On the Nexus Between CSR Practices, ESG Performance, and Asymmetric information

The purpose of this paper is to test the relationship of CSR practice­–asymmetry information and ESG performance–asymmetry information. We conjecture that there might be a particular role where the disclosure of non-financial information is deemed useful in truncating the level of asymmetry information. Using the data from two different countries, Indonesia (Asia) and Portugal (Europe), we extracted 37 companies with time period of observation ranges from 2012 to 2016. To manifest the empirical test, we use CSR report (CSR_Rep), CSR committee (CSR_com), CSR assurance (CSR_ass) and GRI adoption as the proxies of CSR practice, while the proxies of ESG performance are represented by Environmental (ENVscr), Social (SOCscr), and Governance (GOVscr) pillar scores as obtained from Thomson Reuters ASSET4 database. Bid-ask spread is used as the surrogate indicator of asymmetry information. The empirical test reveals that only variable GRI and SOCscr show negative and significant association with bid-ask spread. Whilst, the remaining variables of CSR practice (CSR_rep, CSR_com, CSR_ass), and ESG performance (ENVscr and GOVscr) are negatively associated with asymmetry information (Spread) but statistically insignificant. Our results suggest that CSR practice and ESG performance are weakly associated with asymmetry information, in which most of CSR practices and ESG performance need a time lag to allow them to be value relevant information in mitigating the level of asymmetry information.

Asymmetry During Maximal Sprint Performance in 11- to 16-Year-Old Boys

Purpose:The aim of this study was to examine the influence of age and maturation upon magnitude of asymmetry in the force, stiffness and the spatiotemporal determinants of maximal sprint speed in a large cohort of boys.Methods:344 boys between the ages of 11 and 16 years completed an anthropometric assessment and a 35 m sprint test, during which sprint performance was recorded via a ground-level optical measurement system. Maximal sprint velocity, as well as asymmetry in spatiotemporal variables, modeled force and stiffness data were established for each participant. For analysis, participants were grouped into chronological age, maturation and percentile groups.Results:The range of mean asymmetry across age groups and variables was 2.3–12.6%. The magnitude of asymmetry in all the sprint variables was not significantly different across age and maturation groups (p > .05), except relative leg stiffness (p < .05). No strong relationships between asymmetry in sprint variables and maximal sprint velocity were evident (rs < .39).Conclusion:These results provide a novel benchmark for the expected magnitude of asymmetry in a large cohort of uninjured boys during maximal sprint performance. Asymmetry in sprint performance is largely unaffected by age or maturation and no strong relationships exist between the magnitude of asymmetry and maximal sprint velocity.

Post-Silicon Energy Optimization on Voltage-Frequency Island Based 3-D Multi-Core SoCs

Technology scaling dramatically increases transistor integration capacity, enabling more and more cores to be integrated into a single chip. Parameter variability, however, leads to performance asymmetry among the cores, degrading the energy efficiency of the system. Recently, voltage/frequency island (VFI) based designs are widely exploited on a multi-core platform for system energy optimization under variations. In this paper, a post-silicon energy optimization scheme is proposed targeting VFI-based 3-D multi-core SoCs. Design constraints on VFI, difference of communication energies between horizontal and vertical directions and unique thermal feature of the 3-D chip are totally considered. An energy efficient task mapping and scheduling algorithm is proposed, which seamlessly combines with dynamic voltage/frequency scaling to minimize the system energy under deadline and thermal constraints. Experimental results demonstrate that the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.