Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Audit Fees and Firm Performance

There are multiple studies investigating firm performance, in particular studies identifying firm characteristics that drive performance. On the other hand, research on the pricing of audit fees provides credible evidence that the financial condition of a client is a critical factor, in the sense that riskier clients demand more thorough audit procedures. This study investigates the relationship between audit fees and firm performance. Using a sample of U.S. publicly traded, non-financial firms covering the period from 2000 to 2008, a fixed effects model is presented to estimate firm operating performance. The model included standard control variables, such as size, leverage, sales growth and research and development intensity. In addition, measures of corporate governance were introduced. This study provides empirical evidence on the relationship between firm performance and audit fees. Specifically, increases (decreases) in operating performance are connected with decreases (increases) in audit fees. This investigation provides initial grounds on the performance perspective of the stated association.
Strategic cooperation networks for life-cycle service provisions in building construction: CIB2007-030

Professional clients of the Swiss construction industry are focusing more and more on the complete life-cycle costs of their real estate and are moving away from a focus on the initial investment costs. As a proactive answer to the market demand in Switzerland for a paradigm shift the paper presents a draft of a business model for a strategic cooperation network for life-cycle service provisions in building construction. Following the constructivist research paradigm the paper outlines the research concept to develop a new cooperative business model for building system providers (SysBau®). The cooperative business model offers life-cycle oriented service provision that focuses on energetic overall optimization of a building. By showing benefits for all stakeholders of a lifecycle service provision it concludes that the business model implies potential for a real win-win-situation.
REVIEW: Genome‐Wide Findings in Schizophrenia and the Role of Gene–Environment Interplay

The recent advent of genome‐wide mass‐marker technology has resulted in renewed optimism to unravel the genetic architecture of psychotic disorders. Genome‐wide association studies have identified a number of common polymorphisms robustly associated with schizophrenia, in ZNF804A, transcription factor 4, major histocompatibility complex, and neurogranin. In addition, copy number variants (CNVs) in 1q21.1, 2p16.3, 15q11.2, 15q13.3, 16p11.2, and 22q11.2 were convincingly implicated in schizophrenia risk. Furthermore, these studies have suggested considerable genetic overlap with bipolar disorder (particularly for common polymorphisms) and neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism (particularly for CNVs). The influence of these risk variants on relevant intermediate phenotypes needs further study. In addition, there is a need for etiological models of psychosis integrating genetic risk with environmental factors associated with the disorder, focusing specifically on environmental impact on gene expression (epigenetics) and convergence of genes and environment on common biological pathways bringing about larger effects than those of genes or environment in isolation (gene–environment interaction). Collaborative efforts that bring together expertise in statistics, genetics, epidemiology, experimental psychiatry, brain imaging, and clinical psychiatry will be required to succeed in this challenging task.
Stakeholders’ expectations in utilising financial models for public-private partnership projects

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore stakeholders’ expectations in utilising PPP financial models in order to ensure that each stakeholder understands the expectations of others before negotiating and reaching contract agreement by all the stakeholders. Design/methodology/approach – Five common sets of 40 expectations have been identified through a systematic research approach, and their relative significances were verified based on pilot studies in India and the UK and expert opinion solicited worldwide through a structured questionnaire survey. The survey responses were evaluated by using statistical analyses. Findings – The most important stakeholders’ expectations in utilising PPP financial models were identified at five different stages in a project. They are bankable (at the pre-proposal stage), assessment of project's ability to carry senior debt (at the contract negotiation stage), sensitivity analysis for key commercial issues (at the finance-raising stage), debt service evaluation t.
Bioluminescence for USP sterility testing of pharmaceutical suspension products

Bioluminescence measurement significantly improved the accuracy, sensitivity, precision, and reliability of the current visual endpoint determination for the USP sterility test and eliminated the day 7 transfer/dilution step required for testing suspension products. Thirteen strains of bacteria and fungi (representing potential contaminants in sterile products), three pharmaceutical suspension products, and four media were used in the experiment. No interference from suspension products was encountered in the detection of microbial growth by the bioluminescence measurement. The poor fungal growth encountered was attributed to insufficient diffusion of oxygen into the medium and was circumvented by use of a large tube size (38 by 200 mm) or by vortexing the medium once during the 2-week incubation period. Bioluminescence measurement would facilitate automated handling of the sterility test endpoint readout operation. The optimum parameters of bioluminescence measurement for application in sterility testing were determined.
Research notes and communications corporate restructuring and strategic change: The effect on diversification strategy and R & D intensity

In the 1980s a number of large corporations restructured their diversified businesses through divestitures. It is hypothesized that restructuring activity focused on firms at intermediate levels of diversification (e.g., related-linked) which have a mixture of related and unrelated business units. Results confirm this hypothesis which explains that such mixed corporate strategies create organizational and control inefficiencies in managing both related and unrelated types of business units. Restructured firms were also found to move towards two types of different internal capital markets (related and unrelated). Most restructuring firms moved toward lower levels of diversification (e.g., related-constrained), although some moved toward higher levels of diversification (e.g., unrelated business). Also, this study finds restructuring firms that changed their corporate strategy by reducing diversified scope increased their R&D intensity. Firms that restructured and increased their diversified scope decreased R&D intensity. This result suggested a partial substitution between diversification and R&D activity.
Design of quasi-optimal regulators for quadratically-cubic control objects using generalized work criterion

A quasi-optimal regulator design problem is solved for nonlinear control objects described in the state-space by nonlinear matrix ordinary differential equations with quadratically-cubic nonlinearities, where polynomial terms are constructed using the Kronecker matrix product. A.A. Krasovskiy's generalized work criterion is used as the cost functional. The Lyapunov function is determined by the integration of a quadratic form along the control object trajectories with zero controls. Object trajectories are determined using the Volterra series approach for the analytical solution of the Cauchy problem for object motion with zero controls. In the case of object model having distinct eigenvalues, expressions for the element-wise calculation of series terms are obtained using the eigenvalue decomposition of the matrix exponential.
Polarization-Independent Absorber Based on a Cascaded Metal–Dielectric Grating Structure

The spectrum selective absorption effect of a vertically cascaded metal-dielectric grating structure is studied. A polarization-independent spectrum selective absorber based on two pairs of stacked metal-dielectric grating structures is presented for the infrared frequencies. The near-unity absorption with polarization independence is observed under normal incidence. The understanding of such a perfect selective absorption mechanism is illustrated by investigating the electric field distributions and power loss density at the resonant wavelength. The angle independence is also studied for this absorber and it is found that the absorber can maintain high absorbance around large incident angle range (0° -33° ), especially for the TM polarization.
Development and Validation of an RP-HPLC Method for Estimation of Secnidazole and Its Degradation Products in Tablets

It is a long-lasting nitroimidazole antimicrobial agent and used in treatment of amoebiasis, giardiasis and trichomonasis. Secnidazole is given by mouth, as a single dose of 2gm in adult or 30mg/kg in children. Spectrophotometric methods have been described for determination of secnidazole [1-4]. A HPLC method has been described for determination of secnidazole [5-17]. In the B.P and USP pharmacopoeias the methods for determination of secnidazole are not available, but in India Pharmacopoeia are available by using buffer. In the proposed method the analysis was performed without buffer.
Business process management: implications for productivity in multi‐stage service networks

Business process management is coming into the lexicon through the concepts associated with business process re‐engineering (BPR) and total quality management (TQM). TQM and BPR have been adopted by service organizations. Two questions are considered. What are the implications of this focus on processes for service productivity? In particular, how does the adoption of a process view affect an organization’s perspective on productivity and the way it is managed? Considers the nature of BPR and the development of approaches to business process management, based on the literature; and presents the development of a case study of the Royal Mail.
Measurement of dielectric parameters of small samples at X-band frequencies by cavity perturbation technique

The cavity perturbation method has been used to measure the permittivity of various dielectric materials such as Teflon, alumina, silica fiber, single crystal potassium chloride, bakelite, and p-type silicon at X-band frequencies. Normally, the samples required for measurements in a rectangular cavity are in the form of thin slabs/rods of height at least equal to the height of the cavity. When available samples are smaller (smaller than the height of the cavity), accurate measurements are often difficult. In this paper, an easy and reliable method is discussed for accurate determination of the properties of small-sized samples.
Surviving Against the Tide: Are New Businesses in Innovative Industries Less Affected by General Economic Trends?

We investigate the role of industry and region-specific conditions for the survival of new businesses in innovative and in other manufacturing industries. The data comprises all German manufacturing start-ups of the 1992 to 2005 period. In contrast to studies for some other countries, we find that businesses in innovative industries have higher survival rates than businesses in other manufacturing industries. Moreover, the chances of survival for innovative industries are rather immune to changes, regarding regional and industry-specific conditions, whereas businesses in the other manufacturing industries are strongly affected. These findings highlight that resistance to adverse conditions is dependent on industry specific opportunities and technological conditions.
The design and implementation of VAMPIRE

In this article we describe VAMPIRE: a high-performance theorem prover for first-order logic. As our description is mostly targeted to the developers of such systems and specialists in automated reasoning, it focuses on the design of the system and some key implementation features. We also analyze the performance of the prover at CASC-JC.
Disparity and diversity in the contemporary city: social (dis)order revisited.

an from the block group where or lived, an just the boundaries of the block group. Our measures, reflected the block group as a whole rather than geographic differences within or outside block groups in the degree of observable disorder. The research a representative survey sample of individuals within block groups and idiosyncratic definitions were by definition averaged across multiple residents, a procedure unlikely to produce a systematic influence of racial composition on between-area (block group) variations. we validated empirically the robustness of key results to alternative ecological definitions that for the possibility that residents really think about disorder at the level of much larger communities. Results were none the less largely insensitive to variations in the size of neighbourhood unit, yielding similar patterns all the way up to community areas which in Chicago average almost 40,000 residents. The strong similarity of findings across units of analysis suggests that spatial or ecological mismatch does not account for the contributions of race/ethnic and social composition. by analysing and replicating the key results with elite leaders who lived outside the community, we demonstrated that the results cannot simply be attributed to ‘local knowledge’ among local residents. In short, the large magnitude of the contributions of racial and ethnic structure, especially in models where physical disorder is measured virtually without error, undermines the credibility of counter claims that our results are artifacts of the unreliable or invalid measurement of observed disorder.
Decision Support System for Heart Disease Prediction using Data Mining Classification Techniques

Data Mining techniques have been widely used to mine knowledgeable information from medical database. Most nations face high and expanding rates of coronary illness or Cardiovascular Disease. Despite the fact that, current pharmaceutical is creating colossal measure of information consistently, little has been carried out to utilize this accessible information to illuminate the difficulties that face a beneficial understanding of electrocardiography examination results. Computer situated in development alongside creditable Data Mining systems are utilized for proper results. Disease finding is one of the applications where Data Mining devices are demonstrating successful results. These are the main reason for death everywhere throughout the world in the past ten years. Several scientists are utilizing factual and Data Mining apparatuses to over assistance social insurance experts in the analysis of these disease. Using Hybrid Data Mining strategy in the analysis of coronary illness has been completely explored indicating satisfactory levels of accuracy.
Chitin synthesis and localization in cell division cycle mutants of Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Growth of Saccharomyces cerevisiae cell cycle mutants cdc3, cdc4, cdc7, cdc24, and cdc28 at a nonpermissive temperature (37 degrees C) resulted in increased accumulation of chitin relative to other cell wall components, as compared with that observed at a permissive temperature (25 degrees C). Wild-type cells showed the same chitin/carbohydrate ratio at both temperatures, whereas mutants cdc13 and cdc21 yielded only a small increase in the ratio at 37 degrees C. These results confirm and extend those reported by B. F. Sloat and J. R. Pringle (Science 200:1171-1173, 1978) for mutant cdc24. The distribution of chitin in the cell wall was studied by electron microscopy, by specific staining with wheat germ agglutinin-colloidal gold complexes. At the permissive temperature, chitin was restricted to the septal region in all strains, whereas at 37 degrees C a generalized distribution of chitin in the cell wall was observed in all mutants. These results do not support a unique interdependence between the product of the cdc24 gene and localization of chitin deposition; they suggest that unbalanced conditions created in the cell by arresting the cycle at different stages result in generalized activation of the chitin synthetase zymogen. Thus, blockage of an event in the cell cycle may lead to consequences that are not functionally related to that event under normal conditions.
The quantitative limitations of exponential curve fitting.

A detailed statistical study of the principal factors which affect exponential fitting of biological data has been carried out for two- and three-exponential functions. The results indicate the importance of complete definition of the function by prolonged observation, and draws attention to the extremely large errors liable to be obtained from even `good' biological data. The limitations in the experimental design, due to inadequate definition of the data, lead to practical criteria for the collection of data and to the design of future studies of this type.
An overview of the Gamma Database Machine

Gamma is a relational database machine that utilizes dataflow query processing techniques. Selection query results are presented which show that response time increases in a linear fashion as the size of the input relations increase and that speedup is linear as processors are added. The authors present results from a performance analysis of join queries. Speedups very close to linear are attained as processors are added. <<ETX>>
Generating geospatially realistic driving patterns derived from clustering analysis of real EV driving data

In order to provide a vehicle fleet that realistically represents the predicted Electric Vehicle (EV) penetration for the future, a model is required that mimics people driving behaviour rather than simply playing back collected data. When the focus is broadened from on a traditional user-centric smart charging approach to be more grid-centric, it suddenly becomes important to know not just when- and how much the vehicles charge, but also where in the grid they plug in. Since one of the main goals of EV-grid studies is to find the saturation point, it is equally important that the simulation scales, which calls for a statistically correct, yet flexible model. This paper describes a method for modelling EV, based on non-categorized data, which takes into account the plug in locations of the vehicles. By using clustering analysis to extrapolate and classify the primary locations where the vehicles park, the model can be transferred geographically using known locations of the same classification.
Distributed spectrum sharing scheme for multiuser orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing cognitive radio networks

This paper presents a novel spectrum sharing design aiming at optimising the performance of a Multiuser Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (MU-OFDM) Cognitive Radio Network (CRN) that consists of multiple secondary Transmitter-Receiver (Tx-Rx) pairs. For most MU-OFDM systems, the Exclusive Subchannel Assignment (ESA) is an efficient resource allocation method. Nonetheless, it is inappropriate for the network considered in this paper, because subchannels sharing among secondary Tx-Rx pairs can further improve the system performance. We investigate the Weighted Sum Rate (WSR) maximization problem under the Shared Subchannel Assignment (SSA), where each subchannel is shared by multiple secondary Tx-Rx pairs. With Lagrangian duality technique, we decompose the original resource allocation problem into several sub-problems on each subchannel and propose a duality-based subchannel sharing approach. For practical realisation in the cognitive systems without central control entity, a distributed duality-based WSR maximization scheme is presented. Simulation results manifest that the proposed scheme achieves significantly better performance than ESA duality scheme.
Genetic Diversity of Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus 1: Italian Isolates Clustered in at Least Seven Subgenotypes

Bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) is an economically important pathogen of cattle. Two approved species are recognized, namely BVDV-1 and BVDV-2. To date, only 4 subgenotypes of BVDV-2 are known, and at least 11 distinct subgenotypes have been detected for BVDV-1. In a previous study, the genetic characteristics of 38 field isolates of BVDV from northern Italy were investigated, and all 38 isolates were classified as BVDV-1 and could be assigned to 5 different subgenotypes, namely BVDV-1b, BVDV-1d, BVDV-1e, BVDV-1h, and BVDV-1f. However, the circulation of BVDV-2 has been reported in Italy as well. The aim of the current study was to type 88 BVD viruses found throughout Italy. Genetic study was based on the 5′-UTR, supported by select comparison within the Npro coding region. Phylogenetic analysis showed that 5 isolates could be typed as BVDV-2a. The remaining 83 isolates were typed as BVDV-1 and were found to belong to 7 distinct subgenotypes, namely BVDV-1a (n = 8), BVDV-1b (n = 37), BVDV-1d (n = 3), BVDV-1e (n = 22), BVDV-1f (n = 4), BVDV-1g (n = 4), and BVDV-1h (n = 5). The majority of cattle farms in the current study were predominately infected by BVDV-1b and BVDV-1e isolates, whereas the other BVDV subgenotypes occurred only sporadically. The results also provided evidence for circulation of additional subgenotypes BVDV-1a and BVDV-1g. The occurrence of BVDV-2 was also reconfirmed.
Distribution of telomere-associated sequences on natural chromosomes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis was used to examine the distribution of telomere-associated sequences on individual chromosomes in four strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The pattern of X and Y' distribution was different for each strain. At least one chromosome in each strain lacked Y', and in some strains, chromosome I, the smallest yeast chromosome, lacked detectable amounts of both X and Y'.
A Class of its Own? The Role of Sustainable Real Estate in a Conditional Value at Risk Multi-Asset Portfolio

Current research on sustainable property investment focuses mainly on property-level profitability of green buildings along with the development and implementation of eco-certifications. A second strand of studies investigates the company-level financial implications of corporate social responsibility agendas. This paper seeks to expand the current literature by analyzing the effect of Socially Responsible Investments (SRI) within a multi-asset portfolio optimization model. It also attempts to bridge the existing gap in the real estate literature between sustainability principles and investment analysis. To this aim, listed real estate companies with an active sustainability agenda, identified through the MSCI ESG database, represent the sustainable real estate asset class. Applying a number of robust optimization techniques, we establish empirically whether diversification benefits can be achieved by investing in companies with a proven track record in sustainability. The results of the study highlight the potential contribution of listed real estate companies with high sustainability ratings to an institutional investor´s portfolio taking into account differences in investment style and risk aversion.