Panel of real-time PCRs for the multiplexed detection of two tomato-infecting begomoviruses and their cognate whitefly vector species

A new approach for the simultaneous identification of the viruses and vectors responsible for tomato yellow leaf curl disease (TYLCD) epidemics is presented. A panel of quantitative multiplexed real-time PCR assays was developed for the sensitive and reliable detection of Tomato yellow leaf curl virus-Israel (TYLCV-IL), Tomato leaf curl virus (ToLCV), Bemisia tabaci Middle East Asia Minor 1 species (MEAM1, B biotype) and B.tabaci Mediterranean species (MED, Q biotype) from either plant or whitefly samples. For quality-assurance purposes, two internal control assays were included in the assay panel for the co-amplification of solanaceous plant DNA or B.tabaci DNA. All assays were shown to be specific and reproducible. The multiplexed assays were able to reliably detect as few as 10 plasmid copies of TYLCV-IL, 100 plasmid copies of ToLCV, 500fg B.tabaci MEAM1 and 300fg B.tabaci MED DNA. Evaluated methods for routine testing of field-collected whiteflies are presented, including protocols for processing B.tabaci captured on yellow sticky traps and for bulking of multiple B.tabaci individuals prior to DNA extraction. This work assembles all of the essential features of a validated and quality-assured diagnostic method for the identification and discrimination of tomato-infecting begomovirus and B.tabaci vector species in Australia. This flexible panel of assays will facilitate improved quarantine, biosecurity and disease-management programmes both in Australia and worldwide.

The effect of internal audit function quality and internal audit contribution to external audit on audit fees

Corporate governance mandates and listing rules identify internal audit functions (IAF) as a central internal control mechanism. External audits are expected to assess the quality of IAF before placing reliance on its work. We provide evidence on the effect of IAF quality and IAF contribution to external audit on audit fees. Using data from a matched survey of both external and internal audits, we extend prior research which is based mainly on internal audits' assessment and conducted predominantly in highly developed markets. We find a positive relationship between IAF quality and audit fees as well as a reduction in audit fees as a result of external auditors' reliance on IAF. The interaction between IAF quality and IAF contribution to external audit suggests that high quality IAF induces greater external auditor reliance on internal auditors' work and thus result in lower external audit fees.

Applying Health Locus of Control and Latent Class Modelling to food and physical activity choices affecting CVD risk

Health Locus of Control (HLC) classifies our beliefs about the connection between our actions and health outcomes (Skinner, 1996) into three categories: “internal control”, corresponding to health being the result of an individual's effort and habits; “control by powerful others”, whereby health depends on others, such as doctors; and “chance control”, according to which health depends on fate and chance. Using Choice Experiments we investigate the relationship between HLC and willingness to change lifestyle, in terms of eating habits, physical activity and associated cardiovascular disease risk, in a 384 person sample representative of the 40–65 aged population of Northern Ireland administered between February and July 2011. Using latent class analysis we identify three discrete classes of people based on their HLC: the first class is sceptical about their capacity to control their health and certain unhealthy habits. Despite being unsatisfied with their situation, they are reluctant to accept behaviour changes. The second is a group of individuals unhappy with their current situation but willing to change through exercise and diet. Finally, a group of healthy optimists is identified, who are satisfied with their current situation but happy to take more physical activity and improve their diet. Our findings show that any policy designed to modify people's health related behaviour should consider the needs of this sceptical class which represents a considerable proportion of the population in the region.

O auditor interno e a gestão do risco empresarial

O objetivo central deste estudo consiste em demonstrar de que forma o trabalho do auditor interno contribui no processo de gestão de riscos empresariais. Neste sentido, faz-se uma abordagem sobre o conceito de Auditoria Interna, sendo uma atividade destinada a acrescentar valor à organização na medida em que a auxilia na consecução dos seus objetivos, proporcionando-lhe informações oportunas e relevantes para a tomada de decisão. Faz também considerações ao Controlo Interno, no sentido de que as organizações vão sentir diferentes necessidades de controlo interno dependendo da sua dimensão e complexidade do negócio. O controlo interno é um processo desenvolvido pelos Orgãos de Gestão com o propósito de garantir uma segurança razoável no cumprimento dos objetivos estabelecidos. Cabe ao auditor interno auxiliar nesse sentido, ou seja, debruçar-se sobre a avaliação da adequação e eficiência do Sistema de Controlo Interno. Por fim é abordada a importância da Gestão do Risco, neste contexto as organizações têm como compromisso prioritário a implementação de mecanismos de avaliação e gestão dos riscos que possam afetar as suas operações e o cumprimento dos objetivos estratégicos definidos. A Auditoria Interna vai fornecer segurança acerca da eficácia das atividades de gestão do risco das organizações para assegurar que os principais riscos de negócio estão a ser geridos de forma apropriada bem como os sistemas de controlo interno estão a funcionar eficazmente. Ainda na gestão do risco é abordado o modelo COSO ERM, instrumento importante para as organizações na medida em que melhoram a performance e o desempenho dos controlos internos implementados e progridem para um processo de gestão do risco. Faz-se também uma breve referência sobre a Lei Sox, que veio promover uma profunda reforma na elaboração dos relatórios financeiros, no detalhe minucioso sobre os aspetos do controlo interno nas organizações e na transparência das informações divulgadas pelas organizações.

O sistema de controlo interno numa empresa do sector hoteleiro: estudo de caso: âmbito da área de vendas

Trabalho de Projecto apresentado ao Instituto de Contabilidade e Administração do Porto para a obtenção do grau de Mestre em Auditoria, sob a orientação da Doutora Alcina Augusta de Sena Portugal Dias. “Esta versão contém as críticas e sugestões dos elementos do júri”

Electrical stimulation for trunk control in paraplegia:A feasibility study

Paraplegic subjects lack trunk stability due to the loss of voluntary muscle control.This leads to a restriction of the volume of bi-manual workspace available,and hence has a detrimental impact on activities of daily living. Electrical Stimulation of paralysed muscles can be used to stabilize the trunk, but has never been applied in closed loop for this purpose. This paper describes the development of two closed loop controllers(PID and LQR),and their experimental evaluation on a human subject. Advantages and disadvantages of the two are discussed,considering a potential use of this technology during daily activities.

Executive control in bilinguals: a concise review on fMRI studies

The investigation of bilingualism and cognition has been enriched by recent developments in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Extending how bilingual experience shapes cognition, this review examines recent fMRI studies adopting executive control tasks with minimal or no linguistic demands. Across a range of studies with divergent ages and language pairs spoken by bilinguals, brain regions supporting executive control significantly overlap with brain regions recruited for language control (Abutalebi & Green, this issue). Furthermore, limited but emerging studies on resting-state networks are addressed, which suggest more coherent spatially distributed functional connectivity in bilinguals. Given the dynamic nature of bilingual experience, it is essential to consider both task-related functional networks (externally-driven engagement), and resting-state networks, such as default mode network (internal control). Both types of networks are important elements of bilingual language control, which relies on domain-general executive control.

Farmer attitudes and livestock disease: exploring citizenship behaviour and peer monitoring across two BVD control schemes in the UK

The eradication of BVD in the UK is technically possible but appears to be socially untenable. The following study explored farmer attitudes to BVD control schemes in relation to advice networks and information sharing, shared aims and goals, motivation and benefits of membership, notions of BVD as a priority disease and attitudes toward regulation. Two concepts from the organisational management literature framed the study: citizenship behaviour where actions of individuals support the collective good (but are not explicitly recognised as such) and peer to peer monitoring (where individuals evaluate other’s behaviour). Farmers from two BVD control schemes in the UK participated in the study: Orkney Livestock Association BVD Eradication Scheme and Norfolk and Suffolk Cattle Breeders Association BVD Eradication Scheme. In total 162 farmers participated in the research (109 in-scheme and 53 out of scheme). The findings revealed that group helping and information sharing among scheme members was low with a positive BVD status subject to social censure. Peer monitoring in the form of gossip with regard to the animal health status of other farms was high. Interestingly, farmers across both schemes supported greater regulation with regard to animal health, largely due to the mistrust of fellow farmers following voluntary disease control measures. While group cohesiveness varied across the two schemes, without continued financial inducements, longer-term sustainability is questionable

Accountability structures and management relationships of internal audit : an Australian study

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine the accountability structures and the management relationships of internal audit. In particular, related issues such as the predominant internal audit objectives and the related functions, the extent to which internal audit addresses any financial reporting risks and the manner in which internal auditors in Australia perform their tasks, are identified. The study also looks at the extent of compliance with the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) Standards.
Design/methodology/approach – Based on a survey of the chief audit executives in Australia, the study identifies the reporting mechanisms, functions and relationships of internal audit, including the contributions made towards good corporate governance. There is, however, some misalignment between the aspirations of internal auditors and their relationships with management.
Findings – While internal audit objectives have been established with a focus on controls, risks and governance, the study has highlighted the fact that there is a lack of correlation between the tasks performed by internal auditors and the important internal audit objectives, with the exception of internal control and risks. The results also suggest that internal auditors have been providing an internal consulting and advisory role in matters concerning IT systems, strategic risks and financial issues. If internal auditors are to proactively contribute to good corporate governance, they need to define how, and in what way, this can be done. In regard to corporate governance processes, the results of the research indicate that issues surrounding internal control, risk assessment and management processes are regarded as the key factors for internal audit to contribute to good corporate governance.
Originality/value – This study complements and contributes to the existing literature in providing insights into the evolving role of the internal audit function in terms of accountabilities and relationships with management. It also provides a valuable insight into how the internal audit profession can build upon its inherent strengths and address any apparent areas of concern. This will assist both the profession and policy makers alike, in better understanding and improving the role of the internal audit process.

Validation of a reference control for an SYBR-Green fluorescence assay-based real-time PCR for detection of bovine herpesvirus 5 in experimentally exposed bovine embryos

The objective of this study was to optimize an internal control to improve SYBR-Green-based qPCR to amplify/detect the BoHV-5 US9 gene in bovine embryos produced invitro and experimentally exposed to the virus. We designed an SYBR-Green-based binding assay that is quick to perform, reliable, easily optimized and compares well with the published assay. Herein we demonstrated its general applicability to detect BoHV-5 US9 gene in bovine embryos produced invitro experimentally exposed to BoHV-5. In order to validate the assay, three different reference genes were tested; and the histone 2a gene was shown to be the most adequate for normalizing the qPCR reaction, by considering melting and standard curves ( p<0.05). On the other hand, no differences were found in the development of bovine embryos invitro whether they were exposed to BoHV-5 reference and field strains comparing to unexposed embryos. The developed qPCR assay may have important field applications as it provides an accurate BoHV-5 US9 gene detection using a proven reference gene and is considerably less expensive than the TaqMan qPCR currently employed in sanitary programs. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.

An MEKC assay for the therapeutic drug monitoring of cefepime

The development of a robust assay based on MEKC for cefepime in human serum and plasma with internal quality assurance is reported. Sample preparation comprises protein precipitation in the presence of SDS at pH 4.5. This is a gentle approach for which decomposition of cefepime during sample handling is negligible. After hydrodynamic sample injection of the supernatant, analysis occurs in a phosphate/borate buffer at pH 9.1 with 75 mM SDS using normal polarity and analyte detection at 257 nm. The MEKC run time interval and throughput are about 5 min and seven samples per hour, respectively. The calibration range for cefepime is 1-60 μg/mL, with 1 μg/mL being the LOQ. The performance of the assay with multilevel internal calibration was assessed with calibration and control samples. The assay is shown to be simple, inexpensive, reproducible, and robust. It was applied to determine cefepime levels in the sera of critically ill patients and to assess the instability of cefepime in patient and control samples. Our data revealed that serum containing cefepime can be stored at -20°C for a short time, whereas for long-term storage, samples have to be kept at -70°C.

Health control beliefs in old age - relationship with subjective and objective health and health behavior

The main purpose of this paper is to explore health control beliefs (internality, powerful others, chance) in different age cohorts of elderly people and to examine the relationship between health control beliefs and objective and subjective health, and health behaviour. This contribution shows data from an interdisciplinary longitudinal ageing study: (a) a descriptive analysis of age- and time-correlated changes in health control beliefs of different cohorts of elderly people by taking into account gender as a differential aspect; (b) group comparisons between objectively and subjectively healthy or sick people and their health control beliefs and health relevant behaviour. Participants are 442 community elderly, 309 men, 133 women, aged 65± 94 years (mean age: 74.95 years). Our data demonstrate the dominance of chance control beliefs over internality and powerful others in all age cohorts. It can be concluded that internal control remains stable well into old age, whereas a signi® cant age-correlated increase of externality can be observed. Our results show the signi® cant relationship of subjective health self-evaluations with health control beliefs and health behaviour which is not the case for objective health parameters. Strong gender effects are found for internality and social externality: women have signi® cantly lower internality and powerful others scores than men.

Budgeting, budgetary control and management information in the highways departments

The need for an adequate information system for the Highways Departments in the United Kingdom has been recognised by the report of a committee presented to the Minister of Transport in 1970, (The Marshall Report). This research aims to present a comprehensive information system on a sound theoretical basis which should enable the different levels of management to execute their work adequately. The suggested system presented in this research covers the different functions of the Highways Department, and presents a suggested solution for problems which may occur during the planning and controlling of work in the different locations of the Highways Department. The information system consists of:- 1. A coding system covering the cost units, cost centres and cost elements. 2. Cost accounting records for the cost units and cost centres. 3. A budgeting and budgetary control system covering, the different planning methods and procedures which are required for preparing the capital expenditure budget, the improvement and maintenance operation flexible budgets and programme of work, the plant budget, the administration budget, and the purchasing budget. 4. A reporting system which ensures that the different levels of management are receiving relevant and timely information. 5. The flow of documents which covers the relationship between the prime documents, the cost accounting records, budgets, reports and their relation to the different sections and offices within the department. A comprehensive cost units, cost centres, and cost elements codes together with a number of examples demonstrating the results of the survey, and examples of the application and procedures of the suggested information system have been illustrated separately as appendices. The emphasis is on the information required for internal control by management personnel within the County Council.

A contingency theory perspective on the risk management control system within Birmingham City Council

In recent years the topic of risk management has moved up the agenda of both government and industry, and private sector initiatives to improve risk and internal control systems have been mirrored by similar promptings for change in the public sector. Both regulators and practitioners now view risk management as an integral part of the process of corporate governance, and an aid to the achievement of strategic objectives. The paper uses case study material on the risk management control system at Birmingham City Council to extend existing theory by developing a contingency theory for the public sector. The case demonstrates that whilst the structure of the control system fits a generic model, the operational details indicate that controls are contingent upon three core variables—central government policies, information and communication technology and organisational size. All three contingent variables are suitable for testing the theory across the broader public sector arena.

Integrating risk management with performance management

This article argues that, post Enron, governance reforms around the world have served to raise the profile of risk management, and emphasise the need for a corporate wide approach to internal control that is overseen by the Board of Directors. In the US, this is most clearly demonstrated by the emergence of Enterprise Risk Management (ERM), defined as 'a process, effected by an entity's board of directors, management and other personnel, applied in strategy setting across the enterprise, designed to identify potential events that may affect the entity, and manage risk to be within its risk appetite, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the achievement of entity objectives.' (COSO, 2004, p.2). In practical terms, however, the introduction of an enterprise wide holistic risk management system poses a big challenge to all but the smallest of organisations. The financial crisis has clearly shown that enterprise wide risk management remains a dream rather than a reality for even the world's largest and once highly respected companies.