Accountability disclosure of SOEs: comparing hybrid and private European news agencies

Purpose This paper aims to explore the financial and non-financial accountability disclosure patterns of state-owned enterprises (SOEs), as hybrid organizations. Design/methodology/approach Adopting the hybridity concept and resorting to stakeholder theory, this paper works on a comparison between the accountability disclosure patterns of hybrid and private organizations operating in the same industry. European national news agencies are selected as units of analysis and an extensive web content analysis is performed on three categories of information. Findings SOEs are found to disclose a broader spectrum of information than private organizations, and differences between them have been found. Nevertheless, both financial and non-financial disclosures are underdeveloped in the two organizational types. Research limitations/implications This paper illustrates how hybridity explains SOEs’ accountability disclosure patterns. Results could not be complemented through information on disclosure through alternative channels. Future studies are encouraged to perform simultaneous comparisons among hybrid, public and private organizations, as well as considering industry specifics. Practical implications As web accountability disclosure helps to address the demands of distant stakeholders, efforts are needed to enhance SOEs’ web accountability disclosures and not to undermine democratic accountability relationships. Originality/value This paper contributes to the ongoing debate on the accountability mechanisms and style of SOEs. Using a framework for hybrid organizations provides an understanding of how SOEs, as hybrid organizations, disclose information for accountability. In turn, this allows, and then promotes, the investigation of social phenomena by conceiving hybridity as a standalone institutional space.

COMPARISON OF HOGHORN ANALYSIS METHODS

The paper compares an aperture method and full-wave numerical simulations of hoghorn, which is used as a simple primary feed for reflector antennas or individually without reflector. The hoghorn consists of a sectoral horn flaring in only one plane and a parabolic cylinder. We briefly explain the calculations of hoghorn dimensions, aperture distributions and radiation patterns. This is suitable for numerical computations. We analyze the completely new simultaneous comparisons of the ample experiments with numerical results of both the aperture method and the numerical simulations. This enables to obtain innovative conclusions. Proposed improvements can diminish slight differences of one polarization between experiments and numerical simulations. We have used the described methods for the design of certain antennas for multilateration systems, such as Tamara and Vera passive radars, for civilian and military air traffic control, which greatly improve the accuracy of tracking aircrafts.

Making Internal Feedback Explicit: Exploiting the Multiple Comparisons that occur during Peer Review

This article takes the view that students generate internal feedback about their own work by comparing it against some external information. Based on this framing, it explores the inner feedback that students generate during peer review when they compare their work with the work of peers and with comments received from peers. The outputs of these comparisons were made explicit by having students write an account of what they learned from them. This allowed us to evaluate the extent to which students’ internal feedback would match the feedback a teacher might provide. Analysis revealed that inner feedback builds up over sequential comparisons and that this, and multiple simultaneous comparisons, resulted in students generating feedback that not only matched the feedback a teacher might provide but went beyond it in powerful and productive ways. The implications are that having students make the internal feedback they generate explicit not only helps them build their self-regulatory abilities but can also decrease teacher workload in providing comments.

Network meta-analyses in reproductive medicine: challenges and opportunities

Network meta-analysis allows researchers to synthesise both direct and indirect evidence, thus enabling simultaneous comparisons of multiple treatments. A relatively recent addition to evidence synthesis in reproductive medicine, this approach has become increasingly popular. Yet, the underlying assumptions of network meta-analyses, which drive the validity of their findings, have been frequently ignored. In this article, we discuss the strengths and limitations of network meta-analyses. In addition, we present an overview of published network meta-analyses in reproductive medicine, summarize their challenges and provide insights into future research opportunities.

TooManyCells identifies and visualizes relationships of single-cell clades

Transcriptional programs contribute to phenotypic and functional cell states. While elucidation of cell state heterogeneity and its role in biology and pathobiology has been advanced by studying single cell level measurements, the underlying assumptions of current analytical methods limit the identification and exploration of cell clades. Unlike other methods, which produce a single uni-layer partition of cells ignoring echelons of cell states, we present TooManyCells, a software consisting of a suite of graph-based tools for efficient, global, and unbiased identification and visualization of cell clades while maintaining and presenting the relationship between cell states. TooManyCells provides a set of tools based on a matrix-free efficient divisive hierarchical spectral clustering algorithm wholly different from the prevalent Louvain-based methods. BirchBeer, the visualization component of TooManyCells, introduces a new approach for single cell analysis that is built on a concept intentionally orthogonal to the widely used dimensionality reduction methods. Together, this suite of tools provide a paradigm shift in the analysis and interpretation of single cell data by enabling simultaneous comparisons of cell states at context-and application-dependent scales. A byproduct of this shift is the immediate detection and visualization of rare populations that outperforms previous algorithms as demonstrated by applying these tools to existing single cell RNA-seq data sets from various mouse organs.

Fifteen Years of Cal/Val Service to Reference Altimetry Missions: Calibration of Satellite Altimetry at the Permanent Facilities in Gavdos and Crete, Greece

Satellite altimetry provides exceptional means for absolute and undisputable monitoring of changes in sea level and inland waters (rivers and lakes), over regional to global scales, with accuracy and with respect to the center of mass of the Earth. Altimetry system’s responses have to be continuously monitored for their quality, biases, errors, drifts, etc. with calibration. Absolute calibration of altimeters is achieved by external and independent to satellite facilities on the ground. This is the mainstay for a continuous, homogenous, and reliable monitoring of the earth and its oceans. This paper describes the development of the Permanent Facility for Altimetry Calibration in Gavdos/Crete, Greece, as of 2001 along with its infrastructure and instrumentation. Calibration results are presented for the reference missions of Jason-1, Jason-2, and Jason-3. Then, this work continues with the determination of relative calibrations with respect to reference missions for Sentinel-3A, HY-2A, and SARAL/AltiKa. Calibration results are also given for Jason-2 and Jason-3 altimeters using the transponder at the CDN1 Cal/Val site on the mountains of Crete, with simultaneous comparisons against sea-surface calibration and during their tandem mission. Finally, the paper presents procedures for estimating uncertainties for altimeter calibration to meet the Fiducial Reference Measurement standards.

A Demonstration of Structural Choice Modelling in a Market Research Context

Grounded in random utility theory, discrete choice experiments (DCE) have proven to be effective in uncovering consumers' choice preferences and switching patterns for repeated choice. Despite this efficacy, a key shortcoming of a DCE is that it does not allow simultaneous comparisons across separate experiments, such as for different product categories, even if both experiments use the same respondents. While wider modelling in a single DCE can use interaction terms as a workaround method to compare across experiments, comparing partworth estimates of separate DCEs is problematic. This study illustrates the use of structural choice modelling (SCM), a recent development that incorporates latent variables and structural equations into the analyses of DCEs and more generally into choice processes. SCM makes it possible to evaluate the consistencies (i.e. heterogeneity) of preferences for attributes common across multiple DCEs when applied to the same respondents, thereby overcoming the stated DCEs' weakness.