The Effects of Situated Client Identity and Professional Identity Salience on Auditor Judgments

Recent accounting research suggests that auditor identification or familiarity with their clients may be an additional threat to auditor independence, which may be mitigated by a strong professional identity (King 2002; Bamber and Iyer 2007). However, social identity theory suggests that a strong professional identity will only be effective if it is highly salient and thus readily activated. Yet, professional identity salience is argued to have diminished in recent years (Warren and Alzola 2009). I examine if the level of professional identity salience moderates the positive association between auditor agreement with the client and client identity strength, or the negative association between auditor agreement with the client and professional identity strength. I address these research questions using two experiments completed by experienced professional auditors. In the first experiment with an ambiguous audit judgment task, I examine client identity strength and professional identity salience at two levels each and measure professional identity strength. Results show that auditors with stronger client identities agree more with the client, but only when professional identity salience is not heightened. I do not find that auditors with stronger professional identities agree less with the client, even when professional identity salience is heightened. In the second experiment with an unambiguous audit judgment task, I examine client identity strength at two levels when professional identity salience is not heightened. Results are inconclusive as to whether auditors with strong client identities differ in their agreement with the client, relative to auditors with weak client identities. My research contributes to literature on auditor identification and independence by demonstrating the importance of professional identity salience, not just professional identity strength, on auditor judgments. I also show that threats to auditor objectivity can arise from client identity that develops even without a familiar client relationship

Attacking Key Performance Indicators in Soccer: Current Practice and Perceptions from the Elite to Youth Academy Level

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are used to evaluate the offensive success of a soccer team (e.g. penalty box entries) or player (e.g. pass completion rate). However, knowledge transfer from research to applied practice is understudied. The current study queried practitioners (n = 145, mean ± SD age: 36 ± 9 years) from 42 countries across different roles and levels of competition (National Team Federation to Youth Academy levels) on various forms of data collection, including an explicit assessment of twelve attacking KPIs. 64.3% of practitioners use data tools and applications weekly (predominately) to gather KPIs during matches. 83% of practitioners use event data compared to only 52% of practitioners using positional data, with a preference for shooting related KPIs. Differences in the use and value of metrics derived from positional tracking data (including Ball Possession Metrics) were evident between job role and level of competition. These findings demonstrate that practitioners implement KPIs and gather tactical information in a variety of ways with a preference for simpler metrics related to shots. The low perceived value of newer KPIs afforded by positional data could be explained by low buy-in, a lack of education across practitioners, or insufficient translation of findings by experts towards practice

Modelling the Rubbing Process in Labyrinth Seals

To understand the complex rubbing process between labyrinth seal fins and honeycomb liners, experimental investigations are considered for an idealized contact between a metal sheet, representing the honeycomb part, and a rotating seal fin. Modifications of our test rig allow to measure the resulting rub forces, temperatures and wear of the seal fin and metal sheet for a wide range of circumferential velocities and incursion rates. The rotor material is Inconel 718, and the metal sheets consist of the nickel-based super-alloys Hastelloy X and Haynes 214. To define appropriate boundary conditions for the experiment, a one-dimensional numerical model is introduced. It takes into account kinematic contact conditions, friction, heat conduction, and abrasive and plastic wear. The use of analytical relations and parallel computing enables a time-efficient computation of multiple scenarios. Therefore, it is possible to identify the effect of variations and uncertainties of the input parameters on the results and derive an optimized test plan

DLTS investigations on CIGS solar cells from an inline co-evaporation system with RbF post-deposition treatment

In this study, Deep Level Transient Spectroscopy (DLTS) measurements have been performed on Cu(In,Ga)Se$_{2}$ (CIGS) solar cells from an inline co-evaporation system. The focus of this investigation is directed on the effect of rubidium-fluoride (RbF)-post-deposition treatment (PDT) on the defects in the CIGS absorber layer. Different traps can be identified and their properties are calculated. Herein, different methods of evaluations have been used to verify the results. Specifically, one minority trap around 400 meV was found to show a significant reduction of the trap density due to the alkali treatment. In contrast, a majority trap at approximately 600 meV is unaffected

Triplet Energy Transfer from Ruthenium Complexes to Chiral Eniminium Ions: Enantioselective Synthesis of Cyclobutanecarbaldehydes by [2+2] Photocycloaddition

Chiral eniminium salts, prepared from alpha,beta-unsaturated aldehydes and a chiral proline derived secondary amine, underwent, upon irradiation with visible light, a ruthenium-catalyzed (2.5 mol %) intermolecular [2+2] photocycloaddition to olefins, which after hydrolysis led to chiral cyclobutanecarbaldehydes (17 examples, 49-74 % yield), with high diastereo- and enantioselectivities. Ru(bpz)(3)(PF6)(2) was utilized as the ruthenium catalyst and laser flash photolysis studies show that the catalyst operates exclusively by triplet-energy transfer (sensitization). A catalytic system was devised with a chiral secondary amine co-catalyst. In the catalytic reactions, Ru(bpy)(3)(PF6)(2) was employed, and laser flash photolysis experiments suggest it undergoes both electron and energy transfer. However, experimental evidence supports the hypothesis that energy transfer is the only productive quenching mechanism. Control experiments using Ir(ppy)(3) showed no catalysis for the intermolecular [2+2] photocycloaddition of an eniminium ion

The right anterior temporal lobe critically contributes to magnitude knowledge

Cognitive estimation is a mental ability applied to solve numerical problems when precise facts are unknown, unavailable or impractical to calculate. It has been associated with several underlying cognitive components, most often with executive functions and semantic memory. Little is known about the neural correlates of cognitive estimation. To address this issue, the present cross-sectional study applied lesion-symptom mapping in a group of 55 patients with left hemineglect due to right-hemisphere stroke. Previous evidence suggests a high prevalence of cognitive estimation impairment in these patients, as they might show a general bias towards large magnitudes. Compared to 55 age- and gender-matched healthy controls, the patient group demonstrated impaired cognitive estimation. However, the expected large magnitude bias was not found. Lesion-symptom mapping related their general estimation impairment predominantly to brain damage in the right anterior temporal lobe. Also critically involved were the right uncinate fasciculus, the anterior commissure and the right inferior frontal gyrus. The main findings of this study emphasize the role of semantic memory in cognitive estimation, with reference to a growing body of neuroscientific literature postulating a transmodal hub for semantic cognition situated in the bilateral anterior temporal lobe. That such semantic hub function may also apply to numerical knowledge is not undisputed. We here propose a critical contribution of the right anterior temporal lobe to at least one aspect of number processing, i.e. the knowledge about real-world numerical magnitudes

Impact of CYP2C19 variant genotypes on clinical efficacy of antiplatelet treatment with clopidogrel: systematic review and meta-analysis

Objective To evaluate the accumulated information from genetic association studies investigating the impact of variants of the cytochrome P450 (CYP) 2C19 genotype on the clinical efficacy of clopidogrel

Long-lived quantum memory enabling atom-photon entanglement over 101 km telecom fiber

Long-distance entanglement distribution is the key task for quantum networks, enabling applications such as secure communication and distributed quantum computing. Here we report on novel developments extending the reach for sharing entanglement between a single $^{87}$Rb atom and a single photon over long optical fibers. To maintain a high fidelity during the long flight times through such fibers, the coherence time of the single atom is prolonged to 7 ms by applying a long-lived qubit encoding. In addition, the attenuation in the fibers is minimized by converting the photon's wavelength to the telecom S-Band via polarization-preserving quantum frequency conversion. This enables to observe entanglement between the atomic quantum memory and the emitted photon after passing 101 km of optical fiber with a fidelity better than 70.8$\pm$2.4%. The fidelity, however, is no longer reduced due to loss of coherence of the atom or photon but in the current setup rather due to detector dark counts, showing the suitability of our platform to realize city-to-city scale quantum network links.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures, comments are welcom

Dark Matter in the Coming Decade: Complementary Paths to Discovery and Beyond

In this report we summarize the many dark matter searches currently being pursued through four complementary approaches: direct detection, indirect detection, collider experiments, and astrophysical probes. The essential features of broad classes of experiments are described, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. The complementarity of the different dark matter searches is discussed qualitatively and illustrated quantitatively in two simple theoretical frameworks. Our primary conclusion is that the diversity of possible dark matter candidates requires a balanced program drawing from all four approaches.Comment: Report prepared for the Community Summer Study (Snowmass) 2013, on behalf of Cosmic Frontier Working Groups 1-4 (CF1: WIMP Dark Matter Direct Detection, CF2: WIMP Dark Matter Indirect Detection, CF3: Non-WIMP Dark Matter, and CF4: Dark Matter Complementarity); published versio