Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Continuing Professional Development Activities of UK Accountants in Public Practice

Abstract Continuing professional development (CPD) is the educational and developmental work and learning that professionals undertake after they have qualified as members of their professional body. International Education Standard (IES 7), issued by the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) in May 2004, called on all professional accountants to develop and maintain competence that is relevant and appropriate for their work and their professional responsibilities. In order to comply with IES 7, ACCA and ICAEW implemented new policies for CPD effective from 1 January 2005, and CIMA and ICAS from 1 January 2006. Prior to these changes, CPD, which had originally been regarded purely as implicit within a professional accountant's ethical responsibilities, had come to be more regulated following legislative changes in the late 1980s. This is the first academic study to investigate the actual CPD activities of accountants in public practice in the UK. The questionnaire survey revealed that approximately 80% of members in public practice of ACCA, CIMA, ICAEW and ICAS engaged in levels of CPD that complied with the guidance in place before the new rules were introduced in 2005/06. The most frequently reported CPD activities were technical reading and course attendance. ACCA members have a broadly similar requirement under the new ACCA CPD policy. Most ACCA members in practice would continue to comply with the new policy requirements if their level of participation in CPD activities remains unchanged. However, up to 20% of such accountants are likely not to be compliant unless their participation increases. CIMA, ICAEW and ICAS have adopted a new approach to CPD based on outputs rather than inputs. These new requirements are also discussed.
Entropic Effects of Thermal Rippling on van der Waals Interactions between Monolayer Graphene and a Rigid Substrate

Graphene monolayer, with extremely low flexural stiffness, displays spontaneous rippling due to thermal fluctuations at a finite temperature. When a graphene membrane is placed on a solid substrate, the adhesive interactions between graphene and the substrate could considerably suppress thermal rippling. On the other hand, the statistical nature of thermal rippling adds an entropic contribution to the graphene-substrate interactions. In this paper we present a statistical mechanics analysis on thermal rippling of monolayer graphene supported on a rigid substrate, assuming a generic form of van der Waals interactions between graphene and substrate at T = 0 K. The rippling amplitude, the equilibrium average separation, and the average interaction energy are predicted simultaneously and compared with molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. While the amplitude of thermal rippling is reduced by adhesive interactions, the entropic contribution leads to an effective repulsion. As a result, the equilibrium average separation increases and the effective adhesion energy decreases with increasing temperature. Moreover, the effect of a biaxial pre-strain in graphene is considered, and a buckling instability is predicted at a critical compressive strain that depends on both the temperature and the adhesive interactions. Limited by the harmonic approximations, the theoretical predictions agree with MD simulations only for relatively small rippling amplitudes but can be extended to account for the anharmonic effects.
Video Segmentation with Just a Few Strokes

As the use of videos is becoming more popular in computer vision, the need for annotated video datasets increases. Such datasets are required either as training data or simply as ground truth for benchmark datasets. A particular challenge in video segmentation is due to disocclusions, which hamper frame-to-frame propagation, in conjunction with non-moving objects. We show that a combination of motion from point trajectories, as known from motion segmentation, along with minimal supervision can largely help solve this problem. Moreover, we integrate a new constraint that enforces consistency of the color distribution in successive frames. We quantify user interaction effort with respect to segmentation quality on challenging ego motion videos. We compare our approach to a diverse set of algorithms in terms of user effort and in terms of performance on common video segmentation benchmarks.
False positives to confusable objects predict medial temporal lobe atrophy

Animal models agree that the perirhinal cortex plays a critical role in object recognition memory, but qualitative aspects of this mnemonic function are still debated. A recent model claims that the perirhinal cortex is required to recognize the novelty of confusable distractor stimuli, and that damage here results in an increased propensity to judge confusable novel objects as familiar (i.e., false positives). We tested this model in healthy participants and patients with varying degrees of perirhinal cortex damage, i.e., amnestic mild cognitive impairment and very early Alzheimer's disease (AD), with a recognition memory task with confusable and less confusable realistic object pictures, and from whom we acquired high‐resolution anatomic MRI scans. Logistic mixed‐model behavioral analyses revealed that both patient groups committed more false positives with confusable than less confusable distractors, whereas healthy participants performed comparably in both conditions. A voxel‐based morphometry analysis demonstrated that this effect was associated with atrophy of the anteromedial temporal lobe, including the perirhinal cortex. These findings suggest that also the human perirhinal cortex recognizes the novelty of confusable objects, consistent with its border position between the hierarchical visual object processing and medial temporal lobe memory systems, and explains why AD patients exhibit a heightened propensity to commit false positive responses with inherently confusable stimuli. © The Authors. Hippocampus Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Content- and Task-Specific Dissociations of Frontal Activity during Maintenance and Manipulation in Visual Working Memory

Working memory, the short-term maintenance and manipulation of information, relies strongly on neural activity in the frontal cortex. Understanding the functional role of this activity is a prerequisite for the understanding of cognitive control mechanisms. Functional imaging studies in human participants have attempted to reveal neural correlates of the subdivision of visual working memory into different processes (maintenance vs manipulation) and according to the type of memorized content. Here, we show, using functional magnetic resonance imaging, a content-specific dissociation of frontal activity, with dorsal premotor areas supporting both maintenance and manipulation of spatial features and more ventral areas supporting maintenance and manipulation of color. Manipulation-specific activity was observed in the anterior middle frontal gyrus, the inferior frontal junction, and the inferior parietal lobe bilaterally. These areas have been implicated in cognitive control, and their activation by the manipulation task conforms to the demand on central executive resources in this condition. We suggest that the enhanced demand on cognitive resources in manipulation compared with maintenance was met by interplay of content- and task-specific modules in a frontoparietal network.
Gender Differences in Computer Work: Evidence for the Model of Achievement-Related Choices

Numerous studies show that women have less favorable attitudes toward using computers and that they use computers less often than men. However, most studies on gender differences in computer work failed to relate to the large body of research on gender differences in math and science. The study reported here tests whether the model of achievement-related choices, which was originally developed for the math domain, can be used to explain gender differences in computer work. A causal sequence deduced from the model was tested using path analysis. According to the results, the intensity of computer use can be predicted from the computer-specific self-concept of ability that was effected by computer-specific attributions. Gender differences emerged on the means of these variables. Furthermore, the intended choice of computers in a specific situation could be effectively explained by computer-specific self-concept of ability. This effect was mediated by the expectation of success and the perception of the value of computers. Values also affected expectations. For this causal sequence, gender differences emerged only with regard to self-concept of ability and expectancy. Supporting the assumptions of the model of achievement-related choices, the path coefficients did not vary as a function of gender.
Citation for Published Item: Use Policy the Premotor Theory of Attention: Time to Move On?

resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full DRO policy for further details. Abstract Spatial attention and eye-movements are tightly coupled, but the precise nature of this coupling is controversial. The influential but controversial Premotor theory of attention makes four specific predictions about the relationship between motor preparation and spatial attention. Firstly, spatial attention and motor preparation use the same neural substrates. Secondly, spatial attention is functionally equivalent to planning goal directed actions such as eye-movements (i.e. planning an action is both necessary and sufficient for a shift of spatial attention). Thirdly, planning a goal directed action with any effector system is sufficient to trigger a shift of spatial attention. Fourthly, the eye-movement system has a privileged role in orienting visual spatial attention. This article reviews empirical studies that have tested these predictions. Contrary to predictions one and two there is evidence of anatomical and functional dissociations between endogenous spatial attention and motor preparation. However, there is compelling evidence that exogenous attention is reliant on activation of the oculomotor system. With respect to the third prediction, there is correlational evidence that spatial attention is directed to the endpoint of goal-directed actions but no direct evidence that this attention shift is dependent on motor preparation. The few studies to have directly tested the fourth prediction have produced conflicting results, so the extent to which the oculomotor system has a privileged role in spatial attention remains unclear. Overall, the evidence is not consistent with the view that spatial attention is functionally equivalent to motor preparation so the Premotor theory should be rejected, although a limited version of the Premotor theory in which only exogenous attention is dependent on motor preparation may still be tenable. …
Instability and Triangulation of the Action Potential Predict Serious Proarrhythmia, but Action Potential Duration Prolongation Is Antiarrhythmic

BackgroundProlongation of action potential duration (APD) is considered a major antiarrhythmic mechanism (class III), but paradoxically, it frequently is also proarrhythmic (torsade de pointes). Methods and ResultsThe cardiac electrophysiological effects of 702 chemicals (class III or HERG channel block) were studied in 1071 rabbit Langendorff-perfused hearts. Temporal instability of APD, triangulation (duration of phase 3 repolarization), reverse use-dependence, and induction of ectopic beats were measured. Instability, triangulation, and reverse use-dependence were found to be important determinants of proarrhythmia. Agents that lengthened the APD by >50 ms, with induction of instability, triangulation, and reverse use-dependence (n=59), induced proarrhythmia (primarily polymorphic ventricular tachycardia); in their absence (n=19), the same prolongation of APD induced no proarrhythmia but significant antiarrhythmia (P <0.001). Shortening of APD, when accompanied by instability and triangulation, was also markedly proarrhythmic (primarily monomorphic ventricular tachycardia). In experiments in which instability and triangulation were present, proarrhythmia declined with prolongation of APD, but this effect was not large enough to become antiarrhythmic. Only with agents without instability did prolongation of APD become antiarrhythmic. For 20 selected compounds, it was shown that instability of APD and triangulation observed in vitro were strong predictors of in vivo proarrhythmia (torsade de pointes). ConclusionsLengthening of APD without instability or triangulation is not proarrhythmic but rather antiarrhythmic.
Is a high level of total cholesterol a risk factor for dental implants or bone grafting failure? A retrospective cohort study on 227 patients.

PURPOSE This study aims to verify the effect of hypercholeresterolaemia on implant and bone augmentation failures. MATERIALS AND METHODS A retrospective cohort study was conducted on 268 sequential patients scheduled for implant and bone augmentation surgery under conscious sedation in a private practice. Total serum cholesterol (TC) levels were assessed via blood tests before surgery. Patients were divided into two groups: TC < 200 mg/dl and TC > 200 mg/dl. A 6-month post-loading follow-up was scheduled both for implants and grafts. The outcomes considered were implant failure (removal) and graft infection/failure. The effect of cholesterol on early implant and grafting failure was investigated according to a logistic regression model. RESULTS Two hundred and twenty-seven patients fulfilled inclusion criteria; 139 had hypercholesterolemia. The 6-month post-loading overall implant failure rate was 6.25% at patient level (2.00% at implant level). Partial or total graft infection rate was 10.2%. High TC increased by 7.48 times the odds of the grafting failure (P = 0.047; 95% CI: -0.94 to 59.23), whilst it did not modify the odds of implant failure (P = 0.749; 95% CI: 0.28 to 2.49). CONCLUSIONS High total serum cholesterol levels tend to increase graft failure rates whilst it did not influence implant failures.
Frontal Assessment Battery as a Useful Tool to Differentiate Mild Cognitive Impairment due to Subcortical Ischemic Vascular Disease from Alzheimer Disease

Background: Prominent executive dysfunction can differentiate vascular dementia from Alzheimer disease (AD). However, it is unclear whether the Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB) screening tool can differentiate subcortical ischemic vascular disease (SIVD) from AD at the pre-dementia stage. In addition, the neural correlates of FAB performance have yet to be clarified. Methods: Patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) due to SIVD (MCI-V), MCI due to AD (MCI-A), and demographically matched controls completed the Mini-Mental State Examination, Taiwanese FAB (TFAB), Category Fluency, and Chinese Version of the Verbal Learning Test, and underwent magnetic resonance imaging. White matter hyperintensities were rated according to the Scheltens scale. Results: TFAB total scale and its Orthographical Fluency subtest were the only measures that could differentiate MCI-V from MCI-A. Discriminative analysis showed that Orthographical Fluency scores successfully identified 73.2% of the cases with MCI-V, with 85.0% sensitivity. Orthographical Fluency scores were specifically associated with lesion load within frontal periventricular, frontal deep white matter, and basal ganglia regions. Conclusion: The TFAB, and especially its 1-min Orthographical Fluency subtest, is a useful screening procedure to differentiate MCI due to SIVD from MCI due to AD. The discriminative ability is probably due to frontosubcortical white matter pathologies disproportionately involved in the two disease entities.
Teachers' Beliefs about Teaching Idiomatic Expressions: The Case of Iranian EFL Learners

The pervading use of idiomatic expressions in authentic input, their frequency in the English language and the increasing difficulties that learners experience with this type of language are compelling reasons that made idioms an integral part of vocabulary learning. To solve learners’ problems regarding idiomatic expressions, first a need analysis is required. In order to reach this purpose a questionnaire was given to sixty EFL teachers in the universities of Iran to see what the problems of learning idiomatic expressions and their causes are. This study analyzed teaching and learning of idioms in the context of English as a Foreign Language (EFL). In the current study the problematic parts of the educational system, teachers’ methodology, materials and the students’ approaches toward learning idiomatic expressions were detected.
Long Chain N-acyl Homoserine Lactone Production by Enterobacter sp. Isolated from Human Tongue Surfaces

We report the isolation of N-acyl homoserine lactone-producing Enterobacter sp. isolate T1-1 from the posterior dorsal surfaces of the tongue of a healthy individual. Spent supernatants extract from Enterobacter sp. isolate T1-1 activated the biosensor Agrobacterium tumefaciens NTL4(pZLR4), suggesting production of long chain AHLs by these isolates. High resolution mass spectrometry analysis of these extracts confirmed that Enterobacter sp. isolate T1-1 produced a long chain N-acyl homoserine lactone, namely N-dodecanoyl-homoserine lactone (C12-HSL). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first isolation of Enterobacter sp. , strain T1-1 from the posterior dorsal surface of the human tongue and N-acyl homoserine lactones production by this bacterium.
On selection of adjacent lines in test pattern generation for delay faults considering crosstalk effects

With miniaturization of semiconductor manufacturing process, line spacing becomes narrower and hence the influence of coupling capacitance cannot be ignored. The signal delay on a defective line is affected by the signal transitions on its adjacent lines through the coupling capacitance. In addition, the delay size depends on the timing skew between signal transitions on the defective line and its adjacent lines. In test pattern generation, not all adjacent lines are required to have signal transitions to excite the fault effect if a large relative timing skew exists between the faulty line and the adjacent line. In this paper, we propose a selection method of adjacent lines for assigning signal transitions in test pattern generation. The proposed method can reduce the number of adjacent lines used in test pattern generation without degrading the quality of test pattern that can excite the fault effect.
Leadership Processes and Follower Self-identity

Contents: A.P. Brief, J.P. Walsh, Series Foreword. Preface. Common Sense, Science, and Leadership. The Working Self-Concept and Behavior. Level and Self-Concept. Temporary and Enduring Effects of Leaders. Generating a Mental Representation of a Leader's Behavior: Linking Perception to WSC Activation. Leadership and Emotions. With C. Selenta, Leadership and Organizational Justice. The Value Added by a Second-Order, Subordinate-Focused Approach to Understanding Leadership Processes.
Brasil, junho de 2013, classes e ideologias cruzadas

Leaning on available data about the social composition of the events of June 2013 in Brazil, the author suggests that they might be seen simultaneously as the expression of traditional middle class grievances with several aspects of national reality and a reflex of the condition of what the author identifies as the "new proletariat": workers, mostly young, that have secured regular jobs during Lula's term as president (2003-2013) but who suffer from low pay, high turnover and poor work conditions.
Studierende können lernen, sich selbst zum Lernen zu motivieren: Ein Trainingsexperiment

Zusammenfassung: Sechsundsechzig Studierende nahmen an einem computer-basierten Training motivationaler Lernstrategien teil. Gegenstand des Trainings war eine Strategie, eine Lernabsicht zu entwickeln, indem man sich den personlichen Nutzen des zu erwerbenden Wissens verdeutlicht. Die Vpn erhielten (1) kein spezifisches Training, (2) nur ein Training der motivationalen Lernstrategie oder (3) ein kombiniertes Training der Lernstrategie und darauf bezogener Selbstregulation. Nach dem Training bearbeiteten die Vpn einen Lehrtext, den sie zuvor als weniger motivierend beurteilt hatten. Es wurde erhoben, inwieweit die Vpn die Trainingsinhalte zur Anwendung brachten, welches Motivationsniveau sie bei Anwendung der gelernten Strategie erreichten und wie viel Wissen sie aus der Bearbeitung des Textes gewannen. Die Vpn des kombinierten Trainings schnitten hinsichtlich aller drei Variablen besser ab als die Vpn des Lernstrategietrainings und die Vpn ohne Training, und die Vpn des Lernstrategietrainings schnitten eb.
Continuity of care in mental health: understanding and measuring a complex phenomenon

Background Continuity of care is considered by patients and clinicians an essential feature of good quality care in long-term disorders, yet there is general agreement that it is a complex concept. Most policies emphasize it and encourage systems to promote it. Despite this, there is no accepted definition or measure against which to test policies or interventions designed to improve continuity. We aimed to operationalize a multi-axial model of continuity of care and to use factor analysis to determine its validity for severe mental illness. Method A multi-axial model of continuity of care comprising eight facets was operationalized for quantitative data collection from mental health service users using 32 variables. Of these variables, 22 were subsequently entered into a factor analysis as independent components, using data from a clinical population considered to require long-term consistent care. Results Factor analysis produced seven independent continuity factors accounting for 62.5% of the total variance. These factors, Experience and Relationship, Regularity, Meeting Needs, Consolidation, Managed Transitions, Care Coordination and Supported Living, were close but not identical to the original theoretical model. Conclusions We confirmed that continuity of care is multi-factorial. Our seven factors are intuitively meaningful and appear to work in mental health. These factors should be used as a starting-point in research into the determinants and outcomes of continuity of care in long-term disorders.
The prognostic role of Sirt1 expression in solid malignancies: a meta-analysis

Although many studies have discussed the association of abnormally expressed silent information regulator 1 (Sirt1) with the prognosis of patients with a variety of solid carcinomas, they failed to agree on whether excessive Sirt1 indicates a good or poor overall survival for the patients. We conducted the current meta-analysis to illustrate the prognostic value of Sirt1 in solid malignancies. Articles published before December 2016 were searched using Pubmed and Web of Science. The studies were selected for the meta-analysis based on certain criteria. A total of 7,369 cases from 37 studies were included, in which 48.6% of the patients overexpressed Sirt1. The overall survival (OS) and clinical features, such as age and TNM stage, were analyzed using RevMan 5.3 software. Sirt1 overexpression was significantly correlated with the OS (HR: 1.52, 95% CI: [1.23, 1.88], P = 0.0001), especially in liver cancer (HR: 1.78, 95% CI: [1.46, 2.18], P < 0.00001) and lung cancer (HR: 1.80, 95% CI: [1.06, 3.05], P = 0.03), which suggested that the overexpression of Sirt1 indicates poor prognosis of patients with solid cancers.