Corporate Social and Environmental Reporting Institutionalized

External Corporate Social and Environmental Reporting （CSER） finds its raison d＇etre in corporations＇ search for both a license to operate and accountability towards society. This suggests a relationship between corporations and society. In this study, that relationship is analyzed, specifically the relationship between levels of CSER and economic institutions. A strong link with institutions is an outcome of institutionalization. The economic institutions applied are economic freedom and legal origin as a proxy for national corporate governance systems. The results of this descriptive study show associations between CSER levels and economic freedom. CSER is also related to national corporate governance systems through legal origin. CSER appears to be institutionalized, or in any case, corporations seem to be aware of the economic institutionalization of CSER.

TOWARDS A FOURTH ECOLOGY: Social and Environmental Sustainability with Architecture and Urban Design

The architect has always been interested in the social and cultural dimensions while creating architecture for people to last,with the help of building science and technology.Science could solve some problems,but is yet to solve many of the problems of urbanization in human history.Perhaps many of the problems can only be solved with careful under­standing of human behavior,social intercourse,and economics in relation to the urban environments and organiza­tions,and the natural environment simultaneously.There seemed to be a divide between the way an engineer and an architect think and practice in making a build­ing and a piece of architecture,where the former is highly mathematical,and the latter deals with cultural poetics and a whole range of social and technical issues of which the physics of the environment is but one dimension(Bay and Ong 2006).It may appear natural in this age of environmental crisis and rapid urban development in many cities that the current Ecologically Sustainable Design(ESD)system,which is mainly based on science of the physical world,would be readily accepted by the architect in practice and education.Many of the current ESD guidelines can contribute to the avoidance of a further decay of the earth,thus pre­venting droughts and floods,etc.,and hope to maintain the status quo of the environment for all the“business as usual”social-economic activities.With more world leaders of the developed world agreeing in principle on the need to address climate change,perhaps a lot more will be done based on the engineering models for ecologi­cally friendly planning,commerce,industry,and design.There could be a cognitive bias3 of overconfidence and systemic error that the predominantly engineering focus to keep climate change at bay will solve the problem of sustainability in various parts of the world.The current limited concept of“ecological”or the“green”design does contribute to sustainability,but is quite limited and not the whole picture of sustainability.The concept of sustainability involves the dynamic and complex balance of environmental(man-made and natural),economic and social dimensions,from many earlier sources including the theory of the Third Ecology(Chermayeff and Tzonis 1971)about social ecology directly related to the man-made urban fabric,and recently,the much accepted pervasive framework of the Brundtland Commission Report 1987:Our Common Future,which included more discussions about the interrelatedness with economic equity and the natural environment.Foremost and ultimately it is about promoting and ensuring social quality of living now and sustaining that into the future,for all nations,the rich and the poor,through solving the matrix of social,economic,and environ­mental problems.From the perspective of the theory and practice of architecture,this paper discusses the following issues:1.Belief in science,disenchantment,symbol of failure of modern architecture-Pruitt Igoe;2.An anti-thesis to Pruitt Igoe-Bedok Court;3.The cultural concerns and preparametric design thinking process of the architect;4.Architecture,social science,cultural value,social capital,behavior,and ESD;5.A Fourth Ecology,multi-disciplinary research by architects,social scientists,and engineers.

The Impact of Urban and Rural Education Gap on Student Achievement Differences

With our country’s social development,the gap between urban and rural education has become increasingly obvious,especially the difference in student achievement.This study aims to explore the impact of the urban-rural education gap on student achievement.The study adopts a quantitative analysis method to collect and analyze the academic performance,learning resources,and social resources of urban and rural students.The results show that the unbalanced distribution of educational resources in urban and rural areas is the key factor leading to the gap in students’achievement.For example,urban education resources are abundant while rural education resources are relatively scarce.At the same time,the difference in social environment and family economic status also have a significant impact on student achievement.The differences between urban and rural areas,particularly in terms of family economic conditions and their ability to invest in education,further widen the gap between urban and rural education.The results of this study can provide a reference for reducing the gap between urban and rural education and improving the academic performance of rural students.A fair education policy is essential to narrow the gap between urban and rural education resources distribution,so as to improve the equality of education in society.

Implementing Sustainability Reporting （SR）： （Neo-） Institutional Theory Insights in the Analysis of the SGR Group, Italy and CityGas, Bulgaria

The aim of this paper is to investigate how the corporate characteristics and contextual factors influence the choice of managers in initiating the sustainability report/reporting （SR） and to understand the role of organisational dynamics. The research design develops through a deductive and inductive approach. The deductive approach is based on an analysis of the Social and Environmental Accounting Research （SEAR） strands which use the theoretical framework of （neo-） institutional theory to inquire the adoption and diffusion of SR. The inductive method is based on a research case that focuses on the SGR Group. ＂How can the rico-institutional theory help explain the process of SGR＇s SR implementation in Italian and Bulgarian companies＂？ The study identifies both the internal and contextual factors associated with the SR development and the regulative, normative, and cognitive dimensions/factors that affect the implementation and institutionalisation of SR in Italy and Bulgaria, in accordance with the different institutional environments in which the social and sustainability accounting projects are developed.

Investigation of the Effect of Acceptance and Commitment Psychotherapy (ACT) on Quality of Life of Adult Women Suffering from Obesity

Background and Purpose: Quality of life as an important factor in health is very important. This study is looking for an appropriate and effective treatment for improving quality of life. This research aims to study the psychological effect of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) on quality of life of adult women suffering from obesity. Methods and Materials: This research is a kind of half-trail, with pattern of pre-test, post-test and group control. Statistical population includes all over-weight women with body mass index (BMI) range (30 - 40) who participated in family training sessions held in Shahin Shahr city. 40 patients who had the characteristics for sampling were selected and randomly placed in test and control groups (each group 20 people). Participants in each group before and after intervention quality of life questionnaire with 100 question sample World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL)-100 were evaluated. 12 sessions of acceptance and commitment therapy in group was used. The obtained data were analyzed with the use of Sciences Statistical Package for the Social (SPSS) 18 statistical software and methods of analysis of covariance. Findings: After selection of adult women having a BMI between 30 and 40 based on availability who had attended the meeting of family education, by invitation and voluntary, they were randomized into experimental and control groups. Intervention was done for experimental group. Due to the result of covariance analysis on the post-test stage, examination group showed significant improvement in variants physical health dimensions, level of independence in social and environmental relationships and spirituality (p < 0.01). Conclusion: According to the findings of this research based on the impact of acceptance and commitment intervention on promotion and improving in quality of life, this treatment can be used for improving the variants in women suffering from over-weight and obesity.

Spatial risk assessment of opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan: integrating environmental and socio-economic drivers

Recently the cultivation of opium poppy in Afghanistan reached unprecedented levels.It is agreed that the complex and coupled interactions of social,economic and environmental drivers are crucial for understanding the spatial and temporal dynamics of opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan.In this context,we present an integrated risk concept,which considers environmental and socio-economic drivers of opium poppy cultivation.A set of spatially explicit indicators for the environmental suitability and socio-economic vulnerability was established and populated from a variety of databases.Subsequently,novel methods of modelling homogeneous and spatially explicit regions of opium poppy cultivation suitability,socio-economic vulnerability and risk are developed and applied.The risk assessment results demonstrate the complex nature of the illicit crops production in Afghanistan and prompt a more profound examination of the drivers of opium poppy cultivation in a spatial context.The study also confirms what has already been widely discussed in literature:that reasons for cultivation are spatially diverse and often distinct,meaning that any formulation of generalized explanations cannot be drawn without ignoring a more complex reality.Thus,an integrative spatial view of risk,which integrates the social dimension as well as environmental parameters,is required to better identify context-specific intervention measures.