Auditee Satisfaction and Compliance: The Mediating Role of Perceived Service Quality concerning Malaysian SMEs

Audit firms must meet the needs of their auditees to achieve sustainable development. The paper aims to analyze the role of auditee satisfaction perceived service quality to affect the compliance variable in auditing service provided by SMPs to SMEs in Malaysia. Data collected via structured questionnaires through email communication. The collected data were analyzed first using descriptive statistics, followed by correlation analysis to establish the mediating effects of perceived service quality between the dependent and independent variables. Lastly, a regression analysis was borne on the model to test the hypotheses. The study found that auditee satisfaction correlates with perceived service quality, while both perceived service quality and auditee satisfaction were a significant relationship towards compliance. The study also showed that perceived service quality as a mediating role between auditee satisfaction and compliance was significantly based on SEM PLS analysis. The research findings are also imperative to scholars, academics, scientists, and researchers by adding to the body of current knowledge on internal audit and risk management. Nonetheless, its sample size limits the study. Therefore, the results do not represent the whole business organization because they determine Malaysian Smalls and Medium Enterprise, focusing only on retails and wholesales

Security vulnerabilities related to web-based data

In this digital era, organizations and industries are moving towards replacing websites with web applications for many obvious reasons. With this transition towards web-based applications, organizations and industries find themselves surrounded by several threats and vulnerabilities. One of the largest concerns is keeping their infrastructure safe from attacks and misuse. Web security entails applying a set of procedures and practices, by applying several security principles at various layers to protect web servers, web users, and their surrounding environment. In this paper, we will discuss several attacks that may affect web-based applications namely: SQL injection attacks, cookie poisoning, cross-site scripting, and buffer overflow. Additionally, we will discuss detection and prevention methods from such attacks

Silurian Gas-Rich “Hot Shale” from Akkas Gas Field, Western Iraq: Geological Importance and Updated Hydrocarbon Potential and Reservoir Development Estimations of the Field

The Silurian hot shale is encountered in the Akkas field, which is regarded as one of the largest gas fields in Iraq. It contains 5.68 tscf of initial gas in place of which 4.55 tscf is estimated to be recoverable. There is also the potential of condensate and other prospects in deeper formations. The well test confirmed the presence of natural gas with a flow rate of 6–8 MMscfd. Silurian shale contains two organic-rich black hot shale beds that are fissile with high-gamma uranium radiation. Silurian hot shales are geologically important from different sides. Stratigraphically, Silurian graptolites are used to delineate the time transgressive depositional advance of marine clastics across the Arabian Peninsula after the melting of Ordovician glaciers. For assessment of the hydrocarbon generation in the Paleozoic of Iraq, the hot shales of the Akkas Formation are low-sulfur, high-gravity oil, condensate, and gas and are considered as an important gas-rich formation in the region. From petrological and mineralogical view, the presence of distinctive minerals and some elements are important to interpret the depositional and climatic situation at Silurian time. This chapter also sets out assumptions about Akkas gas field development

Association of Endothelin-I and A symmetric Dimethylarginine Levels with Insulin Resistance in Type-2 Diabetes Mellitus Patients

ببتيد الاندوثلين يعد واحداً من اقوى قابضات الاوعية التى تفرز من خلايا بطانة الاوعية الدموية عند حاجة الخلية اليها. كما اشارت العديد من الدراسات الى ارتفاع مستوى ببتيد الاندوثلين بدرجة كبيرة لدى مرضى السكرى من النوع الثانى ومرحلة مقاومة الانسولين مما دفع الى الاعتقاد بوجود علاقة وطيدة بين ارتفاع هذا الببتيد وبين تفاقم ومضاعفات مرض السكرى والتى تتمثل بمخاطر الجلطات و الامراض القلبية ومشاكل الكلى والعيون والقدم السكرية. بما ان مقاومة الانسولين تعد حالة خاصة وهى خليط من مرض السكرى قبل وبعد الاصابة به مع تطور المضاعفات المصاحبه للمرض فأن عوامل الخطورة المتضمنة وراء الحالة دفعتنا الى ايجاد علاقة مباشرة بين ببتيد الاندوثيلين ومقاومة الانسولين من جهة وبين الاندوثلين و ادما ADMA مع مقاومة الانسولين من جهة اخرى. لهاذا الغرض اخذت 73 عينة دم لاشخاص تتراوح اعمارهم بين 40-60 (35 منهم اصحاء وغير مصابين بأى من الامراض المزمنة والكتلة الجسمية لديهم اقل من 25 و 38 منهم مصابين بمرض السكرى والكتلة الجسمية لديهم اكبر من 30) وتم قياس كل من الإندوثلين٬ اليوروتينسن٬  الأنسولين٬ وثنائي ميثيل أرجينين غير المتماثل٬ وغيرها من القياسات, كما وتم اجراء العديد من الفحوصات المختبرية لتاكيد كل حالة وعلاقتها بالسكرى. كما لوحظ ارتفاع مستوى كل من الإندوثلين وثنائي ميثيل أرجينين غير المتماثل فى مرضى السكري كما أن النتائج الإحصائية أشارت إلى وجود علاقة بين الإندوثلين و يوروتينسين٬ وتقييم نموذج التماثل الساكن لمقاومة الأنسولين (HOMA-IR)٬ ومعدل السكر التراكمى٬ وأن ثنائي ميثيل أرجينين غير المتماثل والإندوثلين يمكن اعتبارهم دلالات لمقاومات الأنسولين ودلالات لأمراض القلب. أما بالنسبة لتحليل الانحدار المتعدد فأن كل من نموذج التماثل الساكن لمقاومة الأنسولين ٬ والسكر التراكمى٬ واليوروتينسين٬  ومعدل الضغط الشريانى ترتفع بارتفاع مستوى الإندوثلين بطريقة غير مباشرة. نستنتج من البحث وجود علاقة طردية بين زيادة الإندوثلين وثنائي ميثيل أرجينين غير المتماثل مع مقاومة الأنسولين. ويمكن الاستفادة من هذه العلاقة لايجاد آليات وهيكلة تطور مرض السكري إلى أمراض القلب وغيرها من الأمراض المزمنة. Endothelin-I (ET-I) is one of the potent vasoconstrictors secreted from endothelial cells when needed. Many studies revealed the elevation of serum ET-I with human diabetes and microangiopathies. Since insulin resistance is a case of mixed diabetic and pre-diabetic cases, many risk factors beyond obesity and inflammation are proposed. The current study aims to demonstrate the association between serum ET-I and asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) and insulin resistance in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Sera of 73 subjects were enrolled currently (control= 35 subjects, and 38 with T2DM for more than 7 years), aged (40-60) years old, with distinct body mass index (BMI) ≤ 25 for control volunteers and (BMI) ≥ 25 for obesity and diabetes patients. Peripheral serum ET-I and ADMA levels were significantly (P≤ 0.0001) higher in T2DM than the control subjects. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis regarded ET-I and ADMA as good markers for T2DM disease and insulin resistance, correlations between ET-I and anthropometrics revealed a strong increase of urotensin-II (UII), ADMA, homeostatic model assessment for insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) and hemoglobin A1C (HbA1C) with an increase of ET-I. These results are supported by the data of multiple regression analysis, showing that HOMA-IR, HbA1C, UII, BMI, and mean arterial pressure (MAP) are related to ET-I independently. The endothelin-I and ADMA had a positive relationship with increase insulin resistance and may serve as prognostic and diagnostic clinical biomarkers of insulin resistance. Collectively, Therefore, these measurements could evaluate the incidence of DM, and help to better rise up the knowledge about the progression of DM complications

Co-integration Analysis of Foreign Direct Investment Inflow and Development in Nigeria

The paper aimed at evaluating the co-integration analysis inflows of FDI from Ghana and South Africa tothe growth of the Nigerian economy. Data are derived from UNCTAD (2008), the African DevelopmentBank (2008) and the 2008 World Development Indicators of the World Bank (2008), and span from 1979to 2007of the Sub-sahara Africa Region. We build vector Auto-regression models and compute bounds Fstatisticsto test for the absence of a long-run relationship between foreign direct investment and growth.We also construct vector autoregressive models and compute modified Wald statistics to test for the noncausalitybetween FDI and economic growth. Granger test revealed that NGDP causes SAFDI and bothSAFDI and GFDI granger cause which implied long run relationship between FDI inflows anddevelopment in Nigeria.Keywords: Johnsen test, VAR, Jargue-Bera, Ramsey test, FDI, GDP

Case study in North Iraq: Cluster analysis of well logs using IP program

Diminish of error ratio to expecting the lithology of reservoir formation is considered as mean concerning of geology nowadays. The aim of research is to minimize the wrong reading data extract the lithology facies of the reservoir by preparing using Interactive Petrophysics program (IP) to make cluster analysis of multi well logs data. Log data of Kirkuk oil field used in this program included: Gamma ray (GR), sonic, neutron (N), bulk density (BD), Caliper and Resistivity logs. The basic concept of this method is to utilized K-mean clustering theory. Several wells have been conducted to emphasize this method which shows dropping in error ratio of confining the lithology and hydrocarbon existing as 41 wells have precisely predicted of methane prevailing

Optimum horizontal well length considering reservoir properties and drainage area

The length of a horizontal well increases and so does its drainage area. The efficiency of the long horizontal well is no longer proportional to the length of the well, since the rise in the length of horizontal well output segment also tends to causes frictional pressure losses in the well. Nevertheless, there are currently no reliable standards which take into account quantitatively the parameters necessary to determine the optimum well length of horizontal drilling. A new strategy to the basic productivity index is introduced, taking into account the friction losses under influx conditions in a long manufacturing segment. The consequence of this special productivity index is the constant state flow in an anisotropic structure of a very compressible fluid. This paper presents a technique developed to achieve an optimum length of horizontal pool based on the shift in the overall economics and productivity index (PI) in the long horizontal wellbore with frictional loosing results. In order to achieve optimal overall efficiency in a horizontal well project, an integrated method is proposed for numerical analysis of the parameters that affect profitability using Computer Modelling Group reservoir simulation (CMG)

The role of biomarkers in diagnosis of COVID-19 - A systematic review.

AIMS:As of the 28th April 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has infiltrated over 200 countries and affected over three million confirmed people. We review different biomarkers to evaluate if they are able to predict clinical outcomes and correlate with the severity of COVID-19 disease. METHODS:A systematic review of the literature was carried out to identify relevant articles using six different databases. Keywords to refine the search included 'COVID-19', 'SARS-CoV2', 'Biomarkers', among others. Only studies which reported data on pre-defined outcomes were included. KEY FINDINGS:Thirty-four relevant articles were identified which reviewed the following biomarkers: C-reactive protein, serum amyloid A, interleukin-6, lactate dehydrogenase, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, D-dimer, cardiac troponin, renal biomarkers, lymphocytes and platelet count. Of these, all but two, showed significantly higher levels in patients with severe complications of COVID-19 infection compared to their non-severe counterparts. Lymphocytes and platelet count showed significantly lower levels in severe patients compared to non-severe patients. SIGNIFICANCE:Although research is still in its early stages, the discovery of how different biomarkers behave during the course of the disease could help clinicians in identifying severe disease earlier and subsequently improve prognosis. Nevertheless, we urge for more research across the globe to corroborate these findings

Collaborative healthcare system between clinics and hospitals in Malaysia

Healthcare organizations in over the world had dynamic changes. They have contributed to intensify competitive activity between healthcare providers. These changes have forced the organizations to consider wide improvement of their activities and to adopt the use of new technologies in all the organizations’ operations. Recently, there have been high demands for collaborative medical services between clinics and hospital medicines in the world. This paper proposes a model; diagrams are enabled collaboration in medicine systems between hospitals and clinics with attaching that system under the ministry of health in Malaysia