Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
International Financial Reporting Standards and Experts' Perceptions of Disclosure Quality

From 2005, over 7,000 listed firms in the European Union and many more around the world are required to adopt International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). The introduction of a uniform accounting regime is expected to ensure greater comparability and transparency of financial reporting around the world. However, recent research has questioned the quality of financial statements prepared under IFRS standards, particularly in the presence of weak enforcement mechanisms and adverse reporting incentives (Ball et al., 2003). In this paper, we assess the quality of the financial statements of Austrian, German and Swiss firms which have already adopted internationally recognized standards (IFRS or U.S. GAAP). The study makes use of available disclosure quality scores extracted from detailed analyses of annual reports by reputed accounting scholars (‘experts’). This work complements other contemporary research on the quality of IFRS financial statements where the properties of earnings are used as an evaluation metric (Barth et al., 2005). Our evidence shows that disclosure quality has increased significantly under IFRS in the three European countries we analyse. This result holds not only for firms which have voluntarily adopted IFRS or U.S. GAAP, but also for firms which mandatorily adopted such standards in response to the requirements of specific stock market segments. Although we cannot establish direct causality due to the inherent self-selection issues for most of our sample firms, the evidence shows that the quality of financial reports has increased significantly with the adoption of IFRS.
The Genetic Structure of Five Pig Breeds Maintained in Poland

Abstract The aim of this study was to evaluate genetic variability of five pig populations maintained in Poland with the usage of model based clustering method (MCMC approach) on microsatellite data. A high degree of genetic diversity with the values corrected for sample sizes was observed for four breeds: 0.740 for Polish Landrace, 0.697 for Pietrain, 0.692 for Polish Large White and 0.688 for Puławska. Duroc breed, however, was characterized by the lowest genetic diversity (0.589), allelic richness and number of effective alleles. As for Structure software results, each breed was represented by their own cluster while maintaining a possible small admixture of other breeds. The results obtained suggest a moderate gene flow between breeds, especially between Polish Landrace and Polish Large White has occurred. The lowest admixture was presented for Duroc breed, which confirms its high purity. The presented results can be used to study the structure and as a genetic information for the preservation and further genetic improvement of the pig breeds maintained in Poland. It seems also advisable to conduct further studies with a larger number of microsatellites and by analysis of mitochondrial DNA.
Attentional networks effi ciency in preterm children

Recent studies have reported specific executive and attentional deficits in preterm children. However, the majority of this research has used multidetermined tasks to assess these abilities, and the interpretation of the results lacks an explicit theoretical backdrop to better understand the origin of the difficulties observed. In the present study, we used the Child Attention Network Task (Child ANT; Rueda et al. 2004) to assess the efficiency of the alerting, orienting and executive control networks. We compared the performance of 25 preterm children (gestational age < or = 32 weeks) to 25 full-term children, all between 5(1/2) and 6(1/2) years of age. Results showed that, as compared to full-term children, preterm children were slower on all conditions of the Child ANT and had a specific deficit in executive control abilities. We also observed a significantly higher correlation between the orienting and executive control networks in the preterm group, suggesting less differentiation of these two networks in this population. PIZZO, Roxane, et al. Attentional networks efficiency in preterm children. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 2010, vol. 16, no. 1, p. 130-137 DOI : 10.1017/S1355617709991032
Antioxidant properties of tea and herbal infusions - a short report.

The aim of the research was to determine the antioxidant properties of tea and herbal infusions and the content of total polyphenols. The research material were teas and herbal teas available in retail trade, i.e.: Camellia sinensis teas such as green, black, Pu-erh and white tea as well as herbal teas from lemon balm leaves (Folium Melissae), peppermint leaves (Folium Menthae Piperitae) and chamomile (Anthodium Chamomillae). The antioxidant activity was determined with a spectrophotometric method using synthetic cationradicals ABTS . + and expressed as TEAC (Trolox Equivalent Antioxidant Capacity). The total polyphenol content was measured by using a Folin-Ciocalteu assay, and the results obtained were expressed as GAE (Gallic Acid Equivalent). It was observed that the antioxidant proprieties of the herbal teas examined were considerably lower in comparison with those of the Camellia sinensis teas with a similar content of total polyphenols. A positive linear correlation was found between polyphenols content and antioxidant properties of individual teas and herbal teas. Among the examined teas and herbal teas, green tea, white tea and black tea were characterised by the highest, whereas chamomile, peppermint and Pu-erh tea- by the lowest antioxidant activity.
+ YY ’ Z X-Residual Prediction Error TargetPredictionObservation Latent 0 State φ f 1 f 2

In this work we introduce a new framework for performing temporal predictions in the presence of uncertainty. It is based on a simple idea of disentangling components of the future state which are predictable from those which are inherently unpredictable, and encoding the unpredictable components into a low-dimensional latent variable which is fed into a forward model. Our method uses a supervised training objective which is fast and easy to train. We evaluate it in the context of video prediction on multiple datasets and show that it is able to consistently generate diverse predictions without the need for alternating minimization over a latent space or adversarial training.
Panel Summary: Social, cultural and psychosocial determinants of cardiovascular disease / health

This panel discussed the importance of considering nontraditional risk factors as independent contributors to cardiovascular disease (CVD) in the African American (AA) population. Based on published and unpublished results, the panel concluded that more recent research has shown that factors, such as perceived stressors, socioeconomic status (SES), and neighborhood environments (in addition to traditional biomedical risk factors), are associated with increased risk of CVD among AAs. One Jackson Heart Study (JHS) publication examined the association between multiple measures of perceived discrimination with prevalence of hypertension in AAs. Hypertension prevalence was greater among women than men in the JHS (64.0% vs 59.7%, respectively). Lifetime discrimination was associated with hypertension prevalence, and burden of lifetime discrimination attributed to racial status was associated with hypertension prevalence. Other research presented reported that perceived discrimination was associated with health behaviors, such as smoking, diet and physical activity, among JHS participants. Health behaviors may be coping responses to experiences of discrimination among AAs. Similar research showed that reports of perceived everyday discrimination were positively associated with visceral fat in a sample of AA and Caucasian women. Overall, findings showed that more understanding should be given to the role of reports of perceived discrimination in order to understand disparities in hypertension, behavioral risk factors and obesity and fat distribution. In addition to psychosocial stressors, social epidemiologists must also focus on the role socioeconomic status (SES) plays in the understanding of CVD disparities and related risk factors in the AA population. The social patterning of CVD and related risk factors may reveal the extent to which high social position provides a protective buffer against CVD and related risk factors. Findings showed that there was an inverse association between SES (education, income and occupation) and diabetes prevalence. Other research showed that the odds of having chronic kidney disease (CKD) were 41% lower for affluent men and women than their less affluent counterparts. Because persons with lower SES had greater prevalence of diabetes and CKD than higher SES counterparts in the JHS, efforts to reduce diabetes and CKD disparities between racial and ethnic
Interactive comment on “ Long-term trends in ocean plankton produ tion and particle export between 1960 – 2006 ” by C

for the period 1960-2006 using a hindcast simulation from a global coupled physical-biogeochemical model. The authors perform a thorough analysis of how changes in the physical environment affect ecosystem structure and lead to changes in primary production and POC export in different regions of the ocean, and present some interesting results. However, there are some issues with clarity and specificity in the methodology and presentation of the results that make the manuscript hard to follow in some places, and potentially raise questions about the validity of some of its results and conclusions. More detailed comments follow below.
Erasmus students using English as a lingua franca: does study abroad in a non-English-speaking country improve L2 English?

There is a lack of research on the impact of study abroad (SA) on the development of L2 English when students study in non-anglophone countries. The aim of the present study is to fill this gap by examining 39 Catalan/Spanish students who, as part of an Erasmus exchange, spent a term at universities in non-English-speaking European countries. In this context, English was used as the vehicular language for their studies and in their daily extracurricular activities when interacting with other students. Our research focuses the impact of this specific type of SA on students’ L2 English proficiency, and in particular their writing skills. Before and after the SA, students completed the Quick Oxford Placement Test (a general measure of L2 proficiency) and also drafted a short written paragraph in English. Their writing was analysed for syntactic complexity, lexical complexity and subordination. The results show that participants improved significantly after their SA on two out of the four measures: general L2 proficiency and lexical complexity. Though threshold levels of general proficiency have been posited for students’ ability to benefit linguistically from SA, in this case, L2 proficiency at the outset of the SA experience was found not to influence the development of writing skills, except on the measure of subordination. Implications are drawn for further research and pedagogic practice in developing English as a lingua franca skills in a European context.
The 11-year solar cycle in current reanalyses: a (non)linear attribution study of the middle atmosphere

Abstract. This study focusses on the variability of temperature, ozone and circulation characteristics in the stratosphere and lower mesosphere with regard to the influence of the 11-year solar cycle. It is based on attribution analysis using multiple nonlinear techniques (support vector regression, neural networks) besides the multiple linear regression approach. The analysis was applied to several current reanalysis data sets for the 1979–2013 period, including MERRA, ERA-Interim and JRA-55, with the aim to compare how these types of data resolve especially the double-peaked solar response in temperature and ozone variables and the consequent changes induced by these anomalies. Equatorial temperature signals in the tropical stratosphere were found to be in qualitative agreement with previous attribution studies, although the agreement with observational results was incomplete, especially for JRA-55. The analysis also pointed to the solar signal in the ozone data sets (i.e. MERRA and ERA-Interim) not being consistent with the observed double-peaked ozone anomaly extracted from satellite measurements. The results obtained by linear regression were confirmed by the nonlinear approach through all data sets, suggesting that linear regression is a relevant tool to sufficiently resolve the solar signal in the middle atmosphere. The seasonal evolution of the solar response was also discussed in terms of dynamical causalities in the winter hemispheres. The hypothetical mechanism of a weaker Brewer–Dobson circulation at solar maxima was reviewed together with a discussion of polar vortex behaviour.
Assessing the O 2 budget under sea ice: An experimental and modelling approachAssessing O budget

The objective of this study was to assess the O 2 budget in the water under sea ice combining observations and modelling. Modelling was used to discriminate between physical processes, gas-specific transport (i.e., ice-atmosphere gas fluxes and gas bubble buoyancy) and bacterial respiration (BR) and to constrain bacterial growth efficiency (BGE). A module describing the changes of the under-ice water properties, due to brine rejection and temperature-dependent BR, was implemented in the one-dimensional halo-thermodynamic sea ice model LIM1D. Our results show that BR was the dominant biogeochemical driver of O2 concentration in the water under ice (in a system without primary producers), followed by gas specific transport. The model suggests that the actual contribution of BR and gas specific transport to the change in seawater O 2 concentration was 37% during ice growth and 48% during melt. BGE in the water under sea ice, as retrieved from the simulated O2 budget, was found to be between 0.4 and 0.5, which is in line with published BGE values for cold marine waters. Given the importance of BR to seawater O2 in the present study, it can be assumed that bacteria contribute substantially to organic matter consumption and gas fluxes in ice-covered polar oceans. In addition, we propose a parameterization of polar marine bacterial respiration, based on the strong temperature dependence of bacterial respiration and the high growth efficiency observed here, for further biogeochemical ocean modelling applications, such as regional or large-scale Earth System models.
Agricultural and environmental importance of Cean-Bolduţ antierosional forest belts in Transylvania.

The paper is related to plant-pest-entomophag interactions in cereal agroecosystem of Agricultural Research-Development Station Turda, in Transylvania. Under the conditions of actual agroecological changes, yielded by climatic warming and dryness and new technological and economical conditions of zone agricultural exploitations, the research points out the extension risk of cereal pests attack with an increasing potential and the importance of the elaboration of integrated control strategy (ICS). The attack diminishing recommended methods of the ICS are agro-technical methods; pests, diseases, weeds integrated control; insecticides treatments; conservation and use of entomophagous limiters. The natural predators play an important role in decreasing the pest abundance in Transylvania. The well-known systematic groups of enthomophagous predators: Aranea; Dermaptera; Thysanoptera (Aeolothripidae); Heteroptera (Nabidae); Coleoptera (Carabidae, Cicindelidae, Staphylinidae, Sylphidae, Coccinellidae, Cantharidae, Malachiidae); Diptera (Syrphidae, Empididae); Hymenoptera (Formicidae); Neuroptera (Chrysopidae) were represented in the structure of arthropod fauna. The abundance and the activity quality of entomophagous populations were higher in the system of crops with protective forest belts, existing since 1952, in the Cean-Bolduţ farm of A.R. D.S. in Turda. Therefore, on the farm with protective forestry belts and with field marginal herbs shelters, favorable for the development of entomophagous arthropod fauna, a real natural entomocenotic equilibrium and a natural biological control of important pests were registered. By comparison it is necessary to apply the insecticide treatments on the cereal agroecosystem in open field areas, because the development of pest population exceeds the adjusting capacity of entomophagous arthropod fauna.
Women, entrepreneurial activity and territory: differences or myths?

The earliest published study on entrepreneurial women is credited to Schwartz (1976). Subsequently, various female researchers (Hisrich and Brush, 1984; Cromie, 1987; Kaplan, 1988; .) started to examine the possible differences that could be derived from gender. The analysis of the features of entrepreneurial women is now a subject of discussion due to the fact that the results obtained so far are not conclusive. While Hisrich and Brush find significant differences related to gender (attitudes, motives .), Buttner and Rosen (1988) do not find disparities for being man or woman, but due to mere organisational questions such as the type of business. On the other hand, Gatewood, Brush et al. (2008) detail the differences and myths related to the growth -venture capital- of women's entrepreneurial activity. All things considered, the activity and behaviour of entrepreneurial women is still controversial as it is a relatively recent issue and one from which homogeneous results have not yet been obtained. Along these lines, new contributions in different societies and territorial areas -including regions- allow researchers to penetrate more profoundly into this subject matter and discover new ideas and conclusions that provoke academic debate and offer suggestions for new policies. This research, which at first provides a specific review of the most relevant literature, investigates the perception of Spanish entrepreneurial women's activity, not only concerning the characterisation of their personal features -using specific surveys-, but also from the perspective of their performance in the activity -by comparing the entrepreneurial results over a specific period, including an expansion stage and a (more recent) recession stage. Comparatively speaking, certain control groups of the whole economy are chosen, by regions and sectors, which allows a counterfactual methodology, and statistical and econometric methods are used to refine the analysis. The results and conclusions broaden the understanding of the facts and provide evidence of which could be considered to be differences and which remains to be seen as myths of the entrepreneurial development of women in a Mediterranean country.
Phytochemical properties of some solvent fractions of petroleum ether extract of the African mistletoe (Loranthus micranthus Linn) leaves and their antimicrobial activity

The leaves of the African Mistletoe (Loranthus micranthus Linn) on Kola acuminata in Nsukka, Eastern Nigeria were studied. The chloroform (A), ethyl acetate (B) and ethyl acetate residue (C) fractions of crude petroleum ether extract of L. micranthus Linn were subjected to phytochemical and antimicrobial evaluation. Results reveal the presence of protein in fraction C, whereas flavonoids, steroids and terpenes were present in all the fractions, but in a low quantity. Fractions A and B had high, while fraction C had moderate quantity of tannins. However, high quantity of resins was present in fraction C followed by fraction A. Fraction B showed the highest susceptibility (25) to Bacillus subtilis , and was active against the fungus, Candida albicans, suggesting its higher potency and fungistatic potential. Apart from Klebsiella spp. , the other organisms were not susceptible to fraction A, apparently owing to high resins but no protein content. Fraction C was active against the highest number of organisms ( Pseudomonas aeruginosa , B. subtilis and Klebsiella spp.). In all, this study suggests that A, B and C fractions of crude petroleum ether leaf extract of L. micranthus Linn is parasitic on K. acuminate , may serve as source for compounds with therapeutic potentials. However, the fractionating solvents used in this study may not be the preferred choice for fractionating the active principles of L. micranthus Linn. Interestingly, the possible fungistatic potential of L. micranthus Linn parasitic on K. acuminata as observed in fraction B may be exploited in the design and development of fungistatic drug. Keywords: Phytochemical, antimicrobial, fungistatic, Loranthus micranthus Linn, Kola acuminata , mistletoe
COLLECTIVE LEADERSHIP: A Case Study of the All Blacks

This case study evaluates the development of a formal collective leadership approach by the All Blacks (New Zealand’s national men’s rugby team) management. The All Blacks have an astonishing 75% winning record in test matches over a hundred year period. This winning ethos is part of their organizational culture, which has been developed, nurtured and sustained since the inception of the first national team in 1903 (Palenski, 2003; Tobin, 2005). In this qualitative research study, p rimary data was obtained through the analysis of semi-structured, in-depth interviews with past and present All Black captains and coaches (over a period of 60 years from 1950-2010). Stories which are narratives based on true events provide a rich description, which enhances the credibility and transferability of the findings. A key finding is the strong senior collective leadership that has been ever present. Originally led by senior players informally from ‘the back seat of the bus’ this internal leadership has been formalised by the most recent coaching team and has proved to be very effective with regards to maintaining a winning culture in an ever-changing organizational and socio-cultural environment. The learning culture and learning leadership demonstrated within the All Blacks collective leadership model instils a commitment to total honesty in self and team evaluation and reflection. It is anticipated that these findings will be transferable to other business and team sport contexts and assist in organizational development.
Back to Basics: How Measures of Lexical Diversity Can Help Discriminate between CEFR Levels

This study contributes to ongoing discussions on how measures of lexical diversity (LD) can help discriminate between essays from second language learners of English, whose work has been assessed as belonging to levels B1 to C2 of the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR). The focus is, in particular, on how different operationalizations of what constitutes a ‘different word’ (type) impact on the LD measures themselves and on their ability to discriminate between CEFR levels. The results show that basic measures of LD, such as the number of different words, the TTR (Templin 1957), and the Index of Guiraud (Guiraud 1954) explain more variance in the CEFR levels than sophisticated measures, such as D (Malvern et al. 2004), HD-D (McCarthy and Jarvis 2007), and MTLD (McCarthy 2005) provided text length is kept constant across texts. A simple count of different words (defined as lemma’s and not as word families) was the best predictor of CEFR levels and explained 22 per cent of the variance in overall scores on the Pearson Test of English Academic in essays written by 176 test takers.