Validation of a measurement scale for the relationship between the orientation to corporate social responsibility and other business strategic variables

The importance of Social Responsibility (SR) is higher if this business variable is related with other ones of strategic nature in business activity (competitive success that the company achieved, performance that the firms develop and innovations that they carries out). The hypothesis is that organizations that focus on SR are those who get higher outputs and innovate more, achieving greater competitive success. A scale for measuring the orientation to SR has defined in order to determine the degree of relationship between above elements. This instrument is original because previous scales do not exist in the literature which could measure, on the one hand, the three classics sub-constructs theoretically accepted that SR is made up and, on the other hand, the relationship between SR and the other variables. As a result of causal relationships analysis we conclude with a scale of 21 indicators, validated scale with a sample of firms belonging to the Autonomous Community of Extremadura and it is the first empirical validation of these dimensions we know so far, in this context.

Action, reaction and protest by publishers in 1960s Portugal: books and other publications in the Catholic opposition

The authoritarian regime of the Portuguese Estado Novo (New State), the longest dictatorship in twentieth-century Western Europe, suffered one of its most serious threats during the late 1950s and the whole of the following decade. An array of events and dynamics of opposition to the regime and condemnation of the political and social situation in Portugal appeared at that time. One of the core groups that displayed their dissidence in the 1960s, with the awakening of their critical conscience, originated in Catholic sectors that rallied the laity and the clergy to express their disagreement or even break with the government of Salazar (and, later, Marcelo Caetano). This article aims to establish the role of print culture and, in particular, publishing in the opposition’s mobilisation of Catholics who criticised the Estado Novo. It will also closely examine the contribution of certain publishers to the formulation of the terms of this mobilisation, in publishing new authors and topics and creating new printed forums (e.g. periodicals) for discussion and reflection. The most detailed case will be that of the publishing house Livraria Moraes Editora, under the command of the publisher António Alçada Baptista.

Education for health: alcohol and young aged school teenagers

Introduction: Alcohol consumption starts at an early age in Portuguese people. Health problems and risk behavior associated with excessive consumption can be prevented or highly reduced through effective school programs. Health professionals, such as biomedical scientists, (BSc), are important in promoting healthy lifestyles through the transmission of knowledge. Objective: Explore the role of the BSc in promoting health via intervention and clarification actions, (ICA), with 9th grade students from Agrupamento de Escolas da Portela e Moscavide (AEPM) and Visconde Juromenha (AEVJ); Verify the relationship between participating in the ICA and the level of knowledge acquired from it. Methods: Behaviors and beliefs concerning alcohol consumption and knowledge about the repercussions of it in the human body, mainly regarding the liver, were assessed by questionnaire. The questionnaire was completed before and after the ICA, by the control group (CG) and the study group (SG), respectively. The answers concerning knowledge were given points, later converted to a score from 0 to 100%. Data was analyzed applying descriptive statistics and the t-student test using SPSS 20.0. Results: After statistical analysis, it was found an average score of 48.8% for SG and 46.2% for CG. The difference between groups was statistically significant only in AEPM where ICA included a practical methodology (microscopic and macroscopic observation of pork livers), contrary to AEVJ. Conclusions: BSc intervention through ICA’s improves teenagers’ knowledge. Theoretical knowledge associated with practical approaches improves the retention of information and the development of a conscious behavior about the consumption of alcohol.

Brownian bridge and other path-dependent Gaussian processes vectorial simulation

The iterative simulation of the Brownian bridge is well known. In this article, we present a vectorial simulation alternative based on Gaussian processes for machine learning regression that is suitable for interpreted programming languages implementations. We extend the vectorial simulation of path-dependent trajectories to other Gaussian processes, namely, sequences of Brownian bridges, geometric Brownian motion, fractional Brownian motion, and Ornstein-Ulenbeck mean reversion process.

Electrorheological characterization of dispersions in silicone oil of encapsulated liquid crystal 4-n-penthyl-4 '-cyanobiphenyl in polyvinyl alcohol and in silica

The electrorheological (ER) effect is known as the change in the apparent viscosity upon the application of an external electric field perpendicular to the flow direction. In this work we present the electrorheological behaviour of suspensions in silicone oil of two different dispersed phases: foams of liquid crystal 4-n-penthyl-4'-cyanobiphenyl (5CB) encapsulated in polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and nano/microspheres of 5CB encapsulated in silica. We will present the viscosity curves under the application of an electric field ranging between 0 and 3 kV mm(-1). The ER effect was observed for the suspensions of 5CB/PVA but not in the case of 5CB/silica. For the case of the suspensions of 5CB/PVA, the effect of the viscosity of the continuum phase and the concentration of the dispersed phase was analysed, showing that the enhancement of the viscosity of the suspension increases with the concentration, as expected, however the continuum phase viscosity has no significant effect, at least in the investigated viscosity range.

Soliton-type and other travelling wave solutions for an improved class of nonlinear sixth-order Boussinesq equations

An improved class of nonlinear bidirectional Boussinesq equations of sixth order using a wave surface elevation formulation is derived. Exact travelling wave solutions for the proposed class of nonlinear evolution equations are deduced. A new exact travelling wave solution is found which is the uniform limit of a geometric series. The ratio of this series is proportional to a classical soliton-type solution of the form of the square of a hyperbolic secant function. This happens for some values of the wave propagation velocity. However, there are other values of this velocity which display this new type of soliton, but the classical soliton structure vanishes in some regions of the domain. Exact solutions of the form of the square of the classical soliton are also deduced. In some cases, we find that the ratio between the amplitude of this wave and the amplitude of the classical soliton is equal to 35/36. It is shown that different families of travelling wave solutions are associated with different values of the parameters introduced in the improved equations.