Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Role of Internal Audit in Effective Management in Public Sector.

This study is an empirical analysis of the role of Internal audit (IA) in an effective management control in public sector. It examine if effective management can be achieve in local government, IA effectiveness does play a role in ensuring effective management in public sector, and If IA effectiveness does affect management control in public sector in Edo State using Z –test statistical tool. The Z-test results shows that effective management can be achieve in local government, IA effectiveness play role in ensuring effective management in public sector, while IA effectiveness does not affect management control in public sector in Edo state. Keywords: Internal auditing; Public sector; management control and effectiveness
Electronic Reanimation of Facial Paralysis—A Feasibility Study

We set out to adapt the concept of functional electrical stimulation to the reanimation of the paralyzed face. In the New Zealand white rabbit model we studied the strength-duration curves of both innervated and denervated facial muscles. We next studied the electromyographic signals corresponding to different strengths of contraction of innervated facial muscles. With Teflon-coated stainless steel electrodes implanted at opposite ends of the denervated muscle groups under study, bipolar stimulation yielded useful mimetic function that was modifiable by varying the voltage output and the rate of pulse generation. We demonstrated that an electronic circuit can indeed respond to the voltage generated within a functioning facial muscle, and then reproducibly trigger a corresponding graphic signal in synchrony with the mimetic function. The next step will be to adapt an electronic circuit that will deliver a predetermined electrical current to a denervated facial muscle in response to a determined generated voltage in the contralateral corresponding innervated facial muscle.
Understanding Usage Pattern of Korean Smartphone Users

In this paper, using a comprehensive smartphone usage logging system (a client app and a server), various statistical analysis results from more than 800 man-days usage logs are presented. The analysis shows 1) significant difference in usage frequency and time statistics among the applications, 2) strong popularity in social network application category and 3) little usage variation between weekdays and weekends, but less frequent usage in night time.
Exercise running and tetracycline as means to enhance skeletal muscle stem cell performance after external fixation

Prolonged limb immobilization, which is often the outcome of injury and illness, results in the atrophy of skeletal muscles. The basis of muscle atrophy needs to be better understood in order to allow development of effective countermeasures. The present study focused on determining whether skeletal muscle stem cells, satellite cells, are directly affected by long‐term immobilization as well as on investigating the potential of pharmacological and physiological avenues to counterbalance atrophy‐induced muscle deterioration. We used external fixation (EF), as a clinically relevant model, to gain insights into the relationships between muscle degenerative and regenerative conditions to the myogenic properties and abundance of bona fide satellite cells. Rats were treated with tetracycline (Tet) through the EF period, or exercise trained on a treadmill for 2 weeks after the cessation of the atrophic stimulus. EF induced muscle mass loss; declined expression of the muscle specific regulatory factors (MRFs) Myf5, MyoD, myogenin, and also of satellite cell numbers and myogenic differentiation aptitude. Tet enhanced the expression of MRFs, but did not prevent the decline of the satellite cell pool. After exercise running, however, muscle mass, satellite cell numbers (enumerated through the entire length of myofibers), and myogenic differentiation aptitude (determined by the lineal identity of clonal cultures of satellite cells) were re‐gained to levels prior to EF. Together, our results point to Tet and exercise running as promising and relevant approaches for enhancing muscle recovery after atrophy. J. Cell. Physiol. 215: 265–275, 2008. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Joining, Upgrading and Being Competitive in Global Value Chains: A Strategic Framework

In recent years, global value chains have played an increasing role in business strategies, profoundly affecting international trade and development paradigms. Global value chains now represent a major source of socio-upgrading opportunities and a new path for development. Trade, competitiveness and development policies should be reshaped accordingly to seize these opportunities and avoid the risks associated with greater participation in global value chains. This paper provides a framework and analytical tools for measuring and improving a country's performance with respect to participation in global value chains. With a clear operational focus, it provides guidance for countries willing to join, maintain participation, and/or move up global value chains. With the ultimate objective to increase the value (the development content) for trade, it also offers strategies to maximize the benefits and minimize the risks of developing countries' participation in global value chains.
Audit Quality And Accrual Reliability: Evidence From The Korean Stock Market

This study empirically investigates whether a high-quality audit improves the reliability of the components of total accruals using earnings persistence and cash flow predictability. I find that, for firms audited by Big Four auditors, their current or noncurrent assets-related accruals, which are less reliable (“more subjective in measurement”), lead to higher earnings persistence and future cash flow predictability than those of firms audited by non-Big Four auditors. These results suggest that high-quality auditors more effectively evaluate the reasonableness of accrual measurement based on more sufficient and appropriate audit evidence, leading to enhanced accrual reliability.
Pengaruh Kualitas Audit Terhadap Manajemen Laba Transaksi Real - Pengakuan Pendapatan Strategis

This study examined the effect of audit quality on real transaction earnings management in the form of strategic revenue recognition. Audit quality is measured by audit tenure with medium period and industry specialization of audit firms. Strategic revenue recognition is measured by the abnormal changes in short-term deferred revenue. The sample consisted of 1,113 firm-year observations of listed companies on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) for seven years (2004-2010). By using multiple regression of pooled cross-sectional data, we find some evidence of the influence of audit quality on strategic revenue recognition, i.e.; industry specialization of audit firms has a positive effect on abnormal changes in deferred revenue. We have no evidence that audit tenure with a medium period has influence on the abnormal changes in deferred revenue. Our findings are robust, after considering the results of sensitivity tests that support to the main result.
Do Belgian Banks Have Power Vis-a-vis the Minister of Finance ?

A feature of the Belgian economy is the regular concertation between government and the financial sector. In a mixed economy, the government takes on a variety of roles with respect to the financial sector (Bruni et al. (1982)). In this paper, we want to focus on one aspect of this many-sided relationship namely the financing conditions of government debt. More specific, we focus on the interest rate determination of one financial instrument issued by the government namely the treasury bill. Typically, in OECD countries, the treasury bill rate is lower than the interbank rate. The Belgian situation showed the opposite before the money market reform of january 29th 1991. The Belgian treasury bill rate exceeded the interbank rate. Research concerning this phenomenon has not been satisfactory up to now. Hence, there existed a need for further elaborating the relation between the interbank rate and the treasury bill rate. This paper proposes an application of a generalised asymmetric Nash bargaining model (Kalai (1977)) to the treasury bill rate determination process. In the economic literature, a lot of work has been done concerning bargaining problems between
Inflammation and Genetics: An Insight in the Centenarian Model

Abstract The number of centenarians is growing worldwide. This specific cohort has aroused the attention of scientists worldwide and is considered one of the most valuable models to study the mechanisms involved in the aging process. In fact, they have reached the extreme limits of human life span and, most important of all, they show relatively good health being able to perform their routine daily life. Because they have escaped the common lethal diseases, the role of their genetic background has been brought into focus. In fact, sequence variations, in a variety of pro- or anti-inflammatory cytokine genes, have been found to influence successful ageing and longevity. The key role played by cytokines has been also confirmed in centenarians as we know that inflammation has been related to several pathological burdens (e.g., obesity, atherosclerosis, and diabetes). Successful ageing seems to be related to an optimal functioning of the immune system, pointing out that polymorphisms for the immune system genes, which are involved in the regulation of immune-inflammatory responses, may play a key role in the genetics of ageing. This review provides an update in the field of ageing related to inflammation and genetics.
Kalman-based time-varying sparse channel estimation

In this paper, we investigate a problem of estimating time-varying sparse channel impulse response for wireless communications. We are primarily interested in the scenario where the support of channels (i.e., the location of nonzero elements in channel impulse response) rarely changes within a local period of time. The proposed channel estimator estimates both support and amplitudes of the channel impulse response in an iterative fashion using the expectation and maximization algorithm. In order to exploit the (temporal) joint sparsity as well as temporal correlation of the channel gains, the proposed channel estimator performs two steps 1) E-step: Kalman smoothing of channel gains under the sparsity constraint and 2) M-step: semidefinite relaxation (SDR) technique for estimating the common support of channel impulse responses. Numerical evaluation shows that the proposed method performs close to the Oracle-based Kalman smoother and outperforms the existing sparse channel estimators.
A Modified Rabbit Model of Carotid Atherosclerotic Plaque Suitable for the Stroke Study and MRI Evaluation

ABSTRACT In order to induce a modified rabbit model of carotid atherosclerotic plaque suitable for the stroke study and to evaluate the lesion with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Eight rabbits of group A were fed with high-fat diet only. Atherosclerosis at the right common carotid artery was induced in rabbits of group B (n = 12) by high-fat diet and balloon catheter injury to the endothelium 4 weeks later. The rabbits were examined in vivo with a 1.5-T MRI. After 4 weeks on the high-fat diet, the serum lipid levels were markedly increased, which became significantly higher than the baseline levels. The lesions on both MRI and histology were remarkable. One week after balloon injury, the signal of injured right common carotid was higher on all the contrast-weighted images than the left side. The extent of abnormal signal was reduced 9 weeks after balloon injury. Hemorrhage was detected on all the contrast-weighted images. In conclusion, the rabbit model established by the authors is such a feasible one to the study of stroke caused by carotid atherosclerosis.
Filter design from data: direct vs. two-step approaches

Consider a nonlinear system with input u and outputs y, z. Assume that ut and yt are measured for all times t and that zt is measured only for t les Tm, but it is of interest to know zt for t > Tm. Such situation may arise when the sensor measuring z fails and it is important to recover this variable, e.g., for feedback control. Another case arises when the sensor measuring z is too complex and costly to be used, except for an initial set of experiments. Assuming that z is observable from the couple (u, y), the standard approach consists of a two-step procedure: identify a model and then design an observer/Kalman filter based on the identified model. Observing that an estimator of z t, t > Tm is a system using (ut, y t) as inputs and producing as output an estimate of zt , the idea of directly identifying an estimator model from the available noisy data (utildet, ytildet) and ztildet in the time interval (0, Tm) is investigated in this paper. The two-step procedure is proved to perform, in the case of exact modeling, no better than the direct approach. In the presence of modeling errors, the directly identified filter is proved to be anyway the minimum variance estimator, among the selected approximating filter class. A similar result is not assured by the two-step design, whose performance deterioration due to modeling errors may be significantly larger. Another relevant point is that minimum variance filters for nonlinear systems are in general difficult to derive and/or to implement, and widely used approximate solutions, such as extended Kalman filters, quite often exhibit poor performance. On the contrary, the recent progresses in nonlinear identification methods may allow the direct filter identification. An example related to the Lorenz attractor is presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the presented approach
Financing Decision and Productivity Growth for the Venture Capital Industry Using High-Order Fuzzy Time Series

Human society, there are many uncertainties, such as economic growth rate forecast of the financial crisis, many scholars have, since the the Song Chissom two scholars in 1993 the concept of the so-called fuzzy time series (Fuzzy Time Series)different mode to deal with these problems, a previous study, however, usually does not consider the relevant variables selected and fuzzy process based solely on subjective opinions the fuzzy semantic discrete, so can not objectively reflect the characteristics of the data set, in addition to carrying outforecasts are often fuzzy rules as equally important, failed to consider the importance of each fuzzy rule. For these reasons, the variable selection (Factor Selection) through self-organizing map (Self-Organizing Map, SOM) and proposed high-end weighted multivariate fuzzy time series model based on fuzzy neural network (Fuzzy-BPN), and using the the sequential weighted average operator (Ordered Weighted Averaging operator, OWA) weighted prediction. Therefore, in order to verify the proposed method, the Taiwan stock exchange (Taiwan Stock Exchange Corporation) Taiwan Weighted Stock Index (Taiwan Stock Exchange Capitalization Weighted Stock Index, TAIEX) as experimental forecast target, in order to filter the appropriate variables in the experiment Finally, included in other studies in recent years mode in conjunction with this study, the results showed that the predictive ability of this study further improve. Keywords—Heterogeneity, residential mortgage loans, foreclosure.
Efficacy Assessments of Z-Score and Operating Cash Flow Insolvency Predictive Models Insolvency Predictive Models

This study examines the efficacy of Z-Score and operating cash flow as Corporate Insolvency prediction models in developing cash economy. The research specific objectives are to determine the predictive efficacy of Z-Score and operating cash flow in discriminating between would fail and going concern companies, identify more effective model for predicting Corporate Insolvency between Z-Score and operating cash flow and assess the predictive ability across industries of the two models. Sixty-two corporate financial statements possessing flow-based insolvency symptoms were tested. Tools of analyses employed are ANOVA, Loglinear Analysis, Fredman ANOVA and Percentages. Z-Score predictive ability across Services and Merchandising sectors is found to be very poor but very strong on Manufacturing and Oil Services, while Operating Cash Flow model is found to be more effective in predicting accurately Service and Merchandising Sectors. The predictive efficacy of the two models significantly varies as the year becomes closer to the year of corporate failure. It is recommended that across industrial sectors, Z-Score model should be used for testing business failures in Manufacturing and Oil Services while Operating Cash Flow model is better employed in solvency stress test for Merchandising, Transport & Aviation and Service industrial sectors.
The role of p38 mitogen‐activated protein kinase in the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) includes ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease which is characterized by the recurrent intestinal inflammation and overactive immune responses. The signaling pathways of p38 mitogen‐activated protein kinase (MAPK) play an important role in bowel inflammation. The inhibition of p38 MAPK can effectively suppress the expression of inflammatory mediators. However, due to the obvious preclinical and clinical side effects, p38 inhibitors are unacceptable in safety profiles and cannot be applied in the treatment of IBD. MAPK‐activated protein kinase 2 (MK2), as the direct substrate of p38α and p38β, is a multifunctional signaling protein in the progression of inflammation and several lines of evidence demonstrate that the inhibition of MK2 may produce the same beneficial effect as the inhibition of p38 MAPK. Hence, MK2 is likely to be a potential drug target for the treatment of IBD.
Developing tendency forecast of road traffic accident in China

At present, road traffic accident has become a serious problem in China. The time-order data of Chinese road traffic accidents from last ten years was analyzed, 11 forecasting models were built, the optimum forecasting model was selected by mean absolute percentage error (MAPE), the number of death and direct economic lose caused by road traffic accidents from 2004 to 2007 in China was predicted with the optimum forecasting model. The results can help traffic administration for scientific policy making.
Optimal Revenue-Sharing and Network Investment Strategies in Internet Market

Abstract In this paper, we consider a revenue-sharing and network investment problem between an Internet service provider (ISP) and a content provider (CP) by applying dynamic agency theory. We formulate the problem as a principal-agent problem where the ISP is the principal and the CP is the agent. The principal-agent problem is then transformed to a stochastic optimal control problem in which the objective of the ISP is to find an optimal revenue-sharing strategy and a network investment strategy, and to advise an incentive-compatible effort level to the CP. The sufficient conditions for the existence of the optimal revenue-sharing strategy, the optimal network investment strategy and the incentive-compatible effort level are obtained. A numerical example is solved to show the existence of such strategies.
Selecting Celebrity Endorsers:The Practitioner's Perspective

ABSTRACT Although a number of scholars have investigated effective celebrity endorser characteristics with consumer samples using experimental methods, there is only one study by Miciak and Shanklin (1994) that explored the point of view of practitioners who are responsible for the selection of celebrities. This paper investigates British advertising agency managers' consideration of important celebrity characteristics when selecting an endorser and these factors' importance according to product types. The research findings validate much of the consumer-based research in that managers consider a range of criteria when choosing celebrity endorsers and indicate that the importance of the criteria depends on the product type.
Childhood-onset schizophrenia case with 2.2 Mb deletion at chromosome 3p12.2–p12.1 and two large chromosomal abnormalities at 16q22.3–q24.3 and Xq23–q28

Childhood‐onset schizophrenia is rare, comprising 1% of known schizophrenia cases. Here, we report a patient with childhood‐onset schizophrenia who has three large chromosomal abnormalities: an inherited 2.2 Mb deletion of chromosome 3p12.2–p12.1, a de novo 16.7 Mb duplication of 16q22.3–24.3, and a de novo 43 Mb deletion of Xq23–q28.
Study on Visual Display for Stereoscopic Vision Based on Binocular Parallax Using Retro-reflective Projection Technology

This paper discuss an image presenting method that projects information on an inner wall of a car in order to raise safety by using RPT(Retro-reflective Projection Technology). In previous research, we can see through the rear seat which is covered with retro-reflective material as a screen and recognize directly backward of a car. In this paper, we propose a projection optical system for binocular vision by using the stepwise lens array and field lens. We conducted an experiment to verify the visibility of the proposed system.
Automated test pattern generation for analog integrated circuits

An algorithm for the generation of tests for analog integrated circuits is proposed. It starts from a generated fault list and ranges specified by the user and determines optimal test signals that maximize the detectability of all faults. As statistical fluctuations have to be considered when evaluating analog circuits, it is based on a statistical test criterion. Two examples demonstrate the practical use and versatility of this approach.
THE IMPACT OF AUTOMATIC MILKING ON UDDER HEALTH

A rapidly increasing number of farms world-wide are milking automatically. The first commercial farm started in Holland in 1992 and Holland is still the leading country in number of farms with automatic milking systems (AMS). Many countries have followed since and AMS are being put in at a very rapid pace. Several farms in Canada milk automatically and the first commercial farm in USA started in year 2000. We foresee that AMS will not be for small farms with 60-120 cows only but will influence milking on bigger farms as well. The influence of automatic milking has been evaluated in Holland (Van der Voorst and Hogeveen, 2000) and Denmark (Justesen and Rasmussen, 2000) showing an increase in bulk milk total bacterial count, freezing point, and cell count. There may be technical as well as management reasons for these increases. An increase in bulk milk cell count may originate from an increase in the number of subclinically infected cows, an increase in clinical mastitis and lack of sorting of milk, or in a general increase in cow cell counts.
Relevance of travel agencies in the digital age

In the digital age travellers have more choices and are better informed. This conceptual paper considers the evolution of business models in the travel industry and evaluates the value propositions offered by traditional retail travel agencies. Conclusions suggest that services provided by travel agents are still relevant and valuable. It was also found that the digital age offers various opportunities to agencies to harness the benefits of information communication technologies. However, awareness of its functionality and resources is required to utilize this platform to achieve economies of scale and rationalise costs. Value propositions, offered by travel agencies, also need to be altered to meet the changing customers‟ buying habits of tourism products. It is recommended that ICT and the Internet should become part of an integrated, customer centric marketing plan which includes online and traditional marketing tools. Travel agencies also need to engage in clear customer segmentation based on established customer needs. Despite the many technological advances, many travellers still find the idea of traveling daunting and the Internet to be intimidating and are willing to pay a premium for human interaction.