Decisison Useful Financial Reporting Information Characteristics: An Empirical Validation of the Proposed FASB/IASB International Accounting Model

As part of a future international accounting standard, the USA Financial Accounting Standards Board and UK International Accounting Standards Board recently updated their description of the financial reporting information characteristics that determine its decision usefulness for end users. Yet the relationships inherent in the description have not been empirically validated. If invalid, the description may globally misguide future professional information efforts for a multitude of business users and decisions. A causal model is created of decision-useful financial reporting information characteristics from the description, then evaluated using partial least squares and survey data from business information users as defined by the international standard. The model significantly predicted user perceptions of key information constructs (Decision Usefulness [76%], Relevance [62%], and Faithful Representativeness [57%]; R2 values, p\u3c0.01). However, theoretically and practically important constructs (Verifiability, Completeness, Faithful Representativeness) did not significantly contribute to the model

Design and Applications of an Intelligent Financial Reporting and Auditing Agent with Net Knowledge (FRAANK)

This paper discusses the use of intelligent Internet agents as essential tools for automating financial analysis functions in the virtual world. Several important characteristic features of intelligent agents are discussed, including autonomy, communication ability, collaboration, and mobility. This paper focuses on developing a new intelligent agent called FRAANK – Financial Reporting and Auditing Agent with Net Knowledge. The prototype of FRAANK described in this paper provides intelligent access to, and processing and integration of rapidly changing financial information available from various sources on the Internet. FRAANK is an example of an agent that provides a value-added service that can be used for extracting data from natural text financial statements and converting them into XBRL-tagged statements, can potentially be utilized in an auditing practice, or used by investors and creditors in making their decisions

Comparison of Francisella tularensis genomes reveals evolutionary events associated with the emergence of human pathogenic strains

.Sequencing of the non-pathogenic Francisella tularensis sub-species novicida U112, and comparison with two pathogenic sub-species, provides insights into the evolution of pathogenicity in these species

Water velocity limits the temporal extent of herbivore effects on aquatic plants in a lowland river

The role of herbivores in regulating aquatic plant dynamics has received growing recognition from researchers and managers. However, the evidence for herbivore impacts on aquatic plants is largely based on short-term exclosure studies conducted within a single plant growing season. Thus, it is unclear how long herbivore impacts on aquatic plant abundance can persist for. We addressed this knowledge gap by testing whether mute swan (Cygnus olor) grazing on lowland river macrophytes could be detected in the following growing season. Furthermore, we investigated the role of seasonal changes in water current speed in limiting the temporal extent of grazing. We found no relationship between swan biomass density in 1 year and aquatic plant cover or biomass in the following spring. No such carry-over effects were detected despite observing high swan biomass densities in the previous year from which we inferred grazing impacts on macrophytes. Seasonal increases in water velocity were associated with reduced grazing pressure as swans abandoned river habitat. Furthermore, our study highlights the role of seasonal changes in water velocity in determining the length of the mute swan grazing season in shallow lowland rivers and thus in limiting the temporal extent of herbivore impacts on aquatic plant abundance

Nanopore sequencing and assembly of a human genome with ultra-long reads

We report the sequencing and assembly of a reference genome for the human GM12878 Utah/Ceph cell line using the MinION (Oxford Nanopore Technologies) nanopore sequencer. 91.2 Gb of sequence data, representing ~30× theoretical coverage, were produced. Reference-based alignment enabled detection of large structural variants and epigenetic modifications. De novo assembly of nanopore reads alone yielded a contiguous assembly (NG50 ~3 Mb). Next, we developed a protocol to generate ultra-long reads (N50 > 100kb, up to 882 kb). Incorporating an additional 5×-coverage of these data more than doubled the assembly contiguity (NG50 ~6.4 Mb). The final assembled genome was 2,867 million bases in size, covering 85.8% of the reference. Assembly accuracy, after incorporating complementary short-read sequencing data, exceeded 99.8%. Ultra-long reads enabled assembly and phasing of the 4 Mb major histocompatibility complex (MHC) locus in its entirety, measurement of telomere repeat length and closure of gaps in the reference human genome assembly GRCh38

A Conceptual Framework and Belief-Function Approach to Assessing Overall Information Quality

This is the author's final draft. The publisher's official version is available from: <http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/ 10.1002/%28ISSN%291098-111X>.We develop an information quality model based on a user-centric view adapted from Financial Accounting Standards Board1, Wang et al.2, and Wang and Strong3. The model consists of four essential attributes (or assertions): ‘Accessibility,’ ‘Interpretability,’ ‘Relevance,’ and ‘Integrity.’ Four sub-attributes lead to an evaluation of Integrity: ‘Accuracy,’ ‘Completeness,’ ‘Consistency,’ and ‘Existence.’ These sub-attributes relating to 'Integrity' are intrinsic in nature and relate to the process of how the information was created while the first three attributes: ‘Accessibility,’ ‘Interpretability,’ and ‘Relevance’ are extrinsic in nature. We present our model as an evidential network under the belief-function framework to permit user assessment of quality parameters. Two algorithms for combining assessments into an overall IQ measure are explored, and examples in the domain of medical information are used to illustrate key concepts. We discuss two scenarios, ‘online-user’ and ‘assurance-provider,’ which reflect two likely and important aspects of IQ evaluation currently facing information users – concerns about the impact of poor quality online information, and the need for information quality assurance

The synthesis and characterization of a polymer-supported cellulose model

Ph.D

and

A Conceptual Framework and Belief-Function Approac

The synthesis and characterization of a polymer-supported cellulose model

"March 1988.