Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Association between Audit Committee Characteristics and Earning Management: Evidence from GCC Stock Markets

The main objective of this study is to empirically investigate whether the audit committee (AC) characteristics are associated with earnings management (EM) of listed companies on the GCC countries as emerging markets. To achieve the study’s objectives, 532 firm-year observations were used during the period from 2017-2020. A discretionary accrual (DACC), a proxy for EM, was estimated according to the modified Jones’ model. EM/DACC as a dependent variable was regressed with four independent variables, comprising the AC characteristics, namely AC size, AC independence, AC financial expertise, and AC frequent meetings. Some more control variables were added to the regression model. The study findings reveal that the level of EM on the study sample averaged 14.3% upward, which suggests that the corporate governance code could have reduced the EM practices, but it hasn’t prevented it. Also, the results show that EM is negatively and significantly associated with AC independence, AC financial expertise, and AC number of meetings. Moreover, EM is not significantly associated with AC size. The conclusion of this study emphasizes the monitoring role of AC on restricting EM. The findings of this study have wide implications to all stakeholders and stock markets for the role of AC characteristics as internal corporate governance mechanism on restricting EM practices.
Growing with Covid: curatorial innovation in times of uncertainty

ABSTRACT This essay proposes an alternative curatorial approach in response to the Covid-19 crisis that has shaken the art world and its institutions. It analyzes an exhibition that opened shortly before the pandemic and reflects on the curators’ choice to consider Covid not merely a limitation or constraint, but also as an opportunity to reevaluate curatorial practices within a university gallery. The exhibition Plan(e)t focuses on the relationships between humans and plants as key to future survival on our planet. In embracing the slowness that Covid has imposed upon humanity, it offers a version of ‘slow museology’ adapted to 2020. Instead of suspending, canceling, or digitizing the exhibition, it was both preserved and expanded, by adding a corresponding outdoor project. Together, the interior and exterior elements of the exhibition form a new interplay of viewing conditions, transforming the gallery’s function during times of uncertainty.
Risk Factors for a First Episode of Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia Caused by Stenotrophomonas Maltophilia

Background: The incidence of ventilator-associated pneumonia caused by Stenotrophomonas maltophilia (SM-VAP) is on the rise. This pathology is associated with increased morbidity and mortality in intensive care unit (ICU), notably due to intrinsic resistance and ineffective probabilistic antibiotic therapy. Our study aimed to determine the risk factors for a first episode of SM-VAP in ICU.Methods: This single center retrospective study was conducted from 2010 to 2018 in the polyvalent ICU of Félix Guyon University Hospital in Reunion Island. All patients who developed ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) during their ICU stay were consecutively evaluated. Patients with a first episode of SM-VAP were compared to those with a first episode of VAP caused by another microorganism. Results: A total of 89 patients developed a first episode of SM-VAP over the study period. In the group of patients with SM-VAP, infection was polymicrobial in 43.8% of cases and ICU mortality was 49.4%. After multivariate logistic regression analysis, the risk factors for a first episode of SM-VAP were: chronic respiratory failure (Odds Ratio (OR): 4.212; 95% Confidence Interval (CI): 1.776 – 9.989; p = 0.001), chronic renal failure (OR: 2.693; 95% CI: 1.356 – 5.352; p = 0.05), use of third-generation cephalosporins active against Pseudomonas aeruginosa (OR 2.862; 95% CI: 1.505 – 5.442; p = 0.001), and female sex (OR: 2.646; 95% CI: 1.458 – 4.808; p = 0.001). Conclusion: In our study, chronic respiratory failure, chronic renal failure, use of third-generation cephalosporins active against P. aeruginosa, and female sex were identified as risk factors for a first episode of SM-VAP.
Use of a composite survival curve to determine the age at which surgery offers the highest survival benefit for Tetralogy of Fallot

Contemporary surgical practice relating to Tetralogy of Fallot is shifting towards earlier correction; however, a recent large study proposes later correction to increase event free survival. Surgery aims to improve the quantity and quality of life at minimal risk to the patient. Surgical outcome and risk assessment requires a comparison of externally valid studies of natural history and surgical outcome. The authors reviewed the literature to identify the most externally valid natural history and surgical outcome data and used it to develop a composite survival graph to help clinicians determine when surgery would offer the greatest survival advantage. The composite graph suggests that, for symptomatic patients, the greatest survival advantage occurs when corrective surgery is performed within the 1st week of life.
Analyse of economic and financial performance in the activities of industrial service.

This thesis investigates how managers use the management control systems as levers of strategic change. This question is interesting both from a theoretical and a practical viewpoint. The investigation is focused on the case of industrial service operations. The specificities of this sector - immaterial flows, heterogeneous competences, customer involvement - make its environment particularly unstable. Meanwhile, the information technology era forces the service companies to continually carry out strategic change to create a sustainable competitive advantage. Simons (1995, 2000)'s lever-of-control framework is used as starting point. This framework proposes two extreme benchmarks to classify management control systems: interactive versus diagnostic systems depending on the degree of involvement of the top management. This thesis develops two new ideas: firstly, that the framework of analysis could be extended to cover four dimensions: the management tool, the organizational structure, the use of control system, and the compensation system; secondly, it explores how all four dimensions interact in practice. The tool dimension originates from the managerial literature on control systems. It emphasizes the importance of the horizontal coordination of the material flows from suppliers to customers. The organisational dimension comes from the literature on project management, which enlarges this coordination issue to new products and new services. The compensation dimension has already been introduced by Simons, though this dimension has rarely been explored in practice. Two case studies are used to explore the relevance of this grid. The analysis covers several years in which strategic changes occurred, making explicit how these changes were translated into the four dimensions of our grid. It appears that some configurations along these four dimensions are more efficient than others. A more efficient configuration simultaneously exhibits some interactive and diagnostic features. This balanced approach, which we characterize for industrial service companies, is offered as an interesting idea to be explored in future research. Consequences in terms of the role of the controller are also discussed.
Urban Traffic Monitoring and Analysis Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs): A Systematic Literature Review

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are gaining considerable interest in transportation engineering in order to monitor and analyze traffic. This systematic review surveys the scientific contributions in the application of UAVs for civil engineering, especially those related to traffic monitoring. Following the PRISMA framework, 34 papers were identified in five scientific databases. First, this paper introduces previous works in this field. In addition, the selected papers were analyzed, and some conclusions were drawn to complement the findings. It can be stated that this is still a field in its infancy and that progress in advanced image processing techniques and technologies used in the construction of UAVs will lead to an explosion in the number of applications, which will result in increased benefits for society, reducing unpleasant situations, such as congestion and collisions in major urban centers of the world.
Accessing Citizens’ Perceptions of Land-Related Policy in a Social Media Setting: The Case of Rural Grazing Area Settlement Programme in Nigeria

Social media have opened interesting avenues for accessing active citizenry’s perceptions, providing an important tool for the promotion of the successful implementation of policy. Although social media data have been used to access citizens’ perceptions in various fields of study, they have yet to be adequately examined in the area of land-related policies. This study showcases the potential of the use of social media data to access citizens’ perceptions of land-related policies in the context of a developing country. We systematically selected YouTube videos with expressions of citizens’ perceptions of the Rural Grazing Area settlement programme in Nigeria. The findings from the social media data indicate that whilst some people perceived the policy’s potential benefits, most expressed dissatisfaction with it, and some suggested alternative policy approaches. The results suggest that social media data may be a promising avenue for accessing citizens’ opinions even in the case of land-related policies. Social media data must be accessed and used with caution, however, taking into consideration their limitations. This study’s main contribution lies in the demonstration that social media data can provide valuable insights into citizens’ perceptions of sensitive interventions, including land-related policies.
ROLE OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE IN CAREER ADVANCEMENT OF UNIVERSITY TEACHERS

Purpose of the study: This paper aimed to discuss the theories of emotional intelligence and its role in career advancement in the institutions of working in the field of higher education. Methodology: A critical review of the literature is conducted to determine the most common theories of emotional intelligence, the concept of career advancement, and how emotional intelligence contribute to an individual's career advancement. This article also tries to organize various components involved in the career advancement of the teachers working in the universities. The data were collected from various national and international journal articles, books, and other relevant material. Main Findings: Analysis of literature revealed that there was a positive and significant impact of emotional intelligence on the career advancement of university teachers. It also explored the positive and negative elements that affect an employee's career advancement. Application of this study: The outcomes of the study would be helpful for university teachers to understand their level of emotional intelligence, which contribute to increasing their performance in term of career advancement. Novelty/Originality of this study: In the context of Pakistan, there were no such studies available in the literature that investigated on importance of emotional intelligence on the career advancement of university teachers.
Preliminarily Phytochemical Screening, Anti Inflammatory and Antimicrobial Activity of Macrotyloma Uniflorum (Horse Gram) Leaf Ethanolic Extract on Selected Oral Pathogens

Aim: To know the Preliminary phytochemical screening, Anti Inflammatory activity and antimicrobial activity Macrotyloma uniflorum (Horse gram) leaf ethanolic extract on selected oral pathogens. Introduction: Macrotyloma uniflorum also known as horse gram is a plant grown for feeding horses, rarely by humans and also in Ayurvedic cuisine. This plant is a legume from tropical southern Asia which belongs to the family of Fabaceae and the kingdom of Plantae. Materials and Methods: Macrotyloma uniflorum ethanolic plant extract was made and statistical analysis was done using various methods in order to know the anti inflammatory and antioxidant properties by preliminary phytochemical screening. Results and Discussion: The polyphenolic compounds flavonoids and tannins appear to be the most promising in Macrotyloma uniflorum ethanolic plant extract. Conclusion: The study demonstrated in vitro antioxidants and anti- inflammatory activities of Macrotyloma uniflorum leaf extract through scavenging, chelating and reducing activity.
Effects of Therapeutic Antibodies on Gene and Protein Signatures in Asthma Patients: A Comparative Systematic Review

Several biologic therapies that target inflammatory modulators are now used for treating patients with uncontrolled, severe asthma. Knowledge about how this type of treatment modifies the molecular milieu is rapidly increasing. Thus, this systematic review aimed to compile the reported effects of therapeutic antibodies on the transcriptome or proteome of asthma patients. Studies of asthmatic patients under biological treatment describing transcriptomic or proteomic changes upon treatment were included. Preclinical or single gene/protein studies were not considered. PubMed and Scopus search was performed in August and September 2021. Following PRISMA guidelines and GRADE recommendations, we selected 12 studies on gene or protein expression changes in patients treated with the antibodies currently approved by EMA and the FDA. All studies were at low risk of bias as per the RoB2 tool. Different gene clusters have been identified to change upon omalizumab treatment, found a reduction in eosinophil-associated gene signatures after benralizumab treatment, and protein profiles were different in patients treated with mepolizumab and in those treated with benralizumab. The main potential biomarkers proposed by the selected studies are shown. These results may contribute to discovering biomarkers of response and selecting the best therapy for each patient.
Exploring the Organizational Design for Resilience and Foresight

The present paper focuses on the organization for Corporate Foresight (CF): how the companies design their organization to anticipate future trends and detect weak signals. The research focuses on a multiple case-study in the telecommunication industry. Through a comparison of eight international companies that perform CF with different performance levels, the paper highlights the organizational variables that characterize an organization for CF and these variables have been related to CF performance measures. This conducted to a set of hypothesis that relate organization and performance.
Paradoxical leader behaviour effects on employee taking charge: A moderated – mediating model

We investigated how and when paradoxical leader behaviour (PLB) positively influenced employee taking charge, a typical exemplar of proactive behaviours. Participants were 644 employees of a large Chinese high-tech manufacturing company (male = 50.8%; mean age = 29.63 years, SD = 5.72 years). Based on hierarchical regression analysis and bootstrap analysis, the results indicated that PLB was associated with a higher probability of employee taking charge, with role breadth self-efficacy (RBSE) acting as a mediator for this relationship. Furthermore, promotion focus moderated this mediation relationship, such that the relationship was stronger for subordinates high in promotion focus. We concluded that contextual factor of PLB and individual differences of promotion focus were essential to enhance employees’ perception of RBSE and possibilities of taking charge.
INTERNSHIP FOR PROFESIONAL CAREER: LEARNING FROM VOCATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL 1 KADEMANGAN BLITAR EAST JAVA

Internship is a stage of education in Vocational High Schools that trains students to adapt to the business world and practice the competencies they learn in school directly in the industrial world. But unfortunately, not all vocational students who take part in internship programs in the industrial world can be well received. This study wants to look more deeply into how strategic management empowers Vocational High Schools in preparing students for the internship. This research uses mixed methods, more specifically the Embedded Design. Samples were taken randomly as many as 61 teachers and 353 students using the random sampling technique. Through SPACE Matrix analysis, it is known that the appropriate strategy in developing schools is to support an aggressive approach, namely by implementing the SO (Strategy to use power to reach opportunity) strategy. So it can be explained that the profile of Vocational High School 1 Kademangan is stable and can continue to prepare internship students with plans to take advantage of existing opportunities to improve the quality of education.
Design of PM excited transverse flux linear motor with inner mover type

A transverse flux, PM-exited linear motor (TFM- LM) with inner mover was designed and built. Its output power density is higher and the weight is lower than for the equivalent, conventional PM excited linear synchronous motors (PM LSM). To get the maximum thrust force under the given volume, the thrust force density with respect to the ratio of the slot width and the length of pole pitch is analyzed by 3-dimension finite element method (FEM). Finally, calculated static thrust force matched with the experimental obtained static thrust force. The calculated and measured performance of transverse flux, PM-exited linear motor with inner mover revealed a great potential of system improvements by reducing mass of the linear motor. For examples, when this motor is applied to a ropeless elevator, it is possible to increase the power density by more than 400% than the conventional PM-LSM. The results of this study recommend this type of motor for the ropeless elevator or gearless direct linear driving system.
LmTag: functional-enrichment and imputation-aware tag SNP selection for population-specific genotyping arrays

Despite the rapid development of sequencing technology, single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array is still the most cost-effective genotyping solutions for large-scale genomic research and applications. Recent years have witnessed the rapid development of numerous genotyping platforms of different sizes and designs, but population-specific platforms are still lacking, especially for those in developing countries. We aim to develop methods to design SNP arrays for thse countries, so the arrays should be cost-effective (small size), yet can still generate key information needed to associate genotypes with traits. A key design principle for most current platforms is to improve genome-wide imputation so that more SNPs (imputed tag SNPs) not included in the array can be predicted. However, current tag SNP selection methods mostly focus on imputation accuracy and coverage, but not the functional content of the measured and imputed SNPs. It is those functional SNPs that are most likely associated to traits. Here, we propose LmTag, a novel method for tag SNP selection that not only improves imputation performance but also prioritizes highly functional SNP markers. We apply LmTag on a wide range of populations using both public and in-house whole genome sequencing databases. Our results showed that LmTag improved both functional marker prioritization and genome-wide imputation accuracy compared to existing methods. This novel approach could contribute to the next generation genotyping arrays that provide excellent imputation capability as well as facilitate array-based functional genetic studies. Such arrays are particularly suitable for under-represented populations in developing countries or non-model species, where little genomics data are available while investment in genome sequencing or high-density SNP arrays is limited.
Regularized RKHS-Based Subspace Learning for Motor Imagery Classification

Brain–computer interface (BCI) technology allows people with disabilities to communicate with the physical environment. One of the most promising signals is the non-invasive electroencephalogram (EEG) signal. However, due to the non-stationary nature of EEGs, a subject’s signal may change over time, which poses a challenge for models that work across time. Recently, domain adaptive learning (DAL) has shown its superior performance in various classification tasks. In this paper, we propose a regularized reproducing kernel Hilbert space (RKHS) subspace learning algorithm with K-nearest neighbors (KNNs) as a classifier for the task of motion imagery signal classification. First, we reformulate the framework of RKHS subspace learning with a rigorous mathematical inference. Secondly, since the commonly used maximum mean difference (MMD) criterion measures the distribution variance based on the mean value only and ignores the local information of the distribution, a regularization term of source domain linear discriminant analysis (SLDA) is proposed for the first time, which reduces the variance of similar data and increases the variance of dissimilar data to optimize the distribution of source domain data. Finally, the RKHS subspace framework was constructed sparsely considering the sensitivity of the BCI data. We test the proposed algorithm in this paper, first on four standard datasets, and the experimental results show that the other baseline algorithms improve the average accuracy by 2–9% after adding SLDA. In the motion imagery classification experiments, the average accuracy of our algorithm is 3% higher than the other algorithms, demonstrating the adaptability and effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.
The lncRNA BDNF-AS/WDR5/FBXW7 axis mediates ferroptosis in gastric cancer peritoneal metastasis by regulating VDAC3 ubiquitination

Ferroptosis is a novel form of cell death that is closely associated with the formation of many tumors. Our study focused on the mechanism by which long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) regulate ferroptosis in gastric cancer (GC) peritoneal metastasis (PM). We utilized lncRNA sequencing and protein profiling analysis to identify ferroptosis-associated lncRNAs and proteins. qRT-PCR was used to analyze the expression of BDNF-AS and FBXW7 in GC tissues and adjacent normal tissues. Chromatin isolation by RNA purification (ChIRP), RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP), chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP), and coimmunoprecipitation (co-IP) assays were performed to investigate the interaction between BDNF-AS and its downstream targets. Finally, the function of BDNF-AS was validated in vivo . We demonstrated that BDNF-AS was highly expressed in GC and PM tissues. High BDNF-AS expression was positively related to GC progression and poor prognosis. Functionally, BDNF-AS overexpression protected GC cells from ferroptosis and promoted the progression of GC and PM. Mechanistically, BDNF-AS could regulate FBXW7 expression by recruiting WDR5, thus affecting FBXW7 transcription, and FBXW7 regulated the protein expression of VDAC3 through ubiquitination. Conclusively, our research demonstrated that the BDNF-AS/WDR5/FBXW7 axis regulates ferroptosis in GC by affecting VDAC3 ubiquitination. BDNF-AS might be a biomarker for the evaluation of GC prognosis and the treatment of GC.