Corporate Governance: The Impact on the Role, Position, and Scope of Services of the Internal Audit Function

Corporate scandals during the last decade fostered many Corporate Governance reports. These reports aimed at restoring checks and balances in companies to prevent fraudulent behaviour and restore public trust. One of the functions active in many organizations is Internal Audit. This function operates under the umbrella of the Management Board and is geared towards monitoring lower level management. Due to the Corporate Governance reports the interest in the work of internal auditors has increased. In many reports special attention is paid to this function. The Supervisory Board and the Audit Committee are required to oversee the activities and results of external as well as internal auditors. Furthermore, regulators are also keen on the results of their work. The aim of this study was to research the impact of Corporate Governance reports on the role, position, and scope of services of the Internal Audit Function. Agency Theory and Transaction Cost Economics were applied to further theory around internal auditing. Information asymmetry and asset specificity were used to test whether there was a correlation between high scores on information asymmetry and/or asset specificity for the organization and the size of an Internal Audit Function, the ‘make or buy’ issue, or its scope of services. Results showed that such was the case for the size but not for the ‘make or buy issue or the scope of services. Furthermore, this study contains descriptive characteristics of internal audit functions.Financiële schandalen in het afgelopen decennium hebben geleid tot een stroom aan Corporate Governance rapporten. Deze rapporten hadden tot doel om de beheersingsmaatregelen te versterken en daarmee het vertrouwen van het maatschappelijk verkeer te herstellen. Een van de functies actief in organisaties is Internal Audit. Deze functie opereert onder de hoede van de Raad van Bestuur/Directie en is gericht op het monitoren van het management onder de Raad van Bestuur/Directie. Dankzij die Corporate Governance rapporten is de belangstelling voor het werk van internal auditors toegenomen. In vele rapporten wordt ook aandacht besteed aan deze functie. De Raad van Commissarissen en het Audit Committee worden geacht toe te zien op het functioneren van zowel externe als internal auditors. Ook regelgevers en toezichthouders zijn geïnteresseerd in de resultaten van hun werk. Het doel van deze studie was na te gaan wat de invloed is van de Corporate Governance rapporten op de rol, positie en taakopdracht van de Internal Audit Functie. Agency Theory en Transaction Cost Economics zijn gebruikt om de theorie rondom internal auditing te versterken. Information asymmetry en asset specificity zijn gebruikt om te testen of er een correlatie bestaat tussen hoge scores voor information asymmetry en/of asset specificity van de organisatie en de omvang van de Internal Audit functie, het in- of uitbestedingsvraagstuk en de taakopdracht. De resultaten toonden aan dat dit wel het geval was voor de omvang maar niet voor het in- of uitbestedingsvraagstuk, noch de taakopdracht. Verder bevat deze studie beschrijvende karakteristieken van internal audit functies

Drop on a Bent Fibre

Inspired by the huge droplets attached on cypress tree leaf tips after rain, we find that a bent fibre can hold significantly more water in the corner than a horizontally placed fibre (typically up to three times or more). The maximum volume of the liquid that can be trapped is remarkably affected by the bending angle of the fibre and surface tension of the liquid. We experimentally find the optimal included angle ($\sim {36}{^\circ}$) that holds the most water. Analytical and semi-empirical models are developed to explain these counter-intuitive experimental observations and predict the optimal angle. The data and models could be useful for designing microfluidic and fog harvesting devices

Patterns of polymorphism and selection in the subgenomes of the allopolyploid Arabidopsis kamchatica

Genome duplication is widespread in wild and crop plants. However, little is known about genome-wide selection in polyploids due to the complexity of duplicated genomes. In polyploids, the patterns of purifying selection and adaptive substitutions may be affected by masking owing to duplicated genes or homeologs as well as effective population size. Here, we resequence 25 accessions of the allotetraploid Arabidopsis kamchatica, which is derived from the diploid species A. halleri and A. lyrata. We observe a reduction in purifying selection compared with the parental species. Interestingly, proportions of adaptive non-synonymous substitutions are significantly positive in contrast to most plant species. A recurrent pattern observed in both frequency and divergence–diversity neutrality tests is that the genome-wide distributions of both subgenomes are similar, but the correlation between homeologous pairs is low. This may increase the opportunity of different evolutionary trajectories such as in the HMA4 gene involved in heavy metal hyperaccumulation

Positively selected modifications in the pore of TbAQP2 allow pentamidine to enter Trypanosoma brucei

Mutations in the Trypanosoma brucei aquaporin AQP2 are associated with resistance to pentamidine and melarsoprol. We show that TbAQP2 but not TbAQP3 was positively selected for increased pore size from a common ancestor aquaporin. We demonstrate that TbAQP2’s unique architecture permits pentamidine permeation through its central pore and show how specific mutations in highly conserved motifs affect drug permeation. Introduction of key TbAQP2 amino acids into TbAQP3 renders the latter permeable to pentamidine. Molecular dynamics demonstrates that permeation by dicationic pentamidine is energetically favourable in TbAQP2, driven by the membrane potential, although aquaporins are normally strictly impermeable for ionic species. We also identify the structural determinants that make pentamidine a permeant although most other diamidine drugs are excluded. Our results have wide-ranging implications for optimising antitrypanosomal drugs and averting cross-resistance. Moreover, these new insights in aquaporin permeation may allow the pharmacological exploitation of other members of this ubiquitous gene family

Normalization in MALDI-TOF imaging datasets of proteins: practical considerations

Normalization is critically important for the proper interpretation of matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) imaging datasets. The effects of the commonly used normalization techniques based on total ion count (TIC) or vector norm normalization are significant, and they are frequently beneficial. In certain cases, however, these normalization algorithms may produce misleading results and possibly lead to wrong conclusions, e.g. regarding to potential biomarker distributions. This is typical for tissues in which signals of prominent abundance are present in confined areas, such as insulin in the pancreas or β-amyloid peptides in the brain. In this work, we investigated whether normalization can be improved if dominant signals are excluded from the calculation. Because manual interaction with the data (e.g., defining the abundant signals) is not desired for routine analysis, we investigated two alternatives: normalization on the spectra noise level or on the median of signal intensities in the spectrum. Normalization on the median and the noise level was found to be significantly more robust against artifact generation compared to normalization on the TIC. Therefore, we propose to include these normalization methods in the standard “toolbox” of MALDI imaging for reliable results under conditions of automation

The Genome Sequence of Leishmania (Leishmania) amazonensis: Functional Annotation and Extended Analysis of Gene Models

We present the sequencing and annotation of the Leishmania (Leishmania) amazonensis genome, an etiological agent of human cutaneous leishmaniasis in the Amazon region of Brazil. L. (L.) amazonensis shares features with Leishmania (L.) mexicana but also exhibits unique characteristics regarding geographical distribution and clinical manifestations of cutaneous lesions (e.g. borderline disseminated cutaneous leishmaniasis). Predicted genes were scored for orthologous gene families and conserved domains in comparison with other human pathogenic Leishmania spp. Carboxypeptidase, aminotransferase, and 3'-nucleotidase genes and ATPase, thioredoxin, and chaperone-related domains were represented more abundantly in L. (L.) amazonensis and L. (L.) mexicana species. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that these two species share groups of amastin surface proteins unique to the genus that could be related to specific features of disease outcomes and host cell interactions. Additionally, we describe a hypothetical hybrid interactome of potentially secreted L. (L.) amazonensis proteins and host proteins under the assumption that parasite factors mimic their mammalian counterparts. the model predicts an interaction between an L. (L.) amazonensis heat-shock protein and mammalian Toll-like receptor 9, which is implicated in important immune responses such as cytokine and nitric oxide production. the analysis presented here represents valuable information for future studies of leishmaniasis pathogenicity and treatment.Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Universidade Federal de São Paulo, EPM UNIFESP, Escola Paulista Med, Dept Microbiol Imunol & Parasitol, BR-04023062 São Paulo, BrazilLNBio CNPEM, Lab Nacl Biociencias, Campinas, SP, BrazilLGE UNICAMP, Lab Genom & Expressao, Campinas, SP, BrazilInst Agron Campinas, Ctr Pesquisa & Desenvolvimento Recursos Geneti Ve, Campinas, SP, BrazilUniv Calif San Diego, Sch Med, Dept Pediat, San Diego, CA 92103 USAUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, UNIFESP, Dept Ciencia & Tecnol, Sao Jose Dos Campos, BrazilUniv N Carolina, Sch Med, Dept Genet, Chapel Hill, NC USAUniv Fed Minas Gerais, ICB UFMG, Inst Ciencias Biol, Dept Biol Geral, Belo Horizonte, MG, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, EPM UNIFESP, Escola Paulista Med, Dept Microbiol Imunol & Parasitol, BR-04023062 São Paulo, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, UNIFESP, Dept Ciencia & Tecnol, Sao Jose Dos Campos, BrazilFAPESP: 07/50551-2FAPESP: 10/19335-4Web of Scienc

Resonance enhanced isotope-selective photoionization of YbI for ion trap loading

Neutral Ytterbium (YbI) and singly ionized Ytterbium (YbII) is widely used in experiments in quantum optics, metrology and quantum information science. We report on the investigation of isotope selective two-photoionisation of YbI that allows for efficient loading of ion traps with YbII. Results are presented on two-colour (399 nm and 369 nm) and single-colour (399 nm) photoionisation and their efficiency is compared to electron impact ionisation. Nearly deterministic loading of a desired number of YbII ions into a linear Paul trap is demonstrated.Comment: 9 pages. Considerably extended and revised version including new dat