Audit report on the City of Independence, Iowa for the year ended June 30, 2015

Audit report on the City of Independence, Iowa for the year ended June 30, 2015

2083 – A European Declaration of Independence - An Analysis of Discourses from the Extreme

This paper analyses three of the dominating discourses Anders Behring Breivik used in his compendium, the official title of which is 2083 – A European Declaration of Independence, also known as Breivik's Manifesto. It is believed Breivik posted his Manifesto on the Internet shortly before the attacks in Norway in July, 2011. The number 2083 stands for the year when the "Western European Civil War" was expected to be completed, all traitors executed, and all Muslims deported from Europe. This article will discuss dominating discourses in the Manifesto, seen from a background of a European multicultural backlash, in which the political far-right movement is increasing. Furthermore, this article will end with a discussion of education and the importance of analysis of such phenomena within different subjects.

European Union Approaches to Human Rights Violations in Kosovo before and after Independence

This article examines European Union (EU) approaches to the question of human rights violations in Kosovo before and after its proclamation of independence, in February 2008. While the 1999 NATO-led humanitarian intervention in the region was often justified as necessary due to the continuous abuses of human rights, perpetrated by the Serbian forces against the ethic Kosovo Albanians, the post-interventionist period has witnessed a dramatic reversal of roles, with the rights of the remaining Serbian minority being regularly abused by the dominant Albanian population. However, in contrast to the former scenario, the Brussels administration has remained quite salient about the post-independence context – a grey zone of unviable political and social components, capable of generating new confrontations and human rights abuses within the borders of Kosovo. Aware of this dynamic and the existing EU official rhetoric, it is possible to conclude that the embedded human rights concerns in Kosovo are not likely to disappear, but even more importantly, their relevance has been significantly eroded.

The Effect of Non-Audit Services on Auditor Independence : A study on 11 food retail- and wholesale companies in the United Kingdom

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of non-audit services on auditor independence, and the importance of non-audit services as a source of income for audit firms in the United Kingdom. Design/method/approach – This study will examine 11 companies in the food retail- and wholesale industry during 2007 - 2014. Five indicators have been used; (1) Appointed auditor and provision of non-audit services to audit clients; (2) Auditor tenure; (3) Non-audit services in relation to total services; (4) Tax-services in relation to non-audit services, (5) Big Four’s revenue. Information has been collected using the quantitative approach through annual- and transparency reports. The threshold used to measure possible independence threats (self-review-, self-interest- and familiarity threat) has been set at 18,5 %. Findings – This study concludes that the jointly provision of audit- and nonaudit services possibly causes impairment of auditor independence, and that non-audit services is an important source of income for audit firms. The findings showed that in 99 %, companies purchased non-audit services from their statutory auditor. Non-audit services in relation to total services surpassed the threshold in 78 % of all financial years. Likewise, tax-services in comparison to non-audit services exceeded the threshold in 65 % of all financial years. The Big Four’s revenue from non-audit services to audit clients in relation to total revenue is almost constantly below the threshold. However, in all financial years except from one, total revenue from non-audit services surpassed revenue from audit services by far. Contribution – The study contributes to the ongoing discussion about nonaudit services effect on auditor independence. Originality/value – This study is one of few that provide detailed information about non-audit services in the food retail- and wholesale industry. It highlights social and ethical issues with regard to agency relationships.  

Export Behavior and Board Independence in Colombian Family Firms: The Reverse Causality Relationship

In the context of greater market liberalization in Latin America, one issue that merits greater attention for empirical investigation is the international expansion of family-owned business. Specifically, the relationship between export behavior, family control and board composition in the Latin American context is absent in the literature. Using a large and unique database from Colombian firms (33,249 firms in the period of 2008 to 2013), we provide insightful information on the determinants of export behavior of family firms in emerging markets. Our empirical test confirms an endogenous relation between boards’ composition (specifically the presence of independent members) and export behavior in family firms. Firms with a higher participation of independent board members are more likely to exhibit higher levels of exports. A "virtuous cycle" was also detected whereby the introduction of independent members on the board can be expected to boost export behavior, which in turn will encourage the increase of independent members on the board of private firms.

Scottish Independence, ‘YES’ or ‘NO’ From the ‘NO’ Side Scotland is Better Together with the United Kingdom

If the people of Scotland favour independence, the split will create high level of uncertainty, and this component of risk will be extremely difficult to deal with.

Conditional moment closure for chemical reactions in laminar chaotic flows

We implement conditional moment closure (CMC) for simulation of chemical reactions in laminar chaotic flows. The CMC approach predicts the expected concentration of reactive species, conditional upon the concentration of a corresponding nonreactive scalar. Closure is obtained by neglecting the difference between the local concentration of the reactive scalar and its conditional average. We first use a Monte Carlo method to calculate the evolution of the moments of a conserved scalar; we then reconstruct the corresponding probability density function and dissipation rate. Finally, the concentrations of the reactive scalars are determined. The results are compared (and show excellent agreement) with full numerical simulations of the reaction processes in a chaotic laminar flow. This is a preprint of an article published in AlChE Journal copyright (2007) American Institute of Chemical Engineers: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/

Place, policy and practitioners: on rehabilitation, independence and the therapeutic landscape in the changing geography of care provision to older people in the United Kingdom

A growing body of literature in geography and other social sciences considers the role of place in the provision of healthcare. Authors have focused on various aspects of place and care, with particular interests emerging around the role of the psychological, social and cultural aspects of place in care provision. As healthcare stretches increasingly beyond the traditional four walls of the hospital, so questions of the role of place in practices of care become ever more pertinent. In this paper, we examine the relationship between place and practice in the care and rehabilitation of older people across a range of settings, using qualitative material obtained from interviews and focus groups with nursing, care and rehabilitation staff working in hospitals, clients’ homes and other sites. By analysing their testimony on the characteristics of different settings, the aspects of place which facilitate or inhibit rehabilitation and the ways in which place mediates and is mediated by social interaction, we consider how various dimensions of place relate to the power-inscribed relationships between service users, informal carers and professionals as they negotiate the goals of the rehabilitation process. We seek to demonstrate how the physical, psychological and social meanings of place and the social processes engendered by the rehabilitation encounter interact to produce landscapes that are more or less therapeutic, considering in particular the structuring role of state policy and formal healthcare provision in this dynamic.

Independence or Protection - does it have to be a choice? Reflections on the abuse people with learning disabilities in Cornwall

This commentary will use recent events in Cornwall to highlight the ongoing abuse of adults with learning disabilities in England. It will critically explore how two parallel policy agendas – namely, the promotion of choice and independence for adults with learning disabilities and the development of adult protection policies – have failed to connect, thus allowing abuse to continue to flourish. It will be argued that the abuse of people with learning disabilities can only be minimised by policies which reflect an understanding that choice and independence must necessarily be mediated by effective adult protection measures. Such protection needs to include not only an appropriate regulatory framework, access to justice and well-qualified staff, but also a more critical and reflective approach to the current orthodoxy which promotes choice and independence as the only acceptable goals for any person with a learning disability.

THE PROCESSION TOWARD INDEPENDENCE ANNUAL REPORT JULY 1969/JUNE 1970

The South Carolina Commission for the Blind reports to the Office of the Governor its annual report that includes summaries, financial statements, organizational charts, and directories.

Modelação e previsão de um índice financeiro (FTSE 100)

A presente dissertação visa uma aplicação de séries temporais, na modelação do índice financeiro FTSE100. Com base na série de retornos, foram estudadas a estacionaridade através do teste Phillips-Perron, a normalidade pelo Teste Jarque-Bera, a independência analisada pela função de autocorrelação e pelo teste de Ljung-Box, e utilizados modelos GARCH, com a finalidade de modelar e prever a variância condicional (volatilidade) da série financeira em estudo. As séries temporais financeiras apresentam características peculiares, revelando períodos mais voláteis do que outros. Esses períodos encontram-se distribuídos em clusters, sugerindo um grau de dependência no tempo. Atendendo à presença de tais grupos de volatilidade (não linearidade), torna-se necessário o recurso a modelos heterocedásticos condicionais, isto é, modelos que consideram que a variância condicional de uma série temporal não é constante e dependente do tempo. Face à grande variabilidade das séries temporais financeiras ao longo do tempo, os modelos ARCH (Engle, 1982) e a sua generalização GARCH (Bollerslev, 1986) revelam-se os mais adequados para o estudo da volatilidade. Em particular, estes modelos não lineares apresentam uma variância condicional aleatória, sendo possível, através do seu estudo, estimar e prever a volatilidade futura da série. Por fim, é apresentado o estudo empírico que se baseia numa proposta de modelação e previsão de um conjunto de dados reais do índice financeiro FTSE100.

Conditional mutual inclusive information enables accurate quantification of associations in gene regulatory networks

International audience

Children’s reasoning about other’s intentions: False-belief and counterfactual conditional inferences

Dados suplementares associados com o artigo e epígrafe estão disponíveis em: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cogdev.2016.08.007

Fault detection with Conditional Gaussian Network

International audience

CAISL: Simplification Logic for Conditional Attribute Implications

In this work, we present a sound and complete axiomatic system for conditional attribute implications (CAIs) in Triadic Concept Analysis (TCA). Our approach is strongly based on the Simplification paradigm which offers a more suitable way for automated reasoning than the one based on Armstrong’s Axioms. We also present an automated method to prove the derivability of a CAI from a set of CAI s.