Control of Internal Auditing as Viewed by the Audit Committee and the CEO

Internal auditing must be controlled as must all functions, yet it must be free and sufficiently independent to fulfill its audit role. Control implies constraint, restraint, restrictions on freedom to initiate, to act. Control implies oversight by an authority higher up in a hierarchy. Control implies performance toward a plan and a subsequent appraisal of performance attained, including subjective judgments of the performer

Critical Success Factors—The Sine Qua Non of Management Control Systems

A primary cause of weak, ineffective management control systems is the failure to report to managers on the factors truly critical to success. Accounting executives must bear a substantial share of the blame—and blame should be attributed—for this state of affairs. Only if designed to do so can management control systems do that which the name implies

Biaxial Tensile Strain Enhances Electron Mobility of Monolayer Transition Metal Dichalcogenides

Strain engineering can modulate the material properties of two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors for electronic and optoelectronic applications. Recent theory and experiments have found that uniaxial tensile strain can improve the electron mobility of monolayer MoS$_2$, a 2D semiconductor, but the effects of biaxial strain on charge transport are not well-understood in 2D semiconductors. Here, we use biaxial tensile strain on flexible substrates to probe the electron mobility in monolayer WS$_2$ and MoS$_2$ transistors. This approach experimentally achieves ~2x higher on-state current and mobility with ~0.3% applied biaxial strain in WS$_2$, the highest mobility improvement at the lowest strain reported to date. We also examine the mechanisms behind this improvement through density functional theory simulations, concluding that the enhancement is primarily due to reduced intervalley electron-phonon scattering. These results underscore the role of strain engineering 2D semiconductors for flexible electronics, sensors, integrated circuits, and other optoelectronic applications.Comment: Corrected titl

Conceptual Model of Comprehensive Research Metrics for Improved Human Health and Environment

Performance measurement predominantly consisted of near-term outputs measured through bibliometrics, but the recent focus is on accountability for investment based on long-term outcomes. Our objective is to build a logic model and associated metrics through which to measure the contribution of environmental health research programs to improvements in human health, the environment, and the economy. We developed a logic model that defines the components and linkages between extramural environmental health research grant programs and the outputs and outcomes related to health and social welfare, environmental quality and sustainability, economics, and quality of life, focusing on the environmental health research portfolio of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) Division of Extramural Research and Training and delineates pathways for contributions by five types of institutional partners in the research process. The model is being applied to specific NIEHS research applications and the broader research community. We briefly discuss two examples and discuss the strengths and limits of outcome- based evaluation of research programs