4,921 research outputs found
RDLS-SS-DWT v. 0.9
No full textThis fileset contains the implementation of RDLS-DWT and SS-DWT in JPEG 2000 (RDLS-SS-DWT v. 0.9), which was used in a research described in: R. Starosolski, “Application of reversible denoising and lifting steps to DWT in lossless JPEG 2000 for improved bitrates,” Signal Processing: Image Communication, Vol. 39, Part A, pp. 249-63, DOI: 10.1016/j.image.2015.09.013, 2015 and R. Starosolski, “Skipping selected steps of DWT computation in lossless JPEG 2000 for improved bitrates,” submitted. This software is intended for research purposes only; it is provided "as is"; author makes no warranty of any kind, either express or implied, with respect to this software. <br
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Corporate social responsibility reporting amongst petrochemical firms in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA): practice and perception
No full textThe purpose of this study is to look into the disclosure of corporate social responsibility (CSRD) in the context of petrochemical companies in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). In doing so, it responds to a gap in the literature by addressing four main research questions including: 1) In the Saudi petrochemical companies' annual reports, what is the extent and nature of CSRD ?. 2) To what extent did CSRD increase in volume over the period 2012-2017 in the annual reports of the Saudi petrochemical companies? 3) What are the institutional drivers which may drive trends of CSR disclosure in KSA petrochemical sector? 4) What is the relationship between CSRD of petrochemical companies operating in KSA and firm performance? The study is the first to examine the Islamic context, particularly the link among CSRD and company performance in the context of the Saudi petrochemical sector to see how the study assess the patterns, drivers and implications of CSR disclosure in KSA petrochemical sector.
The study applied institutional theory to understand the drivers and pressures that may have the impact on CSRD trends by considering the multilevel forces to answer the aforementioned research questions relating to the practice and perception of CSRD in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Institutional theory is used to describe a broader aspect of an organisation form used to adopt legitimacy. However, the author focused on the multilevel model of Institutional Forces and the Drivers for KSA' Petrochemical Industry from the institutional theory angle. The Institutional Forces (Coercive, Memetic, and Normative) have demonstrated how pressures interact and interfere with each other at the same level and at times between several levels, as well as how the strength and influence of each pressure varies depending on the level in which it is placed. For instance, in the study the influence of institutional pressures was investigated at four distinct levels including the global industry, national, and company levels. At all the levels, three institutional pressures were evident. Sharia Law emerged as a coercive pressure at all the four levels. On the other hand, reporting initiative, as a mimetic pressure was evident across the levels. Ethics emerged as a normative force at all the levels. The most apparent conclusion is that the Islamic culture, which has its origins in Sharia law, has a significant impact on the petrochemical sector in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The extent and nature of CSRD in the sector was investigated by applying quantitative content analysis to the annual reports published by six sampled companies over the period 2012-2017. The resulting word counts gave an initial overview of general trends in overall CSRD and the four selected disclosure categories (environmental, social, human resources and products and services disclosure). These data were then subjected to descriptive, correlation and regression analysis to test the hypothesised link between CSRD and financial performance.
The quantitative findings revealed that all the sampled companies engaged in all four categories of disclosure, and that the volume of this disclosure rose over the study period. Furthermore, a significant positive link was found between CSRD and financial performance over six years, as measured in Return on Assets (ROA), Net Profit Margin (NPM) and Tobin's q. The analysis of the link between CSRD and ROA, NPM and TBQ showed that all the disclosure categories impacted on financial performance in different ways, with environmental and social disclosure having the greatest impact on ROA and environmental and human resources disclosure having the greatest impact on ROE. All disclosure categories were positively correlated with TBQ. The positive relationships help to assess the patterns, drivers and implications of CSRD disclosure in KSA petrochemical sector. The results thus support the hypothesis that there is a relationship between CSRD and financial performance over the period 2012 to 2017
SS Northland Echo
No full textPhotograph - A view of the steamboat, SS Northland Echo on the Athabasca River. Athabasca, Albert
SS Athabasca River - 02
No full textPhotograph - A view of the SS Athabasca River paddle steamer on the river, Athabasca, Albert
RIC-HSCT for MF/SS
No full textAdvanced-stage mycosis fungoides and Sezary syndrome (MF/SS) have a poor prognosis. Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), particularly using a reduced-intensity conditioning (RIC) regimen, is a promising treatment for advanced-stage MF/SS. We performed RIC-HSCT in nine patients with advanced MF/SS. With a median follow-up period of 954days after HSCT, the estimated 3-year overall survival was 85.7% (95% confidence interval, 33.4-97.9%) with no non-relapse mortality. Five patients relapsed after RIC-HSCT; however, in four patients whose relapse was detected only from the skin, persistent complete response was achieved in one patient, and the disease was manageable in other three patients by the tapering of immunosuppressants and donor lymphocyte infusion, suggesting that graft-versus-lymphoma effect and "down-staging" effect from advanced stage to early stage by HSCT improve the prognosis of advanced-stage MF/SS. These results suggest that RIC-HSCT is an effective treatment for advanced MF/SS
SS Northland Sun at Mirror Landing, AB
No full textPhotograph - The paddle-wheeler, SS Northland Sun, docked at shore in Mirror Landing, Albert
SS Northland Light at Sawridge, AB
No full textPhotograph - Paddle-wheeler, SS Northland Light, docked at the shore. Sawridge, A
Experimental Performance of Single-Slope Basin Solar Still Coupled with a Humidification–Dehumidification Cycle
No full textDespite their low distillate yield, single-slope basin solar stills incorporate a simple and cheap technique to secure potable water in arid and rural areas away from fresh water resources and the power grid. Nevertheless, recovering a portion of the inevitable thermal losses from the still will significantly contribute to enhancing its daily distillate productivity and thermal performance. In this manuscript, the latent heat of condensation in single-slope basin solar still was partially recovered and utilized as the thermal energy source for an auxiliary humidification–dehumidification (HDH) distillation cycle. The thermal performance of the resultant SS-HDH distiller was experimentally tested side by side with a separate single-slope basin still of the same basin area. The results showed an increase of about 2 L/m2 in the daily distillate production of the SS-HDH distiller over that of the conventional single-slope basin still. In addition, the thermal efficiency of the SS-HDH distiller was 57% greater than that of the conventional single-slope basin still
That's 'é' not 'þ' '?' or '☐': a user-driven context-aware approach to erroneous metadata in digital libraries
No full textIn this paper we present a novel system for user-driven integration of name variants when interacting with web-based information systems. The growth and diversity of online information means that many users experience disambiguation and collocation errors in their information searching. We approach these issues via a client-side JavaScript browser extension that can reorganise web content and also integrate remote data sources. The system is illustrated through three worked examples using existing digital libraries
SS-Sonderkommando Bełżec. Portret zbiorowy
No full textSS-SONDERKOMMANDO BELZEC. A COLLECTIVE PORTRAIT The subject-matter of this paper’s analysis revolves around the members of SS and German police who, during the 1941–1943 period, belonged to SS-Sonderkommando Belzec or Dienstelle Belzec der Waffen SS — as the extermination camp in Belzec was officially known. It was the first center of “Action Reinhardt,” implemented in the General Government and in Białystok District, in which around four hundred fifty thousand Jews were murdered by the Nazis. In writing of this article its author used documents from German and Polish archives, scholarly and popular literature on the subject and memories. These sources served as a foundation on the basis of which the attempt to create a collective portrait of perpetrators was undertaken. The author of the article, as it is accepted in historiography, based his conclusions on thirty seven members of SS-Sonderkommando Belzec who were at least temporarily employed in the camp — during its building, its operation, the extermination or the erasing of traces. The article analyzes the age of the members of Belzec camp’s personnel, their nationality and birthplace, education, participation in National Socialist organizations, engagement in “T4” action and — in the widest possible terms — participation in the Holocaust. The article describes the process of selection to the SS crew, the principles governing the assignation of functions and duties in the camp, the exchange of members between different centers of “Action Reinhardt,” their future fate and the question of their postwar legal punishment. More attention is paid to two commandants, i.e. Christian Wirth and Gottlieb Hering. The article indicates the similarities and differences between them, their impact on the camp’s operation and their influence over other members of SS-Sonderkommando Belzec.SS-SONDERKOMMANDO BELZEC. A COLLECTIVE PORTRAIT The subject-matter of this paper’s analysis revolves around the members of SS and German police who, during the 1941–1943 period, belonged to SS-Sonderkommando Belzec or Dienstelle Belzec der Waffen SS — as the extermination camp in Belzec was officially known. It was the first center of “Action Reinhardt,” implemented in the General Government and in Białystok District, in which around four hundred fifty thousand Jews were murdered by the Nazis. In writing of this article its author used documents from German and Polish archives, scholarly and popular literature on the subject and memories. These sources served as a foundation on the basis of which the attempt to create a collective portrait of perpetrators was undertaken. The author of the article, as it is accepted in historiography, based his conclusions on thirty seven members of SS-Sonderkommando Belzec who were at least temporarily employed in the camp — during its building, its operation, the extermination or the erasing of traces. The article analyzes the age of the members of Belzec camp’s personnel, their nationality and birthplace, education, participation in National Socialist organizations, engagement in “T4” action and — in the widest possible terms — participation in the Holocaust. The article describes the process of selection to the SS crew, the principles governing the assignation of functions and duties in the camp, the exchange of members between different centers of “Action Reinhardt,” their future fate and the question of their postwar legal punishment. More attention is paid to two commandants, i.e. Christian Wirth and Gottlieb Hering. The article indicates the similarities and differences between them, their impact on the camp’s operation and their influence over other members of SS-Sonderkommando Belzec
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