Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The moderating effect of an audit committee on the relationship between ownership structure and firm performance: Evidence from emerging markets

Abstract The study aims to investigate the relationship between ownership structure (OS) and financial performance (FP) in non-financial listed companies operating in Oman and the UAE, using panel data from 2012 to 2021. The results revealed that Tobin’s Q (TQ) is positively and significantly affected by managerial ownership and family ownership. In addition, return on asset (ROA) is found to have a negative and significant relationship with managerial ownership, while return on equity (ROE) is found to have a positive and significant relationship with family ownership. Comparing Oman and the UAE, the results indicated that all ownership variables tested have superior influence on FP. This study also documented that the moderating effect of the audit committee has a more positive relationship between managerial ownership, ownership concentration, and family ownership on firm performance in both countries. This study fills existing gaps in contemporary literature on OS in emerging markets by dissecting the outcome of OS on FP of companies in Oman and the UAE. To the best of our knowledge, most of the prior studies on OS have not examined the moderating effect of audit committee on the relationship between OS and FP. Our study on the OS in Oman and UAE listed firms shows that OS have an important outcome on market-based calculation. This study expands our understanding of the impact of OS on FP in emerging markets in two countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), a region of growing economic importance that has not received adequate research attention.
Rationalizing the Use of COVID-19 Questionable Efficacy Drugs in a Low Middle-income Country: A Hospital Tocilizumab Committee Experience.

BACKGROUND Only corticosteroids have confirmed mortality benefits in coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19). Rational use of costlier drugs with questionable benefits poses a great concern to hospital pharmacies in low middle-income countriesAim: The present study aimed to assess the rational utilization of hospital supply tocilizumab and understand its clinical benefits in hospitalized COVID-19 pneumonia patientsMethods: The Hospital Tocilizumab Committee (HTC) decision support system framework was developed to make patients eligible or ineligible for tocilizumab procurement from the hospital pharmacy. A total of 33 consecutive patients receiving tocilizumab were analyzed retrospectively in the 3-month study period. The records of the inpatient stay of the patients were observed for pulse, blood pressure, respiratory rate (RR), oxygen saturation (SpO2), fraction of inspired oxygen (FiO2) laboratory work-up, hospital stay duration, and mortality benefit, if any. Patients were analyzed as "died," "survived," and "composite" subgroupsResults: The study observed death as a final outcome in 48% of patients. The study observed a significant effect of tocilizumab on C-reactive protein (CRP) (p = 0.02) and ferritin (p = 0.018) levels on a 10-day follow-up when all patients were analyzed together. Rising and declining trends of RR and FiO2 were observed among the "died" (RR, p = 0.02; FiO2, p = 0.03) and survived (RR, p = 0.03; FiO2, p = 0.05) subgroups. The second dose of tocilizumab was received by 88% of survivors as against 50% of patients who died (p = 0.04)Conclusion: Hospital Tocilizumab Committee (HTC) was successfully established to continue the assessment of the costlier drug with uncertain treatment benefits. A repeat dose of tocilizumab may provide a mortality benefit in Asian Indians.
“With Percentages the 100 is Always in the Denominator”: From the Field to Pre-service Teachers

The ubiquity of the subject of percentages in our everyday life demands that math teachers and pre-service math teachers demonstrate a profound knowledge and thorough understanding of the concept of percentages. This work, which originated from one specific lesson in an 8 th grade math class, studies the conceptual understanding and problem-solving strategies of 17 pre-service math teachers. We exhibit and analyze the pre-service teachers’ misconceptions and their inefficient or false problem-solving strategies. We identify two main misconceptions. The first we name “In percentage problem is 100 always the denominator? ” and the second “One can handle percentage problems using the same techniques as in numerical problems” (or Over-transferring of numerical problems). We hypothesize reasons and explanations for these misconceptions. The frequent use of percentages in everyday life and in sciences demands a sound knowledge of the subject. This paper aims to describe a process that began with a mathematics lesson in an 8 th grade. As an outcome of attending the lesson and the discussions that followed, we investigated 17 pre-service mathematics teachers' conceptual understanding and problem solving strategies associated with percentages. The research sample is not random. These are 17 pre-service teachers that we met in the course of our work with them. Because of the small size of the sample, no statistical analyses were performed beyond calculating the frequency of the events.
Proper names used as modifiers: a comprehensive functional analysis

My central concern is the special use of proper names in the English noun phrase first discussed by Rosenbach (2006, 2007, 2010; Koptjevskaja-Tamm & Rosenbach 2005): proper names which are used as modifiers with an identifying function, e.g. the Bush administration (‘Which administration does the noun phrase refer to? The one headed by Bush’). On the basis of a corpus study, I argue that existing analyses of Rosenbach (2007) and Schlücker (2013) fail to account for all cases; they also fail to capture the seemingly contradictory syntactic and functional properties of these proper names in a unified way. My alternative analysis is framed within Halliday's (1994) functional model of the English noun phrase, but radically thinks beyond the typical association of functions with word classes (see also Rijkhoff 2009). My proposal is that the majority of these proper names can be analysed as epithets, a function typically associated with adjectival modifiers such as the red car. A smaller set, proper name modifiers such as a Kerry supporter, are analysed as complements (Payne & Huddleston 2002). I end by discussing the implications of this dual analysis for another open question, whether proper name modifiers are morphosyntactically phrasal modifiers or part of compounds.
Infra-gravity Waves and Cross-shore Transport -- A Conceptual Study

Infra-gravity waves are generally known as small-amplitude waves of periods between 25 seconds and 5 minutes. They originate from the presence of wave groups in the open ocean waves and can move freely after being released near the surf zone where they can be further fueled with energy from the spatially varying break point of swell waves . As these waves approach the shore, the relative importance of the infra-gravity wave signal increases, and its impact on the shorter waves gets stronger. In addition, infra-gravity waves drive strong cross-shore currents, which lead to significant back-and-forth motion of the underlying sea water. This strong cross-shore motion has been made visible by recent field studies, where significant cross-shore movement was detected and found to be correlated with the infra-gravity wave signal. In the present work, the connection between infra-gravity waves is explored further using linear wave theory and an established numerical nearshore wave model (BOSZ). It is shown that in all cases, the presence of infra-gravity waves leads to strong cross-shore motion. This behavior can be understood by considering the infra-gravity waves as separate free waves, and then following the fluid particle trajectories excited by these waves. As it is shown, these trajectories have a very large horizontal extent which -- if not separated from the main gravity wave field -- appears as a large, but often not directly visible back-and-forth motion, underlying the more readily observable gravity ocean waves.
Late Quaternary Deltaic and Carbonate Sedimentation in the Gulf of Papua Foreland Basin: Response to Sea-Level Change

ABSTRACT The rivers that drain the wet, mountainous island of New Guinea discharge about 1.5 billion tonnes/yr of sediments into the adjacent seas, including the foreland basin between New Guinea and Australia. Despite this huge sediment input, there appears to have been only limited deposition in the Gulf of Papua during the (Holocene) postglacial rise in sea level. Seismic and core data indicate that the transgressive systems tract in the Gulf of Papua is thin and patchy. It is confined to regions within and north of an incised, east-west-trending shelf-valley system. Of the possible explanations for the absence of a significant transgressive systems tract, inland storage and along- and off-shelf transport of the sediment are of greatest significance. Reef growth up to the latitude of the east-west-trending incised-valley system in the southern Gulf of Papua is considered to have been facilitated by a northward-flowing coastal boundary current, the Coral Sea Coastal Current. This current now sweeps turbid, brackish waters and terrigenous sediments discharged by the rivers northwards away from the reefs. An observed northward offset in transgressive sediments in relation to the axis of the shelf valleys suggests that such a northward.flowing shelf current operated during the late Pleistocene and early Holocene. The northern limit of the Great Barrier Reef could thus be controlled by the balance between fluvial sediment supply and northward advection of suspended sediment by the Coral Sea Coastal Current. This current may also be imp rtant in maintaining a supply of clear water to the eastern Gulf of Papua, thus enabling photosynthesis and the flourishing of calcareous-algae (Halimeda) bioherms or biostromes at depths of up to 100 m over much of the middle and outer shelf, directly offshore of the modern Fly Delta. These carbonate sediments represent the exposed maximum flooding surface and condensed section. Modern highstand delta deposits have begun to prograde over this layer on the inner shelf.
Approaches to Laparoscopic Training in Veterinary Medicine: A Review of Personalized Simulators

Simple Summary The field of veterinary minimally invasive surgery has grown, but there is a lack of easily accessible training tools for practitioners worldwide. While borrowing human medicine simulators helps with basic skills, specific veterinary procedures require specialized training. Some simulators are being developed, validated, and found to be effective for training vets both in basic skills and advanced techniques. Nevertheless, these simulators are of interest mostly for dogs and horses, and their number is small. This study emphasizes the need for more advanced simulators to improve surgical techniques for various animal species. Abstract Veterinary minimally invasive surgery (MIS) has experienced notable growth in recent years, yet the availability of specialized training tools remains limited and not readily accessible to practitioners worldwide. While borrowing simulators from human medicine practices suffices for acquiring fundamental laparoscopic skills, it proves inadequate when addressing procedure-specific nuances. Veterinary professionals are now taking steps to create simulators tailored to their patients, although the validation process can be time-consuming. Consequently, the availability of advanced laparoscopic simulators for veterinary training remains scarce. The present study aims to highlight custom-made simulators. A comprehensive search across five databases was conducted to uncover the simulators documented from 2010 to 2022. A total of five simulators emerged from this search, with four grounded in a canine model and only one in an equine model. These models underwent validation and were found to be effective in training surgeons for their designated tasks. The findings underscore a limited array of simulators, predominantly catering to two species (horses and dogs). Considering these findings, it is evident that further research is imperative to create laparoscopic simulators capable of facilitating advanced veterinary training. This would enable the continued evolution of surgical techniques across diverse species, including ruminants, small mammals, and non-mammalian animals.
The addition of anaerobic fungi isolates from buffalo rumen to increase fiber digestibility, fermentation, and microbial population in ruminants

Abstract. Agustina S, Wiryawan KG, Suharti S, Meryandini A. 2024. The addition of anaerobic fungi isolates from buffalo rumen to increase fiber digestibility, fermentation, and microbial population in ruminants. Biodiversitas 25: 107-115. Rumen microbes have an important role in the rumen. Anaerobic fungi are microbes needed in the forage digestion process in the rumen. The addition of microbes, particularly anaerobic fungi is essential to increase the digestibility of forage within rumen. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the addition of anaerobic fungi isolates from buffalo rumen to increase fiber digestibility, fermentation, and microbial population in sheep rumen. The in vitro tests were carried out using the Tilley and Terry method, using elephant grass and rice straw as tested forage. Piromyces sp. (F1, and F3), Caecomyces sp. (F2, and F5), and Neocallimastix frontalis (F4) isolates from buffalo rumen were used as tested anaerobic fungi. The result showed that the addition of anaerobic fungi isolates from buffalo rumen significantly affected fiber digestibility (Neutral Detergent Fiber (NDF), Acid Detergent Fiber (ADF), cellulose and hemicellulose) except lignin digestibility. The addition of N. frontalis had higher fiber digestibility which is 49.02% NDF digestibility, 42.11% ADF digestibility, 44.28% hemicellulose digestibility, and 38.60% cellulose digestibility. Furthermore, N. frontalis also significantly increased In vitro Dry Matter Digestibility (IVDMD), In vitro Organic Matter Digestibility (IVOMD), ammonium (NH3) production, total Volatile Fatty Acid (VFA) production, and microbial population compared to Piromyces sp. , and Caecomyces sp. In conclusion, anaerobic fungus type N. frontalis showed promising potential to be used as a ruminant probiotic due to its superior effect on fiber digestibility, fermentation, and microbial population compared to Caecomyces sp. and Piromyces sp.
Leveraging the core-level complementary effects of PVT variations to reduce timing emergencies in multi-core processors

Process, Voltage, and Temperature (PVT) variations can significantly degrade the performance benefits expected from next nanoscale technology. The primary circuit implication of the PVT variations is the resultant timing emergencies. In a multi-core processor running multiple programs, variations create spatial and temporal unbalance across the processing cores. Most prior schemes are dedicated to tolerating PVT variations individually for a single core, but ignore the opportunity of leveraging the complementary effects between variations and the intrinsic variation unbalance among individual cores. We find that the notorious delay impacts from different variations are not necessary aggregated. Cores with mild variations can share the violent workload from cores suffering large variations. If operated correctly, variations on different cores can help mitigating each other and result in a variation-mild environment. In this paper, we propose Timing Emergency Aware Thread Migration (TEA-TM), a delay sensor-based scheme to reduce system timing emergencies under PVT variations. Fourier transform and frequency domain analysis are conducted to provide the insights and the potential of the PVT co-optimization scheme. Experimental results show on average TEA-TM can help save up to 24% throughput loss, at the same time improve the system fairness by 85%.
Hyperpolarized 13C-magnetic resonance spectroscopy: are we ready for metabolic imaging?

Myocardial metabolic abnormalities have been demonstrated widely in diverse cardiac diseases. Metabolic impairment may be secondary to the underlying pathophysiological mechanism; however, in most conditions, it could be considered a direct cause, or at least a cofactor, in the functional abnormalities of the heart. Article see p 895 A more complete understanding of the myocardial metabolic changes associated with cardiac diseases may lead to pharmacological studies and potentially new metabolic-targeted drugs. In heart failure, agents that act through the optimization of cardiac metabolism may be particularly attractive as they could potentially work without exerting negative hemodynamic effects; this would allow for their addition to current therapies.1 It has been demonstrated that shifting the metabolic substrate of the heart from fatty acids to carbohydrate oxidation can improve pump function and delay the progression of heart failure.2 That said, in spite of the initial enthusiasm over drugs that showed promising metabolic effects in vitro, few clinical benefits have been unequivocally demonstrated. A robust imaging technique, which would allow the direct assessment of metabolism in vivo, is essential to understanding the metabolic changes and the effectiveness of pharmacological drugs. Unfortunately, nuclear medicine techniques, such as positron emission tomography and single photon emission computed tomography, are unable to detect the metabolized tracers and distinguish between different downstream metabolites.3 Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) with hyperpolarized 13C-enriched substrates is a promising imaging technique for the evaluation of cardiac metabolism in vivo. Because the natural amount of 13C in biological tissue is low, a sufficient signal:noise ratio for 13C-MRS is obtained by increasing the polarization level (hyperpolarization) of these compounds. Currently, dynamic nuclear polarization is the most widely used hyperpolarization technique for 13C-enriched molecules and this enables an increased signal:noise ratio of ≈10 000-fold.4 13C-MRS allows for a …
An Admission Control Scheme Based on Online Measurement for VBR Video Streams Over Wireless Home Networks

This paper presents an online measurement-based admission control scheme on the basis that the aggregate VBR video traffic is lognormally distributed. The proposed scheme consists of two components: measurement process and admission decision. The measurement process applies a linear Kalman filter to estimate statistical parameters of aggregate VBR video traffic. The estimated statistical parameters are used to calculate the effective bandwidth for admission decision. Variable bit rate (VBR) video traffic with high data rate is expected to occupy a dominant proportion of bandwidth for future wireless broadband home networks. To guarantee quality-of-service (QoS) of such VBR video streams, while achieving a high level of channel utilization, an efficient admission control scheme is urgently required, especially for emerging wireless multimedia indoor services, such as HDTV, online video game, etc. The proposed scheme is computationally efficient and accurate without much prior traffic information. Simulation results verify its effectiveness and show that it performs well for both a small number of connections and a large number of connections.
Myalgic encephalomyelitis: International Consensus Criteria

B. M. Carruthers, M. I. van de Sande, K. L. De Meirleir, N. G. Klimas, G. Broderick, T. Mitchell, D. Staines, A. C. P. Powles, N. Speight, R. Vallings, L. Bateman, B. Baumgarten-Austrheim, D. S. Bell, N. Carlo-Stella, J. Chia, A. Darragh, D. Jo, D. Lewis, A. R. Light, S. Marshall-Gradisbik, I. Mena, J. A. Mikovits, K. Miwa, M. Murovska, M. L. Pall, S. Stevens In B. M. Carruthers et al. [1], the author name ‘S. Marshall-Gradisbik’ should be written as ‘S. MarshallGradisnik’. We apologize for the inconvenience caused.
CHAPTER 7 WILDLAND ARSON MANAGEMENT

Wildland arson has received scant attention in the resource economics literature, yet is the cause of many large and damaging wildland fires. Research into wildfire management and policy in the United States has been principally concerned with wildfire suppression, fuels treatments, fire science (behavior), and economic efficiency questions. This is unfortunate, because wildland arson in some parts of the United States comprises well over a quarter of all fire starts and is the third most common type of arson behind arson fires in residential and educational structures (! cove and Estepp 1987). From an ecological and wildland management standpoint, wildland arson fires comprise an important piece of the overall wildfire production process. (See chapter 3 for a more detailed discussion of fire production processes). Its response to wildland management may differ from other sources of fire, such as lightning and other human caused ignitions, so special measures may need to be taken to address it. Additionally, the damages resulting from arson wildfires may differ from those ignited by other sources. Wildland arson fires are ignited close to high values at risk (Butry et al. 2002)-structures, especially, and so they are a threat to public safety that could be higher than are other kinds of fires. In fact, wildland fires in general threaten more homes than do fires that originate within structures (Cohen 2000). Recent high-profile, expensive, large arson wildfires such as the Hayman fire near Denver in 2002 (Kent 2003) and the Rodeo-Chediski fire in Arizona that same year illustrate the importance of understanding and focusing attention on potential costs and losses from arson. (See chapters 8 and 11 for in depth analyses of how to value the damages from wildfires and other disturbances.) The dictionary definition of wildland arson is as a fire set intentionally and for malicious purposes. However, the popular usage of the term could be broader (Hall 2005). ' In history, fires were very often set intentionally, although not always with malice as a component of the intent (Doolittle and Lightsey 1979). As Doolittle and Lightsey (1979) found in their extensive surveys of firesetting in the South, a more inclusive term for unauthorized or even technically illegal setting of fires is "firesetting" and those setting the fires as "woods-burners. " Indeed, a small but significant share of wildfires recorded, with some discretion,
Watercolor Woodblock Printing with Image Analysis

Watercolor paintings have a unique look that mixes subtle color gradients and sophisticated diffusion patterns. This makes them immediately recognizable and gives them a unique appeal. Creating such paintings requires advanced skills that are beyond the reach of most people. Even for trained artists, producing several copies of a painting is a tedious task. One can resort to scanning an existing painting and printing replicas, but these are all identical and have lost an essential characteristic of a painting, its uniqueness. We address these two issues with a technique to fabricate woodblocks that we later use to create watercolor prints. The woodblocks can be reused to produce multiple copies but each print is unique due to the physical process that we introduce. We also design an image processing pipeline that helps users to create the woodblocks and describe a protocol that produces prints by carefully controlling the interplay between the paper, ink pigments, and water so that the final piece depicts the desired scene while exhibiting the distinctive features of watercolor. Our technique enables anyone with the resources to produce watercolor prints.