Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Corporate Governance Development and Practices in an Emerging Economy: A Review of Empirical Findings and Literature in Saudi Arabia

Purpose: The aim is to review the literature and present some of the academic contributions researchers have made in the study, development and practice of corporate governance (CG) in Saudi Arabia. Design/Methodology: We conducted a guided words search on electronic databases using “corporate governance in Saudi Arabia” as the search words. The scope of the study was restricted to the needed materials and information contained in refereed journals from 1965 to 2018 and held in the ABI/INFORM Global, Emerald databases and a few other internationally recognized electronic databases. The papers were first sorted into areas of possible CG application. They are finally analyzed and then synthesized. Findings: That six broad areas have been examined in relation to CG structures and development; they include: company financial performance, corporate social responsibilities, earnings management, corporate voluntary disclosures, financial structure and the role of CG in times of financial crisis. The papers are skewed in favour of, CG and company financial performance at the expense of other areas. CG has evolved, even though, the country’s institutional environment may not be too close to those of OECD nations, but the establishment of the new 2006 CG code is a positive addition to the business culture. Nevertheless, there are still other outstanding CG issues identified by scholars and practitioners that are not in conformity with international best CG practices. Research limitations/implications: The study’s analysis was restricted to between 1965 and 2018, and papers from some and not all electronic data bases were used. Originality/value: The paper provides a comprehensive review and analysis CG development and practice in an emerging economy where greater importance is usually attached to informal relationships and other considerations than formal CG mechanisms.
Simple But Effective Redundant Odometry for Autonomous Vehicles

Robust and reliable ego-motion is a key component of most autonomous mobile systems. Many odometry estimation methods have been developed using different sensors such as cameras or LiDARs. In this work, we present a resilient approach that exploits the redundancy of multiple odometry algorithms using a 3D LiDAR scanner and a monocular camera to provide reliable state estimation for autonomous vehicles. Our system utilizes a stack of odometry algorithms that run in parallel. It chooses from them the most promising pose estimation considering sanity checks using dynamic and kinematic constraints of the vehicle as well as a score computed between the current LiDAR scan and a locally built point cloud map. In this way, our method can exploit the advantages of different existing ego-motion estimating approaches. We evaluate our method on the KITTI Odometry dataset. The experimental results suggest that our approach is resilient to failure cases and achieves an overall better performance than individual odometry methods employed by our system.
Mapping the Impact of Home and Host-Country Institutions on HRM in Emerging Market MNCs: A Conceptual Framework

While there is a growing literature concerned with multinational companies from emerging markets (EMNCs), it does not contain a robust conception of how institutions shape human resource (HR) practices in such firms. We contribute to filling this gap through developing a framework of how institutions create a range of constraints and opportunities for EMNCs. Specifically, our framework contains three key elements of how MNCs from emerging markets interact with institutions: EMNCs develop approaches that to some extent reflect the perceived strengths and weaknesses of the institutions in the home country (institutional conditioning); the strategies of actors in EMNCs can overcome the weaknesses of the home country by drawing on institutions in other countries (institutional arbitrage); and the actions of EMNCs can reinforce, or create pressures for change in, the institutional context in the countries in which they operate (institutional change / consolidation). By mapping this set of strategies of EMNCs, we contribute to a fuller understanding of the relationship between institutions and HR practices, and we outline how the rise of EMNCs reshapes the global landscape by adding new kinds of firm behavior to capitalist diversity.
Electrocatalytic Properties of PtBi and PtPb Intermetallic Line Compounds via DFT : CO and H Adsorption

Pt intermetallic line compounds, such as with Pb and Bi, have been observed to improve dramatically the anode carbon monoxide (CO) tolerance of fuel cells for oxidation of small organic molecules. We have used density functional theory to study the CO and H adsorption on different surfaces of these line compounds. Among different surface orientations of PtPb and PtBi, we find (100)B and (110) have much lower cleavage energies and CO adsorption energies than (100)A and (001) and also much lower CO adsorption energies than Pt(111). Thus, (100)B and (110) are the surfaces most relevant to experimental observations, and the increased CO tolerance is not attributable to the (001) surface of the line compounds as assumed experimentally, because it binds CO the strongest, even more strongly than Pt(111). We also find that CO is not likely to dissociate on these materials. Finally, we correlate d-band center and CO adsorption energy for these non close-packed systems by developing a more universal form of the ori.
Influence of Media Conditioned by Cryopreserved and Fresh Placental Explants and Cells on Murine Uterine and Ovarian Organotypic Cultures

Contemporary reproductive medicine involves the methods of cell and tissue therapy, which among others involve the placental products, affecting mainly female reproductive system and its regulation levels. The mechanisms of this interaction have still remained unclear. Here the influence of the media, conditioned with cryopreserved and fresh placental cells and explants on isolated murine ovarian, uterine organotypic cultures and fibroblast culture was studied. The cultures were evaluated using morphological methods and metabolic tests. Conditioned media were shown to stimulate metabolic activity of the uterine culture and to suppress ovarian culture. No response to these media was found in fibroblasts testifying to a direct influence of placental humoral factors on ovarian generative elements and endometrium, without involvement of connective tissue. The features of the media, conditioned with the fresh and cryopreserved placental cells and explants were established as not significantly different.
Determining the elastic-plastic effective width of the free flange of a hull girder with the breaking of a wall

The object of this study is a girder in the hull of a vessel (Fig. 1) with the breaking of the wall and free flange or with the breaking of the axis. This girder is attached by the bottom edge to the flooring, and a loose flange is attached to the broken edge to enhance the axial moment of resistance. This leads to increased strength and stiffness when bending, provides stability when squeezing axial forces are applied, and under a flat bending shape. This girder/node is the object to study its stressedstrained state (SSS) in order to create, if possible, simple engineering procedures to design it at a relatively wide variation of geometric parameters at elastic and elastic-plastic deformation. This girder can work under conditions of both elastic and elastic-plastic deformation. In the latter case, the bearing capacity of the girder increases and it can perceive much greater external loads. Currently, there are no systematic techniques or dependences for calculating strength in general for the examined girder (Fig. 1) in official standards and marine/annual registers, except for some cases that are narrowly targeted. At the design stage of ship structures, it is impossible to quickly assess the strength of girders with the breaking of the axis, as well as similar structures. Therefore, it is often necessary to employ software packages in which the SSS of such girders is examined using shell or volumetric finite elements (FE). Copyright © 2021, V. Sokov, L. Korostylov
Impacts of multiple pollutants on pollinator activity in road verges

1. To tackle pollinator declines, there is a major need to increase the quantity of flower- rich habitats. Road verges offer one such opportunity but are exposed to diverse forms of pollution from roads and road traffic. 2. We carried out a broad initial assessment to establish if and how pollution affects the quality of road verges as pollinator foraging environments. We assessed the spatial distribution of pollution, flowers and pollinators in road verges, then used field experiments to simulate and measure the impacts of four ubiquitous and lit tle studied forms of road pollution (noise, turbulence, dust and metals) on pollina tor densities and foraging behaviour. 3. We found that pollinators in road verges were exposed to noise, turbulence, dust and metal pollution, which decreased with distance from the road edge but, with the exception of turbulence, extended more than 8 m into road verges. 4. Pollinator densities were lower closer to the road edge— particularly within first 2 m lower than at 7– 9 m)— where
Susceptibility Pattern of Escherichia coli Isolated from Environmental Samples in Ondo State, Nigeria

Escherichia coli is a notorious and important bacterium in nosocomial infections with significant morbidity and mortality in healthcare institutions due to multi-drug resistance challenges. In this study, susceptibility pattern of environmental isolates of E. coli was evaluated. Environmental samples from faecal and pond water sources collected from Akure, Ondo State were subjected to bacterial isolation. Escherichia coli was isolated and identified presumptively using eosin methylene blue agar. The susceptibility was evaluated using agar diffusion method according to CLSI guidelines. Fifty none duplicate isolates of E. coli with metallic sheen were obtained of which all were resistant to amoxicillin/clavulanate (AUG) and 6 %, 46 %, 4 %, 2 %, 20 %, 16 % to cefixime, ciprofloxacin, cefuroxime, gentamicin, nitrofurantion and ofloxacin respectively. Multidrug resistance was observed in among the species with 22% against eight antibiotics. The result of this study showed high rates of multidrug resistance of E. coli strains in environmental samples. Hence regular antimicrobial surveillance is essential to minimize the proliferation of resistant E. coli in our environment. KeywordsSusceptibility, E. coli, Antibiotics, Resistance, Environmental samples
Title: Fragmentation of daily rhythms associates with obesity and cardiorespiratory fitness in adolescents: the HELENA study

Please cite this article as: Garaulet M, Martinez-Nicolas A, Ruiz JR, Konstabel K, Labayen I, GonzálezGross M, Marcos A, Molnar D, Widhalm K, Casajús JA, De Henauw S, Kafatos A, Breidenassel C, Sjöström M, Castillo MJ, Moreno LA, Madrid JA, Ortega FB, on behalf of the HELENA study group, Title: Fragmentation of daily rhythms associates with obesity and cardiorespiratory fitness in adolescents: the HELENA study, Clinical Nutrition (2016), doi: 10.1016/j.clnu. 2016.09. 026.
Pressure‐induced phase transition in solid hydrogen sulfide at 11 GPa

The Raman spectra of hydrogen‐bonded molecular solid H2S have been measured up to 23 GPa at 300 K in a gasketed diamond‐anvil cell. In the orientationally disordered phase I between 0.47 and 11 GPa, the symmetric stretching mode ν1 shows a red‐shift in frequency (dν1/dP=−10.1 cm−1/GPa ) and a dramatic broadening with pressure. At about 11 GPa, the antisymmetric stretching band ν3 appears at the higher‐frequency side of ν1. Near this same pressure five low‐frequency vibrational modes also appear and show pressure‐sensitive features. These results indicate a pressure‐induced phase transition near 11 GPa. This new solid phase, which persists to at least 23 GPa at 300 K, seems to be the same phase as previously found above 3.3 GPa at 25 K.
Electron transport in carbon tetrafluoride along a magnetically neutral plane between constant gradient antiparallel magnetic fields

Electron motion in CF4 at 0.67 Pa under crossed electric (E) and magnetic (B) fields was simulated by a Monte Carlo method to investigate fundamental properties of electron transport in neutral loop discharge plasmas for dry etching. As a simplified model of the electron path in the plasma, a magnetically neutral plane was assumed between linearly gradient antiparallel B fields, and a uniform E field was applied along the neutral plane perpendicularly to the B fields. The electron behaviour showed two contrasting modes depending on the direction of the B fields relative to the E field. In the field configuration which confines the electrons near the neutral plane, values of the mean electron energy, the drift velocity and the effective ionization frequency were close to those under the dc E field without B field. On the other hand, in the opposite B field configuration, the electrons hardly drifted along the E field, but instead, they showed a constant lateral diffusion driven by the E × B drift. A reverse-blocking effect of the gradient antiparallel B fields is reported.
Task-Driven Deep Canonical Correlation Analysis

Canonical Correlation Analysis (CCA) is widely used for multimodal data analysis and, more recently, for discriminative tasks such as cross-modal classiﬁcation; however, it makes no use of class label information. Recent CCA methods have begun to address this weakness but are limited in that they do not simultaneously optimize the discriminative capability of the CCA projection and the CCA projection itself, or they are linear only. We extend recent deep variants of CCA by adding a task-driven component, and we reformulate the CCA component to better suit the deep learning framework for end-to-end training. Together, these components learn a non-linear CCA projection to a shared latent space that is both highly correlated and discriminative. Our method is validated on real data, showing a significant improvement over previous state-of-the-art.
Elastic FemtoCaching: Scale, Cache, and Route

The advent of elastic Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) enable Content Providers (CPs) to lease cache capacity on demand and at different cloud and edge locations in order to enhance the quality of their services. This article addresses key challenges in this context, namely how to invest an available budget in cache space in order to match spatio-temporal fluctuations of demand, wireless environment and storage prices. Specifically, we jointly consider dynamic cache rental, content placement, and request-cache association in wireless scenarios in order to provide just-in-time CDN services. The goal is to maximize the an aggregate utility metric for the CP that captures both service benefits due to caching and fairness in servicing different end users. We leverage the Lyapunov drift-minus-benefit technique and Jensen’s inequality to transform our infinite horizon problem into hour-by-hour subproblems which can be solved without knowledge of future file popularity and transmission rates. For the case of non-overlapping small cells, we provide an optimal subproblem solution. However, in the general overlapping case, the subproblem becomes a mixed integer non-linear program (MINLP). In this case, we employ a randomized cache lease method to derive a scalable solution. We show that the proposed algorithm guarantees the theoretical performance bound by exploiting the submodularity property of the objective function and pick-and-compare property of the randomized cache lease method. Finally, via real dataset driven simulations, we find that the proposed algorithm achieves 154% utility compared to similar static cache storage-based algorithms in a representative urban topology.
Design and Evaluation of Mobile Computer-Assisted Pronunciation Training Tools for Second Language Learning: a Ph.D. Thesis Overview

Recent advances on speech technologies (automatic speech recognition, ASR, and text-to-speech, TTS, synthesis) have led to their integration in computer-assisted pronunciation training (CAPT) tools. However, pronunciation is an area of teaching that has not been developed enough since there is scarce empirical evidence assessing the effectiveness of CAPT tools and games that include ASR/TTS. In this manuscript, we summarize the ﬁndings presented in Cristian Tejedor-Garc´ıa’s Ph.D. Thesis (University of Valladolid, 2020). In particular, this dissertation addresses the design and validation of an innovative CAPT system for smart devices for training second language (L2) pronunciation at the segmental level with a speciﬁc set of methodological choices, such as the inclusion of ASR/TTS technologies with minimal pairs, learner’s native–foreign language connection, a training cycle of exposure–perception– production, and individual/social approaches. The experimental research conducted applying these methodological choices with real users validates the efﬁciency of the CAPT prototypes developed for the four main experiments of this dissertation about English and Spanish as L2. We were able to accurately measure the relative pronunciation improvement of the individuals who trained with them. Expert raters on phonetics’ subjective scores and CAPT’s objective scores showed a strong correlation, being useful in the future to be able to assess a large amount of data and reducing human costs.
Dig-Grasping via Direct Quasistatic Interaction Using Asymmetric Fingers: An Approach to Effective Bin Picking

This letter introduces a new method for simultaneously singulating and picking objects from clutter. The method can lead to effective robotic bin picking, which still remains elusive despite its importance in many industrial and domestic applications, especially for objects with a thin profile. We leverage planar quasistatic pushing manipulation as a way of standardized physical interaction between a robot and the object to pick. A gripper designed with digit asymmetry, realized as a two-fingered gripper with different finger lengths, is suggested as the key to successful singulating and picking through the controlled pushing maneuver. A detailed account of the manipulation process and design principles will be presented. An extensive set of experiments validate the effectiveness of our approach in three-dimensional bin picking tasks. Beyond picking, more complex manipulation capabilities such as autonomous pick-and-place/pack will also be presented.
Running head: INHIBITION AND RESPONSE SELECTION IN HEALTHY AGING 1 Accurate Response Selection and Inhibition in Healthy Aging: An ERP Study

Inhibitory control is thought to be critical for appropriate response selection in an everchanging environment and to decline with age. However, experimental paradigms (e.g., go/no-go) confound stimulus frequency with demands to respond or inhibit responding. The present study eliminated that confound by using a modified go/no-go task controlling for stimulus frequency differences (using frequent go, infrequent go, and infrequent no-go types of stimuli) in healthy older and young adults. Event-related potential (ERP) components related to detection of response conflict (N2) and response evaluation (P3) were also examined. Behaviorally, older and young adults were sensitive to stimulus frequencies indicated by significant slowing for the Infrequent compared with the frequent go stimuli observed in both groups. Furthermore, older adults were characterized by reduced commission errors and overall slowing, suggesting that they could take advantage of their slower performance. Increase of N2 amplitude was evident for correctly inhibited no-go stimuli in both groups. In contrast, no-go stimulus-related increase in P3 amplitude could be observed only in the young. Stimulus frequency-related ERP amplitude differences were not significant either in the young or in the old. These results suggest preserved behavioral control over inappropriate responses in older adults and indicate that efficient response inhibition is related to compensatory mechanisms. The age-related decrease in the P3 amplitude suggests that the evaluation of response inhibition could be 1) independent of the detection of response conflict, and 2) support the notion of strategic differences in performance with age.
Thermal relaxation time and heat distribution in pulsed InGaAs quantum dot lasers

Using a charge coupled device-based thermoreflectance technique, we achieve a high-resolution (∼700nm) cross-sectional temperature profile of a semiconductor laser. This two-dimensional profile allows us to identify separate heat sources due to contact heating and nonradiative recombination in the active region. By adapting the technique to pulsed operation and varying the laser’s duty cycle, we measure the thermal relaxation time constant. We also quantitatively determine the heat transfer from device-internal heat sources and demonstrate both the large effect of lateral heat spreading and the distinction between a laser’s top surface temperature and its active region temperature.
Effects of Broad-Leaf Crop Frequency in Various Rotations on Nitrate Nitrogen and Extractable Phosphorus in a Black Chernozem Soil

In the Canadian prairies, current recommendations allow growing of canola or pea once every 4 years on a particular field to effectively mange diseases, insects, and weeds, but producers are interested in increasing frequency of these crops to optimize economic returns. A 4-year (from 1999 and 2002) field experiment, with treatments consisting of rotations of monoculture canola and pea to rotations that contained these crops every 2, 3, and 4 years with wheat and flax, was conducted on a Black Chernozem (Udic Boroll) silty clay at Melfort, Saskatchewan, to determine the impact of frequency of broad-leaf crops canola and pea in various crop rotations on accumulation and distribution of nitrate nitrogen (N) and extractable phosphorus (P) in the soil profile after 4 years. Two cultivars of canola, an herbicide-tolerant blackleg- resistant variety (hybrid) and a conventional (not herbicide tolerant) open-pollinated, blackleg-susceptible variety (OP), were included. Mean effects of crop rotation or rotation length on soil nitrate N were not significant, though the amount of soil nitrate N in different soil layers tended to be greatest with monocultures and least in the 4-year rotation with flax. Effects of crop phase (i.e., individual crops that make up the rotation) × crop rotation interactions on soil nitrate N were significant for all layers in the soil profile. The amounts of nitrate N in soil after canola, especially hybrid canola, were lowest in most crop rotations, suggesting the importance of canola in minimizing downward movement of nitrate N in the soil profile. Soil extractable P in the 0- to 15-cm layer was least with monocultures and greatest in the 4-year rotation with flax. There was a significant effect of crop phase on soil extractable P, but soil P levels varied with crop phase in different rotations. In conclusion, residual nitrate N in soil can be reduced by extending crop rotations and using high-yielding disease-resistant canola cultivars, most likely by improving crop yields.