Internal Controls in Fraud Prevention Effort: a Case Study

This study is aimed at investigating how far the internal controls are able to prevent fraud in financing administration at an Islamic Bank in Medan, Indonesia. The method applied in this study was a case study method. The operational definition used in this study was COSO framework. The data were collected through observations and semi-structured interviews. The results of the study show that some weaknesses of the internal controls have been identified as one of the factors of fraud. Poor internal controls lead to fraud. The management of the bank still employs one official to the same officials to conduct various financing activities. It leads to fraud because the activities are lack of supervisions. This study is focused on one company, so the findings may not be generalized to other companies. It is because of the different types of business, working environment, and practices. It is expected that the future study is able to enlarge the number of samples or companies.Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui sejauh mana pengendalian internal yang dimiliki mampu mencegah fraud yang terjadi dalam penyediaan kegiatan pembiayaan pada bank pembiayaan syariah di Medan, Indonesia. Metode penelitian yang digunakan adalah metode studi kasus, definisi operasional dalam penelitian ini adalah kerangka kerja COSO. Teknik pengumpulan data menggunakan teknik observasi dan wawancara di bank pembiayaan syariah di Medan, Indonesia. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa beberapa kelemahan pengendalian internal telah diidentifikasi dapat mengakibatkan terjadinya kegiatan fraud. Pengendalian internal yang buruk memberikan peluang terjadinya fraud. Manajemen bank masih memberdayakan beberapa fungsi terkait yang menjalankan kegiatan pembiayaan dimana masih ada pekerjaan yang dilakukan oleh satu pejabat wewenang yang mengurusi berbagai kegiatan pembiayaan, sehingga kegiatan dari pembiayaan tersebut tidak dapat berjalan secara maksimal dan rentan terhadap aktivitas fraud. Keterbatasan penelitian ini hanya berfokus pada satu Perusahaan saja, temuan tersebut mungkin tidak digeneralisasikan ke Perusahaan lain, karena sifat bisnis, lingkungan kerja, dan praktiknya berbeda. Penelitian di masa yang akan datang diharapkan dapat memperbesar jumlah sampel atau Perusahaan

Field measurements of trace gases and aerosols emitted by peat fires in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, during the 2015 El Nino

Abstract. Peat fires in Southeast Asia have become a major annual source of trace gases and particles to the regional–global atmosphere. The assessment of their influence on atmospheric chemistry, climate, air quality, and health has been uncertain partly due to a lack of field measurements of the smoke characteristics. During the strong 2015 El Niño event we deployed a mobile smoke sampling team in the Indonesian province of Central Kalimantan on the island of Borneo and made the first, or rare, field measurements of trace gases, aerosol optical properties, and aerosol mass emissions for authentic peat fires burning at various depths in different peat types. This paper reports the trace gas and aerosol measurements obtained by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, whole air sampling, photoacoustic extinctiometers (405 and 870 nm), and a small subset of the data from analyses of particulate filters. The trace gas measurements provide emission factors (EFs; grams of a compound per kilogram biomass burned) for up to  ∼  90 gases, including CO2, CO, CH4, non-methane hydrocarbons up to C10, 15 oxygenated organic compounds, NH3, HCN, NOx, OCS, HCl, etc. The modified combustion efficiency (MCE) of the smoke sources ranged from 0.693 to 0.835 with an average of 0.772 ± 0.053 (n  =  35), indicating essentially pure smoldering combustion, and the emissions were not initially strongly lofted. The major trace gas emissions by mass (EF as g kg−1) were carbon dioxide (1564 ± 77), carbon monoxide (291 ± 49), methane (9.51 ± 4.74), hydrogen cyanide (5.75 ± 1.60), acetic acid (3.89 ± 1.65), ammonia (2.86 ± 1.00), methanol (2.14 ± 1.22), ethane (1.52 ± 0.66), dihydrogen (1.22 ± 1.01), propylene (1.07 ± 0.53), propane (0.989 ± 0.644), ethylene (0.961 ± 0.528), benzene (0.954 ± 0.394), formaldehyde (0.867 ± 0.479), hydroxyacetone (0.860 ± 0.433), furan (0.772 ± 0.035), acetaldehyde (0.697 ± 0.460), and acetone (0.691 ± 0.356). These field data support significant revision of the EFs for CO2 (−8 %), CH4 (−55 %), NH3 (−86 %), CO (+39 %), and other gases compared with widely used recommendations for tropical peat fires based on a lab study of a single sample published in 2003. BTEX compounds (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylenes) are important air toxics and aerosol precursors and were emitted in total at 1.5 ± 0.6 g kg−1. Formaldehyde is probably the air toxic gas most likely to cause local exposures that exceed recommended levels. The field results from Kalimantan were in reasonable agreement with recent lab measurements of smoldering Kalimantan peat for “overlap species,” lending importance to the lab finding that burning peat produces large emissions of acetamide, acrolein, methylglyoxal, etc., which were not measurable in the field with the deployed equipment and implying value in continued similar efforts. The aerosol optical data measured include EFs for the scattering and absorption coefficients (EF Bscat and EF Babs, m2 kg−1 fuel burned) and the single scattering albedo (SSA) at 870 and 405 nm, as well as the absorption Ångström exponents (AAE). By coupling the absorption and co-located trace gas and filter data we estimated black carbon (BC) EFs (g kg−1) and the mass absorption coefficient (MAC, m2 g−1) for the bulk organic carbon (OC) due to brown carbon (BrC). Consistent with the minimal flaming, the emissions of BC were negligible (0.0055 ± 0.0016 g kg−1). Aerosol absorption at 405 nm was  ∼  52 times larger than at 870 nm and BrC contributed  ∼  96 % of the absorption at 405 nm. Average AAE was 4.97 ± 0.65 (range, 4.29–6.23). The average SSA at 405 nm (0.974 ± 0.016) was marginally lower than the average SSA at 870 nm (0.998 ± 0.001). These data facilitate modeling climate-relevant aerosol optical properties across much of the UV/visible spectrum and the high AAE and lower SSA at 405 nm demonstrate the dominance of absorption by the organic aerosol. Comparing the Babs at 405 nm to the simultaneously measured OC mass on filters suggests a low MAC ( ∼  0.1) for the bulk OC, as expected for the low BC/OC ratio in the aerosol. The importance of pyrolysis (at lower MCE), as opposed to glowing (at higher MCE), in producing BrC is seen in the increase of AAE with lower MCE (r2 =  0.65)

Identification of novel cellular proteins that bind to the LC8 dynein light chain using a pepscan technique

AbstractDynein is a minus end-directed microtubule motor that serves multiple cellular functions. We have performed a fine mapping of the 8 kDa dynein light chain (LC8) binding sites throughout the development of a library of consecutive synthetic dodecapeptides covering the amino acid sequences of the various proteins known to interact with this dynein member according to the yeast two hybrid system. Two different consensus sequences were identified: GIQVD present in nNOS, in DNA cytosine methyl transferase and also in GKAP, where it is present twice in the protein sequence. The other LC8 binding motif is KSTQT, present in Bim, dynein heavy chain, Kid-1, protein 4 and also in swallow. Interestingly, this KSTQT motif is also present in several viruses known to associate with microtubules during retrograde transport from the plasma membrane to the nucleus during viral infection

Informe automático y análisis de reproducibilidad de experimentos proteómicos cualitativos mediante la herramienta "MIAPE extractor"

Comunicaciones a congreso

Chemical characterization of fine particulate matter emitted by peat fires in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, during the 2015 El Niño

Fine particulate matter (PM2:5) was collected in situ from peat smoke during the 2015 El Niño peat fire episode in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. Twenty-one PM samples were collected from 18 peat fire plumes that were primarily smoldering with modified combustion efficiency (MCE) values of 0.725-0.833. PM emissions were determined and chemically characterized for elemental carbon (EC), organic carbon (OC), water-soluble OC, water-soluble ions, metals, and organic species. Fuel-based PM2:5 mass emission factors (EFs) ranged from 6.0 to 29.6 g kg1 with an average of 17:36:0 g kg1. EC was detected only in 15 plumes and comprised 1% of PM mass. Together, OC (72 %), EC (1 %), water-soluble ions (1 %), and metal oxides (0.1 %) comprised 7411% of gravimetrically measured PM mass. Assuming that the remaining mass is due to elements that form organic matter (OM; i.e., elements O, H, N) an OM-to-OC conversion factor of 1.26 was estimated by linear regression. Overall, chemical speciation revealed the following characteristics of peat-burning emissions: high OC mass fractions (72%), primarily water-insoluble OC (8411 %C), low EC mass fractions (1 %), vanillic to syringic acid ratios of 1.9, and relatively high n-alkane contributions to OC (6.2 %C) with a carbon preference index of 1.2-1.6. Comparison to laboratory studies of peat combustion revealed similarities in the relative composition of PM but greater differences in the absolute EF values. The EFs developed herein, combined with estimates of the mass of peat burned, are used to estimate that 3.2-11 Tg of PM2:5 was emitted to atmosphere during the 2015 El Niño peatland fire event in Indonesia. Combined with gas-phase measurements of CO2, CO, CH4, and volatile organic carbon from Stockwell et al. (2016), it is determined that OC and EC accounted for 2.1 and 0.04% of total carbon emissions, respectively. These in situ EFs can be used to improve the accuracy of the representation of Indonesian peat burning in emission inventories and receptor-based models

Development of data representation standards by the human proteome organization proteomics standards initiative

Objective To describe the goals of the Proteomics Standards Initiative (PSI) of the Human Proteome Organization, the methods that the PSI has employed to create data standards, the resulting output of the PSI, lessons learned from the PSI's evolution, and future directions and synergies for the group. Materials and Methods The PSI has 5 categories of deliverables that have guided the group. These are minimum information guidelines, data formats, controlled vocabularies, resources and software tools, and dissemination activities. These deliverables are produced via the leadership and working group organization of the initiative, driven by frequent workshops and ongoing communication within the working groups. Official standards are subjected to a rigorous document process that includes several levels of peer review prior to release. Results We have produced and published minimum information guidelines describing what information should be provided when making data public, either via public repositories or other means. The PSI has produced a series of standard formats covering mass spectrometer input, mass spectrometer output, results of informatics analysis (both qualitative and quantitative analyses), reports of molecular interaction data, and gel electrophoresis analyses. We have produced controlled vocabularies that ensure that concepts are uniformly annotated in the formats and engaged in extensive software development and dissemination efforts so that the standards can efficiently be used by the community. Conclusion In its first dozen years of operation, the PSI has produced many standards that have accelerated the field of proteomics by facilitating data exchange and deposition to data repositories. We look to the future to continue developing standards for new proteomics technologies and workflows and mechanisms for integration with other omics data types. Our products facilitate the translation of genomics and proteomics findings to clinical and biological phenotypes. The PSI website can be accessed at http://www.psidev.inf

Field measurements of trace gases and aerosols emitted by peat fires in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, during the 2015 El Niño

Peat fires in Southeast Asia have become a major annual source of trace gases and particles to the regional-global atmosphere. The assessment of their influence on atmospheric chemistry, climate, air quality, and health has been uncertain partly due to a lack of field measurements of the smoke characteristics. During the strong 2015 El Niño event we deployed a mobile smoke sampling team in the Indonesian province of Central Kalimantan on the island of Borneo and made the first, or rare, field measurements of trace gases, aerosol optical properties, and aerosol mass emissions for authentic peat fires burning at various depths in different peat types. This paper reports the trace gas and aerosol measurements obtained by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, whole air sampling, photoacoustic extinctiometers (405 and 870 nm), and a small subset of the data from analyses of particulate filters. The trace gas measurements provide emission factors (EFs; grams of a compound per kilogram biomass burned) for up to ∼ 90 gases, including CO2, CO, CH4, non-methane hydrocarbons up to C10, 15 oxygenated organic compounds, NH3, HCN, NOx, OCS, HCl, etc. The modified combustion efficiency (MCE) of the smoke sources ranged from 0.693 to 0.835 with an average of 0.772 ± 0.053 (n = 35), indicating essentially pure smoldering combustion, and the emissions were not initially strongly lofted. The major trace gas emissions by mass (EF as g kg-1) were carbon dioxide (1564 ± 77), carbon monoxide (291 ± 49), methane (9.51 ± 4.74), hydrogen cyanide (5.75 ± 1.60), acetic acid (3.89 ± 1.65), ammonia (2.86 ± 1.00), methanol (2.14 ± 1.22), ethane (1.52 ± 0.66), dihydrogen (1.22 ± 1.01), propylene (1.07 ± 0.53), propane (0.989 ± 0.644), ethylene (0.961 ± 0.528), benzene (0.954 ± 0.394), formaldehyde (0.867 ± 0.479), hydroxyacetone (0.860 ± 0.433), furan (0.772 ± 0.035), acetaldehyde (0.697 ± 0.460), and acetone (0.691 ± 0.356). These field data support significant revision of the EFs for CO2 (g-8 %), CH4 (g-55 %), NH3 (g-86 %), CO (+39 %), and other gases compared with widely used recommendations for tropical peat fires based on a lab study of a single sample published in 2003. BTEX compounds (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylenes) are important air toxics and aerosol precursors and were emitted in total at 1.5 ± 0.6 g kg-1. Formaldehyde is probably the air toxic gas most likely to cause local exposures that exceed recommended levels. The field results from Kalimantan were in reasonable agreement with recent lab measurements of smoldering Kalimantan peat for overlap species, lending importance to the lab finding that burning peat produces large emissions of acetamide, acrolein, methylglyoxal, etc., which were not measurable in the field with the deployed equipment and implying value in continued similar efforts. The aerosol optical data measured include EFs for the scattering and absorption coefficients (EF Bscat and EF Babs, m2 kg-1 fuel burned) and the single scattering albedo (SSA) at 870 and 405 nm, as well as the absorption Ångström exponents (AAE). By coupling the absorption and co-located trace gas and filter data we estimated black carbon (BC) EFs (g kg-1) and the mass absorption coefficient (MAC, m2 g-1) for the bulk organic carbon (OC) due to brown carbon (BrC). Consistent with the minimal flaming, the emissions of BC were negligible (0.0055 ± 0.0016 g kg-1). Aerosol absorption at 405 nm was ∼ 52 times larger than at 870 nm and BrC contributed ∼ 96 % of the absorption at 405 nm. Average AAE was 4.97 ± 0.65 (range, 4.29-6.23). The average SSA at 405 nm (0.974 ± 0.016) was marginally lower than the average SSA at 870 nm (0.998 ± 0.001). These data facilitate modeling climate-relevant aerosol optical properties across much of the UV/visible spectrum and the high AAE and lower SSA at 405 nm demonstrate the dominance of absorption by the organic aerosol. Comparing the Babs at 405 nm to the simultaneously measured OC mass on filters suggests a low MAC (∼ 0.1) for the bulk OC, as expected for the low BC/OC ratio in the aerosol. The importance of pyrolysis (at lower MCE), as opposed to glowing (at higher MCE), in producing BrC is seen in the increase of AAE with lower MCE (r2 = 0.65)