Cultural Diversity, Country Size, And The IFRS Adoption Decision

In this paper, we empirically examine the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) adoption decision of 61 countries in an attempt to determine why some countries have adopted IFRS while others, at least to this point in time, have chosen not to adopt.  In particular, we examine the influence of cultural diversity and country size on the adoption decision.  Our results indicate that the IFRS adoption decision is significantly related to the size of the country, while we are unable to document any cultural influences on the decision.  Our chief result is that larger countries are less likely to adopt International Financial Reporting Standards than small countries.  This result is consistent with the notion that larger countries have a well-established set of financial accounting and reporting standards already in place, and therefore would be reluctant to incur the costs of changing to an international set of standards

Inherent Conflicts Of Interest In The Accounting Profession

In this paper, we critically examine three situations in the accounting/auditing profession in which conflicts of interest arise. Specifically, we describe conflicts of interest that occur (1) because audit fees are paid by the very companies being audited, (2) due to the tension built into accountants’ codes of professional ethics between the responsibility to maintain client confidentiality and the need to serve the public trust, and (3) because of most auditors’ perspective of who is their primary client. Based on our analysis, we conclude that these three inherent conflicts of interest, in the absence of some unforeseen revolutionary changes, are likely to persist within the auditing profession. We also conclude that attempts to mitigate some of these conflicts of interest through the Sarbanes-Oxley legislation have only been moderately successful. We therefore propose that audit professionals must learn to identify and manage the conflicts of interest that will likely remain a part of the profession for the indefinite future

Cratering and Blowing Soil by Rocket Engines During Lunar Landings

This paper is a summary compilation of work accomplished over the past decade at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center to understand the interactions between rocket exhaust gases and the soil of the Moon or Mars. This research is applied to a case study of the Apollo 12 landing, in which the blowing soil peppered the nearby Surveyor III spacecraft producing measurable surface damage, and to the Apollo 15 landing, in which the Lunar Module tilted backwards after landing in a crater that was obscured from sight by the blowing dust. The modeling coupled with empirical observations is generally adequate to predict the order of magnitude of effects in future lunar missions and to formulate a rough concept for mitigating the spray around a lunar base. However, there are many significant gaps in our understanding of the physics and more effort is needed to understand the problem of blowing soil so that specific technologies can be developed to support the lunar outpost

Ecological integrity and western water management: a Colorado perspective

Sept. 1995.Includes bibliographical references

HST ultraviolet spectral energy distributions for three ultraluminous infrared galaxies

We present HST Faint Object Camera ultraviolet (230 nm and 140 nm) images of three ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIG: L_ir > 10^12 L_sun) selected from the IRAS Revised Bright Galaxy Sample. The purpose is to estimate spectral energy distributions (SEDs) to facilitate the identification of similar objects at high redshift in deep optical, infrared, and submm surveys. All three galaxies (VII Zw031 = IRAS F12112+0305, and IRAS F22491-1808) were well detected at 230 nm. Two of the three were marginally detected at 140 nm. The fluxes, together with ground-based optical and infrared photometry, are used to compute SEDs over a wide wavelength range. The measured SEDs drop from the optical to the ultraviolet, but the magnitude of the drop ranges from a factor of ~3 in IRAS F22491-1808 to a factor of ~100 in VIIZw031. This is most likely due to different internal extinctions. Such an interpretation is also suggested by extrapolating to ultraviolet wavelengths the optical internal extinction measured in VIIZw031. K-corrections are calculated to determine the colors of the sample galaxies as seen at high redshifts. Galaxies like VIIZw031 have very low observed rest-frame UV fluxes which means that such galaxies at high redshift will be extremely red or even missing in optical surveys. On the other hand, galaxies like IRAS F12112+0305 and IRAS F22491-1808, if seen at high redshift, would be sufficiently blue that they would not easily be distinguished from normal field galaxies, and therefore, identified as ULIGs. The implication is then that submillimeter surveys may be the only means of properly identifying the majority of ULIGs at high redshift.Comment: AJ in press, TeX, 23 pages, 7 tab, 17 figs available also (at higher resolution) from http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk~trentham/ufigs.htm

The 'permeome' of the malaria parasite: an overview of the membrane transport proteins of Plasmodium falciparum

BACKGROUND: The uptake of nutrients, expulsion of metabolic wastes and maintenance of ion homeostasis by the intraerythrocytic malaria parasite is mediated by membrane transport proteins. Proteins of this type are also implicated in the phenomenon of antimalarial drug resistance. However, the initial annotation of the genome of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum identified only a limited number of transporters, and no channels. In this study we have used a combination of bioinformatic approaches to identify and attribute putative functions to transporters and channels encoded by the malaria parasite, as well as comparing expression patterns for a subset of these. RESULTS: A computer program that searches a genome database on the basis of the hydropathy plots of the corresponding proteins was used to identify more than 100 transport proteins encoded by P. falciparum. These include all the transporters previously annotated as such, as well as a similar number of candidate transport proteins that had escaped detection. Detailed sequence analysis enabled the assignment of putative substrate specificities and/or transport mechanisms to all those putative transport proteins previously without. The newly-identified transport proteins include candidate transporters for a range of organic and inorganic nutrients (including sugars, amino acids, nucleosides and vitamins), and several putative ion channels. The stage-dependent expression of RNAs for 34 candidate transport proteins of particular interest are compared. CONCLUSION: The malaria parasite possesses substantially more membrane transport proteins than was originally thought, and the analyses presented here provide a range of novel insights into the physiology of this important human pathogen

Analysis of normal and osteoarthritic canine cartilage mRNA expression by quantitative polymerase chain reaction

The molecular basis to mammalian osteoarthritis (OA) is unknown. We hypothesised that the expression of selected proteases, matrix molecules, and collagens believed to have a role in the pathogenesis of OA would be changed in naturally occurring canine OA cartilage when compared to normal articular cartilage. Quantitative (real-time) reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction assays were designed measuring the expression of selected matrix molecules (collagens and small leucine-rich proteoglycans), key mediators of the proteolytic degradation of articular cartilage (metalloproteinases, cathepsins), and their inhibitors (tissue inhibitors of matrix metalloproteinases). All data were normalised using a geometric mean of three housekeeping genes, and the results subjected to power calculations and corrections for multiple hypothesis testing. We detected increases in the expression of BGN, COL1A2, COL2A1, COL3A1, COL5A1, CSPG2, CTSB, CTSD, LUM, MMP13, TIMP1, and TNC in naturally occurring canine OA. The expression of TIMP2 and TIMP4 was significantly reduced in canine OA cartilage. The patterns of gene expression change observed in naturally occurring canine OA were similar to those reported in naturally occurring human OA and experimental canine OA. We conclude that the expression profiles of matrix-associated molecules in end-stage mammalian OA may be comparable but that the precise aetiologies of OA affecting specific joints in different species are presently unknown

Expression vectors for Neurospora crassa and expression of a bovine preprochymosin cDNA

The filamentous fungi, owing to their ability to secrete high levels of proteins, are attractive organisms for the expression and secretion of heterologous proteins of commercial and medical value. We report the construction of three expression vectors for the production of heterologous proteins in Neurospora crassa and demonstrate their utility by expression of a bovine preprochymosin cDNA and secretion of processed, enzymatically active bovine chymosin

Identification of an immunodominant CD4+ T cell epitope in the VP6 protein of rotavirus following intranasal immunization of BALB/c mice

AbstractThe only lymphocytes required for protection against fecal rotavirus shedding after intranasal immunization of BALB/c (H-2d) mice with a chimeric rotavirus VP6 protein (MBP∷VP6) and the mucosal adjuvant LT(R192G) are CD4+ T cells. The purpose of this study was to identify CD4+ T cell epitopes within VP6 that might be responsible for this protection. To make this determination, spleen cells obtained from BALB/c mice following intranasal immunization with MBP∷VP6/LT(R192G) were stimulated in vitro with either MBP∷VP6 or overlapping VP6 peptides containing ≤30 amino acids (AA). The numbers of memory (CD44high) CD4+ T cells stimulated to produce TH1 and TH17 cytokines (IFNγ and IL-17), as well as the quantities of these cytokines released into the cell supernatants, were then measured relative to those produced in mock-stimulated cells from the same animals. One epitope expected to be found was the VP6 14-mer AA289–302, previously identified as a CD4+ T cell epitope in H-2d mice. This was not observed but instead the only VP6 epitope identified was AA242–259, the dominant CD4+ T cell epitope previously reported after oral, live rotavirus immunization