Financial Characteristics of Companies Audited by Large Audit Firms

Purpose “ The purpose of this paper is to examine how financial characteristics associated with the choice of a big audit firm with further investigation on the agency costs of free cash flows.Design/methodology/approach “ The sample used for this work includes industrial listed companies from Germany and France. To test our hypothesis, we used a number of logit models, extending the standard model selection audit firm, to include the variables of interest. Following previous work, our dependent dummy variable is Big4 or non-Big4.Findings “ We observed that most independent variables in the German companies show similar results to previous work, but we did not have the same results for the French industry. Moreover, our findings suggest that the total debt and dividends can be an important reason for determining the choice of a large audit firm, reducing agency costs of free cash flows.Research limitations/implications “ This study has some limitations on the measurements of the cost of the audit fees and also generates opportunities for additional searching.Originality/value “ The paper provides only one aspect to explain the relationship between the problems of agency costs of free cash flow and influence in choosing a large auditing firm, which stems from investors\u27 demand for higher quality audits

Crop pests and predators exhibit inconsistent responses to surrounding landscape composition

The idea that noncrop habitat enhances pest control and represents a win–win opportunity to conserve biodiversity and bolster yields has emerged as an agroecological paradigm. However, while noncrop habitat in landscapes surrounding farms sometimes benefits pest predators, natural enemy responses remain heterogeneous across studies and effects on pests are inconclusive. The observed heterogeneity in species responses to noncrop habitat may be biological in origin or could result from variation in how habitat and biocontrol are measured. Here, we use a pest-control database encompassing 132 studies and 6,759 sites worldwide to model natural enemy and pest abundances, predation rates, and crop damage as a function of landscape composition. Our results showed that although landscape composition explained significant variation within studies, pest and enemy abundances, predation rates, crop damage, and yields each exhibited different responses across studies, sometimes increasing and sometimes decreasing in landscapes with more noncrop habitat but overall showing no consistent trend. Thus, models that used landscape-composition variables to predict pest-control dynamics demonstrated little potential to explain variation across studies, though prediction did improve when comparing studies with similar crop and landscape features. Overall, our work shows that surrounding noncrop habitat does not consistently improve pest management, meaning habitat conservation may bolster production in some systems and depress yields in others. Future efforts to develop tools that inform farmers when habitat conservation truly represents a win–win would benefit from increased understanding of how landscape effects are modulated by local farm management and the biology of pests and their enemies

Ultrasound Generation in Composites via Embedded Optical Fibers

The laser based ultrasound generation is now a well known and established technique used in NDE and material characterization [1]. The use of embedded optical fiber sensors in structures made of composite materials is of great interest for smart structures allowing an integrated health monitoring. The combination of both techniques could lead to an optical fiber based ultrasonic embedded system comprising both ultrasounds sources and detectors.</p

Photoacoustics and laser-ultrasonics applied to the characterization of a ZnO ceramic sample

International audienceWe present results of photoacoustics and laser-ultrasonics experiments that were performed on a ZnO ceramic sample and that led to optical, thermal and thermo-mechanical characterizations of this material

Heparin-induced Thrombocytopenia Diagnosis: A Retrospective Study Comparing Heparin-induced Platelet Activation Test to 14C-serotonin Release Assay

International audienceAbstract Laboratory confirmation of heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT) is of crucial importance and remains challenging and relies on platelet functional assays highlighting the presence of heparin-dependent platelet-activating antibodies in patient serum or plasma. Platelet functional assays using washed platelets include the 14C-serotonin release assay (SRA), usually described as the gold standard, and the heparin-induced platelet activation assay (HIPA). Since its first comparison with SRA there has been no additional published study regarding HIPA diagnostic performances compared with SRA. Aim of our retrospective study was to compare the concordance between HIPA and SRA in HIT suspected-patients with positive anti-PF4/heparin antibodies between October 2010 and October 2015. Fifty-five HIT-suspected patients who beneficiated from both HIPA and SRA were included. Positive and negative percent agreements were 83.8% (95% CI 68.0–93.8%) and 66.7% (95% CI 41.0–86.7%), respectively. Overall percent agreement was 78.2% (95% CI 65.0–92.2%). Agreement was higher in patients who underwent cardiopulmonary bypass with extracorporeal circulation circuit for cardiac surgery. We also confirm that the use of a minimum of 2 platelet donors to establish positive HIT diagnosis and 4 platelet donors to exclude HIT diagnosis allows obtaining a good agreement with SRA. Although HIPA and SRA were performed with different platelet donors and in different laboratories, HIPA had a good positive agreement with SRA for HIT diagnosis, showing that HIPA is a useful functional assay that does not require radioactivity and could be developed worldwide to improve HIT diagnosis

Religion et mentalités au Moyen Âge

Lors du départ à la retraite d'Hervé Martin, ses collègues médiévistes de l'université Rennes 2 Haute Bretagne ont décidé de réunir en son honneur un volume de Mélanges. Beaucoup plus qu'un recueil plus ou moins hétéroclite de textes disparates nous avons voulu élaborer un volume cohérent, organisé autour de ses grands thèmes de recherche. Ouvrir par l'historiographie s'imposait, tant la réflexion sur la démarche de l'historien et le discours historique sont inséparables de la recherche. La diversité des contributions à cette première partie a permis de montrer la résonance des travaux d'Hervé Martin bien au-delà du cercle des médiévistes. Ensuite, il n'y avait plus qu'à dérouler la progression des ouvrages. La thèse de troisième cycle consacrée aux Ordres mendiants en Bretagne s'inscrivait dans un courant dont la richesse des contributions montre qu'il reste dynamique et s'ouvre à de nouvelles problématiques, tant en ce qui concerne les structures des ordres que leur influence dans la société ou leur spiritualité. La prédication et la parole, vivement analysées dans Le Métier de prédicateur prenaient pour cadre une analyse sociologique, mais le choix d'affronter cette marée de sermons avec des méthodes neuves empruntées à la linguistique ouvrait avec quelques autres les voies nouvelles qui n'ont pas été sans inspirer une gerbe d'interventions. La logique poussait vers l'histoire culturelle et les mentalités dont la richesse foisonnante est cernée par la brillante synthèse des Mentalités médiévales. De très nombreux auteurs sont venus étayer deux chapitres du présent volume. Le premier consacré au peuple chrétien multiplie les interrogations sur les pratiques religieuses et ce qu'elles traduisent. Le second s'ouvre sur le champ culturel au sens large et les mentalités, et manifeste la vigueur et la diversité des démarches en ce domaine. Bien sûr une place de choix a été réservée à la Bretagne mais c'est à travers tout l'Occident, et au-delà jusqu'en Russie, et à travers les siècles que nous conduisent les 56 contributions réunies. Ce gros recueil constitue certes un hommage, et des plus importants, mais il est aussi, nous l'espérons, une vaste pérégrination sur les chantiers actuels de l'Histoire qui multiplie les interrogations et les chemins d'approche