Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of executive board and family control on audit opinion

In this study the relation and effect of corporate governance on audit opinion of CPAs is investigated. The companies investigated are listed in Tehran Stock Exchange and are selected using the systematic elimination method. They are 104 companies. The time period is 2008-2010. The statistical methods used are logistic regression and Wald test. The data were collected from the companies’ annual financial statements and independent auditors’ opinion. The results indicated a significant relation between the ratio of the executive board and type of independent auditors’ opinion. Therefore, in companies with higher ratio of executive board members, the right opinion of an independent auditor is taken along with an explanatory paragraph. Moreover, there was a positive and significant relation between family control and type of CPA’s opinion; that is, if a company has higher rank in terms of ownership, then the independent auditor’s opinion will have a fewer number of paragraphs and vice versa; in companies with more stockholders dispersion, the independent auditor’s opinion is unqualified and has more audit paragraphs. Adding the corporation’s size to the research model, the research results were approved. Key words: Audit opinion, executive board, family control.
Spline Regression in the Estimation of the Finite Population Total

This study sought to estimate finite population total using Spline regression function. It compared the Spline regression with Sample Mean estimator, design-based and model - based estimators. To measure the performance of each estimator, the study considered average bias, the efficiency by use of the mean square error and the robustness using the rate change of efficiency. In this research, five populations were used. Three of them were simulated according to the following models: linear homoscedastic, quadratic homoscedastic and linear heteroscedastic and two natural populations. The performances of the five estimators were studied under the five populations. The sudy found that Sample Mean(SM), Horvitz-Thompson (HT) and Ratio (R) estimators are not robust while Nadaraya-Watson(NW) and Periodic Spline(PS) are robust when linearity and homoscedasticity of the population structure are violated.
Signal conflict in spider webs driven by predators and prey

Variation in the sensory physiologies of organisms can bias the receptions of signals, driving the direction of signal evolution. Sensory drive in the evolution of signals may be particularly important for organisms that confront trade–offs in signal design between the need for conspicuousness to allow effective transfer of information and the need for crypsis of the signal to unintended receivers. Several genera of orb–weaving spiders include conspicuous silk designs, stabilimenta, in the centre of their webs. Stabilimenta can be highly visible signals to predators, warning them of the presence of a noxious, sticky silk web. However, stabilimenta can also be used by prey as a signal in avoidance of webs, creating a trade–off in signal visibility. I argue that the derived spectral properties of stabilimentum silk have resulted in part from this conflict. The innate colour preferences of insects, their ability to learn colours, and the spectral properties of flowers all suggest that the reflectance spectra of stabilimenta renders them relatively cryptic to many insect prey, while maintaining their visibility to vertebrate predators.
Experimental demonstration of composite-packet-switched WDM network

We propose and demonstrate experimentally a novel technique for packet switching on a ring network. We use the wavelength dimension to increase the transmission line rate and a novel packet-stacking technique to add/drop packets. Packet stacking is used for transport rate multiplication and for equal loading of wavelengths on the physical layer. Packet stacking, switching, and unstacking have been successfully demonstrated on a four-node hubbed ring network serving five source-destination pairs on four wavelengths. Each wavelength was running at 1-Gb/s bit rate.
Estimation of in-situ horizontal stresses using the linear poroelastic model and minifrac test results in tectonically active area

Accurate estimation of in situ stresses of a subsurface formation is important to get a basic knowledge of formation structure and position of anomalies, groundwater flows, performing fracturing operations, drilling operations, oil and/or gas production stimulation, wellbore stability analysis, and coupled geomechanics-reservoir simulation in petroleum engineering. In this paper, at first a new method for estimation of minimum and maximum horizontal stresses in tectonically active area based on the modification of linear poroelastic model and minifrac test results is presented. The rock mechanical properties used in poroelastic model are determinded using the artificial neural networks. Then, this method is applied to field data in order to verify the applicability of the modified linear poroelastic model. The results indicated that the agreement between the results of minifrac test and modified linear poroelastic model is satisfactory. Furthermore, application of artificial neural networks in this methodology increases the accuracy of linear poroelastic model for estimation of horizontal stresses.
Effectiveness of Mental Practice Combined with Physical Practice in the Treatment of Post Stroke Patients

Purpose: To determine the effectiveness of mental practice combine with Physical practice in post stroke patients. Methodology: This was an experimental study of 30 stroke patients having first ever unilateral stroke. All the subjects were enrolled in identical subgroup and divided into two equal group one experimental and another control group. Experimental group did 30 to control group and displayed efficient improvement in motor function of the upper extremity after 6 weeks. Conclusions: Mental practice with physical practice is more effective than physical practice alone, thereby providing evidence that it is a better strategy to include mental practice in combination with physical practice in stroke minutes mental practice followed by 30 minutes physical practice and control group performed 30 minutes physical practice. After completing 6 weeks of intervention in both the groups, posttest measurement done with Fugl- Meyer Assessment (FMA) scale. Results: The result obtained from the study demonstrated that experimental group showed significant results as compared rehabilitation.
SDN/NFV-Empowered Future IoV With Enhanced Communication, Computing, and Caching

Internet-of-Vehicles (IoV) connects vehicles, sensors, pedestrians, mobile devices, and the Internet with advanced communication and networking technologies, which can enhance road safety, improve road traffic management, and support immerse user experience. However, the increasing number of vehicles and other IoV devices, high vehicle mobility, and diverse service requirements render the operation and management of IoV intractable. Software-defined networking (SDN) and network function virtualization (NFV) technologies offer potential solutions to achieve flexible and automated network management, global network optimization, and efficient network resource orchestration with cost-effectiveness and are envisioned as a key enabler to future IoV. In this article, we provide an overview of SDN/NFV-enabled IoV, in which SDN/NFV technologies are leveraged to enhance the performance of IoV and enable diverse IoV scenarios and applications. In particular, the IoV and SDN/NFV technologies are first introduced. Then, the state-of-the-art research works are surveyed comprehensively, which is categorized into topics according to the role that the SDN/NFV technologies play in IoV, i.e., enhancing the performance of data communication, computing, and caching, respectively. Some open research issues are discussed for future directions.
Soft budget constraints in Romania : measurement, assessment, policy

The aims of this paper are two-fold. First, we use a comprehensive dataset of Romanian firms covering the period 1995-998 to analyze how loss-making Romanian firms finance their losses. The main questions we seek to answer are the following: What is the scale of the soft budget constraint (SBC) phenomenon in Romania? From which creditors do loss-making firms obtain financing? Are creditors willing to finance firms that are known to be performing poorly? And, if so, which creditors are participating in the bailout process and to what extent?
Sustaining school-community partnerships through effective communication

This article investigates the impact of effective communication towards sustaining school-community partnerships. Motivating the study is the argument that studies on school-community partnerships within a South African context have been limited to parental involvement only. Moreover, those who have broadened this concept have seldom focused on the role of effective communication. The results revealed a direct relationship between success in sustaining school-community partnerships and effective communication. Two partnerships were studied and the results revealed a lack of effective communication. This has negatively affected the partners’ commitment in the partnerships’ activities, empowerment of partners, mapping of assets and perceptions of partners about partnerships. However, in some instances effective communication was identified and it contributed positively in ensuring support for teams and individuals in the partnerships. It is concluded that effective communication is the pillar in ensuring that different partners’ interests and capabilities are understood and utilised in these partnerships. The study further recommends strategies to improve communication in schoolcommunity partnerships.
Establishing relationship between characteristics of preventive maintenance and cost performance

The building maintenance costs are rising rapidly from time to time due to poor maintenance in the past. In UK, total spending on building maintenance had a dramatically increase of 66% in the past 10 years. In Malaysia, the development plan allocation for repair and maintenance works in building sector increased from RM296 million during the Eighth Malaysian Plan to RM1,079 million during the Ninth Malaysian Plan. However, the development plan allocation for repair and maintenance works in the Tenth Malaysian Plan has decreased to RM500 million. The decrease of resource allocation for building maintenance activities urges the professions to develop solutions on reducing the maintenance costs. Thus, it is vital to identify the cost characteristics of preventive maintenance, includes scheduled maintenance and condition-based maintenance through literature review. The characteristics of preventive maintenance always affect the maintenance cost performance. Therefore, relationship between characteristics of preventive maintenance and maintenance cost performance must be established to understand and take into consideration in the maintenance planning stage. At the end, the significant relationship will be able to help the industry practitioners in selecting appropriate maintenance strategy with optimal maintenance expenditure, yet improving the maintenance outcome.
Influence of water motion on resistance of corals to high temperatures: Evidence from a field transplant experiment

Pocillopora damicornis and Porites cylindrica fragments were transplanted between sites within a backreef moat on Ofu Island, American Samoa, to investigate the effects of water motion on resistance of corals to high seawater temperatures. Coral transplants were obtained from a Source Pool and transplanted into two test pools, Test Pool 1 and Test Pool 2, as well as back into the Source Pool. All transplants were placed at depths of 1.3 – 1.9 m, then removed after 1 year and measured to determine skeletal growth. Test Pool 1 had the highest daily maximum seawater temperatures, the greatest duration of high temperatures, and the greatest daily fluctuations of temperatures of the three pools. However, survival and growth of the transplants were greater in Test Pool 1 than in the other two pools. Mean flow speeds were highest in Test Pool 1, especially on adjacent reef flats. Test Pool 1 is closer to the reef crest, has greater wave heights, and is structurally more complex than the other two pools. Recognizing physical features that produce strong water motion may be important in identifying reef areas and coral populations that are resistant to bleaching.
NESTING ECOLOGY OF THE RED-BACKED SHRIKE (Lanius collurio) IN NORTHEASTERN HUNGARY

Horvath R. , Farkas R. , Yosef R. 2000. Nesting ecology of the Red-backed Shrike (Lanius collurio) in northeastern Hungary. Ring 22, 1: 127-132. We studied Red-backed Shrike nesting ecology in the vicinity of Josvafo, northeastern Hungary, during 1991-1996. The first of the completed nests were found in mid-May, and nesting peaked in mid-June. With replacement nestings attempted only if the initial nesting attempt failed. Average length of the nesting season was nine weeks. Almost one-fifth of all nests were built in Wild Plum (Prunus spinosa) trees, but Dogwood (Cornus sanguinea), willows (Salix spp.), Elder (Sambucus nigra) and Wild Rose (Rosa canina) were also used frequently. Average clutch size was 4.3 (N = 186). At least one egg hatched in 84% of clutches. Major factors that affected nest survival were predation (37.8%) and inclement weather (35.1%), which accounted for majority of the nests lost. A mean of 14.6 days was required for incubation and the average fledging period was 14.6 days as well. Average probability of survival using Mayfield's (1961, 1975) method was 35.3% (range 15.1  55.8%).
An Economic Approach of Reactive Power Management in Restructured Power Market – A Review

1 Dhaval D. Mer, 2 Prof. Vishnu B. Patel Department of Electrical Engineering, UVPCE, Ganpat University, Kherva, India merdhaval2430@gmail.com, vishanu.patel@ganpatuniversity.ac. in ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Abstract— In vertical integrated utility, generation, transmission and distribution were under the direct ownership and control of one utility and hence ancillary service payments were bundled in the energy price. Whereas in restructured power market these were different utility and so that, the ancillary services payment is critical issue in restructured electricity market. For reliable and secure operation of the system, reactive power management is one of the most important ancillary services in restructured electricity market. This paper present review of reactive power procurement in restructured power market based on cost of power generation, cost of transmission loss, and power transmission charge.
Using point cloud technology for process simulation in the context of digital factory based on a systems engineering integrated approach

Currently, there is a huge potential to improve the digital factory information by using a 3D scanner to build up the digital factory environment. The results of the scanning process are point clouds which are generated with less effort yet in a very high quality. In this way, it is possible to digitalize manufacturing environments in large scales. Compared with the processes in the past, it is not necessary to build up the manufacturing and factory building information by means of CAD generated entities. This paper will first present the state of the art regarding the development of digital factory as well as the current process of utilizing 3D point cloud data within it out of a comprehensive literature survey. Based on the literature review, challenges and problems during the application of the 3D scanner and point clouds in the digital factory in respect of the corresponding processes and methods will be recognized. Moreover, taking the shortages and disadvantages of current methods in digital manufacturing into account, an improved solution approach using systems engineering will be suggested and elaborated.
Non-Lethal and Lethal Tools to Manage Wolf-Livestock Conflict in the Northwestern United States

Author(s): Bangs, Ed; Jimenez, Mike; Niemeyer, Carter; Fontaine, Joe; Collinge, Mark; Krsichke, Rod; Handegard, Larry; Shivik, John A. ; Sime, Carolyn; Nadeau, Steve; Mack, Curt; Smith, Douglas W. ; Asher, Val; Stone, Suzanne | Abstract: Gray wolf populations were eliminated from the northern Rocky Mountains of the western United States by 1930, largely because of conflicts with livestock. The wolf population is now biologically recovered and over 1,020 wolves are being managed in Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming under the federal Endangered Species Act. From 1987 to December 2005, 528 cattle, 1,318 sheep, 83 dogs, 12 goats, 9 llamas, and 6 horses were confirmed killed by wolves, and over $550,000 was paid from a private damage compensation fund. To help restore the wolf population, we used 22 variations of non-lethal control tools, relocated wolves 117 times, and killed 396 wolves to reduce conflict between wolves and livestock. A variety of tools, including regulations that empower the local public to protect their private property, reduced the probability of wolf-caused damage. This wolf population was restored, the risk of livestock damage reduced, and public tolerance of wolves improved through an integrated program of proactive and reactive non-lethal and lethal control tools. Reduced conflict increases the potential to restore wolf populations.
Reversible fluxon logic: Topological particles allow ballistic gates along one-dimensional paths

Digital computing currently uses irreversible logic gates whose energy dissipation is fundamentally limited. Reversible logic gates can provide an energy-efficient alternative since they can operate with reversible processes that have no dissipation, such as with scattering processes involving elastic particles. The presented logic uses fluxons, topological solitons in Long Josephson Junctions (LJJs), as inputs into and outputs from logic gates. An advantage of using LJJs for connections is that they restrict scattering to 1D paths, in contrast to previous ballistic logic which is based on 2D scattering. Furthermore, we find through simulation that there is almost no energy loss in the scattering of fluxons between LJJs of designed unpowered circuit gates. To switch bit states, the fluxons are made to change polarity during operations -- fluxons in an input LJJ freely propagate into the gate circuit, excite a nonlinear oscillatory interface mode, and quickly scatter deterministically to an output LJJ as a fluxon or antifluxon. The numerically simulated soliton dynamics shows that over $97\%$ of the total energy is preserved as fluxon energy after gate operations. These phenomena are further analyzed with a collective coordinate ansatz, reducing the dynamics of many degrees of freedom to two coordinates which characterize fluxon and antifluxon type excitations in the input and the output LJJs. The solutions of the reduced model accurately describe the four possible energy-conserving scattering processes found in simulations of one-bit gate circuits (with two scattering directions and two output polarities). Calculated parameter tolerances indicate that the gates can be manufactured and tested. Results are shown for 1-bit gates as well as a fundamental 2-bit gate.
Countershading enhances crypsis with some bird species but not others

Although the theory of self-shadow concealing countershading is over a century old, there are very few direct empirical tests to substantiate the prediction that prey that are dorsally darkened and ventrally lightened (generally termed countershaded) suffer lower rates of attack than other prey. In this paper, we report experiments designed to determine whether artificial, countershaded prey are chosen by predators less often than those that are all light, all dark, or reverse shaded (i.e., dorsally lightened and ventrally darkened). Artificial prey were presented in gardens and parks to free-living birds, either on white backgrounds or on backgrounds with some degrees of color matching. In one experiment, birds were unmarked, and in the other, they were individually identifiable. We found that in three experimental trials, countershaded baits were attacked at a rate not significantly different from that of uniformly dark baits. In one experimental trial, countershaded baits were at some advantage. When we examined the data set for this trial more closely, it was apparent that blackbirds were taking countershaded baits least often, but blue tits and robins conferred no special advantage to countershaded baits. Hence, the efficacy of countershading may vary with species of predator. Copyright 2005.
Effect dietary inulin on microbial ecosystem and concentrations of volatile fatty acids in rat's caecum *

Department of Human Nutrition and Hygiene Wolynska 33, 60-637 Poznan, Poland(Received 24 March 2004; revised version 25 October 2004; accepted 31 January 2005)ABSTRACTThe effect of inulin on diet intake, excreta output, microbial ecosystem and concentrations of short chain fatty acids in rat’s caecum was investigated on twenty one, 8-week old male Wistar rats. The animals were divided randomly into three experimental groups of 7 rats each, which were kept in individual cages. Three experimental isoprotein and isoenergetic diets were prepared providing different source and amount of fermentable carbohydrate. The control diet contained 5% of potato starch, while the IN-5 and the IN-10 diet contained 5 and 10% of inulin, respectively. Rats were fed these diets and provided distilled water ad libitum for 10 weeks. Dietary intake was monitored daily, weight gain was recorded twice a week. Between 30 and 41 day of experiment 10-day balance study was performed to determine diet intake and excreta output. Transit time was determined with the help of chlorophiline (0.5% diet weight) as a colour marker. At the end of experiment, after 12-h starvation, rats were sacrificed by thiopental injection and dissected to obtain samples of caecal digesta. Inclusion of 5 and 10% of inulin in the rat’s diet did not affect significantly feed intake, excreta output, its water content and transit time. However, in rats fed high-inulin diet a tendency to a higher water content of excreta and decrease of transit time was observed. Concentration of the volatile fatty acids in caecum, specially the butyrate, was significantly higher in rats fed inulin supplemented diets, however without changing their mutual proportions. Inulin inclusion in the diet, led to changes in caecal microflora populations, total counts of the coli form and anaerobic bacteria dropped. Comparing to control group the 10% inclusion of inulin led lowered the number of total coli form and anaerobic bacteria.KEYWORDS: rat, inulin, intake, excreta, caecum, microflora, volatile fatty acids
4DSA: 4-DIMENSIONAL PRESENTATION OF STAKEHOLDER ANALYSIS IN LARGE SOFTWARE PROJECT

Stakeholder analysis activities are essential for project success and have to be implemented from its beginning. This paper describes the stakeholder analysis method as a permanent process. It begins in the early project stage and containes ten subprocesses. Method itself was developed, tested and used in the ERP project PIVIS. Also, this paper presents a technique for simultaneous presentation of 4 variables in one plane (4DSA), which facilitates the permanent stakeholder supervisions.