The Internal Audit Function as a Corporate Governance Mechanism in a Developing Economy: An Empirical Study of the Nigerian Financial Sector

This study investigates the contributory power of the Internal Audit Function (IAF) as one of the four mechanisms of Corporate Governance. The primary aim of the research is to examine the capacity of the IAF to fulfil its contributory role as one of the four cornerstones of CG particularly in the financial sector (FS) of a developing country-Nigeria. Four research questions were put forward. First, what is the level of independence of the IAFs in the Nigerian financial sector (NFS), Second, To what extent are the IAFs in the NFS performing their roles in conformity with the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA)’s standards?, Third, how objective are the internal auditors in the Nigeria Financial Sector (NFS)?, and finally, to what extent are internal auditors in the NFS competent in fulfilling their expected roles? To provide some answers to the research questions, the study made use of triangulation of both quantitative and qualitative primary data gathered from both questionnaire survey on 88 respondents (internal auditors) from firms in the NFS, through purposive sampling method. Four hypotheses formulated for the study were tested using both binary logistic regression analysis (BLRA) and thematic analysis on the collected data, with the aid of a conflation of 3 theories (Agency, Transaction Cost Economy and Institutional theory-‘’ATI’’). Overall, the study provided strong evidence to indicate that the IAFs of the NFS cannot be said to be totally independent of management. The study also established that the auditing methodology of the IAFs of the NFS is not in tune with the new order of internal audit practice (i.e. IIA’s standards). Likewise, the internal auditors in the NFS were not found to objective and proficient. Areas requiring improvement include the manner of appointment and dismissal of CAEs, irregularity of audit committee meeting attendance by the CAEs, insufficiency of training for the IAs as well as their low membership with the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA). The originality of the study and its key contribution to the body of knowledge reside in the evolution of the expansive theoretical framework (‘’ATI’’), and the development of four different models applied to investigate the IAF’s contributory power in CG

Internet and Smartphone Use-Related Addiction Health Problems: Treatment, Education and Research

This Special Issue presents some of the main emerging research on technological topics of health and education approaches to Internet use-related problems, before and during the beginning of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The objective is to provide an overview to facilitate a comprehensive and practical approach to these new trends to promote research, interventions, education, and prevention. It contains 40 papers, four reviews and thirty-five empirical papers and an editorial introducing everything in a rapid review format. Overall, the empirical ones are of a relational type, associating specific behavioral addictive problems with individual factors, and a few with contextual factors, generally in adult populations. Many have adapted scales to measure these problems, and a few cover experiments and mixed methods studies. The reviews tend to be about the concepts and measures of these problems, intervention options, and prevention. In summary, it seems that these are a global culture trend impacting health and educational domains. Internet use-related addiction problems have emerged in almost all societies, and strategies to cope with them are under development to offer solutions to these contemporary challenges, especially during the pandemic situation that has highlighted the global health problems that we have, and how to holistically tackle them

Nuevas aportaciones al desarrollo de modelos QSAR/QSPR para la predicción de la mutagenicidad de contaminantes ambientales y su interacción con sustancias activas presentes en el medio

Se estudió mediante modelos QSAR, la posible mutagenicidad de sustancias presentes en el medio ambiente como los ácidos haloacéticos (derivados de la cloración del agua) y los carbonilos alfa, beta insaturados (sobre todo los empleados como monómeros para la preparación de materiales dentales de restauración) y su posible interacción con la beta ciclodextrina, la cual está presente como excipiente en productos farmacéuticos y como estabilizador de aromas, colorantes y algunas vitaminas en alimentos. Como resultado de este estudio pudimos destacar: -El ácido fluoroiodoacético y difluoroiodoacético podrían ser mutagénicos debido a los valores de potencia mutagénica obtenidos con los modelos desarrollados. Sustancias que podrían encontrarse en aguas fluoradas ricas en ioduro/bromuro. Además es posible que estén presentes en aguas fluoradas ricas en bromuro/ioduro hecho que pondría en duda la necesidad de fluorar el agua potable. - Sustancias comúnmente empleadas como monómeros dentales presentaron predicciones negativas para el ensayo de Ames y un carácter mutagénico para el ensayo con células de mamífero, a excepción del UDMA (Uretil dimetacrilato). - Respecto a la posible interacción de estas sustancias con la beta-ciclodextrina, los ácidos haloacéticos presentan valores de complejación inferiores a los que normalmente presentan fármacos o componentes de los alimentos, por lo que es de esperar que la interacción entre los ácidos haloacéticos y la beta-CD sea de escasa importancia. En cuanto a los monómeros dentales hay que resaltar que sustancias como el TEGDMA, 1,6-ADMA, 1,8-ADMA, GMR, MEPC y 6-HHMA, predichos como mutagénicos, presentan valores de complejación superiores a los que presentan fármacos o componentes de los alimentos. Por lo tanto, estas sustancias podrían desplazar de sus complejos a fármacos o componentes de los alimentos pudiéndose llegar a algún tipo de interacción.Farmaci

Recent Advances in Forensic Anthropological Methods and Research

Forensic anthropology, while still relatively in its infancy compared to other forensic science disciplines, adopts a wide array of methods from many disciplines for human skeletal identification in medico-legal and humanitarian contexts. The human skeleton is a dynamic tissue that can withstand the ravages of time given the right environment and may be the only remaining evidence left in a forensic case whether a week or decades old. Improved understanding of the intrinsic and extrinsic factors that modulate skeletal tissues allows researchers and practitioners to improve the accuracy and precision of identification methods ranging from establishing a biological profile such as estimating age-at-death, and population affinity, estimating time-since-death, using isotopes for geolocation of unidentified decedents, radiology for personal identification, histology to assess a live birth, to assessing traumatic injuries and so much more

From habitat to management: a simulation framework for improving statistical methods in fisheries science

224 p.Monte Carlo simulation consists in computer experiments that involve creating data by pseudo-random sampling and has shown to be a powerful tool for studying the performance of statistical methods. In this thesis Monte Carlo simulation was used to improve statistical methodology related to three different fields of fisheries science: 1) Species distribution models (SDM) field, where focusing on regression-based models, we proposed using shape-constrained generalised additive models (SC-GAMs) to build SDMs in agreement with the ecological niche theory imposing concavity constraints in the linear predictor scale and testing their performance trough Monte Carlos simulation, 2) stock assessment models field, where uncertainty estimation methods for statistical catch-at-age models with non-parametric effects on fishing mortality were compared through simulation in addition to the comparison of two available stock assessment models to an ad-hoc Bayesian approach, and 3) management advice field, where a full-feedback management strategy evaluation (MSE) is developed for the sardine in the Bay of Biscay, incorporating the official Stoch Synthesis assessment model within the Monte Carlo simulation, and introducing gradually different sources of uncertainty such as process, parameter and observation error in order to study their effect in management advice. Monte Carlo simulation was an adequate tool to accomplish the objectives of this thesis that definitely could not have been achieved using only available real data or analytical solutions

From habitat to management: a simulation framework for improving statistical methods in fisheries science

Monte Carlo simulation consists of computer experiments that involve creating data by pseudo-random sampling and has shown to be a powerful tool for studying the performance of statistical methods. In this thesis Monte Carlo simulation was used to improve statistical methodology related to three different fields of fisheries science: 1) Species distribution models (SDM) field, where focusing on regression-based models, we proposed using shape-constrained generalised additive models (SC-GAMs) to build SDMs in agreement with the ecological niche theory imposing concavity constraints in the linear predictor scale and testing their performance trough Monte Carlo simulation, 2) stock assessment models field, where uncertainty estimation methods for statistical catch-at-age models with non-parametric effects on fishing mortality were compared through simulation in addition to the comparison of two available stock assessment models to an ad-hoc Bayesian approach, and 3) management advice field, where a full-feedback management strategy evaluation (MSE) was developed for the sardine in the Bay of Biscay, incorporating the official Stoch Synthesis assessment model within the Monte Carlo simulation, and introducing gradually different sources of uncertainty such as process, parameter and observation error in order to study their effect in management advice. Monte Carlo simulation was an adequate tool to accomplish the objectives of this thesis that definitely could not have been achieved using only available real data or analytical solutions

Precariedad laboral, estrés crónico y salud mental: un estudio sobre el entorno psicosocial laboral como posible mecanismo causal

El objetivo principal de esta tesis es avanzar en el conocimiento de los mecanismos que vinculan el empleo precario, la salud mental y el estrés crónico, analizando el posible papel mediador del entorno psi- cosocial del trabajo en esta relación. Se combinan diferentes enfo- ques de análisis de mediación para estimar el efecto indirecto de los riesgos psicosociales laborales, tales como las altas demandas psico- lógicas, el bajo control del trabajo, el insuficiente apoyo social de los superiores y compañeros en el lugar de trabajo, así como el conflicto trabajo-vida. Estos análisis se realizaron en diferentes muestras, in- cluyendo una muestra de trabajadores de la ciudad de Barcelona, una muestra de trabajadores de 23 países europeos y una cohorte de tra- bajadores suecos, utilizando diseños transversales y longitudinales. El empleo precario se asoció a una peor salud mental percibida, al diagnóstico de trastornos mentales, a los trastornos por consumo de sustancias y a los intentos de suicidio, así como al estrés crónico. Aunque con diferencias según la muestra, se comprobó que una pro- porción significativa de estas asociaciones fue atribuible al efecto de los riesgos psicosociales laborales, especialmente entre las mujeres.Agencia Nacional de Investigación e InnovaciónMinisterio de Ciencia e Innovación (España

Hooked on the Internet: the prevalence, risk, theory and presenting problem of Internet addiction

As the Internet becomes increasingly ubiquitous and mobile, Internet addiction appears as a potential mental health problem in adolescents and students. From the reported negative consequences, it appears Internet addiction can have a variety of detrimental outcomes for young people that may require professional intervention. The unique contribution to knowledge of this research is (i) the assessment of the interplay between certain personality traits and the usage of specific Internet applications in contributing to an elevated risk of Internet addiction in two independent samples of 3,105 adolescents in the Netherlands and 2,257 university students in the UK, (ii) the development and testing of the concise Internet addiction components model using the quantitative data obtained, and (iii) the phenomenological exploration of the presenting problem of Internet addiction from the perspective of 20 psychotherapists from Europe, the USA, and Canada. A mixed methods approach was used in the form of psychometric measurement and qualitative interviews. Data were analysed using logistic regression, confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modelling, and interpretative phenomenological analysis