaware River watershed to demonstrate how the CADA‐ECM could be applied in targeting phosphorous critical loading areas.     

Distribution of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in Datuo karst Tiankeng of South China

Levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were measured in surface soils of Datuo karst Tiankeng (large sinkholes) in South China with the use of a gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC-MS) system. This paper provides data on the levels and distribution of PAHs from the top to the bottom of the Datuo karst Tiankeng. The results showed that the sum of the 16 EPA priority PAHs from the sampled locations from top to bottom had a relative increment in PAHs concentration. summation operatorPAHs ranged from 16.93 ng/g to 68.07 ng/g with a mean concentration of 42.15 ng/g. The correlated results showed the bottom of the large sinkhole, which accounts for the higher concentrations, probably acts like a trap for the PAHs. Thus, the low evaporation rate at the bottom may play a key role in controlling the high concentration of PAHs at the bottom.