The determinants of web-based investor relations activities by companies operating in emerging economies : the case of Jordan

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

The viability of Weibull analysis of small samples in process manufacturing

This research deals with some Statistical Quality Control (SQC) methods, which are used in quality testing. It investigates the problem encountered with statistical process control (SPC) tools when small sample sizes are used. Small sample size testing is a new area of concern especially when using expensive (or large) products, which are produced in small batches (low volume production). Critical literature review and analysis of current technologies and methods in SPC with small samples testing failed to show a conformance with conventional SPC techniques, as the confidence limits for averages and standard deviation are too wide. Therefore, using such sizes will provide unsecured results with a lack in accuracy. The current research demonstrates such problems in manufacturing by using examples, in order to show the lack and the difficulties faced with conventional SPC tools (control charts). Weibull distribution has always shown a clear and acceptable prediction of failure and life behaviour with small sample size batches. Using such distribution enables the accuracy needed with small sample size to be obtained. With small sample control charts generate inaccurate confidence limits, which are low. On the contrary, Weibull theory suggests that using small samples enable achievement of accurate confidence limits. This research highlights these two aspects and explains their features in more depth. An outline of the overall problem and solution point out success of Weibull analysis when Weibull distribution is modified to overcome the problems encountered when small sample sizes are used. This work shows the viability of Weibull distribution to be used as a quality tool and construct new control charts, which will provide accurate result and detect nonconformance and variability with the use of small sample sizes. Therefore, the new proposed Weibull deduction control charts shows a successful replacement of the conventional control chart, and these new charts will compensate the errors in quality testing when using small size samples

Production of Trans-C18:1 and Conjugated Linoleic Acid Production by Ruminal Microbes in Continuous Culture Fermenters Fed Diets Containing Fish Oil and Sun Flower Oil with Decreasing Levels of Forage

Previously, feeding fish oil (FO) and sunflower seeds to dairy cows resulted in the greatest increases in the concentrations of vaccenic acid (VA, t11 C18:1) and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) in milk fat. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of forage level in diets containing FO and sunflower oil (SFO) on the production of trans C18:1 and CLA by mixed ruminal microbes. A dual-flow continuous culture system consisting of three fermenters was used in a 3 × 3 Latin-square design. Treatments consisted of (1) 75:25 forage:concentrate (HF); (2) 50:50 forage:concentrate (MF); and (3) 25:75 forage:concentrate (LF). FO and SFO were added to each diet at 1 and 2 g/100 g dry matter (DM), respectively. The forage source was alfalfa pellets. During 10-day incubations, fermenters were fed treatment diets three times daily (140 g/day, divided equally between three feedings) as TMR diet. Effluents from the last 3 days of incubation were collected and composited for analysis. The concentration of trans C18:1 (17.20, 26.60, and 36.08 mg/g DM overflow for HF, MF, and LF treatments, respectively) increased while CLA (2.53, 2.35, and 0.81 mg/g DM overflow) decreased in a linear manner ( P \u3c 0.05) as dietary forage level decreased. As dietary forage levels decreased, the concentrations of t10 C18:1 (0.0, 10.5, 33.5 mg/g DM) in effluent increased ( P \u3c 0.05) and t10c12 CLA (0.08, 0.12, 0.35 mg/g DM) tended to increases ( P \u3c 0.09) linearly. The concentrations of VA (14.7, 13.9, 0.0 mg/g DM) and c9t11 CLA (1.78, 1.52, 0.03 mg/g DM) in effluent decreased in a linear manner ( P \u3c 0.05) as dietary forage levels decreased. Decreasing dietary forage levels resulted in t10 C18:1 and t10c12 CLA replacing VA and c9t11 CLA, respectively, in fermenters fed FO and SFO

Effects of Incremental Amounts of Fish Oil on Trans Fatty Acids and Butyrivibrio Bacteria in Continuous Culture Fermenters.

Previous studies have shown that adding fish oil (FO) to ruminant animal diets increased vaccenic acid (VA; t11 C18:1) accumulation in the rumen. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of dietary FO amounts on selected strains of rumen bacteria involved in biohydrogenation. A single-flow continuous culture system consisting of four fermenters was used in a 4 × 4 Latin square design with four 9 days consecutive periods. Treatment diets were as follows: (i) control diet (53:47 forage to concentrate; CON), (ii) control plus FO at 0.5% (DM basis; FOL), (iii) control plus FO at 2% (DM basis; FOM) and (iv) control plus FO at 3.5% (DM basis; FOH). Fermenters were fed treatment diets three times daily at 120 g/day. Samples were collected from each fermenter on day 9 of each period at 1.5, 3 and 6 h post-morning feeding and then composited into one sample per fermenter. Increasing dietary FO amounts resulted in a linear decrease in acetate and isobutyrate concentrations and a linear decrease in acetate-to-propionate ratio. Propionate, butyrate, valerate and isovalerate concentrations were not affected by FO supplementation. Concentrations of C18:0 in fermenters linearly decreased, while concentrations of t10 C18:1 and VA linearly increased as dietary FO amounts increased. The concentrations of c9t11 and t10c12 conjugated linoleic acid were not affected by FO supplementation. The DNA abundance for Butyrivibrio fibrisolvens, Butyrivibrio vaccenic acid subgroup, Butyrivibrio stearic acid subgroup and Butyrivibrio proteoclasticus linearly decreased as dietary FO amounts increased. In conclusion, FO effects on trans fatty acid accumulation in the rumen may be explained in part by FO influence on Butyrivibrio group

The Effects of Cinnamaldehyde, Monensin and Quebracho Condensed Tannin on Rumen Fermentation, Biohydrogenation and Bacteria in Continuous Culture System

The objective of this experiment was to evaluate the effects of different feed additives (cinnamaldehyde, monensin, and quebracho condensed tannin extract) on fermentation, trans fatty acids (FA) formation and selected strains of rumen bacteria. Four continuous culture systems were used in 4 × 4 Latin square designs with 4 periods of 10 days each. Treatment diets were: control diet (44:56 forage to concentrate; CON), control plus cinnamaldehyde (CIN) at 400 mg/L, control plus monensin (MON) at 12 mg/L, and control with quebracho condensed tannin extract (QTAN) at 100 g/kg of diet (DM basis). Fermenters were fed treatment diets three times daily at 120 g/day and overflow (effluent) samples were collected from each fermenter on days 8, 9 and 10 of each period to estimate nutrients digestibility and FA composition. On day 10 of each period, three samples were collected from each fermenter at 3 and 6 h post morning feeding for volatile fatty acids (VFA), ammonia-N and bacterial analyses. Compared with the CON diet, feed additives had no effects (P \u3e 0.05) on apparent dry matter (DM), neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and organic matter (OM) digestibility but apparent protein digestibility decreased (P \u3c 0.01) with the QTAN and CIN diets. Compared with the CON diet, the concentration of acetate decreased (P \u3c 0.05) with the MON and CIN diets. The concentration of propionate increased (P \u3c 0.05) with the MON and QTAN diets and was greatest with the MON diet. Ammonia-N concentration decreased (P \u3c 0.01) with all feed additives and was least with the QTAN diet. The concentration of C18:0 decreased (P \u3c 0.01) with the three feed additives and was least with the MON diet. Concentration of trans C18:1 and vaccenic acid (VA) increased (P \u3c 0.05) with the MON and CIN diets and was greatest with the MON diet. Compared with the CON diet, the concentration of c9t11CLA increased (P \u3c 0.05) only with the QTAN diet. The DNA abundance of Butyrivibrio proteoclasticum decreased (P \u3c 0.05) with the MON and CIN diets while the DNA abundance for Butyrivibrio VA increased (P \u3c 0.05) with all feed additives compared with the CON diet. Feed additives had no effects (P \u3e 0.05) on the DNA abundance of Anaerovibrio lipolytica and Butyrivibrio SA. In conclusion, results demonstrate that the feed additives used in this study affected the fermentation and biohydrogenation process. Addition of feed additives reduced the formation of C18:0 but only MON and CIN increased VA formation. MON and CIN effects on VA formation may in part be explained by their effects on B. proteoclasticum

The Impact of R&D Innovation Success on the Relationship between R&D Investment and Financial Leverage

This paper explores the interrelationship between R&D investment, financial leverage, and a firm’s R&D innovation success. Using a sample of UK and EU firms, we predict that changes in oneyear- ahead R&D investment are negatively associated with changes in financial leverage in the current period. Crucially, we also predict that this negative association is positively moderated by the extent to which firms are successful in generating commercially viable and technically feasible innovations from their R&D work. We use insights from International Accounting Standard (IAS) 38: Intangible Assets to measure R&D innovation success. Our empirical findings offer strong support for each of our theoretical predictions. Consequently, we contribute to the extant literature by demonstrating that R&D innovation success influences how firms finance their subsequent investments in R&D. Our work also shows that accounting disclosures have the potential to play an important role in open innovation networks

Evaluation of the antimicrobial activities of ultrasonicated spinach leaf extracts using RAPD markers and electron microscopy

Spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.) leaves represent an important dietary source of nutrients, antioxidants, and antimicrobials. As such, spinach leaves play an important role in health and have been used in the treatment of human diseases since ancient times. Here the aims were to optimize the extraction methods for recovering antimicrobial substances of spinach leaves, determine the minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of the antimicrobial substances against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus and finally, evaluate the effects of spinach leaves’ antimicrobials on bacterial DNA using central composite face centered methods (CCFC). The effect of the extracts on both Gram positive and Gram negative bacterial models were examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and random amplification of polymorphic (bacterial) DNA (RAPD). The optimal extraction conditions were at 45°C, ultrasound power of 44% and an extraction time of 23 min. The spinach extracts exhibited antimicrobial activities against both bacteria with MICs in the 60-100 mg/mlrange. Interestingly, SEM showed that treated bacterial cells appear damaged with a reduction in cell number. RAPD analysis of genomic DNA showed that the number and sizes of amplicons were decreased by treatments. Based on these results, it was inferred that spinach leaves extracts exerts bactericidal activities by both inducing mutations in DNA and by causing cell wall disruptions

Reliability and Reproducibility of Advanced ECG Parameters in Month-to-Month and Year-to-Year Recordings in Healthy Subjects

Advanced resting ECG parameters such the spatial mean QRS-T angle and the QT variability index (QTVI) have important diagnostic and prognostic utility, but their reliability and reproducibility (R&R) are not well characterized. We hypothesized that the spatial QRS-T angle would have relatively higher R&R than parameters such as QTVI that are more responsive to transient changes in the autonomic nervous system. The R&R of several conventional and advanced ECG para-meters were studied via intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) and coefficients of variation (CVs) in: (1) 15 supine healthy subjects from month-to-month; (2) 27 supine healthy subjects from year-to-year; and (3) 25 subjects after transition from the supine to the seated posture. As hypothesized, for the spatial mean QRS-T angle and many conventional ECG parameters, ICCs we-re higher, and CVs lower than QTVI, suggesting that the former parameters are more reliable and reproducible

The Effect Of Other Information On Equity Valuation: Kuwait Evidence

Previous studies on the value relevance of accounting information adopt Ohlsons linear information dynamics which, if other information is ignored, leads to a theoretical valuation model solely involving earnings, book value, and net shareholder cash flows or (net dividends). The lack of analysis of other value-relevant data may defeat the effectiveness of the Ohlsons model since the current accounting data cannot fully account for future earnings. The potential implication of ignoring other information is that it could introduce bias into estimated coefficients (e.g. Ohlson, 1995; Hand and Landsman, 2005). This study examines the effect of introducing other information proxied by lagged valuation error on equity valuation, utilizing a sample of non-financial companies listed at the Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) over the period 2003 to 2009. Empirical results of this study reveal that our proxy for other information appears to capture valuation implications of information other than current variables in the linear information dynamic setting. Results also reveal that adding other information to the valuation model clearly reduces the coefficients on earnings and dividends, and increases the coefficient of book value; however, book value and earnings remain significantly associated with stock prices. As a consequence, current accounting variables appear to be capturing some, but not all, of other information when this variable is omitted. We conclude that other information is an important factor in determining the market value of firms and hence should not be omitted in studies examining the value relevance of accounting information