The quality of mandatory non-financial (risk) disclosures: the moderating role of audit firm and partner characteristics

Risk disclosures are among the most important types of non-financial information valued by investors. Risk disclosures are mostly narrative, proprietary in nature and, consequently, the importance of their accuracy and assurance is high to prevent them becoming boiler-plate and lose their relevance. By exploiting the unique features of a setting in which risk disclosure is mandatory and under a positive assurance requirement, we investigate whether the quality of audited risk disclosures is associated with the type of audit firm (Big-4 vs. non-Big-4), the characteristics of the audit firm and the attributes of the audit partner. Our results show an association between risk disclosure quality and auditors, but not in the ways that one would have expected. After the enforcement of a regulation that requires a detailed description of risks in the Operating and Financial Review (OFR) and a positive assurance of external audit over these disclosures, we do not document any significant Big-4 effect. The quality of risk disclosures is associated with the attributes of the audit partner, namely familiarity with different client risk disclosures, expertise and gender, independently from her belonging to a Big-4 audit firm. Along this way, we extend the recent evidence on the audit partner effects in the assurance of non-financial narrative information

Fluctuation-Based Super-Resolution Traction Force Microscopy

Cellular mechanics play a crucial role in tissue homeostasis and are often misregulated in disease. Traction force microscopy is one of the key methods that has enabled researchers to study fundamental aspects of mechanobiology; however, traction force microscopy is limited by poor resolution. Here, we propose a simplified protocol and imaging strategy that enhances the output of traction force microscopy by increasing i) achievable bead density and ii) the accuracy of bead tracking. Our approach relies on super-resolution microscopy, enabled by fluorescence fluctuation analysis. Our pipeline can be used on spinning-disk confocal or widefield microscopes and is compatible with available analysis software. In addition, we demonstrate that our workflow can be used to gain biologically relevant information and is suitable for fast long-term live measurement of traction forces even in light-sensitive cells. Finally, using fluctuation-based traction force microscopy, we observe that filopodia align to the force field generated by focal adhesions

Effect of microstructure on the stability of retained austenite in transformation-induced-plasticity steels

Two Fe-0.2C-1.55Mn-1.5Si (in wt pet) steels, with and without the addition of 0.039Nb (in wt pet), were studied using laboratory rolling-mill simulations of controlled thermomechanical processing. The microstructures of all samples were characterized by optical metallography, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The microstructural behavior of phases under applied strain was studied using a heat-tinting technique. Despite the similarity in the microstructures of the two steels (equal amounts of polygonal ferrite, carbide-free bainite, and retained austenite), the mechanical properties were different. The mechanical properties of these transformation-induced-plasticity (TRIP) steels depended not only on the individual behavior of all these phases, but also on the interaction between the phases during deformation. The polygonal ferrite and bainite of the C-Mn-Si steel contributed to the elongation more than these phases in the C-Mn-Si-Nb-steel. The stability of retained austenite depends on its location within the microstructure, the morphology of the bainite, and its interaction with other phases during straining. Granular bainite was the bainite morphology that provided the optimum stability of the retained austenite.<br /

On the Exponential Integrability of Conjugate Functions

We relate the exponential integrability of the conjugate function (f) over tilde to the size of the gap in the essential range of f. Our main result complements a related theorem of Zygmund.Peer reviewe