Unique Measure Research Articles

Does the EU sustainable finance disclosure regulation mitigate greenwashing?

This paper examines the impact of the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) on greenwashing by equity mutual funds in the EU. We propose a unique measure called the Greenwashing Index, based on a fund's decarbonisation effort relative to its flows, to quantify the level of greenwashing. Using a difference-in-differences analysis, we find that following the enactment of the SFDR, Article 9 funds experience a lower level in their greenwashing index relative to a control group of funds. However, for Article 8 funds we do not observe any significant reduction in the level of their greenwashing index relative to the same control group. We also use a regression discontinuity design (RDD) and find that the decline in the greenwashing index is more concentrated in Article 9 than in Article 8 funds which indicates a different effect of the SFDR on greenwashing behaviour between those funds. Our findings also show that Article 9 funds decarbonise their portfolios by primarily following a portfolio tilting strategy to overweight low carbon-intensive holdings following the introduction of the SFDR.

Nexus Between Fair Pay and Say-on-Pay Votes

This study explores the magnitude of shareholders’ say-on-pay (SOP) votes and its impact on CEO compensation. This study draws its sample from US Russell 3000 companies, the largest US companies, from 2011 to 2019. By creating a dummy variable, we further divided our sample into Russell 3000 and S&P 500 for peer comparison. This study employs descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and pooled OLS regression and finds that CEO compensation has a significant negative association with pay gap opposition. The coefficient and t-statistic were greater for the S&P 500 than for the Russell group. The study also finds that the CEO-to-employee pay ratio (CTE) is positively correlated with the number of shareholders’ dissenting votes. The coefficient and t-statistic were greater for the Russell group than for the S&P 500 group. Each additional point of CTE increases shareholder dissent votes by 1.4% for the Russell 3000 companies. This study has important implications for corporate directors, investors, and policymakers. The study contributes to the corporate governance literature, particularly on executive compensation. Our findings support the perspective of social comparison theory and contend that shareholders view CEO compensation as a biased evaluation of their contribution to the firm. We have developed a unique measure of the CEO-to-employee pay ratio, which is based on SEC methodology. Our findings provide empirical evidence for investors and policymakers in the U.S. and other jurisdictions.

Mixing Cutoff for Simple Random Walks on the Chung–Lu Digraph

ABSTRACTIn this article, we are interested in the mixing behavior of simple random walks on inhomogeneous directed graphs. We focus our study on Chung–Lu digraphs, which are inhomogeneous networks that generalize Erdös–Rényi digraphs, and where edges are included independently and according to given Bernoulli laws. To guarantee that a unique equilibrium measure exists with high probability, we assume that the average degree grows logarithmically in the size of the graph. In this weakly sparse regime, we prove that the total variation distance to equilibrium displays a cutoff behavior at the entropic time of order . Moreover, we prove that on a precise window the cutoff profile converges to the Gaussian tail function. This is qualitatively similar to what was proved by Bordenave et al. and Cai et al. for the directed configuration model. In terms of statistical ensembles, our analysis provides an extension of these cutoff results from a hard to a soft‐constrained model.MSC2010 Classification: 60J10, 05C80, 05C81

Affective polarization in a word: Open-ended and self-coded evaluations of partisan affect.

The literature finds that partisanship drives negative emotional evaluations of out-partisans. Yet, scholars base these insights on measures-like thermometers, candidate evaluations, and social-distance measures-that discount the sentiment attached to individuals' negative attitudes. We introduce a unique measure of affect capturing the motivation underpinning partisans' attitudes. Our measure asks respondents for one-word to describe voters in their party and the opposing party. Then respondents code the sentiment behind their word choice themselves. Together, our measure produces qualitative and quantitative measures of respondents' affect. We find that our self-coded open-ended measure has strong face validity and correlates strongly with existing affect measures. This measure advances our understating of partisan affect by allowing scholars a window into respondents' state of mind. Scholars can easily apply our measure's procedure beyond partisanship to other groups of interest.

Impact assessment of wastewater on water quality using new quality indices and multiple linear regression

The Wastewater Quality Index (WWQI) is a unique measure that synthesizes the overall quality of wastewater. The main objective of the study was to evaluate whether the quality of wastewater reaching the treatment plant is suitable for optimal disposal using the WWQI approach. To understand the correlation between the determined indicators, Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated, so that the results of the analyses reflect the overall quality of the evaluated wastewater. Additionally, statistical analysis was employed to develop a simple prediction model through multiple linear regression (MLR) to predict WWQI based on various wastewater quality parameters. The results indicate good and regular quality of treated wastewater for safe disposal, according to the classification of WWQI levels, and the prediction model yielded values similar to those estimated.

Impact assessment of wastewater on water quality using new quality indices and multiple linear regression

The Wastewater Quality Index (WWQI) is a unique measure that synthesizes the overall quality of wastewater. The main objective of the study was to evaluate whether the quality of wastewater reaching the treatment plant is suitable for optimal disposal using the WWQI approach. To understand the correlation between the determined indicators, Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated, so that the results of the analyses reflect the overall quality of the evaluated wastewater. Additionally, statistical analysis was employed to develop a simple prediction model through multiple linear regression (MLR) to predict WWQI based on various wastewater quality parameters. The results indicate good and regular quality of treated wastewater for safe disposal, according to the classification of WWQI levels, and the prediction model yielded values similar to those estimated.

Reimagining Sustainable Development and Economic Performance Indicators: A Human-Centric Maslow–Bossel Blueprint

Reflecting the shift from purely quantitative economic growth to broader socio-environmental sustainability, this study proposes a framework for assessing sustainable development (SD) by integrating Maslow’s hierarchy of needs with Bossel’s classification system. As economic development increasingly emphasizes sustainability, numerous organizations and agencies, including the United Nations, have developed indicators to measure sustainable progress. However, subjective dimensions of SD, grounded in individual values and needs, remain underexplored. This study operationalizes Maslow’s “pyramid of needs” alongside Bossel’s system to establish an “SD pyramid”, distinguishing dimensions and indicators that capture social, economic, and environmental complexity. By mapping human needs onto the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), this study contributes to delineating (i) the research areas uncovered (or partly covered) with relevant indicators, (ii) a significant lack or partial shortage of pertinent information, and (iii) a combination of a few basic indicators summarizing the necessary information into a unique measure of SD. The outcomes offer a foundation for a quali-quantitative assessment of SD, enhancing the monitoring tools focusing on subjective and contextual needs.

A note on the topological synchronization of unimodal maps

Abstract In this note we complete the analysis carried on in Caby et al (2023 Nonlinearity 36 3603–21) about the topological synchronisation of unimodal maps of the interval coupled in a master–slave configuration, by answering to the questions raised in that Paper. Namely, we compute the weak limits of the invariant measure of the coupled system as the coupling strength k ∈ ( 0 , 1 ) tends to 0 and to 1 and discuss the uniqueness of the invariant measure of its random dynamical system counterpart, proving that the convergence of the associated Markov chain to its unique stationary measure is geometric.

Fourier Series for Singular Measures in Higher Dimensions

Fourier Series for Singular Measures in Higher Dimensions

The Effect of Job Satisfaction on Organizational Performance: The Mediating Role of Managerial Values Congruence

Purpose – This study addresses this gap by examining how managerial values congruence, representing alignment between employees and managerial values, mediates the relationship between job satisfaction and organizational perfor-mance. Aims(s) – The study aims to use a unique measure of employee job satisfaction that specifically reflects their level of contentment with their employment and working environment. Design/methodology/approach – The author employed a quantitative research approach using a cross-sectional survey design to collect data about the popula-tion at the time of the study. The sample size consisted of 500 staff members from colleges of education, selected through convenience sampling techniques. Findings – By elucidating the mediating mechanism, our study contributes to a deeper understanding of the drivers of organizational effectiveness and offers practical insights for human resource management practices. Limitations of the study – A limitation of this study is the lack of a longitudinal design, which restricts the understanding of causal relationships and temporal dynamics. Therefore, future research could explore these relationships through longitudinal studies, cross-cultural comparisons, and multi-level modeling tech-niques. Additionally, qualitative methods, such as interviews or case studies, could provide deeper insights into the mechanisms and contextual factors un-derlying these relationships. Originality/value – The originality of this research lies in examining the mediat-ing role of managerial values congruence between job satisfaction and organiza-tional performance, contributing to the development of social exchange theory and providing practical recommendations for improving organizational pro-cesses.

Principiul măsurii educative unice – sistemul sancționator al pluralității de infracțiuni comise de un minor

Representing one of the evolving areas of criminal law, juvenile justice is changing the spirit of all the regulations towards a vision essentially focused on the overall personality of the juvenile offender. In this respect, the multiple offences and the related sanctioning system have been adapted to such a philosophy, embodied, inter alia, in the sanctioning system of the unique educational measure, which is also regulated in our law by the provision of article 129, paragraph 1, of the Criminal Code. This article wishes to emphasize that, with the configuration of such a particularity, difficulties arise in understanding the need for such a distinct sanctioning system from the one applicable to adults, in establishing in a predictable and precise manner the forms of the multiple offences existing in the case of juveniles and in individualizing the resultant sanction in a flexible and proportionate manner. Finally, the article raises some problematic issues regarding the cases of reindividualization of the resultant unique educational measure, as well as some incongruities between the conditions stipulated by the legislator for the imposition of a custodial educational measure and the conditions of the procedural solution of waiver of prosecution.

Efficiency of a Long-term Infectious Diseases Consultation and Antimicrobial Stewardship Program at a Japanese Cancer Center: An Interrupted Time-Series Analysis.

Patients with cancer are particularly susceptible to developing drug-resistant organisms due to the high frequency of infections during cancer treatment and the use of broad-spectrum antimicrobial agents. Therefore, patients with cancer are ideal candidates for an antimicrobial stewardship program (ASP); however, no established ASPs specifically target these patients. In this study, we evaluated the effect of a 46-month ASP intervention and infectious diseases consultation using a unique antimicrobial quality measure. Our single-center, retrospective, observational study was conducted from 1 April 2018 to 31 January 2024 and evaluated 2 phases: preintervention (antimicrobial notification by the infection control team) and postintervention (implementation of ASP and establishment of the infectious diseases consultation service). The days of therapy (DOT) for 3 intravenous carbapenems significantly decreased, and the DOT of narrow-spectrum antimicrobials significantly increased after the intervention. A significant reduction was observed in the length of hospital stay, with no change in the incidence of hospital-acquired resistant microorganisms. All-cause in-hospital mortality rates and the 30-day mortality rate among patients with bacteremia episodes were numerically reduced, although not significantly, compared to the preintervention period. The rate of appropriate use of antimicrobial agents increased significantly during the late postintervention period (1 April 2021 to 31 January 2024). Our intervention was associated with the promotion of appropriate use of antimicrobial agents and a reduction in the length of hospital stay. These findings can help establish safer cancer treatments and improve patient prognosis.

Kiselman minimum principle and rooftop envelopes in complex Hessian equations

We initiate the study of m-subharmonic functions with respect to a semipositive (1, 1)-form in Euclidean domains, providing a significant element in understanding geodesics within the context of complex Hessian equations. Based on the foundational Perron envelope construction, we prove a decomposition of m-subharmonic solutions, and a general comparison principle that effectively manages singular Hessian measures. Additionally, we establish a rooftop equality and an analogue of the Kiselman minimum principle, which are crucial ingredients in establishing a criterion for geodesic connectivity among m-subharmonic functions, expressed in terms of their asymptotic envelopes.

Self-interacting CBO: Existence, uniqueness, and long-time convergence

A self-interacting dynamics that mimics the standard Consensus-Based Optimization (CBO) model is introduced. This single-particle dynamics is shown to converge to a unique invariant measure that approximates the global minimum of a given function. As an application, its connection to CBO with Personal Best introduced by C. Totzeck and M.-T. Wolfram (Math. Biosci. Eng., 2020) has been established.

Cognitive computing method based on decoding psychological emotional states

The current artificial intelligence is constrained to passively executing human command control. It cannot perceive, learn, and guide itself. Furthermore, the majority of these systems are unable to comprehend the human psychological cognitive state or emotional intention actively. To enhance the universality and generalization ability of existing emotion recognition methods, a psychological emotion state decoding method combining singular spectrum analysis and entropy measure is designed based on an electroencephalography signal. This method is developed to empower the cognitive computing system with the ability to perceive emotions. The entropy measure is accelerated by the vector dissimilarity criterion. Finally, dynamic sample entropy model learning is used to realize the cognitive calculation of psychological and emotional state recognition. The results demonstrated that the computational efficiency of the proposed decoding algorithm was significantly improved. The average recognition accuracy of positive and negative emotional states reached 82.78±16.22. The best recognition accuracy of the proposed electroencephalography emotion recognition method was 84.64 %. The proposed electroencephalography emotion recognition method demonstrated an accuracy of 64.15 % in recognizing cross-individual positive, neutral, and negative emotional states. The proposed emotion recognition method shows better universality and generalization performance, and can effectively identify people's psychological and emotional states.

Application of New Fuzzy Measure in Multi-Attribute Decision-Making

The implementation of multi-attribute decision-making (MADM) and the different approaches that facilitate it are addressed in this article. We focus on a recently developed fuzzy divergence measure, which is critical in improving decision accuracy when faced with several conflicting criteria. To highlight its real-world relevance, we present a detailed case study focusing on picking the best market for investment. In this case study, the previously studied Fuzzy divergence measure that is used to evaluate and prioritize various market possibilities based on important characteristics such as risk, return, and market potential. In this example, we demonstrate how this unique measure improves decision-making processes by providing a more precise and comprehensive method to selecting the greatest investment possibilities in uncertain and complicated contexts. The findings highlight the measure's usefulness in guiding investment decisions and enhancing the overall efficacy of MADM applications. JEL Codes: C44, D80, D81, D11 Received: 19/07/2024. Accepted: 06/10/2024. Published: 20/10/2024.

Integral-Type Representations for the Subdifferential of Suprema

An integral-like representation is provided for the ε\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\varepsilon $$\\end{document}-subdifferential of the supremum of an arbitrary family of convex functions. Our characterizations are expressed through appropriate discrete sums performed on the data functions ft\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$f_{t}$$\\end{document}’s together with specific singular measures operating on them. Moreover, as long as the underlying space is a reflexive Banach space or a separable normed space, we substitute these additional measures with related limits that involve the data functions. All the objects involved in our characterizations rely intrinsically on the data functions that are (almost) active at the reference point.

Exponential mixing for singular skew-products

Abstract We study skew-products of the form ( x , u ) ↦ ( f x , u + φ ( x ) ) where f is a non-uniformly expanding map on a manifold X and φ : X → S 1 is piecewise C 1 . If the systems satisfies mild assumptions (in particular singular behaviour of ϕ is permitted) then we prove that the map mixes exponentially with respect to the unique SRB measure. This extends previous results by allowing singular behaviour in the fibre map.

The impact of an organized physical activity program on the health indicators of students from differ-ent cultural groups in second chance school setting

The primary objective of this research was to assess the impact of a structured physical activity program on the health indicators of adult students attending a multicultural Second Chance School (SCS). The study encompassed a total of 62 SCS students aged 19 to 57, who were divided into two groups: experimental and control. The intervention program consisted of two sessions per week spanning 20 weeks, with each session lasting 60 minutes. The exercise intensity ranged from 65% to 85% of HRmax and included various activities such as aerobics, weight exercises, dumbbell routines, and hiking. Measurements were taken at both the commencement and conclusion of the organized physical activity program. Specialized equipment, including a wall-mounted stadiometer, precision scales, a unique tape measure, an automated sphygmomanometer, and the DXA machine, was employed for data collection. Data analysis involved ANOVA variance analyses, descriptive statistics, and T-Tests utilizing the SPSS software. The results revealed a statistically significant primary influence attributed to the 'measurement' factor (p<.001) across all health indicators, except for total BMD and total BMC, when comparing the experimental and control groups. In terms of gender disparities, men exhibited higher measurements in body mass, fat-free mass, belly size, and blood pressure, while women displayed greater fat mass and total body fat. To conclude, the intervention program had a positive impact on improving the health indicators of adult SCS students. Future research endeavors should explore the implementation of Physical Activity programs in other SCSs throughout Greece. Keywords: Adult Students; Health Indicators; Organized Physical Activity; Second Chance Schools

Reassessing the Functional Significance of Blood Oxygen Level Dependent Signal Variability.

BOLD signal variability (SDBOLD) has emerged as a unique measure of the adaptive properties of neural systems that facilitate fast, stable responding, based on claims that SDBOLD is independent of mean BOLD signal (meanBOLD) and is a powerful predictor of behavioral performance. We challenge these two claims. First, the apparent independence of SDBOLD and meanBOLD may reflect the presence of deactivations; we hypothesize that although SDBOLD may not be related to raw meanBOLD, it will be linearly related to "absolute" meanBOLD. Second, the observed relationship between SDBOLD and performance may be an artifact of using fixed-length trials longer than RTs. Such designs provide opportunities to toggle between on- and off-task states, and fast responders likely engage in more frequent state-switching, thereby artificially elevating SDBOLD. We hypothesize that SDBOLD will be higher and more strongly related to performance when using such fixed-length trials relative to self-paced trials that terminate upon a response. We test these two hypotheses in an fMRI study using blocks of fixed-length or self-paced trials. Results confirmed both hypotheses: (1) SDBOLD was robustly related with absolute meanBOLD, and (2) toggling between on- and off-task states during fixed-length trials reliably contributed to SDBOLD. Together, these findings suggest that a reappraisal of the functional significance of SDBOLD as a unique marker of cognitive performance is warranted.