Disentangling the Bidirectional Relationships Across the Corporate Sustainable Development Indicators.

This study disentangles the relationships that exist between the four indicators of corporate sustainable development: economic, environmental, social, and governance. We account for the potential bidirectionality of the relationships, control for the dynamic nature of the sustainability process, and address the endogeneity problem to appropriately analyze the sustainability process. We estimated a panel data from 734 U.S. companies from 2004 through 2016 by using the system generalized method of moments and find evidence of a clear dynamic nature of the businesses' sustainability process. The results show that the current levels of the four sustainable development indicators are strongly determined by the levels of these indicators in the two previous years. Our results also show that corporate sustainable development follows a virtuous circle. The relationships across the economic, environmental, and social indicators are bidirectional and positive. Hence, these three sustainability indicators do not compete for available resources. On the contrary, they are tightly interconnected in a firm's sustainable development processes. Therefore, practitioners and regulators should consider these indicators simultaneously to promote sustainability in businesses and apply long-term sustainability policies. Altogether, our evidence supports the idea that firms can do good by doing well, and they do well by doing good.

On the distribution of trace element concentrations in multiple bone elements in 10 Danish medieval and post-medieval individuals.

BACKGROUND: The differences in trace element concentrations among 19 different bone elements procured from 10 archaeologically derived human skeletons have been investigated. The 10 individuals are dated archaeologically and some by radiocarbon dating to the medieval and post-medieval period, an interval from ca. AD 1150 to ca. AD 1810. This study is relevant for two reasons. First, most archaeometric studies analyze only one bone sample from each individual; so to what degree are the bones in the human body equal in trace element chemistry? Second, differences in turnover time of the bone elements makes the cortical tissues record the trace element concentrations in equilibrium with the blood stream over a longer time earlier in life than the trabecular. Therefore, any differences in trace element concentrations between the bone elements can yield what can be termed a chemical life history of the individual, revealing changes in diet, provenance, or medication throughout life. METHODS: Thorough decontamination and strict exclusion of non-viable data has secured a dataset of high quality. The measurements were carried out using Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (for Fe, Mn, Al, Ca, Mg, Na, Ba, Sr, Zn, Pb and As) and Cold Vapor Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (for Hg) on ca. 20 mg samples. RESULTS: Twelve major and trace elements have been measured on 19 bone elements from 10 different individuals interred at five cemeteries widely distributed in medieval and renaissance Denmark. The ranges of the concentrations of elements were: Na (2240-5660 µg g-1 ), Mg (440-2490 µg g-1 ), Al (9-2030 µg g-1 ), Ca (22-36 wt. %), Mn (5-11450 µg g-1 ), Fe (32-41850 µg g-1 ), Zn (69-2610 µg g-1 ), As (0.4-120 µg g-1 ), Sr (101-815 µg g-1 ), Ba (8-880 µg g-1 ), Hg (7-78730 ng g-1 ), and Pb (0.8-426 µg g-1 ). CONCLUSIONS: It is found that excess As is mainly of diagenetic origin. The results support that Ba and Sr concentrations are effective provenance or dietary indicators. Migrating behavior or changes in diet have been observed in four individuals; non-migratory or non-changing diet in six out of the 10 individuals studied. From the two most mobile (most changing diet) individuals in the study, it is deduced that the fastest turnover is seen in the trabecular tissues of the long bones and the hands and the feet, and that these bone elements have higher turnover rates than centrally placed trabecular bone tissue, such as from the ilium or the spine. Comparing Sr and published bone turnover times, it is concluded that the differences seen in Sr concentrations are not caused by diagenesis, but by changes of diet or provenance. Finally, it is concluded that there can be two viable interpretations of the Pb concentrations, which can either be seen as an indicator for social class or a temporal development of increased Pb exposure over the centuries.

Saúde urbana e indicadores intraurbanos do Programa das Nações Unidas para o Desenvolvimento (PNUD) - três relatos em Porto Alegre: resultados, limitações e potencialidades / Urban health and the intra-urban indicators of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) - three reports from Porto Alegre: results, potentialities and limitations

Os Objetivos de Desenvolvimento Sustentável (ODS) são uma iniciativa das Nações Unidas, subscrita pelo Brasil e outros 192 países, com foco em investimentos em infraestrutura e desenvolvimento humano nas metrópoles. Espera-se que informações georreferenciadas de saúde e de desenvolvimento local favoreçam governanças locais produtoras de mais equidade. Este artigo propõe-se a divulgar o Atlas de Desenvolvimento Humano (ADH) do Programa das Nações Unidas para o Desenvolvimento (PNUD) lançado em 2014 e avaliar a utilidade dos dados referentes ao município de Porto Alegre (RS) para diferentes públicos. Métodos: O atlas do PNUD foi apresentado em três atividades desenvolvidas pelo Programa Saúde Urbana, Ambiente e Desigualdades da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul para diferentes audiências: 1) da comunidade – bairro Restinga, 2) da academia – disciplina integradora Práticas Integradas em Saúde I, e 3) do serviço de saúde – Unidade Básica de Saúde Santa Cecília do Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre. Para cada atividade descreveu-se a metodologia utilizada para produzir informações a partir dos dados disponibilizados pelo atlas. Resultados: Observou-se a necessidade de compatibilizar melhor as áreas geográficas de referência dos serviços e do atlas para a implementação das avaliações do impacto de investimentos intraurbanos em infraestrutura e desenvolvimento social na saúde, e vice-versa. Foram discutidas as potencialidades e limitações identificadas. Conclusão: A utilização de indicadores intraurbanos do ADH do PNUD tem potencial para trazer informações de interesse para os serviços locais de saúde e para a comunidade...

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a United Nations initiative signed by Brazil and other 192 countries, with a focus on investments in infrastructure and human development in cities. It is expected that geo-referenced information on health and local development would favor local governance towards the promotion of more social equity. This article proposes to publicize the Atlas of Human Development (ADHM) of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) launched in 2014 and to evaluate the usefulness of its data relative to the city of Porto Alegre (RS) for different audiences. Methods: The UNDP atlas was presented in three activities developed by the Urban Health, Environment and Inequalities Program of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul to different audiences: 1) community - Restinga neighborhood, 2) the academy - integrative discipline Integrated Health Practices I, and 3) the health service - Basic Health Unit Santa Cecilia / HCPA. For each activity the methodology used to generate information from data provided by atlas was described. Results: It is necessary to match the geographic reference areas of services and those of the atlas for the implementation of impact assessments of intra-urban investments in infrastructure and social development in health. The potential and limitations identified were discussed. Conclusion: The use of intraurban indicators of the UNDP atlas has the potential to bring information of interest to local health services and the community. Keywords: Urban health; health inequalities; health status indicators; social inequalities; social indicators; sustainable development goals...

Taxa de mortalidade por suicídio e indicadores socioeconômicos nas Capitais brasileiras / Rate of mortality by suicide and socialeconomic indicators in brazilian capitals

O estudo em questão considera o suicídio um problema de saúde pública, um acontecimento complexo desencadeado pela influência de fatores estressores sobre o indivíduo. O objetivo deste artigo é avaliar o componente social nas mortes por suicídio, pela análise de indicadores socioeconômicos. Trata-se de um estudo do tipo ecológico exploratório que busca a associação entre dez indicadores socioeconômicos e a taxa de suicídio em todas as capitais do país. Os dados utilizados foram obtidos no DATASUS e no Atlas de Desenvolvimento Humano no Brasil do IBGE, referentes ao ano 2000. Os resultados apontam que a taxa de mortalidade por suicídio variou de 0,77 100 mil habitantes em Salvador BA a 14,04 100 mil habitantes em Boa Vista AC. O sexo masculino apresenta risco relativo 3,7 vezes maior de cometer suicídio do que o feminino. A faixa etária de 15 a 29 anos apresentou menor risco relativo de cometer suicídio, enquanto o maior risco relativo foi encontrado na população com idade igual ou superior a 60 anos. Ambos os indicadores de desigualdade social Índice de Gini e Índice L de Theil apresentaram correlação negativa com a taxa de mortalidade por suicídio, com significância estatística rs igual menos 0,479, p igual 0,011 e rs igual 0,403, p igual 0,037, respectivamente. Concluiu se que há associação entre os indicadores de desigualdade social e as taxas de suicídio. Nenhum outro indicador socioeconômico apresentou correlação, o que leva a acreditar que a origem e o amadurecimento do pensamento suicida parecem sofrer influência preponderante de fatores biopsicológicos.

This study considers suicide a public health issue, a complex event triggered by stress factors pressing on the individual. The objective of this study is to evaluate the social component in the deaths by suicide, by analyzing socioeconomic indicators. This is an exploratory and ecological study that seeks to establish the relation between ten socioeconomic indicators and the suicide rate in all the capitals of the country. The data was obtained from the DATASUS and the Atlas de Desenvolvimento Humano no Brasil Alas of Human Development in Brazil, loosely translated by IBGE, referring to the year 2000. The results show that the suicide varied from 0.77 100 thousand habitants in Salvador Bahia to 14.04 100 thousand habitants in Boa Vista AC. The male gender presented a 3.7 times higher relative risk of committing suicide than the female one. The age group from 15 to 29 years presented lower relative risk of committing suicide whereas the highest relative risk was found in the population with ages equal or above 60 years. Both indicators of social inequality gini index and l theil Index, presented negative correlation with the mortality rate by suicide, with statistical significance rs equals 0,479, p equals 0,011 and rsequals 0,403, p equals 0,037, respectively. In conclusion, there is no relation between social inequality indicators and the suicide rate. No other socioeconomic indicator presented any correlation, which leads us to believe that the origin and maturation of the suicidal thoughts suffer prevailing influence of biopsychological factors.