Electrochemical detection of the toxic dinoflagellate Alexandrium ostenfeldii with a DNA-biosensor

The steady rise of observations of harmful or toxic algal blooms throughout the world in the past decades constitute a menace for coastal ecosystems and human interests. As a consequence, a number of programs have been launched to monitor the occurrence of harmful and toxic algae. However, the identification is currently done by microscopic examination, which requires a broad taxonomic knowledge, expensive equipment and is very time consuming. In order to facilitate the identification of toxic algae, an inexpensive and easy-to-handle DNA-biosensor has been adapted for the electrochemical detection of the toxic dinoflagellate Alexandrium ostenfeldii. The detection of the toxic algae is based on a sandwich hybridisation, which is carried out on a disposable sensor chip. A set of two probes for the species specific identification of A. ostenfeldii was developed. The specificity of the probes could be shown in dot-blot hybridisation and with the DNA-biosensor. The sensitivity of the DNA-biosensor was optimised with respect to hybridisation temperature and NaCl-concentration and a significant increase of the sensitivity of the DNA-biosensor could be obtained by a fragmentation of the rRNA prior to the hybridisation and by adding a helper oligonucleotide, which binds in close proximity to the probes to the hybridisation

Teaching Accounting Ethics: Opportunities and Challenges

All universities, especially Jesuit universities, have an obligation to develop their students’ moral and ethical consciences. Regis University is guided by its responsibility to help its students develop an ethical compass; pursue a continual search for truth, values, and a just existence; and answer the question “How ought we to live?” A foundation in accounting ethics supports this mission. This paper presents a descriptive case study showing how Regis University’s College for Professional Studies (CPS) School of Management (SOM) integrated accounting ethics into its curriculum. Since 2010, the SOM has included ethical content in several accounting courses, and it added a standalone accounting ethics course in 2015. This paper examines the opportunities and challenges experienced by the SOM to include ethics in the accounting curriculum, including addressing students’ moral and ethical development, evaluating and addressing ethical dilemmas faced by accounting professionals, understanding and applying ethical decision-making frameworks, understanding and applying accounting professional codes of ethical conduct, understanding U.S. federal ethics regulations, identifying and addressing signs of ethical collapse in organizations, and assessing students’ ethical decision making. Additionally, instructor tools and resources, class structure, and methods to mentor accounting professors to teach accounting ethics are examined

Editorial

The co-general editors introduce the current issue