Fiscal Transparency, Accountability and Corporate Collapse: A Post-Mortem Analysis of Failure of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) in Nigeria

The study investigated through a post mortem research paradigm the extent to which lack of fiscal transparency and accountability accounted the collapse of SOEs in Nigeria without prejudice to other variables identified in previous studies. The study adopted the fiscal transparency and accountability code of good conduct as evolved by the IMF in building the model tested in the study. The paper observed that institutionalization of the tripod of: clarity of roles and responsibilities (which is a cardinal principle of internal control); public availability of information; and open preparation and proper of implementation of budget would have contributed significantly to foreclosing the collapse of SOEs in Nigeria. The paper also observed that assurances of integrity which revolved around proper engagement of external audit services could not have prevented the failure of SOEs. The paper concludes that the non enshrinement of fiscal transparency and accountability in the management of SOEs is a recipe not only for their poor performance but eventual failure. This conclusion is firmly collocated within the current push for greater transparency and answerability on the part of government and her institutions as evidenced in the ongoing public service reforms. Therefore, the paper recommends the imperative of institutionalizing fiscal transparency and accountability in all public institutions as a critical service delivery success factor and the enthronement of good governance. Keywords: Fiscal transparency, accountability, state-owned enterprises, corporate collapse, post mortem, national development

Incrimination of Phlebotomus kandelakii and Phlebotomus balcanicus as Vectors of Leishmania infantum in Tbilisi, Georgia

A survey of potential vector sand flies was conducted in the neighboring suburban communities of Vake and Mtatsminda districts in an active focus of visceral Leishmaniasis (VL) in Tbilisi, Georgia. Using light and sticky-paper traps, 1,266 male and 1,179 female sand flies were collected during 2006–2008. Five Phlebotomus species of three subgenera were collected: Phlebotomus balcanicus Theodor and Phlebotomus halepensis Theodor of the subgenus Adlerius; Phlebotomus kandelakii Shchurenkova and Phlebotomus wenyoni Adler and Theodor of the subgenus Larroussius; Phlebotomus sergenti Perfil'ev of the subgenus Paraphlebotomus. Phlebotomus sergenti (35.1%) predominated in Vake, followed by P. kandelakii (33.5%), P. balcanicus (18.9%), P. halepensis (12.2%), and P. wenyoni (0.3%). In Mtatsminda, P. kandelakii (76.8%) comprised over three fourths of collected sand flies, followed by P. sergenti (12.6%), P. balcanicus (5.8%), P. halepensis (3.7%), and P. wenyoni (1.1%). The sand fly season in Georgia is exceptionally short beginning in early June, peaking in July and August, then declining to zero in early September. Of 659 female sand flies examined for Leishmania, 12 (1.8%) specimens without traces of blood were infected including 10 of 535 P. kandelakii (1.9%) and two of 40 P. balcanicus (5.0%). Six isolates were successfully cultured and characterized as Leishmania by PCR. Three isolates from P. kandelakii (2) and P. balcanicus (1) were further identified as L. infantum using sequence alignment of the 70 kDa heat-shock protein gene. Importantly, the sand fly isolates showed a high percent identity (99.8%–99.9%) to human and dog isolates from the same focus, incriminating the two sand fly species as vectors. Blood meal analysis showed that P. kandelakii preferentially feeds on dogs (76%) but also feeds on humans. The abundance, infection rate and feeding behavior of P. kandelakii and the infection rate in P. balcanicus establish these species as vectors in the Tbilisi VL focus

Exploring the midgut transcriptome of Phlebotomus papatasi: comparative analysis of expression profiles of sugar-fed, blood-fed and Leishmania major-infected sandflies

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In sandflies, the blood meal is responsible for the induction of several physiologic processes that culminate in egg development and maturation. During blood feeding, infected sandflies are also able to transmit the parasite Leishmania to a suitable host. Many blood-induced molecules play significant roles during Leishmania development in the sandfly midgut, including parasite killing within the endoperitrophic space. In this work, we randomly sequenced transcripts from three distinct high quality full-length female <it>Phlebotomus papatasi </it>midgut-specific cDNA libraries from sugar-fed, blood-fed and <it>Leishmania major</it>-infected sandflies. Furthermore, we compared the transcript expression profiles from the three different cDNA libraries by customized bioinformatics analysis and validated these findings by semi-quantitative PCR and real-time PCR.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Transcriptome analysis of 4010 cDNA clones resulted in the identification of the most abundant <it>P. papatasi </it>midgut-specific transcripts. The identified molecules included those with putative roles in digestion and peritrophic matrix formation, among others. Moreover, we identified sandfly midgut transcripts that are expressed only after a blood meal, such as microvilli associated-like protein (<it>PpMVP1</it>, <it>PpMVP2 </it>and <it>PpMVP3</it>), a peritrophin (<it>PpPer1</it>), trypsin 4 (<it>PpTryp4</it>), chymotrypsin <it>PpChym2</it>, and two unknown proteins. Of interest, many of these overabundant transcripts such as <it>PpChym2</it>, <it>PpMVP1</it>, <it>PpMVP2, PpPer1 </it>and <it>PpPer2 </it>were of lower abundance when the sandfly was given a blood meal in the presence of <it>L. major</it>.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This tissue-specific transcriptome analysis provides a comprehensive look at the repertoire of transcripts present in the midgut of the sandfly <it>P. papatasi</it>. Furthermore, the customized bioinformatic analysis allowed us to compare and identify the overall transcript abundance from sugar-fed, blood-fed and Leishmania-infected sandflies. The suggested upregulation of specific transcripts in a blood-fed cDNA library were validated by real-time PCR, suggesting that this customized bioinformatic analysis is a powerful and accurate tool useful in analysing expression profiles from different cDNA libraries. Additionally, the findings presented in this work suggest that the Leishmania parasite is modulating key enzymes or proteins in the gut of the sandfly that may be beneficial for its establishment and survival.</p

In vitro mutation artifacts after formalin fixation and error prone translesion synthesis during PCR

BACKGROUND: Clinical specimens are routinely fixed in 10% buffered formalin and paraffin embedded. Although DNA is commonly extracted from fixed tissues and amplified by PCR, the effects of formalin fixation are relatively unknown. Formalin fixation is known to impair PCR, presumably through damage that blocks polymerase elongation, but an insidious possibility is error prone translesion synthesis across sites of damage, producing in vitro artifactual mutations during PCR. METHODS: To better understand the consequences of fixation, DNA specimens extracted from fresh or fixed tissues were amplified with Taq DNA polymerase, and their PCR products were cloned and sequenced. RESULTS: Significantly more (3- to 4-fold) mutations were observed with fixed DNA specimens. The majority of mutations were transitions, predominantly at A:T base pairs, randomly distributed along the template. CONCLUSIONS: Formalin fixation appears to cause random base damage, which can be bridged during PCR by Taq DNA polymerase through error prone translesion synthesis. Fixed DNA is a damaged but "readable" template

A Novel EEG Paradigm to Simultaneously and Rapidly Assess the Functioning of Auditory and Visual Pathways

Objective assessment of the sensory pathways is crucial for understanding their development across the lifespan and how they may be affected by neurodevelopmental disorders (e.g., autism) and neurological pathologies (e.g., stroke, multiple sclerosis, etc.). Quick and passive measurements, for example using electroencephalography (EEG), are especially important when working with infants and young children, and with patient populations having communication deficits (e.g., aphasia). However, many EEG paradigms are limited to measuring activity from one sensory domain at a time, may be time consuming, and target only a subset of possible responses from that particular sensory domain (e.g., only auditory brainstem responses or only auditory P1-N1-P2 evoked potentials). Thus, we developed a new multisensory paradigm that enables simultaneous, robust, and rapid (6-12 minute) measurements of both auditory and visual EEG activity, including auditory brainstem responses (ABRs), auditory and visual evoked potentials, as well as auditory and visual steady-state responses. This novel method allows us to examine neural activity at various stations along the auditory and visual hierarchies with an ecologically valid continuous speech stimulus, while an unrelated video is playing. Both the speech stimulus and the video can be customized for any population of interest. Furthermore, by using two simultaneous visual steady-state stimulation rates, we demonstrate the ability of this paradigm to track both parafoveal and peripheral visual processing concurrently. We report results from twenty-five healthy young adults, which validate this new paradigm

Global Professional Service Firms and the Challenge of Institutional Complexity : 'Field Relocation' as a Response Strategy

In this paper we use the case of the internationalization of English law firms into Italy, and the refocusing of their operations on the city of Milan, to make a number of contributions to existing literatures on responses to institutional complexity. First, we contribute to the literature on how organizations address complexity at the field level, by revealing the role of 'field relocation' as a particular response strategy. We also identify a number of organizational tactics - re-scoping, re-scaling, and re-staffing - through which 'field relocation' is accomplished. Second, we also show the importance of further developing our understanding of the geography of institutional fields by highlighting how the 'receptivity' of different field locations may affect responses to complexity. This identifies the importance of geographically locating fields and sub-fields in studies of organizational responses to institutional complexity

Sound comparisons: a new online database and resource for research in phonetic diversity

Sound Comparisons hosts over 90,000 individual word recordings and 50,000 narrow phonetic transcriptions from 600 language varieties from eleven language families around the world. This resource is designed to serve researchers in phonetics, phonology and related fields. Transcriptions follow new initiatives for standardisation in usage of the IPA and Unicode. At soundcomparisons.com, users can explore the transcription datasets by phonetically-informed search and filtering, customise selections of languages and words, download any targeted data subset (sound files and transcriptions) and cite it through a custom URL. We present sample research applications based on our extensive overage of regional and sociolinguistic variation within major languages, and also of endangered languages, for which Sound Comparisons provides a rapid first documentation of their diversity in phonetics. The multilingual interface and user-friendly, ‘hover-tohear’ maps likewise constitute an outreach tool, where speakers can instantaneously hear and compare the phonetic diversity and relationships of their native languages

Sound comparisons: A new online database and resource for research in phonetic diversity

Sound Comparisons hosts over 90,000 individual word recordings and 50,000 narrow phonetic transcriptions from 600 language varieties from eleven language families around the world. This resource is designed to serve researchers in phonetics, phonology and related fields. Transcriptions follow new initiatives for standardisation in usage of the IPA and Unicode. At soundcomparisons.com, users can explore the transcription datasets by phonetically-informed search and filtering, customise selections of languages and words, download any targeted data subset (sound files and transcriptions) and cite it through a custom URL. We present sample research applications based on our extensive overage of regional and sociolinguistic variation within major languages, and also of endangered languages, for which Sound Comparisons provides a rapid first documentation of their diversity in phonetics. The multilingual interface and user-friendly, ‘hover-tohear’ maps likewise constitute an outreach tool, where speakers can instantaneously hear and compare the phonetic diversity and relationships of their native languages

Theories for influencer identification in complex networks

In social and biological systems, the structural heterogeneity of interaction networks gives rise to the emergence of a small set of influential nodes, or influencers, in a series of dynamical processes. Although much smaller than the entire network, these influencers were observed to be able to shape the collective dynamics of large populations in different contexts. As such, the successful identification of influencers should have profound implications in various real-world spreading dynamics such as viral marketing, epidemic outbreaks and cascading failure. In this chapter, we first summarize the centrality-based approach in finding single influencers in complex networks, and then discuss the more complicated problem of locating multiple influencers from a collective point of view. Progress rooted in collective influence theory, belief-propagation and computer science will be presented. Finally, we present some applications of influencer identification in diverse real-world systems, including online social platforms, scientific publication, brain networks and socioeconomic systems.Comment: 24 pages, 6 figure

Infection Parameters in the Sand Fly Vector That Predict Transmission of Leishmania major

To identify parameters of Leishmania infection within a population of infected sand flies that reliably predict subsequent transmission to the mammalian host, we sampled groups of infected flies and compared infection intensity and degree of metacyclogenesis with the frequency of transmission. The percentage of parasites within the midgut that were metacyclic promastigotes had the highest correlation with the frequency of transmission. Meta-analysis of multiple transmission experiments allowed us to establish a percent-metacyclic “cutoff” value that predicted transmission competence. Sand fly infections initiated with variable doses of parasites resulted in correspondingly altered percentages of metacyclic promastigotes, resulting in altered transmission frequency and disease severity. Lastly, alteration of sand fly oviposition status and environmental conditions at the time of transmission also influenced transmission frequency. These observations have implications for transmission of Leishmania by the sand fly vector in both the laboratory and in nature, including how the number of organisms acquired by the sand fly from an infection reservoir may influence the clinical outcome of infection following transmission by bite