Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Financial ecological environment and internal audit outsourcing: evidence from survey in China

ABSTRACT This paper examines the determinants of internal audit outsourcing from the macro perspective of financial ecological environment. We find that in regions with a poor financial ecological environment, firms are more likely to outsource internal audit and more inclined to outsource to other service providers than to accounting firms that provide financial report audit services for them. Furthermore, those firms with high financing constraints and non-state-owned firms are more likely to outsource internal audit in poor financial ecological environments. Firms outsourcing internal audit in poor financial ecological environments will have low debt financing costs. These results suggest firms in weak financial ecological environments tend to use internal audit outsourcing to enhance investor confidence and reduce financing costs. This paper helps expand the literature related to the determinants of internal audit outsourcing from a macro perspective, and provide a reference for improving the resource-allocation efficiency of the governance-oriented internal audit.
A novel capacitive pressure sensor based on sandwich structures

This paper presents a sandwich structure for a capacitive pressure sensor. The sensor was fabricated by a simple three-mask process and sealed in vacuum by anodic bonding. The sensor, which utilizes a combined SiO/sub 2//Si/sub 3/N/sub 4/ layers as the elastic dielectric layers, exhibits high sensitivity. Mechanical characteristics of the sensor are theoretically analyzed based on a composite membrane theory and evaluated by use of finite element analysis (FEA). Square membrane sensors with side lengths of 800 /spl mu/m, 1000 /spl mu/m, 1200 /spl mu/m, and 1500 /spl mu/m were fabricated, providing a measured sensitivity of 0.08 pF/kPa, 0.12 pF/kPa, 0.15 pF/kPa, and 0.2 pF/kPa, respectively. The nonlinearity of the sensor is less than 1.2% over a dynamic range 80-106 kPa and the maximum hysteresis is about 3.3% to the full scale capacitance change. The TCO at 101 kPa is 1923 ppm//spl deg/C. All the electrodes of the sensor are leaded from the top side of the chip. Residual pressure in the sealed cavity at room temperature is evaluated by a pressure scanning test, indicating about 8 kPa. Comparison of experimental results with theoretical analysis shows that change of capacitance for the sandwich structure under pressure is mainly due to variation of the dielectric constant while geometric variations such as the area change of electrodes and the thickness change of dielectric layers is about two orders less than the variation of the dielectric constant. Sensitivity enhancements for the sensor are qualitatively discussed based on the physical effects of strained dielectrics, including electrostriction and flexoelectricity. [1551].
Measurements of structure-borne sound from building service equipment by a substitution method - Round robin comparisons

A pilot project has been performed with a round robin comparison (inter-laboratory test), where a modified heavy-duty washing machine has been circulated for tests among 6 laboratories. The main goal of this pilot project was to find out whether a simple substitution method could be applied to estimate the structure-borne sound pressure level of some typical building service equipments. First, the vibration levels of a heavy low mobility test floor are measured when a machine with high internal mobility operates on this floor. Then, the vibration levels are measured at the same positions on the same floor when a standardized tapping machine (ISO 140-7) operates in the same positions as the test machine. The differences between the vibration level are then calculated. The difference may be used to compare the performance of different machines at one site or to estimate the sound pressure level in other buildings with heavy floors. In its simplest form, this can be made in the same way as for floorings, i.e., first calculating the normalized impact sound pressure level (EN 12354-2) and then subtracting the vibration level difference of the actual machine compared to the tapping machine. It remains to apply this method in the field and to compare estimated sound pressure levels with measured.
Thermal calculation of ground contact structures: Correction factors of environment- and structure-dependent effects on the heat transfer coefficient

The heat loss at ground contact structures is taken into consideration in building heat loss calculations. However, the heat loss through the ground depends not only the soil and the building structure, but the environment as well. New calculation methods based on parametrized transient finite element thermal modelling are introduced in the preceding research article [3]. This paper is the further demonstration of the methods’ environment- or structure-depending correction factors which describe the effect of changing climatic conditions, soil composition or the change of the floor’s structure. These corrections are investigated by using finite element computer modeling tools. A comparative analysis of the initial results and the results corrected according to the different environmental- or structural conditions are represented, showing the impacts of the variable circumstances. The study also deals with the three-dimensional thermal effects from the geometric of the building, providing shape correction multiplying factors to the basic building forms of ground contact structures.
Chemopreventive Role of Black Tea Extract in Swiss Albino Mice Exposed to Inorganic Arsenic

Objective: Chronic exposure to inorganic arsenic (iAs) may cause a number of health problems including skin cancer. Present study is aimed to look into the potential of black tea extract (BTE) to prevent the development of skin carcinoma in Swiss albino mice. Methods: The study was done on Swiss albino mice, chronically exposed to inorganic arsenic. 150 mice were housed in different cages, 5 in each cage. The control mice did not receive any treatment. Mice were sacrificed at 30, 90, 180, 270 and 330 days. Development of carcinogenesis was assessed by histological studies. Generation of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) and Reactive Oxygen Species (RNS) were estimated using 2’,7’-dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate (DCFH-DA) and Greiss reagent respectively, and their consequences on DNA (by Micronuclei and Comet assay), protein (by protein carbonyl assay kit) and lipid (by lipid peroxidation) were estimated. Activity of antioxidant enzymes, along with total antioxidant capacity were measured by respective kits. Repair percentage was obtained by Comet assay. Western blotting was employed to study the expression of repair enzymes and expression of cytokines. Sandwich Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) technique was employed to study the activity of various cytokines. Results: At 330 days, invasive squamous cell carcinoma of the skin developed. With increasing time generation of ROS and RNS increased, causing damage to DNA, protein and lipid. Antioxidant defence system gets repressed with time. Capacity to repair the DNA damage is inhibited by iAs, due to alteration in repair enzymes - XRCC I, DNA Ligase I, PARP I, ERCC1, ERCC2, XPA, DNA Ligase IV, DNA PKc and Ku-70. Another consequence of iAs exposure is chronic inflammation due to disrupted cytokine level. Intervention with BTE reverses these deleterious effects, preventing development of skin carcinogenesis.
Effect of phosphine and oil neem on storage efficacy and technological characters of paddy rice

A laboratory experiments was conducted under the laboratory conditions of the Experimental Station of Agronomy Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Mansoura University, Egypt, from 25 th December, 2013 to 25 th June, 2014 to study the effect of phosphine (as a chemical insecticide) and oil neem (as natural plant oil) rates on storage efficacy and technological characters of paddy rice Sakha 101 cultivar during different storage periods (2, 4 and 6 months from beginning of storage). The most import ant results can be summarized as follows:  Storage efficacy, grain length after cooking and gelatinization temperature (GT) were significantly increased due to increasi ng storage periods. Hulling, milling, head rice (Grading), amylose and grain shape percentages were significantly decreased as a result of increasing storage periods.  The best results of storage efficacy and technological characters of paddy rice obtained when treating with phosphine at the rate of 6 balls/ton, followed treating with phosphine at the rate of 4 balls/ton, then treating with neem oil at the rate of 9 % and phosphine at the rate of 2 balls/ton.
Comparing back-calculated and laboratory resilient moduli of bituminous paving mixtures

The stiffness of bituminous mixes is an important indicator of mix performance and a required input for mechanistic pavement design. Resilient modulus is one of many stiffness indicators of mixes which can be determined using laboratory testing methods or non-destructive field tests such as falling weight deflectometer (FWD) tests through back calculation. In this paper, two Manitoba mixes known as Bituminous B (Bit B) and Bituminous C (Bit C) are analysed using laboratory testing and FWD back calculation. The experiment involved samples from eight paving sites. Each site included two side-by-side sections having a common Bit B surface course over either a Bit B or a Bit C binder course. Cored samples were tested following the guidelines of the long term pavement performance protocol P07 at 5, 25, and 40 °C. The modulus of each layer was also estimated from FWD deflection measurements. Findings include correlations between the various material and test parameters and a comparison between back calculated a.
Transient performance of a new-type hybrid electric power distributed system with fuel cell and SMES

The fuel cell (FC) system is one of preferable power sources with high energy conversion efficiency, considering the environmental problems associated with energy consumption. However the output of the FC system cannot respond the transient shock of the sudden change of the effective and reactive load demands in the utility system. In order to compensate these shocks, a new-type hybrid electric power distributed source consisting of a FC system coupled with a superconducting magnetic energy storage system (SMES) is proposed in this paper. The SMES system can also contribute to the compensation of effective and reactive power demand fluctuation in the power distributed system. This FC/SMES hybrid system is connected with the existing utility line by a bi-directional power converter, and contributes to the compensation of sudden load change in the local existing power distribution line. The transient performance simulation was carried out using circuit analysis software PSIM in order to examine the effectiveness of the above-mentioned FC/SMES hybrid system for eliminating the influence of transient shock. In addition, it was also confirmed by circuit simulation using PSIM that this hybrid system is effective for reducing transient influence caused by sudden change of effective and reactive load demands.
NONLINEAR INTERACTION OF UPSTREAM PROPAGATING SOUND WITH TRANSONIC FLOWS IN A NOZZLE

A numerical simulation of the interaction of upstream propagating acoustic waves with a shock in a convergent-divergent two-dimensional nozzle is presented. Both Euler and Navier-Stokes simulations are carried out and compared with data and theories. The Navier-Stokes simulation uses a k-w model for turbulence and fully accounts for the effect of boundary-layer separation which originates at the shock foot location. It is shown that nonlinear effects are concentrated near the shock/boundary-layer interaction region where the unsteady pressure shows higher modes. The motion of the shock remains essentially harmonic driven mainly by the frequency of the outlet imposed acoustic wave. The intensity of the reflected wave is much stronger than that predicted by the inviscid analysis suggesting that the fluctuation of the separated region near the shock foot acts as the main source of sound propagating downstream.
Better or Worse? The Effect of Economic Sanctions on Human Rights

Does economic coercion increase or decrease government respect for human rights in countries targeted with economic sanctions? If economic sanctions weaken the target regime's coercive capacity, human rights violations by the government should be less likely. If, on the contrary, sanctions fail to attenuate the coercive capacity of the target elites and create more economic difficulties and political violence among ordinary citizens, the government will likely commit more human rights violations. Focusing on competing views of why sanctions might improve or deteriorate human rights conditions, this article offers an empirical examination of the effect sanctions have on the physical integrity rights of citizens in target countries. Utilizing time-series, cross-national data for the period 1981—2000, the findings suggest that economic sanctions worsen government respect for physical integrity rights, including freedom from disappearances, extra-judicial killings, torture, and political imprisonment. The results also show that extensive sanctions are more detrimental to human rights than partial/selective sanctions. Economic coercion remains a counterproductive policy tool, even when sanctions are specifically imposed with the goal of improving human rights. Finally, multilateral sanctions have a greater overall negative impact on human rights than unilateral sanctions.
THE EFFECT OF USERS’ EFFORT EXPECTANCY ON USERS’ BEHAVIORAL INTENTION TO USE M-COMMERCE APPLICATIONS: CASE STUDY IN LIBYA

The object of this study is to examine the relationship between effort expectancy and behavioral intention to use m-commerce in the Libyan context. It also aimed to determine the effect of effort expectancy on users’ behavioral intention. Using data from 310 respondents, the model of this study is supported by Unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT). The findings of the study suggested that there is a positive relationship between users’ effort expectancy and users’ behavioral intention. The findings also proposed that effort expectancy has a positive influence on user's behavioral intention to use m-commerce in the Libyan context. This study contributes to the body knowledge on m-commerce usage while also providing practical guidance for the Libyan government on how to improve user usage of m-commerce systems. Particularly, it confirms that the user's effort expectancy increases the user's behavioral intention in the Libyan context.
Air Quality and Thermal Comfort in Office Buildings: Results of a Large Indoor Environmental Quality Survey

Summary: This paper presents results of over 34,000 survey responses to air quality and thermal comfort questions in 215 buildings in US, Canada, and Finland. Results show that 80% or more of the occupants expressed satisfaction with their thermal comfort in only 11% of the buildings surveyed. Air quality scores were somewhat higher, with 26% of buildings having 80% or occupant satisfaction. With respect to thermal comfort and air quality performance goals set out by standards, most buildings appear to be falling far short. Occupant surveys offer a means to systematically measure this performance, and also to provide diagnostic information for building designers and operators.
Growth Performance, Carcass Characteristics And Cost of Gain of Awassi And Karadi Lambs Slaughtered at Different Weight

The study was carried out to investigate the effect of slaughter weights on growth performance, carcass characteristics and cost of gain of Awassi and Karadi ram lambs. Fifteen male lambs from either Karadi or Awassi were randomly blocked by live weight into three different slaughter weight groups (30, 40 and 50kg). Each lamb was kept in individual pen and offered an iso energetic and iso nitrogenous concentrate diet ad libitum . Lambs were slaughtered once they reached a target weight. Results reported the weight at slaughter increased for both breeds, there were significant reductions in average daily gain, bone percent, lean: fat ratio and increase in rib eye area, feed conversion ratio, fat tail weight and fat thickness. Moreover, Awassi lambs had a higher (p<0.01) dressing percentage 1 (49.41±0.32vs.47.69±0.66%) and 2 (58.32±0.45 vs. 56.06±0.51%), fat thickness (3.10±0.24 vs. 2.46±0.15mm) and loin percentage (8.74±0.11 vs. 8.11±0.07%) than Karadi lambs. In contrast, Karadi lambs had a higher (p<0.01) proportion of bone and lean: fat ratio and lower (p<0.01) proportion of fat than Awassi lambs. There was no significant differences in daily weight gains, rib eye area, the empty body weight, fat tail weight and shrinkage percent between breeds. the of lambs from economic trends lambs slaughtered at 30kg had higher profit potential.
Success Factors of Knowledge Management in Universities (A Case Study: Jordanian Private Universities)

The Knowledge Management (KM) implementations are important to improve the working outcomes inside universities. There are many limitations face the adoption of KM implementations such as the validity of success factors of KM inside universities. There are many success factors need to be ensured in working environments to provide efficient implementations of KM i.e. organizational culture and IT infrastructures. The purpose of this study is to investigate the success factors of KM in Universities. The research sample consists of 64 academicals employees in information technology colleges in Jordanian private universities. The data collected using questionnaire to investigate five KM success factors; (1) organizational culture, (2) effective & systematic processes, (3) knowledge measures, (4) knowledge organization and (5) knowledge systems infrastructure. Also, the collected data analyze the most important determinates i.e. qualification levels and experience years that related with KM implementations. The significance results show that the universities environments contain the most important successful factors of KM implementations and there are many determinates need to be covered by universities to ensure best adoption of KM implementations.
Evaluating Methods and Algorithms for Multicriteria Bridge Management at the Network Level

In the current era of greater stakeholder participation, limited funding, and increased user awareness, bridge managers are using multiple-criteria techniques in their decision-making processes so that their decisions can be more accountable and transparent. Issues that arise in making such decisions include the multiplicity of the performance criteria and associated decision constraints and the large bridge inventories in most states. These issues translate into increased problem dimensionality, many variables, and excessive computational time. This paper presents alternative formulations and methods for decision problems, identifies alternative algorithms for implementing the solutions, and evaluates the performance of the algorithms. The algorithms include the incremental utility–cost ratio (IUC), Lagrangian relaxation, and pivot and complement methods. In investigating the suitability of these algorithms for agencywide bridge management, the study carried out computational experiments with field data. The criteria for evaluating the performance of the algorithms were computational speed, accuracy, simplicity, and robustness. The results were unequivocal: of the three heuristics, IUC consistently performed the best. IUC provided the simplest and quickest way to compute the optimal solution when small changes were made to the input parameters without the need to redo the entire optimization for each budget level.
Identifying the relationship between Travel Agent’s Web Service Quality and E-brand Reputation

Abstract E-travel websites have progressively played a significant role in the tourism industry because travelers can easily book a holiday trip anywhere at their fingertips. However, studies related to the relationship between e-service quality and e-reputation of travel agency websites are limited. This study investigates the components of e-service quality of travel agency websites and explores how e-service quality may influence e-reputation. Based on hierarchical factor analysis, website security, special deal giving, the website’s convenience, and booking flexibility were assigned as the second-order factors of e-service quality. A sample of 444 online users was collected using online questionnaires that were distributed via a social media platform (Facebook) and by email. Several analytical methods were performed to evaluate the associations among the hypothesized variables, including factor analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM). The empirical research results revealed that website convenience, booking flexibility, special deal, and website security all significantly influence e-brand reputation. Among those four factors, website convenience and booking flexibility were found to be the most influential factors. In terms of convenience, the results of our study suggest that a website should provide user-friendly environments and functions to help customers search for what customers need easily and quickly. Additionally, we found that e-travel agents may enhance booking flexibility by providing flexible returns or exchange policies to allow customers to change their itineraries. The adoption of these practices will enhance travel websites, and the yield will be improved in both service quality and e-brand reputation.
A scoring model based on ferroptosis genes for prognosis and immunotherapy response prediction and tumor microenvironment evaluation in liver hepatocellular carcinoma

Ferroptosis is a type of iron-dependent programmed cell death. Ferroptosis inducers have been shown to have a great potential for cancer therapy. We aimed to generate a risk scoring model based on ferroptosis-related genes (FRGs) and validate its predictive performances in overall survival (OS) prediction and immunotherapy efficacy evaluation in liver hepatocellular carcinoma (LIHC). Differential and Univariate Cox regression analyses were applied to analyze RNA-seq data of LIHC samples from TCGA and GEO databases to identify prognosis-related ferroptosis genes. Patients were assigned to three clusters (Ferrclusters A, B, and C) based on the cluster analysis of prognostic ferroptosis genes. The principal component analysis (PCA) was performed to build a risk scoring model based on differentially expressed FRGs. Survival analysis revealed that Ferrcluster B LIHC patients had a lower OS rate alongside more severe immune cell infiltration versus Ferrcluster A and C patients; moreover, the LIHC patients in high-ferrscore group had significantly lower survival than the low-ferrscore group. Compared to low-ferrscore patients, Programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) mRNA expression significantly increased, and either PD-1 or PD-1 plus CTLA4 (cytotoxic T-lymphocyte associated protein 4) inhibitors showed unsatisfactory efficacy in high-ferrscore patients. Our study demonstrates the implication of FRGs in prognosis prediction and evaluation of immunotherapy efficacy in LIHC patients.