An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was established for the rapid detection of specific bovine immunodeficiency virus (BIV) antibodies in cattle, using recombinant Gag protein as an antigen. The gag coding region from BIV was cloned into an expression vector, pQE32, which expressed high levels of recombinant protein from Escherichia coli. The ELISA was standardized by a checkerboard titration against known BIV-positive and -negative sera from cattle and a monoclonal antibody to the Gag protein. A total of 139 cattle serum samples, from the diagnostic laboratory at Kansas State University, Manhattan, and from the Dairy Station, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, were compared by ELISA and immunoblot assays for the detection of BIV-specific antibodies. Of 26 cattle sera samples which tested positive using the immunoblot assay, 23 were positive by ELISA, thus establishing a strong correlation between the two tests. The sensitivity and specificity of ELISA relative to immunoblotting were 0.88 and 0.93, respectively. ELISA proved to be as specific as immunoblotting but was much less time-consuming and easier to perform.

The purpose of this paper is to examine independent assurance of sustainability reports in a major emerging economy -China. It draws on a theory of ecological governance which offers models, one of which China's governance model appears to fit. Desk based research has been used to establish the takeup of independent assurance by all Chinese listed companies from 2003 to 2015. The findings are that the take-up of independent assurance by Chinese listed companies has been very low and was falling in 2015. Companies using independent assurance do not fit into the typical types identified by previous Western research and are dominated by financial companies. The key explanation for the low take-up is that Chinese governance based on ecological authoritarianism exercised by the government has little need for public exercises in legitimation such as independent assurance. The practical implications are that through understanding of governance mechanisms in an authoritarian model such as China's this leads to understanding about a different approach to ecological governance. The paper is original in that it looks at independent assurance in China from a new perspective with emphasis on absence of such assurance, rather than statistical analysis of determinants.

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