Mandatory Information Research Articles

A Joint Angle and Spectrum Estimation Algorithm for Uniform Linear Array

The two-dimensional spectrum sensing that jointly acquires angular locations and frequency responses of multiple emitters is an important issue for cognitive radio. This paper presents a two-step algorithm to address this issue for the uniform linear array. In the coarse sensing step, we first apply fast Fourier transform to the mixed signal of each antenna. Then the mixed responses occupying the same frequency grid are collected from different antennas for roughly estimating spatial angles and the corresponding frequency magnitudes, where we resort to the harmonic analysis and explores spatial angles over the continuum. In the refined estimation step, the obtained angle-frequency data pairs are screened to eliminate false-alarm ones, based on which the spatial angles and the relevant spectrums are jointly regulated. Compared with the current works, the number of emitters is not a mandatory information for the proposed design, and it can be also well-suited to the correlated sources and the data-starving scenario. Numerical simulations demonstrate the merits of proposed algorithm, which can considerably improve the sensing accuracy with low computational burden.

Measure of Utilizing Space Database Information for Improvement of Efficient Disaster Management (Focusing on Nuclear Power Plant Accidents)

The damage caused by disasters is increasing worldwide, with hundreds of thousands of deaths due to the occurrence of complex large-scale disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake and the 2004 Indian tsunami. South Korea has also experienced human casualties and damage to property caused by large-scale disasters in the past 10 years. Accordingly, a disaster-appropriate response measure is needed. Thus, we conducted this study to present a measure of utilizing spatial database and image information to improve the efficiency of disaster management that is operated based on the country’s existing national disaster management system. We present an efficient disaster response measure that differs from the existing collection-, reporting-, and propagation-oriented operating methods of disaster information through the use of spatial database and image-based information that can be combined with mandatory information with regard to nuclear power plant accidents. Thus, this study contributes to deriving a system that could collect and provide information rapidly at the time of disaster by defining the attribute and spatial information required at the time of disaster during nuclear power plant accidents and by deriving available systems and providing institutions.

Seismic Station Installations and Their Impact on the Recorded Signals and Derived Quantities

Abstract The role of local geology in controlling ground motion has long been acknowledged. Consequently, increasing attention is paid to the assessment of the geophysical properties of the soils at the seismic stations, which impact the station recordings and a series of related quantities, particularly those referring to seismic hazard estimates. Not the same level of attention is commonly dedicated to the seismic station installation, to the point that it is generally believed that housings and shelters containing seismic instruments are of no interest, because they can only affect frequencies well above the engineering range of interest. Using examples from seismometric and accelerometric stations, we describe the (1) housing, (2) foundation, and (3) pillar effects on the seismic records. We propose a simple working scheme to identify the existence of potential installation-related issues and to assess the frequency fidelity range of response of a seismic station to ground motion. Our scheme is developed mostly on ambient noise recordings and, thus, surface waves. The hope is that, besides the parameters that start to be routinely introduced in the seismic archives (VS30, soil classes, etc.), the assessment of the maximum reliable frequency, under which no soil–structure interaction is expected, also becomes a mandatory information. In our experience, for some installation sites, the maximum reliable frequency can even be less than a very few hertz.

Corporate Carbon Information Disclosure and Financing Costs: The Moderating Effect of Sustainable Development

With the Global Reporting Initiative (a provider of the global best practice for impact reporting) systematically helping parties to understand and exchange issues such as climate change and formulating authoritative sustainability reporting guidelines, corporate sustainable development is becoming more and more critical for companies. Moreover, corporate carbon information disclosure has the potential to promote corporate financing after the Green Climate Fund has been playing their part in climate finance. Previous studies focused more on the cost of equity. Considering the volatility of the capital market, the cost of equity financing is more unstable and complex. This study limited the financing cost to the cost of debt, took Chinese listed companies from 2009 to 2021 as a research sample, and explored the relationship between corporate carbon information disclosure, sustainable development, and financing costs. This study adopted fixed-effects (within) regression or random-effects GLS regression (defined through the Breusch and Pagan Lagrange multiplier test for random effects and the Hausman test) as estimation methods to control individual effects and endogenous problems brought by time. At the same time, the model was modified when there was heteroscedasticity and autocorrelation accordingly. The results show that the more carbon information disclosure, the lower the financing cost; sustainable development weakens the inhibitory effect of carbon information disclosure on financing costs. This study affirms the financing value of reducing information asymmetry, and found that sustainable development (internal growth capacity) may increase the cost of debt. The stronger the sustainable development is, the more financing needs may be, thus raising the cost of debt. This study not only implies that creditors may attach importance to the value of carbon information disclosure at the time of borrowing, but also provides theoretical evidence for the government or securities regulators to speed up the mandatory carbon information disclosure.

Emergency Preparedness for the COVID-19 Pandemic: Social Determinants Predicting the Community Pharmacists' Preparedness and Perceived Response in Malaysia.

Background: Pandemic preparedness of healthcare providers helps to mitigate future threats such as spread and fatality rates, as well as the management of the disease. Pharmacists are key partners with public health agencies, and the role of community pharmacists is becoming increasingly recognised in this COVID-19 pandemic. The study aimed to explore the emergency preparedness of community pharmacists (CPs) for COVID-19. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed among community pharmacists using cluster sampling followed by convenient sampling. A self-administered questionnaire was formulated using references from the previous literature and the WHO preparedness checklist. Descriptive analysis was undertaken for the participants’ socio-demographic characteristics. All the data collected were entered into the Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 24 (SPSS V.24), (IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 24.0. Armonk, NY: IBM Corp.) for analysis. Results: Most of the CPs had five or fewer years of practice experience, and they had all the mandatory information relating to the needs of their communities regarding the disease. The participants knew where to acquire these resources whenever needed. They were able to recognise the signs and symptoms of the disease. Most participants felt that they were confident to provide patient education and carry out their duties during these challenging times. There was a strong position correlation between preparedness and the perceived response of the participants. Conclusion: The community pharmacists in Malaysia are prepared enough for COVID-19 pandemic management and perceive that they can respond during any unprecedented situations, such as COVID-19. Community pharmacists were aware of the challenges that they need to face in their community regarding COVID-19.

Policy Forum: How Canada Could Benefit from E-Invoicing for GST/HST Purposes

In this article, the author reviews the importance of electronic invoicing (e-invoicing) in value-added tax systems from the perspective of both government and taxpayers. E-invoicing is defined as the adoption of a standard requiring that businesses issue invoices containing mandatory information related to the supply in a prescribed electronic format, and transmit to the tax administration in real time through a specified electronic system. The author also analyzes the development of e-invoicing systems around the world, beginning with the Latin American pioneers and then proceeding to recent experiences in Europe. The experience in Latin America shows that governments can gain from e-invoicing through the reduction of tax fraud and the consequent increase in government revenue, while the experience in Europe shows that businesses have their own reasons for promoting e-invoicing, most notably to reduce compliance costs. In conclusion, the author suggests avenues for introducing e-invoicing into the Canadian goods and services tax/harmonized sales tax system.

Public and Private Information: Firm Disclosure, SEC Letters, and the JOBS Act

This paper examines the impact of the recently passed Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act on the behavior of market participants. Using the JOBS Act — which relaxed mandatory information disclosure requirements — as a natural experiment on firms’ choices of the mix of hard, accounting information and textual disclosures, we find that relative to a peer group of firms, initial public offering (IPO) firms reduce accounting disclosures and change textual disclosures. Because it allows a partial revelation of IPO quality, only textual disclosures affect underpricing. We also find that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) changes its behavior post-JOBS Act in responding to draft registration statements. Specifically, the SEC’s comment letters to firms are more negative in tone, and more forceful in their recommendations, focusing on quantitative information. Finally, under the JOBS Act, investors place more emphasis on the information produced by the SEC when pricing the stock. Returns following public release of the letters vary by about 4% based on letter tone.

Transparency in the transparency reports: Empirical evidence from Portugal

Purpose: The purpose of this research is to analyze the degree of TR transparency and its relation with the audit firm size, fees, either from audit services, or from other services, and with the human capital.Design/methodology/approach: In this study we considered 282 audit firms, and our final sample includes 268 transparency reports from 2013 through 2017. For this period under analysis, audit firms financial information, human resources information and transparency reports were collected. TR report information was divided in four types of information: Mandatory Information I, Mandatory Information II, Voluntary Information and Extra Information. These indexes measure the fulfillment of each information on the total of information considered in each index. Firstly, a descriptive statistical analysis of the dataset was performed, for them to address the research questions, multivariate analysis was considered.Findings: Our results show a high level of transparency regarding mandatory information I, but a lower accomplishment regarding all other information. In general, the auditor experience, the number of auditors, the number of PIE clients and percentage of extra audit services have a significant impact on the information disclosed in the TR.Originality/value: Our paper contributes to the current literature by assessing the influence that human capital has on the information disclosed in the transparency reports. As far as the authors know, this an original contribution of the paper.

The impact of the quality of environmental information disclosure on financial performance: the moderating effect of internal and external stakeholders.

Increasing attention to serious environmental problems has caused the public to put forth more pressure on firms to fulfill their responsibilities to society at large. The establishment of a strict and mandatory environmental information disclosure (EID) mechanism has become particularly urgent. This study takes A-share listed firms in China's pharmaceutical manufacturing industry from 2011 to 2019 as a case. Considering the impact of the quality of EID on financial performance (FP), the moderating effects of internal and external factors, such as environmental regulation (ER), media pressure (MP), and executive compensation (EC), are analyzed. The results showed that the quality of EID had a negative effect on FP. It is difficult for EC to have a moderating effect on the relationship between the two. ER and MP, which are intended to exert strong external means of governance, cannot have a positive impact. Differences in regional marketization and ownership affect the moderators. This study highlights the difficulty of improving the environmental behavior of firms even while under the direct pressure from internal and external stakeholders and provides a reference for regulatory authorities to improve the EID mechanism.

온라인 창업교육 플랫폼 만족 및 창업의도에 미치는 영향에 대한 연구

Based on the success model of the information system, this study analyzed whether factors influencing satisfaction with online start-up education and whether they influence start-up intention through start-up education satisfaction. In addition, it was verified whether there was a difference according to the purpose of completion of start-up education. In this study, a survey was conducted on those who completed online start-up education, and 1086 samples were used for analysis. As a result of the study, it was found that system quality, information quality, and service quality had a statistically significant effect on start-up education satisfaction, and start-up education satisfaction had an effect on start-up intention. It was also verified that there are differences in influencing factors depending on the purpose of completion. In the mandatory completion group, system quality, information quality, and service quality were all found to have an effect on start-up education satisfaction. However in the autonomous completion group, the effect between service quality and start-up education satisfaction was not significant. Based on the results of this study, meaningful academic and managerial implications were provided in related fields.

The effect of controlling person's illegalities on stock price returns: Evidence from Elman neural network model.

Controlling persons are the ultimate decision-makers of listed companies. Their illegalities have impacts on investors’ wealth, firm development, and capital market’s quality. Against this backdrop, we provide a quantitative analysis of the short-term stock price reaction to the criminal detention announcements of controlling persons throughout 2007–2019. We applied the Elman neural network (ENN) model into the classical event study methodology and demonstrated that the combination of them helps to improve the estimation accuracy of the stock price reaction. The results show that the stock price has a significant negative reaction to the criminal detention announcements of listed companies’ controlling persons on the announcement day, and the average reaction level is -6.67%. Additionally, the crisis communication measures of the firms could diminish the negative impact of such mandatory disclosure information on their stock price, but the effect is limited. Finally, the 31 companies in our sample cause a total loss of RMB 21.1 billion in market capitalization on the announcement day alone. The above results indicate that the impact of listed companies’ controlling persons on the capital market is tremendous, although the number of this group is small. Our work enriches the listed companies’ illegalities research and provides a reference for investors’ investment choices and follow-up decision making of regulatory authorities. It also provides some guidance for most of the researchers to further explore the application of data mining techniques in nonlinear problems.

Mandatory Non-Financial Information Disclosure under European Directive 95/2014/EU: Evidence from Portuguese Listed Companies

This paper investigates the effects of Directive 95/2014/EU on the quality of non-financial information (NFI) disclosed by Portuguese listed companies and explains the reporting practices adopted in this context. For this purpose, a content analysis of non-financial disclosures made a year before (2016) and in the first and second years of the implementation of the Directive (2017 and 2018) was performed. A self-constructed index that covers the disclosure matters required by the Directive was used to measure the quality of NFI. The findings showed that the major effects on the quality of non-financial disclosures were observed in the first year of implementation. Furthermore, it was observed that companies that had high-quality voluntary reporting practices, such as the presentation of a sustainability report, the use of GRI Standards and the certification of NFI, maintained these practices after the Directive. After two years of implementation, there were still companies that did not mention the framework used or did not disclose information on sensitive matters such as human rights or anti-corruption and bribery. The evidence found supports the existence of a ‘routine’ effect that has influenced the reporting practices adopted. The results obtained have implications for policymakers helping them to identify aspects of the Directive’s requirements that need to be improved.

Mandatory corporate social responsibility disclosure and firm innovation: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment

In this paper, I focus on whether government regulations on CSR disclosure can encourage firms’ sustainable growth, innovation in particular. Employing the enactment of a regulation that mandates a subset of firms to disclose their corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities in China as a quasi-natural experiment, I find that mandatory CSR disclosure encourages firm innovation. This positive relation is more pronounced for firms that are ex-ante less transparent. My findings indicate that although social responsible oriented mandatory information disclosure may bring about short-term costs, it can be beneficial to firms’ long-term prospects thorough facilitating patenting activities.

Declaration of common standards for the preregistration of animal research-speeding up the scientific progress.

Preregistration of studies is a recognized tool in clinical research to improve the quality and reporting of all gained results. In preclinical research, preregistration could boost the translation of published results into clinical breakthroughs. When studies rely on animal testing or form the basis of clinical trials, maximizing the validity and reliability of research outcomes becomes in addition an ethical obligation. Nevertheless, the implementation of preregistration in animal research is still slow. However, research institutions, funders, and publishers start valuing preregistration, and thereby level the way for its broader acceptance in the future. A total of 3 public registries, the OSF registry, preclinicaltrials.eu, and animalstudyregistry.org already encourage the preregistration of research involving animals. Here, they jointly declare common standards to make preregistration a valuable tool for better science. Registries should meet the following criteria: public accessibility, transparency in their financial sources, tracking of changes, and warranty and sustainability of data. Furthermore, registration templates should cover a minimum set of mandatory information and studies have to be uniquely identifiable. Finally, preregistered studies should be linked to any published outcome. To ensure that preregistration becomes a powerful instrument, publishers, funders, and institutions should refer to registries that fulfill these minimum standards.

Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) approach applied to species identification in mixed processed seafood products

Multi-species fish products are a growing market segment driven by several inputs, including urbanization, modern lifestyles and the availability of new technologies. These products are characterized by the absence of species-related morphological traits, as well as by the use of discards or fish waste as ingredients, that cannot be traced using a classical molecular approach. This historic inability to identify ingredients, coupled with a rather lean list of mandatory information required by current legislation, make these products the perfect target for substitution fraud. New molecular tools are now available to overcome this gap, such as the metabarcoding approach which can be used to trace species from complex food matrices. In this study, we used such an approach to sequence a fragment of 16S rRNA mitochondrial gene from 20 multispecies processed seafood products, sold on the Italian market and including breaded, burger and surimi, in order to evaluate mislabelling rates and formulate hypotheses regarding the potential drivers of fraudulent activities. Our results highlighted the presence of 120 marine taxa with an overall mislabelling rate of 45%, including some low-abundance taxa not included in the current Italian legislation, found mainly in the surimi samples. The presence of Tetraodontidae and swine DNA raise concerns regarding consumer safety and protection with regard to ethical or religious issues, as well the inclusion of undeclared molluscs potentially causing allergies. The high number of low-frequency taxa confirms the inclusion of discards and fish waste, doubtless positive for sustainable fisheries, but also boosting profits for the fish industry. Such practice, however, without an adequate labelling and traceability system, is a source of risk for consumers and marine ecosystems. In this context, a revision of national and international food safety legislation is needed; indeed, metabarcoding assessments can provide useful information to stakeholders and act as the future operational tool for inspective monitoring.

The Disclosures of Information on Cybersecurity in Listed Companies in Latin America—Proposal for a Cybersecurity Disclosure Index

For the corporate sphere, cybersecurity becomes an inescapable business responsibility, and accountability becomes a way of providing trust and ensuring resilience against cyber risks and high-impact cyber threats. The purpose of this study was to create a disclosure index that allows analysis of the scope of the disclosure of voluntary and mandatory cybersecurity information. The content analysis technique used focuses on the examination and identification of the cybersecurity information revealed in the annual reports and the 20 F annual forms of the companies with the highest stock market prices in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru during the period of 2016–2020. Longitudinal analysis indicates an increase over time in the disclosures and scope of information. The findings highlight that the country with the highest related disclosure is Argentina; the most extensive disclosures are due to the financial sector; and the strategy dimension represents the greatest weight in the index score. The study provides a novel instrument for measuring the content of disclosure on cybersecurity that is applicable in any specific context. In this case, the scope of disclosure in Latin America—a region which, according to our research, does not have previous studies on the subject—is evaluated.

Improving Food Consciousness - Opportunities of Smartphone Apps to Access Food Information

Factors of food choice have an increasingly important role in the life of consumers. Information and codes on food packages are the most widespread standard to support the decision among the many types of food products. There should be mandatory information on packages that are governed by regulations. However, there can be other labels too that help consumers in choosing food products that match personal needs and concepts, including not only nutritional information but ethical factors as well. In our literature review, we overview the current trend of food labels and the results of research on the role of food information among consumers. The focus of this study is on smartphone applications and Augmented Reality (AR) as an advanced technology to display personalized food information. In this paper, we surveyed and analyzed the attitude of young food consumers due to their personal needs, the extent of attention to package information, and the most important factors when purchasing goods. We also surveyed the interest in smartphone applications that may support the decision. Our results suggest that there is a willingness to use an interactive application to gain personalized food information immediately. The majority of respondents would use an application that provides complex information service. Within the framework of the studied criteria for implementing a smartphone application using a database behind, we outline a theoretical infrastructural model too, for collecting and handling the necessary data. Our work has led us to conclude that there are opportunities of using smartphone applications to access food information and we suggest some solutions that may increase the Quality of Experience, such as AR.

What determines the progress of online information access to banking corporate governance practices? The case of Paraguay.

This paper contributes to the lack of longitudinal studies concerning online information access to corporate governance (CG) practices in the banking sector of Latin American countries. In particular, this study aims to analyze the factors that influence information transparency, both mandatory and voluntary, related to CG practices of banks that operate in Paraguay via their websites from 2016 to 2019. Findings indicate the need to improve the level of information available on websites, with disclosure of voluntary information on CG practices being more prevalent than the disclosure of mandatory information. Likewise, banks that operate in Paraguay have made scant “progress” regarding online access to their governance information over the years analyzed. Moreover, the factors “Bank size” and “listed status” positively influence the information transparency regarding CG practices of Paraguayan banks. In contrast, “leverage,” “liquidity,” “size of the audit firm,” and “credit risk rating” are factors that have a negative relation with the extent of CG disclosure.

Clinical outcomes of dengue virus infection in pregnant and non-pregnant women of reproductive age: a retrospective cohort study from 2016 to 2019 in Paran\xe1, Brazil

BackgroundThe increasing number of dengue cases worldwide implies a greater exposure of at-risk groups, such as pregnant women. DENV infection during pregnancy has been increasingly associated with unfavorable outcomes, but the evolution of the disease and its clinical outcomes remain unclear. The objective of this study was to characterize dengue cases in reproductive aged women by comparing the development of the disease in pregnant and non-pregnant women.MethodsA population based retrospective cohort study that used data reported in the Brazilian Mandatory Notifiable Diseases Information System from 2016 to 2019 in Paraná, Brazil. We compared sociodemographic, clinical, and laboratory variables between pregnant and non-pregnant women. Hospitalization and disease severity classification (Dengue, Dengue with warning signs, Severe Dengue) were considered outcome variables.ResultsThe two groups had differences in the year of notification, age distribution, and region of residence. Laboratory investigation was more frequent among pregnant women, and DENV-2 prevailed in both groups. The risks of hospitalization and development of Severe Dengue were higher in pregnant women. There were no deaths observed among pregnant women.ConclusionThis study identified pregnancy as a risk factor for an increase in the severity of DENV infection. It reinforces the importance of identifying early signs of complication, close monitoring, and adequate treatment for pregnant women.

Mandatory Financial Information Disclosure and Credit Ratings

Mandatory Financial Information Disclosure and Credit Ratings