1,721,059 research outputs found
From enforcement to financial reporting controls (FRCs): a country-level composite indicator
No full textThis paper proposes a broad measure of the country-level intensity of the main monitoring activities that are likely to affect financial reporting quality. The overall indicator (FRC) is a composite indicator combining three components, which measure the intensity of three different financial reporting controls (FRCs) exercised through corporate governance, audit, and enforcement. The indicator design adds to country measures used in accounting research in several ways. First, it employs recent process-oriented data to capture the intensity of controls in a regulatory context that is characterized by increasing harmonization. Process data can be updated periodically, and thus is also suitable for longitudinal analyses. Additionally, the development of the FRC indicator applies standard techniques for constructing composite indicators without a priori assumptions and weights. The paper presents the values of the FRC indicator in 17 European countries, revealing a diversified mix of FRC intensity across Europe. Our analysis shows that the three domain-specific indicators, which can also be used separately, measure different aspects of the intensity of financial reporting controls rather than an overall country attribute. Consistency analyses also show that the FRC indicator is not capturing a latent construct of financial reporting quality present in other metrics, thus providing support for its innovative use in cross-country accounting research
A Hierarchical Bayesian Model for the Analysis of Spatio-Temporal Variation in Disease Risk
No full textEmotional response to fruit salads with different visual quality.
No full textFruit salads were stored for increasing time up to 10 days and submitted to emotion analysis by using 300 Italian mother language consumers. Samples were assessed for their quality level by analyzing fruit browning, microbiological count, and overall visual acceptability. Less liked or disliked fruit salads changed the emotional status of the participants. Participants felt significantly less peaceful, friendly and eager but more aggressive, sad and disgusted in the presence of the spoiled fruit salads. The correlation between food quality and elicited emotions suggests their potential use as indicators in shelf life testing
Air pollution and lung cancer in Trieste, Italy: spatial analysis of risk as a function of distance from sources
No full textTo investigate the relationship between four sources of environmental pollution (shipyard, iron foundry, incinerator, and city center) and lung cancer risk, we conducted a case-control study of deceased men in Trieste, Italy. We identified 755 cases of lung cancer and 755 controls through the local autopsy registry. Information on smoking habits, occupational history, and place of residence were obtained from the subject's next of kin. The case-control design was used to properly account for subject-specific confounders, which represent a major problem in geographical analysis. Spatial models were used to evaluate the effect of sources of pollution on lung cancer after adjustment for age, smoking habits, likelihood of exposure to occupational carcinogens, and levels of air particulate. The models are based on distance from the sources and enable estimation of the risk gradient and directional effects separately for each source. The risk of lung cancer was highly related to the city center (p = 0.0243), with an excess relative risk at zero distance of 2.2 and a smooth decrease moving away from the source (-0.015), and related to the incinerator (p = 0.0098), with an excess relative risk of 6.7 in the source and a very steep decrease (-0.176). These results are consistent with findings of previous analyses and provide further evidence that air pollution is a moderate risk factor of lung cancer
Risks and pitfalls of sensory data analysis for shelf life prediction: data simulation applied to the case of coffee
No full textShelf life determination by means of sensory analysis is thought to be of paramount importance even in case of a microbiologically stable food. Several approaches are found in literature, both in terms of data collection and data processing. Whatever method is used, the subjectivity in the choice of some parameters for data collection and analysis can deeply influence the final result. We put in evidence some typical pitfalls that the researcher should avoid when planning the test and analysing data. A comparison between the most utilized techniques in sensory data processing for shelf life prediction is reported, taking as a fil rouge the case of coffee. In particular, a non-linear regression, a logistic regression and a survival models were applied to simulated data frames of coffee. We evaluated the influence of the choice of acceptability limits, as well as the effect of data variability and we found out that they strongly influence predictions, as well as the panel and the batch of product do. We suggest that in case of microbiologically stable food, like coffee, shelf life is not univocal and it is a choice of the company or the researcher, rather than the result of the interaction between product and consumer. (C) 2008 Swiss Society of Food Science and Technolog
Bacillus cereus heat resistance as affected by sporulation conditions: colony density and medium structure
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