Threats and Safeguards in the Determination of Auditor Independence

The Article that follows was written before enactment into law of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. It attempts a brief explication of an existing conceptual framework for determining issues of auditor independence: that of the staff of the Independence Standards Board and suggests that approach is a much sounder way to address remaining issues of auditor independence than the approach reflected in the existing SEC Rule. Because the new Public Company Accounting Oversight Board is charged with addressing issues of auditor independence it will have to try to think conceptually about what we want from a requirement of auditor independence and what we are willing to forego in order to have it. The SEC should encourage it to do so and allow it to replace the political comprise of the existing Rule

Sons Of America : America Needs You

https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mmb-vp/5245/thumbnail.jp

We\u27ll Meet Again / words by William T. Francis

Cover: a drawing of a women playing panpipe; Publisher: Arthur W. Tams (New York)https://egrove.olemiss.edu/sharris_b/1011/thumbnail.jp

Bulk Current Injection Testing of Close Proximity Cable Current Return, 1kHz to 1 MHz

This paper presents the results of an experiment examining the percentage of current that returns on adjacent wires or through a surrounding cable shield rather than through a shared conducting chassis. Simulation and measurement data are compared from 1 kHz 1 MHz for seven common cable configurations. The phenomenon is important to understand, because minimizing the return current path is vital in developing systems with low radiated emissions

Rap1 promotes cell spreading by localizing Rac guanine nucleotide exchange factors

The Ras-related GTPase Rap1 stimulates integrin-mediated adhesion and spreading in various mammalian cell types. Here, we demonstrate that Rap1 regulates cell spreading by localizing guanine nucleotide exchange factors (GEFs) that act via the Rho family GTPase Rac1. Rap1a activates Rac1 and requires Rac1 to enhance spreading, whereas Rac1 induces spreading independently of Rap1. Active Rap1a binds to a subset of Rac GEFs, including VAV2 and Tiam1 but not others such as SWAP-70 or COOL-1. Overexpressed VAV2 and Tiam1 specifically require Rap1 to promote spreading, even though Rac1 is activated independently of Rap1. Rap1 is necessary for the accumulation of VAV2 in membrane protrusions at the cell periphery. In addition, if VAV2 is artificially localized to the cell edge with the subcellular targeting domain of Rap1a, it increases cell spreading independently of Rap1. These results lead us to propose that Rap1 promotes cell spreading by localizing a subset of Rac GEFs to sites of active lamellipodia extension

A Numerical Model for Heat Transfer and Moisture Evaporation Processes in Hot-Press Drying—An Integral Approach

A numerical model, which was based on the energy principle that the rate of water evaporation from the interface (or wet line) at a given time during hot-press drying was controlled by the rate of heat energy reaching the interface at that time, has been developed. The model treated the drying as a process in which the retreat of the interface and free water flow to the interface occur simultaneously. After all parameters were determined according to the available literature and experiments, the numerical model worked well in predicting the drying curves from process and material variables. The model, which has a sound theoretical base but is numerically simple, has a good potential to be expanded for general high temperature drying and to be adopted in a production line to presort the lumber for good drying practice

Using CO2 to Determine Inhaled Contaminant Volumes and Blower Effectiveness in Several Types of Respirators

This experiment was conducted to determine how much contaminant could be expected to be inhaled when overbreathing several different types of respirators. These included several tight-fitting and loose-fitting powered air-purifying respirators (PAPRs) and one air-purifying respirator (APR). CO2 was used as a tracer gas in the ambient air, and several loose-and tight-fitting respirators were tested on the head form of a breathing machine. CO2 concentration in the exhaled breath was monitored as well as CO2 concentration in the ambient air. This concentration ratio was able to give a measurement of protection factor, not for the respirator necessarily, but for the wearer. Flow rates in the filter/blower inlet and breathing machine outlet were also monitored, so blower effectiveness (defined as the blower contribution to inhaled air) could also be determined. Wearer protection factors were found to range from 1.1 for the Racal AirMate loose-fitting PAPR to infinity for the 3M Hood, 3M Breath-Easy PAPR, and SE 400 breath-responsive PAPR. Inhaled contaminant volumes depended on tidal volume but ranged from 2.02 L to 0 L for the same respirators, respectively. Blower effectiveness was about 1.0 for tight-fitting APRs, 0.18 for the Racal, and greater than 1.0 for two of the loose-fitting PAPRs. With blower effectiveness greater than 1.0, some blower flow during the exhalation phase contributes to the subsequent inhalation. Results from this experiment point to different ways to measure respirator efficacy