Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Beyond the CFO and Accrual Decisions: An Examination of Individual Audit Committee Chairs, CEOS, and CFOs and Their Influence on Reporting and Operating Decisions

We examine whether managers besides the CFO have 'styles' that affect firms’ reporting and operating decisions. Following recent studies, we develop a dataset of individual audit committee chairs, CEOs, and CFOs, that tracks their movements across firms and over time. Although audit committee chairs serve a monitoring role, research suggests that each of these management groups could exert their individual 'styles' on firms’ reporting and operating decisions. We find that each of these groups significantly affect firms’ accrual- and real activities-based decisions, even when controlling for the effect of the other groups. Also, we find the influence of these individuals is not impacted by their managerial discretion or job demands. Last, we provide evidence that certain observable demographic measures explain some of the managers’ decisions. These results add to the literature because they suggest that managers besides the CFO can significantly influence reporting and operating decisions, and the influence of these managers extends beyond accounting-based techniques to include non-accounting-based decisions.
Enterprise Business Technology Governance: A Validation of Three Technology-Governance Competencies for Boards of Directors

The competent leadership and governance of digital transformation needs to involve the board of directors. The reported lack of such capability in boards is becoming a pressing issue. Underpinning leadership in such transformation are the competencies to effectively govern Enterprise Technology (ETG). In this paper we take the position that ETG competencies are essential in boards because competent enterprise business technology governance has been shown to contribute to increased revenue, profit, and returns. We report the industry validation processes of a set of three board-of-director competencies needed for effective ETG related to strategy and planning; investment and risk; and, innovation and value creation. We conclude that gaps in board ETG competence remain.
Exogenous nitric oxide causes potentiation of hippocampal synaptic transmission during low‐frequency stimulation via the endogenous nitric oxide–cGMP pathway

Nitric oxide (NO) is a putative participant in synaptic plasticity and demonstrations that exogenous NO can elicit the same plastic changes have been taken to support such a role. The experiments, carried out on the CA1 region of rat hippocampal slices, were aimed at testing this interpretation. A major component of tetanus‐induced long‐term potentiation (LTP) was lost in response to l‐nitroarginine, which inhibits NO synthase, and 1H‐[1,2,4]oxadiazolo[4,3‐a]quinoxalin‐1‐one (ODQ), which inhibits NO‐sensitive soluble guanylyl cyclase (sGC). At 0.2 Hz afferent fibre stimulation, exogenous NO produced, concentration‐dependently, a synaptic depression that reverted on washout to a persistent potentiation that occluded tetanus‐induced LTP. The NO concentrations necessary (estimated in the 100‐nm range), however, were mostly supramaximal for stimulating hippocampal slice sGC activity. Nevertheless the potentiation, but not the preceding depression, was blocked by ODQ. l‐nitroarginine and an NMDA antagonist were similarly effective, indicating mediation by the endogenous NMDA receptor–NO synthase–sGC pathway. At a concentration normally too low to affect synaptic transmission but sufficient to stimulate sGC (estimated to be 50 nm), exogenous NO reversed the effect of l‐nitroarginine and caused a potentiation which was blocked by ODQ. At a concentration inducing the depression/potentiation sequence, NO partially inhibited hippocampal slice oxygen consumption. It is concluded that, at physiological levels, exogenous NO can directly elicit a potentiation of synaptic transmission through sGC, provided that the synapses are suitably primed. At higher concentrations, NO inhibits mitochondrial respiration, which can result in an enduring synaptic potentiation due to secondary activation of the endogenous NO–cGMP pathway.
Operational effects and firms' responses : perspectives of New Zealand apparel firms on international outsourcing

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to clarify the impact of international outsourcing on manufacturing strategy and performance of apparel manufacturing firms. The authors aim to show how managers address the effects of international outsourcing on four dimensions of manufacturing strategy – cost, quality, flexibility and delivery.Design/methodology/approach – The paper utilises a qualitative exploratory approach. The authors adopted a case study method, collecting data through face‐to‐face, semi‐structured interviews with managers of six apparel manufacturing firms, selected on the basis of a number of criteria, including their use of international outsourcing.Findings – The findings show that international outsourcing generates both positive and negative effects on the firms' competencies in four manufacturing dimensions (cost, quality, flexibility and delivery). A conceptual framework is presented that shows how firms' managerial actions carried out to address the effects of outsourcing play a cruc.
Memoryless Dynamic Output-Feedback Stabilization for Discrete-Time Closed-Loop Robot Systems With Nonlinear Uncertainties and Multiple Time-Delays

The dynamic output-feedback control problem is addressed for a class of nonlinear discrete uncertain systems with multiple time-delays. First, the system is decomposed into two subsystems based on the output and input matrix. Second, the compensator is designed for first the subsystem, and the output feedback controller is designed based on the second subsystem and compensator. Then, by choosing a Lyapunov–Krasovskii functional, we show that the developed controller makes the solutions of the closed-loop system exponentially convergent to a ball. Compared with previous work, the developed controller only depends on the system output. The design conditions of the controller are relaxed because of the proposed dynamic compensator. Furthermore, the results are extended to a general nonlinear system and a robot system. Finally, numerical examples are included to show the effectiveness of the theoretical results.
Future, Opportunities and Challenges of Inkjet Technologies

Inkjet printing relies on the formation of small liquid droplets to deliver precise amounts of material to a substrate under digital control. Inkjet technology is becoming relatively mature and is of great industrial interest thanks to its flexibility for graphical printing and its potential use in less conventional applications such as additive manufacturing and the production of printed electronics and other functional devices. Its advantages over traditional methods of printing include the following: it produces little or no waste, it is versatile because several different methods exist, it is non-contact and does not require a master template so that printed patterns can be readily modified on demand. However, the technology is in need of further development to become mainstream in emerging applications such as additive manufacturing (3D printing). This review contains a description of conventional and less common inkjet methods and surveys the current applications of inkjet in industry. This is followed by specific examples of the barriers, limitations and challenges faced by inkjet in both graphical printing and manufacturing. Accepted for publication in Atomization and Sprays (2013). Available at: https://www.repository. cam.ac. uk/handle/1810/238990
Fingerprint Class Recognition for Securing EMV Transaction

Fingerprint analysis is a very important issue in biometry. The minutiae representation of a fingerprint is the most used modality to identify people or authorize access when using a biometric system. In this paper, we propose some features based on triangle parameters from the Delaunay triangulation of minutiae. We show the benefit of these features to recognize the type of a fingerprint without any access to the associated fingerprint image.
Estimating the Impact of Local Conditions on Asset Preferences in Adulthood

In this paper, I quantify the impact of state-level macroeconomic conditions during childhood on investment decisions in adulthood. The use of intertemporal withinstate variation allows me to control for potentially confounding unobservable national conditions. Unlike previous research that uses national aggregates, I find a significant effect of childhood macroeconomic conditions on investment decisions. This effect is much larger for those who grew up during the Great Depression. Children who grew up in states with lower average personal income invest less in risky assets throughout their lives, have higher levels of home equity, and are less likely to be self employed. Financial conditions during the teenage years have the largest impact on investment in adulthood. I provide evidence using the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, the Survey of Income and Program Participation, and the Health and Retirement Study. JEL classification: D03, D14, D83, D84, E21, G11.
Integration of Stochastic Effects and Data Uncertainties into the Design of Process Equipment

Stochastic effects and data uncertainties are present in any engineering calculation. Their impact may be particularly important if they concern the design of process equipment. A calculation model for the dynamic behavior of a heat exchanger and procedures to deal with the related uncertainties are presented. Their propagation through the calculation by means of a Monte Carlo approach is shown. The temperature at the heat exchanger outlet and the step response of a sudden variation in the heat exchanger inlet temperature are simulated and evaluated by way of example. It is demonstrated that the inclusion of stochastic effects and uncertainties provides a more reliable basis for design decisions and hence reduces the probability of errors.
Transfusion-Free Techniques in Pediatric Live Donor Liver Transplantation

Patients of the Jehovah’s Witness faith are unwilling for religious reasons to accept transfusion with blood or blood products. In pediatric patients of the Jehovah’s Witness faith, blood products can be used under court mandate if deemed medically imperative. However, transfusion under court order is obviously fraught with concerns for physicians and parents. This report describes medical and surgical techniques that have been used to avoid transfusion in adult Jehovah’s Witness patients and their successful use in two pediatric patients undergoing liver transplantation (1).
Neisseria meningitidis App, a new adhesin with autocatalytic serine protease activity

Neisseria meningitidis is a Gram‐negative bacterium which colonizes the human upper respiratory tract. Occasionally, it translocates to the bloodstream causing sepsis and from there it can cross the blood–brain barrier and cause meningitis. Many of the molecules, which mediate the interaction of N. meningitidis to host cells, are still unknown. Recently, App ( A dhesion and p enetration p rotein) was described as a member of the autotransporter family and a homologue to the Hap ( H aemophilus a dhesion and p enetration) protein of Haemophilus influenzae , a molecule that plays a role in the interaction with human epithelial cells. In this study we expressed app in Escherichia coli in order to analyse the functional properties of the protein. We show that the protein is exported to the E. coli surface, processed by an endogenous serine‐protease activity and released in the culture supernatant. Escherichia coli expressing app adhere to Chang epithelial cells, showing that App is able to mediate bacterial adhesion to host cells. The serine protease activity is localized at the amino‐terminal domain, whereas the binding domain is in the carboxy‐terminal region. The role of App in adhesion was confirmed also in N. meningitidis .
Evaluation of Serological Diagnostic Tests for Typhoid Fever in Papua New Guinea Using a Composite Reference Standard

ABSTRACT Typhoid fever remains a major global health problem. A major impediment to improving outcomes is the lack of appropriate diagnostic tools, which have not significantly improved in low-income settings for 100 years. We evaluated two commercially available rapid diagnostic tests (Tubex and TyphiDot), a prototype (TyphiRapid TR-02), and the commonly used single-serum Widal test in a previously reported high-burden area of Papua New Guinea. Samples were collected from 530 outpatients with axillary temperatures of ≥37.5°C, and analysis was conducted on all malaria-negative samples (n = 500). A composite reference standard of blood culture and PCR was used, by which 47 participants (9.4%) were considered typhoid fever positive. The sensitivity and specificity of the Tubex (51.1% and 88.3%, respectively) and TyphiDot (70.0% and 80.1%, respectively) tests were not high enough to warrant their ongoing use in this setting; however, the sensitivity and specificity for the TR-02 prototype were promising (89.4% and 85.0%, respectively). An axillary temperature of ≥38.5°C correlated with typhoid fever (P = 0.014). With an appropriate diagnostic test, conducting typhoid fever diagnosis only on patients with high-grade fever could dramatically decrease the costs associated with diagnosis while having no detrimental impact on the ability to accurately diagnose the illness.
An indoor localization system by fusing smartphone inertial sensors and bluetooth low energy beacons

Indoor localization becomes a research focus in recent years since. Smartphone-based pedestrian dead reckoning (PDR) is one of the widely-adopted localization techniques with limiting problems such as the drift of inertial sensors. Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) has better performance result which makes it an auxiliary tool for PDR to correct errors. But BLE fingerprint sampling and calibrating are time-consuming and labor-intensive. In this paper, a Support Vector Machine (SVM) classification algorithm based crowdsourcing method is developed and applied to generate BLE landmarks instead of manual work leveraging smartphone sensors and uploaded BLE signals. A particle filter is also used to fusion PDR and landmarks detection results for better localization performance. The experiments show that the proposed fusion algorithm achieved the accuracy of 3.15 m at 90% of the time with dense landmarks (1 landmark per 5 m), which performs 51.76% better than 6.53 m from PDR algorithm. With sparse landmarks (1 landmark per 15 m), the proposed fusion algorithm achieved the accuracy of 3.26 m at 90% of the time. The proposed tracking system using smartphone inertial sensors and BLE beacons can be a promising methodology in practical usages.
The Web and Traditional Information Resources: How Do They Contribute to Overall Satisfaction with an Information Service?

This paper considers the change in information seeking behaviour of tourists as a result of the increased use of the World Wide Web as an information resource in the context of information services provided by visitor information centres (VICs). The theoretical approach adopts the model of expectation-disconfirmation effects on web customer satisfaction. The paper proposes that visitor information centres are analogous to an information system and that the user experience of visiting the centre can partially be explained by users perception of the information quality of information resources used at the centre and a prior use of the web. The research proposition explored in the reported research is that a priori usage of the web may influence tourists’ perceptions of the information services provided by visitor information centres. In order to investigate this proposition a survey was conducted at the Sydney Visitor Information Centre resulting in 519 responses. The analysis of the data collected, using structural equation modeling, found that perceived information quality of staff and brochures used at the centre explained 63% of the variance of the user experience at the centre, a prior use of the web did not explain any of the variance. The implications for VICs’ strategic information resource management to meet visitor needs are discussed.
Spin wave processes in ferrite-film structures: physics and devices for microwave signal processing

Physics of spin wave processes in thin ferrite-film structures as a basis for novel device applications is briefly reviewed. Two types of novel microwave spin-wave devices, namely, nonlinear spin-wave phase shifter and nonlinear spin-wave interferometer are described. Experimentally measured and theoretically calculated operating characteristics for these devices are presented. It is shown that a good agreement exists between experimental and theoretical results.
Klebsiella pneumoniae-reactive T cells in blood and synovial fluid of patients with ankylosing spondylitis. Comparison with HLA-B27+ healthy control subjects in a limiting dilution study and determination of the specificity of synovial fluid T cell clones.

OBJECTIVE To study the frequency of Klebsiella pneumoniae-responsive T cells in the peripheral blood (PB) of ankylosing spondylitis (AS) patients compared with that in healthy HLA-B27+ donors, and to examine T lymphocyte clones (TLC) derived from AS patient synovial fluid (SF) for the presence of Klebsiella reactivity. METHODS Limiting dilution analysis of PB T cells in 8 patients with active AS and in 8 HLA-B27+ healthy subjects was used to determine the frequency of PB T cells responsive to K pneumoniae and Escherichia coli GroEL. SF T cells from a patient with active AS were cloned, and 125 TLC were characterized in proliferation assays. RESULTS There were fewer T cells in the PB of AS patients that reacted with K pneumoniae than in the PB of healthy HLA-B27+ subjects. The frequencies of E coli GroEL-responsive T cells were approximately 5-10 times lower in all subjects tested (healthy donors and AS patients), but without significant differences between the 2 groups. Two CD4+ TLC that recognized K pneumoniae (1 cross-reactive with E coli) as well as 3 TLC that recognized GroEL (2 CD4+, 1 T cell receptor gamma/delta+) were isolated from the SF of a patient with actige AS. CONCLUSION Our results indicate that there is a quantitative reduction of K pneumoniae-responsive T cells in the PB of AS patients as compared with healthy controls. This may reflect a defective peripheral T cell defense in the immune response to Klebsiella and may allow bacterial antigens to reach the synovium, where they initiate specific T cell responses.
Understanding knowledge management and organizational adaptation and the influencing effects of trust and industrial cluster.

Due to rapid environmental change, today's business requires a more collaborative management to ensure positive performance. One of the important means that can help firms adapt successfully to a changing environment is knowledge management. The management of information and knowledge as key to retaining competitive advantage and has recently evolved into a more strategically focused research topic for both business and academic study. Managing knowledge, however, is deemed difficult because many companies recognize the importance of their proprietary knowledge and are not willing to share it freely. Recognizing this weakness, many countries have promoted the development of regional clusters where firms can co-develop their competences and competitive advantage against the world's best competitors by sharing knowledge, resources, and innovative capabilities. Other than industrial clusters, trust is also considered an important factor in knowledge management study. Trust reduces the need to monitor others' behaviors, formalize procedures, and it lowers transaction costs. At the macro level, trust can enhance organizations' core competencies and sustain their competitive advantages through co-evolution. This may occur through the development of group collaborations, cooperative relationships, and networks. The study adopted a field survey research method and used multiple regressions as the data analysis technique. The dependent variable in the study was organizational adaptation, while the independent variables were knowledge management, trust and industrial cluster. Data were collected using survey of key informants from 943 companies. The results of the analysis suggested that knowledge management does have significant influence on organizational adaptation and both industrial cluster and trust impact on organizational learning activities. The major contribution of this study is that it offers a more holistic approach in studying knowledge management by adding a new element: knowledge applying. Moreover, this study offers an initial attempt to test industrial cluster in hopes of advancing the research in management related fields.
Studies of activated microglia and macrophages in lumbosacral spinal cord following an intraperitoneal injection of 6-aminonicotinamide into adult rats.

The anterior horns of the lumbosacral segment of the spinal cord in rats showed an extensive lesion following an intraperitoneal administration of 6-amino-nicotinamide (6-AN). Neuronal chromatolysis was observed in some of the large efferent neurons 1-7 days after the injection of 6-AN. The capability in their uptake of fluorogold and its retrograde transport was comparable to those in the normal rats. Small neurons presumably internuncial cells underwent degeneration. 8 weeks after 6-AN injection, all the surviving neurons appeared normal. 1 day after 6-AN injection microglial cells appeared activated as evidenced by the hypertrophy and expansion of their processes. A large number of macrophages were observed in the lesioned site 7 days after the administration of 6-AN. The activated microglia and macrophages showed intense immunoreactivity with the monoclonal antibody OX-42. The immunoreactivity declined with time so that by 4 weeks after the injection of 6-AN very weak immunoreactivity was seen on some very branched cells. A similar pattern of immunoreactivity was observed with the monoclonal antibodies OX-18 and OX-6. It was concluded from this study that neuronal chromatolysis and neuronal degeneration induced the expression of CR3 receptors (marked by OX-42) and MHC encoded antigens (marked by OX-18 and OX-6) in activated microglia and macrophages. With time the immunoreactivity decreased so that by 4 weeks after the administration of 6-AN only faint immunoreactivity was observed on some branched cells. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)