Is it rewarding to become carbon neutral?

The world is on the move towards a carbon-neutral era to reduce the impact of climate change. For companies, it is increasingly relevant to participate in this development. My research therefore examines how the announcement of planned climate neutrality affects companies' share prices in the short term. Using the event study methodology, I study market reactions on 117 corporate climate neutrality announcements by publicly traded U.S. companies between 2020 and March 2022. The analysis shows that the companies' share prices respond significantly positive with a 1.43% cumulative average abnormal return (CAAR) in the five days around the announcement. I have further investigated the stock market reactions by clustering the dataset based on company characteristics. I discover that companies that announce stricter carbon reduction targets have a higher cumulative abnormal return (CAR). In addition, companies that declare their carbon neutrality in association with voluntary membership in the Climate Pledge Initiative experience a higher CAR than the announcement without the membership. Finally, a multivariate regression analysis is used to examine whether agency problems influence the level of market reactions. However, no definitive conclusion can be obtained.A sociedade atual está direcionada para uma era neutra em carbono de forma a reduzir o seu impacto nas alterações climáticas. É cada vez mais relevante para as empresas participarem nesta tendência. O meu trabalho pretende examinar como o anúncio de neutralidade climática pelas empresas afeta os seus respetivos preços de ações. Usando a metodologia de estudo de eventos, analisei as reações do mercado em 117 anúncios de neutralidade climática de empresas norte-americanas cotadas em bolsa entre 2020 e março de 2022. A análise mostra que os preços das ações das empresas respondem de forma significativamente positiva com um retorno anormal médio acumulado (CAAR) de 1,43%. nos cinco dias após o anúncio. Analisei ainda as reações do mercado de ações agrupando o conjunto de dados com base nas características empresariais. Os resultados mostram que as empresas que anunciam metas de redução de carbono mais rígidas têm um retorno anormal cumulativo (CAR) mais elevado. Para além disso, as empresas que declaram neutralidade carbónica associadas a uma adesão voluntária à Climate Pledge Initiative apresentam um CAR mais alto comparativamente ao anúncio sem a adesão. Adicionalmente, realizei uma análise de regressão multivariada de forma a examinar se os problemas de agência influenciam o nível de reações do mercado. No entanto, não foi possível obter uma conclusão definitiva através dos resultados obtidos

Issue Five: Expectations and Standards of Performance for People of Color in Education [Schmits]

As one explores the number of variables that can possibly affect how or how much any person learns at any one time, the task of finding clarity to make recommendations on standards of performance seems overwhelming. It does not bode well for clarity when Travers (1973), Second Handbook of Research on Teaching concludes there is no empirical relationship between the type of pedagogy and student achievement test scores. Hovighurst, Moorefield, Passow, and Elliott (1967) in The Sixty-Sixth Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education suggest that to describe the disadvantaged we need the following groups: (a) Urban Whites, (b) Urban Negroes, (c) Rural Negroes, (d) Rural Whites, (e) Rural Spanish-Americans, (f) Urban Puerto-Ricans, and (g) American Indians. However, one is hard pressed to see that these seven categories are color categories as only three color or race classes exist in system, i.e., Black, White, and Red. The authors do not mention Americans of Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, or Korean descent who would be persons of a Yellow color

New insights into the pathogenesis of giant cell arteritis

Giant cell arteritis (GCA) is an inflammatory chronic disease occurring exclusively in elderly individuals. Until recently, the disease has been considered a unique disease resulting from the interaction in the walls of susceptible arteries, between an unknown infectious agents with local dendritic cells (DCs), activated CD4 T cells and effector macrophages. Recent evidence has shown that this view was too simplistic and has clarified many of the pathogenetic aspects of the disease. Many genetic studies recently published have identified different new genes, including cytokines, adhesion molecules and regulators of innate immunity, as crucial players in the development and progression of GCA. Recent evidence suggests that there is heterogeneity of histological lesions in GCA, that are correlated with different immunological Th9 and Th17 signature. The recent demonstration that Varicella-zoster virus (VZV) antigen is present in the 64% of GCA-negative TAs and in the 73% of GCA-positive TAs could represent an important point of arrival in the search for a causative agent in the pathogenesis of a metameric disease such as GCA. In this context, cytokines such as IL-32 and IL-33 that act as a danger signal following tissue damage and infection are over-expressed in GCA arteries. Artery tertiary lymphoid organs, present in up to 50% of GCA-positive arteries, could represent the sites were primary immune responses and T- and B-cell autoimmune responses against viral antigens are organized. The recently demonstrated disturbed distribution of B cells in GCA could be also relevant in the pathogenesis of the disease, possibly contributing to the enhanced IL-6 response. Altogether, these evidences may clarify many pathogenetic aspect of the disease, also suggesting complexity greater than first imagined

The impact of the covid-19 crisis on the practices and mental health of psychologists in belgium: between exhaustion and resilience

peer reviewedWhile the COVID-19 pandemic has created psychological distress in the general population and increased the need for psychological care, little research has been done on how mental health practitioners (MHP) have been affected by the pandemic, and these health professionals have received little attention from public authorities. In this article, we focus on psychologists and the impact that the pandemic has had on their mental health and practices by exploring the adaptive and innovative responses generated. This study is based on an online survey (including multiple choice questions, several validated scales, and eight free text items) completed by 187 psychologists (86% female) one year after the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in Belgium (February–April 2021). Most participants considered that the crisis had an impact on their well-being and mental health. However, the prevalence of symptoms of depression and anxiety was relatively low (17%; 12%). On the other hand, the majority of psychologists (72%) suffered from a medium level of burnout (BO), 7% suffered from a high level of BO, and only 21% had low levels of BO. Psychologists working in face-to-face settings had the highest scores on the “exhaustion” subscale of the BO, and those working primarily with patients in precarious situations had significantly higher scores of BO and exhaustion. Qualitative analysis of free text items showed that MHP were resilience and developed new frameworks and modes for proactive interventions in order to reach their patients, meet the psychological and social population’s needs, and maintain their relationships with the network. In a crisis or pandemic context, public policies should take into account the psychological and social needs of the most socially precarious populations in reinforcing and supporting mental health professionals working in this sector