Paraphrasing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 23

Paraphrasing - Essay Example Secondly, compare between the printed and measured resistance, which should have a small difference. The second phase is to implement the power supply for the circuit in a way that the output yields 10 volts while the other is putting out 5 volts. The experiment led to the formation of Thevenin’s circuits both connected in series and parallel by using the two DC power supply and the three resistors. The third step is to use the initial resistors by adding them to the circuit. The last phase of the experiment is to measure the open circuit voltage, the short circuit current and the equivalent resistance and to comparison of the outcomes. At the end of the experiment, there was a difference in computed and measured values and the definition of Thevenin’s theorem in equivalent for linear and resistive circuits. The purpose of the experiment is to give the credible results of resistivity test showing the importance of the lab session and the

Legal Regulation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Legal Regulation - Essay Example In this manner, regulation can be perceived as implementation of policy statements that aim to bring sanity in business by ensuring that there is neutral for all players to benefit (Scherer, 1996).   The State has always regulated companies because it is aware that the safety of the public and their welfare is its priority. If the activities and behaviors of companies or industries are not regulated and reviewed, they can have harmful effects to human health, community structure and financial well being of people. It is plausible to argue that these regulations are put in place with the intention of protecting those people who have set their businesses correctly on the market via acquiring working licenses, inspections and permits that allows them to operate, therefore, the State tries to weed out criminal or undesirable activities that undercut honest industries. The State has always engaged in regulating businesses by stating that efficient and effective business regulation is ne cessary since it propagates situation where the total benefits of some people do not exceed the total costs of others. Government regulations are important since they aim to achieve various objectives. If businesses are not regulated, then there will high standards of malpractices whereby the consumer will be exploited and deprived of his rights. Because of market failures, it is necessary for the government to control and regulate the behavior of firms since market failures can easily lead to market monopoly whereby the market.

Article and the author analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Article and the author analysis - Essay Example The author is dexterous in exploring situations where family life is experienced. The depiction of love by the author is not overt in all situations. This means that a reader should analyze the stories comprehensively in order to comprehend the significance of life. Despite the use of other themes in the works The Wrath-Bearing Tree", and â€Å"Referred Pain by Lynne Sharon Schwartz, the theme of invisible family love stands out. In order to comprehend the theme of invisible family life, it is crucial to explore both books. In the Referred Pain, the author explores the life of Richard Koslowski who was a musician and a computer expert. The author uses the triviality of a broken tooth to develop the story whereby the protagonist is obsessed with the quest of finding a replacement that was perfect (Schwartz 75). The protagonist seeks the expertise of numerous dentists in order to fulfill his obsession. It is apparent that the obsession is spurred by the determination of the protagonis t to rid himself of a mysterious pain. The protagonist later realizes that it is not the tooth that if fractured but rather his life. The suffering of the protagonist due to his experiences of his family and this affect his current relationships (Kates 211). It is evident that the theme of invisible family life is consistent in the other stories including hostages to fortune where a couple bickers constantly over imaginary children. In order to comprehend the theme of invisible love in the book, it is crucial to explore the examples provided by the author in the book. In the book The Wrath-Bearing Tree, there are some consistencies with the aforementioned book. This is evident in the information that the protagonist’s father was awaiting a critical surgery, which dictates whether he will live. The narrator and her sister are regular visitors since their father was hospitalized. These visits expose them to different characters including a dementia patient. The events make the narrator to reflect on her family. This enables the narrator to make realization of what issues affect their family relationships (Kates 213). For instance, she develops a longing to share her feelings of love with her father, but this is suppressed by the reservation in the family. During the surgery, the narrator becomes aware that some feelings will never be expressed fully. It is evident in the story that the author highlights the theme of family love. In both books, the author appears to be inclined in highlighting family love. It is evident that the events in the stories are guided by the quest of individuals to establish, manifest or experience family life. For instance, the book The Wrath-Bearing Tree, the family experiences a tragedy in that the father faces the possibility of death. The author explores the significance of love in instances when a family faces crisis (May 38). The author explores situations where families realize they have not been vocal enough about their feelings. This is consistent with the theme of invisible love where the emotion is not manifested in ways, which are visible. For instance, the narrator wishes that she could tell her father he loved her. This realization came at a time when the family was facing the possibility of losing their beloved father. It is evident that the narrator loved her father. However, she expressed this love in other ways but was never vocal about it. This is evident

Genetics and Crisis Intervention Research Paper

Genetics and Crisis Intervention - Research Paper Example The nurse spoke to Kim kindly and provided information pertaining to various types of aneuploidies, their clinical presentation and complications. The nuchal test was suspicious of aneuploidy and maternal serum markers hinted at the presence of some aneuploidy. Kim was 14 weeks pregnant now and the obstetrician advised amniocentesis to confirm the diagnosis. Kim underwent the procedure and the nurse told her that she had to wait for a week for the report to come. One week later, the obstetrician confirmed that the amniocentesis report was suggestive of Huntington's disease. Kim felt disastrous. She was referred to a genetic counselor. The genetic nurse took a detailed history and went through the medical reports and noted them down. Kim enquired the nurse about implications of Huntington's disease and whether she should opt for abortion. Discussion The profession of nursing has labored continuously to document a wide and yet full range of nursing diagnoses, various nursing interventi ons and patient outcomes. This has been possible because of a steady knowledge base of the profession and continuous assimilation of new knowledge by means of nursing research. One such new area in which the profession of nursing has begun to get involved deeply is genetics (Carroll-Johnson, 2000). When nurses work in genetic diseases detection and management units, they are likely to come across patients and parents who will ask them about genetic disorders related questions especially in relation to a particular disease like Aneuploidy and Hungtinton's disease. In case of fetal diagnosis one question that plaques the nurses is "Is the diagnosis right? How sure are you that the diagnosis is correct?" This is more so because there is no particular symptomatology in this case and the diagnosis is often made after getting clues from routine screening. Also, in several genetic related conditions, the advice is to terminate the much awaited pregnancy, shattering the dreams of the young couple. It thus becomes difficult on the part of the nurse to convince the parents that such a decision must be taken in the best interests of both the parents and the child. Nurses, because of their proximity of the patients and easy approachability are likely to be hovered with more questions and doubts from the patients and it is obliging on the nurses to answer the question in the most understanding manner. Thus, even nurses must have appropriate knowledge about various genetic disorders that may be encountered in their clinical practice (Kirk, 2006). According to the Genetics White Paper (DOH, 2003) advances in the knowledge and also the understanding of various genetic problems, disabilities and diseases have contributed towards more accurate diagnosis with better personalized prediction of risk, better preventive strategies, improved treatment modalities and newer drugs and therapies. Such an enhanced improvement in diagnosis and prediction has already made a great impact in the clinical practice of genetics. Advances in genetics have made it possible to provide more insight into the genetic component of the disease and also various environmental triggers of the condition (Kirk, 2006). With reference to nursing in the field of genetics, seven-point competence standards have been outlined. The nurses must be able to identify patients who might benefit from various genetic

Advertising efficiency and the choice of media mix Essay

Advertising efficiency and the choice of media mix - Essay Example Advertising efficiency and the choice of media mix There is also space for print and radio advertising in an advertising strategy that reaches out to the customer base of Alfredo’s, which is niche and local. The focus should be on local advertising in local radio stations and local print publications such as local newspapers and local magazines. The local emphasis recognizes that Alfredo’s is a local business that is characterized by high quality offerings. A national print and radio campaign will not be cost effective for these reasons, that Alfredo’s clientele is mostly local, and Alfredo’s is a small operation catering to a local client base. It makes sense too, from an image perspective, to advertise in local print and radio, to emphasize that the bistro is local and has a local character and flavor. The appeal is to the home crowd, making it more personal, and making the advertising more attractive to the regular clients of the bistro, who live around the area. One can argue that for boys and girls, the real decision makers are the parents. With regard to sporting clothes in particular, parents arguably have the say on what their children wear, what their league affiliations are, and where they source their information relating to sportswear. Fathers for instance make use of sporting events as a way to connect with their children, with sporting events such as baseball games constituting bonding moments with their children.

Jerome Paul Witkin Essay Example for Free

Jerome Paul Witkin Essay The work of art that I chose is Jeff Davies, an oil painting painted in 1976 by Jerome Paul Witkin. It depicts a man, presumably named Jeff Davies, standing and taking up the entire frame of the picture. He is wearing a plain tee shirt which is stretched over and exposing a bit of his protruding stomach, a pair of worn jeans, a huge down coat, and a hat. He stands in a plain, dirty-looking room. At the very bottom of the painting is the edge of a table and a mostly empty plate. Everything about Jeff Davies says manliness: his burly stature, his graying beard, his dirty work clothes. His hands are stuffed in his pockets, hes frowning, hes rolling one eye and the other is squeezed shut. The way that he stands in front of his plate with no chair in sight makes me think that this man doesnt sit down or stay still for long. And yet, the flaws of Jeff Davies that are depicted make the picture seem completely authentic, holding nothing back from the viewers. However, this painting was painted by Jerome Paul Witkin, he is New York painter, born in 1939. Since he was born around the time of the Great Depression, it makes sense that Witkins work should reflect social realism, depicting a working class man as its subject. Witkin believes that moral values are as important as formal or aesthetic ones. So maybe it wasnt so far-fetched of me to think of Jeff Davies as an honest man and the hero of the painting, instead of just its subject. On the other hand, the other painting that I chose is The Act of Judith and it’s also was painted by Jerome Paul Witkin on 1979-80. However, The painting features what looks to be a middle-aged Native American woman offering a mask that she has made to a person whose hand is only seen. Evidence supporting my observation of her as a Native includes her hairstyle, dress, and darker skin tone. The conclusion that she made the mask comes from the work space she is in, the tools surrounding her, and the paint on her hands. She wears an expressionless face and gazes directly out at the viewer. Upon further consideration, I feel that the viewer is represented as the person receiving the mask via the hand in the lower right corner. This interpretation means that we, as the viewer, have no choice but to be a part of this painting. We are forced to consider the meaning because it involves us.

Critical Review Determination Of Accounting Standards Accounting Essay

Critical Review Determination Of Accounting Standards Accounting Essay Ross L. Watts and Jerold L. Zimmerman explore factors that motivate companies in lobbying on accounting standards and examine whether their opinion on certain standards are associated with their size. They use data from the companies which submit comments to the FASBs Discussion Memorandum on General Price Level Adjustment. The empirical evidence supports the argument that the firms tend to choose accounting standards which report lower earnings due to political and regulatory considerations. Their findings also confirm that big firms are more likely to be subjected to governmental interference. However, the paper might not be based on strong theoretical foundations. Moreover, some assumptions used in the paper could decrease the external validity of the research. I. Introduction Ross L. Watts and Jerold L. Zimmerman have written a remarkable paper in accounting research which attempt to provide positive theory about factors influencing companies in lobbying on accounting standards. The paper also discuss the question whether the size of the companies affect their opinion on certain standards. This paper is important because it makes contribution to the positive accounting theory development. It might be the first paper which attempt to provide empirical evidence on positive accounting theory about factors influencing management attitude on certain accounting standards. The data and the issues discussed were new in that period. It contributes to a literature that has uncovered empirical regularities in accounting practice (Holthausen and Leftwich, 1983 and Watts and Zimmerman, 1986 as discussed in Watts and Zimmerman, 1990 p 131). The literature has been developing since the publication of this paper in 1978 (Watts and Zimmerman, 1990 p 132). Though, the pape r also brought considerable debate among researchers. This essay intends provide critical review and highlights some important points from the paper by reviewing in four main areas: (i) research paradigm, (ii) theoretical framework, (iii) methodology, and (iv) research findings. The following section discusses about research paradigm used in the paper. The next section explores criticisms on the theoretical framework of the research. Section four reviews the methodology used in the research. Section five examines important finding from this paper. Finally, the last section presents some conclusion about the paper. II. Research Paradigm The researchers discussed an interesting topic in accounting theory. They use positivism paradigm in the research. This paradigm gets many criticisms when it is used in the social science research. According to Collis and Hussey (2009), positivism is criticized based on five main arguments. First, it is impossible to separate people from the social context in which they exist. Second, people cannot be understood without examining the perceptions they have of their own activities. Third, a highly structured research design imposes constrains on the results and may ignore other relevant findings. Fourth, researchers are not subjective, but part of what they observe. They bring their own interests and values to the research. Fifth, capturing complex phenomena in a single measure is misleading(Collis and Hussey, 2009, p. 56). Furthermore, Sterling (1990, p. 98) argued that Instead of trying to determine how to improve the present state of accounting we are told to try to determine the pr esent state of accounting. However, Watts and Zimmerman argued that they adopted the label positive from economics where it was used to distinguish research aimed at explanation and prediction from research whose objective was prescription (Watts and Zimmerman, 1990, p.148). Therefore, the evidence generated from researches using this paradigm will improve the development of accounting theory by providing explanations and predictions for normative research. Moreover, positivism as one of paradigm in research is used for many researches in social science today (Collis and Hussy, 2009). This paradigm is underpinned by the belief that reality is independent of us and the goal is the discovery of theories, based on empirical research (Collis and Hussy, 2009). III. Theoretical Framework The paper starts with the discussion about factors determining management attitudes toward financial accounting standards. The discussion based on two assumptions. First, individuals act to maximize their own utility(Watts and Zimmerman, 1978, p.113). This assumption means that management attitudes on certain accounting standards are based on its interest to maximize its own utility. Second, managements utility is a positive function of the expected compensation in the future periods (or wealth) and a negative function of the dispersion of future compensation (or wealth) (Watts and Zimmerman, 1978, p.114). The expected forms of compensation for management that are used in this research are incentive compensation and share price increase. The discussion then continues with the description of factors affecting management wealth. Those factors are taxes, regulation, political costs, information production costs, and management compensation plans. Each factor gives different impact on the way management chooses accounting standards. The researchers argue that management tend to choose accounting standards which report lower earnings (thereby increasing cashflows, firm value and their welfare) due to tax, political, and regulatory considerations than to choose accounting standard which report higher earnings and, thereby, increase their incentive compensation(Watts and Zimmerman, 1978, p.118). They also argue that this prediction depend on the political pressure on the firms and whether they are regulated or not. Another consideration that management should consider is the cost of information production as a consequence of the implementation of new standards. Based on the combination of factors affecting management wealth, they created two models that describe two possible conditions. The first model depicts the condition when the change in accounting standards will decrease the earnings of the firms and the second model depicts the condition when the earnings are increase. In short, the theory pronounces that there are three possible attitudes of the companies when the change in accounting standards decreases their earnings: submit favorable opinion, submit unfavorable opinion, or do no submit opinion. On the other hand, only two possible attitudes of the companies if the change in accounting standards increases their earnings: submit unfavorable opinion or do no submit opinion. The choice taken by the companies depends on the size of the companies. One of the important points explained in the paper is that the researchers omit some variables in developing the theory. Two of them are described in their paper. First, they realized that, generally, the factors influencing the regulation cost of utility companies is not only net income but also operating earnings. Second, they omit political sensitivity of the firms industry because there is no underlying theory to discuss this factor at that time. The theories used on this research got many criticisms. It needs verification and replication (Holthausen and Leftwitch, 1983 p. 100). The researchers should be able to understand and explained it well before conducting their research (Christenson, 1983 p. 20). Hines (1988 p. 661) suggested clarifying whether their theories were universal or probabilistic, and if the latter, explained on what conceptual grounds they should be held to be so. Therefore, it is better to test the theories first using another hypothesis before analyzing data using the theories (Hines. 1988 p. 661). However, Watts and Zimmerman argue that although the criticisms are relevant, those criticisms placed unreasonable demand on study (Watts and Zimmerman, 1990, p.149). In addition, their theories provide theoretical basis for other researches in accounting. For instance, Milne (2002, p.371) argued the theories provide the stated theoretical basis for a number of social disclosure studies. Moreover, this paper was probably the only paper which predicts corporate lobbying behavior as a function of firm-specific factors' (Holthausen and Leftwitch, 1983 p. 95). Another important point in the paper is that the researchers only focus on shareholders, creditors, and government in explaining some factors influencing management accounting choice. In fact, there are many users of financial statements have not discussed thoroughly in the paper. Those are employee, analyst-adviser, supplier and trade creditor, customer, competitors, and the public. The public includes taxpayers, consumers and other community and special interest groups, such as political parties, consumer and environmental protection societies and regional pressure groups. Each user has different interest on the firms. Therefore, they might influence the accounting choice. For instance, the accounting choice taken by the firm which has a significant impact on increasing its earnings will stimulate employees to ask for bonuses or even increase in their salaries. Conversely, if the accounting choice taken by firm has a significant impact on decreasing its earnings, it will make emplo yees worry about their job security. Then, it might increase employee the turnover in the firm. Finally, it would be interesting if the paper also discuss cultural differences between companies. It could be one important factor influencing management accounting choice. Each firm consists of groups of people who share their culture based on their top managements policies. This culture will also determine the firm accounting choice. The link between accounting value and cultural value (Alexander et all. (2009) discussed research by Gray (1988) based on Hofstede (1984) classification scheme) could be used to analyze the accounting choice of the firm. For instance, some firms might choose a more conservative accounting choice because their cultural characteristic is uncertainty avoidance. It might also explain why some big size companies did not submit their opinion on the discussion memorandum. IV. Methodology The researchers used voluntary disclosure regarding GPLA Statements for some companies that published such disclosure to predict the position of the companies on the new standard. For the others companies, they used the studies from Davidson and Weil (1975) and Davidson, Stickney, and Weil (1976) who develop an adjusting procedure which relies solely on published financial statements and GNP deflators. Furthermore, they also constructed proxy variables based on unadjusted depreciation and net monetary assets. They argue that these proxy variables can serve as a surrogate for the effect of GPLA earnings. One of main the problems is the dependent variable used by the researchers. They divided the responses into two categories, the companies which agree and disagree with the memorandum. This dichotomy does not represent the actual condition since some responses might consist of agreement on certain points in the memorandum but disagreement on other points (Holthausen and Leftwitch, 1983 p. 104). Another problem is the assumption that the companies which did not mention the compensation or reply the questioner assumed no compensation plans. This assumption may lead to the conclusion bias. The next important point is the use of firms size to proxy for political cost. The decision to use this method might be affected by condition at the time the paper was written. During the 1970s, oil companies dominated the largest of the US companies, and they were also subject to much public outrage and political scrutiny during and immediately following the oil crisis of 1973 (Milne, 2002, p.374). However, Hilnes suggested to avoid the use of crude proxies such as the use of firm size to operationalize the concept of political cost' (Hines. 1988 p. 661). Watts and Zimmerman (1990) as discussed by Milne (2002, p.377) finally realized that the size is too noisy as a proxy. Subsequent to their research, empirical studies have tended to use or suggest a wider range of measures to proxy for political costs (Milne, 2002, p.377). They may needs to elaborate the effect of firms stage of growth in accounting choice. The nature of managements solution (including the accounting choice) to each revolutionary period determines whether a company will move forward into its next stage of evolutionary growth (Greiner, 1972). The firm should choose the right solution (including accounting choice) in order to survive. Companies which are in the earlier stage of development will tend to maximize their profit while more mature companies will focus on sustainability issues. The focus on sustainability issues might stimulate companies to respond differently in order to survive in their environment. This argument could be an explanation why companies with different size have different respond to certain standards (Watts and Zimmerman, 1978). In terms of analysis, the focuses of the research on political cost especially on the effect of government intervention might reduce its external validity. The analyses conducted in isolation of other factors are inappropriate because accounting is used for many purposes (Fields et all. 2001, p. 300). The proposition that corporations will do anything to support the decision of accounting procedures that minimize reported earnings might not suitable for the companies with accounting-based debt covenants. The empirical evidence shows that those companies are more likely to choose income-increasing accounting methods (Begley, 1990 p. 138). Another research by Sweeney (1994) on the companies which violated debt covenants found that managers tend to do accounting change to increase the income figure in the years surrounding technical defaults. In summary, the researchers should be careful in using assumptions. They have to realize that their focus on political cost especially on the effect of government intervention might reduce external validity of the research. V. Research Findings Finally, the research provides important findings generated from this research. First, the empirical evidence supports the argument that the firms tend to choose accounting standards which report lower earnings due to political and regulatory considerations. Those firms are the firms that have contact with the government directly through regulation or indirectly through possible government intervention. Their findings also confirm that big firms are more likely to be subjected to governmental interference. The existence of costs generated by government intervention may have more fundamental and important effects on its investment-production decision if the potential costs of government interference become large. Based on this research, McKee et all. (1984. P. 658) then replicate the research using a larger sample. Unfortunately, the results from this research are not satisfactory. The evidences do not support the theories provided by this research. McKee et all. (1984. P. 647) argued that there are some problems regarding the test procedures and its underlying theories. However, the findings generated from this research are now become important consideration in conducting researches in accounting especially regarding earnings management. Research in this topic usually aims to find companies that tend to choose accounting standards which will affect their earnings. Therefore, most of researchers in this topic eliminate companies in regulated industries (utilities and financial companies) from their sample to minimize the effects of political and regulatory considerations (For example: Madhogarhia et all., 2009; Roychowdhury, 2006). Conclusion In summary, this paper is a remarkable paper in accounting research. It gives starting point in the development of positive theory in accounting. It might be the first research that investigates factors influencing management accounting choice. Though, there are some important points need to be improved in this research. The most important point is the improvement in theoretical framework. Based on the discussion on the paper, it could be concluded that accounting choice is a function of internal and external influences. Internal influences comprise some factors such as culture and stages of growth of the companies while external influences comprise changes in tax, regulation, information production cost, and management compensation costs. Combination of those influences affects the attitude of the company to certain changes, including the attitude toward the change of certain accounting standards. Iin order to improve the development of the theory in this topic, Fields et all. (2001, p. 299-300) made three recommendations. First, researchers should give more efforts to investigate the nature of the implications of alternative accounting methods rather than just testing the implications. Then, the research should not focus only to one accounting issue or one goal. Even though the tasks become more complex, they will give a better contribution to the development of theoretical framework in accounting. Finally, the researchers should develop more powerful statistical techniques and improve research design (Fields et all. 2001, p. 300). References: Alexander, D., Anne B., and A. Jorissen (2009) International Financial Reporting and Analysis, Cengage Learning, Hampshire, UK. Begley, J., (1990) Debt Covenant and Accounting Choice, Journal of Accounting and Economics 12, 125-139. Christenson, C., (1983) The methodology of positive accounting, The Accounting Review, Vol.58, N0.1, pp 1-22. Collis. J., and Roger H., (2009) Business Research: A Practical Guide for Undergraduate and Postgraduate Students, Palgrave Macmillan, UK. Fields, T., Lys, T., and Vincent, L., (2001) Empirical Research on Accounting Choice, Journal of Accounting and Economics, Vol. 31, pp. 255-307. Greiner, L. E., (1972) Evolution and Revolution as Organization Grow, Harvard Business Review (July-August): 37 -46. Madhogarhia, P., Ninon K. S., and Theodor K., (2009) Earnings Management Practices Among Growth and Value Firms, Applied Financial Economics, 19, 1767-1778. Hines. R. D. (1988) Poppers methodology of falsificationism and accounting research, The Accounting Review, (October): 657-662. Holthausen. R. W. and R. W. Leftwich. 1983 The economic consequences of accounting choice: Implications of costly contracting and monitoring, Journal of Accounting Economics, (August): 77-117. McKee. A. J., Jr., T. B. Bell, and J. R. Boatsman (1984) Management preferences over accounting standards: A replication and additional tests, The Accounting Review, (October):647-659. Roychowdhury, S. (2006) Earnings Management Through Real Activities Manipulation, Journal of Accounting and Economics 42, 335-370. Sterling, R., (1990), Positive accounting: An assessment, Abacus, Vol.26, pp. 97-135. Sweeney, A. P. (1994), Debt-covenant violations and managers accounting responses, Journal of Accounting and Economics, 17, 281-308. Watts, R. L. and J. L. Zimmerman, (1978), Towards a positive theory of the determination of accounting standards, The Accounting Review, (January): 112-134. Watts, R., Zimmerman, J., (1990), Positive accounting theory: A ten year perspective, The Accounting Review 65, 131-156.