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PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine the association between auditor industry specialization and accounting quality in the European Union (EU).Design/methodology/approachThis study employs a difference-in-differences design and explores audit quality from different industry specialist perspectives and different accounting standard regimes. Specifically, this study examines accounting quality among audits performed by non-industry specialists, EU member country-level industry specialists (EUM-level), EU community-level industry specialists (EUC-level), as well as joint industry specialists.FindingsThis study finds evidence of an improvement in accounting quality among audits performed by non-industry specialists post-IFRS. There is also evidence of an improvement in accounting quality among audits performed by EUC-level industry specialists post-IFRS. In addition, accounting quality among audits performed by EUM-level industry specialists seems to be greater than that of audits performed by non-industry specialists in either the pre-IFRS period or the post-IFRS period. Overall, the mandatory adoption of IFRS in the EU appears to be associated with an improvement in accounting quality among some auditor groups.Research limitations/implicationsIndustry specialization and accounting quality are not directly observable constructs; this study inevitably employs proxy measures for both. The findings of this study are location-specific and apply to mandatory IFRS adopters only.Practical implicationsThis study informs regulators with respect to the importance of industry specialist auditors and financial reporting quality, particularly within the context of the EU. The findings suggest that industry specialists were a significant accounting quality determinant during the mandatory adoption of IFRS. The findings have implications for regulators in the EU and beyond.Originality/valueThis study is among the first to investigate the impact of auditor specialization on accounting quality in the EU, particularly in connection with the adoption of IFRS.

Transmission heterogeneity plays a critical role in the dynamics of an epidemic. During an outbreak of an emerging infectious disease, efforts to characterize transmission heterogeneity are generally limited to quantifications during a small outbreak or a limited number of generations of a larger outbreak. Understanding how transmission heterogeneity itself varies over the course of a large enduring outbreak not only improves understanding of observed disease dynamics but also informs public health strategy and response. In this study, we employ a method, adaptable to other emerging infectious disease outbreaks, to quantify spatiotemporal variation in transmission heterogeneity for the 2022 mpox outbreak in the United States. Based on past research on mpox and following reports of potential superspreading events early in this outbreak, we expected to find high transmission heterogeneity as quantified by the dispersion parameter of the offspring distribution,k. Our methods use maximum likelihood estimation to fit a negative binomial distribution to transmission chain offspring distributions informed by a large mpox contact tracing dataset. We find that, while estimates of transmission heterogeneity varied across the outbreak with spatiotemporal pockets of higher heterogeneity, overall transmission heterogeneity was low. When testing our methods on simulated data from an outbreak with high transmission heterogeneity,kestimate accuracy depended on the contact tracing data completeness. Because the actual contact tracing data had high incompleteness, our values ofkestimated from the empirical data may be artificially high. However, it is also possible that our estimates accurately reflect low transmission heterogeneity for the United States mpox outbreak.

A recoil-beta-tagging experiment has been performed to study the excited $$T=0$$ T = 0 and $$T=1$$ T = 1 states in the odd–odd $$N=Z$$ N = Z nucleus $$^{94}$$ 94 Ag, populated via the $$^{40}$$ 40 Ca($$^{58}$$ 58 Ni,1p3n)$$^{94}$$ 94 Ag reaction. The experiment was conducted using the MARA recoil separator and JUROGAM3 array at the Accelerator Laboratory of the University of Jyväskylä. Through correlating fast, high-energy beta decays at the MARA focal plane with prompt $$\gamma $$ γ rays emitted at the reaction target, a number of transitions between excited states in $$^{94}$$ 94 Ag have been identified. The timing characteristics of these transitions confirm that they fall within decay sequences that feed the short-lived $$T=1$$ T = 1 ground state of $$^{94}$$ 94 Ag. The transitions are proposed to proceed within and between the sets of states with $$T=0$$ T = 0 and $$T=1$$ T = 1 . Possible correspondence between some of these transitions from analog states in $$^{94}$$ 94 Pd has been discussed, and shell-model calculations including multipole and monopole electromagnetic effects have been presented, in order to enable predictions of the decay patterns between the $$T=0$$ T = 0 and $$T=1$$ T = 1 states and to allow a theoretical set of Coulomb energy differences to be calculated for the $$A = 94$$ A = 94 $$T=1$$ T = 1 analog states.

El objetivo del estudio fue determinar el nivel de desempeño docente según percepción de estudiantes y padres del distrito de Nuevo Chimbote, provincia del Santa, región Ancash, Perú. La investigación fue de tipo descriptivo exploratorio de corte transversal con una sola variable. Se aplicó una encuesta, cuestionario formulario Google, validado por expertos con confiabilidad de 0.8094 en alfa de Cronbach, a 1193 estudiantes de educación básica regular y 987 padres. Los resultados muestran que la percepción del desempeño docente es excelente, en todas sus dimensiones.

Given that Staphylococcus aureus, an opportunistic pathogen, is one of the main etiological agents that causes various hospital and community infections associated with the production of virulence factors, emerging treatment strategies target to attenuate the activity of these factors can be promising to combat antibiotic-resistant strains. In this perspective, we investigated the antipathogenic potential against three S. aureus strains of chloroform extracts of cell-free culture supernatant from the probiotic bacteria Lactobacillus casei and Lactobacillus acidophilus, as well as its suitability as an alternative antimutagenic agent. Both extracts did not display antibacterial activity but significantly reduced the bacterial biofilm formation at different stages 3 h (up to 73%), 6 h (up to 45%), and 24 h (up to 46%). Moreover, the extracts decrease the virulence factors production, hemolysin (up to 67%), and coagulase (delayed coagulation), as well as the cell metabolism in the biofilm (up to 65%), disrupting a preformed biofilm (up to 46%), all devoid of affecting its growth suggesting that the inhibition could be mediated by Quorum sensing (QS). The extract’s effect on biofilm disruption and metabolic activity seems to be strain dependent. The 2,5-diketopiperazines present in the extracts showed the ability to bind to the QS regulatory proteins SarA and AgrA in molecular docking studies. In the mutagenicity assay, both probiotic bacteria were able to remove the mutagen, and this capacity increased with the bacteria concentration.

Objectives. Suicidal ideation is a serious concern even among the pediatric population. This study aimed to determine its prevalence among victims of child sexual abuse and the factors that may contribute to its occurrence. Methods. A cross-sectional analytic study was done using medical records of 393 victims of child sexual abuse seen at the PGH CPU from 2017–2019. A logistic regression analysis was performed to assess the associations of age, sex, closest relation to perpetrator, mode, and chronicity of sexual abuse to the presence of suicidal ideation. Results. The prevalence of suicidal ideation among victims of child sexual abuse is 28%. The factors that were found to have a statistically significant association with suicidal ideation were age and closest relation to perpetrator. For each additional year from 6 to 17 years of age, the odds of having suicidal ideation increased by a factor of 1.33 (95% CI 1.19, 1.49; p

Bovine Coronavirus (BCoV) is a major pathogen associated with neonatal calf diarrhea. Standard practice dictates that to prevent BCoV diarrhea, dams should be immunized in the last stage of pregnancy to increase BCoV-specific antibody (Ab) titers in serum and colostrum. For the prevention to be effective, calves need to suck maternal colostrum within the first six to twelve hours of life before gut closure to ensure a good level of passive immunity. The high rate of maternal Ab transfer failure resulting from this process posed the need to develop alternative local passive immunity strategies to strengthen the prevention and treatment of BCoV diarrhea. Immunoglobulin Y technology represents a promising tool to address this gap. In this study, 200 laying hens were immunized with BCoV to obtain spray-dried egg powder enriched in specific IgY Abs to BCoV on a large production scale. To ensure batch-to-batch product consistency, a potency assay was statistically validated. With a sample size of 241, the BCoV-specific IgY ELISA showed a sensitivity and specificity of 97.7% and 98.2%, respectively. ELISA IgY Abs to BCoV correlated with virus-neutralizing Ab titers (Pearson correlation, R2 = 0.92, p < 0.001). Most importantly, a pilot efficacy study in newborn calves showed a significant delay and shorter duration of BCoV-associated diarrhea and shedding in IgY-treated colostrum-deprived calves. Calves were treated with milk supplemented with egg powder (final IgY Ab titer to BCoV ELISA = 512; VN = 32) for 14 days as a passive treatment before a challenge with BCoV and were compared to calves fed milk with no supplementation. This is the first study with proof of efficacy of a product based on egg powder manufactured at a scale that successfully prevents BCoV-associated neonatal calf diarrhea.

Statistical models for social networks have enabled researchers to study complex social phenomena that give rise to observed patterns of relationships among social actors and to gain a rich understanding of the interdependent nature of social ties and actors. Much of this research has focused on social networks within medium to large social groups. To date, these advances in statistical models for social networks, and in particular, of Exponential-Family Random Graph Models (ERGMS), have rarely been applied to the study of small networks, despite small network data in teams, families, and personal networks being common in many fields. In this paper, we revisit the estimation of ERGMs for small networks and propose using exhaustive enumeration when possible. We developed an R package that implements the estimation of pooled ERGMs for small networks using Maximum Likelihood Estimation (MLE), called “ergmito”. Based on the results of an extensive simulation study to assess the properties of the MLE estimator, we conclude that there are several benefits of direct MLE estimation compared to approximate methods and that this creates opportunities for valuable methodological innovations that can be applied to modeling social networks with ERGMs.

Group A rotavirus (RVA) and bovine coronavirus (BCoV) are the two main viral enteropathogens associated with neonatal calf diarrhea. The aim of the present survey was to investigate the epidemiology and the role of RVA and BCoV in the presentation of dairy and beef calf diarrhea in Lerma Valley of Salta province, within the Northwest region of Argentina. Stool samples of calves with or without diarrhea younger than 2 months of age were collected from 19 dairy farms and 20 beef farms between the years 2014 and 2016. Stool samples were screened for RVA and BCoV detection by ELISA. Heminested multiplex RT-PCR was used for RVA typing and RT-PCR to confirm BCoV. Positive samples were submitted to sequencing analysis. Bovine RVA and BCoV were circulating in 63% (12/19) and 10.52% (2/19) of the dairy farms, respectively, where 9.5% (46/484) of the calves were positives to RVA and 0.4% (2/484) to BCoV. In beef herds, RVA was detected in 40% (8/20) of the farms and in 6.75% (21/311) of the calves, without positives cases of BCoV. Molecular analysis showed that in dairy farms, G6P[11] and G10P[11] were the prevalent RVA strains, while in beef farms, G10P[11] was the prevalent. The main finding was the detection for the first time of a G15P[11] causing diarrhea in beef calves of Argentina that represents a new alert to be consider for future vaccine updates. Analysis of detected BCoV showed that it is related to the other circulating strains of Argentina. Fil: Bertoni, Emiliano. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigaciones Agropecuarias. Instituto de Investigación Animal del Chaco Semiárido; Argentina Fil: Aduriz, Miguel Angel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Instituto Nacional de Tecnologia Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigacion En Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronomicas. Instituto de Virologia E Innovaciones Tecnologicas. Grupo Vinculado Incuinta Al Ivit | Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas. Oficina de Coordinacion Administrativa Pque. Centenario. Instituto de Virologia E Innovaciones Tecnologicas. Grupo Vinculado Incuinta Al Ivit.; Argentina Fil: Bok, Marina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Instituto Nacional de Tecnologia Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigacion En Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronomicas. Instituto de Virologia E Innovaciones Tecnologicas. Grupo Vinculado Incuinta Al Ivit | Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas. Oficina de Coordinacion Administrativa Pque. Centenario. Instituto de Virologia E Innovaciones Tecnologicas. Grupo Vinculado Incuinta Al Ivit.; Argentina Fil: Vega, Celina Guadalupe. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Instituto Nacional de Tecnologia Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigacion En Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronomicas. Instituto de Virologia E Innovaciones Tecnologicas. Grupo Vinculado Incuinta Al Ivit | Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas. Oficina de Coordinacion Administrativa Pque. Centenario. Instituto de Virologia E Innovaciones Tecnologicas. Grupo Vinculado Incuinta Al Ivit.; Argentina Fil: Saif, L.. Ohio State University; Estados Unidos Fil: Aguirre, D.. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigaciones Agropecuarias. Instituto de Investigación Animal del Chaco Semiárido; Argentina Fil: Cimino, Rubén Oscar. Universidad Nacional de Salta; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina Fil: Miño, Orlando Samuel. Instituto Nacional de Tecnologia Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigacion En Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronomicas. Instituto de Virologia E Innovaciones Tecnologicas. Grupo Vinculado Incuinta Al Ivit | Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas. Oficina de Coordinacion Administrativa Pque. Centenario. Instituto de Virologia E Innovaciones Tecnologicas. Grupo Vinculado Incuinta Al Ivit.; Argentina Fil: Parreño, Gladys Viviana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Instituto Nacional de Tecnologia Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigacion En Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronomicas. Instituto de Virologia E Innovaciones Tecnologicas. Grupo Vinculado Incuinta Al Ivit | Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas. Oficina de Coordinacion Administrativa Pque. Centenario. Instituto de Virologia E Innovaciones Tecnologicas. Grupo Vinculado Incuinta Al Ivit.; Argentina

GaAs/Al0.30Ga0.70As/AlGaInAs/ heterostructures grown by molecular beam epitaxy with embedded InAs quantum dots (QDs) have been investigated before and after thermal annealing at 640 °C for 2 h. Two types of QD structures with the different compositions of capping layers: (Al0.30Ga0.70As (#1) and Al0.10Ga0.75In0.15As (#2)), are studied using the photoluminescence (PL), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and high-resolution XRD (HR-XRD) techniques. The high PL intensity, smaller half width of PL bands and lower energy of the ground state (GS) emission are detected in the structure with the Al0.10Ga0.75In0.15As capping layer. The blue shift of PL spectra is detected after annealing and this shift is more significant in the structure with Al0.10Ga0.75In0.15As capping as well. The last effect has been explained by the efficient Ga/In inter-diffusion at the AlGaInAs/InAs QD interface in #2 owing to the smaller In-As binding energy in comparison with Al-As and Ga-As ones in the studied alloy. The composition variation of the QDs and quantum wells (QWs) due to Ga/In intermixing at annealing has been modeled on the base of the numerical simulation of HR-XRD scans with the help of X′ Pert Epitaxy software.

Introduction: Identifying effective drugs for Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is urgently needed. An efficient approach is to evaluate whether existing approved drugs have anti-SARS-CoV-2 effects. The antiviral properties of lithium salts have been studied for many years. Their anti-inflammatory and immune-potentiating effects result from the inhibition of glycogen synthase kinase-3.& nbsp;Aims: To obtain pre-clinical evidence on the safety and therapeutic effects of lithium salts in the treatment of COVID-19.& nbsp;Results: Six different concentrations of lithium, ranging 2-12 mmol/L, were evaluated. Lithium inhibited the replication of SARS-CoV-2 virus in a dose-dependent manner with an IC50 value of 4 mmol/L. Lithium-treated wells showed a significantly higher percentage of monolayer conservation than viral control, particularly at concentrations higher than 6 mmol/L, verified through microscopic observation, the neutral red assay, and the determination of N protein in the supernatants of treated wells. Hamsters treated with lithium showed less intense disease with fewer signs. No lithium-related mortality or overt signs of toxicity were observed during the experiment. A trend of decreasing viral load in nasopharyngeal swabs and lungs was observed in treated hamsters compared to controls.& nbsp;Conclusions: These results provide pre-clinical evidence of the antiviral and immunotherapeutic effects of lithium against SARS-CoV-2, which supports an advance to clinical trials on COVID-19 & PRIME;s patients. The authors are indebted to CICDC staff for their collaborative support and dedication during the experiments. We are grateful to YJ Gonzalez ´ for her technical support, constructive discussions, and scientific input. We also thank J Delgado and SR Paez from Empresa Central de Laboratorios “Jos´e Isaac del Corral”, Havana, Cuba, for their invaluable contribution. We also thank JF Infante for the anatomopathological evaluation of hamsters. CE Rudd is supported by a grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).

Objetive: To determine the maternal characteristics of women infected with COVID-19 and their neonates born in the COVID-19 referral hospital (HRDT) between April and September 2020. Material and Methods: Observational and cross-sectional study carried out in the HRDT that included 703 obstetric patients with COVID-19. Results: The average age was 27 years. 35.7% were nulliparous and 95% were asymptomatic for COVID-19. 3%, 1% and 1% had mild, moderate and severe COVID-19; respectively. The most frequent symptoms were cough (84.85%) and anosmia (39.39%). The most common signs were tachypnea (60.61%) and respiratory distress (51.52%). Blood gas, D-dimer, and ferritin were altered in 71%, 54%, and 30%; respectively. The most frequent medical complications were: sepsis (2.28%), pneumonia (2.13%), respiratory failure (2.13%) and septic shock (1.14%). The most frequent obstetric complications were premature rupture of membranes (6.69%), severe preeclampsia (5.41%), abortive syndrome (3.27%) and preterm labor (2.56%). 73.9% of deliveries were by Caesarean section. 0.99% of patients required intensive care unit and maternal mortality was 0. 2%. 85.7% of neonates were at term and 97.2% had APGAR ≥7 at 5 minutes. There were 4 neonatal deaths (0.64%) and 16 deaths (2,58%). There were 8 positive RT-PCR in neonates (1.3%). Conclusion: The majority of patients were nulliparous, under 35 years of age and asymptomatic for COVID-19. Most of the newborns were born by cesarean section and evolved favorably. There were two maternal deaths, 16 stillbirths, and 4 neonatal deaths. Objetivo: Determinar las características maternas de mujeres infectadas con COVID-19 y de sus neonatos nacidos en el Hospital de atención referencia Covid-19 (HRDT) entre abril y setiembre del 2020. Material y Métodos: Estudio observacional y transversal realizado en el HRDT que incluyó 703 pacientes obstétricas con COVID-19. Resultados: La edad promedio fue de 27 años. El 35.7 % fueron nulíparas y el 95% fueron asintomáticas para COVID-19. Tuvieron COVID-19 leve, moderado y severo el 3%,1% y 1%; respectivamente. Los síntomas más frecuentes fueron tos (84,85%) y anosmia (39,39%). Los signos más comunes fueron Taquipnea (60.61%) y dificultad respiratoria (51,52 %). La gasometría, dímero-D y ferritina sérica estuvieron alterados en el 71%, 54% y 30%; respectivamente. Las complicaciones médicas más frecuentes fueron: sepsis (2,28%), neumonía (2,13%), insuficiencia respiratoria (2,13%) y shock séptico (1,14%). Las complicaciones obstétricas más frecuentes fueron Rotura prematura de membranas (6,69%), preeclampsia severa (5,41%), síndrome abortivo (3.27%) y trabajo de parto pretérmino (2,56%). El 73,9% de partos fue por Cesárea. El 0,99 % de pacientes requirió unidad de cuidados intensivos y la letalidad materna fue del 0,2%. El 85,7% de neonatos fueron a término y el 97,2 % tuvo APGAR a los 5 minutos ≥7. Hubo 4 muertes neonatales (0,64%) y 16 óbitos (2,58%). Hubo 8 RT-PCR positivas en neonatos (1,3%). Conclusión: La mayoría de pacientes fueron nulíparas, menores de 35 años y asintomáticas para COVID-19. La mayoría de neonatos nacieron por cesárea y evolucionaron favorablemente. Hubo dos muertes maternas, 16 óbitos fetales y 4 muertes neonatales.

Dialogues among politicians provide a window into political landscapes and relations among parties and nations. Existing research has focused on the outcomes of such dialogues and on the structure of social networks on which they take place. Little is known, however, about how political discussion networks form and which are the main driving forces behind their formation. We study a collection of ego-networks from 30 randomly sampled Romanian politicians to reveal fundamental processes behind the formation of political discussion networks. We show that ties in such networks tend to be strong and balanced, and that their organization is not affected by sex, age or education homophily. We use the exponential family of random graph models for small networks to assess likely closure mechanisms and possible homophily effects, but we note that further research and additional data are needed to fully understand the impact of context and political affiliations on the generalization of our findings.

Scours is the most common disease in dairy calves, and it is a multifactorial syndrome complex. Cryptosporidium sp. (C. sp.), rotavirus group A (RVA), and bovine coronavirus (BCoV) are the three main pathogens associated with scours. The objective of this study was to identify potential factors associated with scours, C. sp., RVA, and BCoV infections in preweaned dairy calves from Lerma Valley in Salta Province, Argentina. A total of 488 preweaned calves from 19 dairy farms located in the Lerma Valley were enrolled in this observational study. One fecal sample was collected from each calf between one week and two months of age for assessment of C. sp., RVA, and BCoV infection status. Cryptosporidium sp. oocysts and RVA and BCoV antigens in fecal samples were assessed using microscopic observation and indirect enzyme-linked immune sorbent assay (iELISA), respectively. A voluntary questionnaire was developed and used to collect data regarding management practices from the participants’ farms. The data were analyzed using multivariable logistic regression models. Scours incidence was 35.4%, and a greater proportion of calves younger than 20 days were affected. Of the fecal samples, 18% and 9.5% tested were positives for C. sp. and RVA, respectively, while BCoV was detected only in two calves. Furthermore, 84.2% and 63.1% of the farms tested positive for Cryptosporidium sp. and RVA, respectively. In addition, the following variables were associated with higher odds of having scours: (1) herd size (&gt, 300 milking cows, OR = 1.7), (2) calf age (&lt, 20 days of age, OR = 2.2), (3) RVA and C. sp. test (positive test, RVA OR = 2.6, C. sp. OR = 3), calf feeding practices (feeding milk replacer, OR = 1.81), and newborn calf management practices (calf moved from maternity pen &lt, 6 h after calving, OR = 1.7). Concerning RVA infection, calves less than 20 days of age (OR = 2.6) had a higher chance of testing positive for RVA, while calves that remained in the calving pen for less than 6 h after calving had a lower chance (OR = 0.3). On the other hand, for C. sp. infection, large farm size (&gt, OR = 1.2) and young calf age (&lt, OR = 4.4) indicated a higher chance of testing positive for C. sp., while calves belonging to farms that fed frozen colostrum (OR = 0.2) had a lower chance of becoming infected with C. sp. The result of this study indicated that scours is a prevalent disease in farms of the Lerma Valley, Salta, Argentina, and that RVA and C. sp. infections, along with specific farm management practices, might be important contributing factors that could increase the chance of NCS in dairy farms.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine restrictions placed by the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) on executive compensation during the financial crisis. Since it remains unclear if TARP restored public confidence in financial institutions, the authors also analyze what effect such regulations had on investors’ confidence in the information provided by earning with respect to executive compensation during this critical period. Design/methodology/approach To test the assertions, the authors employ an Earnings Response Coefficient model, which captures the association between firms’ earnings surprise (ES) and perceived earnings informativeness. The authors implement both a long- and short-window test to obtain a better understanding of the effects of TARP on financial institutions’ earnings informativeness. The authors use the long-window approach to gather evidence about whether and how financial institutions’ ES are absorbed into security prices conditional on both their participation in TARP and their compliance with TARP’s compensation restrictions. The authors attempt to establish a stronger causal link by also using a short-window approach. Findings The authors find that firms paying their CEOs above the TARP threshold show higher earnings informativeness. Financial institutions that paid their CEOs above the TARP threshold achieved better performance during their participation in TARP. The authors also find that a decrease in total compensation while participating in TARP is associated with improved earnings informativeness. Lastly, separating total compensation into its cash and stock-based components, the authors find that firms improve earnings informativeness when they increase (decrease) cash (performance) compensation during TARP. However, overall earnings informativeness decreases during and after TARP relative to the pre-TARP period. Practical implications The research suggests that executive compensation incentives affect earnings informativeness and that tradeoffs are made between direct and indirect costs in retaining executives. The results have implications for policy makers, investors and researchers because the results allow policy makers and regulators to improve on how they design and implement accounting, market and finance regulations and reforms. Investors may potentially use the results when evaluating firm experiencing financial and, in some case, political distress. It also helps firms and offering optimal compensation contracts to create proper incentives for executives and ensure that managerial actions result in successful firm performance. Social implications The study shows how firms react to changing regulations that affect executive compensation and earning informativeness. The results of the study allow regulators to potentially design more effective regulations by targeting certain aspects of firms’ operation such excessive risk-taking behavior and rent extraction opportunities. Originality/value There are very few studies that deal with how firms react to regulation that affect executive compensation. The authors provide evidence regarding what effect TARP and its compensation restrictions had on financial institutions’ earnings informativeness. The evidence in the study will further regulators’ understanding of whether TARP improved investors’ confidence in financial institutions. The paper also contributes to the understanding in how changes in executive compensation in times of high political scrutiny affect investors’ perceptions of firm performance.

Purpose This paper aims to examine the applicability of real options methodology with respect to developing internal transfer pricing mechanisms. A pervasive theme in existing models is their inability to handle the dynamic and volatile nature of today’s business environment, as well as their lack of objective managerial flexibility. The authors address these and other issues and develop a transfer pricing mechanism based on Black–Scholes and the binomial options pricing methodology, which is better suited in today’s dynamic business environment. Design/methodology/approach The authors use a conceptual approach in developing theoretical justifications and show, practically, how a transfer price can be developed using two different real options pricing models. Findings The authors find that real options transfer price mechanism (real options framework [ROF]) can effectively deal with many of the issues that permeate a modern organization with complex multi-dimensional operations. The authors argue that uncertainty and behavioral issues commonly associated with setting transfer prices are better handled using a transfer pricing mechanism that preserves flexibility at the business unit level, the managerial level and the firm level. The approach allows for different managerial styles in both centralized and decentralized sub-units within the same organization. The authors argue that an open multi-dimensional framework using real options is suitable under conditions of uncertainty and managerial opportunism. Practical implications ROF-based transfer pricing may be significant in that firms can use it as a tool to manage an organization by setting the prices centrally and at the same time allowing managers to select the transfer price that best suits their specific situation and operating conditions. This may result in a more efficient and more profitable organization. Originality/value The contribution of the paper is the melding of the ROF from the finance literature with the accounting problem of setting a transfer price for items lacking a competitive market price. The authors also contribute to existing research by explicitly developing a framework that values managerial flexibility, takes into account uncertainty and considers the behavioral aspects of the transfer pricing process. The authors establish the conditions under which a generic real options model is a feasible alternative in determining a transfer price.

Family relationships influence eating behavior and health outcomes (e.g., obesity). Because eating is often habitual (i.e., automatically driven by external cues), unconscious behavioral mimicry may be a key interpersonal influence mechanism for eating within families. This pilot study extends existing literature on eating mimicry by examining whether multiple family members mimicked each other's bites during natural meals. Thirty-three participants from 10 families were videotaped while eating an unstructured family meal in a kitchen lab setting. Videotapes were coded for participants' bite occurrences and times. We tested whether the likelihood of a participant taking a bite increased when s/he was externally cued by a family eating partner who had recently taken a bite (i.e., bite mimicry). A paired-sample t-test indicated that participants had a significantly faster eating rate within the 5 s following a bite by their eating partner, compared to their bite rate at other times (t = 7.32, p < .0001). Nonparametric permutation testing identified five of 78 dyads in which there was significant evidence of eating mimicry; and 19 of 78 dyads that had p values < .1. This pilot study provides preliminary evidence that suggests eating mimicry may occur among a subset of family members, and that there may be types of family ties more prone to this type of interpersonal influence during meals.

espanolLa relacion violenta entre alumnos y maestros, esta vinculada con la falta de madurez de la adolescencia y las relaciones interpersonales, convirtiendose en problema complejo ante los factores que influyen. Objetivo: identificar la prevalencia de violencia entre alumnos y profesores y tipos de esta con mayor frecuencia desde la perspectiva de los estudiantes, y la asociacion de factores como sexo, edad, grado academico y lugar de origen del escolar.La muestra 47 hombres y 55 mujeres, total 102 escolares. Se encontro una prevalencia general de vio-lencia de los alumnos hacia los profesores del 41.9%, de maestros a los alumnos del 39.8%. Violencia mas frecuente fue los tipos de violencia dirigida al docente que se presentaron con mas frecuencia fueron: la disrupcion en el aula (48.46 %), seguida por la violencia verbal (32.85 %).De la asociacion de factores, de las respuestas afirmativas dirigida al maestro, los alumnos de 3er grado ocuparon el mayor porcentaje (41.72 %), las mujeres (57.21%), por edad, los alumnos de 13 anos (33.63 %). Respecto al lugar de origen, quienes viven en el municipio de Guadalajara fueron mas constantes (65.3 %).Las mujeres identificaron mas los actos violentos en el aula. La disrupcion es mas recurrente seguida por la violencia verbal. EnglishThe relationship violent between students and teachers, is linked with the lack of maturity of ado-lescence, in interpersonal relations, becoming a school problem of complex traits in the variety of factors that influence it. This work aims to identify the prevalence of violence among students and teachers, as well as types that occur most frequently, above, from the perspective of students. It also presents the Association of factors such as sex, age, academic degree and place of origin of the school.The sample consisted of 47 men and 55 women, in total 102 school. Found an overall prevalence in violence of the students toward the teachers of the 41.9% and teacher to the students of the 39.8%. Violence that is more frequent was the types of violence aimed at the teacher that arose more frequently were: disruption in the classroom (48.46%), followed by verbal violence (32.85%).In relation to the Association of factors, the total number of affirmative responses of violence directed at the teacher, the students of 3rd grade high school occupied the highest percentage (41.72%), women (57.21%), and age, students in 13 years (33.63%). With respect to the place of origin, who live in the municipality of Guadalajara were more constant (65.3%).Women identified most acts of violence in interpersonal relationships in the classroom. The disruption is most commonly followed by verbal violence.

This paper examines whether country implementation of a public health treaty is influenced by the implementation behaviors of other countries to which they have network ties. We examine implementation of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) adopted by the World Health Organization in 2003 and ratified by approximately 94% of countries as of 2016. We constructed five networks: (1) geographic distance, (2) general trade, (3) tobacco trade, (4) GLOBALink referrals, and (5) GLOBALink co-subscriptions. Network exposure terms were constructed from these networks based on the implementation scores for six articles of the FCTC treaty. We estimate effects using a lagged Type 1 Tobit model. Results show that network effects were significant: (a) across all networks for article 6 (pricing and taxation), (b) distance, general trade, GL referrals, and GL co-subscriptions for article 8 (second hand smoke), (c) distance, general trade, and GL co-subscriptions for article 11 (packaging and labeling), and (d) distance and GL co-subscription for article 13 (promotion and advertising), (e) tobacco trade and GL co-subscriptions for article 14 (cessation). These results indicate that diffusion effects were more prevalent for pricing and taxation as well as restrictions on smoking in public places and packaging and labeling. These results suggest that network influences are possible in domains that are amenable to control by national governments but unlikely to occur in domains established by existing regulatory systems. Implications for future studies of policy implementation are discussed.

Background: Vaccines comprising recombinant subunit proteins are well-suited to low-cost and high-volume production for global use. The design of manufacturing processes to produce subunit vaccines depends, however, on the inherent biophysical traits presented by an individual antigen of interest. New candidate antigens typically require developing custom processes for each one and may require unique steps to ensure sufficient yields without product-related variants. Results: We describe a holistic approach for the molecular design of recombinant protein antigens—considering both their manufacturability and antigenicity—informed by bioinformatic analyses such as RNA-seq, ribosome profiling, and sequence-based prediction tools. We demonstrate this approach by engineering the product sequences of a trivalent non-replicating rotavirus vaccine (NRRV) candidate to improve titers and mitigate product variants caused by N-terminal truncation, hypermannosylation, and aggregation. The three engineered NRRV antigens retained their original antigenicity and immunogenicity, while their improved manufacturability enabled concomitant production and purification of all three serotypes in a single, end-to-end perfusion-based process using the biotechnical yeast Komagataella phaffii. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that molecular engineering of subunit antigens using advanced genomic methods can facilitate their manufacturing in continuous production. Such capabilities have potential to lower the cost and volumetric requirements in manufacturing vaccines based on recombinant protein subunits. Instituto de Virología Fil: Dalvie, Neil C. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Chemical Engineering; Estados Unidos Fil: Dalvie, Neil C. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research; Estados Unidos Fil: Brady, Joseph R. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Chemical Engineering; Estados Unidos Fil: Brady, Joseph R. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research; Estados Unidos Fil: Crowell, Laura E. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Chemical Engineering; Estados Unidos Fil: Crowell, Laura E. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research; Estados Unidos Fil: Tracey, Mary Kate. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research; Estados Unidos Fil: Biedermann, Andrew M. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Chemical Engineering; Estados Unidos Fil: Biedermann, Andrew M. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research; Estados Unidos Fil: Kaur, Kawaljit. University of Kansas. Vaccine Analytics and Formulation Center. Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry; Estados Unidos Fil: Hickey, John M. University of Kansas. Vaccine Analytics and Formulation Center. Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry; Estados Unidos Fil: Kristensen II, D. Lee. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research; Estados Unidos Fil: Bonnyman, Alexandra D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Chemical Engineering; Estados Unidos Fil: Bonnyman, Alexandra D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research; Estados Unidos Fil: Rodriguez-Aponte, Sergio A. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research; Estados Unidos Fil: Rodriguez-Aponte, Sergio A. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Biological Engineering; Estados Unidos Fil: Whittaker, Charles A. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research; Estados Unidos Fil: Bok, Marina. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Virología; Argentina Fil: Bok, Marina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina Fil: Vega, Celina Guadalupe. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Virología; Argentina Fil: Vega, Celina Guadalupe. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina Fil: Mukhopadhyay, Tarit K. University College London. Department of Biochemical Engineering; Reino Unidos Fil: Joshi, Sangeeta B. University of Kansas. Vaccine Analytics and Formulation Center. Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry; Estados Unidos Fil: Volkin, David B. University of Kansas. Vaccine Analytics and Formulation Center. Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry; Estados Unidos Fil: Parreño, Gladys Viviana. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Virología; Argentina Fil: Parreño, Gladys Viviana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina Fil: Love, Kerry R. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Chemical Engineering; Estados Unidos Fil: Love, Kerry R. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research; Estados Unidos Fil: Love, J. Christopher. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Chemical Engineering; Estados Unidos Fil: Love, J. Christopher. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research; Estados Unidos

The alpaca is a very important social and economic resource for the production of fibre and meat for Andean communities. Peru is the main producer of alpacas. Group A rotavirus (RVA) has been sporadically detected in alpacas. In this study, a total of 1423 faecal samples from alpacas from different locations of the Puno department in Peru were collected and analysed by an antigen-capture ELISA in order to detect RVA. Four per cent of the samples were RVA-positive (57/1423). The genotype constellation of three selected alpaca RVA strains were G3/8 P[1/14]-I2-R2/5-C2/3-M2/3-A17-N2/3-T6-E3-H3. Two of the analysed strains presented a bovine-like genotype constellation, whereas the third strain presented six segments belonging to the AU-1-like genogroup (G3, M3, C3, N3, T3 and E3), suggesting reassorting events. Monitoring of the sanitary health of juvenile alpacas is essential to reduce the rates of neonatal mortality and for the development of preventive health strategies.