Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Broad Analysis of United States Generally Accepted Accounting Principles and the Malaysian Accounting Standards Board Approved Accounting Standards

In response to rapid development in the economy, the Malaysian Accounting Standards Board (MASB) was established in 1997. The board is responsible for developing accounting standards and continually improving the quality of external reporting in Malaysia. In the development process, constant reference is made to the work of national standard setters of other countries and the International Accounting Standards Committee. This paper highlights major similarities and differences between United States Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and Malaysia approved accounting standards, and offer some suggestions as to how Malaysia might effectively continue with the further development and restatement of its accounting standards. This study finds no significant difference in the basic accounting principles, assumptions and reporting format between U.S. GAAP and MASB standards. However, some differences in rules regarding specific accounting elements have been identified. Hence, further research is needed in order to understand differences and similarities between accounting standards of the two countries in greater detail.
Counting Certain Pairings in Arbitrary Groups

In this paper, we study certain pairings which are defined as follows: if A and B are finite subsets of an arbitrary group, a Wakeford–Fan–Losonczy pairing from B onto A is a bijection φ : B → A such that bφ(b) ∉ A, for every b ∈ B. The number of such pairings is denoted by μ(B, A). We investigate the quantity μ(B, A) for A and B, two finite subsets of an arbitrary group satisfying 1 ∉ B, |A| = |B|, and the fact that the order of every element of B is ≥ |B| + 1. Extending earlier results, we show that in this case, μ(B, A) is never equal to 0. Furthermore we prove an explicit lower bound on μ(B, A) in terms of |B| and the cardinality of the group generated by B, which is valid unless A and B have a special form explicitly described. In the case A = B, our bound holds unless B is a translate of a progression.
Bone Metabolism in Adolescent Athletes With Amenorrhea, Athletes With Eumenorrhea, and Control Subjects

OBJECTIVE. We hypothesized that, despite increased activity, bone density would be low in athletes with amenorrhea, compared with athletes with eumenorrhea and control subjects, because of associated hypogonadism and would be associated with a decrease in bone formation and increases in bone-resorption markers. METHODS. In a cross-sectional study, we examined bone-density measures (spine, hip, and whole body) and body composition by using dual-energy radiograph absorptiometry and assessed fasting levels of insulin-like growth factor I and bone-turnover markers (N-terminal propeptied of type 1 procollagen and N-telopeptide) in 21 athletes with amenorrhea, 18 athletes with eumenorrhea, and 18 control subjects. Subjects were 12 to 18 years of age and of comparable chronologic and bone age. RESULTS. Athletes with amenorrhea had lower bone-density z scores at the spine and whole body, compared with athletes with eumenorrhea and control subjects, and lower hip z scores, compared with athletes with eumenorrhea. Lean mass did not differ between groups. However, athletes with amenorrhea had lower BMI z scores than did athletes with eumenorrhea and lower insulin-like growth factor I levels than did control subjects. Levels of both markers of bone turnover were lower in athletes with amenorrhea than in control subjects. BMI z scores, lean mass, insulin-like growth factor I levels, and diagnostic category were important independent predictors of bone mineral density z scores. CONCLUSIONS. Although they showed no significant differences in lean mass, compared with athletes with eumenorrhea and control subjects, athletes with amenorrhea had lower bone density at the spine and whole body. Insulin-like growth factor I levels, body-composition parameters, and menstrual status were important predictors of bone density. Follow-up studies are necessary to determine whether amenorrhea in athletes adversely affects the rate of bone mass accrual and therefore peak bone mass.
Data Vulnerabilities in the Saas Service Layer with Emphasis on Privacy, Trust and Informed Storage

The use of cloud computing is ever increasing because of its economical and operational benefits. But, one of the major issues hindering the growth of the cloud is its potential security issues. The data vulnerability in the SAAS layer of the cloud has been of primary concern and has created a fear amongst customers about privacy, trust and informed storage in the cloud and is resulting a decline in its popularity along with inefficient usage. This paper would explain the importance of securing user privacy, gaining trust and providing informed data storage to the user in the cloud and subsequently would go on to propose a methodology of developing a standardised set of rules which would govern and regularise the service provided by cloud providers.
Expected Return and Asset Pricing

Asset pricing models predict relations between assets’ expected rates of return and their risks or behavioral attributes. However, almost all tests of these models use realized return as a proxy for expected return. This paper extracts two sets of estimates of expected returns from Wall Street analysts (for more than 7,000 stocks over a five-year period) and Value Line analysts (for approximately 2,900 stocks for 15 years), and tests the relation between these ex-ante expected return estimates and factors proposed in the literature to explain them. Consistent with the predictions of the CAPM, we find that market beta is positively related to expected returns. As with tests that employ ex-post realized returns, we find that expected return is negatively related to the firm’s market value of equity. Contrary to the implication of Fama and French (1993) and others, we find that using the expectations of Wall Street analysts, book-to-market ratio is priced, but its sign is negative, indicating that low book-to-market firms are expected to earn higher returns than high book-to-market firms. Value Line analysts have expectations of returns that are not affected by book-to-market ratio. Finally, prior one-year return is negatively related to expected returns.
The Influence of Industrial Clusters and Place on Innovation and Entrepreneurial Behaviour

Responses from a questionnaire survey of wine and tourism businesses operating in regional clusters were analysed using factor analysis. These suggested three factor scores relating to entrepreneurial behaviour; four factor scores relating to cluster activities and attributes; and three factors relating to the respondents' personal characteristics. The three entrepreneurial behaviour factor scores were interpreted as: innovator, calculator and venturer. These were used as dependent variables in regression models. The independent variables were the cluster and personal characteristics factor scores, industry and place. The central result was that the cluster activity variables did not have a significant impact on the innovator behaviour variable, which contradicts the standard view. Cluster activities and attributes were found to attract entrepreneurs of the calculator kind, and to a lesser extent, of the venturer kind. Place did seem to offer an attraction to entrepreneurs beyond those offered by the intensities of the cluster activities and attributes.
Vascular smooth muscle cell apoptosis in abdominal aortic aneurysms

Apoptosis is a naturally occurring mechanism of cell death that plays an important role in both normal and pathological remodeling of the vessel wall. Abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA) represent a unique and dramatic example of vessel wall remodeling characterized by degeneration of the elastic media. Although much attention has been focused on the proteolytic mechanisms that underlie elastin and collagen degradation in AAA, recent studies suggest that depletion of medial smooth muscle cells (SMC) makes an important contribution to this disease by eliminating a cell population capable of directing connective tissue repair. As described in this review, these investigations have revealed that SMC depletion in human aneurysm tissues is accompanied by biochemical, morphological and molecular changes consistent with SMC apoptosis. The exact mechanisms responsible for SMC apoptosis in AAA remain to be elucidated, but current evidence indicates that elevated cellular production of p53 and p21 participates in the process. These findings provide an important new starting point for further investigations on the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying SMC depletion in AAA and how this process might trigger the accelerated progression of aneurysm disease.
Tightening the Sample Complexity of Empirical Risk Minimization via Preconditioned Stability

We tighten the sample complexity of empirical risk minimization (ERM) associated with a class of generalized linear models that include linear and logistic regression. In particular, we conclude that ERM attains the optimal sample complexity for linear regression. Our analysis relies on a new notion of stability, called preconditioned stability, which may be of independent interest.
Clinical Pathology Testing in Preclinical Safety Assessment: Regulatory Concerns

* Address correspondence to present address: Dr. Judi Weissinger, Preclinical and Clinical Compliance, Glaxo, Inc., 5 Moore Drive, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27709. Presented at the International Workshop on Clinical Pathology Testing in Preclinical Safety Assessment, George Washington University. Washington. D.C. Julv 27. 1991. Today, the people who generate and interpret analytical data for assessment of safety and/or effectiveness of new clinical compounds cross paths with those of us at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) responsible for regulating the &dquo;safety and effectiveness&dquo; of new compounds. It is important to both groups to have sensitive and predictive assays for the biological endpoints used in these assessments. The use of highly imprecise assays gives er-
The Bid-Ask Bounce Effect and the Pricing of Cross-Sectional Idiosyncratic Volatility: An Australian Study

Han and Lesmond (2011) find that stock liquidity, namely bid-ask bounce, affects the pricing of idiosyncratic volatility. Following Ang et al. (2009) and Han and Lesmond (2011), we investigate the pricing of idiosyncratic volatility and liquidity-adjusted idiosyncratic volatility over the period January 2004 to December 2013 using a comprehensive Australian dataset. Our results indicate that (1) both lagged idiosyncratic volatility and lagged liquidity-adjusted idiosyncratic volatility are strongly and positively related to stock returns over the sample period; (2) consistent with Han and Lesmond (2011), the pricing of idiosyncratic volatility is largely captured by stock liquidity; (3) our liquidity adjusted idiosyncratic volatility estimates work well in explaining the variations of the stocks of small firms but do not explain much variations in stocks of large firms when size and BE/ME are controlled; (4) high idiosyncratic volatility stocks tend to be of small, volatile and illiquid.
Commonality in Liquidity: Evidence from the Option Market

This study examines the property of liquidity in the option market. Using Ivy DB's OptionMetrics data for the period of January 1, 1996 to December 31, 2004, we establish convincing evidence of commonality in options liquidity. The commonality remains strong even after controlling for the impact of the underlying stock market and other liquidity determinants. Other findings include: 1) the stock market exhibits a much stronger commonality than does the option market, 2) compared with the inventory risk, information asymmetry plays a more dominant role in influencing options liquidity and 3) the market-wide option liquidity depends on the underlying stock market's movements - for instance, the bid-ask spread of calls decreases (increases) when the overall market goes up (down), while that of puts takes the opposite pattern. The study also uncovers several interesting phenomena that warrant future research. One such phenomenon is the negative relationship between the percentage bid-ask spread and the volatility, contrary to the previous empirical evidence and what the information asymmetry theory predicts.
Permanent magnet axial flux disc generator for small wind turbines

In the paper a permanent magnet axial flux disc generator (AFPMG) with fractional slot pitch winding for small wind energy applications is proposed. Its main features are high specific power, very low torque ripple and a quasi-sinusoidal output voltage. A preliminary design can be carried out by a simplified analytical procedure. Afterwards, an automated sequence of magnetostatic FEM analyses on rectified 2D AFPMG models enabled to examine more in detail the influence of parametric variation with a considerable reduction of calculation time with respect to 3D analyses, to improve the generator performance, fulfilling the design constraints. The comparison with the results of some 3D FEM analyses confirmed the good accuracy of the proposed design approach. Furthermore, the results related to the simulation of an AFPMG-rectifier drive will be presented.
Continuity of psychopathology in a community sample of adolescents.

OBJECTIVE To examine the continuity between the primary (first) diagnosis and secondary (second) diagnosis of those adolescents who have more than one episode of psychiatric disorder. Data were examined to determine whether the second episode "breeds true" (i.e., remains within the same diagnostic category as the first) or involves a different disorder. METHOD The sample consisted of 236 youngsters selected from the larger (n = 1,507) population of adolescents (aged 14 through 18 years) from the Oregon Adolescent Depression Project who had been assessed on two occasions, approximately 1 year apart. RESULTS Results support the continuity hypothesis for the categories of disorder studied (major depression, anxiety, disruptive, substance use), with the exception of dysthymia. Primary dysthymia did not result in the diagnosis of secondary dysthymia, because most adolescents who had dysthymia had not recovered within the time frame of the study and were chronic cases, often with secondary anxiety. Also presented are data on age of onset of disorder (lowest for anxiety and highest for substance use) and information on remission intervals between episodes (well time) (lowest for substance use and highest for anxiety). CONCLUSIONS The findings are interpreted as providing support for the "breed true" hypothesis, although clearly not all second episodes are identical with the first. While the psychosocial factors examined did not predict the nature of the second disorder, this clearly needs further study.
Possible Therapeutic Vaccine Strategy against Human Immunodeficiency Virus Escape from Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors Studied in HLA-A2 Transgenic Mice

ABSTRACT Mutation of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) leading to escape from anti-HIV drugs is the greatest challenge to the treatment of HIV infection. High-grade resistance to the nucleoside reverse transcriptase (RT) inhibitor lamivudine (also known as 3TC) is associated with a substitution of valine for methionine at position 184 of RT. This amino acid residue is contained within the HLA-A2-restricted epitope VIYQYMDDL (RT-WT). Here, we sought to determine whether a peptide vaccine could be developed using an epitope enhancement strategy that could induce a cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) response specific for an epitope containing the drug resistance mutation M184V to exert an opposing selective pressure. RT-WT-specific CTLs developed from HLA-A2 transgenic mice did not recognize the M184V mutation of RT-WT (RT-M184V). However, RT-M184V exhibited higher binding affinity for HLA-A2 than RT-WT. Also, both anchor-enhanced RT-WT (RT-2L9V) and RT-2L9V-M184V-specific CTLs recognized RT-M184V and displayed cross-reactivity to RT-WT. Nevertheless, the CTL repertoire elicited by the epitope-enhanced RT-2L9V-M184V appeared more selective for the RT inhibitor-induced M184V mutation. Peptide vaccines based on such strategies may be worth testing for their ability to exert selective pressure against drug-resistant strains and thus delay or prevent the development of HIV with the M184V resistance mutation.
Revisiting The Software Industry In Costa Rica: Achievements And Challenges

Costa Rica's economy like that of many developing and developed nations is largely service-based. The information and communication technologies (ICT) sector plays an increasingly key role in strengthening the service aspect of the economy. A large part of the ICT sector is the software sector. This study is an update of a review of that sector’s contributions conducted in 2008. In that effort, software producers’ characteristics and needs were investigated. The current article investigates the evolution of the sector and its competitive position in the business sector. The study is national in scope and represents a random sample of firms in the industry. The findings highlight the achievements and remaining challenges for the industry and provide public policy recommendations.
Up-regulation of natriuretic peptides in the ventricle of Csx/Nkx2-5 transgenic mice.

A cardiac homeobox-containing gene Csx/Nkx2-5, which is essential for cardiac development, is abundantly expressed in the adult heart as well as in the heart primordia. Targeted disruption of this gene results in embryonic lethality due to abnormal heart morphogenesis. To elucidate the role of Csx/Nkx2-5 in the adult heart, we generated transgenic mice which overexpress human Csx/Nkx2-5. The transgene was expressed abundantly in the heart and the skeletal muscle. mRNA levels of several cardiac genes including natriuretic peptides, CARP, MLC2v, and endogenous Csx/Nkx2-5 were increased in the ventricle of the transgenic mice. Electron microscopic analysis revealed that the ventricular myocardium of the transgenic mice had many secretory granules, which disappeared after administration of vasopressin. These results suggest that Csx/Nkx2-5 regulates many cardiac genes and induces formation of secretory granules in the adult ventricle.
Isolation and Structural Determination of the Antifouling Diketopiperazines from Marine-Derived Streptomyces praecox 291-11

Marine derived actinomycetes constituting 185 strains were screened for their antifouling activity against the marine seaweed, Ulva pertusa, and fouling diatom, Navicula annexa. Strain 291-11 isolated from the seaweed, Undaria pinnatifida, rhizosphere showed the highest antifouling activity and was identified as Streptomyces praecox based on a 16S rDNA sequence analysis. Strain 291-11 was therefore named S. praecox 291-11. The antifouling compounds from S. praecox 291-11 were isolated, and their structures were analyzed. The chemical constituents representing the antifouling activity were identified as (6S,3S)-6-benzyl-3-methyl-2,5-diketopiperazine (bmDKP) and (6S,3S)-6-isobutyl-3-methyl-2,5-diketopiperazine (imDKP) by interpreting the nuclear magnetic resonance and high-resolution mass spectroscopy data. Approximately 4.8 mg of bmDKP and 3.1 mg of imDKP were isolated from 1.2 g of the S. praecox 291-11 crude extract. Eight different compositions of culture media were investigated for culture, the TBFeC medium being best for bmDKP and TCGC being the optimum for imDKP production. Two compounds respectively showed a 17.7 and 21 therapeutic ratio (LC50/EC50) to inhibit zoospores, and two compounds respectively showed a 263 and 120.2 therapeutic ratio to inhibit diatoms.
Compensatory Mutations at the HIV Cleavage Sites P7/P1 and P1/P6-Gag in Therapy-Naive and Therapy-Experienced Patients

Background Mutations in the genome of HIV conferring drug resistance are a major reason for the failure of antiretroviral therapy, but they often compromise viral fitness. Protease (PR) cleavage site (CS) mutations could compensate for impaired replication capacity of drug-resistant viruses. Patients and methods We analysed the cleavage sites p1/p7 and p1/p6-gag of 500 HIV-1 subtype B infected patients. The collective consists of 275 therapy-naive and 225 therapy-experienced patients with at least one primary PR mutation, from whom eight underwent therapy-interruption in different clinical settings. Results Multiple mutations within the CS p7/p1 and p1/p6-gag accumulated in therapy-experienced isolates (p7/p1: A431V-K436R-I437V and p1/p6-gag: L449F/V-P452S-P453L/A). Further rare CS mutations were totally absent in therapy-naive viruses. Sixty percent of all therapy-experienced viruses exhibited at least one therapy-associated CS mutation, but so did 10% of therapy-naive viruses. The analysis of CS and PR mutations in therapy-experienced viruses revealed several positive correlations - A431V with L24I-M46I/L-I54V-V82A; I437V with I54V-V82F/T/S; L449V with I54M/L/S/T/A; and L449F/R452S/P453L: with D30N-I84V - whereas P453L and V82A were negatively correlated. Mutagenetic trees constructed form this cross-sectional data showed an ordered accumulation of the most prominent CS mutations along two pathways - L90M-I84V-P453L and I54-V82–A431V followed by either M46L or L24I. Furthermore, eight viruses with at least one therapy-associated mutation at each CS displayed an outstanding maintenance of major PR mutations during therapy interruption. Conclusions These findings emphasize the relevance of CS mutations in the evolution of HIV resistance to PR inhibitors. Therefore, therapy-associated CS mutations should be considered in HIV resistance tests to estimate viral fitness in different clinical settings.
Criminal organisations and corruption in Italy

Corruption is a commonplace phenomenon inherently coupled with the traits of the collective endeavours, and constantly diffused in the human society regardless of political regime, typologies of institutions, presence of public or private corporations. starting from the 80’s, a great amount of research has been done on the causes, consequences and the impact of corruption from the economics discipline perspective. such studies have mainly inferred hypothesis and conclusions drawing on desk analysis that have been relying on aggregate macro-economic data. Of course corruption is very much difficult to be studied more in depth, because of the lack of first-hand empirical observations. Campos and Pradhan (2007) state that the presence of high level of corruption determines serious problems for economic and social development, not only for developing countries. They claim that high levels of corruption influence negatively the role and the functioning of public institutions, local governments, authorities. The research carried out by rose-Ackerman (1997) shows that corruption produces negative effects on economic development, and at the same time can be considered a symptom of a serious social crisis. A high level of corruption is strictly connected with a low degree of economic development, less investments (public and private), lower levels of trust, weaker economic context, stronger and more serious social conflicts, and finally, less competitiveness.
Analysis of Selenocysteine‐Containing Proteins

Representatives of three primary life domains‐‐bacteria, archaea, and eukaryotes‐‐possess specific selenium‐containing proteins. The majority of naturally occurring selenoproteins contain an amino acid, selenocysteine, that is incorporated into protein in response to the code word UGA. The presence of selenium in natural selenoproteins and in proteins in which this element is introduced by chemical or biological manipulations provides additional opportunities for characterizing structure, function, and mechanism of action. This unit provides an overview of known selenocysteine‐containing proteins, examples of targeted incorporation of selenium into proteins, and methods specific for selenoprotein identification and characterization.