The Impact of Audit Committee and External Auditor Characteristics on Financial Reporting Quality among Malaysian Firms

The quality of a financial reporting system is highly dependent upon the mechanism of corporate governance, such as effectiveness of the audit committee, external audit, financial expertise and board structure. This study examines the relationship between audit committee characteristics and external auditors’ characteristics (independent variables) and financial reporting quality (dependent variable). The study used a sample of firms from Bursa Malaysia, explicitly the top 100 performing firms according to the Bursa Malaysia stock exchange. The analysis of annual reports proves that audit committee (independence, expertise, and diligence) has the prediction capability to financial reporting quality. However, results indicate that industry leadership has significant impact on financial reporting quality, but on the other hand, large audit firms do not have any significant effect on financial reporting quality. This study adds to the knowledge of audit committee practices and procedures in accounting literature regarding the Malaysian context. The results of this study cannot be generalized because the study used the top 100 performing firms from Malaysia irrespective of particular industries. The results of this study might be changed if future researches use different sets of sample firms. Keywords: Audit committee, external auditor, financial reporting quality, Discretionary Accrual

An Enhanced Partial Transmit Sequence Based on Combining Hadamard Matrix and Partitioning Schemes in OFDM Systems

The partial transmit sequence (PTS) considered as one of the efficient approaches to restrain the high peak to average-power ratio (PAPR) in orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) frameworks. PTS relied on partitioning the input data block and rotate them with a set of the phase vectors. In this study, a novel technique is suggested to improve the PAPR reduction performance in the PTS technique by combining Hadamard matrix and the popular kinds of the partitioning schemes interleaving scheme (IL-PTS), adjacent scheme (Ad-PTS), and pseudo-random scheme (PR-PTS). The new approach employed Hadamard matrix to change some of the subcarrier phases of the partitioning scheme in the frequency-domain. The simulation results demonstrated that the new method improved the PAPR diminishment performance better than that of the PR-PTS and Ad-PTS. However, the proposed method achieved the same PAPR performance compared with the IL-PTS scheme

A Move Towards Focused Parathyroidectomy in BSMMU Even Under Local Anesthesia

Parathyroidectomy needs skill and experience for its tiny size and variation in number and location. The retrospective quasi-experimental study of 26 parathyroid operations was done in endocrine surgery unit of BSMMU during October 1994 to March 2007. All patients were within 31 to 50 years of age with female preponderance (M:F=1:5.5). All the patients had primary hyperparathyroidism diagnosed biochemically with variable rise of serum calcium and serum intact parathormone level and finally proved as single parathyroid adenoma after surgery. Different preoperative localization tests were done in 22 patients with positive impression in all except 2 (7.69%) sestamibi scan. The sestamibi scan showed 50% (2/4) negative impression which, later on, was proved as 100% false negative at surgery. Bilateral neck exploration (BNE) was done on 18 patients with 94.44% success of surgery and ‘focused' parathyroidectomy by unilateral neck exploration (UNE) was done on 7 patients of whom 4 underwent local anaesthesia with 100% success of gland removal. Temporary postoperative hypocalcaemia was observed in 22 patients. Full recovery from hypocalcaemia was in 20 (90.90%) patients though 2 (7.69%) patients with late diagnosis showed irreversible outcome not due to surgery but due to postoperative complex renal and cardiovascular deterioration. Focused parathyroidectomy can be safely done even under local anaesthesia in tertiary hospital. Key words: Primary hyperparathyroidism; preoperative localization; focused parathyroidectomy; local anaesthesia.DOI: 10.3329/bsmmuj.v2i1.3708 BSMMU J 2009; 2(1): 31-3

Prevalence of Obesity among Students in Private and Public high Schools in Sulaimani City

Background: There is an increasing concern about obesity among children and adolescents worldwide as they constitute 20% of the world population. Several predisposing factors are contributing to the obesity that can be monitored, particularly healthy diet and physical activities. Addressing those factors among children and adolescents lead to decreasing health related conditions. Objective: To investigate the prevalence rate of obesity, sociodemographic, dietary habits, lifestyle and knowledge factors among adolescents attending private and public schools in Sulaimani city, Iraq. Patients and Methods: Through a school-based cross-sectional study from October 2021 to April 2022, a total of 576 students in high schools located in Sulaimani city, Kurdistan Region, Iraq were studied. A structured questionnaire was used to collect information on students’ sociodemographic characteristics, physical activities, dietary habits and knowledge. Body mass index was measured based on WHO Growth Reference for 5 to 19 years of age. Results: The obesity prevalence rate in private schools (36.11%) was higher than public schools (31.6%) (P=0.5890) however, the difference was not statistically significant. The majority of students in private schools exercised more frequently and for a longer duration; however, they ate more red meat, less dairy produce and had a higher fast food intake. Conclusion: The prevalence of obesity is slightly higher among students in private schools than the students in public schools

Zero-Padding techniques in OFDM systems

Although the OFDM system has been gaining importance in recent years, the high peak to average power ratio is considered the main limitation of the system. The oversampling operation in the frequency-domain plays an essential role in the PAPR calculations precisely. The main purpose of the paper to draw attention to zero-padding methods which are used to oversampled baseband OFDM signals. Moreover, to study the influence of the zero-padding methods on the accuracy of the PAPR calculations, and the spectral spreading of the OFDM signals. Simulation results show that the zero-padding method which inserts the zeros at the center of the baseband OFDM signal is better than the other zero-padding methods in terms of both accuracy PAPR calculations and spectral distributio

A New Subblock Segmentation Scheme in Partial Transmit Sequence for Reducing PAPR Value in OFDM Systems

Partial transmit sequence (PTS) is considered an efficient algorithm to alleviate the high peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) in orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems. The PTS technique is depended on the partitioning the input data sequence into the several subblocks, and then weighting these subblocks with a group of the phase factors. There are three common types of partitioning schemes: interleaving scheme (IL-PTS), adjacent scheme (Ad-PTS), and pseudo-random scheme (PR-PTS). The three conventional partitioning schemes have various performances of the PAPR value and the computational complexity pattern which are considered the main problems of the OFDM system. In this paper, the three ordinary partition schemes are analyzed and discussed depending on the capability of reducing the PAPR value and the computational complexity. Furthermore, new partitioning scheme is introduced in order to improve the PAPR reduction performance. The simulation results indicated that the PR-PTS scheme could achieve the superiority in PAPR mitigation compared with the rest of the schemes at the expense of increasing the computational complexity. Furthermore, the new segmentation scheme improved the PAPR reduction performance better than that the Ad-PTS and IL-PTS schemes

One-Pot Synthesis, Pharmacological Evaluation, Docking Study, and DFT Calculations for Selected Imidazolidine-2,4-Diones

The title compounds with different 5-substituted imidazolidine-2,4-dione were synthesized through a solvent-free reaction. Imidazolidine-2,4-dione derivatives are found to be an active pharmacophore for design and development of various bioactive lead compounds.  Positive values of energy obtained for compound 1and 3, while a negative value for compound 2 was calculated by DFT in Gaussian. keto-enol tautomerism was supported by energy values  and indicated the most stable tautomeric form. The biological evaluation has been supported by docking studies using molecular operating environment program to show binding with androgen receptor.  Supplementary Materials: https://sjuoz.uoz.edu.krd/suppm

Inhibition of lysyl oxidases synergizes with 5-azacytidine to restore erythropoiesis in myelodysplastic and myeloid malignancies

Limited response rates and frequent relapses during standard of care with hypomethylating agents in myelodysplastic neoplasms (MN) require urgent improvement of this treatment indication. Here, by combining 5-azacytidine (5-AZA) with the pan-lysyl oxidase inhibitor PXS-5505, we demonstrate superior restoration of erythroid differentiation in hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) of MN patients in 20/31 cases (65%) versus 9/31 cases (29%) treated with 5-AZA alone. This effect requires direct contact of HSPCs with bone marrow stroma components and is dependent on integrin signaling. We further confirm these results in vivo using a bone marrow niche-dependent MN xenograft model in female NSG mice, in which we additionally demonstrate an enforced reduction of dominant clones as well as significant attenuation of disease expansion and normalization of spleen sizes. Overall, these results lay out a strong pre-clinical rationale for efficacy of combination treatment of 5-AZA with PXS-5505 especially for anemic MN

Textual Transformations in Contemporary Black Writing in Britain

While the first wave of Caribbean immigrant writers brilliantly explored race-related issues, black Britons like Andrea Levy, Zadie Smith and Caryl Phillips, among others, have sought to depart from earlier fiction, motivated in their project by the changing white face of Britain. In this article, I would like to argue that cultural change in Britain has deeply influenced literary production and has, consequently, laid the ground for a series of textual transformations. To capture instances of creative excess in contemporary black writing in Britain, I will bring under examination Caryl Phillips’s (2009) novel In the Falling Snow. My intention is to show to what extent Phillips’s work surpasses the ‘noose of race’ and already-familiar representations of multicultural Britain to celebrate a ‘post-racial’ society