Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Corporate Governance, Executive Directors and Level of Voluntary Disclosure: The Case of Public Listed Companies in Thailand

This paper extends the literature on voluntary disclosure by reference to a developing country, namely Thailand, through a study of 70 voluntary disclosure items in the corporate annual reports of 317 public listed companies in 2004. The study examined the relationship between the level of voluntary disclosure and a single characteristic of corporate governance characteristics, namely the quality of the board of directors. It further examined the influence of the executive directors on this relationship. The findings suggested that the quality of the board of directors is positively associated with the level of voluntary disclosure, and this association appears to be weaker for firms with an executive director that has the family member, largest shareholder involved compared to the non-family member, largest shareholder and a high concentration of executive directors’ ownership compared to a low concentration of executive directors’ ownership. This effect is further exacerbated when board of directors’ quality levels increase. It was found that an executive director that has the family member, largest shareholder involved, and a high concentration of executive directors’ ownership are quasi moderators, which means they are both an independent and a moderating variable. As control variables, size of company, auditor type, and earnings return were found to have a significant influence on the level of voluntary disclosure. These results have important implications for good corporate governance policy formulation.
Co-expression network of secondary cell wall biogenesis genes in Eucalyptus tereticornis

Abstract The composition of secondary cell wall determines the industrially relevant wood properties in tree species. Hence, its biogenesis is one of the most extensively studied developmental processes during wood formation. Presently, systems genetics approach is being applied to understand the biological networks and their interactions operational during secondary development. Genome-scale analyses of secondary cell wall formation were documented and gene regulatory networks were reported in Arabidopsis, poplar, pine, spruce, rice and sugarcane. In the present study, the expression patterns of 2651 transcripts representing different pathways governing secondary development was documented across four genotypes of E. tereticornis. A co-expression network was constructed with 330 nodes and 4512 edges and the degree ranged from 11 to 53. The network documented 75 (22 %) transcription factors with high degree of interaction. Secondary wall associated NAC domain transcription factor (SND2) was identified as the top hub transcript with 53 interactions. The present study revealed that functional homologs regulating secondary cell wall formation are conserved among angiosperms and gymnosperms.
A Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrophotometry Method Used For Oseltamivir Determination in Pharmaceutical Formulations

A Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectrometric method was developed for the rapid, direct measurement of oseltamivir phosphate (OP) in pharmaceutical formulations. Conventional KBr-spectra were compared for best determination of the active substance in pharmaceutical preparations. The Beer-Lambert law and two chemometric approaches, partial least squares (PLS) and principal component regression ( PCR +) methods, were used in data processing. Key words : FT-IR analysis, oseltamivir, chemometric methods, pharmaceutical analysis.
R-DECO: an open-source Matlab based graphical user interface for the detection and correction of R-peaks

Many of the existing ECG toolboxes focus on the derivation of heart rate variability features from RR-intervals. By doing so, they assume correct detection of the QRS-complexes. However, it is highly likely that not all detections are correct. Therefore, it is recommended to visualize the actual R-peak positions in the ECG signal and allow manual adaptations. In this paper we present R-DECO, an easy-to-use graphical user interface for the detection and correction of R-peaks. Within R-DECO, the R-peaks are detected by an adaptation of the Pan-Tompkins algorithm. Instead of using all the pre-processing steps of the latter algorithm, the proposed algorithm uses only an envelope-based procedure to flatten the ECG and enhance the QRS-complexes. The algorithm obtained an overall sensitivity of 99.60% and PPV of 99.69% on the MIT/BIH arrhythmia database. Additionally, R-DECO includes support for several input data formats for ECG signals, three basic filters, the possibility to load other R-peak locations and intuitive methods to correct ectopic, wrong, or missed heartbeats. All functionalities can be accessed via the graphical user interface and the analysis results can be exported as Matlab or Excel files. The software is publicly available. Through its easy-to-use-graphical user interface, R-DECO allows both clinicians and researchers to use all functionalities, without previous knowledge.
Macroalgal forests ecology, long-term monitoring, and conservation in a Mediterranean Marine Protected Area

Macroalgal communities have an essential role in the shallow benthic habitats of temperate seas, where changes in their composition can resonate through entire coastal ecosystems. As all major ecosystems on Earth, algal beds have already been affected by multiple disturbances. Passive conservation tools, such as marine protected areas or No-take zones, have the potential to reduce some of the anthropogenic impacts by limiting human activity. However, without a good knowledge of the natural community dynamics, it is not easy to discern between changes fruit of the intrinsic variability of biological communities and the ones caused by human-related stressors. In this study, we evaluated the natural variability of macroalgal communities’ composition inside and outside a Mediterranean No-Take marine reserve during 15 years. We described their temporal dynamics considering their main drivers and we tested the effect of protection in seaweed beds. We did not find differences either in the composition of the macroalgal assemblages or the total algal cover between protected and nonprotected locations over the fifteen years of study. Nevertheless, we observed a positive effect of the protection increasing the cover of some specific species, such as the canopy-forming Treptacantha elegans. Our results highlight the importance of obtaining long-term data in ecological studies to better understand the natural variability of marine communities. Accordingly, a robust understanding of the community dynamics would help us to avoid misinterpretations between ‘impacted’ or ‘in-recovery’ communities when recovery times are longer than the study periods.
Extraordinary transmission analog for enhancing radiation from an electrically small radiator

An extraordinary transmission analog for strongly enhancing radiation from an electrically small radiator in the microwave regime is proposed in this paper. The electrically small radiated used here is a chip inductor loaded open coplanar monopole type antenna. EOT is achieved by implementing evanescent amplification using mu negative metamaterial placed symmetrically on both sides of the antenna. Near-field and far-field probing reveal that the mu negative split ring resonator not only amplifies the evanescent high spatial spectrum existing in the near-field of the antenna but also responsible for evanescent to propagation conversion.
DESAIN DAN SIMULASI CASCADE INTERLEAVED BOOST CONVERTER MENGGUNAKAN KENDALI DYNAMIC EVOLUTION CONTROL

DC-DC Converter adalah suatu rangkaian elektronika daya yang mengubah tegangan DC ke tegangan DC lainnya dengan tegangan keluaran yang berbeda. Salah satu jenis dari elektronika daya tersebut adalah boost converter. Boost converter merupakan salah satu peralatan yang banyak digunakan dalam aplikasi DC-DC untuk menaikkan tegangan dari tegangan rendah ke tegangan yang lebih tinggi . Namun, boost converter konvensional mempunyai beberapa kekurangan, yaitu mempunyai ripple arus masukan dan ripple arus keluaran yang dapat mengurangi efisiensi dari boost converter dan tegangan keluaran pada boost converter tidak dapat mencapai tiga kali atau lebih tegangan masukannya. Karena keterbatasan dalam menaikkan tegangan ke level tegangan yang sangat tinggi, salah satu solusi untuk mengatasi masalah tersebut adalah dengan menghubungkan rangkaian cascade. Kemudian untuk mengurangi ripple keluaran dan menaikkan nilai tegangan keluaran, boost converter perlu dihubungkan dengan rangkaian interleaved. Setelah boost converter dihubungkan dengan rangkaian interleaved disisi masukan dan rangkaian cascade disisi keluaran menghasilkan tegangan keluaran yang tinggi jika dibandingkan dengan boost converter konvensional dan dapat mengurangi ripple arus keluaran. Dynamic Evolution Control sendiri merupakan salah satu teknik kontrol baru untuk mengontrol rangkaian elektronika daya yang dalam hal ini di aplikasikan pada cascade interleaved boost converter. Dynamic evolution control merupakan turunan dari bentuk dasar teori kendali yaitu kendali umpan balik. Dimana ketika ada perbedaan antara keluaran dengan masukan yang dijadikan sebagai referensi pada suatu sistem kendali, maka dari itu keadaan error dapat berkurang atau dihilangkan dalam waktu yang singkat. Berdasarkan simulasi yang dilakukan, penggunaan cascade interleaved boost converter menggunakan kendali dynamic evolution control memiliki efisiensi yang lebih baik jika dibandingkan dengan boost converter konvensional. Simulasi ini dilakukan dengan menggunakan software simulink MATLAB
Porous silicon / noble metal nanocomposites for catalytic applications

Today, bulk silicon is one of the best studied semiconductors. However, in its different nano-modifications, e.g. as porous silicon, totally new properties are exhibited. Despite the fact, that porous silicon is widely known and has been extensively studied since the 1990s, many unique features of this material are still unexplored. In this work, specific functionalities of porous silicon prepared, utilising both solid (via electrochemical or stain etching processes) and gas phase (from silane) syntheses, were investigated. Since this study was in-part industry oriented, the emphasis has been placed upon the investigation of porous silicon nanostructures, made from low cost metallurgical grade polycrystalline silicon powder. It has been previously demonstrated that porous silicon exhibits a very large, hydrogenated internal surface area (up to 500 m2 g−1). It is verified in this work, that · morphological properties of this material result in a high reductive potential of its internal surface due to hydrogen passivation. Therefore, in this thesis, we would like to show that porous silicon-based reactive templates are promising for their applications in nanometal-supported catalysis. We used salts of platinum, gold, palladium, silver and their mixtures, which were reduced on the silicon nanocrystalline internal surface, resulting in formation of metal nanoparticles embedded into porous silicon matrix. Various experimental techniques were used to evaluate the morphology, size and composition of metal nanoparticles, as well as their growth rates. Hydrogen effusion experiments proved the crucial difference between porous silicon and other chemically inert supporting templates for the process of metal nanoparticles formation. The catalytic activity of the synthesised materials was evaluated in gas phase conversion of CO to CO2. Furthermore, the new porous silicon-based catalysts were tested in gas/liquid phase reactions as well, using hydrogenation, oxidation, dehalogenation and C-C coupling class reactions. Following the trends of “state of the art” current Si technology, we present the design of the developed flow microreactor, based on patterned Si wafer, which can be implemented in future work to catalyse selected reactions. Results obtained in this work suggest that porous silicon matrices are promising supports for metal nanoparticle based catalysis.
Streaming Scan Network (SSN): An Efficient Packetized Data Network for Testing of Complex SoCs

System-on-Chip (SoC) designs are increasingly difficult to test using traditional scan access methods without incurring inefficient test time, high planning effort, and physical design/timing closure challenges. The number of cores keeps growing while chip pin counts available for scan remain constant or decline, limiting the ability to drive cores concurrently. With increasingly commonplace tiling and abutment, the scan distribution hardware must be placed inside the cores, making balanced pipelining when broadcasting to identical cores difficult. optimizing test time requires analyzing all the cores and subsequently changing the test hardware in the cores. Internal shift speed constraints may limit the ability to shift data in and out of the chip at high rates. Differences in pattern counts or scan chain lengths between cores tested in parallel can result in padding and increased test time. SSN is a bus-based scan data distribution architecture designed to address all these challenges. It enables simultaneous testing of any number of cores even with few chip I/Os. It facilitates short test time by enabling high-speed data distribution, by efficiently handling imbalances between cores, and by supporting testing of any number of identical cores with a constant cost. It provides a plug-and-play interface in each core that is well suited for abutted tiles, and simplifies scan timing closure. This paper also compares the test cost and implementation productivity of SSN with those of Intel’s Structural Test Fabric.
Analysis of the genus Larrea: Molecular systematics and polyploidy

The evolutionary and biogeographic history of the genus Larrea was assessed by determining patterns of genetic variation in chloroplast DNA, nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS! ) DNA, and temporal and spatial distributions of the three geographically distinct polyploids of Larrea tridentata. The phylogenetic relationships, based on the chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) restriction site analysis, were congruent with morphological studies. Cytoplasmic gene flow was postulated to account for identical haplotypes being shared between L. nitida and L. cuneifolia from South America, with L. nitida as the putative maternal donor. Two distinct cpDNA haplotypes were found in North American L. tridentata, and one of these haplotypes was also found in South American L. divaricata. Low levels of variation were detected throughout the genus, perhaps as a result of extremely long generation times or recent diversification. ITS 1 sequences within the genus Larrea are highly variable within individuals as well as species, indicating that concerted evolution has failed to homogenize repeats the within an individual. However, intermediacy of concerted evolution was present within the genus where some phylogenetic relationships were supported. This intermediacy may be a result of rapid diversification, polyploidy, introgression and/or long generation time. Finally, ploidy levels within the southwestern deserts were inferred using guard cell size and mean guard cell area was significantly different among all three deserts, but the boundaries of the ploidy levels were not distinct. Polyploidy changes across the range of Larrea tridentata since the end of the glacial maximum to present were inferred from measurements of guard cells of leaves preserved in pack rat middens in the warm deserts of North America. Diploids and tetraploids were present in the lower Colorado River Valley 10,000 to 18,000 years before present (yrB.P.), and were replaced with tetraploids 8,100 yr B.P. Hexaploids were present in the Mojave Desert by 6,500 yrB.P.
Topological segregation of functional networks increases in developing brains

A growing literature conceptualises human brain development from a network perspective, but it remains unknown how functional brain networks are refined during the preschool years. The extant literature diverges in its characterisation of functional network development, with little agreement between haemodynamic- and electrophysiology-based measures. In children aged from 4 to 12 years, as well as adults, age appropriate magnetoencephalography was used to estimate unbiased network topology, using minimum spanning tree (MST) constructed from phase synchrony between beamformer-reconstructed time-series. During childhood, network topology becomes increasingly segregated, while cortical regions decrease in centrality. We propose a heuristic MST model, in which a clear developmental trajectory for the emergence of complex brain networks is delineated. Our results resolve topological reorganisation of functional networks across temporal and special scales in youth and fill a gap in the literature regarding neurophysiological mechanisms of functional brain maturation during the preschool years.
The Role Of Corporate Governance Characteristics In Improving The Liquidity And Profitability Of Banks During The Reconstruction Phase. (An applied study in private banks in Lattakia Governorate)

The study aimed to demonstrate the role of corporate governance characteristics in improving the liquidity and profitability of banks during the reconstruction phase, by conducting an applied study in Syrian private banks, by assessing the reality of each of the disclosure, transparency, accountability, work discipline and validity, the researcher relied on the deductive approach as an approach In thinking, the descriptive approach has a procedural approach to determine the availability of corporate governance characteristics in private banks. Where the researcher distributed a questionnaire to 149 workers, the study concluded that the lowest mean average for the responses of the sample members to the phrases that measure the delegated participation of decision-making workers is 2.95, and it is less than the mean of neutrality 3, and it is significant, meaning that the bank does not have the good ability to fulfill its liabilities Traded according to the answers of the sample members. At the lowest levels, this affects the bank’s business mechanism, which is reflected in its liquidity. Then some proposals were presented, the most important of which was the necessity for the bank to work on disclosure and transparency, and to commit to disclosing the structure and policies of governance and the extent of their application. هدفت الدراسة إلى بيان دور خصائص حوكمة الشركات في تحسين سيولة وربحية المصارف خلال مرحلة إعادة الإعمار من خلال إجراء دراسة تطبيقية في المصارف الخاصة في محافظة اللاذقية- مصرف سورية والمهجر نموذجا، وذلك من خلال تقييم واقع كل من الإفصاح والشفافية، والمساءلة، الانضباط بالعمل والصلاحية. اعتمدت الباحثة على المقاربة الاستنباطية كمنهج في التفكير، وعلى المنهج الوصفي كمنهج إجرائي للوقوف على مدى توافر خصائص حوكمة الشركات في المصارف الخاصة المدروسة. قامت الباحثة بتوزيع استبانة على 149 عامل، وقد خلصت الدراسة إلى أن أقل متوسط حسابي لإجابات أفراد العينة على العبارات التي تقيس تفويض مشاركة العاملين اتخاذ القرار هو 2.95، وهو أقل من متوسط الحياد 3، ومعنوي، أي أن المصرف لا يتميز بالقدرة الجيدة للوفاء بمطلوباته المتداولة وفق إجابات أفراد العينة في أقل المستويات، وهذا يؤثر على آلية عمل المصرف الأمر الذي ينعكس على سيولته. وقدمت الباحثة بعض المقترحات كان أهمها ضرورة أن يعمل المصرف على الإفصاح والشفافية، وأن يلتزم بالإفصاح عن هيكل وسياسات الحوكمة ومدى تطبيقها.
Characterization of macroinvertebrate communities in meteogene travertine-depositing headwaters in Austria

Im Rahmen der Charakterisierung der Makroinvertebraten-Gemeinschaften von Tuffquellen wurden 14 Standorte in ganz Osterreich als aktiv klassifiziert und weitere detaillierte Untersuchungen durchgefuhrt. Ziel dieser Studie war die Erforschung der standortsspezifischen Assoziationen des Makrozoobenthos sowie die Interaktionen dieser Gemeinschaften mit den herrschenden Umweltbedingungen, besonders im Bezug auf die Calciumcarbonat-Ausfallungen. Um etwaige saisonale Effekte erkennen und berucksichtigen zu konnen, wurden die Proben im Fruhling sowie im Herbst 2014 gesammelt. Die Auswertungen der Proben ergab, dass diese durch Tuffausfallungen gekennzeichneten Habitate annahernd homogene hydrochemische Eigenschaften aufweisen und Abweichungen zu Untersuchungen ahnlicher Standorte im internationalen Vergleich minimal sind und durch geologische sowie weitere standortspezifische Faktoren des Einzugsgebiets bedingt sind. Die vorgefundenen Gesellschaften setzten sich primar aus stygobionten Taxa des Grundwasserefugiums sowie stromaufwarts gewandterer Generalisten zusammen, welche das stabile abiotische Faktorengefuge (z.B. konstante Wassertemperatur, Pufferkapazitat) bevorzugen. Auf dem Taxa-Inventar basierende Analysen eruierten sieben saisonal und geografisch gut durchmischte Gruppen. Weitere statistische Analysen identifizierten die Tuff- Bedeckung, den Sauerstoffgehalt, die Konzentration des totalen Phosphors sowie den Langelier Sattigungs-Index als masgeblich signifikante Umweltparameter fur die Zusammensetzung der gefundenen Makrozoobenthos-Gesellschaften. Die Calciumcarbonat- Ausfallungsrate deutete zwar Trends an, zeigte aber keinen eindeutigen signifikanten Einfluss auf die Artenzusammensetzungen. Endemische Arten (z.B. Bythinella austriaca austriaca, B. opaca opaca, B. bavarica und Rhyacophila pubescens) und Spezialisten separierten die Untersuchungsgebiete geografisch, der Grosteil jedoch waren typische Quell- und Bacharten (z.B. aus den Gattungen Gammarus und Simulium) ohne jede bekannte Adaptierung auf Calciumcarbonat-Ausfallungen. Nichtsdestotrotz scheint diese Ausfallung zu einer Erhohung der Habitatstruktur beizutragen, welche zu einer Vielzahl neuer Besiedelungsnischen fuhrt und somit die taxonomische Vielfalt erhoht.
Hydropathic Interactions and Protein Structure: Utilizing the HINT Force Field in Structure Prediction and Protein‐Protein Docking.

xiv Chapter 1: Macromolecule structure determination, an introduction . 1 1.1 Experimental methods for protein structure prediction . 1 1.1.1 X-ray crystallography . 1 1.1.2 Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) . 3 1.1.3 Electron microscopy (EM) . 4 1.2 Computational methods for protein structure prediction . 5 1.2. 1 De novo (ab initio) protein modeling. 5 1.2. 2 Template based protein modeling . 6 1.3 Side-chain geometry prediction . 8 1.4 Force fields and side-chain geometry prediction . 9 1.5 HINT: Hydropathic INTeractions . 11 1.6 Rationale and specific aims . 13 1.6. 1 Hydropathic environments and residue conformations . 13 1.6. 2 Protein structure determination of cannabinoid receptor interacting protein 1a and its cannabinoid 1 receptor interactions . 14