Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Coordination and Control in a Government Agency: Contingency and Institutional Theory Perspectives on GAO Audits

The authors thank Richard Bord, Anthony Hopwood, James Thies, N. S. Umanath, Marshall Meyer, and the anonymous reviewers for their useful suggestions. They also thank the United States General Accounting Office and its personnel for their cooperation and the Institute of Internal Auditors Research Foundation and the Price Waterhouse Foundation for their financial support. Drawing on both contingency and institutional theories, this paper examines how professionals in an institutionalized environment are coordinated and controlled and what forces shape the structures organizations adopt for this coordination and control. According to contingency theory, the coordination and control of organizational members is shaped by the task environment and the technical nature of the work they perform, while institutional theory proposes that an organization's need to demonstrate conformity to institutionalized expectations of rational practice also influences its choice of control and coordination mechanisms. We use both theoretical perspectives to develop hypotheses that are tested with data from a study of 96 audit teams in the United States General Accounting Office (GAO). Results show that the more institutionalized the environment, (a) the more the organization relies on a bureaucratic mode of control, (b) the greater the task difficulty and team interdependence and the more the organization relies on personal and group modes of control, and (c) the more the organization relies on personal and group modes of control to improve audit-team performance. '
Loss of Parenting Self-Efficacy among Immigrant Parents

The early settlement experiences of immigrant parents of young children arriving in Canada make it difficult for them to meet their young children's physiological, social and emotional needs, or to help them navigate the structures of their new environment. They lose their sense of self-efficacy in their parenting role in the face of rapid reduction in their social, emotional, cultural and financial resources. This loss of parenting self-efficacy is a consequence of systemic constraints on their ability to exercise agency in raising their children and, unless disrupted, it will perpetuate inequitable and unjust relations among racialized and white populations in Canada.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

This chapter presents the modeling results and their interpretation. First, the synthesis of success factors from existing success factor syntheses is developed and theoretically motivated. Then, the descriptive statistics and correlations between success factors are described analogously for each data set (CPR, NIIS, IFRI, and an overall model from all data sets). Finally, for each modelling methodology (multivariate regressions, random forests, and neural network), the model qualities are presented. In addition, the individual factors are described according to their importance for ecological success. Each presentation of results is followed by a discussion. The chapter is concluded with robustness and sensitivity analyses.
Emotional contagion of dental fear to children: the fathers' mediating role in parental transfer of fear.

BACKGROUND Dental fear is considered to be one of the most frequent problems in paediatric dentistry. According to literature, parents' levels of dental fear play a key role in the development of child's dental anxiety. HYPOTHESIS OR AIM: We have tried to identify the presence of emotional transmission of dental fear among family members and to analyse the different roles that mothers and fathers might play concerning the contagion of dental fear to children. We have hypothesized a key role of the father in the transfer of dental fear from mother to child. DESIGN A questionnaire-based survey (Children's Fear Survey Schedule-Dental Subscale) has been distributed among 183 schoolchildren and their parents in Madrid (Spain). Inferential statistical analyses, i.e. correlation and hierarchical multiple regression, were carried out and possible mediating effects between variables have been tested. RESULTS Our results support the hypothesis that family members' levels of dental fear are significantly correlated, and they also allow us to affirm that fathers' dental fear is a mediating variable in the relationship between mothers and children's fear scores. CONCLUSIONS Together with the presence of emotional transmission of dental fear among family members, we identified the relevant role that fathers play as regards the transfer of dental fear from parents to children.
[The relation between polymorphisms of apolipoprotein B gene and atherosclerotic cerebral infarction].

OBJECTIVE To explore the association of variance at XbaI site of apolipoprotein B (ApoB) gene and atherosclerotic cerebral infarction (ACI) in Chinese Han population. METHODS Using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) techniques, we studied the restrict fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) at XbaI site of ApoB gene in 150 patients with ACI and 301 healthy age, sex-matched individuals from a population of Chinese Han nationality in Beijing. RESULTS In both ACI group and control group, X-X- genotype was the most frequent one (frequency: 0.907, 0.948) and we did not find X+X+ genotype. The distribution of genotypes in the two groups was at the Hardy-Weiberg equilibriums. The frequency of rare allele X+ was significantly lower in Chinese Han than that reported in Caucasians (0.027 vs 0.418, 0.454, 0.479, P < 0.01). The higher frequency of rare allele X+ was found in the ACI group as compared with the control group (0.053 vs 0.027, P < 0.05). markedly increased levels of TC (5.3 +/- 1.3), (4.9 +/- 1.3) mmol/L (P < 0.05), and low levels of Apo-AI, Apo-AI/ApoB in the ACI group were observed (1.02 +/- 0.34), (1.26 +/- 0.40) g/L, (P < 0.01); X+X- genotype was associated with higher levels of ApoB compared with the levels of X-X- genotype in the ACI group (0.89 +/- 0.29) g/L, (0.78 +/- 0.17) g/L (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION X+ allele of ApoB gene may be associated with ACI to some extent in the Chinese population, and presumbly through its effect on ApoB metabolism it increases the susceptibility to ACI.
Genetic and Environmental Influences on Vocational Interests Assessed Using Adoptive and Biological Families and Twins Reared Apart and Together

Abstract The present investigation was a step toward a more thorough explication of the amount of genetic and environmental variance in vocational interests than has been found in past research. A comprehensive behavioral genetics research design was employed, using previously collected data from twins reared together, twins reared apart, adoptive families, and biological families. The data consisted of item responses from the Strong Vocational Interest Blank/Strong Interest Inventory (SVIB/SII). All of the data were scored using the Hanson Combined Form Scales for the SVIB/SII (Hanson, 1982). Correlations were computed, and model fitting analyses were run to estimate additive genetic, nonadditive genetic, shared environmental, and nonshared environmental effects. The results suggested that, on average, the variance in a wide range of vocational interests can be attributed to 12% additive genetic and 24% nonadditive genetic effects and to 9% shared environmental and 55% nonshared environmental effects and measurement error.
Journal of Internet Banking and Commerce Taxpayers' Attitude in Using E-filing System: Is There Any Significant Difference among Demographic Factors?

Azleen is Accounting lecturer and her areas of interest and research are Accounting, Social Reporting, Management Accounting and Business. Her research publications include national and international conference proceedings and journals. Mohd Zulkeflee Abd Razak is International Marketing lecturer and his areas of interest are Marketing and International Marketing, International Business, Retailing and Services Marketing. His research publications are national and international proceedings and journals. Mohd Rushdan Yasoa' is Accounting lecturer and his areas of research are Financial Accounting, Management Accounting and Business. His research publications are national and international conference proceedings and journals. Abstract This study employs the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to examine taxpayers' attitude in using e-Filing system. Data are collected from taxpayers in three higher learning institutions in Labuan F.T. The purpose of this study is to examine the differences of taxpayers' attitude to use e-filing among gender, level of education, experience of handling and learning the system. Besides, this study also examines the relationship between taxpayers' attitudes and perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, information system quality, information quality and perceived credibility. The result shows significant differences among experience and non-experience taxpayers in handling and learning e-filing system. Education background of taxpayers has also played an important role in encouraging the attitude of taxpayers to use e-filing. However, the gender of taxpayers provides no difference in terms of their attitude in using and applying the system. In addition, this study found strong relationship between attitude and TAM determinants namely perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, information system quality, information quality and perceived credibility. The implication of this study suggests that Inland Revenue Board (IRB) should increase and strengthen their awareness program to educate non-experience taxpayers so that it will simultaneously improve the attitude of taxpayers to use this electronic system.
The Construction of Stereotypes within Social Psychology

This paper reviews the varying and contrasting ways in which stereotypes, as representations of groups, and stereotyping as an activity, have been constructed and understood within contemporary social psychology. These distinct theoretical approaches include the dominant social cognitive tradition, which views stereotypes as cognitive schemas that simplify reality, and self-categorization theory, which views stereotypes as psychologically valid representations which reflect the actualities of intergroup relations. We articulate how more social and collective accounts based on social representations theory, ideology and discursive psychology can enrich our understanding of stereotypes and stereotyping. Stereotypes are not the product of individual cognitive activity alone, but are also social and collective products which function ideologically by justifying and legitimizing existing social and power relations within a society. We also discuss recent contributions to the enduring enigma within social psychology regarding the relationship between stereotypes and social reality, and identify the inherent ideological problems which plague positivist attempts to explicate this relationship. Finally, we discuss the need for an integrative social psychological theory of stereotyping which links the cognitive and psychological analyses of stereotyping to more social, structural and discursive analyses.
An engineering model for transient analysis of grounding system under lightning strikes: nonuniform transmission-line approach

A nonuniform transmission line approach is adopted in this paper for modeling the transient behavior of different types of grounding systems under lightning strikes in time domain by solving Telegrapher's equations based on finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) technique. Electromagnetic couplings between different parts of the grounding wires are included using effective per-unit length parameters (l, c, and g), which are space and time dependent. The present model can predict both the effective length and the transient voltage of grounding electrodes accurately, while, an uniform transmission line approach with electrode length dependent per-unit length parameters fails to predict the same. Unlike the circuit theory approach , the present model is capable of predicting accurately the surge propagation delay in the large grounding system. The simulation results for buried horizontal wires and grounding grids based on the present model are in good agreement with that of the circuit and electromagnetic field approaches , . From an engineering point of view, the model presented in this paper is sufficiently accurate, time efficient, and easy to apply.
Towards an integrated analysis of bias in cross-cultural assessment

A central methodological aspect of cross-cultural assessment is the interpretability of intergroup differences: Do scores obtained by subjects from different cultural groups have the same psychological meaning? Equivalence (or the absence of bias) is required in making valid cross-cultural comparisons. As cross-cultural comparisons are becoming increasingly popular and important, the problem of bias and its detection is receiving increased attention from researchers. Three kinds of bias are discussed and illustrated, namely construct bias, method bias, and item bias (or differential item functioning). Methods to identify bias are reviewed. An overview is given of common sources of each kind of bias. It is argued that an integrated treatment of all forms of bias is needed to enhance the validity of cross-cultural comparisons. The predominant focus on item bias techniques has the unfortunate implication that construct and method bias are examined insufficiently.
Ubiquitination and Degradation of the Anti-apoptotic Protein ARC by MDM2*

Current evidence shows that cardiomyocyte apoptosis plays a central role in the pathogenesis of myocardial disease and that reactive oxygen species is critically responsible for mediating cardiomyocyte apoptosis in both ischemia-reperfusion injury and dilated cardiomyopathy. ARC (Apoptosis Repressor with Caspase recruitment domain) is an anti-apoptotic protein that is found abundantly in terminally differentiated cells such as cardiomyocytes. The ARC knock-out mouse developed larger infarct in response to ischemia-reperfusion and transitioned more rapidly and severely to dilated cardiomyopathy following aortic constriction. In addition, ARC protein levels are decreased in human dilated cardiomyopathy and when cardiomyocytes are exposed to oxidative stress in vitro, but the mechanisms regulating ARC protein levels are not known. Here we show that degradation of ARC is dependent on the p53-induced ubiquitin E3 ligase, MDM2. Oxidative stress reduced ARC levels and up-regulated MDM2. MDM2 directly accelerated ARC protein turnover via ubiquitination and proteasomal-dependent degradation. This activity requires a functioning MDM2 ring finger domain because the MDM2C464A mutant was unable to direct ARC degradation. Furthermore, ARC degradation requires MDM2, because MDM2 knock-out fibroblasts showed defective ARC degradation that could be rescued by MDM2. Proteasomal inhibitors rescued both MDM2 and H2O2-induced degradation of ARC and inhibited cardiomyocyte apoptosis. Dilated cardiomyopathic hearts from mice that have undergone transverse aortic banding have increased MDM2 levels associated with decreased ARC levels. We conclude that MDM2 is a critical regulator of ARC levels in cardiomyocytes. Prevention of MDM2-induced degradation of ARC represents a potential therapeutic target to prevent cardiomyocyte apoptosis.
Peripheral Youth

In this introduction, the editors construct a dialogue between a wideranging review of theories and research on global/local relations in youth cultures and the articles published in this Special Issue on aspects of youthful `peripherality'. This field of study, which has become cross-disciplinary, increasingly does justice to local diversities, but has often been led by arguments in social theory that have been `core-centric'. The editors argue for global/local studies, situated in peripheries, that take seriously the meanings young people attach to their cultural practice, extending inquiry to questions of subjectivity and `cultural psychology'. On the basis of the articles in this issue and their own research, the editors suggest the need for significant qualification of the themes of individual lifestyles, the dominance of global consumption patterns, social disembedding and crowd-like behaviour (`neotribes') among young people. They point rather to the continued importance of group strategies, of specific histories of national identities and of markers of identity formed around global/local relations of race/ethnicity, sexuality, class, gender and generation.
Screening methods to determine antibacterial activity of natural products

The emergence of new infectious diseases, the resurgence of several infections that appeared to have been controlled and the increase in bacterial resistance have created the necessity for studies directed towards the development of new antimicrobials. Considering the failure to acquire new molecules with antimicrobial properties from microorganisms, the optimization for screening methods used for the identification of antimicrobials from other natural sources is of great importance. The objective of this study was to evaluate technical variants used in screening methods to determine antibacterial activity of natural products. Thus, a varied range of natural products of plant, fungi and lichen origin were tested against two bacterial species, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923 and Escherichia coli ATCC 25922, by two variants of the agar diffusion method (well and disc), two variants of the bioautographic method (direct and indirect) and by microdilution assay. We concluded that the well-variant of the diffusion method was more sensitive than the disc-variant, whilst the direct-variant of the bioautographic method exhibited a greater sensitivity if compared to indirect-variant. Bioautographic and diffusion techniques were found to have similar sensitivity; however the latter technique provided more suitable conditions for the microbial growth. In this study, we also discussed the best conditions for the determination of minimal inhibitory concentration.
Wireless Mesh Network Implementation

The report details implementation of the infrastructure based wireless mesh networks, certain existing routing strategies and performance analysis of different topologies. The backbone of the network consists of a gateway, an access point, two routers and a client. The bandwidth obtained at these different nodes for different topologies were extensively studied and the phenomenon of bandwidth loss due to multi-hopping was re-validated through experimental verification. Different popular routing schemes like OLSR and BATMAN were implemented and also a static routing scheme was developed for the purpose of experimental evaluation of the mesh network. Certain interesting results were obtainted during the course of the project including the effect of placement of nodes of the entire topology and these have been presented inn a detailed manner in the report.
Anterior cervical spinal surgery for multilevel cervical myelopathy.

BACKGROUND In multilevel spinal cord compression caused by cervical spondylosis, surgeons face the choice of performing a posterior route as a laminectomy or laminoplasty, or an anterior route as multiple adjacent interbody decompressions or corpectomies. The anterior cervical operation is not considered by some clinicians because of concerns about complications and the complexity of multilevel anterior cervical surgery. METHODS In this retrospective study, 14 patients with multilevel cervical spondylosis who were operated on via an anterior route were enrolled to evaluate the complexity, safety, and clinical results. The collected parameters were operation time, blood loss, hospital days, and early and late complications for evaluating the operative complexity, radiographic follow-up for evaluating fusion, graft problems, implants problems, and the recovery rate using the Japanese Orthopaedic Association score (JOA score) for evaluating the operative results. RESULTS The mean operation time was 363.4 min, and blood loss was 431.4 ml. An early complication was noted in 1 patient with combined deep vein thrombosis and a pulmonary embolism. Late complications were screw breakage in 1 patient and screw loosening in 5 patients. The mean duration of follow-up was 21.9 months. The mean recovery rate of the JOA score was 38.8% postoperatively and 51.9% at the final follow-up. The fusion rate was 100% in this series. CONCLUSIONS Anterior cervical decompression and fusion for multilevel stenosis requires a longer operation time than posterior procedures; however, the clinical results are satisfactory.
Attachment ability of a clamp-bearing fish parasite, Diplozoon paradoxum (Monogenea), on gills of the common bream, Abramis brama

SUMMARY Monogeneans, which are mainly fish ectoparasites, use various types of haptoral (posterior) attachment apparatus to secure their attachment onto their hosts. However, it remains unclear how strongly a monogenean can attach onto its host. In the present study, we aimed for the first time to (1) measure pull-off forces required to detach a pair of clamp-bearing monogeneans, Diplozoon paradoxum, from gills of Abramis brama and (2) determine the contribution of muscles to the clamp movements. A mean force of 6.1±2.7 mN (~246 times the animals' weight) was required to dislodge a paired D. paradoxum vertically from the gills. There were significant differences (P<0.05, Tukey test) between the widths of clamp openings in D. paradoxum treated in three different solutions: the widest clamp openings were observed in the monogeneans treated in 100 mmol l−1 potassium chloride solution (58.26±13.44 μm), followed by those treated in 20 mmol l−1 magnesium chloride solution (37.91±7.58 μm), and finally those treated in filtered lake water (20.16±8.63 μm). This suggests that the closing of the clamps is probably not due to the continuous contraction of extrinsic muscles but is caused by the elasticity of the clamp material and that muscle activity is required for clamp opening.
Evaluating board effectiveness: The changing context of strategic governance

Researchers have highlighted various components and measures of board effectiveness. Ranging from their role in the selection of the Chief Executive to their role in protecting the interests of shareholders, many of the elements of board effectiveness have been the subject of extensive investigation. The context within which governance takes place is changing rapidly, however, requiring a re-evaluation of the methodologies by which boards, and their advisors, evaluate such effectiveness. Driven by the strategic requirements of newly emergent forms of business structure, new technologies, globalisation, international harmonisation of reporting standards and new forms of competition, traditional forms of governance architecture are being challenged, with implications for the measurement of effectiveness. This paper utilises an integrated model of board effectiveness to consider how such capability is determined by controllable factors related to the internal dynamics of the board, its composition, the constituency concentration and individual factors related to the directors themselves. The influence of such uncontrollable factors as the industry ethos, industry complexity, legislative environment and economic conditions are also highlighted. The findings of a major study of governance, reflecting the changing dynamics of director selection, board evaluation and performance and their implications for strategic governance, governance architecture and board effectiveness are reported. The implications of the findings are reported in the context of the results of extensive consultation with professional directors as to the implications of the results for their perceptions of the framework and the changes facing boards.