Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Value Relevance of Adopting IASB Standards in Weak Equity Countries

The purpose of this article is to contribute to the debate on the improvement of value relevance with the transition to IASB standards; by choosing Italy as a case study, this paper investigates this issue in weak equity countries, where the factors that have influenced the development of an accounting system are very far from the Anglo-Saxon context, and where accounting practices pursue different purposes. Using the First-Time Adoption (FTA) of IASB standards in Europe as a starting point for our research, we analyze the change from Italian to IASB accounting standards. Our results demonstrate that the transition to IASB standards did not bring a significant improvement in the explanatory power of accounting amounts (relative value relevance). Also, the earnings and book value reconciliations have not been found to be value relevant (incremental value relevance). Our findings support the thesis that the adoption of IASB standards is not sufficient to improve the value relevance of accounting amounts, because it depends on the particular context in which they are applied.
Identical Bid Prices

IT IS frequently stated that, assuming a standardized product, identity of bids and prices among sellers is as consistent with competition as it is with the lack of competition. The antitrust agencies themselves use this generalization as a working rule. In defense briefs, respondents go further and confidently affirm that identical bids and prices inevitably result from competition. This study will present empirical data on identical bidding and explore the conditions under which it arises. Price relationships in markets generally accepted as being genuinely competitive will also be examined. From these data generaliz.ations will be inferred that appear to hold true with respect to identical bid prices.
Iterative detection for unique word OFDM

In this paper we consider a unique word OFDM (UW-OFDM) system with iterative detection, for which we explore two soft-input soft-output (SISO) detection algorithms: A LMMSE detector and a detector based on the generalized approximate message passing (GAMP) algorithm. For the GAMP based detector we propose additional simplifications suitable for UW-OFDM to further reduce the complexity while exhibiting only a small BER performance loss. As verified by computer simulations, both algorithms show a significant BER performance improvement over the iterations. Moreover, the GAMP based detector with the proposed simplifications outperforms the computational more complex LMMSE detector.
Examining Moyer's Re-examination of Forecasting Financial Failure

Despite the fact that my original bankruptcy classification model [1] is now a decade old, critical commentaries continue to appear in the literature. Among the reasons for this are the relatively simple manner in which the model can be understood, applied, replicated, and calibrated; the frequency of the model's discussion in basic texts; the increased importance of corporate failures in terms of the size of those firms succumbing to that economic reality and, of course, perceived imperfections in the statistical technique, the nature of the data, or the model itself. R. Charles Moyer's paper [12] concentrates on three aspects of the original model: its predictive accuracy on a sample of firms where the data are derived from a period after the model was constructed; whether or not the entire five variables are necessary to achieve maximum classification accuracy; and comparison of the model with a "naive" alternative specification. In general, I found the paper provocative, but lacking in precision and containing questionable undocumented results. The paper oversimplifies comparison tests and variable importance criteria. Anoth r paper published at about the same time does consider some of his logical recommendations. ' The purpose of this comment is to assess Moyer's "reexamination" and to present complete documentation and interpretation of the evidence embodied in his sample. The result is, in my opinion, a serious questioning of the conclusions reached by Moyer.
The Effectiveness of Benefit Type and Price Endings in Green Advertising

Abstract This study assesses consumer perceptions of advertising messages for two proenvironmental products by examining the effectiveness of environmental versus personal benefit appeals and . 99 versus . 00 price endings. The authors borrow from Prospect Theory and Mental Accounting Theory to explain consumers' perceptions of psychological pricing and product attributes. In addition, the moderating role of environmental skepticism is assessed as it relates to the effectiveness of environmentally friendly advertisements. Results indicate that consumers feel that some products advertised with environmental appeals are more costly, but are not perceived as lower quality as compared with products advertised with personal benefits. Findings also indicate a price ending × appeal interaction for two different products, but the effects vary between the products. Finally, environmental skepticism is found to moderate perceptions of the message appeal. Implications are provided.
Serum concentrations of cortisol, sex hormones of adrenal origin, and adrenocortical steroid intermediates in healthy dogs following stimulation with two doses of cosyntropin.

OBJECTIVE To compare the effects of 2 doses of cosyntropin (5 microg/kg vs 250 microg, IV) on serum concentrations of cortisol, sex hormones of adrenal origin, and adrenocortical steroid intermediates and determine the optimal sample collection time after adrenal stimulation with cosyntropin. ANIMALS 10 healthy, privately owned, neutered dogs. PROCEDURE Dogs were randomly assigned to initially receive cosyntropin at 5 microg/kg or as a total dose of 250 microg, IV. Dogs received the alternate dose 1 to 2 weeks later. Serum was obtained from blood samples collected before (0 minutes) and 30, 60, 90, and 120 minutes after cosyntropin administration. RESULTS Maximum stimulation of cortisol, androstenedione, progesterone, and 17-hydroxyprogesterone production was achieved at 60 minutes following IV administration of cosyntropin at 5 microg/kg or as a total dose of 250 microg. Serum estradiol concentration did not increase in response to either cosyntropin dose. For all hormones, no significant difference in serum hormone concentrations was found among sample collection times of 0, 30, 60, and 90 minutes when comparing the 2 doses of cosyntropin. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE Cosyntropin, when administered at 5 microg/kg, IV, effectively stimulated maximum production of cortisol, sex hormones of adrenal origin, and adrenocortical steroid intermediates at 1 hour after administration.
Developments in Finance Theory

* Developments in finance theory in recent years have been so substantial that another assessment of our progress and prospects should be useful. I do not know whether anyone else benefits from the exercise, but I find it helpful periodically to try to think through a conceptual framework for approaching financial decisions. When I now review my Scope and Methodology book [108], I find that much seems obsolete, but that much also continues to be relevant. The "New Themes" [107] have continued to evolve along the lines then projected. Financial Theory and Corporate Policy [21] represents a synthesis of important developments, related empirical tests, and their implications for financial decision-making. This paper aims to be complementary to Hakansson [46], whose survey emphasizes issues of financial economics. My review will seek to: 1) summarize important themes and their relationships, 2) indicate their larger context in finance theory, 3) analyze the methodology of the related empirical
Adherence to American Academy of Pediatrics Recommendations for Cardiac Care Among Female Carriers of Duchenne and Becker Muscular Dystrophy

Objective. The goal was to assess women's knowledge and heart health behaviors consistent with the American Academy of Pediatrics recommendations for cardiac care among female carriers of Duchenne/Becker muscular dystrophy. Methods. Using an advocacy group mailing list and working with 50 Muscular Dystrophy Association clinics, we surveyed women who had given birth to a son with Duchenne/Becker muscular dystrophy, thought that they were definitely or probably (≥50% likelihood) a Duchenne/Becker muscular dystrophy carrier, or both. Self-report data classified respondents as carriers, noncarriers, or women with unknown status. Results. The respondents included 833 Duchenne/Becker muscular dystrophy carriers, 376 noncarriers, and 192 women with unknown status. Carriers were more likely than noncarriers and women in the unknown-status group to have ever undergone electrocardiography or other heart testing and to have seen a cardiologist in the past year, but they were not more likely to report a recent blood pressure or cholesterol level check. Only 64.4% of the carriers had ever had a heart test; 18.3% had seen a cardiologist in the past year. Only 62.9% of the carriers were aware of their cardiomyopathy risks before participating in the survey; 69.3% had informed their health care provider of their carrier status. Among carriers who had informed their provider, 70.2% had ever had a heart test and 21.4% had seen a cardiologist in the past year. In adjusted logistic regression models, factors that significantly increased the likelihood among carriers of ever having had a heart test and seeing a cardiologist in the previous year included older age (≥50 years), feeling informed about their cardiomyopathy risks before the survey, and having told their provider about their carrier status. Conclusion. More health education efforts are needed for both patients and their providers, to improve adherence to the American Academy of Pediatrics cardiac care guidelines for female Duchenne/Becker muscular dystrophy carriers.
Spatiotemporal Visual Considerations for Video Coding

Human visual sensitivity varies with not only spatial frequencies, but moving velocities of image patterns. Moreover, the loss of visual sensitivity due to object motions might be compensated by eye movement. Removing the psychovisual redundancies in both the spatial and temporal frequency domains facilitates an efficient coder without perceptual degradation. Motivated by this, a visual measure is proposed for the purpose of video compressions. The novelty of this analysis relies on combining three visual factors altogether: the motion attention model, unconstrained eye-movement incorporated spatiovelocity visual sensitivity model, and visual masking model. For each motion-unattended macroblock, the retinal velocity is evaluated so that discrete cosine transform coefficients to which the human visual system has low sensitivity are picked up with the aid of eye movement incorporated spatiovelocity visual model. Based on masking thresholds of those low-sensitivity coefficients, a spatiotemporal distortion masking measure is determined. Accordingly, quantization parameters at macroblock level for video coding are adjusted on the basis of this measure. Experiments conducted by H.264 exhibit the effectiveness of the proposed scheme in improving coding performance without picture quality degradation
Further considerations on the link between adjustment costs and the productivity of R&D investment: evidence for Spain

This article constructs a dynamic model to estimate the impact of adjustment costs on the productivity of investment in R&D. In order to take into account the possible endogeneity of adjustment costs, the model is estimated by means of instrumental variables (IV), using a panel of Spanish companies. The results show that the elasticity of the productivity of R&D investment with regard to adjustment costs is high, with a value close to −1 (−0.96). This confirms that it is essential to include adjustment costs in the empirical analysis of R&D productivity, as suggested by Jones and Williams (1998) and Comin (2002, 2004).
The first global entertainment company: Explaining Pathé's dominance in the pre-Hollywood film industry

For almost a decade before Hollywood existed, French firm Pathé towered over the early film industry with estimates of its share of all films sold around the world varying between 50 and 70%. Pathé was the first global entertainment company. This paper analyses its rise to market leadership by applying a theoretical framework drawn from the business literature on causes of industry dominance, which provides insights into how firms acquire and maintain market dominance. This paper uses evidence presented by film historians to argue that Pathé ‘fits’ the expected theoretical model of a dominant firm because it had a marketing orientation, used an effective quality-based competitive strategy and possessed the six critical strategic marketing capabilities that business research shows enable the best-performing firms to consistently outperform rivals.
Establishing a ‘code of ethical research practice’ in health promotion—A discussion paper

Abstract This paper discusses fundamental ethical principles and the relationship they have to health promotion research. Four main points are drawn from the discussion: 1 Health promotion research often involves difficult and multifaceted issues. Existing ethical codes in the social sciences may suffice in addressing these issues, however it may be appropriate to have a discreet ethical code for health promotion research as a framework around which these issues, which often have moral implications, are to be transparently debated.2 An ethical code in health promotion research would offer accountability for decisions taken during the research process, thereby safeguarding the participant and the researcher, as well as complying with the Research Governance framework (Department of Health 2001) for health and social care research.3 The application of a code in health promotion research may not always be straightforward and could prove to be problematic, especially in a sensitive area of research.4 An ethical code in health promotion research would assist health promotion researchers validate their work, which must be carried out without dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation or discrimination (see NAEP 1998 pl).
E-Government Strategies in Spanish Local Governments

Interest in the use of new technologies as an instrument for the modernisation of public management is something common in public administrations. Local governments have recently invested considerable human and material resources to try to deliver services in a more efficient way. Although the progress made in the implementation of information and communication technology (ICT) has been significant, an analysis of all local government shows that its impact on the reform policies has been unequal, and that the real objectives of these processes of modernisation have not always been the same. Most governments have chosen a strategy that reproduces the way that the traditional administration works; whereas only a few have tried to make use of the potential that ICT offers to provide more transparency, new online services and to make administrations more receptive to citizens’ needs. The first section of this article gives global data about the development of ICT in Spanish municipalities. Next, the websites of Spanish cities are analysed to identify the factors that enhance e-government and its implementation in the benefit of transparency, interaction with citizens and accountability.
The Earning Persistence of High Tech Enterprise and Market Efficiency of China Capital Market

The paper investigates the extent to which current earnings performance persists into future is depended on the components of earnings and try to find out whether stock price reflects the information of earnings. Comparing to accrued components of earnings, cash flow components of earnings substantially has more explanatory ability for abnormal returns and with higher persistence, especially for high tech industry. Eventually we find that investors’ inability to distinguish correctly between the components of earnings. Constructing a portfolio based on the magnitudes of accrued components of earnings, we can earn 4% and 13% of excess returns for high tech industry and general industry.
PHASED ARRAY ANTENNA DESIGN FOR 5 G MOBILE NETWORKS

In the next few years, the demands and challenges for the 4G (and its derivatives ie LTE-A) alternative must be addressed to meet the prime objectives of the upcoming 5G mobile networks such as increased capacity, improved data rate, low latency, and better quality of service. To achieve these objectives, drastic improvements need to be made in cellular network architecture and the antenna configuration that is used for this purpose. This paper presents the results of a detailed survey on the fifth generation (5G) cellular network architecture and some of the key emerging technologies that are helpful in improving the architecture and meeting the evasively increasing demand ofusers. In this detailed survey, the prime focus is on the 5G cellular network architecture, massive multiple input multiple output (MIMO) technology, and millimetre wave beamforming technologies. In this paper, a general probable 5G cellular network phased array antenna concept is proposed, which shows that a combination of multipleinput multiple output and the beamforming can be utilized at the same time to overcome the limitation of either systems.
Optimization of Media for Detection of Hydrogen Peroxide Production by Lactobacillus Species

ABSTRACT A healthy vaginal ecosystem has been shown to be protective against the acquisition of human immunodeficiency virus and gonorrhea, and women who are colonized with H2O2-producing lactobacilli are more likely to maintain a normal vaginal flora than women with lactobacilli that do not produce H2O2. The purpose of this study was to formulate a testing medium that better supports the growth and detection of H2O2 by a broader range of lactobacilli than a published, widely used agar formulation (TMB). The new medium (TMB-Plus) consists of brucella agar base, 3,3′,5,5′-tetramethylbenzidine, horseradish peroxidase, starch, vitamin K, hemin, magnesium sulfate, manganese sulfate, and horse serum. To validate the new formula, 256 vaginal isolates and ATCC strains were inoculated onto TMB-Plus and, for comparison, onto TMB. Growth was enhanced for 69% of the isolates on TMB-Plus, and 48% had enhanced color production. The percentage of H2O2-positive isolates increased from 71% on TMB to 79% on TMB-Plus. Formulations using Rogosa or MRS agar base in combination with peroxidase and a chromogen did not support the growth of all of the strains of Lactobacillus, and fewer H2O2-producing strains were detected on these formulations than on TMB-Plus. This new medium better supports the growth of a wider range of Lactobacillus strains isolated from the vagina and enhances the color production of H2O2-producing strains.
The Impact of Local Genome Sequence on Defining Heterochromatin Domains

Characterizing how genomic sequence interacts with trans-acting regulatory factors to implement a program of gene expression in eukaryotic organisms is critical to understanding genome function. One means by which patterns of gene expression are achieved is through the differential packaging of DNA into distinct types of chromatin. While chromatin state exerts a major influence on gene expression, the extent to which cis-acting DNA sequences contribute to the specification of chromatin state remains incompletely understood. To address this, we have used a fission yeast sequence element (L5), known to be sufficient to nucleate heterochromatin, to establish de novo heterochromatin domains in the Schizosaccharomyces pombe genome. The resulting heterochromatin domains were queried for the presence of H3K9 di-methylation and Swi6p, both hallmarks of heterochromatin, and for levels of gene expression. We describe a major effect of genomic sequences in determining the size and extent of such de novo heterochromatin domains. Heterochromatin spreading is antagonized by the presence of genes, in a manner that can occur independent of strength of transcription. Increasing the dosage of Swi6p results in increased heterochromatin proximal to the L5 element, but does not result in an expansion of the heterochromatin domain, suggesting that in this context genomic effects are dominant over trans effects. Finally, we show that the ratio of Swi6p to H3K9 di-methylation is sequence-dependent and correlates with the extent of gene repression. Taken together, these data demonstrate that the sequence content of a genomic region plays a significant role in shaping its response to encroaching heterochromatin and suggest a role of DNA sequence in specifying chromatin state.
Job shop rescheduling by using multi-objective genetic algorithm

In current manufacturing systems, production is a very dynamic process with many unexpected events and continuously emerging new requirements. Researchers have developed a wide variety of procedures and heuristics for solving these scheduling problems, called rescheduling. Most proposed approaches are often derived by making simplifying assumptions. As a consequence, the approach is not in accordance with functioning of the real manufacturing system. Such approaches are frequently not suitable and flexible enough to respond efficiently to fast changes in the environment. In this paper, we focus on a practical solution of rescheduling by using mathematical modeling and interactive adaptive-weight evolutionary algorithm. We extend the rescheduling problem to a multi-objective optimization model. We formulate several objectives for corresponding requirement, such as due date, capability, transportation cost, set up cost and available resources etc. We can select the necessary one objective or some objectives for the manufacturing flexibility. However, for traditional approaches of multi-objective optimization problems, researchers focused on the solutions diversity. For the multi-objective rescheduling problem (moJSRS), we have to consider not only the solutions diversity, but also adapting the objectives alternative. We will propose an interactive adaptive-weight evolutionary algorithm with adapting the characteristics of a multi-objective job shop rescheduling problem. Some practical test instances will be demonstrated the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed algorithm.
ISG15 conjugation system targets the viral NS1 protein in influenza A virus–infected cells

ISG15 is an IFN-α/β–induced, ubiquitin-like protein that is conjugated to a wide array of cellular proteins through the sequential action of three conjugation enzymes that are also induced by IFN-α/β. Recent studies showed that ISG15 and/or its conjugates play an important role in protecting cells from infection by several viruses, including influenza A virus. However, the mechanism by which ISG15 modification exerts antiviral activity has not been established. Here we extend the repertoire of ISG15 targets to a viral protein by demonstrating that the NS1 protein of influenza A virus (NS1A protein), an essential, multifunctional protein, is ISG15 modified in virus-infected cells. We demonstrate that the major ISG15 acceptor site in the NS1A protein in infected cells is a critical lysine residue (K41) in the N-terminal RNA-binding domain (RBD). ISG15 modification of K41 disrupts the association of the NS1A RBD domain with importin-α, the protein that mediates nuclear import of the NS1A protein, whereas the RBD retains its double-stranded RNA-binding activity. Most significantly, we show that ISG15 modification of K41 inhibits influenza A virus replication and thus contributes to the antiviral action of IFN-β. We also show that the NS1A protein directly and specifically binds to Herc5, the major E3 ligase for ISG15 conjugation in human cells. These results establish a “loss of function” mechanism for the antiviral activity of the IFN-induced ISG15 conjugation system, namely, that it inhibits viral replication by conjugating ISG15 to a specific viral protein, thereby inhibiting its function.