Search results for: environmental accounting disclosure
7008 An Investigation of Environmental Education Knowledge for Sustainable Development in High School Sectors in UK
Authors: Abolaji Mayowa Akinyele
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The purpose of this study was to investigate student’s awareness, Knowledge and understanding of environmental issues for sustainable development. Findings revealed that; despite the positive attitude shown by students towards environmental education, a relatively low level of understanding of environmental concept was recorded in school settings regardless of efforts by government and other environmental agencies at creating awareness about environmental related issues. This brought about the investigation of students environmental education knowledge in high school settings. About 205 Students were randomly selected for data collection using validated instruments titled student’s knowledge and attitude questionnaire as well as student’s response to questions (interview) concerning global warming. T-test statistics, chi-square and simple percentage were the major statistical tools employed in data analysis. This study revealed that environment based-education (school curriculum) as well as efforts by government/environmental agencies (mass media) plays a major role in promoting students understanding, of environmental concepts, awareness of major environmental issues and positive attitude towards natural environment.Keywords: environmental issues, sustainable development, students attitude, students knowledge
Procedia PDF Downloads 4467007 Environmental Science: A Proposal for Constructing New Knowledge for Ecotourism Itineraries
Authors: Veruska C. Dutra, Mary L. G. S. Senna
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The principle of sustainability has been studied by different sciences with the purpose of formulating clear and concrete models. Much has been discussed about sustainability, and several points of view have been used to try to explain it; environmental science emerges from various environmental discourses that are willing to establish a new concept for understanding this complexity. This way, we focus on the activity of ecotourism as a way to integrate sustainable practices proposed by environmental science, and thus, make it possible to create a new perspective for eco-tourists and the managers of tourist destinations towards nature. The aim of this study was to suggest a direction for environmental awareness, based on environmental science, to change the eco-tourist's view of nature in ecotourism tours. The methodology used was based on a case study concerning the Jalapão State Park - JSP, located in the State of Tocantins, Northern Brazil. The study was based on discussions, theoretical studies, bibliographical research and on-site research. We have identified that to incite the tourists’ awareness, they need to visit nature to understand the environmental problems and promote actions for its preservation. We highlight in this study actions to drive their human perception through environmental science, so that the ecotourism itinerary tours to the JSP, promote a balance between the natural environment and the tourist, making them, in this way, environmental tourists.Keywords: science, environmental, ecoturism, Jalapão
Procedia PDF Downloads 3307006 A Study of Environmental Investment on the Sustainable Development in United States
Authors: K. Y. Chen, Y. N. Jia, H. Chua, C. W. Kan
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In United States (US), the environmental policy went through two stages that are government control period and market mechanism period. In the government control period in the 1970s, environmental problems in U.S. are treated by mandatory direct control method, including promulgation of laws, formulation of emission standards and mandatory installation of pollution treatment equipment. After the 1980s, the environmental policy in U.S. went into the second stage, in which the government strengthened the incentives and coordination effects of market. Since then, environmental governance had been partially replaced by means of economic regulation of the market. Green Tax Policy and Marketable Pollution Permits are good examples of government's economic interventions. U.S. Federal Government regards environmental industry as high-tech industry which is promoted in this period. Therefore, in the paper, we aim to analyse the effect of environmental investment on the sustainable development in the US. Acknowledgment: Authors would like to thank the financial support from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University for this work.Keywords: United States, public environmental investment, analysis, sustainable development
Procedia PDF Downloads 2417005 Public Environmental Investment Analysis of Japan
Authors: K. Y. Chen, H. Chua, C. W. Kan
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Japan is a well-developed country but the environmental issues are still a hot issue. In this study, we will analyse how the environmental investment affects the sustainable development in Japan. This paper will first describe the environmental policy of Japan and the effort input by the Japan government. Then, we will collect the yearly environmental data and also information about the environmental investment. Based on the data collected, we try to figure out the relationship between environmental investment and sustainable development in Japan. In addition, we will analyse the SWOT of environmental investment in Japan. Based on the economic information collected, Japan established a sound material-cycle society through changes in business and life styles. A comprehensive legal system for this kind of society was established in Japan. In addition, other supporting measures, such as financial measures, utilization of economic instruments, implementation of research and promotion of education and science and technology, help Japan to cope with the recent environmental challenges. Japan’s excellent environmental technologies changed its socioeconomic system. They are at the highest global standards. This can be reflected by the number of patents registered in Japan which has been on the steady growth. Country by country comparison in the application for patents on environmental technologies also indicates that Japan ranks high in such areas as atmospheric pollution and water quality management, solid waste management and renewable energy. This is a result of the large expenditure invested on research and development.Keywords: Japan, environmental investment, sustainable development, analysis
Procedia PDF Downloads 2597004 Environmental Policy Instruments and Greenhouse Gas Emissions: VAR Analysis
Authors: Veronika Solilová, Danuše Nerudová
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The paper examines the interaction between the environmental taxation, size of government spending on environmental protection and greenhouse gas emissions and gross inland energy consumption. The aim is to analyze the effects of environmental taxation and government spending on environmental protection as an environmental policy instruments on greenhouse gas emissions and gross inland energy consumption in the EU15. The empirical study is performed using a VAR approach with the application of aggregated data of EU15 over the period 1995 to 2012. The results provide the evidence that the reactions of greenhouse gas emission and gross inland energy consumption to the shocks of environmental policy instruments are strong, mainly in the short term and decay to zero after about 8 years. Further, the reactions of the environmental policy instruments to the shocks of greenhouse gas emission and gross inland energy consumption are also strong in the short term, however with the deferred effects. In addition, the results show that government spending on environmental protection together with gross inland energy consumption has stronger effect on greenhouse gas emissions than environmental taxes in EU15 over the examined period.Keywords: VAR analysis, greenhouse gas emissions, environmental taxation, government spending
Procedia PDF Downloads 2877003 Environmental Sustainability and Energy Consumption: The Role of Financial Development in OPEC-1 Countries
Authors: Isah Wada
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The current research investigates the role of financial development in an environmental sustainability-energy consumption nexus for OPEC-1 member countries. The empirical findings suggest that financial development increases environmental sustainability but energy consumption and real output expansion diminishes environmental sustainability, generally. Thus, whilst real output and financial development accelerates energy consumption, environmental sustainability quality diminishes clean energy initiatives. Even more so, energy consumption and financial development stimulates real output growth. The result empirically demonstrates that policy advocates must address broader issues relating to financial development whilst seeking to achieve environmental sustainability due largely to energy consumption.Keywords: energy consumption, environmental sustainability, financial development, OPEC, real output
Procedia PDF Downloads 1837002 Understanding the Effect of Fall Armyworm and Integrated Pest Management Practices on the Farm Productivity and Food Security in Malawi
Authors: Innocent Pangapanga, Eric Mungatana
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Fall armyworm (FAW) (Spodoptera frugiperda), an invasive lepidopteran pest, has caused substantial yield loss since its first detection in September 2016, thereby threatening the farm productivity food security and poverty reduction initiatives in Malawi. Several stakeholders, including households, have adopted chemical pesticides to control FAW without accounting for its costs on welfare, health and the environment. Thus, this study has used panel data endogenous switching regression model to investigate the impact of FAW and the integrated pest management (IPM) –related practices on-farm productivity and food security. The study finds that FAW substantively reduces farm productivity by seven (7) percent and influences the adoption of IPM –related practices, namely, intercropping, mulching, and agroforestry, by 6 percent, ceteris paribus. Interestingly, multiple adoptions of the IPM -related practices noticeably increase farm productivity by 21 percent. After accounting for potential endogeneity through the endogenous switching regression model, the IPM practices further demonstrate tenfold more improvement on food security, implying the role of the IPM –related practices in containing the effect of FAW at the household level.Keywords: hunger, invasive fall army worms, integrated pest management practices, farm productivity, endogenous switching regression
Procedia PDF Downloads 1287001 Models of Environmental, Crack Propagation of Some Aluminium Alloys (7xxx)
Authors: H. A. Jawan
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This review describes the models of environmental-related crack propagation of aluminum alloys (7xxx) during the last few decades. Acknowledge on effects of different factors on the susceptibility to SCC permits to propose valuable mechanisms on crack advancement. The reliable mechanism of cracking give a possibility to propose the optimum chemical composition and thermal treatment conditions resulting in microstructure the most suitable for real environmental condition and stress state.Keywords: microstructure, environmental, propagation, mechanism
Procedia PDF Downloads 4147000 Visibility as a Catalyst for Driving LGBT-Inclusive Growth in India: Rethinking the Diversity and Inclusion Model
Authors: Koel Chakraborty
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This paper critically examines the role of ‘disclosure and visibility’ of sexual minorities in a heteronormative organizational setting. The paper wishes to comment on the importance of promoting ‘visibility’ as an important catalyst in increasing the efficacy of outreach programs as part of diversity management practices as well as increasing the efficacy of teams. The aim of the research is to assess the pitfalls of not bringing ‘one’s authentic or whole self’ to work. In doing so, it will address whether Inclusive Leadership at the top propels employees to come out. The paper finally discusses and recommends strategies that could be helpful toward attaining and improving the visibility factor at a cross-functional level. This is a qualitative research with interviews and surveys conducted in inclusive workplace environments across various private sector companies in India.Keywords: LGBT, diversity, organisation, leadership
Procedia PDF Downloads 1996999 Relationship between Financial Reporting Transparency and Investment Efficiency: Evidence from Iran
Authors: Bita Mashayekhi, Hamid Kalhornia
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One of the most important roles of financial reporting is improving the firms’ investment decisions; however, there is not much supporting evidence for this claim in emerging markets like Iran. In this study, the effect of financial reporting transparency in investment efficiency of Iranian firms has been investigated. In order to do this, 336 listed companies on Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE) has been selected for time period 2012 to 2015 as research sample. For testing our main hypothesis, we classified sample firms into two groups based on their deviation from expected investment: under-investment and over-investment cases. The results indicate that there is positive significant relationship between financial transparency and investment efficiency. In the other words, transparency can mitigate both underinvestment and overinvestment situations.Keywords: corporate governance, disclosure, investment decisions, investment efficiency, transparency
Procedia PDF Downloads 3656998 Pollution-Sources, Controls, and Impact Analysis
Authors: Aditi Acharya
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Environmental pollution is threatening the environmental and human health in the most drastic way. This paper provides insight about the affects of environmental pollution in the perspective of water pollution. Sewage in drinking water, the increasing contamination of water bodies and water resources and the human beings are the major contributors, increasing the harsh activities of pollution. The research presents information about the sources of pollution, its impacts and control activities to be undertaken to make our environment free from water pollution.Keywords: environmental pollution, water pollution, nanotechnology, nanomaterials
Procedia PDF Downloads 3576997 Models of Environmental: Cracker Propagation of Some Aluminum Alloys (7xxx)
Authors: H. Jawan
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This review describes the models of environmental-related crack propagation of aluminum alloys (7xxx) during the last few decades. Acknowledge on effects of different factors on the susceptibility to SCC permits to propose valuable mechanisms on crack advancement. The reliable mechanism of cracking give a possibility to propose the optimum chemical composition and thermal treatment conditions resulting in microstructure the most suitable for real environmental condition and stress state.Keywords: microstructure, environmental, propagation, mechanism
Procedia PDF Downloads 3856996 The Role of Health Beliefs in Predicting and Explaining Risky Health Behaviours within Cystic Fibrosis
Authors: Rebecca Keyte, Helen Egan, Michail Mantzios
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It is well acknowledged that ongoing adherence is a major concern within CF. However recently literature has indicated that non-adherence should not be viewed just in terms of medical regimens. There are other damaging behaviours that some chronically ill patients engage in which can be viewed as a form of non-adherence, such as risky behaviours. Risky behaviours are a major concern within CF, as they can have adverse health effects on patients regardless of patients adherence to medical regimens. The risky behaviours this research is predominantly focusing on are smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, illicit drug use and risky sexual behaviour. This research investigates patient’s beliefs about their CF and the impact their CF has upon their life, exploring rationales for why some patients engage in risky behaviours. This research utilises qualitative semi-structured interviews taking an interpretive perspective. Twenty-four adult participants have been recruited (16 male, age range 19–66 yrs) from two UK regional CF centres, with a median FEV1 61.77% predicted. Participants were recruited via clinician guidance, with 13 participants identified by clinicians as partaking in risky behaviours. However, during the interviews 17 participants were identified as partaking in risky behaviours, illustrating that not all patients offer full disclosure of engagement in such behaviours to their clinicians. Preliminary findings illustrate a variety of reasons as to why some CF patients engage in risky behaviours, with many participants stating that one challenge in terms of living with CF is accepting their illness. Disclosure of illness was also an issue, the desire to be seen as ‘normal’ was important to many. It is often possible for CF patients to hide their illness as they do not always appear to be unwell. However, literature indicates a desire for normalcy can be accompanied with the engagement of normalised risky behaviours, enabling patients to retaliate against their illness identity. There was also evidence of a life-orientated perspective amongst participants, with some reporting that their desire for fun and enjoyment was the reason for why they were engaging in risky behaviours. Some participants did not acknowledge the impact their risky behaviours could have upon their CF, and others rationalised their continuation with the behaviours by suggesting that they were in fact beneficial to their health. There was an apparent lack of knowledge around the implications of risky behaviours, with participants indicating that they had not been informed of such potential consequences by their clinicians. Given the adverse health effects of risky behaviours within CF, more effective health promotion measures are needed to both reduce and more importantly prevent these behaviours. Due to the initiation of risky behaviours within the CF population commonly occurring during adolescence, the researcher now proposes to conduct semi-structured interviews with paediatric patients to investigate their awareness and beliefs towards risky behaviours. Overall, this research will highlight reasons why some CF patients engage in risky behaviours, in order to inform interventions aimed to prevent the initiation in risky behaviours by increasing patient awareness.Keywords: cystic fibrosis, health beliefs, preliminary findings, risky health behaviours
Procedia PDF Downloads 2876995 Environmental Issues in Construction Projects in India
Authors: Gurbir Singh Khaira, Anmoldeep Singh Kang
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Exposures to environmental pollution remain a major source of health risk throughout the world, though risks are generally higher in developing countries, where poverty, lack of investment in modern technology and weak environmental legislation combine to cause high pollution levels. This paper will tell us about the environment is threatened severely by so many problems, some of which are caused by the activities of Construction Projects. The research reveals major environmental impacts of building construction projects to include environmental pollution, resource depletion and habitat destruction causing Destruction of ecosystem, Desertification, Soil Erosion and increasing Material Wastage. Construction is considered as one of the main sources of environmental pollution in the world, the level of knowledge and awareness of project participants, especially project managers, with regards to environmental impacts of construction processes needs to be enhanced. It was found that ‘Transportation Resource’, ‘Noise Pollution’, and ‘Dust Generation with Construction Machinery’ are the greatest environmental impacts in INDIA respectively. The results of this study are useful for construction managers and other participants in construction sites to become aware of construction processes impacts on the environment.Keywords: construction projects, environmental impacts, material waste age, awareness
Procedia PDF Downloads 3716994 Strategic Analysis of Energy and Impact Assessment of Microalgae Based Biodiesel and Biogas Production in Outdoor Raceway Pond: A Life Cycle Perspective
Authors: T. Sarat Chandra, M. Maneesh Kumar, S. N. Mudliar, V. S. Chauhan, S. Mukherji, R. Sarada
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The life cycle assessment (LCA) of biodiesel production from freshwater microalgae Scenedesmus dimorphus cultivated in open raceway pond is performed. Various scenarios for biodiesel production were simulated using primary and secondary data. The parameters varied in the modelled scenarios were related to biomass productivity, mode of culture mixing and type of energy source. The process steps included algae cultivation in open raceway ponds, harvesting by chemical flocculation, dewatering by mechanical drying option (MDO) followed by extraction, reaction and purification. Anaerobic digestion of defatted algal biomass (DAB) for biogas generation is considered as a co-product allocation and the energy derived from DAB was thereby used in the upstream of the process. The scenarios were analysed for energy demand, emissions and environmental impacts within the boundary conditions grounded on "cradle to gate" inventory. Across all the Scenarios, cultivation via raceway pond was observed to be energy intensive process. The mode of culture mixing and biomass productivity determined the energy requirements of the cultivation step. Emissions to Freshwater were found to be maximum contributing to 93-97% of total emissions in all the scenarios. Global warming potential (GWP) was the found to be major environmental impact accounting to about 99% of total environmental impacts in all the modelled scenarios. It was noticed that overall emissions and impacts were directly related to energy demand and an inverse relationship was observed with biomass productivity. The geographic location of an energy source affected the environmental impact of a given process. The integration of defatted algal remnants derived electricity with the cultivation system resulted in a 2% reduction in overall energy demand. Direct biogas generation from microalgae post harvesting is also analysed. Energy surplus was observed after using part of the energy in upstream for biomass production. Results suggest biogas production from microalgae post harvesting as an environmentally viable and sustainable option compared to biodiesel production.Keywords: biomass productivity, energy demand, energy source, Lifecycle Assessment (LCA), microalgae, open raceway pond
Procedia PDF Downloads 2836993 Approach for Evaluating Wastewater Reuse Options in Agriculture
Authors: Manal Elgallal, Louise Fletcher, Barbara Evans
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Water scarcity is a growing concern in many arid and semi-arid countries. The increase of water scarcity threatens economic development and sustainability of human livelihoods as well as environment especially in developing countries. Globally, agriculture is the largest water consumption sector, accounting for approximately 70% of all freshwater extraction. Growing competition between the agricultural and higher economic value in urban and industrial uses of high-quality freshwater supplies, especially in regions where water scarcity major problems, will increase the pressure on this precious resource. In this circumstance, wastewater may provide reliable source of water for agriculture and enable freshwater to be exchanged for more economically valuable purposes. Concern regarding the risks from microbial and toxic components to human health and environment quality is a serious obstacle for wastewater reuse particularly in agriculture. Although powerful approaches and tools for microbial risk assessment and management for safe use of wastewater are now available, few studies have attempted to provide any mechanism to quantitatively assess and manage the environmental risks resulting from reusing wastewater. In seeking pragmatic solutions to sustainable wastewater reuse, there remains a lack of research incorporating both health and environmental risk assessment and management with economic analysis in order to quantitatively combine cost, benefits and risks to rank alternative reuse options. This study seeks to enhance effective reuse of wastewater for irrigation in arid and semi-arid areas, the outcome of the study is an evaluation approach that can be used to assess different reuse strategies and to determine the suitable scale at which treatment alternatives and interventions are possible, feasible and cost effective in order to optimise the trade-offs between risks to protect public health and the environment and preserving the substantial benefits.Keywords: environmental risks, management, life cycle costs, waste water irrigation
Procedia PDF Downloads 2566992 Mitigating CO2 Emissions in Developing Countries: The Role of Foreign Aid
Authors: Mohamed Boly
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This paper investigates the link between foreign aid and environmental protection, specifically CO2 emissions, in aid recipient countries. Conflicting results exist in the literature regarding the environmental impact of foreign aid. We come to reconcile them, using Project-Level Aid Data with environment codes, over the 1980- 2010 period. The disaggregation of aid according to the environmental codes, show why the results of previous literature remain very mixed. Moreover, we find that the effect of environmental aid is conditioned by some specific characteristics of the recipient country, independently of the donor.Keywords: foreign aid, green aid, interactive effects, pollution
Procedia PDF Downloads 2946991 How to Improve the Environmental Performance in a HEI in Mexico, an EEA Adaptation
Authors: Stephanie Aguirre Moreno, Jesús Everardo Olguín Tiznado, Claudia Camargo Wilson, Juan Andrés López Barreras
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This research work presents a proposal to evaluate the environmental performance of a Higher Education Institution (HEI) in Mexico in order to minimize their environmental impact. Given that public education has limited financial resources, it is necessary to conduct studies that support priorities in decision-making situations and thus obtain the best cost-benefit ratio of continuous improvement programs as part of the environmental management system implemented. The methodology employed, adapted from the Environmental Effect Analysis (EEA), weighs the environmental aspects identified in the environmental diagnosis by two characteristics. Number one, environmental priority through the perception of the stakeholders, compliance of legal requirements, and environmental impact of operations. Number two, the possibility of improvement, which depends of factors such as the exchange rate that will be made, the level of investment and the return time of it. The highest environmental priorities, or hot spots, identified in this evaluation were: electricity consumption, water consumption and recycling, and disposal of municipal solid waste. However, the possibility of improvement for the disposal of municipal solid waste is higher, followed by water consumption and recycling, in spite of having an equal possibility of improvement to the energy consumption, time of return and cost-benefit is much greater.Keywords: environmental performance, environmental priority, possibility of improvement, continuous improvement programs
Procedia PDF Downloads 4886990 Diagnosis on Environmental Impacts of Tourism at Caju Beach in Palmas, Tocantins, Brazil
Authors: Mary L. G. S. Senna, Veruska, C. Dutra, Jr., Keity L. F. Oliveira, Patrícia A. Santos, Alana C. M. Santana
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Environmental impacts are the changes in the physical, chemical or biological properties of natural areas that are most often caused by human actions on the environment and which have consequences for human health, society and the elements of nature. The identification of the environmental impacts is important so that they are mitigated, and above all that the mitigating measures are applied in the area. This work aims to identify the environmental impacts generated in the Praia do Caju area in the city of Palmas/Brazil and show that the lack of structure on the beach intensifies the environmental impacts. The present work was carried out having as parameter, the typologies of exploratory and descriptive and quantitative research through a matrix of environmental impacts through direct observation and registration. The study took place during the holidays from August to December 2016 and photographic record of impacts. From the collected data it was possible to verify that Caju beach suffers constant degradation due to irregular deposition.Keywords: leisure, tourism, environmental impacts, Brazil
Procedia PDF Downloads 3296989 Evaluation of Environmental, Technical, and Economic Indicators of a Fused Deposition Modeling Process
Authors: M. Yosofi, S. Ezeddini, A. Ollivier, V. Lavaste, C. Mayousse
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Additive manufacturing processes have changed significantly in a wide range of industries and their application progressed from rapid prototyping to production of end-use products. However, their environmental impact is still a rather open question. In order to support the growth of this technology in the industrial sector, environmental aspects should be considered and predictive models may help monitor and reduce the environmental footprint of the processes. This work presents predictive models based on a previously developed methodology for the environmental impact evaluation combined with a technical and economical assessment. Here we applied the methodology to the Fused Deposition Modeling process. First, we present the predictive models relative to different types of machines. Then, we present a decision-making tool designed to identify the optimum manufacturing strategy regarding technical, economic, and environmental criteria.Keywords: additive manufacturing, decision-makings, environmental impact, predictive models
Procedia PDF Downloads 1236988 Corporate Social Responsibility and Its Impact on Corporate Governance: Comparative Study between Listed Companies on Bucharest and Bombay Stock Exchange
Authors: L. Feleagă, M. Dumitrașcu, N. Feleagă
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This article is a research on corporate governance. The aim of the study is to focus a special attention on the importance of corporate social responsibility and corporate governance, which are relevant, indeed necessary, for organizations. In this regard, we analyzed the corporate social responsibility in the context of corporate governance for companies listed on Bucharest and Bombay Stock Exchange. Therefore, we bring into the spotlight some differences between India and Romania linked with the importance ascribed to corporate social responsibility of a company. We presented the results of the demarche and we concluded suggestions regarding further research in this area. The study increases the awareness, identifies and articulates desirable behaviors, which are not intended to be exhaustive.Keywords: corporate governance, corporate social responsibility, disclosure, listed companies
Procedia PDF Downloads 3026987 Environmental Awareness and Community Outreach: A Case Study of Speak Up World Foundation
Authors: Akshita Gaba, Ria P. Dey, Sanya Karotiya, Smrijanee Dash, Soni Gupta
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This research paper explores the significance of environmental awareness and community outreach initiatives undertaken by the Speak Up World Foundation; a non-profit organization founded in 2021. The study delves into the historical context of environmental issues, identifies the driving factors contributing to environmental degradation, and outlines tasks undertaken by the foundation to promote environmental consciousness. The paper also highlights the impact of these efforts on the community and emphasizes the need for continued dedication to ensure sustainable coexistence with our environment.Keywords: environment, social service, organization, degradation, survey
Procedia PDF Downloads 576986 Robotic Process Automation in Accounting and Finance Processes: An Impact Assessment of Benefits
Authors: Rafał Szmajser, Katarzyna Świetla, Mariusz Andrzejewski
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Robotic process automation (RPA) is a technology of repeatable business processes performed using computer programs, robots that simulate the work of a human being. This approach assumes replacing an existing employee with the use of dedicated software (software robots) to support activities, primarily repeated and uncomplicated, characterized by a low number of exceptions. RPA application is widespread in modern business services, particularly in the areas of Finance, Accounting and Human Resources Management. By utilizing this technology, the effectiveness of operations increases while reducing workload, minimizing possible errors in the process, and as a result, bringing measurable decrease in the cost of providing services. Regardless of how the use of modern information technology is assessed, there are also some doubts as to whether we should replace human activities in the implementation of the automation in business processes. After the initial awe for the new technological concept, a reflection arises: to what extent does the implementation of RPA increase the efficiency of operations or is there a Business Case for implementing it? If the business case is beneficial, in which business processes is the greatest potential for RPA? A closer look at these issues was provided by in this research during which the respondents’ view of the perceived advantages resulting from the use of robotization and automation in financial and accounting processes was verified. As a result of an online survey addressed to over 500 respondents from international companies, 162 complete answers were returned from the most important types of organizations in the modern business services industry, i.e. Business or IT Process Outsourcing (BPO/ITO), Shared Service Centers (SSC), Consulting/Advisory and their customers. Answers were provided by representatives of the positions in their organizations: Members of the Board, Directors, Managers and Experts/Specialists. The structure of the survey allowed the respondents to supplement the survey with additional comments and observations. The results formed the basis for the creation of a business case calculating tangible benefits associated with the implementation of automation in the selected financial processes. The results of the statistical analyses carried out with regard to revenue growth confirmed the correctness of the hypothesis that there is a correlation between job position and the perception of the impact of RPA implementation on individual benefits. Second hypothesis (H2) that: There is a relationship between the kind of company in the business services industry and the reception of the impact of RPA on individual benefits was thus not confirmed. Based results of survey authors performed simulation of business case for implementation of RPA in selected Finance and Accounting Processes. Calculated payback period was diametrically different ranging from 2 months for the Account Payables process with 75% savings and in the extreme case for the process Taxes implementation and maintenance costs exceed the savings resulting from the use of the robot.Keywords: automation, outsourcing, business process automation, process automation, robotic process automation, RPA, RPA business case, RPA benefits
Procedia PDF Downloads 1336985 Globalisation's Effect on Environmental Activism: A Multi-Level Analysis of Individuals in European Countries
Authors: Dafni Kalatzi Pantera
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How globalisation affects environmental activism? Existing research on this relationship focuses on the influence of the world polity on individuals’ willingness to participate in environmental movements. However, globalisation is a multidimensional process which promotes pro-environmental ideas through the world polity, but it also fosters economic growth which is considered antagonistic to the environment. This article models the way that globalisation as a whole affects individuals’ willingness to participate in environmental activism, and the main argument is that globalisation’s impact is conditional on political ideology. To test the above hypothesis, individual and country level data are used for European countries between 1981-2020. The results support the expectation of the article that although globalisation has a positive impact on individuals’ willingness to participate in environmental activism when it interacts with political ideology, its influence differs between ideological spectrums.Keywords: environmental activism, globalisation, political ideology, world polity
Procedia PDF Downloads 1906984 Visual Template Detection and Compositional Automatic Regular Expression Generation for Business Invoice Extraction
Authors: Anthony Proschka, Deepak Mishra, Merlyn Ramanan, Zurab Baratashvili
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Small and medium-sized businesses receive over 160 billion invoices every year. Since these documents exhibit many subtle differences in layout and text, extracting structured fields such as sender name, amount, and VAT rate from them automatically is an open research question. In this paper, existing work in template-based document extraction is extended, and a system is devised that is able to reliably extract all required fields for up to 70% of all documents in the data set, more than any other previously reported method. The approaches are described for 1) detecting through visual features which template a given document belongs to, 2) automatically generating extraction rules for a given new template by composing regular expressions from multiple components, and 3) computing confidence scores that indicate the accuracy of the automatic extractions. The system can generate templates with as little as one training sample and only requires the ground truth field values instead of detailed annotations such as bounding boxes that are hard to obtain. The system is deployed and used inside a commercial accounting software.Keywords: data mining, information retrieval, business, feature extraction, layout, business data processing, document handling, end-user trained information extraction, document archiving, scanned business documents, automated document processing, F1-measure, commercial accounting software
Procedia PDF Downloads 1266983 Common Laws Principles: A Way to Solve Global Environmental Change
Authors: Neelam Kadyan
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Global environmental change is happening at an alarming rate in the present world. Floods, Tsunamis’, Avalanches, Change in Weather patterns, Rise in sea temperature, Landslides, are only few evidences of this change. To regulate such alarming growth of global change in environment certain regulatory system or mechanism is required. Nuisance,negligence,absolute liability,strict liability and trespass are some of the effective common law principles which are helpful in environmental problems. What we need today is sufficient law and adequate machinery to enforce the legal standards. Without law environmental standards cannot be enforced and once again there is need to adopt the common law approach in solving the problem of environmental change as through this approach the affected person can get compensation and as the same time it puts check on wrongdoer.Keywords: global environmental problems, nuisance, negligence, trespass, strict liability, absolute liability
Procedia PDF Downloads 5576982 Application of Environmental Justice Concept in Urban Planning, The Peri-Urban Environment of Tehran as the Case Study
Authors: Zahra Khodaee
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Environmental Justice (EJ) concept consists of multifaceted movements, community struggles, and discourses in contemporary societies that seek to reduce environmental risks, increase environmental protections, and generally reduce environmental inequalities suffered by minority and poor communities; a term that incorporates ‘environmental racism’ and ‘environmental classism,’ captures the idea that different racial and socioeconomic groups experience differential access to environmental quality. This article explores environmental justice as an urban phenomenon in urban planning and applies it in peri-urban environment of a metropolis. Tehran peri-urban environments which are the result of meeting the city- village- nature systems or «city-village junction» have gradually faced effects such as accelerated environmental decline, changes without land-use plan, and severe service deficiencies. These problems are instances of environmental injustice which make the planners to adjust the problems and use and apply the appropriate strategies and policies by looking for solutions and resorting to theories, techniques and methods related to environmental justice. In order to access to this goal, try to define environmental justice through justice and determining environmental justice indices to analysis environmental injustice in case study. Then, make an effort to introduce some criteria to select case study in two micro and micro levels. Qiyamdasht town as the peri-urban environment of Tehran metropolis is chosen and examined to show the existence of environmental injustice by questionnaire analysis and SPSS software. Finally, use AIDA technique to design a strategic plan and reduce environmental injustice in case study by introducing the better scenario to be used in policy and decision making areas.Keywords: environmental justice, metropolis of Tehran, Qiyam, Dasht peri, urban settlement, analysis of interconnected decision area (AIDA)
Procedia PDF Downloads 4806981 Empirical Evidence on the Need for Harmonization of Audit Criteria for Small Enterprises in India
Authors: Satinder Bhatia
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Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs) was a concept introduced in India in 2009. Ever since then, there has been a fierce growth in the number of organizations registered as LLPs outpacing the number of registrations as private companies. Among other benefits extended to LLPs, the audit being mandated only for LLPs having a turnover of at least Rs 40 lakhs or capital contribution of Rs 25 lakhs, has been a major attraction. This has resulted in only about 10 per cent of LLPs coming under mandatory audit. Even for such companies, the accounting standards to be followed in the preparation of financial statements have not been specified. The Revised Indian Accounting Standards (Revised IndAS) which are aligned with IFRS to a great extent, may apply to LLPs only under limited conditions. Thus, the veracity of even the audited financial statements of LLPs can be questioned. If in future, these LLPs would like to list on a stock exchange to raise capital, there can be serious hurdles if investors do not find the financial statements to be reliable and consistent. LLPs are generally governed by country-specific rules in the area of accounts and audit. Thus, such rules vary across UK, EU and the USA. Some countries have adopted the IFRS for SMEs and since LLPs can be referred to as SMEs; they would come under the ambit of these IFRS provisions. Besides, as the scope of audit widens to cover qualitative information in addition to quantitative data, audit of LLPs has now acquired a new meaning and a new urgency as demands for at least limited purpose audits are arising from different stakeholders including lenders, suppliers, customers and joint venture partners.Keywords: audit disclosures, audit quality, guidance for SMEs, non-audit services
Procedia PDF Downloads 1516980 Environmental Corporate Social Responsibility in Industrial Cities: A Collaborative Governance Approach
Authors: Muhlisin, Moh. Sofyan Budiarto
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Corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives based on charity and philanthropy have not alleviated many sustainable environmental issues, particularly in industrial towns. The collaborative governance strategy is seen to be an option for resolving difficulties of coordination and communication between businesses, the government, and the community so that the goals of urban environmental management can be met via collaborative efforts. The purpose of this research is to identify the different forms of environmental CSR implementation by corporate entities and to create a CSR collaborative governance model in environmental management. This qualitative investigation was carried out in 2020 in Cilegon City, one of Indonesia’s industrial cities. To investigate their support, a total of 20 informants from three stakeholder groups, namely the government, corporate entities, and the community, were questioned. According to the study’s findings, cleaner production, eco-office, energy and natural resource conservation, waste management, renewable energy, climate change adaptation, and environmental education are all examples of CSR application in the environmental sector. The environmental potential of CSR implementation is to create collaborative governance. The role of business entities in providing the beginning circumstances is critical, while the government offers facilitative leadership and the CSR forum launches institutional design. These three factors are crucial to the efficiency of collaborative governance in industrial cities' environmental management.Keywords: collaborative governance, CSR forum, environmental CSR, industrial city
Procedia PDF Downloads 796979 Between Riots and Protests: A Structural Approach to Urban Environmental Uprisings in China
Authors: Zi Zhu
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The last decade has witnessed increasing urban environmental uprisings in China, as thousands of citizens swarmed into streets to express their deep concerns about the environmental threat and public health through various collective actions. The prevalent western approaches to collective actions, which usually treat urban riots and social movements as distinct phenomenon, have plagued an adequate analysis of the urban environmental uprisings in China. The increasing urban environmental contention can neither be categorized into riots nor social movements, as they carry the features of both: at first sight, they are spontaneous, disorganized and disruptive with an absence of observable mobilization process; however, unlike riots in the west, these collective actions conveyed explicit demand in a mostly non-destructive way rather than a pure expression of frustration. This article proposes a different approach to urban environmental uprisings in China which concerns the diminishing boundaries between riots and social movements and points to the underlying structural causes to the unique forms of urban environmental contention. Taking the urban anti-PX protests as examples, this article analyzes the societal and political structural environment faced by the Chinese environmental protesters and its influence on the origin and development of their contention.Keywords: urban environmental uprisings, China, anti-PX protests, opportunity structure
Procedia PDF Downloads 285