854 research outputs found
Decision Usefulness of Goodwill in Financial Statement Reporting
The subsequent accounting for goodwill has been and continues to be debated among standard setters, financial statement users, and the academic community. Accounting guidance surrounding the subsequent accounting for goodwill has been amended over the past 2 decades to address cost and complexity, comparability, and faithful representation. This study attempted to determine if faithful representation of goodwill improved with the passage of ASU 2011–04, which amended SFAS 142 and could be adopted by companies with fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2011. ASU 2011–04 offered a qualitative assessment of the faithful representation of goodwill based on certain events and circumstances prior to performing the two-step quantitative test. The researcher determined the existence and strength of the relationship between the recognition of impairment expense and two indicators of the impairment of goodwill upon the acquisition of a target company. The two impairment indicators included the use of common stock as consideration for the purchase price and the percentage of the purchase price recognized as goodwill. The results of the study showed that the use of common stock as consideration for the purchase price continued to be an indicator of impairment expense and, therefore, the value of goodwill was faithfully represented. However, the results of the study showed that the percentage of the purchase price allocated to goodwill had a smaller than typical relationship with impairment expense, which indicated that faithful representation under ASU 2011–08 had declined
Piezoelectric and optical setup to measure an electrical field: Application to the longitudinal near-field generated by a tapered coax
We propose a new setup to measure an electrical field in one direction. This
setup is made of a piezoelectric sintered lead zinconate titanate film and an
optical interferometric probe. We used this setup to investigate how the shape
of the extremity of a coaxial cable influences the longitudinal electrical
near-field generated by it. For this application, we designed our setup to have
a spatial resolution of 100 um in the direction of the electrical field.
Simulations and experiments are presented
Towards Integration of CAx Systems and a Multiple-View Product Modeller in Mechanical Design
This paper deals with the development of an integration framework and its implementation for the connexion of CAx systems and multiple-view product modelling. The integration framework is presented regarding its conceptual level and the implementation level is described currently with the connexion of a functional modeller, a multiple-view product modeller, an optimisation module and a CAD system. The integration between the multiple-view product modeller and CATIA V5 based on the STEP standard is described in detail. Finally, the presented works are discussed and future research developments are suggested.
Forces on Dust Grains Exposed to Anisotropic Interstellar Radiation Fields
Grains exposed to anisotropic radiation fields are subjected to forces due to
the asymmetric photon-stimulated ejection of particles. These forces act in
addition to the ``radiation pressure'' due to absorption and scattering. Here
we model the forces due to photoelectron emission and the photodesorption of
adatoms. The ``photoelectric'' force depends on the ambient conditions relevant
to grain charging. We find that it is comparable to the radiation pressure when
the grain potential is relatively low and the radiation spectrum is relatively
hard. The calculation of the ``photodesorption'' force is highly uncertain,
since the surface physics and chemsitry of grain materials are poorly
understood at present. For our simple yet plausible model, the photodesorption
force dominates the radiation pressure for grains with size >~0.1 micron
exposed to starlight from OB stars. We find that the anisotropy of the
interstellar radiation field is ~10% in the visible and ultraviolet. We
estimate size-dependent drift speeds for grains in the cold and warm neutral
media and find that micron-sized grains could potentially be moved across a
diffuse cloud during its lifetime.Comment: LaTeX(41 pages, 19 figures), submitted to Ap
Correlated electron emission in laser-induced nonsequence double ionization of Helium
In this paper, we have investigated the correlated electron emission of the
nonsequence double ionization (NSDI) in an intense linearly polarized field.
The theoretical model we employed is the semiclassical rescattering model, the
model atom we used is the helium. We find a significant correlation between
magnitude and direction of the momentum of two emission electrons, and give a
good explanation for this striking phenomenon by observing the classical
collisional trajectories. We argue that this correlation phenomenon is
universal in NSDI process, as revealed by the recent experiment on the argon.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
Photometric Redshift Estimation Using Spectral Connectivity Analysis
The development of fast and accurate methods of photometric redshift
estimation is a vital step towards being able to fully utilize the data of
next-generation surveys within precision cosmology. In this paper we apply a
specific approach to spectral connectivity analysis (SCA; Lee & Wasserman 2009)
called diffusion map. SCA is a class of non-linear techniques for transforming
observed data (e.g., photometric colours for each galaxy, where the data lie on
a complex subset of p-dimensional space) to a simpler, more natural coordinate
system wherein we apply regression to make redshift predictions. As SCA relies
upon eigen-decomposition, our training set size is limited to ~ 10,000
galaxies; we use the Nystrom extension to quickly estimate diffusion
coordinates for objects not in the training set. We apply our method to 350,738
SDSS main sample galaxies, 29,816 SDSS luminous red galaxies, and 5,223
galaxies from DEEP2 with CFHTLS ugriz photometry. For all three datasets, we
achieve prediction accuracies on par with previous analyses, and find that use
of the Nystrom extension leads to a negligible loss of prediction accuracy
relative to that achieved with the training sets. As in some previous analyses
(e.g., Collister & Lahav 2004, Ball et al. 2008), we observe that our
predictions are generally too high (low) in the low (high) redshift regimes. We
demonstrate that this is a manifestation of attenuation bias, wherein
measurement error (i.e., uncertainty in diffusion coordinates due to
uncertainty in the measured fluxes/magnitudes) reduces the slope of the
best-fit regression line. Mitigation of this bias is necessary if we are to use
photometric redshift estimates produced by computationally efficient empirical
methods in precision cosmology.Comment: Resubmitted to MNRAS (11 pages, 8 figures
Atmospheric aerosols at the Pierre Auger Observatory and environmental implications
The Pierre Auger Observatory detects the highest energy cosmic rays.
Calorimetric measurements of extensive air showers induced by cosmic rays are
performed with a fluorescence detector. Thus, one of the main challenges is the
atmospheric monitoring, especially for aerosols in suspension in the
atmosphere. Several methods are described which have been developed to measure
the aerosol optical depth profile and aerosol phase function, using lasers and
other light sources as recorded by the fluorescence detector. The origin of
atmospheric aerosols traveling through the Auger site is also presented,
highlighting the effect of surrounding areas to atmospheric properties. In the
aim to extend the Pierre Auger Observatory to an atmospheric research platform,
a discussion about a collaborative project is presented.Comment: Regular Article, 16 pages, 12 figure
Production, characterization, and antigen specificity of recombinant 62-71-3, a candidate monoclonal antibody for rabies prophylaxis in humans
Rabies kills many people throughout the developing world every year. The murine monoclonal antibody (mAb) 62-71-3 was recently identified for its potential application in rabies postexposure prophylaxis (PEP). The purpose here was to establish a plant-based production system for a chimeric mouse-human version of mAb 62-71-3, to characterize the recombinant antibody and investigate at a molecular level its interaction with rabies virus glycoprotein. Chimeric 62-71-3 was successfully expressed in Nicotiana benthamiana. Glycosylation was analyzed by mass spectroscopy; functionality was confirmed by antigen ELISA, as well as rabies and pseudotype virus neutralization. Epitope characterization was performed using pseudotype virus expressing mutagenized rabies glycoproteins. Purified mAb demonstrated potent viral neutralization at 500 IU/mg. A critical role for antigenic site I of the glycoprotein, as well as for two specific amino acid residues (K226 and G229) within site I, was identified with regard to mAb 62-71-3 neutralization. Pseudotype viruses expressing glycoprotein from lyssaviruses known not to be neutralized by this antibody were the controls. The results provide the molecular rationale for developing 62-71-3 mAb for rabies PEP; they also establish the basis for developing an inexpensive plant-based antibody product to benefit low-income families in developing countries.—Both, L., van Dolleweerd, C., Wright, E., Banyard, A. C., Bulmer-Thomas, B., Selden, D., Altmann, F., Fooks, A. R., Ma, J. K.-C. Production, characterization, and antigen specificity of recombinant 62-71-3, a candidate monoclonal antibody for rabies prophylaxis in humans
Full potential LAPW calculation of electron momentum density and related properties of Li
Electron momentum density and Compton profiles in Lithium along , and directions are calculated using Full-Potential Linear
Augmented Plane Wave basis within generalized gradient approximation. The
profiles have been corrected for correlations with Lam-Platzman formulation
using self-consistent charge density. The first and second derivatives of
Compton profiles are studied to investigate the Fermi surface breaks. Decent
agreement is observed between recent experimental and our calculated values.
Our values for the derivatives are found to be in better agreement with
experiments than earlier theoretical results. Two-photon momentum density and
one- and two-dimensional angular correlation of positron annihilation radiation
are also calculated within the same formalism and including the
electron-positron enhancement factor.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures TO appear in Physical Review
Wearable Haptic Devices for Gait Re-education by Rhythmic Haptic Cueing
This research explores the development and evaluation of wearable haptic devices for gait sensing and rhythmic haptic cueing in the context of gait re-education for people with neurological and neurodegenerative conditions. Many people with long-term neurological and neurodegenerative conditions such as Stroke, Brain Injury, Multiple Sclerosis or Parkinson’s disease suffer from impaired walking gait pattern. Gait improvement can lead to better fluidity in walking, improved health outcomes, greater independence, and enhanced quality of life. Existing lab-based studies with wearable devices have shown that rhythmic haptic cueing can cause immediate improvements to gait features such as temporal symmetry, stride length, and walking speed. However, current wearable systems are unsuitable for self-managed use for in-the-wild applications with people having such conditions. This work aims to investigate the research question of how wearable haptic devices can help in long-term gait re-education using rhythmic haptic cueing. A longitudinal pilot study has been conducted with a brain trauma survivor, providing rhythmic haptic cueing using a wearable haptic device as a therapeutic intervention for a two-week period. Preliminary results comparing pre and post-intervention gait measurements have shown improvements in walking speed, temporal asymmetry, and stride length. The pilot study has raised an array of issues that require further study. This work aims to develop and evaluate prototype systems through an iterative design process to make possible the self-managed use of such devices in-the-wild. These systems will directly provide therapeutic intervention for gait re-education, offer enhanced information for therapists, remotely monitor dosage adherence and inform treatment and prognoses over the long-term. This research will evaluate the use of technology from the perspective of multiple stakeholders, including clinicians, carers and patients. This work has the potential to impact clinical practice nationwide and worldwide in neuro-physiotherapy
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