Summary #4: The Effects of Internal Audit Outsourcing on Perceived External Auditor Independence

The accounting profession is attempting to redefine itself, in part by expanding the types of services it provides. This expansion of services has raised questions about whether CPA firms can maintain their independence and still provide an ever-increasing array of other types of services to audit clients. In this study we addressed financial statement user perceptions about CPA firms performing internal auditing outsourcing activities—an area in which CPAs are becoming increasingly involved

Appearances Are Important: Outsourced Internal Audit Services and the Perception of Auditor Independence

The appearance of independence is an important facet of the regulation of auditor independence. The authors conducted a research study to gauge how some financial statement users—loan officers—view and make decisions based on loan proposals that present various types of relationships between the applicant, the auditor that performs the external audit, and the auditor that performs the internal audit function (whether performed in-house or outsourced to the hypothetical loan applicant\u27s external auditor). The results are insightful: The closer the relationship between the external auditor and the audit client, the higher the perception of inappropriateness, and the less likely the loan officer is to approve the application. The findings support the current direction of discussion about auditor independence rules, and the authors draw thoughtful conclusions about their study\u27s wider implications

Benchmarking CPUs and GPUs on embedded platforms for software receiver usage

Smartphones containing multi-core central processing units (CPUs) and powerful many-core graphics processing units (GPUs) bring supercomputing technology into your pocket (or into our embedded devices). This can be exploited to produce power-efficient, customized receivers with flexible correlation schemes and more advanced positioning techniques. For example, promising techniques such as the Direct Position Estimation paradigm or usage of tracking solutions based on particle filtering, seem to be very appealing in challenging environments but are likewise computationally quite demanding. This article sheds some light onto recent embedded processor developments, benchmarks Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) and correlation algorithms on representative embedded platforms and relates the results to the use in GNSS software radios. The use of embedded CPUs for signal tracking seems to be straight forward, but more research is required to fully achieve the nominal peak performance of an embedded GPU for FFT computation. Also the electrical power consumption is measured in certain load levels.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Study of Ettawa Crossbreed’s Grade for Source at Livestock Farmer in East Lombok Regency (Case Study on Livestock Farmers)

This study to determine the performance of shoulder height, body weight and grade of PE goats kept by livestock farmers in East Lombok Regency. This research was conducted from June to July 2022 using survey methods, observations and direct interviews with livestock farmers in East Lombok Regency. the location where the research was carried out based on recommendations from the Puskeswan. Pringgabaya, Sakra Barat and Jerowaru sub-districts are the 3 sub-districts that are the research locations, from each selected sub-district there are 3 villages representing each sub-district and 10 livestock farmers in each village, with details of 3 sub-districts, 9 villages and 90 livestock farmers. The variables observed in this study included the identity of the livestock farmer, the rearing system, the housing system, performance (body weight and shoulder height) and the farmer's grade of PE goat. Data were analyzed using Arithmetic Mean and Standard Deviation. Most of the high shoulder performance of PE goats in East Lombok Regency is not standardized by SNI 7352;2015. The grade of PE goats in East Lombok Regency were 58 PE goats aged 4-8 months which entered grade D and 9 goats entered grade C, 75 PE goats aged 8-12 months which entered grade D and some livestock in Jerowaru District is included in E while 13 goats in West Sakra District are included in grade C, 165 PE goats aged 12-36 months are included in grade D and 9 goats are included in grade C, 58 PE goats aged 4-8 months are included into grade D and 9 goats entered into grade C, 38 PE goats aged 36 months and over entered into grade C

Gene-Trap Mutagenesis Identifies Mammalian Genes Contributing to Intoxication by Clostridium perfringens ε-Toxin

The Clostridium perfringens ε-toxin is an extremely potent toxin associated with lethal toxemias in domesticated ruminants and may be toxic to humans. Intoxication results in fluid accumulation in various tissues, most notably in the brain and kidneys. Previous studies suggest that the toxin is a pore-forming toxin, leading to dysregulated ion homeostasis and ultimately cell death. However, mammalian host factors that likely contribute to ε-toxin-induced cytotoxicity are poorly understood. A library of insertional mutant Madin Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells, which are highly susceptible to the lethal affects of ε-toxin, was used to select clones of cells resistant to ε-toxin-induced cytotoxicity. The genes mutated in 9 surviving resistant cell clones were identified. We focused additional experiments on one of the identified genes as a means of validating the experimental approach. Gene expression microarray analysis revealed that one of the identified genes, hepatitis A virus cellular receptor 1 (HAVCR1, KIM-1, TIM1), is more abundantly expressed in human kidney cell lines than it is expressed in human cells known to be resistant to ε-toxin. One human kidney cell line, ACHN, was found to be sensitive to the toxin and expresses a larger isoform of the HAVCR1 protein than the HAVCR1 protein expressed by other, toxin-resistant human kidney cell lines. RNA interference studies in MDCK and in ACHN cells confirmed that HAVCR1 contributes to ε-toxin-induced cytotoxicity. Additionally, ε-toxin was shown to bind to HAVCR1 in vitro. The results of this study indicate that HAVCR1 and the other genes identified through the use of gene-trap mutagenesis and RNA interference strategies represent important targets for investigation of the process by which ε-toxin induces cell death and new targets for potential therapeutic intervention

Static, Free Vibration and Buckling Analysis of Composite Panels; A Review

A composite material is generally a combination of materials differing in composition or form on a macro scale for the purposes of attaining specific characteristics and properties. The developments in the field of composite materials have granted significant weight reduction in structural design. When compared to metallic materials, composites offer many advantages, especially high strength, stiffness to weight ratio, excellent fatigue properties, and corrosion resistance. Plates, curved panels, the cylindrical shell-shaped forms of models are being broadly used in many structural packages of engineering structure. For design the structure, it is important to know the behaviour of these under static, free vibration, buckling condition. The present paper aims to review the literature on static, free vibration, and buckling analysis of composite flat panel, curved panel, and cylindrical shell. Further, the testing procedure of laminate, design guidelines of laminates and cost estimations with mechanical properties comparison of laminate with metal, CLT (classical lamination theory) basis including thermal and moisture expansion for stiffness evaluation are also summarised in this paper