Standard Set Research Articles

Lifestyle Medicine Performance Measures: An Expert Consensus Statement Defining Metrics to Identify Remission or Long-Term Progress Following Lifestyle Medicine Treatment

Objective The objective of this expert consensus process was to define performance measures that can be used to document remission or long-term progress following lifestyle medicine (LM) treatment. Methods Expert panel members with experience in intensive, therapeutic lifestyle change (ITLC) developed a list of performance measures for key disease states, using an established process for developing consensus statements adapted for the topic. Proposed performance measures were assessed for consensus using a modified Delphi process. Results After a series of meetings and an iterative Delphi process of voting and revision, a final set of 32 performance measures achieved consensus. These were grouped in 10 domains of diseases, conditions, or risk factors, including (1) Cardiac function, (2) Cardiac risk factors, (3) Cardiac medications and procedures, (4) Patient-centered cardiac health, (5) Hypertension, (6) Type 2 diabetes and prediabetes, (7) Metabolic syndrome, (8) Inflammatory conditions, (9) Inflammatory condition patient-centered measures, and (10) Chronic kidney disease. Conclusion These measures compose a set of performance standards that can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of LM treatment for these conditions.

The Impact of Audit Office Cybersecurity Experience on Nonbreach Client's Audit Fees and Cybersecurity Risks

ABSTRACT This study investigates whether auditors’ experiences with their clients’ cybersecurity incidents affect their subsequent audits for nonbreach clients and help those clients reduce cybersecurity risks. We find that audit offices who have experience with cybersecurity-breached clients, ceteris paribus, charge higher audit fees from nonbreach clients. Additionally, the increased audit fees conditional on auditors’ cybersecurity experience are negatively associated with nonbreach clients’ future breach incidents. Such associations are found only in the Big 4 audit offices and offices with IT capability. This study offers timely insights for standard setters and important implications for both professionals and the academic literature by documenting the spillover effect of cybersecurity experience on subsequent risk assessments of nonbreach clients, while also confirming the effectiveness of engaging auditors in addressing cybersecurity matters. Data Availability: Data are available from the public sources identified in the article. JEL Classifications: M42.

Opinion: Aerosol remote sensing over the next 20 years

Abstract. More than 2 decades ago, aerosol remote sensing underwent a revolution with the launch of the Terra and Aqua satellites. Advancement continued via additional launches carrying new passive and active sensors. Capable of retrieving parameters characterizing aerosol loading, rudimentary particle properties and in some cases aerosol layer height, the satellite view of Earth's aerosol system came into focus. The modeling communities have made similar advances. Now the efforts have continued long enough that we can see developing trends in both the remote sensing and modeling communities, allowing us to speculate about the future and how the community will approach aerosol remote sensing 20 years from now. We anticipate technology that will replace today's standard multi-wavelength radiometers with hyperspectral and/or polarimetry, all viewing at multiple angles. These will be supported by advanced active sensors with the ability to measure profiles of aerosol extinction in addition to backscatter. The result will be greater insight into aerosol particle properties. Algorithms will move from being primarily physically based to include an increasing degree of machine-learning methods, but physically based techniques will not go extinct. However, the practice of applying algorithms to a single sensor will be in decline. Retrieval algorithms will encompass multiple sensors and all available ground measurements in a unifying framework, and these inverted products will be ingested directly into assimilation systems, becoming “cyborgs”: half observations, half model. In 20 years we will see a true democratization in space with nations large and small, private organizations, and commercial entities of all sizes launching space sensors. With this increasing number of data and aerosol products available, there will be a lot of bad data. User communities will organize to set standards, and the large national space agencies will lead the effort to maintain quality by deploying and maintaining validation ground networks and focused field experiments. Through it all, interest will remain high in the global aerosol system and how that system affects climate, clouds, precipitation and dynamics, air quality, the environment and public health, transport of pathogens and fertilization of ecosystems, and how these processes are adapting to a changing climate.

Association between body composition standards and eating disorder medical claims among active-duty service women.

Eating disorders are a worldwide public health concern with the United States having a particularly high prevalence. Eating disorders are of particular concern to the Department of Defense and Military Health System (MHS) because body composition standards are in place for active-duty service members. We conducted a cross-sectional study of active-duty service women (ADSW) ages 18 and older in the U.S. Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps during fiscal years (FY) 2018-2019. Utilizing claims data from the MHS Data Repository (MDR), we identified ADSW with a Body Mass Index (BMI) measure during the study period and compared their BMI to Service-specific requirements and diagnosis of an eating disorder. We identified a total of 161,209 ADSW from the MDR in FYs 2018-2019 with a recorded BMI, of whom 61,711 (38.3%) had a BMI exceeding the maximum BMI Service-specific standards during the study period and 0.5% had an eating disorder diagnosis. Increased risk of an eating disorder was found in ADSW with an Underweight BMI. Further, we found that there was no association of disordered eating diagnoses among ADSW who were near the maximum height/weight standard set by their Service. There appears to be no association between body composition standards of the Services and eating disorder diagnoses in ADSW. We were not able to investigate unhealthy habits around diet or exercise directly related to body composition standards.

ANALISIS KUALITAS PELAYANAN JASA SPA DENGAN METODE SERVICE QUALITY (SERVQUAL) DAN TEORIYA RESHENIYA IZOBREATATLSKIKH ZADATCH (TRIZ) DI ALEENAHOZ BEAUTY JAKARTA

This research is motivated by customer complaints regarding services at AleenaHoz Beauty, a company operating in the Spa sector which exceeds the set standards, namely 3%. The aim of this research is to determine the level of customer satisfaction with the quality of Spa services with attributes that are still less than average. Servqual value which is then given recommendations for improvement using the TRIZ method. This research uses the SERVQUAL and TRIZ methods. The results of the research using the Servqual satisfaction index calculation method were 82,18. The attribute that still needs to be improved in service quality is employee skills in understanding products and menus. The level of quality of service provided is still not in line with consumer satisfaction. Lack of spa services as expected, adequate media and equipment to support operational activities, availability of facilities and infrastructure, both information and physical evidence. Recommendations given using the TRIZ method are prioritized for tasks on the number of inventive principles that have come out more than twice, and obtain "Preliminary Counteraction" by organizing product safety and consumer convenience in making transactions so that changes are visible.

Understanding and identifying visual field progression.

Detecting deterioration of visual field sensitivity measurements is important for the diagnosis and management of glaucoma. This review surveys the current methods for assessing progression that are implemented in clinical devices, which have been used in clinical trials, alongside more recent advances proposed in the literature. Advice is also offered to clinicians on what they can do to improve the collection of perimetric data to help analytical progression methods more accurately predict change. This advice includes a discussion of how frequently visual field testing should be undertaken, with a view towards future developments, such as digital healthcare outside the standard clinical setting and more personalised approaches to perimetry.

Discharge of potentially toxic elements from acid sulfate soils in western Finland: Conflict between water protection and land use?

Acid sulfate soils (ASS) are commonly found in many coastal areas worldwide and typically develop from artificial draining of sulfidic sediments, which release acidity and metals, causing unfavuorable effects on recipient watercourses. This study estimates the actual amounts of metals and elements carried to the Gulf of Bothnia and the Baltic Sea by stream water yearly. The combined load from the many small streams and ditches was found to be proportionally high related to the size of their catchment, emphasizing the importance of including numerous small streams in the understanding of pollution in fresh water and marine environments. This study shows that Cd concentrations in the majority of the studied rivers exceed the Environmental Quality Standard set by the European Union (EU). This causes lowered ecological and chemical status according to the European classification system. Many potentially toxic elements discharge yearly to the Baltic Sea in large quantities from the study area: Thousands of tons of Al and Mn, tens of tons of Co, Cu and Ni, and hundreds of kg of Cd. A challenge for the estimation was irregular, or even missing, data for many rivers, which highlights careful planning of monitoring programs. While the current land use on ASS requires efficient drainage, the national and European strategies and legislation aim towards improved status in water bodies and forbid pollution of the environment. Therefore, the land use and water protection policy conflict.

Reflections of Women Standard Setters in the United States

SYNOPSIS Motivated by trends toward gender equality on standard-setting boards in the United States, this study interviews women members of the FASB, GASB, and EITF to understand the factors critical to their successful nomination and appointment. Semistructured interviews were conducted with women standard setters to root our understanding in their own experiences and perceptions. Value emerged as a generalizing theme. Participants perceived value to the board in nomination as associated with professional expertise and ties with professional societies. Most participants perceived value in giving back to the profession by serving as a voice for an important stakeholder group as a critical factor for acceptance. Women standard setters consistently downplay the idea that diversity, equity, and inclusion represent primary decision criteria for board membership. Instead, their reflections imply that it is up to the profession to implement practices that promote the advancement of the most competent professionals from all backgrounds. Data Availability: Anonymized interview data are available upon request to the authors and are subject to prior consent by participants to share. JEL Classifications: M41; M48.

Exam as an instrument for student-active learning in STEM education – An example from a reliability analysis course

Exams have a powerful role in higher education typically in the form of summative assessment, where the goal is to evaluate student learning at the end of the course; to test whether the students have achieved the learning objectives. Beyond representing a final activity in the course, exams have a role in giving students exam-relevant problems to solve, and to communicate a set of standards. It can be argued that this problem-solving activity contributes to learning and will make the students better equipped to perform well on the final exam. From the teacher’s perspective, the designing of exams represents a task creating specific awareness to the course content and student capabilities. In this paper, focus is on student activity and in-depth learning, where we investigate a potential to use exams more actively in learning activities prior to the summative assessment. A way suggested in this paper and tested for a reliability analysis (probability and statistics oriented) course, is to have the students design on their own an exam set with solutions, preferably in groups. The students have access to supervision and are given feedback on their product. There is a rationale that this activity may add motivation, and results indicate a positive learning benefit from the initiative, which is also supported by feedback collected from the students in the course evaluation. Main feedback being that it makes them see problems from different perspectives and taking a more active role. Besides, the format to work together with other students on solving a low-stake but value-adding task without direct influence on their grade was appreciated. The way allows for creative thinking and reflection. It extends the traditional use of exams and represents a way in line with problem-based learning thinking.

How do organizations in Chinese agriculture perceive sustainability certification schemes? An exploratory analysis

AbstractMotivationInitiatives to promote sustainable practices in agriculture in China have been little documented in the literature. Preliminary investigations suggested that the way agricultural certification schemes worked in China differed considerably from such schemes in Europe and the United States.PurposeWe investigated how sustainability certification schemes (SCSs) were perceived by farmers, processors, government staff, and other stakeholders in Chinese agriculture.We examine three types of certification: sustainability standards for agricultural exports; organic labelling for the domestic market; and certification of ecological practices.Methods and approachWe interviewed 16 stakeholders in 2013–2014 about their experiences and perceptions of certification. The interviews were transcribed and coded to derive themes and interpretations.FindingsCertification was rigorous for agricultural exports because importers, mainly in high‐income countries, demanded high standards—and were prepared to pay a premium for those standards. It was in the best interests of Chinese exporters to certify their produce. Some farming companies had specific farms that were run to make sure the standards were upheld, whereas their farms producing for the domestic market operated differently.Organic certification of produce was less systematic, with proliferation of labels used to try to convince domestic consumers that the food so labelled was safe. No single standard was used. Farmers were concerned that organic production was costly but that they would not get a price to reflect those costs. Most actors expected the state to set standards and police them.A public scheme intended as payment for environmental services also certified land managers; but the scheme as applied operated to pay farmers on low incomes often in marginal lands an income supplement—payments were not necessarily linked to environmental objectives.Policy implicationsIn China, the perception of stakeholders was that the central government should establish and monitor standards. Certification was not seen as something that private enterprise could or even should establish. This appreciation translated into dependence on central government to co‐ordinate and regulate all collective action for pursuing social and environmental sustainability, leaving little space for market‐led initiatives to flourish.

Standardization of the protocol for oral cavity examination and collecting of the biological samples for microbiome research using the next-generation sequencing (NGS): own experience with the COVID-19 patients

To date, publications have shown that compositions of oral microbiota differ depending on their habitats (e.g. tongue, tonsils, pharynx). The absence of set standards for the choice of the areas and conditions of material collection makes the oral microbiome one of the most difficult environments for a comparative analysis with other researchers, which is a meaningful limitation during an assessment of the potential effects of microorganisms as biomarkers in the courses of various human diseases. Therefore, standardisation of basic conditions of a dental examination and collection of material for the next generation sequencing (NGS) is worth attempting. The standardisation of the dental exam and collection of the clinical materials: saliva, swab from the tongue ridge, hard palate, palatine tonsils and oropharynx, supragingival plaque and subgingival plaque. Protocol involved the patients (n = 60), assigned to 3 groups: I—COVID-19 convalescents who received antibiotics, n = 17, II—COVID-19 convalescents, n = 23 and III—healthy individuals, n = 20. The collected biological samples were used to conduct NGS (16S rRNA). The conditions of patient preparation for collecting biological materials as well as the schedule of dental examination, were proposed. Based on the research conducted, we have indicated the dental indicators that best differentiate the group of COVID-19 patients (groups I and II) from healthy people (group III). These include the DMFT, D and BOP indices. The use of alpha and beta diversity analysis provided an overall insight into the diversity of microbial communities between specific niches and patient groups. The most different diversity between the studied group of patients (group II) and healthy people (group III) was noted in relation to the supragingival plaque. The order of activities during the dental exam as well as while collecting and securing clinical materials is particularly important to avoid technical errors and material contamination which may result in erroneous conclusions from the analyses of the results of sensitive tests such as the NGS. It has been shown that the dental indices: DMFT, D number, PI and BOP are the best prognostic parameters to assess the oral health. Based on beta diversity the most sensitive niche and susceptible to changes in the composition of the microbiota is the supragingival plaque. The procedures developed by our team can be applied as ready-to-use forms in studies conducted by other researchers.

The effect of IFRS adoption on bank internationalisation

AbstractBanking is one of the highly regulated industries, where a single set of global standards is likely to play a significant role in eliminating double reporting and reducing information asymmetry. Accordingly, we use data on 98 countries over 9 years to examine whether the use of International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) drives bank internationalisation. The results show that the use of IFRS is positively and significantly associated with an increase in foreign investment in the banking sector by easing regulatory compliance. However, in developing countries, the benefit of IFRS increasing foreign investment banks is associated with both easing regulatory compliance and reducing information asymmetry between banks and their clients. Our results are consistent across different sub‐samplings, including EU versus non‐EU, high versus low absence, and divergence between domestic standard and IFRS. These results provide reassurance and clear evidence of how IFRS facilitates the global flow of capital, even in a highly regulated industry such as banks. The results are robust to alternative measurements of variables and endogeneity tests using the Two‐Stage Least Square, Two‐step System Generalised Method of Moments and Propensity Score Matching.

A Hierarchical Security Event Correlation Model for Real-Time Threat Detection and Response

An intrusion detection system (IDS) perform postcompromise detection of security breaches whenever preventive measures such as firewalls do not avert an attack. However, these systems raise a vast number of alerts that must be analyzed and triaged by security analysts. This process is largely manual, tedious, and time-consuming. Alert correlation is a technique that reduces the number of intrusion alerts by aggregating alerts that are similar in some way. However, the correlation is performed outside the IDS through third-party systems and tools, after the IDS has already generated a high volume of alerts. These third-party systems add to the complexity of security operations. In this paper, we build on the highly researched area of alert and event correlation by developing a novel hierarchical event correlation model that promises to reduce the number of alerts issued by an intrusion detection system. This is achieved by correlating the events before the IDS classifies them. The proposed model takes the best features from similarity and graph-based correlation techniques to deliver an ensemble capability not possible by either approach separately. Further, we propose a correlation process for events rather than alerts as is the case in the current art. We further develop our own correlation and clustering algorithm which is tailor-made to the correlation and clustering of network event data. The model is implemented as a proof of concept with experiments run on standard intrusion detection sets. The correlation achieves an 87% data reduction through aggregation, producing nearly 21,000 clusters in about 30 s.

New Developments in Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG): A Corporate Disclosure About India's Top ESG Scorer

Nowadays, companies across all assiduity around the world face the challenges of extraordinary dislocation due to climate changes and other social dislocation. It is the responsibility of standard setters and controllers of the fiscal sector to constantly encourage industries to follow and respond rather of ignoring the dislocation. The present study is an independent and methodical analysis of reporting and evaluation of ESG factors and exposure performance of selected Indian companies. This study investigates how top ESG scorer declared Environmental, Social and Governance factors and BRR in their sustainability report. Environmental, Social and Governance disclosure is one of the main arising corporate disclosures aspects. The other ideal of the study is to produce a mindfulness so that appreciation for ESG becomes communicable and becomes hardwired in the organizational foundation. It will further enable gap analysis and drive companies to achieve leadership status within their assiduity and achieve better performance. The corporate sector and the investment community are crucial players towards achieving sustainable development. It ‘ll also give investors a ready-made tool to measured standard of companies. For the compliance of the objective each ESG factors divided into components and analyzed. The study concluded that the Companies having high scored on policy disclosures followed by governance factor, compared to environment and social factors.

Accounting for intangibles: a critical review

PurposeIn 2000, Cañibano et al. published a literature review entitled “Accounting for Intangibles: A Literature Review”. This paper revisits the conclusions drawn in that paper. We also discuss the intervening developments in scholarly research, standard setting and practice over the past 20+ years to outline the future challenges for research into accounting for intangibles.Design/methodology/approachWe conducted a literature review to identify past developments and link the findings to current accounting standard-setting developments to inform our view of the future.FindingsCurrent intangibles accounting practices are conservative and unlikely to change. Accounting standard setters are more interested in how companies report and disclose the value of intangibles rather than changing how they are determined. Standard setters are also interested in accounting for new forms of digital assets and reporting economic, social, governance and sustainability issues and how these link to financial outcomes. The IFRS has released complementary sustainability accounting standards for disclosing value creation in response to the latter. Therefore, the topic of intangibles stretches beyond merely how intangibles create value but how they are also part of a firm’s overall risk and value creation profile.Practical implicationsThere is much room academically, practically, and from a social perspective to influence the future of accounting for intangibles. Accounting standard setters and alternative standards, such as the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and European Union non-financial and sustainability reporting directives, are competing complementary initiatives.Originality/valueOur results reveal a window of opportunity for accounting scholars to research and influence how intangibles and other non-financial and sustainability accounting will progress based on current developments.

Band Gap Energy of Periodic Anatase TiO2 System Evaluated with the B2PLYP Double Hybrid Functional

The electronic properties of anatase titanium dioxide (TiO2) materials are of paramount importance for photocatalytic application. Ab initio calculation is performed on anatase TiO2 with various cluster sizes and shape, using Gaussian 09 program employing the standard 6-311G(d) and 3-21G basis set. Hartree-Fock (HF) theory, exchange-functional of density functional theory including hybrid (B3LYP, B3PW91, PBE1PBE and PBEh1PBE) and double-hybrid (B2PLYP), together with 2nd order Møller-Plesset perturbation theory are used to predict the band gap energy of anatase TiO2. With the inclusion of long-range HF exchange, double hybrid B2PLYP functional is able to predict band gap energy value (3.06 eV) which as compared to the experimental value (3.20 eV). Besides, this double hybrid exchange-correlation functional shows good compromise by obtaining an accurate description for cohesive energy of anatase TiO2. Thus, double-hybrid B2PLYP functional is suggested to be a practical choice for predicting the electronic properties for anatase TiO2.

The Power of the Default: Investors’ Reactions to Default Amortization Periods and Deviations Therefrom

As standard setters deliberate the accounting for intangibles, the idea of establishing a default useful life with an option to deviate could reduce the costs and complexities inherent in estimating the useful lives of these assets. Across multiple experiments, we investigate investors’ reactions to companies that utilize versus deviate from a default useful life set by standard setters. We find that investors believe (1) a mandated default life is more of an endorsement of that life than are deviations from it, and (2) companies that deviate will have more difficulty determining the useful life and will face increased scrutiny and justification demands. These insights generally hold whether the deviation results in a shorter or longer expected life, and they become more pronounced as the magnitude of deviation increases. Despite this finding, we observe that investors do not generally view a company’s useful life choice as informative about their true beliefs and judged future economic benefits of the intangible. Collectively, the results suggest that investors view deviations from a default as imposing costs on firms, but not conveying credible information about managers’ true beliefs regarding the economic benefits of the asset. Our findings are informative to standard setters and firm managers.

Setting standards for a diagnostic test of aviation English for student pilots

Standard-setting is an essential component of test development, supporting the meaningfulness and appropriate interpretation of test scores. However, in the high-stakes testing environment of aviation, standard-setting studies are underexplored. To address this gap, we document two stages in the standard-setting procedures for the Overseas Flight Training Preparation Test (OFTPT), a diagnostic English test for ab initio pilots, aligned to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)’s Language Proficiency Rating Scale (LPRS). Performance-level descriptors (PLDs) were empirically generated in Stage 1 in collaboration with six subject matter experts (SMEs). These PLDs made explicit the correspondence between linguistic performance levels within the target language use domain and the ICAO scale. Findings suggest that the ICAO scale is not fine-grained enough to distinguish levels of linguistic readiness among ab initio pilots, nor does it adequately reflect the knowledge, skills, and abilities valued by SMEs within this domain. In Stage 2, 12 SMEs were recruited to set standards and were divided into two groups to investigate the replicability of Ebel method standard-setting procedures. Cut scores were determined for the OFTPT reading and listening tests, which were inferentially linked to the LPRS. There were no significant differences in the cut scores arrived at by both groups and reliability was excellent, suggesting that test users can have confidence in the standards set.

The value-based healthcare approach to haemophilia: Development of outcome measures for the evaluation of care of people with haemophilia.

Considering the advances in haemophilia management and treatment observed in the last decades, a new set of value-based outcome indicators is needed to assess the quality of care and the impact of these medical innovations. The Value-Based Healthcare in Haemophilia project aimed to define a set of clinical outcome indicators (COIs) and patient-reported outcome indicators (PROIs) to assess quality of care in haemophilia in high-income countries with a value-based approach to inform and guide the decision-making process. A Value-based healthcare approach based on the available literature, current guidelines and the involvement of a multidisciplinary group of experts was applied to generate a set of indicators to assess the quality of care of haemophilia. A final list of three COIs and five PROIs was created and validated. The identified COIs focus on two domains: musculoskeletal health and function, and safety. The identified PROIs cover five domains: bleeding frequency, pain, mobility and physical activities, Health-Related Quality of Life and satisfaction. Finally, two composite outcomes, one based on COIs, and one based on PROIs, were proposed as synthetic outcome indicators of quality of care. The presented standard set of health outcome indicators provides the basis for harmonised longitudinal and cross-sectional monitoring and comparison. The implementation of this value-based approach would enable a more robust assessment of quality of care in haemophilia, within a framework of continuous treatment improvements with potential added value for patients. Moreover, proposed COIs and PROIs should be reviewed and updated routinely.

The Relationship between Ethics and the Legal Profession Code of Ethics in Law Enforcement Efforts in Indonesia

Professional ethics is a set of standards established and accepted by specific professional groups as guidance on how to build and ensure the quality of their profession for its members. This research focuses on the ethics of police, prosecutors, judges, lawyers, and notaries. All of these fall under legal professional ethics, also known as special legal ethics. The research method employs normative legal research and conducts a review of regulations through a comparative approach. The research findings indicate that the relationship between ethics and the legal profession forms an institutional framework that carries out a series of crucial functions in social roles, especially in the development of science, humanities, and the field of education. During the implementation process, these professions do not always operate automatically based on beliefs in the importance of their functions but can be significantly influenced by various social power interactions. Ethics in the legal profession plays a crucial role in achieving fair law enforcement. Therefore, ethics in the legal profession (professional code of ethics) is a highly important part in regulating the behavior of legal practitioners, representing fair law enforcement