CPA\u27s handbook of fraud and commercial crime prevention

https://egrove.olemiss.edu/aicpa_guides/1823/thumbnail.jp

EVALUATION OF BUSINESS EFFECTS OF MACHINE-TO-MACHINE SYSTEM

The tightening competition and pressure in the project schedules often leave no time or space for the assessment of business impacts of different investments and projects. In addition, in many cases the assessment may be challenging and there is no experience available to undertake it. Therefore, companies often commit to different projects and investments without careful planning and vision of the costs it may cause. The goal in this thesis is to present and clarify the possible applications for the designed platform. The different benefits and its scope of use are also evaluated. Its potential market size is also assessed and its payback period calculated. Moreover, the investment eligibility from customer point of view is evaluated using several investment decision methods. In order to enable the practical business impact assessment, the designed platform is applied to fleet management business. In order to facilitate and increase the assessment of business impacts, a decision support system is also created. It is built on the understanding gained from the cost-benefit analysis conducted in the fleet management case and three other cases from the machine-to-machine business. As a background for the thesis, an overview of the existing solutions is presented and few well-known service models are described. Also an introduction to three sales forecasting methods is given. In order to build a basis for the decision support system, few investment decision methods are presented. As a result, a good understanding of different applications of the platform was gained. It was found to be suitable for any business in which vehicles are involved as they share several common properties such as location information, fuel consumption, speed, and status information. Its potential market size was assessed very promising despite low market share assumption. The payback period was found as very appealing and the investment strongly eligible. The created decision support system was found to be successful. It can be seen as a reliable tool as it consists of several investment decision methods. However, experience from the business area is still needed because any system cannot provide thorough means to identify all the crucial cost factors involved in an investment.fi=Opinnäytetyö kokotekstinä PDF-muodossa.|en=Thesis fulltext in PDF format.|sv=Lärdomsprov tillgängligt som fulltext i PDF-format

Multi Parametric Magnetic Resonance Imaging in the early detection and risk stratification of prostate cancer: The PROMIS trial

Although prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men, it remains a difficult and controversial disease in terms of its diagnostic, risk stratification and treatment pathway. This is mainly due to the shortcomings of the standard diagnostic test, trans rectal ultrasound guided biopsy (TRUSBx), that is triggered following an elevated serum prostate specific antigen (PSA) test and the lack of agreement on disease thresholds that correlate to patient risk, if left untreated (and thus undetected). These factors often complicate the selection of the appropriate management that best fits the individual patient. In this doctoral thesis I propose, examine and validate a different approach that aims to shift the current diagnostic paradigm to that of incorporating an imaging test, multi-parametric magnetic resonance imaging (MP-MRI), prior to TRUS biopsy. First, I will discuss the nature of prostate cancer and highlight the shortcomings of the current diagnostic pathway and their implications. Second, I will analyze the shortcomings in early MP-MRI research that might have hindered its acceptance and adoption into the pathway and review the advances in research that occurred since I started my research. Third, I will discuss the rationale and methodological design considerations behind the PROstate Mri Imaging Study (PROMIS). PROMIS was a multicentre diagnostic paired validating confirmatory cohort study conducted to provide level 1b evidence on diagnostic accuracy of MP-MRI. It was designed to avoid the pitfalls identified in the current literature. I will discuss and analyze the design, conduct and results of the trial and its implications. Finally, I will discuss the wider implications of my work on the clinical practice of prostate cancer management and the future research opportunities made possible by the PROMIS data and its findings

Characterisation framework of key policy, regulatory and governance dynamics and impacts upon European food value chains: Fairer trading practices, food integrity, and sustainability collaborations. : VALUMICS project “Understanding Food Value Chains and Network Dynamics” funded by EU Horizon 2020 G.A. No 727243. Deliverable D3.3

The report provides a framework that categorises the different European Union (EU) policies, laws and governance actions identified as impacting upon food value chains in the defined areas of: fairer trading practices, food integrity (food safety and authenticity), and sustainability collaborations along food value chains. A four-stage framework is presented and illustrated with examples. The evidence shows that European Union policy activity impacting upon food value chain dynamics is increasing, both in terms of the impacts of policies upon the chains, and, in terms of addressing some of the more contentious outcomes of these dynamics. A number of policy priorities are at play in addressing the outcomes of food value chain dynamics. unevenness of the distribution of profit within food value chains, notably to farmers. Regulation of food safety and aspects of authenticity has been a key focus for two decades to ensure a functioning single market while ensuring consumer health and wellbeing. A food chain length perspective has been attempted, notably through regulations such as the General Food Law, and the rationalisation of the Official Controls on food and feed safety. However, there are still gaps in the effective monitoring and transparency of food safety and of food integrity along value chains, as exemplified by misleading claims and criminal fraud. This has led to renewed policy actions over food fraud, in particular. EU regulations, policies and related governance initiatives provide an important framework for national-level actions for EU member states and for EEA members. The more tightly EU-regulated areas, such as food safety, see fewer extra initiatives, but where there is a more general strategic policy and governance push, such as food waste reduction or food fraud, there is greater independent state-level activity. Likewise, there is much more variation in the application of both national and European (Competition) law to govern unfair trading practices impacting upon food value chains. This report presents the findings of a survey of members from the VALUMICS stakeholder platform, that were policy facing food value chain stakeholders across selected European countries, including both EU and EEA Member States. The survey was conducted to check the significance of the main policies identified in the mapping exercise at EU and national levels and so to incorporate the views of stakeholders in the research. The responses suggest the policy concerns identified in EU and national-level research resonate with food value chain stakeholders in participating nations. The report concludes by exploring in more detail how the themes of fairness and of transparency are being handled in the policy activities presented. Highlighted are the ways that both fairness and transparency can be extended within the existing frameworks of EU policy activity. The findings in this report provide an important context for further and detailed research analysis of the workings and dynamics of European food value chains under the VALUMICS project

Uniform CPA examination. Questions and unofficial answers, 1995 November

https://egrove.olemiss.edu/aicpa_exam/1101/thumbnail.jp