Traditionally, when companies needed assistance regarding internal controls, they turned to an external auditor (EA). However, now, due to an ongoing tightening of legal requirements and practices regarding the independence of EAs, this assistance has been restricted. As an alternative, companies are increasingly requesting internal audits to deliver this support. Even though internal audit function (IAF) are an important player in internal control, however, there is little academic knowledge about their impact. Based on a single‐case study in a large financial institution, this paper explores to what extent and how IAF affect internal controls. Furthermore, it assesses whether IAF add value to the company. The results suggest that the management letter process, including a step‐by‐step settlement of interactions, leads to a joint problem solving, an acceptance of all IAF's recommendations and a value‐adding outcome improving the level of internal controls.

This chapter investigates the Ministry of Finance and Education's continuous efforts in measuring unit costs at Danish universities. It is assumed by the investigating ministries' that reporting of unit costs based on a common chart of accounts and the use of full costing principles covering all universities will provide transparency about the resources used. It may be relevant to work with unit costs. However, the use of a common chart of accounts will not change the challenge of the discretionary element in relation to calculating unit costs based on a full cost allocation and will not improve the management of and at the universities.

PurposeThis paper investigates the use of management controls when environmental uncertainty and hostility increase abruptly. Specifically, it explores this in the context of the 2008 financial crisis in six banks located in two countries.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is based on 26 qualitative interviews with selected managers employed by the six banks. Eight interview guides were developed based on the typology of controls in Malmi and Brown (2008). Respondents explained which changes in management controls occurred after the crisis.FindingsBoth organic and mechanistic management controls were mobilized at the same time to deal with the change. The use of controls played three main roles: (1) guide and control behavior, (2) change internal and external perceptions and (3) discharge accountability. Finally, control use during a crisis evolves as individual managers design and implement controls. There is no “grand design” rationally guiding the design of the overall system of controls.Originality/valueThe use of management controls in dealing with an increase in uncertainty and hostility cannot be labeled either organic or mechanistic, but will depend on the specific type of change in environmental characteristics. Management controls evolve by interaction with outside actors, as well as internal techniques.

Adding Fe to the PtPd nanocatalyst increases propene activity by forming more metallic Pt and PdO during synthesis and increasing Pt–Pd bond formation upon aging.

Access to routine and emergent oral health care has been a challenge in many communities throughout the United States. Moderate to severe odontogenic infection management is frequently referred to a hospital setting, which can result in high costs and at times long hospital stays. We wanted to investigate if previous interventions of odontogenic infections can affect the severity and management when the patient presents in the hospital setting. We focused our research on odontogenic infections that were managed in the operating room and assessed previous intervention and effect on severity, length of hospital stay, and cost.

Patients presenting with odontogenic infections are a significant burden on the health care system, despite the fact that they are often the result of preventable dental problems. Numerous studies have documented the recent increase in non-traumatic dental complaints in emergency room visits.1 This problem is magnified in adult patient populations who have reduced access to care and coverage for dental treatment as a result of dependence on state-funded insurances.2 As a Level I safety net urban hospital, Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC) serves such a patient population and regularly treats odontogenic infections. This study aims to evaluate the severity of these infections as they relate to patients’ insurance coverage.

Background: In 2003, the World Federation for Medical Education (WFME) published the Trilogy of Global Standards for Quality Improvement of Medical Education, covering all three phases of education in medicine. The intention was to provide an instrument to be used by medical schools and responsible authorities in quality assurance and improvement of medical education. The standards were revised in 2015. Results: This paper reviews 29 published articles dealing with the practical use and analysis of the standards. 21 papers deal with basic medical education, six with postgraduate medical education and two with CPD. Conclusion: It is concluded that using the WFME standards can be a profitable endeavor with documented impact. Standards should be used as intended, i.e. as a template modified with local specifications.

Objective and results Methanol fuel cell systems have the potential of being part of a portable energy system with both high energy density and fast refueling. A hearing aid is an example of a device where fast and easy refueling/recharging and high energy density is an important requirement. The direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) system presented here is considered novel as it presents new solutions to miniaturization and, to our knowledge, has the smallest volume reported in literature for a self-contained system. Furthermore, it has high energy density, and has been thoroughly tested with many cells actively running for more than 2 years. The fuel cell developed is a vapor feed DMFC. It is omnidirectional and fully self-contained, weighing less than 1 g with fuel and packaging. The design has been optimized for maximum energy and power density for the given footprint. At room temperature (25 °C) a gravimetric energy density of 350 Wh/kg has been obtained. Scaling the reservoir can lead to a cell with an energy density of more than 700 Wh/kg. In the specific case of powering hearing aids, the current design of the micro fuel cell is capable of powering a hearing aid for up to 2 days, with a refueling time of 20 seconds. At the DTI testing facilities, up to 500 cells have been evaluated simultaneously and the oldest cells have been running for 7 years. More than 1500 cells have been tested and currently 60 cells have been operating for more than 20.000 hours. The accumulated runtime of the tested cells is above 6 million hours thus providing significant amount of data for use in development of the cells. Excellent degradation levels have been shown. One example is a cell exhibiting a degradation of 1 µV/h during its 25.000 hours lifetime, but with no measurable degradation over the last 20.000 hours. Fuel cell design The presented work will focus on the fuel cell system design and how it enables the described figures of merit. The cell consists of three primary parts. One part termed the powerpack, which contains the functional parts of the fuel cell. These are the pervaporation membrane, current collectors and membrane electrode assembly (MEA). The two other primary parts are a fuel reservoir, containing the methanol solution, and a valve which enables refueling of the system. Figure 1.A shows a drawing of the powerpack and the different elements inside the powerpack, which will be the key topic of the presented work. The powerpack is build by placing layers of the different parts inside a metal cup (the anode cup), which acts as the anode current collector. The design has been developed to minimize packaging, maximize active MEA area and enable easy assembly. Traditional gaskets take up a large part of the potential active MEA area in small scale systems. In the design shown in Figure 1.A the gasket on the anode side has been removed. In the latest design traditional gaskets have been removed and the polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) acts as both ion conductor, gasket and insulator. This is achieved by forming the PEM into a cup, which continues up the sides of the anode cup, thus separating the anode side from the cathode side. This simplifies assembly and results in a significant increase in voltage output. The CO 2 produced at the anode side is vented through a small hole in the sidewall of the anode cup. A pervaporation membrane, placed in the bottom of the anode cup, prevents direct liquid contact to the fuel reservoir, thus enabling vapor feed operation. This design makes the fuel cell omnidirectional. There is no liquid contact to the CO 2 hole, regardless of the direction the fuel cell has. Figure 1: A) An illustration of a powerpack and the layers inside it: 1: Isolator, 2: cathode current collector, 3: water management layer (WML), 4: cathode gas diffusion electrode, 5: gasket, 6: polymer electrolyte membrane, 7: anode gas diffusion electrode, 8: (WML), 9: pervaporation limiter (PL), 10: pervaporation membrane, 11: anode cup (and current collector). B) A picture of an actual fuel cell. The size is approximately 9x8x5.5 mm 3 . Figure 1

Supercritical flow technology was used for the one step production of PtPd and PtPdFe nanoparticles supported on high surface area γ-Al2O3.

Pediatric craniosynostosis (CS) surgery is frequently associated with extensive blood loss and transfusion requirements. The aim of the study was to evaluate the authors' institutional procedure with 2-surgeon approach and early transfusion strategy on blood loss and blood product transfusions in children undergoing craniofacial surgery. A retrospective analysis of medical records was performed of pediatric CS corrections during a 15-year period. Primary endpoint was blood loss and transfusion requirement during and the following 24 hours postoperatively. Linear regression analyses were performed of associations between intra and-postoperative blood loss and blood loss and weight. A total of 276 children (median 9 months) were included. Intraoperative blood loss was 22 mL/kg (14-33 mL/kg) and post-operatively 27 mL/kg (18-37 mL/kg), with no change during the study period. Intraoperative transfusions of red blood cell and plasma were 16 mL/kg (10-24 mL/kg) and postoperative 14 mL/kg (9-21 mL/kg). Postoperative red blood cell and plasma transfusions were 2 mL/kg (0-6 mL/kg) and of 0 mL/kg, respectively. Craniosynostosis type was related to blood loss (P< 0.001). There was an association between intraoperative and postoperative blood loss (P = 0.012) and intra-and postoperative blood loss and weight (P = 0.002, P = < 0.001). Duration of surgery was 110 minutes (range 60-300 minutes). Pediatric CS surgery is associated with substantial intra-and postoperative blood loss and transfusion requirements, which did not change over a 15-year period. Blood loss was associated with type of CS. Intraoperative blood loss was correlated to postoperative blood loss and body weight.

Platinum-rare-earth alloys have proven to be both active and stable under accelerated stability tests in their bulk polycrystalline form. However, a scalable method for the synthesis of a high-surface-area supported catalyst of these alloys has so far not been presented. Herein we discuss the thermodynamics relevant for the reduction conditions of the rare earths to form alloys with platinum. We show how the tolerance for water and oxygen severely limits the synthesis parameters and how under certain conditions the thermal reduction of YCl3 with H-2 is possible from 500 degrees C. From the insight gained, we synthesized a PtxY/C catalyst by modifying a Pt/C catalyst and confirmed alloy formation by both X-ray diffraction and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements. These reveal crystalline intermetallic phases and the metallic state of yttrium. Without any optimization of the method, the catalyst has an improved mass activity in comparison to the unmodified catalyst, proving the viability of the method. Initial work based on thermodynamic equilibrium calculations on reduction time show promise in controlling the phase formed by tuning the parameters of time, temperature, and gas composition.

PurposeThis paper aims to explore and explain how administrative controls have been changed as a response to a significant crisis, using the transition of the three largest Icelandic banks from bankrupt to operational entities after the 2008 financial crisis. The Icelandic banks are compared with three Danish banks to separate crisis-driven responses from simple market-driven reactions.Design/methodology/approachEmpirical data were collected using semi-structured interviews. The participating Icelandic and Danish banks were considered as two units, which formed the basis for a comparative case study between the two countries.FindingsDriven by an understanding of what is expected by the market rather than the need to inform and guide the employees the Icelandic banks implemented a number of revolutionary and formally documented changes. These changes included significant bigger risk management functions and policies and procedures documenting “everything”. However, in both countries, it seems that new values supported by the “tone at the top”, areas with limited formal documentation, are the most important management tools.Research limitations/implicationsThe study relies on interviews with employees, and the actual changes of administrative controls have not been reviewed. The most important implication is that the situated logics in Iceland driven by external institutional pressure initiated a revolutionary implementation of values bypassing existing routines and formalised rules.Originality/valueAlthough the use of management controls has been studied intensively, detailed studies of the banking sector have been lacking. Furthermore, there is limited knowledge of how administrative controls changed in response to the financial crisis.

Background: Oral and maxillofacial surgeons (OMFS) in the United States have the ability to provide intravenous anaesthesia while simultaneously performing the surgical procedure in a clinic setting. Objectives: The objective of this study is to examine the anaesthesia techniques utilised in an OMFS program and assess both intra- and postoperative adverse events and/or complications. Methods: Trainees in the OMFS program at the University of Minnesota will perform intravenous anaesthesia and demographics, medications, and intra- and postoperative complications information are collected. The patient is asked to fill out a survey 2 and 14 days after with questions about his/her postoperative condition and complications experienced. Findings: Of the patients sedated, mean age of patient is 24.8 years old who had no to mild systemic medical conditions. All patients received midazolam during the sedation with an average dose of 4.01 mg. Most patients (87.65%) received fentanyl with an average dose of 46.20 mcg. Propofol (42% with mean dose of 57.65 mg) and/or ketamine (60.5% with a mean dose of 27.14 mg) were used. The only reported adverse events intra and postoperatively by the surgeon was nausea and vomiting. To date, patients have not reported complications. Conclusion: There is a variety of intravenous anaesthesia techniques being delivered by OMFS residents. There appears to be very little to no intraoperative nor acute postoperative complications associated with providing intravenous anaesthesia while performing surgical procedure simultaneously by the same provider. This may be associated to the patient risk assessment and selection process for safe delivery of intravenous anaesthesia prior to the procedure.

In here, we propose a simple methodology to evaluate the activity of supported nanoparticulate catalysts on the electro-oxidation of methanol in a three-electrode cell. The proof of concept has been made on carbon supported Pt and PtRu commercial catalysts, but the protocol can be extended to all kinds of Pt-based nanoparticles. Even though the electro-oxidation of methanol has been studied for many years, there is no established electrochemical procedure for measuring the performance of a catalyst in such reaction. The conditions in which the measurements are carried out differ between research groups making comparison troublesome, and hence can lead to erroneous interpretation of the experimental data. Our experiments prove that it is incorrect to compare results obtained from different electrochemical techniques such as cyclic voltammetry or chronoamperometry, which is a common error detected in the literature. We recommend analyzing the catalytic activity in the methanol oxidation reaction by chronoamperometry. This is because it is the only way to account poisoning effects on the catalytic surface, which will determine the performance of the catalyst as anode in a direct methanol fuel cell.

We present up-to-date benchmarking methods for testing electrocatalysts for polymer exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC), using the rotating disk electrode (RDE) method. We focus on the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and the hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR) in the presence of CO. We have chosen our experimental methods to provide the most optimal compromise between the ease of carrying out the measurements and for ensuring comparability with PEMFC conditions. For the ORR, the effect of temperature, scan rate, Ohmic drop correction and background subtraction on the catalyst activity is investigated, both on a polycrystalline Pt disk and two different commercial Pt/C catalysts. To benchmark the CO tolerance of HOR catalysts, cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry are used, on polycrystalline Pt and commercial catalysts consisting of Pt/C and PtRu/C. We recommend the optimal conditions for obtaining a benchmark of ORR activity and CO tolerance of HOR catalysts.

Direct methanol fuel cells (DMFC) could act as a replacement for batteries in low power electronics. For instance, micro—DMFC’s could be used to power hearing instruments[1]. The power output of a DMFC is limited by the sluggish kinetics of both the methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) on the anode and the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) on the cathode. Thus far, to achieve high power densities with a single cell, the catalyst loadings have been increased much as possible (20 mg/cm2 PtRu/C on anode and 4 mg/cm2 Pt/C on cathode). More active catalysts would yield higher power densities which in turn would allow further miniaturization or powering more advanced and more power hungry devices. The activity of fuel cell catalysts is often probed in the form of thin films in liquid half cells. However, it is challenging to mimic the conditions in an actual DMFC. On the other hand, it can also be problematic to extract the catalyst activity from a fuel cell measurement. In this work, we attempt to narrow the gap between fuel cell testing and liquid half-cell measurements. First, by placing a custom reference electrode within the fuel cell, we can determine the potential at the anode and cathode under in-operando conditions. This in turn, allows us to directly correlate our measurements to those performed in a liquid half-cell at the same potential. For our half-cell measurements, we have tested different catalysts (Pt/C, PtRu/C) for the methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) and the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in the presence of methanol. By comparing the two measurements, we make recommendations for performing liquid half-cell measurements under realistic conditions. [1] J.H. Hales, C. Kallesøe, T. Lund-Olesen, A.-C. Johansson, H.C. Fanøe, Y. Yu, et al., Micro fuel cells power the hearing aids of the future, Fuel Cells Bull. 2012 (2012) 12–16. doi:10.1016/S1464-2859(12)70367-X.