Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Exploring the Contemporary State of Information Technology Governance Transparency in Belgian Firms

ABSTRACT This article provides an exploratory insight in the contemporary state of IT governance transparency in Belgian firms. Our findings show that Belgian firms exhibit low IT governance disclosure rates in general. We also find preliminary evidence that IT governance disclosure is positively related to IT usage intensity for listed firms, and that listed firms tend to be more concerned with disclosing on their IT governance compared to non-listed firms, given a comparable level of IT usage intensity.
SYGL-1 and LST-1 link niche signaling to PUF RNA repression for stem cell maintenance in Caenorhabditis elegans

Central questions in regenerative biology include how stem cells are maintained and how they transition from self-renewal to differentiation. Germline stem cells (GSCs) in Caeno-rhabditis elegans provide a tractable in vivo model to address these questions. In this system, Notch signaling and PUF RNA binding proteins, FBF-1 and FBF-2 (collectively FBF), maintain a pool of GSCs in a naïve state. An open question has been how Notch signaling modulates FBF activity to promote stem cell self-renewal. Here we report that two Notch targets, SYGL-1 and LST-1, link niche signaling to FBF. We find that SYGL-1 and LST-1 proteins are cytoplasmic and normally restricted to the GSC pool region. Increasing the distribution of SYGL-1 expands the pool correspondingly, and vast overexpression of either SYGL-1 or LST-1 generates a germline tumor. Thus, SYGL-1 and LST-1 are each sufficient to drive “stemness” and their spatial restriction prevents tumor formation. Importantly, SYGL-1 and LST-1 can only drive tumor formation when FBF is present. Moreover, both proteins interact physically with FBF, and both are required to repress a signature FBF mRNA target. Together, our results support a model in which SYGL-1 and LST-1 form a repressive complex with FBF that is crucial for stem cell maintenance. We further propose that progression from a naïve stem cell state to a state primed for differentiation relies on loss of SYGL-1 and LST-1, which in turn relieves FBF target RNAs from repression. Broadly, our results provide new insights into the link between niche signaling and a downstream RNA regulatory network and how this circuitry governs the balance between self-renewal and differentiation.
Genetics of Familial Episodic Vertigo and Ataxia

Abstract: The familial episodic ataxias are prototypical inherited channelopathies that result in episodes of vertigo and ataxia triggered by stress and exercise. Episodic ataxia type 1 (EA‐1) is caused by missense mutations in the potassium channel gene KCNA1, whereas episodic ataxia type 2 (EA‐2) is caused by missense and nonsense mutations in the calcium channel gene CACNA1A. These ion channels are crucial for both central and peripheral neurotransmission. Within the last few years, the genetic mechanisms underlying these relatively rare familial episodic ataxia syndromes have been worked out. They provide a model for understanding the mechanisms of more common recurrent vertigo and ataxia syndromes, particularly those associated with migraine. Migraine affects as many as 15‐20% of the general population, and it has been estimated that about 25% of patients with migraine experience spontaneous attacks of vertigo and ataxia. We identified 24 families with migraine and benign recurrent vertigo inherited in an autosomal dominant fashion. These families have numerous features in common with EA‐1 and EA‐2 (particularly EA‐2), suggesting that benign recurrent vertigo may be an inherited channelopathy. An ion channel mutation shared by brain and inner ear could explain the combined central and peripheral features of the syndrome.
Controlled Growth of C-Oriented AlN Thin Films: Experimental Deposition and Characterization

Nowadays, the science of thin films has experienced an important development and specialization. Basic research in this field involves a controlled film deposition followed by characterization at atomic level. Experimental and theoretical understanding of thin film processes have contributed to the development of relevant technological fields such as microelectronics, catalysis and corrosion. The combination of materials properties has made it possible to process thin films for a variety of applications in the field of semiconductors. Inside that field, the nitrides III-IV semiconductor family has gained a great deal of interest because of their promising applications in several technology-related issues such as photonics, wear-resistant coatings, thin-film resistors and other functional applications (Moreira et al., 2011; Morkoc, 2008). Aluminium nitride (AlN) is an III-V compound. Its more stable crystalline structure is the hexagonal wurzite lattice (see figure 1). Hexagonal AlN has a high thermal conductivity (260 Wm-1K-1), a direct band gap (Eg=5.9-6.2 eV), high hardness (2 x 103 kgf mm-2), high fusion temperature (2400C) and a high acoustic velocity. AlN thin films can be used as gate dielectric for ultra large integrated devices (ULSI), or in GHz-band surface acoustic wave devices due to its strong piezoelectricity (Chaudhuri et al., 2007; Chiu et al., 2007; Jang et al., 2006; Kar et al., 2006; Olivares et al., 2007; Prinz et al., 2006). The performance of the AlN films as dielectric or acoustical/electronic material directly depends on their properties at microstructure (grain size, interface) and surface morphology (roughness). Thin films of AlN grown at a c-axis orientation (preferential growth perpendicular to the substrate) are the most interesting ones for applications, since they exhibit properties similar to monocrystalline AlN. A high degree of c-axis orientation together with surface smoothness are essential requierements for AlN films to be used for applications in surface acoustic wave devices (Jose et al., 2010; Moreira et al., 2011). On the other hand, the oxynitrides MeNxOy (Me=metal) have become very important materials for several technological applications. Among them, aluminium oxynitrides may have promissing applications in diferent technological fields. The addition of oxygen into a growing AlN thin film induces the production of ionic metal-oxygen bonds inside a matrix
Earnings Management and Corporate Governance in Family-Controlled Companies

Corporate governance literature advances the idea that certain aspects of board of directors' structure improve monitoring of managerial decisions. Among these is the managers' decision to manage earnings. Prior studies have shown that earnings management, in widely-held public companies, is less prevalent when there is a high level of board independence. However, there is less evidence on the effectiveness of board independence on earnings management in family-controlled companies. This issue is interesting in particular as such companies are susceptible to various types of agency concerns. It is the purpose of this study to shed light on the earnings management issue in family-controlled companies, characterized by a potentially low board independence environment. In this study, board independence is estimated by two parameters (i) proportion of independent directors on board, and (ii) lack of CEO/Board Chairman duality function, with special attention paid to the case where the CEO is a member of the controlling-family. Our empirical results provide evidence that, indeed, the impact of board independence on earnings management is weaker in family-controlled companies. The same effects are also found for the cases where the CEO is a member of the controlling-family, even though she is not also the Board Chairman.
Incidental Information Exchange: A Measure for Assessing the Affect of Mediated Communication on Work Relationships

This paper proposes a relatively quick method, called incidental information exchange (IIE), for capturing the level of social exchanges which take place within a workgroup. The measure captures the incidental knowledge that co-workers have about each other’s daily life. It is argued that this mutual knowledge sharing is a necessary step in building work relationships. A pilot study was conducted to assess the application of this measure to a workgroup that has had desktop videoconferencing installed in its offices to connect them with another workgroup located in another city. The administration of the measure was then presented to test its validity and reliability.
The effect of R&D, technological spillovers and absorptive capacity on productivity and profitability of automobile and electronics firms in Japan

It is widely accepted that R&D is a key factor explaining performance at both macro and micro-levels. At the micro level, it is thought that firm‘s R&D activities contribute to productivity and profitability by improving efficiency and delivering new products. What is unclear is the role that technology spillovers play in firm performance and the importance that absorptive capacity plays in helping firms benefit from these spillovers. This thesis fills this gap by addressing three issues: the impact of firm R&D on performance as measured by labour productivity and profitability; the impact of technological spillovers on this performance; and the formalisation of absorptive capacity in order to examine the indirect effect of the firm‘s technological effort. Of secondary importance is the bi-directional relationship between R&D and profitability. The empirical context for this study is the Japanese automotive and electronics industries. Japan is an appropriate context because both the automotive and electronics manufacturing industries are considering some of the world leading innovators. Three empirical chapters address these issues in turn. The first explores the productivity effects of internal R&D activities, intra-industry spillovers, inter-industry spillovers and absorptive capacity. It adopts production function framework, and random and fixed effects panel data estimators. The second empirical chapter considers the effect of these factors on profitability. It applies dynamic regression models and autoregressive distributed lag empirical methodologies. Results in both empirical chapters indicate that internal R&D activities undertaken by the firm directly enhance performance and indirectly foster the capability to internalise outside knowledge. The third chapter assesses the reverse impact of profitability on the firm‘s R&D investments. Little evidence of profitability effect on R&D is found in the automobile industry whereas a fall in profit motivates electronics firms to engage more innovative activities. This thesis contributes to the literature on the impact of technology on performance at the micro-level. It sheds the light on the significance of technological externalities and the importance of absorptive capacity. The empirical analysis presented in this thesis provides insights into the direct and indirect role of firm R&D on performance, which will be of interest to managers. It also raises policy implications in bolstering the private sector‘s incentive to undertake R&D in order to cultivate the pool of technological spillovers.
Understanding user behaviour in coping with security threats of mobile device loss and theft

Mobile devices have been widely used by people to meet their information processing and communication needs for both work and personal life. However, the loss and theft of these devices has created a new type of information security threat to the individuals as well as to the companies involved. Based on protection motivation theory (PMT), this study constructs a user behaviour model to empirically investigate the key factors that may affect end user behaviours in coping with mobile device loss and theft. The results suggest that user coping intention is influenced by user threat perception, coping appraisal, and social influence. The findings of this study contribute to information systems security research by addressing very important mobile security risks from a specific perspective and by revealing that the combined but not singular effects of perceived vulnerability and perceived severity influence user intention to cope with security threats.
Organization of spinothalamic tract axons within the rat spinal cord

Two techniques have been used to examine the organization of spinothalamic tract axons within the spinal cord of the rat. In the initial experiments, the thalamus was filled on one side with horseradish peroxidase (HRP) using a series of small injections. The injections were preceded by lesions of various areas of the ventral quadrant. These studies indicated that the cells of origin of STT axons ascending within the ventral funiculus (VF) are located primarily in the ventral‐most areas of the dorsal horn and the intermediate gray zone. The cells of origin of STT axons projecting within the ventrolateral funiculus (VLF) are located not only deep within the gray matter but in addition within the dorsal‐most two thirds of the dorsal horn, the area of the spinal cord gray matter shown in previous studies to contain the vast majority of cells with cutaneous tactile and nociceptive input. To examine these projections directly, rats received either a series of HRP injections that filled the thalamus on one side or a small injection into either medial or lateral thalamus. Examination of the labeled axons in horizontal sections through the cervical cord indicated that STT axons ascending to lateral thalamus do so in the VLF. In contrast, axons terminating in medial thalamus ascend in the VF. Additional experiments have shown that axons ascending to the lateral thalamus are distributed throughout the VLF at lumbar levels. Within the thoracic cord, lateral projecting STT axons are distributed throughout much of the VLF but are not found in close proximity to the ventral horn. At cervical levels all lateral‐projecting STT axons have assumed a position on the lateral rim of the VLF. These and previously published data have demonstrated that the rat spinothalamic tract is composed of two components that differ in the distribution of their cells of origin, the area of the cord in which they ascend, and the thalamic nuclei in which they terminate.
Reconstitution of the T‐cell repertoire following treatment with alemtuzumab (anti‐CD52 monoclonal antibody) in patients with B‐cell chronic lymphocytic leukaemia

In this pilot study, T‐cell receptor B‐variable (TCR‐BV) gene usage in CD4 and CD8 T cells was assessed, by real‐time polymerase chain reaction, as well as complementarity‐determining region 3 (CDR3)‐length polymorphism, before and after therapy in five patients with B‐cell chronic lymphocytic leukaemia who received alemtuzumab (anti‐CD52 monoclonal antibody) as first‐line therapy. A decline in expression of most BV family genes in both CD4 and CD8 T cells was observed after alemtuzumab treatment, which was followed by a gradual increase in most BV families during long‐term follow‐up. After treatment, CDR3‐length polymorphism showed an even more restricted pattern in CD4 T cells compared with pretreatment, with a shift towards a monoclonal/oligoclonal pattern. The clonally restricted pattern was significantly reduced in CD4 (P < 0·01) but not in CD8 T cells. This was followed by a gradual increase in the number of peaks within the CDR3 region of the different TCR‐BV families, i.e. a polyclonal repertoire, during long‐term follow‐up. A restricted CDR3 pattern became even more restricted after treatment, but normalised during unmaintained follow‐up. These results indicate that perturbations in the T‐cell alterations following alemtuzumab are complex and include not only changes in CD4/CD8 T‐cell numbers but also a highly restricted T‐cell repertoire especially in CD4 T cells.
GTCLC: leaf classification method using multiple descriptors

The authors propose Geometric, texture and color based leaf classification, a novel leaf classification method using a combination of geometric, shape, texture and colour features that are extracted from the photographic image of leaves. This method combines features that complement each other to define the leaf. A new local binary pattern (LBP) variant, namely sorted uniform LBP (LBP P,R su2), is also proposed for leaf texture description. The experiments show that LBP P,R su2 has a higher accuracy in leaf texture classification compared with classical rotation invariant LBP variants. In addition, mean and deviation of hue channel International Commission on Illumination – lightness, chroma, hue colour models – are used to describe the colour tone of the leaf. The proposed feature descriptors require a classifier that can prioritise different features. In this study, linear discriminant classifier (LDC) is employed because of its prioritisation and generalisation abilities. The results show that the proposed combination of features classified with LDC outperforms all well-known leaf classification methods.
Severe adverse events associated with local anaesthesia in cataract surgery : one year national survey of practice and complications in the United Kingdom

Background: Recent years have seen a major change in practice of local anaesthesia (LA) for cataract surgery. Aims: (i) To estimate current usage of LA techniques for cataract surgery, (ii) to estimate the incidence of severe adverse events associated with each LA technique, (iii) to compare with our previous 2003 study. Methods: This was a prospective, observational study of routine practice. For 13 months in 2012-3, the British Ophthalmological Surveillance Unit sent monthly mailings to all senior British ophthalmologists, asking for reports of ‘‘potentially sight-threatening or life-threatening complications of LA for cataract surgery’’. Current practice was assessed by questionnaire. Results: Cataract surgery comprised 3.4% general anaesthesia, 92.5% LA alone, 4.1% LA with sedation. Techniques for the estimated 357 000 LA cataracts were: 8.8% peribulbar, 1.3% retrobulbar, 50.5% sub-Tenon’s, 1.4% sub-conjunctival, 13.8% topical, 24.2% topical-intracameral LA. Severe sight-threatening complications included 7 globe perforations, 1 cilioretinal artery occlusion and 1 severe corneal oedema. Severe life-threatening complications included 1 profound vasovagal episode, 1 silent myocardial infarction, 1 anaphylactic reaction and 1 supraventricular tachycardia. Under-reporting means that more complications probably occurred. Conclusions: There has been a large swing toward ‘non-injection’ LA in recent years. Serious adverse events were reported with all techniques except topical-intracameral and subconjunctival LA, though the incidence appears lower for ‘non-injection’ LA.
Shared Capitalism in the U.S. Economy? Prevalence, Characteristics, and Employee Views of Financial Participation in Enterprises

Between one-third and one-half of employees participate directly in company performance through profit sharing, gainsharing, employee ownership, or stock options. This flies in the face of concerns about the free rider problem and worker risk aversion in group incentives, and raises many questions about the effects on firms and workers. This paper lays out the major reasons we may see such "shared capitalism" plans, and reviews recent nationally representative surveys on the prevalence of these plans. We also introduce the NBER shared capitalism data, based on questions added to the 2002 and 2006 General Social Surveys (GSS) and more than 40,000 employee surveys from 14 companies with different combinations of shared capitalism plans. We find that while shared capitalism exists broadly throughout the economy, it is more likely in larger establishments. The free rider effect may be countered by the use of other policies to create productive teamwork and a cooperative culture: shared capitalism is positively linked to workplace decision-making, training, job security, teamwork, the ability to easily observe co-worker performance, and low levels of supervision. Also, more risk-averse employees avoid participating in several types of shared capitalism, but two-thirds of even the most risk-averse employees in these companies say they want shared capitalism as part of their pay package. The effects of these plans for both workers and firms are more fully explored in accompanying papers.
Oral hygiene habits and oral health status of female adolescents under state protection: a pilot study

Purpose: The aim of this study is to evaluate oral health status and oral hygiene practices of female adolescents under state protection. Subjects and Methods: Fifty-five female participants between the age of 12 and 18 who are under the care of The Child Protection Institution were included in this study. Self-administered questionnaires were used to obtain information regarding knowledge of oral health and habits. Dental caries status was scored according to the criteria of the World Health Organization (WHO), using the indices of Decayed (D), Missing (M), Filled (F), Surfaces (S) (DMFS). In addition, Gingival Index (GI) and Plaque Index (PI) were recorded during periodontal assessment. Data was statistically analyzed by using Oneway analysis of variance, Tukey’s HSD and Student’s t tests. Results: Fourteen children had dental fear and 52.7% of them were not satisfied with their esthetic appearance. Although 78.2% of the children knew that brushing prevents dental caries, only 18 of them were brushing regularly twice per day. Mean DMFS, GI and PI scores were 13.18±5.68, 1.35±0.37 and 1.33±0.45, respectively. Only 20% of the children were using dental floss. There was statistically no significant difference between the DMFS scores of the children in terms of flossing. However, the difference between the mean GI and PI of the same group was found to be statistically significant (p<0.05). Conclusion: Children under state protection were found to have a reasonable knowledge of the causes of dental caries and gum bleeding. Therefore, adequate management of this positive attitude can significantly improve the oral health of this population.
Early and Successful Enzymatıc Debridement Via Collagenase Application to Pinna in a Preterm Neonate

Abstract: We report early and successful enzymatic debridement using collagenase application to pinna in a preterm neonate. Collagenase clostridiopeptidase A should be kept in mind not only for the removal of eschar but also for avoidance of the progression of necrotic tissue in neonates.
The effect of orthodontic treatment on periodontal tissue inflammation: A systematic review.

OBJECTIVE The aim of the present systematic review was to evaluate the periodontal tissue inflammation indexes in patients undergoing different orthodontic treatment. METHOD AND MATERIALS The Cochrane Oral Health Group specialist trials, Medline, and Embase databases were used for the research. All the included studies had to report bleeding on probing (BOP) depth as primary outcome. Changes in probing depth, clinical attachment level, Gingival Index, and Periodontal Index were included in the review as secondary outcome measurements. RESULTS Ten studies reporting on 421 patients and different types of orthodontic treatment were selected for the analysis. Owing to the heterogeneity of studies present in the literature, it was not possible to perform a meta-analysis. CONCLUSION Within their limits, the results showed an increase of periodontal parameters after orthodontic treatment, indicating that it influences the accumulation and composition of the subgingival microbiota and subsequently induces more inflammation and higher BOP.