Extracting Hierarchies of Search Tasks & Subtasks via a Bayesian Nonparametric Approach

A significant amount of search queries originate from some real world information need or tasks. In order to improve the search experience of the end users, it is important to have accurate representations of tasks. As a result, significant amount of research has been devoted to extracting proper representations of tasks in order to enable search systems to help users complete their tasks, as well as providing the end user with better query suggestions, for better recommendations, for satisfaction prediction, and for improved personalization in terms of tasks. Most existing task extraction methodologies focus on representing tasks as flat structures. However, tasks often tend to have multiple subtasks associated with them and a more naturalistic representation of tasks would be in terms of a hierarchy, where each task can be composed of multiple (sub)tasks. To this end, we propose an efficient Bayesian nonparametric model for extracting hierarchies of such tasks \& subtasks. We evaluate our method based on real world query log data both through quantitative and crowdsourced experiments and highlight the importance of considering task/subtask hierarchies.Comment: 10 pages. Accepted at SIGIR 2017 as a full pape

An Interpretive Analysis of how Audit Quality is Perceived in Economies in Transition

With the movement of many internationalaccounting firms into Egypt, and the growth of local auditfirms, it is particularly interesting, and relevant forgovernmental legislators, to study how the providers of theaudit service perceive the quality of what they do. In thissense, the purpose of this paper is to report the perceptions ofprofessional auditors in Egypt concerning how they perceivethe quality of the service they provide. The paper also analyzesdifferences between perceptions of the Big 4 audit firms andother local audit firms. Based on 28 semi-structuredinterviews, it was revealed that the interviewees generallybelieved that the audit quality is preserved high in thepresence of four factors: (1) high ethical standards to guideand regulate the profession; (2) a well planned and conductedaudit; (3) a more knowledgeable audit team; and (4) having agood relationship with the client management

Macro and Micro Earnings Manipulation: The Role of Accounting Standard Setting Process

Preparers of financial statements are in aposition to influence the view of economic reality presented inthose statements to interested parties. The term 'macromanipulation'is used to describe the lobbying of preparersagainst regulators (accounting standards setters) to persuadethem to produce regulation that is more favorable to theinterests of preparers. The aime of this paper is to introduce asuggested tool that could be used to ascertain why somefinancial accounting standards turn out to the benefit of one ofthe stakeholders involved in the process of accountingstandards setting. This paper utilizes the construct of power toreveal the influences from parties involved in the process ofaccounting standards setting. The comprehensive incomereporting standard is used in this paper as an example of thesetypes of standard that may involve 'macro-manipulation'

The Usefulness of Different Accounting Earnings Measures: The Case of Egypt

The objective of this paper is to investigate whichmeasure of accounting income (comprehensive income,operating income, or net income) is more useful to equityinvestors in explaining future earnings, future cash flows, andstock returns. This study proposes that different measures ofincome are more useful for different uses. The research isundertaken within the Egyptian environment that allowsconsiderable asset revaluations and holds the reporting ofextraordinary items. Therefore, such environment provides arich ground for testing the expected effects of reportingcomprehensive income and its components on the Egyptianinvestors. The results do not support the superiority ofcomprehensive income measures in explaining the followingperiod’s net income compared to net income. None of the fourtested measures of earnings is able to explain the followingperiod’s cash flows. Operating income is superior to the otherthree measures of income in explaining stock return

Carbon Nanoparticles-Decorated Carbon Nanotubes

© 2020, The Author(s). Multi walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were decorated by activated carbon nanoparticles of resorcinol-formaldehyde aerogels. Carbon nanospheres and MWCNTs were mixed by equal mass ratios for different durations. The products were characterized by Raman spectroscopy, thermal gravimetric analysis, nanoscanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and x-ray diffraction. The results indicated that a significant decoration with carbon nanoparticles occurred onto the MWCNTs.This publication was made possible by the NPRP award (NPRP 08-014-2-003) from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of The Qatar Foundation). The statements made herein are solely the responsibility of the authors. Technical support from the Department of Chemical Engineering, the Central Laboratories Unit (CLU) and Gas Processing Centre (GPC) at Qatar University is also acknowledged. The publication of this article was funded by the Qatar National Library