Non-Financial Reporting In Emerging Economies Central and South-East Europe

The research currently presented is related to non-financial reporting and the prevailing reporting practices employed by enterprises posing risks to the environment. The worldwide economy is in a continuous change and the companies must face all the new challenges to assure a good development of their business. One of the most pressing challenge is related to the reporting of information in an integrate form. It is considered that the traditional model of financial reporting does not represent a comprehensive image to assess the previous and future performance of a company. According to the Directive 2014/95/EU regulations, reporting of non-financial information encompasses three major areas: environmental, social, and labour. Each is equally important, though environmental issues seem of particular significance in enterprises posing risks to the environment. The natural environment and its protection are important from the viewpoint of future generations. The transition from voluntary disclosure of non-financial information to mandatory regulation in the EU has taken place due to continuous increasing needs to have more transparency and rigor of information disclosed by companies. Indeed, voluntary reporting of CSR has many aspects of weakness, it is difficult to compare the information of different companies; it is a tool to avoid regulation; lack of execution and accountability; and leads to rhetoric, as corporations continue to create many problems for society.

Extrastriate Visual Areas Integrate Form Features over Space and Time to Construct Representations of Stationary and Rigidly Rotating Objects

When an object moves behind a bush, for example, its visible fragments are revealed at different times and locations across the visual field. Nonetheless, a whole moving object is perceived. Unlike traditional modal and amodal completion mechanisms known to support spatial form integration when all parts of a stimulus are simultaneously visible, relatively little is known about the neural substrates of the spatiotemporal form integration (STFI) processes involved in generating coherent object representations from a succession visible fragments. We used fMRI to identify brain regions involved in two mechanisms supporting the representation of stationary and rigidly rotating objects whose form features are shown in succession: STFI and position updating. STFI allows past and present form cues to be integrated over space and time into a coherent object even when the object is not visible in any given frame. STFI can occur whether or not the object is moving. Position updating allows us to perceive a moving object, whether rigidly rotating or translating, even when its form features are revealed at different times and locations in space. Our results suggest that STFI is mediated by visual regions beyond V1 and V2. Moreover, although widespread cortical activation has been observed for other motion percepts derived solely from form-based analyses [Tse, P. U. Neural correlates of transformational apparent motion. Neuroimage, 31, 766–773, 2006; Krekelberg, B., Vatakis, A., & Kourtzi, Z. Implied motion from form in the human visual cortex. Journal of Neurophysiology, 94, 4373–4386, 2005], increased responses for the position updating that lead to rigidly rotating object representations were only observed in visual areas KO and possibly hMT+, indicating that this is a distinct and highly specialized type of processing.

An integrative method for testing form–function linkages and reconstructed evolutionary pathways of masticatory specialization

Morphology serves as a ubiquitous proxy in macroevolutionary studies to identify potential adaptive processes and patterns. Inferences of functional significance of phenotypes or their evolution are overwhelmingly based on data from living taxa. Yet, correspondence between form and function has been tested in only a few model species, and those linkages are highly complex. The lack of explicit methodologies to integrate form and function analyses within a deep-time and phylogenetic context weakens inferences of adaptive morphological evolution, by invoking but not testing form–function linkages. Here, we provide a novel approach to test mechanical properties at reconstructed ancestral nodes/taxa and the strength and direction of evolutionary pathways in feeding biomechanics, in a case study of carnivorous mammals. Using biomechanical profile comparisons that provide functional signals for the separation of feeding morphologies, we demonstrate, using experimental optimization criteria on estimation of strength and direction of functional changes on a phylogeny, that convergence in mechanical properties and degree of evolutionary optimization can be decoupled. This integrative approach is broadly applicable to other clades, by using quantitative data and model-based tests to evaluate interpretations of function from morphology and functional explanations for observed macroevolutionary pathways.

Towards Fabrication Information Modeling (FIM): Four Case Models to Derive Designs informed by Multi-Scale Trans-Disciplinary Data

ABSTRACTDespite recent advancements in digital fabrication and manufacturing, limitations associated with computational tools are preventing further progress in the design of non-standard architectures. This paper sets the stage for a new theoretical framework and an applied approach for the design and fabrication of geometrically and materially complex functional designs coined Fabrication Information Modeling (FIM). We demonstrate systems designed to integrate form generation, digital fabrication, and material computation starting from the physical and arriving at the virtual environment. The paper reviews four computational strategies for the design of custom systems through multi-scale trans-disciplinary data, which are classified and ordered by the level of overlap between the modeling media and the fabrication media: (1) the first model takes as input biological data and outputs 3D printed digital materials organized according to functional constraints; (2) the second model takes as input geometry and environmental data and outputs robotically wound fibers organized according to functional constraints; (3) the third model takes as input material and environmental data and outputs CNC deposited pastes organized according to functional constraints; (4) the forth model takes as input biological, material and environmental data and outputs robotically deposited polymers organized according to functional constraints. The analysis of these models will demonstrate the FIM approach and point towards its value to designers who seek to inform their work through multi-scale transdisciplinary data, a capability that is currently missing from standard design-to-fabrication workflows.